Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Rough Week

So this month we seem to be dealing with an abnormally large amount of crapola coming our way.  This week is not even half over and it is already particularly special.

Monday our windshield got a monster crack in it in our car.  The downside is a new windshield in that vehicle is $1100(hubbys sportscar/work vehicle).  The upside is that we only have to pay a $300 deductible.  The other upside is that we have sufficient funds in our regular paycheck to cover this and not have to pull from any emergency funds.  We also don't have to eat less this month as a result - happy we are frugal and paid all the gigantic bills off long ago like housing and car payments and are debt free.

Tuesday I woke up to pain in my right foot.  I googled and it turns out I have tendonitis on the top of my foot, likely from having the treadmill at an uphill angle.  I therefore had to take yesterday off doing my 11,000 steps :(  Sounds great doesn't it?  But this means I have to make it up the underage by Sunday to get to 77,000 because I am trying to lose weight again and trying to burn at least 2200 calories a day.  I only got to 6500 steps yesterday so have a lot to make up.  The upside is it feels quite a bit better today after a day of rest and ointment.  I've done a 15 minute stretch this morning on the treadmill to test it on the flat and think it will be fine.  If not I may need to take more days off.

Also on Tuesday I signed into my credit card balance online to find out my credit card had been compromised.  In three days someone had spent over $800 in small charges at itunes.  I immediately cancelled the credit card and the bank is sorting out the charges (in Canada you are very rarely stuck with charges you didn't make, we do have a rather good system here).  It may take up to 10 days to do that and they are mailing me a new credit card.  I then contacted apple and itunes to see if my account there had been compromised.  I spent 70 minutes on the online chat line with two extremely helpful customer service agents.  They determined that in fact my apple id and itunes were fine as a couple of years ago I got alot of itune gift certificates for Christmas and had still been using them up - my credit card was not even on my file.  They had an old record of that credit card number however and quickly traced 8 itunes accounts that were using my credit card.  They immediately shut down those itunes accounts and have advised that if I have any difficulty with the fraudulent charges on my cc to re-contact them to assist with having them refunded.  A crappy but enlightening experience and I was impressed both with my Bank of Montreal Mastercard and the apple employees.  Apple may not have great telephone lines but those people on the online chat are very good at what they do.  Who knows how someone got my credit card, this seems to happen to one of us every other year or so.  Last time it was hubby and the corporate credit card - someone charged hotdogs in Los Angeles and flowers in Langley to his.

Finally we have been trying to sign a contract with a potential client that as of yesterday we have come to the mutual agreement that we hope we don't get this piece of business as he is difficult to deal with and likely would be a thorn in our side during the four month contract.  We are giving him until today to sign or we are moving on with our other potential clients.

I am also closely watching strike action in both Italy and France (use this website if you are interested in travel strikes of any kind around the world, they are pretty great at keeping it updated).  There was supposed to be a transportation strike in Italy today and tomorrow but it was cancelled at the last minute.  They have them regularly but it can really mess up a holiday if you aren't on top of things.  Generally they are planned in advance by a week to 10 days so you can try to make alternative arrangements.  Air France is also having rolling strikes - we are flying to Europe on KLM and back from Paris on Air France who is their partner.  Worse case scenario on that we would end up in Paris for more time than we expect to - not the end of the world but a pain in the butt.

I just had to vent - it is not all sunshine and lollipops all the time here.  I just don't usually harp on about it as tend to take things in stride but this week has been tough to do that.

In the "things I am looking forward to" department - tonight I get together with a friend who I can whine to for a girls night, on the 27th we fly out on our Europe trip and on the 29th we celebrate 15 years from the day we met.  That day will be the day we land in Rome.  We tend to celebrate that more than our wedding anniversary.

Yeah, so I am hoping for a better end to the week than the last couple of days - here's hoping things are better in your world!

27 comments:

  1. Well, you know how it is sometimes: 'it never rains but pours', or 'bad things come in threes' etc... It happens to all of us.

    Have you really lost weight through doing the steps thing? Lucky you, I never loose weight except by dieting (and I'm a long distance walker, as I don't drive).

