So yesterday I got this lovely email from my community email group...

(Oh... MOM... stop reading.... NOW!!!)

WEST COUNTY
Armed robbery

Two masked men robbed a man at knife-point near an Odenton apartment (actually it was a condo) complex Thursday night, county police said.

The man told police he was walking in the 2400 block of Chestnut Terrace at about 7:55 p.m. when two men approached him and pulled out a knife.

The robbers ordered the man to empty his pockets. After taking the man's cash, the men ran behind a nearby apartment building, police said. The victim was not injured.

One robber is described as black, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 140 pounds, and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, white shoes, and a ski mask.

The second man is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 6 inches tall, 180 pounds, and was wearing a red sweater and dark ski mask

Regular readers and Twitter/Facebook followers know that I am house hunting... and my mother is not happy with at least one of the neighborhoods that I have been looking in. But I will take this blog post to point out that crime happens everywhere (and it is really picking up in Odenton!!..Example 1 and Example 2). You cannot live in fear....but you can be aware of your surroundings (which I usually am...) If I notice a car behind me late at night... and they follow me onto the road before the street my home is located on... I have been known to skip my street and continue on in a round about way and if they are still behind me the plan is to head to the Police station (which I have never had to do :)). Know your neighborhood! If something makes you suspicious... take precautions!

Sent from my BlackBerry

So when we last left the stolen rug situation...

I had my note's on the front door...well today passed the 48 hour mark. I called the local non-emergency number and stated that I wanted to file a police report.

Dispatch - What was stolen?

Me - The welcome mat in front of my door.

Dispatch - We have 2 ways your can file the report - using an over the phone service or send an officer out.

Me - (being honest) -an officer please.. I want the people to see the car.

Yes the whole thing sounds stupid to me even typing it :(

The office arrived in about 20 minutes... he was very nice. He was amazed .. and kept calling the person a grinch... I said I just thought it was someone who liked it so much they wanted it for themselves.

So I have a case #.

So now I took my wreath off of my front door (don't want anything of value out there).
and replaced it with this sign:



:D

I came home from work yesterday to find my Winter themed welcome mat missing... (the above image is a snapshot of the box).

My mom made this rug for me years ago (she told me last night it took her 6 months!!). I have put it outside my condo unit door ever since I bought it and moved in...6.5 years ago :(

Never ever had a problem before (it's a "secure" building) ... I have packages delivered all the time (see my shoe habit :P), nothing has ever gone missing ... not the boxes from Dell, or Amazon, or Nordstrom, or Sephora.

So I was really upset ... and debated calling the police. After talking to my mother, I decided to put a sign on the building's front door... (with a pic of the rug)

Still no sign of the rug... :(

as my mom said last night ...