Words like ‘nefarious’ make me all tingly! :)

I, like every other sensible human on the planet, detest spam and junk emails.  ‘Tis very rare that someone sends you something that catches your eye enough to bother reading it…. especially if it starts off with “Hello very welcome.  My apologies you don’t know I am but….” etc etc etc

Today however I got one that started off with some  impressive language for something that was probably written by someone for whom English is a second language.  Impressive enough that I actually read most of it and damn if I wasn’t mighty close to sending them money.  I mean… it’s so obvious that they would use it to further their education at Oxford or somewhere equally illustrious –

Dear Friend,
 
Naturally, this letter will come to you as a surprise since we have not met,coupled with the fact that so many miscreants have taken possession of the Internet to facilitate their nefarious deeds,thereby making it extremely difficult for genuine purposes.Permit me however to introduce myself.I am  Mr. Adewale Emmanuel, One of the  Accountant of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,

(blah blah blah… snip)

Be assured that this transaction will not subject you to any form of risk whatsoever. However, in view of the fact that we are public officials, we trust you will maintain and properly manage the confidentiality of all the information relating to this transaction,which we have accordingly code “FORTUNE” which you must use for all correspondences, henceforth.
 
Your urgent response will be appreciated.
 
Best regards,
Mr Adewale Emmanuel.

Why obviously these guys aren’t one of the plethora of unwashed ‘miscreants who have taken possession of the Internet’.
Beautfiul.
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Coffee… chocolate… coke… hmmm not so much.

The Small Child has free clothes day tomorrow.  In exchange they are supposed to each bring in a block of chocolate to donate to the school fete chocolate wheel thingy.  Sounded like a harmless enough plan and the proceeds all go to the fund raising for their fete so it’s all good right?

And that was my attitude towards the cunning plan until I went to buy a block of chocolate.  You see unlike a lot of the Mums that were at the linen party I went to Monday night (and here’s me thinking Tupperware parties were torture…don’t ask) who all said they would have to remember to send their kids off with a block of chocolate from the pantry, I had to go out and buy some chocolate special for this.

I don’t buy chocolate ordinarily mostly because I don’t really like the stuff.  I can feel the disbelief from here from all my chocolaholic friends but it’s true.  I don’t particularly like chocolate….. and that includes chocolate ice cream, chocolate biscuits, chocolate fudge, chocolate milkshakes and definitely chocolate cake!  Eyuk… chocolate mudcake is the worst.. I only have to have two teaspoons of the stuff and I’m madly looking around for water to wash down the taste. I’ve been known to receive boxes of chocolate as gifts for Xmas or for my Birthday and then find them unopened in the kitchen cupboard several months later which annoys the other chocolate eating members of the household 🙂

So anyway I had to make a special trip to the stores today to buy a block of chocolate for the Small Child to take to school tomorrow and you will not believe it but a family sized block of chocolate cost $3.99!!!  OMG that is like highway robbery.  I cant remember the last time I bought a block of chocolate but I had no idea it had gotten so damn expensive.  I was expecting it to be about $2.50 or so…  but $4 for chocolate!  I am surprised anyone finds the wiggle room in the family budget for the stuff.
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What’s wrong with this picture?

Normally I don’t buy the Small Child fancy name brand clothes.  The reason for this is that he grows out of things at such a rapid rate it seems nonsensical to buy him a $40 or $50 shirt that won’t fit him in like 3-6 months time.  So normally he gets generic stuff picked up at department stores or things that are on special as you do.

However I recently went to one of those outlet shopping places that have left over stock of all the groovy brands marked down to either dirt cheap or rather more reasonable prices.  There I picked up for  him a few long sleeved t-shirts to see him through this winter.  Now we don’t get a lot of choice on boys clothes everything is red, black, blue or cargo green and usually covered in cars, trucks, flames, super heroes or for some reason skulls and cross bones.  So when I picked this shirt up I didn’t look too closely as it resembled much of what is on the market for his age group…. Exhibit A:

Looked okay on first glance…  and I admit I didn’t inspect the garment too closely.  It had a Mambo tag hanging on it, nice blue colour, print that look like you’re average sort of surfie brand.  But a few outings later I’m looking at this shirt as I folded it out of the wash and noticed this:

FUCKING SKELETONS… LITERALLY!!!

What on earth are they thinking?  Why are major fashion labels making things like this IN CHILDREN’S SIZES.  When was it decided that depicting sexual activities (whether they be skeletal or not) is acceptable for children’s clothing?!?!  Unbelievable.

Come to think of it…. it’s even worse if you’ve got daughters.  I’ve been shopping for outfits for my nieces (I have five of them from 1-9 yrs) and more than half the clothes available in the ‘pink section’ of the department stores looks like skank wear for little girls!  Inappropriate slogans, off the shoulder tops, boob tube styles, really short skirts…. strapless this…. leopard print that.  It’s truly awful and the Mums I’ve talked to about this all say that it is becoming increasingly difficult not to dress their little girls like hookers! 

But what can you do?  Refuse to buy these sorts of clothing items and make clothes instead?  You can’t.  It cost you more in fabric than they can pump them out for in China.  Not to mention trying to find the time to make mundane clothes.  Shit like this really pisses me off…
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Grammar? You mean Grandma?

I took the Small Child to the PCYC the other day to sus out the Tae Kwon Do for kidlets and the following conversation was had on the way home:

Small Child:   What’s does PCYC mean?

Mom:  PCYC is an acronym that stands for the Police and Community Youth Club.

Small Child:  WoW!  That’s an acronym!

Mom: Yes it is!  (How impressed was I?)

Small Child:  No… I mean WoW… World of Warcraft… that’s an acronym too.

Mom:  Yes it is.    🙁