Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween to my spooky friends.

I am rocking the black slacks with an orange cowlneck turtleneck today. We are eating candy miniatures for breakfast. You know, regressing back to when we were kids.

My tiny Ninja left the house this morning. He was NOT in a good mood. LOL

The big Ninja is having a “Fall Festival” at school today. No costumes until tonight so pictures will be up tomorrow.

Leaving work early for trick or treating so no posting today.

Enjoy and remember, if you don’t have a costume, you get NO CANDY from the 1969 house!

School Rules

We had an open school night last night. Now, many of you know that my son attends an excellent charter school here in Philadelphia. Going in to it, we knew that this school was going to be intense academically. We decided that our family was up for the challenge.

The school communicated to us all summer long that they expected the parents to work with the students every night. They viewed the learning process and a joint effort. Well, of course, the complaints were raining down at last night’s meeting.

“These kids get too much homework.”

“Too many book reports.”

“My child is falling asleep at the table doing homework.”

Now, they typically get an hour of homework everynight. This is for Kindergarten. In addition, they probably do a one page book report every other night. The Kindergarten will read 100 books by the end of the school year. They also get small projects and recipes etc. Sometimes, they get French and Spanish words to practice saying. It’s all standard stuff they learn during the day.

In my opinion, it’s do-able. By 7pm, dinner is done and we sit down to do homework from 7 to 8pm. After homework, it’s bathtime, story and bed by 8:30pm.

Well, the teachers reminded the parents that the school is highly competitive. They reminded them of the contracts they signed when the children were accepted. They also reminded them of what they said at the orientation….

“Many of you won’t be here next year.”

Is an hour of homework too much for a kindergartner?

The look for less…

I got an email from a blogger who says that she likes all of the latest looks but can’t afford the big named brands. I decided to do a “Look for Less” post for her with things under $150 bucks for the Fall. This one’s for you Mama…..

I am loving this coat from the G.A.P. for $128. How perfect is this as a car coat? Love the funnel neck!!!

Loving the wide legged Ol.d N.A.vy jeans. $34.50? Can’t beat em.

Ma.xx N.Y Patent Leather Bowling Satchel in Honey…$65.

Psst….the Cobalt Patent is sharp too…

Calvi.n K.lei.n dolman sleeved cardigan…$79 bucks. Cute with jeans.

 

 Top that off with your new suede pumps from B.a.n.dolino at $69 bucks.

So Mama….I say all this to say that you don’t have to spend a lot to rock the latest looks. If all that fails, head to TJ. Ma.xx or Loehm.ann’s or Stein.Mart and you can find all of the latest on the low. Good luck with the fall shopping.

Weekend Review

I don’t know about you but it poured in Philly all day on Saturday. I woke up and made a pot of Starbucks and enjoyed my ten minutes of quiet before the entire house woke up.

I made the boys some breakfast and sure enough, as soon as they smelled the food, they came bouncing down the stairs. I fed them, cleaned up the kitchen and then got dressed.

I know people think I enjoy working out, and I do….but when you have a full house that demands all of your time, the gym becomes a refuge. I hit the gym and enjoyed my hour of me time.

No screaming, no jumping, no one hanging on my leg. Just me and my solitude. I left there refreshed and was able to hit the ground running.

Did all of my errands….supermarket, farmers market for my produce, stopped at Tarjhay for snacks and Halloween candy.

Came home and took the kids to a birthday party. It was a pretty low keyed party. They made their own pizzas and ate them. Had some ice cream cake. Lots of fun.

Sunday…..cooked up a whole bunch of caribbean food and watched football. It was a good sports weekend, the Giants won and the Steelers won…..everyone was happy in our house.

Some weekends are not exciting but spending them with family is always good….rain or shine.

Bend it like Tali

We came home yesterday and found a letter from Tali 1′s soccer team. We read it and then called him in and read it to him.

My son, who is 5, is the youngest player on his team of 6 and 7 year olds.

Well, guess what? He was selected to his league’s ALL STAR TEAM.

So, no post today, I’m too busy beaming with pride and researching soccer scholarships.

YOU’RE A BEAST on the field and we are so proud of you!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Overheard at the 1969 house:

Me: Now why would somebody eat something and leave their trash on my lawn?

Tali 1: You know mommy, it was probably one of the Wu-Tangs.

I GIVE UP.

The Hotel Chronicles

By far, the most interesting job to have in the building is in Hotel Security. Our security officers have military or police experience. These guys are phenomenal and handle their business like no one’s business.

This morning the hotel is buzzing about a minor incident we had yesterday. It seems a gentleman called Hotel security to complain that his laptop had been stolen from his room while he was out attending a conference. Now the electronic keys that we use enables security to run a report of anyone that has utilized the guest keys at anytime. So they ran the key report for his room and the only person that had been in during the day was him. Housekeeping had not yet entered the room to service it.

