The good news is … I found my bank card for our main bank account and discovered that the never-activated, two-year-old bank card for my personal mad money account works. From this information, it is safe to assume my trip to the grocery store was more exiting than usual.

All was going well, until I got to the checkout counter and discovered –to my HORROR– the bank card I would be using to pay with was not in my wallet. This is so far beyond normal and expected, because it is ALWAYS in my wallet, I had an instant panic attack. Not about how to pay for the groceries. Though it would have sucked royally to have to go back to get them again and suffer the embarrassment of that whole situation, my main concern was where the hell that bank card was.

I had it out at Sonic last night, but as per usual, their stupid card readers weren’t working, so I used my cash mad money to buy our fast food dinner. Normally, I’m very, very, very good about putting it right back into my wallet, but I guess while I was considering whether to hassle the poor carhop with having to go inside to run my card or not, I laid it down somewhere in the truck … and then forgot all about it. My main concern in the instant was that it had fallen out of the truck somewhere rather than just being lost in the truck. But of course, I didn’t have long to contemplate that crisis, because there was a teenaged girl standing by a cash register impatiently waiting for me to pay for my meager purchases.

Pulling my personal bank card out of my wallet, I swiped it and prayed a bug huge prayer. First off, I had no idea if it would work or not. My bank was very specific with its instructions that it should be activated with the PIN at an ATM. That’s why it has never been activated. I am rarely near an ATM, and it seemed a bit of a hassle to find one in my neighborhood just to activate the card. Then there was the concern that I wasn’t going to remember my PIN anyway. I have had the same PIN forever, but they picked it for me, and I have never before remembered it on the first try. In fact, it usually takes me three or four tries, which is why I tend to use it as a credit card rather than a debit card.

Well, I entered my PIN and prayed that not only had I finally managed to remember the thing but that there was actually enough money in my mad money account. I don’t keep up. I don’t get the statements (they go to Mom’s), so I rarely know how much I have in my account. It isn’t like I use it all that often or ever spend all that much. Color me surprised when the transaction went through! Phew! I was really glad I had cut the list down to just ten items so I could get out of the madhouse of a store more quickly. Now, of course, that didn’t mean I didn’t just overdraft my account, but at least I was going to walk out of the store with my groceries and wouldn’t have to be embarrassed about anything.

I practically ran to the truck with my goods, because now I had to worry about where the other bank card had been lost. I quickly stuffed the bags of food into the truck and then began searching while simultaneously calling my bank’s telephone banking system to find out if I had to run to the bank today too to stop the transaction from causing me more headaches. I couldn’t find the other bank card anywhere, and since I had some frozen goods that were starting to thaw, I headed home. Since I had it out at Sonic last night (but didn’t end up using it due to their stupid card readers not working again), I thought maybe somehow I had carried into the house without putting it in my wallet or perhaps it was in a pocket of the pants I was wearing last night.

The panic attack was still in full blast when I got home, and annoyingly, the card was not in the house or in a pocket. Cripes! I hurriedly put away the food and rushed back out to the truck. It took twenty minutes of frantically crawling around the cab of the truck, but finally I caught sight of some that looked blue and plastic. A very small corner of what appeared to be … possibly … a bank card. Naturally, the thing was wedged into a tight spot even my tiny hands had trouble getting to, but eventually I got my fingers on that corner, and sure enough it was the missing bank card. Double phew!

Now the only major crisis left over from this huge mess is how much I have in my personal bank account. The telephone system gave me a balance that is ever so slightly more than what I just spent, so I won’t be overdrafted, even if that is the balance before this transaction goes through. All I’ll be is broke until I get my money back from our main account. If that’s the balance after the transaction, well I had way more money than I thought I did. Nothing to do about any of it at the moment but let it sort itself out.

And for once in a million years, Lin owes me money. I’ll have to warn him if he sees a large transaction of some sort, it’s just me paying myself back for buying the groceries (and the fast food). Meanwhile, I’ll just be broke (nothing new there, I thought I was anyway) and giggling about Lin owing ME money for a change. :lol:

It’s time for some lunch and doing something to chill out and relax. This whole scenario totally stressed me out beyond belief.

All of this was no doubt the universe’s way of informing me I should not have put the dinnerware set in my cart. I was angsty about getting it, but it was only $7 for a setting for four (plates, bowls, and dessert plates). I couldn’t possibly pass that up, because even though it’s cheap made in China stoneware that will probably kill us, I loved the pattern (and we needed new plates). Once I chill out a bit, I will be washing them and putting away the black plates for a while and trying to enjoy the fact I bought new plates.