Worst Birthday...EVER.

(I just realized how long this post is. I'll be impressed if any one actually reads it. Here is the quick recap: One trip to the ER and 4 credit card/ATM denials makes one BAD birthday.)

The day began marvelously, Luke slept in until 9:30. That means that he was sleeping for 15 hours (other than a couple times to eat). What a birthday gift for Daddy. Well, thank you for that, Luke, because the rest of the day quickly unraveled...

Since we returned from Maryland yesterday, I wasn't prepared for the usual celebratory breakfast. When Jimmy mentioned that he wanted to go to McDonald's, I told him to stay in bed while I went to get the food. While driving to MC's, I realized that the two week break from Michigan had left my brain a little foggy and I got lost. I quickly recovered and got in the drive through line. As I went to pay for the food with my credit card, I never carry cash, the woman yelled at me to back up to the first window again. So, I did only to find out that my credit card had been declined. Yes, a little embarrassing, but I knew that I had just made a payment before I left for Maryland and I figured that it was no big deal. I went home and got cash, then back to retrieve the food. We enjoyed a nice breakfast.

While I was on the phone with the credit card company, who assured me that I was such a valued customer and had a great history with them, I heard a scream and then crying from the other room. Now, this is an everyday occurrence at our house as some of us tend to be rather dramatic. I didn't think much of it until I heard my husband use the Lord's name in vain, an incredibly rare thing for him. I rushed in to find Jackson's nose flat, surely broken. These pictures were taken about four hours after the incident and the swelling had gone down a lot.





As my beloved husband becomes frozen when his children get hurt, I instructed him to get the baby and go to the car. So, off we were to the emergency room. After an hour or so Jackson calmed down and there was Luke hungry and wearing the same diaper that he went to bed in nearly 20 hours ago! He was not very happy. Three hours after we got to the hospital they told us that his nose was not broken and we should just follow up with an ENT next week.

So, we were finally at home, Jackson on pain meds watching a movie and putting ice on his nose, Luke asleep, and Jimmy resting. I made a mad dash to the grocery store because we were still going to have a birthday celebration. Maybe we could turn the day around.

No such luck. After getting everything I needed for the celebration plus restocking the kitchen post-trip, I waited in line after a little boy. When the woman was finished in front of him and his mother wasn't back, he moved the cart so I could go before him. How sweet. I thanked him and began putting my things on the belt. Then, his mother returned. When she saw what he did, she laid into him. Hard. (Ok, it was in another language, maybe Arabic, but it sounded bad.) I told her that he was only trying to help and she was free to go before me, but she just continued to scream at him. As I was being checked out, I thought that this was like one of those scenarios from the "What Would You Do?" series on Dateline. So, I made sure I knew where they were to go over and say something.

In the meantime, my cashier took SOOOOO long. Not only did she explain to me why she was only filling up each bag a little bit, but she repeated it for EVERY bag. In addition, she used the "gun" to ring everything up. Maybe her other scanner was broken, but did she have to put down the gun after every item? She finally finished and I could pay. I slid my card, making sure it was a different one than I used earlier. Even though the situation was resolved, I just wanted to be sure. Well, guess what? Declined. Huh? Two different cards in one day?

There I was with a cart of groceries that I couldn't buy. After begging them to put the groceries in the freezer, I said that I would go and get money and be right back. Since my ATM card for our new bank has not arrived yet, I ran home to get Jimmy's. Back to the store. Brand new account only two transactions made, plenty of money in the account. No problem, right? Wrong. After they brought the groceries out of the freezer for me and after I waited for the slow checker to finish with the man in front of me, I found out that this card was declined as well. What?

Ok, I've got to figure this out, so I go over the the ATM in the grocery store where my statement says that I have plenty of money. "Ok, whatever," I think. I'll just get the cash out and pay. Oh no. The machine says that although I have enough cash, I don't have access to it. FOR THE LOVE!!!

So, home I go again. Jimmy is calling the bank about the ATM, I have already called the second credit card company. Now we were freaking out. Has someone stolen one of our identities?

Jimmy decided to go to another ATM to get money out of our account in MD. Unfortunately, he was using MY PIN number and didn't realize it until he was nearly home. He, then, called that bank and explained the problem and we were told that it wasn't a problem. So, I went back to the store for the FOURTH time. I was smart enough to go to the ATM first to make sure everything would work. The machine told me that the card was DENIED. A-R-E Y-O-U K-I-D-D-I-N-G M-E?

Luckily, I had my cell phone with me. I called the bank. These are the people my husband JUST talked to who said everything was fine. "There is a block on the card for using the wrong PIN", they say. But, I can still use it as a credit card. With bated breath I swiped the card.... and I went through.

So, yes, I got my groceries. I pulled out of the parking lot at 7:47 pm. We put the kids to bed and my husband made himself a sandwich for dinner. No presents, they are still in the bags, unwrapped. No favorite ice cream cake, half melted. No relaxing at all. He has now gone for a walk, it is almost 10 pm. We are going to try again tomorrow.