The guest, Mr. uh…Smith insisted that his laptop was stolen and that he would be calling the police and getting his corporate office involved after he was done attending the day’s meeting.

Our security team went into action.

They began reviewing the hotel surveillance cameras. For those that don’t know, we have camera’s everywhere except the guest rooms. EVERYWHERE. The camera’s were able to pick the guest up, leaving the hotel for the evening.  Mr. Smith returned to the hotel with a male companion. Once they entered the elevator, they were observed in the HEAVY stages of making out. Mr. Smith and his companion then entered his guest room for several hours. The companion was seen leaving the guest room at approximately 3am with the laptop under his arm.

Mr. Smith contacts the head of security at 5pm to demand payment for his lost laptop. Security once again asks Mr. Smith if he had any overnight guests in his room that could have possibly taken the laptop.

He assures them that it had to be a hotel employee. Security lets Mr. Smith know that they were able to retrive the security footage from the previous night and it seems that Mr. Smith had a male companion that he seemed to know extremely well based on the elevator footage.

Mr. Smith starts to look nervous.

They ask him if he would like to view the footage because the gentleman in question did leave the room with the laptop in hand.

Mr. Smith breaks down. Tells Security that he picked up a gentleman at a bar and brought him home. He was scared to report the laptop stolen to his company for fear of having to explain.

See…..and this man would have had an innocent housekeeper charged for his shenanigans. Thank God for Security.

T-U-R-K-E-Y

I love the Holiday season. I really do. Halloween, Thanksgiving followed up by Christmas and New Year’s. When you come from a fairly big family, the holidays are always an occasion.

My Halloween is just about ready. The boys are going as “Ninja” and “Tiny Ninja”. Should be fun. I am going as “Evil Mom without costume” and Mr. 1969 is going as “I am only giving out candy don’t ask me to get dressed up” Dad.

Now Thanksgiving…..yes, that is my holiday. For me, it’s like the Superbowl of Food. I get to cook all of my favorite things and try out some new things. I usually attack the day with a game plan. I have all of my recipes laid out…..each one has the ingredients listed. I usually bake all of my pies the night before. I wake up around 5am and put the Turkey in. Once the turkey comes out…..all of the sides go in. Precision and timing are extremely important. I like all of the food to be nice and hot, coming right out of the oven and served at the same time.

You already know that I am both a food snob and the food nazi. Hence the reason, I usually don’t like going to anyone’s house for Thanksgiving. I hate getting there hungry and the turkey is NOW going in the oven. *sigh* Five hours till mealtime. Or worse, they mess up one of your favorites…..like stuffing. I love stuffing….so if somebody’s is not up to par? Oh hell naw….it ruins the entire experience.

So you can see why I stay home and cook it all myself. And this year, we have several relatives coming for the holiday. It will be extra special.

What’s cooking for the holiday?

The Dating Game

My best girlfriend in Philly is currently dating Mr. 1969′s best friend. I am so weary of this entire situation.

When he approached me and told me he was interested in her, I was not thrilled. Knowing that he has a history of dating lots of women (sometimes at the same time) I told him that I was leery…not of the dating part…..I was not looking forward to the ugly break-up part.

Background: He is divorced with three kids. She is separated and going through a divorce and has two kids.

After a month of dating, they have been spending the night together every night. He is always at her house. His kids spend the weekends there with her and her kids.

I see this ending in one of two ways. Either they will end up happily ever after or it will end ugly.

I am not an advocate of folks that are dating after a divorce, exposing their kids to another party so soon unless you are certain there is a future there. The kids get confused.

This weekend, she is having a birthday party for her daughter (my Goddaughter) and on the evite….it’s mostly family and him and his kids. **sigh**

Mr. 1969 and I were talking and he is not liking this either. Both of them have a habit of falling hard and fast and then when the relationship starts turning into work, giving up. I think these two needed to take things slower. I haven’t said anything to my friend because she is grown and my hubby says he is staying out of it.

We wouldn’t feel so stressed if they weren’t our best friends. She is my BFF here in Philly. He is Mr. 1969′s BF since they were kids. This is so awkward.

UGH……pray for marriage ya’ll.

Not much to see here folks…

So I spent last Friday at home with Tali 2. He had a bout of croup and a severe head cold.

He stayed up all night crying and coughing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I really was operating on about two good hours of sleep on Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning and despite the lack of sleep, and the onset of my own head cold, I participated in the Philly Aids Walk.

What possessed me to walk 9 miles in the hot sun with a head cold? GOOD FREAKIN QUESTION.

Needless to say, I came home and collapsed on the couch and slept.

So I am in the office because I was out on Friday and I feel like crap. Ugh….Happy Monday people.