A long post

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

It didn't feel much like Christmas this year I suppose that's what happens as the children get older.

I didn't get any surprise gifts which was a little sad.

Well I suppose I did get a "surprise" gift on Christmas Eve. A robber stealing my handbag mobile phone and purse!
Not only that he stole my car key and my work keys. I think he thought they were house keys.

After the drink stealing incident we had taken to locking the gate with a chain and locking the door and now we think they actually broke into the house and stole my purse as I do remember my big handbag being open on the floor not closed as normal.

So on Christmas eve morning I was awake at 400 am having slept earlier in the evening I had unlocked the back door to put clothes in the dryer and closed the door but didn't lock it as I was awake and the gate was chained.. I had just finished a cup of coffee and was taking the cup out to the kitchen when I saw the back of a young man in the frame of my back door! Wearing a white t shirt with writing on the back like concert t-shirt and wearing a maroon/pink hat with a buckle clasp at the back (I notice thing like that as only one family member in my house can wear a cap like that so I have chose caps carefully)
I started screaming he's in the house I'm being robbed at the top of my lungs.
He when a running with me chasing him but I couldn't see which way he went and with the dryer on that muffed him leaping over the gate I am sure but my screams woke the neighbourhood my dh came running and so did the kids.
So I'm screaming to get a torch dh is running up the road when one of the neighbours looking out her window seeing someone turn on a senor light and screams he's in ......... driveway! She so a guy in black wearing a hoody must have been his look out and he runs down the street to the street towards bushland my dh changes direction and screams call the police and get the car.
SO I get the kids to the police and the neighbours call as well and I'm in the car dh and I drive to the other side of the bush and dh watches to make sure he doesn't cross the road I go up to the edge and I scream my lungs out that I will "kill him" (I was very upset a few swear words were in there as well) just as I am returning home to see about the police I meet them at the round bout and give the description and they go to where dh is.
one of my neighbours even hopped in their car with a baseball bat to help us out as well.
At the house there are five police and they take the description put it out there and they door knock.No luck of course and the police bring dh home.
By 8 o'clock the next morning I had detective's there and 930 fingerprints. Of course no fingerprints that they could use even though he used the door jam thing to keep the back door open and we haven't used it in years.
It wasn't until I got home from chasing him and the police left that we realised the keys were missing.
For the first time ever since I started work I actually put the car key on the lanyard and hung the keys up. normally the keys as tossed on top of the shelf.
We think they thought they house keys as it a very male looking lanyard (one of the boys old ones).
So now the car has a club lock on it and is parked in my my mum's car.
Work had to get (at great expense) a locksmith out to change all the door locks and they also have to change the safe combination again they had only changed it that week because they let a supervisor go and had the numbers in an id thing attached to the keys with photos of my kids but thankfully that new purse they stole and old purse don't have where I work and for about the last month I haven't wore a work shirt and hardly anyone knows the name of the shop its just the cheapy shop at.....!
But as I couldn't get my boss on the phone I rushed up to the store knowing that one of the other shops was opening early and they can hear our doors opening and I asked to look out for anyone they don't know opening and call the police.
The I went to the bosses house and she was awake and I told her what had happened and she was happy that I had done everything right. But it still makes me feel bad as its a small shop and I cost them a lot of money not me I know but I feel its me.

I had just got my life back so to speak after the first theft. I had just got my drivers license my main form of ID and it had such a nice photo and I didn't have my glasses on for once.
That was the most expensive part of it all.

Its just so awful now dh talking about selling the car just so we can really make sure it doesn't get stolen.

A little update on the robbery I checked my phone account today and was given details on all calls made and handed them over to the police and now we think they came back as we went out to steal the car as there as a strange push bike out the front of the house and the car was unlocked! But the kids were home so maybe they we disturbed.
Now we really do think the kid on the corner is involed as we saw him and his gang today and although none of them matched who I saw they could have matched the second person the neighbour saw and they were on bikes today and the kid on the corner knew we would be out as it was his mothers house we were going to for a boxing day afternoon its sad because we have nothing against her just her kid.
This time the police weren't that careful about the bike they manhandled it and then even told us if no one claims it in thirty days we can have it!

So I have had my rant now
till next time