The Life and Times of Alann

So for those who don't know we have moved from Ut and now live in Mo. We moved to Ut for me to go to school, we had planned on being there for 5yrs but through some hard work, luck and no summer vacation we were able to do 2 degrees in 4 yrs and finish early. Now all I have to do is get a job and start making money. The move out here was definitely no picnic, i won't go into too many details (if you want a longer story check out Becca's blog), but it suffices to say that it was very long and painful.

Some of the high lights include me sleeping on a pile of boxes the last night in Ut, because we packed the blow up beds, the truck radiator breaking down within the first 2 hrs of moving and a rainstorm at the end of the trip that I decided to pull over and sleep through because the truck was making an odd noise and it was 12:30 at night. The rest of the trip went as I expected it would with 2 kids, lots of pulling over and rest breaks. I was actually in another vehicle than the kids, but because they had to stop so often I was usually in front even though i was moving slower, so I can guess how it was going in the van.

It is good to finally be done moving and now we just have to unpack everything and settle into a our new lives. Internet access time is kinda limited right now because i am way busy trying to unpack and look for a job, but I should be able to post once or twice a week for now and hopefully more often once things settle into a routine.

This is the first night that I don't have to blog about any theft stories! Granted we still have to pack up the garage, but i think it was too messy for him to want to bother going through, so i think we are safe for the most part. Today we did some more packing and yard work to get the house ready for when we leave. We had a lady come by today and look at the house, she said the same thing that we hear every time. Wow this is the nicest house I've seen, but its kinda small. More and more I think about converting our garage into a second living area and just putting a carport off the front of it. We probably wont do it, but it is way tempting.

One possibly exciting thing that happened today is that our Fuji apple tree grew 3 offshoots 2 of which we where able to dig out and trim off. We are going to see if we can't get them to live and take them to Mo with us. We have been semi-joking about taking the tree with us, but if these shoots live then it will be like taking the tree and we will start a little grove somewhere in mo. Becca really wants a little fruit tree groove with 2-3 of a couple trees like apple, pear, fig, peach, and money. I personally am hoping for that last tree so i can just stay home and tinker around on projects. Well thats all for tonight, we have to get up extra early tomorrow and run errands.

Here should be the last submission of our little theft experience. This morning we went over to the public library at 10:30 am as per their requested time (we originally requested 10am) and we found a table to sit at and got all the documents ready to sign. Then we waited.... and waited.... and waited..... and waited. At 10:45 we started to call Janet and leaving her voicemails asking where she was and what was going on. We never get any response and both Becca and I are upset because they are very late for something very important and now it seems that they are ignoring our phone calls and have decided to no longer cooperate.

After 20 min Becca says we need to leave because we have other things to do today and apparently they are not coming. I being an optimist say "Maybe over slept her alarm. She does work nights now and maybe she wanted to try and get in a quick nap before meeting us." Becca said "yeah maybe" and left her a text saying to call us. As we are running errands in the car Becca's phone rings and it is Janet on the line. I pick up and she tells me that she is so sorry, she over slept her alarm and did not mean to miss our appointment. She seemed to honestly be upset and sorry for missing the appointment so we rescheduled with her for later after we are done with our errands. (My question is why didn't Ben wake her up and say it is time to go?)

Around 2:30 we told them we were home from our errands and to come over to the house to sign the paper work, which consisted of a second "Damages Done" document and a corresponding Promissory note. This is the new Damages document is the same as the first except that the payment dates and amounts have been listed and it no longer says we can go after them for financial compensation, however it says nothing about going to the law. It also infers that this will be enacted once all the payments have been made (in 2 months).

"This document affirms that the second party acknowledges responsibility of the first party’s claim of “damages done” and seeks to make the first party financially whole again with the agreed upon sum of $400 to be paid by 2 cashiers checks or money orders the first being to the sum of $100 to be paid no later than September 30^th 2010 and the second check being the sum of $300 to be paid no later than October 15^th 2010 as noted in the accompanying promissory note.

In return for being made financially whole again the first party agrees to not seek any more financial compensation for additional “lost/stolen” items against the second party upon the completion of payment. "

The promissory note is a standard print and fill out the blanks legal document that says they are responsible for paying us a certain amount by a certain date in certain payment methods and that if they default we can legally pursue them and they agree to pay all legal fees if that happens. It also says that if they want to pay off earlier than scheduled that they can and not be penalized, which is important to note because some of the loan documents people fill out have clauses making you pay fees if you pay off early (so check all your loan docs before signing). We also are not charging them interest, but can call the whole amount due immediately if they miss their first payment grace period.

However while we do have some open options to seek legal action Becca and I have decided not to pursue them for any other "lost" items unless they are well above $500, promissory note aside. That is because we know there are no more money stashes around the house to be found missing and that we have a $500 deducible for our home insurance policy so any other loss would need to be above that amount for it to be eligible for compensation. Also I don't think we have anything else worth over a couple hundred dollars that is worth stealing that hasn't already been accounted for. So I would say that if there is still more missing by now we have recovered 80%-90% of it (minus the $400) and that is a pretty good outcome for any theft case.

