Bad parenting or fake pap instigation

My cousin sent me a link to this video. At first I was in complete agreement that the kids were seemingly out of control. The mum unfortunately has a couple of kids who clearly can push the wrong buttons and enjoy doing so. But then I watched it again. Now I know my view may not be the common view but I have taken my blinkers off. I am disregarding the name of the video and looking at this with an open mind.

What we have here is a child eaten some grapes in the supermarket. Many adults do this too to ensure they are sweet before deciding to buy. It may not be in agreement with the shop but it does happen. Now the guy behind the camera has been watching the scenario and decides to whip out his mobile phone and press record on the camera. Judging by the scenario that unfolds after I doubt he spoke to the mum before he decided to start his surveillance. He is saying the kids are bad and that the mum is a bad parent before we hear him notify the mother what her son is doing.

The mum confronts her son and he walks off. The mobile phone cameraman begins pursuit. Surely if his concern was to alert the mum of her child's behaviour he should have walked off and carried on shopping. The child clearly can see that he is being filmed and in my opinion he is enjoying this. His sibling seems equally amused as the situation starts spiralling out of control. The child becomes hostile and attacks the mum back in defiance. He also becomes mouthy and very disrespectful. Now many will say the mum has lost control but the truth is children nowadays have more rights than back in the day. In school they are told how to send their parents to prison. So much for teaching kids the three R's. 

The only sensible person in the video is the young man who stepped in and tried to calm down the mum and also admonished the children for their behaviour to their mum. It was very sad to see and watch all the same. Such a shame all the cameraman is concerned about is worldstar hiphop website which he repeatedly says towards the end. He is therefore equally accountable for the way things unfolded. Much respect to the man who stepped into the mix to try calm the situation down even if it seemed in vain.

Is Summer Really Here?

In the UK for the last week the sun has been oh so hot. I am so loving it. The weather in the UK can be so unpredictable so I am enjoying it while I can. I bought 2 maxi dresses from Primark just to celebrate. Though because of my height 5ft 1", I have to wear a belt to pull the dress up off the floor and also to give shape as my bosom is ample and these dresses turn into curtains on me. 

People seem so much happier when the weather is like this 25C being the top temperature so far where I live. I know other areas have hit 28C. Yes please Lord, more sunshine like this. Especially as my sons school fayre is over a month away and last year thunder and lightening ruined such a fun day. I have a task at hand now. To find clothes for my oldest son who is so slim he has to wear a belt of adjustable waist. I bought some cotton shorts only to find the drawstring was an accessory an served no purpose. All labels popped off so I cant even take it back grrrr.

As for me I hoping to break out of my shell this year. Since my weight gain which I have yet to conquer I have played it somewhat safe. Though I am now starting to venture into colours and styles I would usually avoid. My friends seem happy about this. Curvy fashion bloggers like Gabi Fresh I find so inspiring when it comes to clothes. I used to be as toned as her but smaller in size but two kids later and a less active lifestyle now I have rolls (bb sad face). However it is nothing a spare of spanx or some lesser known brand cant solve. I will I will conquer my weight. I just won't give up. In the meantime no need to look frumpy.

All I need now is a decent pair of sandals that I can drive in and I am good to go. I hope you all are enjoying the summer weather wherever you are. Have a blessed week!

My day with Muesli

Growing up I was always around dogs when I lived in LA. Two of those dogs I can remember as being called Goldie and Smokie. They were tolerable dogs. The sort that ignored you and only wanted to inhale your scent. Those dogs were safe in my opinion. However I do remember an incident at the dentist office that freaked me out. I was with my friend for the day and as her mum was going to the dentist we followed. It was going all fine until a man walks in with his dog sans lead. That thing folk call cute furry four legged animal took set on us. My friend and I, ran around the waiting room screaming at the top of our lungs until her mum came out with dental paper under her neck cussing us out. It was not our fault. My friend loved dogs but I despite growing up with the odd few was weary of them unless I knew them. Now tell me why did that man not put a lead on his animal. Some dog owners are so clueless.

err what do I do with this dog? lol

Fast forward to today. I having not gone to my weekly ab class passed by my friends house for a cup of tea. As I am the visitor their dog (which is a Maltese breed) is put outside or in the kitchen. So Muesli (yes  that is his name) gets a bit lonely outside and often sounds like  he is breaking down the door to get back in. He is a strong little dog. Even though I am not a dog person I actually do feel sorry for him sometimes. I have said to myself I will get used to his presence so that he is not kicked out the door every time I come round. My kids adore Muesli and have actually started asking if they can go see him. My youngest has on occasion shooed Muesli away from me which makes me feel a bit sad. He is only 4yrs old and is acting as my defender. 

