#72 phone scam!

My post on Thursday that included the part about a call from a local county jail was just a scammer. Please be aware of this scam! The caller gets you to forward your number to their number and that way they can use your line to make longdistance and collect calls. I discovered this on Sunday and filed a police report. So the scammer had access to my phone line for 3 1/2 days before I realized what was going on.

My phone (land line) had been ringing only a half ring and then no one was there. Since we never/rarely use the land line (always use our cell phones) we had not had any family incoming calls. Untill my husband tried calling me on it Sunday and he said some lady answered and told him he had the wrong number. He called it numerous times and always got her. So he called me and said that something was wrong with our phone. I told him about the half rings and so I tried calling it myself. And just got a busy signal. At the advice of my son (he said this sounds like some sort of scam) I called the police department and asked them if it was some sort of scam. And it is! So I filed a police report yesterday. After the officer left I called my landline and the same lady answered. I laid on her about why did she have my number and so on…(I kind of went off on her)…she claimed that she was disabled and didn’t know what was going on. I asked her what her number was and she gave me her two numbers. One of them was the same number that the male caller on Thursday gave me to “call his wife’s work number” with. So I called the police officer and gave him that info. What the police will do …who the hell knows. The scammer was from Fulton County and I am in another county. BE WARNED!

Unfortunately this kind of thing makes you NOT want to be a helpful person. Now to see just what kind of charges will be on our next phone bill. I did call the phone company today (they weren’t open yesterday for customer service) and the rep. there said I can’t do anything until I receive my bill. And the then to call her back. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG I feel like such a stupid ass!!!!

My smart ass sister told me ” Doesn’t that kind of thing usually happen to the elderly?”

In over my head!

Please ignore the bags under the eyes! But notice the height of the tomatoes!

This is my day/week….

Yes, I have been absent. In more ways then my blogging. Separation from my hubby has been stressful and NOT fun. I was able to work on some things…like:

sister/neighbor and yes, they are french knots!

pretty flowers from hubby.

*homegrown tomatoes/chili sauce made last night.

quilt finished this morning/started 8 years ago, for oldest son.

Reading: “My Lord Loves A Pure Heart” Swami Chidvilasananda.

Listening to: Ralph Stanley.

*RECIPE For above chili sauce from my old neighbor Mary Moss.

20 Big red tomatoes

3 sweet peppers

1 hot pepper

6 med. onions

3 cups sugar

2 cups white vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

***Cook slow for 3 hours or more till very thick and dark in color. Can, hot water bath.

******************THIS IS A SCAM!!!!!************DO NOT ANSWER COLLECT CALLS!!!!!****

This morning I received a call on the land line…we usually listen for the message to begin and answer if we know who it is. The message was along the lines of, “will you accept these charges…” well, thinking it could be one of my sons (yes, in jail…I know, a mother’s worst fear…at least one of them. And don’t we always think the worst?). So I picked it up and on the other end was a guy calling from a county jail. He thought he had dialed one of his neighbors. And he asked me (even though he figured out that I wasn’t one of his neighbors) if I would please call his wife and let her know where he was and that he had the kids with him. And that he needed his license which he left at home in his wallet. I told him I would. He gave me his name and his wife’s name and her work number. He asked “You WILL call her as soon as we hang up won’t you?” . And I did. I only got her voice mail but left her a detailed message about his situation. I never heard back from either of them (complete strangers both) as to whether or not she did get the message and was able to go to her husband. I was so very tempted to call her work number again just to check. But didn’t.

Some unexpected Karma going out!!!

I was scammed!!!!

This is what I have been up to today while listening to a Librivox podcast, “Childhood” by Tolstoy.

1st step in making laundry soap

2nd step in making laundry soap

Finished product

I used the first batch of soap that I made in May.  It was very hard and when I tried to cut it, pieces just broke off.  So I grated it up into powder today and added 1 cup each of Borax and Washing soda.  Both easily found at Wal-mart or your local grocery store.  Mixed it up well and put the contents into this pretty glass jar.  My estimate (and this whole recipe is an ESTIMATE) is that with only 1/2 cup added to my front loading, low sudsing washing machine, I should get at least 30 loads of laundry cleaned.  So since I have one load of whites that I can experiment on today I will give it a try and check back with your later to let you know of the cleaning results.  The dust from grating the soap was so obnoxios that I took to wearing a bandanna over my nose and mouth for protection.