Becca says: Some people have been asking how long Janet knew Ben before running off and marrying him. I just wanted to clarify that they have been dating for at least a year, and much longer I think, and had planned on getting married back in July. That wedding date got pushed back to Sept. The "sudden" wedding that Alann was referring to was the fact that the wedding date suddenly got pushed up to August. It was a complete surprise to all but immediate family (which we are not). So it wasn't like she met him and married him within a week. Just the actual wedding date was a surprise. Alann says: I don't know if that makes her marrying him better or worse.

We also have made our first replacement purchase and bought me a new leather coat similar to the one stolen and luckily at the same price as the first. I hope that it is the first step to the real end of the torment that has been our lives this past week and that we can finally move on. While the story may hopefully be over, I hope many of you will continue to check mine and Becca's blogs from time to time as we enter into a new phase of our lives where we are renting out the house in UT, living in Mo and I try to start up my own full time Real Estate investment and management business and Becca does the same with her part time sewing store while trying to raise 2 kids. I hope there is no part 7 to this story, but if there is I will say so on Facebook, otherwise see you back here later for more news from The Life and Times of Alann: A collection of my ramblings, stories, rants and excuses to help pass the time.

So yes, the last story had a twist in it that no one expected or wanted, more money was found missing and our interactions with Janet and Ben were/are not over. Here is the latest in our story now. Becca has wanted to start a small online sewing shop that caters to young mothers who need things like burp clothes, blankets, hats and things. She was able to procure an amount of money (I'm not really sure how much) to enable her to start making her designs, prototypes and marketing strategies for her business when we move. If I had the website address I would post it so everyone could help us in this endeavor but it isn't up yet so you will just have to watch for the address to appear in my sidebar of this blog so you can visit it.

Anyways, she had $400 placed in a nondescript envelop, which was then placed in a locked safe box, which was then hidden under the bed and the key was on a key chain on her dresser under some stuff. Someone had enough time to go through and find everything they needed allowing them to steal the money. WOW! is all I have to say to that. There is no way I could be that patient of a thief, but I guess if you know your victim isn't coming home for a week you don't worry too much about it.

So we sent a polite and to the point letter to Janet letting her know what had happened and that we wanted to be compensated again for it. Because remember in the agreement we are allowed to come after them again for additional items of loss/theft. She sends a text back saying “what do you want us to do, we had to borrow money from my parents to pay last time?”

Of course my thinking is “I want you to take out a loan and get me my money back is what I want you to do!” But Becca and I both know that since we have had to come to them a second time that compensation is going to be harder for us to demand because Janet and Ben have gotten over their initial shock and aren’t going to be as willing to cooperate as they have been, even though the evidence is on our side. They also are going to be upset, like we are, that this situation just won’t go away

So we need to treat this situation delicately and keep the lines of communication open as much as possible. Because after this, the last thing we can do is go to the police. After talking it over we decide to give her some options such as paying it all now by cash or credit or setting up some payment plans. Yes I said payment plans and I will go into why we offered that later. Then we submit the message off to her at 10 pm (Mon) saying we need to know by 5 pm tomorrow (Tue) what they will do and then we wait, .... and wait, .... and wait .... and wait.

4:45 pm (cutting it close I’d say) we get this message and I am quoting here

“If we do pay you this four hundred, I’m asking that you to add to the contract that you won’t charge us for anything else that may turn up missing.”

What do you mean “if” you pay us and what “logic” do you have that says you shouldn’t have to compensate us for things you “lost”, and “may” turn up missing, do you know something we don’t? Needless to say I am a bit put off by this response as it seems my fears have been confirmed and they are starting to get a bit cocky about having to give us money.

We send a message back that we need to know things before agreeing to anything, like cash or credit payment, full up front amount or multiple payments, when we can collect and if they will accept a deadline allowing us to continue to look for more items as we pack the house instead of ending it here and now. We also point out that we found 3 BB holes in our office in the top corners, 1 with a BB still in it, hoping to shake a little of the cockiness out of them. Then at 5:13 pm we get this message (quoting)

“We would need a payment plan, my next paycheck, that I would be able to pay you with, I get the week of Sept 27^th. We admit to the property damage, and we are willing to come and help you fix it. We didn’t steal anything though.”

We now know that Janet has decided to stand with her husband and declare innocence, even though items were found in her car and the obvious time needed to steal these thing means it was someone staying in the house, and that she is a MORON. She then tells us that she will do 1 payment of $100 on Sept 27^th and $300 on Oct 11^th and that as far as the deadline is concerned, (quote) “I’m asking that this 400 be the last of it. We have willing worked with you on everything and have admitted to what we did do.”

Wow, so… suddenly we are burdening them with our problems and they have been gracious enough to humor us so far, but now they are tiring of it. I had no idea I was being such a jerk offering you the opportunity to do the right thing and replace items you are responsible for replacing and not involving you, your friend and your family in a police investigation.

At this point we stop talking to Janet and start thinking about what our real options are because after this they will no longer be willing to pay us financial compenstation. Do we go to the cops or do we agree to the terms. After talking about what is important to us and how we can best achieve the end we want, we decide to agree to their terms and draw up another contract and a payment promissory note.

This is as far as the story has gone for now, because tomorrow is when we will meet them again to sign the documents and finalize the transaction. Now I know some of you want to know why we agreed to payments, their terms and why we didn’t go to the police. I would love to tell you, but as they say, “the walls have ears” and until we receive all the money I am unwilling to go into detail on the matter, until after we have gotten the last check on Oct 14^th-ish, shall we say for Janet’s sake.