I HAD NOT Lost My Mind

It has been three weeks since I woke and found out we had been burglarized. I'm sorry that's all I've posted about lately, but it has really been the thing that has been on my mind.

I don't think I wrote about it initially, but the morning it all happened, after I found my purse safely on the counter upstairs, I went straight to the dining room to check on Bryan's mamma's silver. After seeing that the box was there (hhhmmm- I actually haven't opened it - another thing to do in the morning), I glanced up at the corner, glass door-front china cabinet and something missing caught my eye. Crystal. Not whole shelves of crystal, just several pieces from a top shelf and an odd open place on the bottom shelf. I brought it to Bryan's attention and he quickly removed the silver storage box. Then he (and a few other people over the course of a week or so) kept telling me that maybe I had misplaced the crystal, taken it somewhere, or had otherwise done something with it. Why would people who stole Wii's, xBoxes and their games want crystal?

After a week or so, I started thinking that maybe I had broken some and not remembered (though I was having to talk myself into this scenario), or that I had offered them up for some party that I hadn't remembered. I didn't really buy this scenario either, but what else could have happened? And if the crystal was missing, at the hands of these burglars, then this would mean that they had breached the sanctity of my living quarters and come upstairs. So I was starting to buy the "maybe an old housekeeper or her assistant had picked some stems over the course of their cleaning and I hadn't noticed" excuse. Because, let's face it, the other option was not one I wanted to deal with...bad people in my home.

But the housekeeper as thief didn't add up either...I haven't had a house keeper for over a year, and I had just hosted the "Cookie Swap turned Gift Exchange" in December, having brought out(and had) all of my crystal.

But for two weeks I still fretted over the crystal. And Friday, when the Detective made her third trip to my house to deliver some more recovered items, she let me know that the suspects had started getting blabby and brought up some crystal. At this point, she had not brought up to them anything about me missing some crystal. So Friday was the day she let me know that I had not been losing my mind. And I felt vindicated.

And then quickly, I felt violated all over again. The violated feeling had gone away with the first delivery of recovered items and then "poof", gone with delivery number three and the realization of intruders in the living quarters.

Other missing things surfaced this weekend. Not only had they taken my Vera Bradley bag that I used for my Bible Study tote, but they had take Julia's large and her small Vera duffel bags that were in the laundry room, under the laundry table. We realized this when we needed them to pack with this weekend. More violation.

So all in all, here's the rundown of crap they got from us....

One Wii Game Console (w/ cords) - RECOVERED
4 Wii Wands - RECOVERED
1 “Motion Plus” accessory (wand extender) - RECOVERED
4 Wii Nun chucks - RECOVERED
1 Wii Microphone

1 Xbox Game console (w/ power cord) - RECOVERED
4 controllers - only one recovered
1 Xbox IR remote control and receiver

Game Cube wireless remote receiver

Vera Bradley Bags – "Vera", "Large Duffel", "Small Duffel"
Crystal – Gorham Lady Anne
wine glasses – 3
goblets – 2
highball - 1

Wii Games (18 +) - 19 RECOVERED

Xbox Games (13+) - 10 RECOVERED

Game Cube Games (15+) - all but 6 RECOVERED (we had added to this list and I don't have the new count.)

I can't wait to see if there's a fourth trip of recovered items. I'll be sure to let you know.