You are, you aren't. I am, I'm not. 47,000. 8,000. 30,000.

Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing?  Ugh with this whole stupid city tax department breach thing. After I had been told that I wasn't "on the list" then I receive a reverse 911 call telling me that I was.  Their first list was 47,000.  Their second was 8,000.  Now, they say it is 30,000.

What?

I e-mailed my friend who was a money laundering specialist with a bank branch for a number of years. She now works for the Federal Reserve.  (I think that she audits banks, but that isn't the correct term.  It's kind of what she does.)  For whatever it is worth, she has experience with such things.  A lot of experience.  Her information has been breached before.  There was a big bank breach that involved her.  That was about 5 years ago and she said that thankfully, she has seen nothing of it.  Her Marshall's card was compromised.  Just last week, someone charged something on her credit card in a city she wasn't in.  The bank caught it and all is well.

Her bit?  What I did was right.  She said that we run a higher risk of fraud and ID theft.  She said that she would stay with the credit monitoring that I put in place and that the security freeze is a must right now.  She said that after time, I could have it lifted, but I don't know that I want to unless I need it.

The city has a service line that is open this weekend to help handle calls.  I've been trying to call the number since 8 AM to see if we're on some revised list.

I can't get through.

Rrrr.

Why do people hack and take information and post it and ARGH!

I've spent last evening and today (when the pile of mulch is still talking to me) working with Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to put a security freeze on our social security numbers since some other country hacker decided to steal sensitive information and post it for all to see.  They hacked the city website, got our information from the city tax files and have laid it out for everyone.  The FBI is trying to see to what extent the information is released, but I can tell you that we are now subscribers to the Equifax Family Plan (our daughter is included) and now have everything frozen with everyone.  I can't think of anything more to do.

People can make me crabby sometimes.  RRRRR!

ETA:
A friend of a friend's husband works at the city tax department.  He was gathering all of the names of everyone he knew so that he could confirm whether their SSNs and personal information were really released.  He heard of us, researched it and we were NOT on the release list as the city e-mail that was sent to us stated.  Still, we have heeded this warning and all of our personal information will remain on security freeze and monitoring.  :wipe of the forehead:  I just don't understand why people are so hateful and nasty.

My project for the weekend.

People have spread far more than 4+ yards of mulch, but it's just me today and I'm feeling a hair overwhelmed. 

I shall press on to the nearest Circle K to obtain a half gallon of soda (AKA Polar Pop.)  This will be powered by caffeine.

Have a good day!

Tales from the Trenches: Remembering to count all of the B.L.T's.

I've never been a calorie counter, but as I said a few posts ago, my metabolism has gone south and the needle on the scale is going in the opposite direction.  I've decided to utilize the My Fitness Pal App.  I didn't do this to be a militant, crazed calorie counter.  I did this to figure something out.  I needed to see if there was more going into my mouth than what I thought.

There was.

My friend Laurie told me that she found that she needed to count every "Bite, lick and taste."  Goodness knows that when I'm cooking, I've probably tasted a serving size just in checking spice and doneness.

I've been watching very close this week.  I've been doing this to see a pattern, to see really what unlabeled foods "cost" calorie-wise and to get that freakin' needle moving in the correct direction.

I'm happy to say that I've moved down about 3 1/2 pounds in the last two weeks of really watching.

I'm sad to say that I've discovered that our 50 minute "brisk" walk each evening is all of 172 calories burned.

:snicker of the upper lip:

I would have liked so much more.

The last two days, I've managed to be under my caloric goal of 1700.  Today it was about 1250.  Yesterday I was probably at about 1400.

I'm not going to starve myself.  I'm also not going to beat myself up over days like Saturday when I was 300 calories over the goal for the day.

Any little bit that can help is a good thing.  I'm trying.

My sister and I were talking today.  I told her that I don't want to be like Aunt Donna.  When she stopped breathing on me, she was face down on the floor.  She was 273 pounds and 5'2".  When I phoned 911 and updated them on the change in her condition, the operator wanted me to flip Aunt Donna over.  I could not do it.  I could not flip her over to perform CPR, but that wouldn't have made a difference in her case anyhow.  (I feel no regret.  Don't worry.  I know that I did everything for her that I could.)  I don't want to be that person that someone can't flip over to try to perform a life saving procedure.  They also had to call the fire department to help them to pick her up because she was so big.

I don't want to be that.

I won't be that.

So on I travel to try to be the weight that I have listed on my driver's license.  Wish me luck!

Have a great night!

Happy Mother's Day!

My people DID make me my rotating compost barrel!  I'm so excited!

I mean, how could you not be excited about rotting things turning into usable soil?  :)  Have a great Mother's Day!