Walking in unison.

My friend and her whole household have been saying you will be fine the dog will not bother you. Though that is what all dog owners say right. Today my friends oldest son has picked the dog up and tried to get me to hold him. No thanks! Now because I felt sorry for him always being kicked out I thought okay what I will do is follow him on a walk. The idea was my friends son was supposed to follow me as Muesli was taken for a stroll. But what does he do? He hands me the lead and tells me to go on up the road myself. Let me tell you how this dog is very strong. The walk started off by him walking me literally.  It made me think of my friend telling me who is in charge the dog or the person holding the lead. On the verge of giving up I decided (with some folk in the background forcing me on my way) to just go for it. I managed to get Muesli to stop pulling ahead and it turned out he actually was alright. If he stopped and I was like "come on" he continued. I only slightly panicked when I saw a cat, because barking and not knowing what could happen next gave me pre-shudders. A lady walked passed smiling at me and Muesli, probably more at the dog than me. She probably thought he was mine at this point. 

Aww now that is better a matt for Muesli to lie on

Back at the house I took off his lead and sat down with him freely running around the house. I did me some self therapy. Problem now he looks at me as if I am his dog walker but no way. Though when the kids are on half term I will bring them round so they can take him for a walk around the block. This however will lead to them asking for a puppy of their own which may be a bit too much for me right now. Though the idea is growing on me. It must be because I bought Muesli a matt today for him to sleep on. 

This is a work in progress.

Happy New Year 2012

Wishing you all a blessed and prosperous 2012. 2011 has been a bit of an uphill struggle and blessing rolled into one. But such is life you just dust yourself off and keep it moving. There are so many changes that I want to make in my life. Though I know I need to change my mindset and not just because it is a new year. 

I am not making any New Years resolutions. The decisions I make are life decisions which can't simply be inspired by the turn of time. Things I have yet to conquer are my weight and my writing. With my weight I just need to motivate myself to get up and go. As I know once I start it will be good. 

As for my writing. It is quite sad when people who have known you from back in the day ask how is your writing going. Only to turn around and say umm not much happening. Even harder is when they say  but why your xyz good etc. Thankfully God has blessed me with a fabulous cousin who is an aspiring writer. She really encourages me to get back in the habit and gives me loads of positivity. Also I do know a published writer who encouraged to me to keep at my blog just to get me back in the habit of writing. 

I am very eager to get a job and see the back of any government institution. They make me feel worst than they ought to. I have a lot of people tell me that I should get a job I want to do instead of just work but I just want to write. So any job that pays the bills will do especially if it does not emotionally drain me. 

I wish you all the best in 2012 and hope and pray that your mind and spirit is renewed. So that this year will be different to last year.

Woah is me!

I feel completely at a lost right now. I was made redundant and was not able to secure more work. I am making use of a work placement company. I am not sure if that is how you would describe them. Basically the company I worked for pay them to help us find work. They are definitely 100% better than the Job Centre and are more realistic. When I am back in work fully I will speak of my experiences. So far not great. As for the council that is even worst. 

Did you see the X-factor? Oh my days I thought the finale was a complete anti-climax. You just knew who the producers wanted to win. It was too obvious this year. Congrats to Little Mix being the 1st group winners. As I have said on other social platforms. The fact they are female should give them an edge. No male singer has actually done well post first single or album if they were lucky.

I have not developed this blog the way I wanted to, but hopefully that will change. Plus my faith blog will see more regular postings. Both should get a facelift soon. Especially this one. It needs brightening up.

One more thing I am finally making use of my .com. The tech guys at my Domain registrar did all the techie stuff for me. After I has tried and wiped my url off the web. Silly me. Anyway you can update your  bookmarks to www.lushesbrownthoughts.com . However if you choose not to that is okay as it will auto-redirect.

I am rambling but I just feel so down and stuck. Praying for change in (early)2012.

London town

Last week was half term in the UK, so most school kids were off school for the week. I decided to visit my hometown London for a quick fly by visit. Also to get the opportunity to se my friends gorgeous baby and catch up with friends. I was not able to visit family just because of the distant and travelling with kids would have been too much hassle for me.

