writerwomen

We lived in Milwaukee WI close to 20 years ago. My husband was on business in Florida and I went down to see him. The night I returned I picked up our dog and turned in. Every few minutes the phone rang with no one there. The next day I stopped at the bank on my lunch hour and debated taking out cash- which I did not. As I stepped out of the car in our drive which was off an alley a man came up to me. The trusting person I was I asked if he needed help. In a split second he wallaped me and took off with my purse which held all our financial info as I'd taken it with to Florida to go over things with my husband. I remember yelling I'd kill him if he came back. Once in the house the dog went crazy, he knew something was wrong and was helpless to do anything (I fimly believe the man knew if I got in the house first the dog would go after him). I called the police, got my husband's grandfather's service revolver down and called the bank. When the officer arrived he saw the revolver on the table and told me if I planned to use it be sure to pull the guy over the threshold first otherwise it wouldn't be self defense. The bank shut down all accounts credit cards etc.
On the advice of the police I called the phone company who when hearing the tale and the late night calls prior, changed our phone number in minutes. The dark humor in this is before I could reach my husband to tell him what all happened he went to a time machine in Florida and was surrounded by cop cars. They told him they suspected him to be the man who robbed a woman in WI less then 3 hours ago. In a panic he tried to reach me and the phone company wouldn't even give him the number. Thankfully I had reached my parents and given it to them so he was able to confirm with the FL police who he was.
Sorry to hear about your break in it certainly is not funny.

deenatoo

Sorry to hear about your break in. Like someone else on here, I think I would feel violated and have a loss sense of security. I am glad you were not hurt in the process. It seems like people are just as likely to try to kill you for the heck of it...they don't have to have a reason. Take care and stay safe!!

King's Daughter

Good friends from church just experienced this - back sliding door was unlocked, someone came in during the night while they and their six children were asleep, and stole mostly electronics. Praise the Lord no one was hurt.

Lots of good tips here on how to protect your belongings. I've experienced three break-ins (2 different houses), and it's not fun.
The last one, we had deadbolts, alarm system, etc. So they kicked in the front door, breaking the frame and damaging the drywall inside the house. We had to replace the whole door and frame. Evidently the sound of the alarm going off scared them because they left without taking anything. We had lots of snow at the time, and I think our security system sign was buried in the snow.

Also, in this age of everyone sharing everything they know about themselves on Facebook, etc., just a reminder to not post that you're going to be out of town, on vacation, away from the house, etc.

Carron

sooooo sorry this happened but thank God you are ok... they could have been nutzie and done some real damage to you.

sc-sunshine

I had not thought of this...i'll get some

gigi4419

Glad you are okay! I carry wasp spray when I walk my dog because not long ago while walking the dog I noticed a huge dog running loose toward us! Luckily a man came out his front door and the dog took off!

lynda1945

It does sound like kids. Glad you and family are not hurt and that most of your belongings weren't taken. You feel so violated when someone is in your home and you're not aware of it. Good luck. Catch 'em!

Grandma Mary

If you don't lock your car and someone steals from it, your insurance won't cover the loss...so be sure it's locked if it's sitting out in a parking lot or driveway. I had this happen while I was at choir practice at my church!!!! The only good thing about NOT having it locked was that they didn't break a window to get inside. Luckily the only things they took were my cd's. They tried my radio, but couldn't remove it.

Halo

Sorry this happened to you. There is so much of it going on now. The laws don't help with it either cause they just get a slap on the hands & let go to do it again. We have a dog that will let us know if someone tries to get in while we are home. You could always put a bell on the doors so if they try to get in at night, the bell would wake you & maybe run them off. My DH had his air compressor stolen from the garage. The day that happened, I had just left long enough to go to the store. Was only gone about a half hour. So we figure they saw me leave the house. We are so thankful they didn't come into the house. We did end up getting the air compressor back because a friend saw it at a kids house. The friend noticed the markings on it & knew it was DH's.

scrappy happy

So sad we have to live in a world like this. So glad no one got hurt. Glad you are putting on extras locks.