Happy 4th of July weekend!

Yesterday's harvest

My neighbor/sister had me over for dinner last night which was just what I needed.

The garden is doing great since we are having enough rain that I don’t have to water everyday! And Thursday I laid down a layer of newspaper with a layer of wheat straw on top to help contorl the weeds. Because I am too lazy to use the hoe! My brother-in-law/neighbor has a great garden and has nicknamed his hoe “my dirty HOE”. Which is too funny when you hear him talk about it. His southern accent helps with his discription.

Is 1 gallon of water a day too much to drink? I have been trying to drink lots of water and am up to about 3 quarts per day. Because I have such (gross as it sounds) thick mucus all the time along with dry eyes. So lots of water does seem to help.

It is a perfect day and I’m all primed to clean pack up some of my beading supplies and art supplies. Hopefully just being around all the supplies will inspire me to make something. I am still working on the lap quilt for my sister. I will (promise) take some pics of my progress SOON!

Why is good posture so hard to maintain? I have to think about it or I tend to slump again. In Jr. high and Sr. high school we had a couple of girls that had to wear those steel back braces (for scoliosis I am guessing). And I Always envied them and wanted to wear one too. haha…isn’t that odd? But even back then my posture was not good. After they had their braces removed they had the best posture and even though in High School it looked a little extreme (boobs sticking out so far) I wished my posture was that straight. Weird what we think about when teens, huh?

The fireworks just in our neighborhood sounded outstanding however with the cloudy sky I really couldn’t see many. Usually we can just sit on our deck and watch all the surrounding neighborhoods do theirs. It was astounding just listening to all the booms and trying to catch a glimpse of some kind of shimmer in the sky. There were a few small planes circling the sky ….now THAT would be the way to enjoy all the fire works!

back from the dead…

not really! But my sweet grandson is back home now. We had a great 3 weeks together and my hope is that it has left some good memories for him to remember for the rest of his life. I cried after they left.

My hubby will be coming home Friday…he is almost positive he will be here! We haven’t seen each other for a month. I really miss him. Friday is my 49Th birthday…so he is making it here for that.

I made a skillet of sauteed potatoes and squash with Indian spices for dinner. My sister has lived in the Middle East for years and has some wonderful spices from there that she gave me. OH….man it had, cloves, pepper, bay and more that I can’t even name…it was hot yet sweet and opened up the sinuses some. Also, yes at 9:30pm I made some French press coffee with Creme Berle too. Wired is an understatement.

We decided to go ahead and disconnect our TV services…cancelling the satellite and cable!!! yay…I have been trying to talk him into this since the day I moved in. We can still rent movies and watch those….and once we get adjusted (because our TV viewing is at the addictive state), we can do much more productive and interesting things with that time!!!

Yesterday we went to see “Iron Man” with Robert Downy Jr. It was pretty good as far as sci-fi’s go. Me not really being into them. But my little grandson LOVED it and that is all that matters. Then went for an ice cream.

Rich is still in I.C. with all the flooding. This absence does NOT “make the heart grow fonder”. If anything it pisses me off. There is so much to do with all the moving and I feel abandoned and left to just deal with it all alone! And he is working so much that we don’t get to connect on the phone much. So we are drifting apart at this point. And he is not able to even see his kids or family because of all the bridges still being closed there. He hurt his back when he was sandbagging and so that is not good.

Still HOT here and I don’t even want to go outside during the prime of the day. That is how it is down here and one of the reasons that I will be happy to be back in the Midwest. I hate using the air conditioning all day long but that is what has to be done while the temps are in the high 80’s-90’s! Not fun at all and staying indoors most of the day with an active 5 year old boy is challenging.

Ok enough bitching…today we really have no plans…It looks like rain this morning…so I’ll wait and see and hold off on watering the gardens.

There are lots of projects that I am dying to work on. And haven’t had much of a chance with the little one here. I’ll try and post some pics today or soon. But for now I’m the only one up and am making some tea. And relishing in the silence!!!

cheers!

Salad fixin’s …

Yummm…fresh from the garden!

Bracelet

I’ll be putting it up in my etsy shop just as soon as I get a chance.

Dam…

We went to the Hiawasee Dam in N.C. for our 1st year anniversary Memorial Day weekend.