This visit reminded me that I hate the Underground. I just feel that some lines are so dusty and hot and sticky and well I just never liked it anyway. When I lived in London I avoided that as much as possible. Though this time around I must say I do appreciate it as it shortened my journeys a lot. Though so far Kings Cross / St Pancras is the only station that wins hands down for accessibility. Many tourists pour through that station and clearly when they gave it an upgrade that was part of the design. They have lifts. Stairs and escalators are awful when it comes to travelling with kids in or out of pushchairs.  Not to forget luggage.

It does make me wonder how disabled people are supposed to get around when all these stations do not have such access. Britain is surely not quite there.  I have been on the underground over the past years with a 3 wheeler a child in a stroller child in hand and luggage in tow. Awful awful

On a brighter note I am appreciating that underground train a bit more even though it makes me feel a tad claustrophobic.

Jamaican woman cussing on bus

I laughed out loud when I first watched this clip. However I know most people in my family would be disgusted at her behaviour. Yes she is vex because it seems a bigger lady almost sat on her leg, however this is not the best way to carry herself. She is not even in Yard and a gwan so. Most Jamaicans do not behave this way. Though one thing is for sure. When a Jamaican is cussing woiii dem a cuss hard ta raatid. To be honest it sounds far worst than it really is. Though yes it is still bad.

Update: Having shown this to my husband and some born Jamaican friends. They enlightened me a bit. The lady being cussed out is a grown ass woman. The young lady is clearly being disrespectful. She has issues that need to be dealt with. If she was back home in Jamaica the end result would have been different.

I just don't know

I really need to reassess the way I view certain people in my life. Over the last week it has been made very clear to me that some well rather certain people do not have my back at all. How hard is it to be a friend these days? Really! Even so called family.  Even non DNA family as in the people who are only family according to law. I just do not know. I am not one for ranting on here but I just have to let off some steam. 

I asked for some important information and all I am getting from two people is tumble weed. It tells me all I need to know. I am done trying to be nice. Someone is going to realise the importance of this information in the the next few weeks. You can't choose family but you can definitely choose how you interact with them. If someone really knew about getting facts to match they would act on it quickly. I care enough to blog about it but after this I am done caring, Going to watch from the sidelines. I wonder what would Jesus do huh?

The above picture I saw on singer @Rihanna twitter page. About sums it up really.

Hey Hey Hey

I have been quite busily trying to do a last minute essay of just over 2,000 words. This is because I have yet to master the art of doing instead of thinking. Hopefully I can start off on a better footing. I will not be making any New Years resolutions. I never stick to them. Instead I plan to continually make certain changes in my life on an on-going basis. I have failed to conquer my weight, however I have not given up. I actually do not like looking at myself in pictures when it is a full body shot. 

My boobs are huge and I just look odd to me. All my friends are kind and say that I have shape and a nice figure etc. Though when you yourself are not happy something has to be done. I used to wake up each morning just to put eyeshadow on. I did this even before an exam back in my uni days. One thing for sure I will take care of me better. I will be reading more inspirational and spiritual books. So if you know of any good ones let me know.

Wonders never cease...

At work today a colleague says to me, as I am getting ready to leave that I look like the Black girl from Glee actress Amber Riley who plays Mercedes Jones. In my head I am thinking are you serious! Yet without thinking out of my mouth flows "What, because we both fat and black????" If you could have seen their faces. Another colleague with mouth to the floor says "did you say what I think you said?". Yes I did. Sometimes you have to shock their ignorance with the truth. The stuff I am told daily in their presence just makes me want to kiss my teeth all day long.

If you have ever met me and know me you know they were talking bull. At work someone even said I resembled Floella Benjamnin. So I do wonder when I finally win the battle with weight who I will be compared too. Mmmm maybe Beyonce or Selita Ebanks or VV Brown as she is in the M&S adverts. No regards for height build and actual likeness.

The only person who said the decent thing was - we look alike on a dark night with your eyes closed. I just really give up sometime. 

Help me de-clutter

Image by John Pannell via Flickr

I have no idea why I seem to find it so hard to let go of stuff. I can justify keeping everything. The fact that I can’t just let go means I have a piles here and there of books, papers, clothes, hair, hair products. I do not know if the stems from being so poor I could not get these things and now working but not abundantly I just do not throw things away so freely.

