This is Why I Hate Leaving My House Unattended...

 So this is certainly not a post I wanted to make. 

A little Lazy Lady History Moment... 

When we moved into this house, we had someone break in within a year. We'd gone out to see the fireworks on Independence Day and came back to a mostly normal looking house... I went into our bedroom and saw the cable box thrown on the bed. I asked hubby if he'd done that, and he said no. As we looked around more closely, we could see that the unpacked boxes in front of the back door (which is in our Master Bedroom) were pushed forward. He went back into his office and saw that tons of video games and gaming systems and other tech paraphernalia were missing. In my office, some luggage was missing, as were a few storage totes. We (and the cops) assumed that kids broke in via the back door, used the luggage and totes to collect stuff they were stealing, but were interrupted and ran away when they heard us come home. They could have been in the house just moments before we came in. To this day, I get The Antsies when the house is empty for more than a day... I worry that I'm coming back to a burgled house and we're wiped out completely clean, like you see on TV.

It didn't happen like that, but we were burgled again this morning.

I was working from home, and hubby called at 9:30. His employer was forcing everyone to wear masks again (ugh), and he just couldn't do it again, so he called me to come get him. I wrapped up what I was doing and left right about 10am. I picked him up, stopped at the ATM near the house for some cash to put into The Kiddo's Christmas card, then headed home. 

He went around the back of the house, looking for the local stray pregnant cat to check on her. As I got out of the car, I saw a black hat on the front walk. Only thinking that it blew onto our property from the busy road, I walked down to the street to hang it on a tree, in case the owner came looking for it. I got about halfway when I saw hubby running along the side of the house, telling me to call 911 because someone was IN the house! 

I pushed the emergency button on the alarm system key fob while I fumbled my cell phone and called 911. Local police pulled up in force, probably seven or eight cars, including K9 officer Mikey. They checked the surroundings, looking to see if the bad guys were in the bushes. Then they checked the house with the K9, guns drawn, and reported all clear. Meanwhile hubby and I are on the sidewalk giving our statements to another officer (and freezing our balls off... it's December, and I'm just in flip flops and lounge pants, since I only planned on being in the car!)

One officer had us follow him around the interior of the house and point out anything that was out of the ordinary. Except for moved furniture and slight messes because of Officer Mikey, everything seemed fine. It looked like the burglar pulled out five or six panes of glass from the office's jalousie window and reached in to grab Hubby's Nintendo Switch, which he kept on a charging dock on a shelf in front of the window (hindsight reveals that this was a stupid place to charge an expensive electronic device!). There were no footprints or shoe marks on the windowsill, and no dirt or leaves inside the room, so the police think that he was never in the house. Maybe he only wanted the Switch, or maybe we showed up before he could get into the house and steal more things. The officer was able to get a fresh fingerprint from the windowsill, so we might get lucky with a match (and let's hear it for lazy homeowners who don't clean all the time, right?!) The detective said that they'd get back with us in the next day or so. They didn't, actually, but cut them some slack, since it was the week of Christmas. 

Our cat Clover (who is already skittish) was traumatized... it took her about 3 hours to come out of hiding! Lord only knows what went through her mind when big ol' Belgian Malinois Mikey came tearing through the house!

The rough removal of the window glass slats fucked up the window hardware, but we were able to slide the panes back in and tape them with Gorilla Tape for now; eventually we'll need to replace the entire window. Despite the damage to the window, and the loss of the electronics, I think we're going to skip reporting this to our insurance provider. Our deductible is about $1000, and the window and Nintendo would cost just about that to replace, so it's not really worth the hassle (and the increased premiums down the road, either). 

So, my afternoon was spent trying to chill out and stop freaking out, and buying additional sensors for our alarm system. We only armed major entry and exit points, but after this, I want sensors on every single window, every single door in this house, and an outdoor camera or two as well! 

Future Lazy, coming back to add...

They found our stuff! They were able to trace the Switch to "the new owner" when they tried to register it. The detective who brought it back to us said that it was given to a nephew of the burglar as a Christmas gift, and when the kiddo went online to create an account, it pinged some system and alerted the police. The police were able to go to the nephew's house and get it back, and damn it all if I don't feel bad for this kid... He (and his mom) didn't ask for stolen goods! How dare this thief take OUR stuff and give it away!! He not only hurt us, but he hurt that kid too, who had no idea why someone was taking his brand new toy away from him. But I'm happy to have it back, because it was originally a gift from The Kiddo to Hubby, right before she moved out. And yes, he's learned his lesson and doesn't keep expensive electronics in full view of the back window.