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    1. It definitely pours. I lost some weight last year but this is combined with lower calorie intake and I can lose weight that way, not really dieting, just watching what I am eating

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  2. Are you really trying to cut back over 2,000 calories A DAY? My goodness. I'm aiming for just 500! Oh and as for the French and their strikes, I will never fly Air France or through Paris because someone or other is always on strike. Don't worry about it though, I'm sure you'll be ok and as you say, if the strike is this end it just means one more day in Paris. Sure it won't come to that though. A

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    1. No trying to burn over 2200 calories a day, I've only cut back on my sweets, likely eating around 1500 calories a day still lol

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  3. I have alerts set on all my credit cards and banking accounts. If there is any activity at all, I get an email. On some accounts I have two step verification whereby I receive a code via text to my phone to complete my log in. I'm pretty paranoid about stuff like that. Glad you got it straightened out before too much damage was done. Sorry about the foot. Tendonitis can be very painful. I have it in my hand. Whenever it hurts I put my hand in hot water for 3 minutes, then cold water for 3 minutes. It helps. So does Advil.

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    1. Thanks for the advice, I took some advil after reading this.

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  4. seems to be the week for it! hope your foot improves, I had problems with my ankles from using the treadmill on a slope so I use it less now and keep it flat. looking forward to hearing about your holiday

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    1. I try and walk naturally more but it has been rather rainy and I think that is why it has been a big deal.

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  5. I am glad you were able to get the credit card fraud early and easily enough. My card has been compromised twice and were used to buy very expensive items!

    I am also hoping there is no strike to stymie your vacation. That would truly suck!

    It is good that you recognize you don't want that client -- some companies cost more than the contract is worth. I hope that goes away for you too!

    Don't short-change yourself on resting your foot. Better to get it healed well now, than have it get worse later.

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    1. The frustrating part about my foot is I finally am good about maintaining fitness now and my body is not cooperating!

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  6. Some weeks are not worth getting out of bed! I'm glad you got the cc straightened out. Will you inform them you are going out of the country? I have read you should alert cc of travel plans so they will not automatically freeze your account.

    Don't walk too much and make this harder to cure. You do want to be able to walk easily while in France.

    Hopefully, things will get better very soon.

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    1. Likely I will have to take more days off than one, that didn't work

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  7. Yeah, definitely a rough week. Hope your travel plans don't have to change. Glad the other headaches are resolving well.

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    1. I hope things don't have to change either but whatever will be will be as the saying goes...

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  8. All the credit card fraud just irritates the crap out of me. We check our cards daily and find rogue charges occasionally, but they generally turn out to be human error rather than fraud.

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    1. I use my cc almost daily between the business and home expenses, so we can rack up pts...feel so bloody naked without it.

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  9. Hope you had a great girls' night out, you certainly deserved it after all those stresses!
    When aren't the French air traffic control or baggage handlers on strike? You'll be fine, I'm sure.
    Keep that foot rested and live on salad for a week. You don't want to be hobbling around on your holiday. xxx

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    1. I knew when planning this trip there could be labour issues both in France and Italy, fingers and toes crossed they won't affect us

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  10. Certainly a lot of stuff thrown at you all at once but still just stuff. The most important is to rest that foot as you don't want to compromise your walking on your vacation. You can burn off those calories at another time.

    FYI that link does not work but if you have a link I would love to have it.

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    1. Here's the right one lol https://www.etontravel.com/latest-travel-alerts/
      Yeah, I think I need to take a few days off in a row. Took one day off and did treadmill yesterday and today it hurts again

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  11. I was stuck at a Paris train station for eight hours once because of a strike, had a wonderful dinner there with a priest for company... Don't over do the fit bit thing to the point that you're injuring yourself!

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    1. I really didn't think you could hurt yourself walking (other than tripping lol) but apparently you can

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  12. I totally understand the need (and desire) to vent. It sounds like you have a good handle on things so these bumps in the road are behind you.

    Enjoy your trip (and your anniversary)!

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  13. Luck seems to run in streaks. Hope yours turns better. - Margy

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  14. Sorry for the rough week. I hope the weekend was better.

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  15. I always look for the silver lining and the one I see here is you two getting away from it all lol! You will appreciate your wonderful holiday even more after a week of CRAP!! Hope you foot fully heals so you can do lots of walking pain-free while you're away!

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  16. Some weeks it all happens at the same time and we just have to roll with the punches....Take deep breaths, exhale, paste a smile on your face and go on. Have a wonderful trip and I am eager to see your pictures! Hugs Valerie xxx

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