I am getting better on the paper side of things. I just take a bag or whatever and sit next to my Fellows confetti shredder and get rid. It can be therapeutic but I think I need help. I do wonder if it stems from the fact that my brothers always stole from me when we was growing up. I have had the odd cousin steal from me too. Hubby sees my excess of stuff as junk. It is junk because he has no use for it. If we had our own home a big one with a garage all this would be in there. Except I would be able organise myself better.

As sad as it may seem, the most organised things in my house are my hair care products, toiletries and beauty products. Clothes are not bad but I need to get rid of some as I have no space for all of it. With clothes I have given myself the false hope that I can lose weight now and fit in them. Fashion will move on no doubt.

So I do need help. Major help. I want to live a junk free life and be a bit more organised. Please suggest something for me.

I have been told about Fly Lady but have not started to commit to the tips there. I even bought a book but that was only added to a pile of other books I already own. I need help.

Cakes from work

The other day a co-worker brought in home baked cupcakes. I am not in her team, but she had a few left over and gave me some. Aww how sweet is she. She told me as it was the last week of fasting she was treating everyone. It is a traditional thing. I had many people asking where did I get them from and what about my diet (lol). I am just trying to eat healthier….people need to stop watching me. lol.

My boys enjoyed the cakes and so did I. The big white box that the cakes are sat on contained my 4yr olds birthday cake. It seemed to have lasted so long.

Blackberry Dreams

I used to be a Nokia stand for about 10 years. I do remember trying Motorola at one point as well. Never got along with the latter. Nokia just offered simple easy to use system. I even owned the very 1st Nokia flip phone, which my husband sent abroad without my permission. Not happy at all about that as I loved that phone. Just think how much that would have been worth now.

Then just over a year ago my friend suggested I get a Blackberry. In fact two friends suggested I get one. To simplify the transition I got a pearl as I then thought the width of the curve was too much for me. My only complaint was a few  technical issues with the operating system. My messages were being deleted left right and centre. The timer would not disappear and T-Mobile UK call centres were fobbing me off big time. Thankfully their store staff were more help and problem sorted itself with an upgrade of the operating software. Not forgetting a hard reset I think its called when you take the battery out whilst the device is still on.

From time to time I check out the Crackberry website which I discovered almost immediately after becoming part of the BB alumni. There is so much on there for the BB addict plus you get to read about the latest phones and rumours of such. I was eyeing up one device currently called Onyx but the new Blackberry Curve 8520 will do me just fine. The track ball is replaced with a track pad like what you would get on a laptop.  That feature alone caught my eye.

Of course there are many many more features that the Research in Motion team have thoughtfully packed into the curve. Just check out the websites.

I am waiting patiently as my upgrade was due end of June beginning of July. I called T-Mobile and was told that the new curve should be available end of September. Lets hope they do a competitive deal. It is already available on Vodafone and Orange.

I think I ought to buy shares in Research in Motion and their Blackberry brand. Wonder if that will get me a seat on the board?!

I'm off for some weekend sun

Since MJ passed I have been in somewhat of a daze. I still pray to God and seek guidance from Jesus but you know what? His passing is just so shocking especially now that AEG have released some video clips of his rehearsals. He looked amazing for his age. I just wish people would do as he asked back in 1989 to Leave him alone. The music charts have a got a new lease of life as his fans bought out his back catalogue of music and now you have delays in getting some albums. True talent forever missed!!

Anyway I am off to Ibiza in the next few hours. Just for a long weekend break with the ladies to celebrate my long time friends 30th birthday. We are proper grown folk now ya know.

I hope take many pictures and will upload once I get back. I might as well make use of my Flickr and Fotki accounts.

Enjoy your weekend and remember to stay blessed and let God do all the rest.

Virgin Media and Me

As promised the engineer from virgin came round early Monday morning and sorted my broadband connection. It took him about 10 or 20 minutes to resolve. I was told the connection was still slow. He even walked in the rain to the green box to work it out.

Then Wednesday it just cut straight back out again. Just like that. No flashing ready light nothing. I attempted to call the normal customer service number just so that they would know the latest but although I got to to choose my hold music (blues) I could not be asked to stay on the line and said I would speak to them tomorrow after work. Surprisingly the area manager called and spoke to my husband and he told him the situation.

So at 4pm today he came by as promised and sorted my connection. It seems something dodgy is going on at that green box. They will be investigating. There just was no connection whatsoever. Not even a slow connection like the last time, just nothing.

