Lesson Learned

...the hard way.

Last week, after picking up the kids from school, Cate fell asleep in the car. I parked in the front of our house in our circle drive, which I rarely due, but we planned to go out later to get groceries as a family (since we needed to do major food shopping after our trip to WDW).

Usually, she wakes up the minute I take her out of the car. However, today was an exception. She just nuzzled up to my neck and didn't want me to put her down. Now, since this child has never been a cuddler, I took full advantage of the situation and just parked myself on the couch and let her nap on me while I watched tv.

By the time Matt got home that night, I was beat. After Cate had slept on me for almost 2 hours (yep, 2 hours), I did some much needed laundry from the aforementioned trip. This and cleaning up the playroom had worn me out, so Matt offered to do the grocery shopping after the kids went to bed. In the meantime, I fell asleep on the couch watching the Olympics. As he returned from shopping, he woke me up and asked if I was going to bed, I groggily got up and headed to bed.....forgetting about my car parked outside....unlocked with my wallet and iPhone in it!

That's right, I had intended to grab our stuff (ie, wallet, phone, backpacks, etc) after I got Cate inside. But, remember, she stayed asleep on me for 2 hours. By the time she woke up, I completely forgot my car was out front.

Sooooo, the lesson learned....when I went out the next morning to warm up my car, I did not find my phone or wallet anywhere in sight. I then brushed it off to pregnancy brain....maybe I had brought in the stuff after all and just couldn't remember where I put it. But, then I couldn't find them anywhere and called Matt at work. He called the credit card company and sure enough, 4 purchases were made overnight with the card. So, we had to cancel those ccard numbers as well as our ATM cards and my cell number. I

I was sooooo mad at myself for leaving my car unlocked, but it was in my front drive less than 10 feet from my front door. I guess you can never be too careful!

The silver lining to it all was that my drivers license was still in my pants pocket from going through security at the airport...so at least I didn't have to replace it.

The really devastating loss was my very old Walt Disney World College Program ID card that I had saved all these years in my wallet.

So, I learned one of the most simple lessons the hard way this week.

Lock your car, even if it is in the driveway of your own house...and don't leave your wallet and phone in plain site!

For more What I Learned This Week, visit Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife.