Authentically Nita

Why, oh why can't the citizens of our city celebrate without acting completely insane? We won the World Series and you'd think it would be a time to lift the city and praise. Instead, last night people rioted and destroyed the city. Doing everything from having fire riots, to breaking store windows, almost knocking over statues, looting, dumping over the metal trashcans in center city, turning over the big ceramic pots, trying to turn over a school bus, throwing glass bottles at police officers, tearing up street signs and spray painting them. I'm surprised that only two police officers were hurt. This is supposed to be a good thing, so why are people breaking things and destroying the city? You're supposed to break things when you're angry, not when your happy. Get it together people. This is costing the city money. Businesses can't open because they have to clean their stores and get the windows fixed. This is ridiculous. Here's a photo of the fire. It do...

Yeah baby!!!!! I would now like to dedicate this song to the Rays: Thumbs up to the Phillies for being the best baseball team out there and for giving us a wonderful baseball season!

The scene this morning at the Walk to cure Diabetes: Teams bustin' a move on the Art Museum steps. The D.J. was really good and took songs by request. St. Joseph's Cheer Leaders Dancing Londa and me. The five of us. Distant shot of the Art Museum. We had a lot of fun & we give the JDRF a big thumbs up for making this charity event such a great atmosphere to bring the whole family to! Can't wait 'til next year!

This was a family event to celebrate three of my cousins' birthdays. Their mom rented a rec. center for a few hours to throw this little shindig. Princesses Snow White & Belle are my two daughters. Davida as Cinderella. Glorious, Fareed & me. Grandma. Makayla & Darryl. Dr. & Nurse Pirate The girls in our family, outside the center. Bat-Woman & Bat-Girl Snow White, Belle, A Ghost & Iron Man

I'm giving this guy a thumbs down for being a jerk and wearing the N-word on his shirt.

I've been spending some time joining social networks for Bloggers and checking out other blogs. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people have a theme for their blog. The other thing that they have, that my blog doesn't have, is a header. I've seen so many pretty header images and catchy Blog titles. I'm wondering, "Is my blog missing something?" I chose not to use a header because I think it will clash with all the colors on my page and make everything look too busy. I chose not to stick to one theme because I have a million things to say and they come in a variety of different topics. I haven't been getting a lot of comments. So, I'm not sure if it has to do with the layout of my blog, or something else like that. I read somewhere online that for every 100 people that view your blog only 10 will comment. I can say that the social networks have paid off. Most of the comments that I received came from people who are members of those networks....

My mom seems to think Benadryl is the solution for everything. I hear things from her all the time like, "Her skin was itching so I gave her Benadryl." "He had a bump, it looked bad so I gave him some Benadryl." "Yeah, your daughter ate some crabs and her throat was itching, so I thought it might be an allergic reaction and I gave her Benadryl." "He fell of his bike and the scar had dirt on it so I gave him Benadryl, just in case he was allergic to the dust or something like it." Today she called me and said, "The kids are saying they're itching all over, I'm going to go buy some more Benadryl. It might be an allergic reaction to the detergent or something." I had to flat out tell her,"Don't give my kids anymore Benadryl!" She is driving me crazy with this. I don't know if they like how Benadryl tastes or what. What I do know, is that all of them were not having itchy skin at the same time and if they were, it ...

Last night on Larry King Live Georgette Mostbacher really pissed me off when she called Michelle Obama an elitist, because she wore a $56.00 dress designed by Maria Pinto when she was on "The View." Here's a video of Mostbacher, making an ass of herself on Larry King. First, it just sounded stupid. Second, she said Maria Pinto works by appointment only, as if you can't buy her clothes without setting an appointment and having her personally design them. Her clothes are available for purchase at Saks Fifth Avenue. The same place where Sarah Palin's clothes which purchased from. Also, let me just say, I don't see a problem with Palin spending $150,000 on clothes for herself and her children. Americans are big on image. No matter how many people want to deny it, if Palin would have went to the RNC with JC Penny clothes on, someone would have had some type of criticism for that too. Besides, this is nothing compared to Cindy McCain's $300,000 outfit that she w...

The walk is this Sunday. We've received some donations, but we didn't get as much as I had hoped. I'll blame it on the failing economy. We are doing this for Shalonda and all of the other Diabetic children out there. So I told the kids that as long as we do our best and go out there any show our support, we' will still have made a great contribution. Everyone seems pretty excited about our first year participating in the walk, except for my oldest daughter. Miss Twelve-year-old herself, says she doesn't want to walk that far and she hates walking. She's such a sour puss. I'm making her go anyway. Especially since trying to talk to her about supporting her sister meant nothing to her. I'm telling you guys, when these children get into their pre-teen years, it's like a whole new ball game. They have all these opinions and things to say. They get self-absorbed and everything becomes about them and their friends. Anyway, pictures will be posted after the...

Domestic Abuse affects millions of women worldwide. Some women may not make it out of the relationship alive. Many women are able to overcome and live normal, healthy lives once they have left their abuser. Some women overcome and rise up to tell the world their story! Brenda Thomas, is a Philadelphia author who went through a horrible domestic relationship. She tells about it in her memoir, "Laying Down my Burdens." I have an autographed copy of this book that I purchased earlier this year. When I started reading, I couldn't put it down! If I were a book reviewer, I would give it 5 stars. But don't just take my word for it, Brenda Thomas is an Essence best-selling author! Brenda Thomas should be recognized because not only is she writing and sharing her story, but she's also making a generous donation to benefit and and inspire other Domestic Abuse Victims. "During the month of October, Philadelphia-based, Essence best-selling author Brenda L. Thomas will d...

I just love the movie, "The Break Up." It's so realistic. Sometimes, I feel like I'm in that movie. You know, it would not have killed him to get off his ass and take a few minutes out of his time, to do the damn dishes! I had a discussion about this movie with my boyfriend and he didn't understand why Aniston's character wanted her boyfriend to want to do the dishes. He thought it was stupid. Well, it's not. It's not just about the dishes. She wanted to know that he wanted to help her out and that he appreciated all the work she had done that day. That's pretty much what it was about. He didn't really do anything to help and then at the end of the day he picks up a controller and starts playing video games. He didn't even try to acknowledge the fact that she was tired and wanted to relax too. Bottom line is, we need to know that we are appreciated and that you don't mind taking time out of your video game playing, to help us out a ...

Well, as most people already know, I'm engaged. We haven't set a date yet (it's my fault), I'm not very excited because I still have some fears. I have all these things running through my head. It's a big step and I don't know how people just rush into marriage without thinking twice. Don't think that I don't love my boyfriend, because I do. Here are some of the things that I worry about: Having a whole life with someone else. A life that could easily be taken away if he decides he just doesn't want to be with me anymore. (Or if he cheats on me, cheating equals the end of the relationship). I don't know anyone whose 1st marriage didn't end in divorce. If I don't get married, I won't have to worry about getting divorced. (All of the women in my family have been divorced, some more than once. My mom was married twice & she is divorced. Same with my grandma. My dad was married three time.) Divorce is expensive. I have a serio...

What did you think? I thought Palin was good on SNL, but I wish the SNL writers could have given her a better skit. It was kind of lame, but I don't think it was her fault. Most mom's have a sense of humor and know how to have fun. The 2nd skit was much better than the first. I think the opening of the show was kind of weak. Anyway, this election and watching CNN all day, every day must be getting to me. Last night I had a dream about Sarah Palin. No lie. I had a dream that me and my fiance were arguing. I got so angry that I stormed out of the house. I don't know how, but after that, I was in the Italian Market part of the city. I noticed a rally was going on. It was a very small rally (most people in this area support Barrack). So I figured this was my time to tell Sarah Palin how I really feel about her. She was in the crowd talking to people and shaking hands. I walked towards her as everyone was leaving and I called to her. She turned around, walked over and shook m...

I was sitting here moistening my lips and thinking how much I just love the C.O. Bigelow® Mentha Lip Shine from Bath & Body Works . I've been using it for months now and I don't know what I was using before I started, but I love this stuff! My favorite one:

"You can never get ahead of anyone, if you're always trying to get even" A friend of mine has an ex who is going through all kinds of extremes to get revenge. Sometimes p eople will do anything to get a little payback. People will lie, make false claims in court, destroy property, try to sleep with their ex to ruin the ex's current relationship, keep a man from his children, spread rumors, post blogs on Myspace about a person, or post pics of them online and use various other methods to get revenge...I know people that have done some of these things. When someone does you wrong, retaliation just seems like a good idea. The Bride's personal vendetta in the movie " Kill Bill " displayed revenge in the most glorifying way that I've ever seen it displayed. She goes on a revenge fueled quest to kill every member of an assassination team that betrayed her. The end of volume two is the best part. She kills Bill and unites with her daughter. It's beaut...