It is really expensive when you do not have the service you paid to receive. Taking a few deep breaths and fingers crossed no more connection problems but mmm, we will see. Just happy Virgin see, eager to resolve.

P.S. I have to move the modem out of sight now as whenever it blinks I think something has gone wrong. Maybe I should become a shareholder in Virgin Media, buy a few each year till I can speak on the board. Now that is a thought!

A few things I want or would like

People will always tell you you need to get your priorities in life right. They will always tell you that treating yourself is not the way to go. I disagree. I believe you should enjoy life with your priorities in the right place but also to treat yourself to the things you want. Especially if it is not doing any harm to anyone else.

So anyway here a few things I would like to treat myself too.

• My very own 4 bedroom detached house with a nice size garden. So my boys can run free when the weather is good. Getting on the ladder is beyond ridiculous. Must keep dreaming and trying.
• A Mac book basic or pro (the silver one). I have decided that a standard laptop is not the way to go. Time to try something different.
• Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit family entertainment that keeps you moving.
• Disney World Florida, for my boys though as the youngest is 1yrs old this may be delayed.
• A hard disk camcorder with 40 – 60gb internal ram
• An external hard drive size 1TB
• A big car SUV, 4X4, Jeep whatever they are called I want one. There are some hybrids out there so the environment should still be my friend. I think Lala Vasquez’s pink Range Rover is soooo cute.
• My own business or two. Need more than one source of income.
• Debt free.

Right now I am so itching to just get up and put a Wii on my plastic but is resisting. If only I could get on the property ladder. Imagine waking up one day and being told here you go. Your own house no mortgage no rent. Imagine.

There are many more stuff that I want, but these were the ones I could think of right now.

Virgin Media Broadband is doing my head in

No seriously they really are. I have been having connection problems for months but just ignored it till now. It is like I just cannot get online consistently. I called technical support. Was taking through the usual fix that I did how many times already. Basically you switch off the modem, switch it back on and its supposed to solve the issues. It does not work. So then the overseas call centre operator tells me ‘oh that is quite bad ‘ you need an engineer. Then by way of a miracle it starts working before the engineer comes by. Then it stops working again. So after telling them I am leaving they are like oh we have this broadband specialist that works miracles etc. We will see. As much I really do not want to leave I think I might just have to.

Unless I can haggle down the cost. But this beyond a joke.

Update(29/4/09): Virgin Media's chief executive office contacted me with a solution. They found me and called and for that I do thank them for taking the time. Now we will wait and see what happens. Fingers crossed !!!! The funniest thing is that I was actually considering writing to them and they beat me to it.

My version of her body

I so would love to have my very own version of Serena Williams’ body. Just so well toned and looking good. I wouldn’t want to be as muscular though. When I say this to my some of my European friends they look at me like I am crazy. They say but she is way too big. Which baffles me because her body helps tabloids sell and some blogs get a good read.

But yes Serena I would love to have my own version of your body. After all healthy curves is the way to go!!!

This could be useful…..

I think an extra wheel just for parallel parking is an excellent idea. Then again a car that parks itself. An I-Robot type of car. What do you think?

Neutrogena Wave feels oh so good….

I love impulsive shopping. Especially when something is in my head telling to go buy that. Even more so when it is something I will use over and over again. Like another lip gloss which is a tenth of a shade different to the one I bought the week before. Do you understand what I am getting at.

The Neutrogena wave is one of those purchases. Except I normally use a standard cotton pad and cleanser of choice. Anyway the Wave is best described at a vibrating cleaning pad. You are supposed to take one of the cleaning pads and attach it to the Wave. It has a Velcro like texture to hold it securely. You then wet it with water, switch it then glide over your face.

The adverts I have seen show loads of foam. I know TV will show you anything. I do not get much if any foam at all. However it does clean my skin nicely. My skin feel gorgeous afterwards. I have only tried it on skin laden with MAC Studio Fix powder. I must try it with my Iman or Fashion Fair cream to powder foundations to see if it truly works deep down in them pores.

The initial cost was £9.99 from Boots on promotional offer. The Wave includes 14 cleaning pads, so I purchased a refill pack £3.99 that has 30 cleaning pads. I know recession times means this will be one heck of an expense to maintain. So I am going to see if I can use a standard cotton pad with my own cleanser to see if I get the same results. Will see.

I actually like this product. It currently gets a thumbs up from me

Check out the Neutrogena site.