Warning- Do not leave your purse in the car!

I am writing this post less for myself than for the handful of blogger friends and readers I have out there.

I went to San Dimas Canyon Park today after taking the kids to the library storytime. I was there less than ten minutes when another mom came to the park and approached me asking if I had a Toyota Sienna van. I told her yes, why? She said that the window was smashed in and that there was glass everywhere. I was confused and told her "What? I just got here." Like, it can't possibly be my car you are talking about. She asked if my van was champagne colored and I told her yes. So I went over to my van and sure enough the passenger-side window where Adam sits was smashed in and my purse had been stolen. There was shattered glass all over the inside of the car, on the carseat, and still hanging from the window.

I didn't hear anything, or see anyone. I had been sitting on the bench facing the playground when it happened and there were at least three other mothers at the park playground as well. It happened so fast.

Good news is that I was able to use another woman's cell phone to call the police. The sheriff was very nice and she called Sander's Towing who cleaned everything up (as best they could) for free. They popped out the rest of the window glass, and shook out the carseat and got as much of it out of the car to make it safe to drive home. I was very thankful for that. And thankful that the sheriff let me use her personal cell phone to call my bank and cancel my cards right away. That created the most emotional panic for me because I know how quickly your name and information can be used to create and charge accounts.

So we are all fine and ok, and my purse was the only item taken. Which had all of FOUR DOLLARS inside. The rest of my day has been in doing the legwork to file a fraud alert, cancel my bank accounts and establish new ones. I have to make an appt. for the DMV and get the car fixed. It's more of a hassel than anything. And it will cost us money of course. I do hope that this is the end of it and that the person who has all of my information is not particularly saavy.

So lesson learned: Never leave your purse in the car. Especially now, people are more desperate.

I also think it is a good idea to have a purse with a long enough strap so that you can hang it across your chest. This way you have both hands free to handle your children w/o your purse slipping off your shoulder or ever needing to set it down. That was how my purse got stolen the last time. I was helping Frannie onto the potty in a Stater Bros. bathroom and set my purse down by the toilet to help her. As I later went to pay for my groceries I realized I had left my purse in there. And in that short time it had been stolen. When I got home a new account had already been opened in Wal-Mart and a $1000 charged.