Online SCAM artist: Collinsroy Skada

I finally broke down and took some pictures of our extra furniture to sell on ksl.com in hopes to make a few bucks and clear some space in the back garage.  I'm really good at procrastinating, so this has been a thought lingering in my mind for a couple months now.  So I did it.  In the middle of the night, only a couple hours after I had listed a few things, I get an email from somebody wanting to buy one of my bean bags.  But the email was weird.  This person asked questions about every detail I answered in the ad, AND didn't speak (type) English well.  So I was suspicious from the get go.  I found the ad first thing this morning but hesitated to respond.  Many hours later I decided to respond just in case it was for real.

In my email back to the scammer, I was brief and to the point, restating the details from the ad.  Of course soon thereafter, I get an email back from the scammer:

"I understand your message.  The total amount for your item, is $225 + $25 for removing the advert from Craigslist, And my client is respossible for the payment that is why I ask for your information.  A check of $2800. will be issued out to you.

"Please as soon as you got the check and get it cashed, You were to deduct the whole amount of this transaction and send me the rest balance to my shipper company.

Following this were details of where I could send the check.  Ontario Canada?  Not Nigeria?  Okay, that's a surprise, but most definitely a scam.  So... to anyone out there getting emails from this jerk.  Beware and don't send any money!  

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

It has been so nice having the older two boys back in school.  This means that CoolJ and I have a lot of time together.  He'll be back in preschool next week, which will be great fun for him, and will give me time for myself!  

Yesterday Church_Mouse was working from home and I was doing kitchen chores and decided to have CoolJ help me unload the dishwasher.  Since he's only four, I try to keep it simple.  The easiest part for him to do is put away the silverware.  He was watching TV and I asked him to come be my helper and unload the silverware for me.  I was shocked at his response.  On his way to the kitchen he said, "Come be my helper, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH." I couldn't believe I was hearing this from my four year old.  I charged him slowly, tackled him, tickled him while saying, "blah, blah, blah" over and over again.  He thought that was pretty funny.  I don't know where he initially heard this lovely phrase, but he sure is good at properly using whatever he learns.  

Since CoolJ is my "baby" I am trying hard to enjoy him all I can.  I am with the other kids as well, but once he's a full time student, my years of being a mother of young children will be over.  While I'm glad to be done with diapers and toddlers, this precious age of four into five is my very favorite.  They say the funniest things and they're so much smarter than we give them credit for.  

"Mom, I have diarrhea."

The blessed day has arrived that my boys go back to school from being off track.  I'd even threatened to send them back early!  Yesterday morning I'm getting everyone up in preparation for scriptures and prayer so HawkFire could head out the door to the bus stop.  Kobee comes up the stairs and says, "Mom, I have diarrhea."  Oh, shoot.  I'd heard that the "gomboo" was going around already this fall and we've been so healthy that I was quite surprised to hear him say this.  We had scriptures and prayer and I sent HawkFire out the door to school, all the while contemplating why my six year old has diarrhea.  

The epiphany finally came to me!  Sat. at the Farmer's Market I bought a small bucket of plums.  Kobee has discovered the joys of fruit this summer and he ate a good amount of those plums since I had them on a bowl on the counter top.  Kobee insisted he go back to school despite his problem, so I wrote a note to his teacher asking her to let him use the restroom as often as needed.  

I was curious as to how Kobee's teacher reacted when she read the note, so I asked him at dinner what she said.  You'll have to use your imagination here, but she winked, put up her thumb and made a cute click with her mouth.  Last night before bedtime Kobee announced, "Mom, I don't have diarrhea any more!"  

We've enjoyed a lot of other fruits this summer as well.  I picked up a case of peaches at Peterson's associated food store last week and I've been eating them like crazy.  We're down to the last dozen in the bottom of the box and they're getting soft.  I'm going to have to use the rest tonight.  I've already made jam from the last box we bought, so I'm thinking about dehydrating the rest of these.  The next batch of jam I make will be pumpkin jam!