My family and I will be taking part in the JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes. We will be walking with one-half million other walkers across the country, as we try to reach our goal of raising $105 million for research. Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating disease that affects millions of people, a large and growing percentage of them children. My daughter has had Juvenile Diabetes since she was four-years-old. Our struggle with this disease has not been easy, but there is some good news. For the first time, scientists are predicting that we CAN expect to see a cure well within our lifetime! Now, more than ever, you can make a crucial difference. Please help us by giving to the JDRF. Together, we can make the cure a reality! Our Team is called: The Boo Boppers (My daughter's Nickname is LondaBoo) Team Members: Juanita, Shalonda, Tim, Tabitha, Fareed, Glorious

Even though I stopped volunteering for the campaign, I didn't stop showing my support and I sure wasn't going to miss the opportunity to once again, be in the presence of Barack Obama. I attended the rally this weekend on 52nd and Spruce in West Philly. It was so great. There were so many people. I have some pics, but I also want to share some links to other media that fellow Philadelphia supporters were able to get. There were four rallies in one day. Germantown Rally Photos Rally Photos Video A few of my photos of the West Philly Rally: Barack Obama Me Obama supporters having fun with McCain/Bush Puppet The Crowd There were so many people. Suzanne Malveaux, Reporter from my favorite TV chanel, CNN

Today is my birthday. Yay !!! I'm officially 28-years-old now. Getting older sucks. Celebrities that I share a Birthday with: John Lennon Tyler James Williams

or, In Desperate Need of Fashion Tips for an Extremely Busy Mom! As I've said before, I'm no fashion guru. Right now I'm having a serious fashion crisis! My mornings are hectic. They begin at 6-6:30am, I have to have all the kids at school no later than 8:30am. I don't have time to worry about my image when I'm getting them ready. But last week I actually walked out the house wearing the following: Blue jeans Dark orange colored, v-neck shirt a gray hoodie black sneakers huge brown purse I almost called the fashion police on myself. My wardrobe consists of mostly comfortable, casual wear. But that does not give me the excuse to walk out the house completely mismatched with my hair in a ponytail. This was just a once in a Blue Moon type of thing. I'll blame it on the fact that I was running late. Thank goodness that no one threw out the stereo type that people so often say when someone doesn't match. But really, I do neglect myself a lot. When you have childr...

It's not always easy to help children with their homework. Especially, their reading. I was having some problems helping my 7 year old daughter with reading. She is under the age appropriate reading level, and just hasn't been able to grasp the phonics as well as her siblings do. I was getting very, very frustrated. Then, my closest friend, whom I've known for a good 10 years, told me about a method called, 'The Sandwich Approach." The Sandwich Approach is when you take a negative response and surround it with two positives. I'm telling you, this method works! Apparently, it's also very popular and I seem to be the last parent alive to hear about it. I've always given my children praises when they get an answer right or whenever they do well. I think what makes this method successful is that you don't just end positive, but you start off positive. Starting positive seems to give the child some confidence and makes them feel more comfortable with to...

Big surprise. The jury acted out of malice. This case was not supposed to be about his late, estranged wife, Nicole Simpson. However, it seems as if the courts have said, "We missed ya last time, but we'll get cha this time nigger." Of all the Native Americans, Mexican Americans and Black Americans living in Nevada, they chose the people who would be most biased to serve as jurors in this trial. The jury consisted of all white, middle aged people and most of them were women. The Jury was told that even though they knew about the previous trial in which O.J. won, (because he did not murder his wife) they were to put their feelings aside and not let that interfere with their judgement and the facts in his case. Yeah, right.

I don't even want to know what the outcome of this trial will be. The jury is all white and mostly women. This hearing is about revenge and trying to punish him for something that he was never convicted of before. The whole thing is just stupid and that's how I feel. I'm not even going to go any further with this, because it will piss me off.

My oldest daughter and I have a lot in common. We have the same eating habits. We like the same foods. We both love art. She keeps a drawing book with her work in it and I actually used to do that when I was around her age too, (my creative interests later switched to writing). I excelled in school getting A's & B's in all subjects except, Physical Education. During 'Back to School Night' I learned that my daughter is failing Phys Ed. Her grades in every other subject are great. I never told her that I didn't like P.E. in school so I have no idea why she is doing this. Anyway, she has some make up work and an Activity Log that she can use to make up missed time so I'll be working her behind hard over the next couple of weeks.

Today was my daughter's first day of school. She was excited about school up until this morning. She had asked me over and over when she would be able to go to school. I decided to sign her up for The Learning Tree and she got accepted. We were talking about her going to school since the beginning of September, but this morning she seemed nervous. She wasn't smiling at all on her way to school. Her father and I walked her to hang up her jacket and bag. We made sure she got her breakfast and that she felt comfortable before we left. Glorious walking with Daddy in her new school. Today was a half day. Her teacher says they like to start the little ones on half days because it's an adjustment for them. Anyway, she had a great time. She wasn't even ready to leave when her dad went to pick her up. She liked it so much that she wants to go back tomorrow. Unfortunately, tomorrow is Saturday, but she'll be there bright & early Monday morning!

This month is Domestic Abuse Awareness month. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States. As a former victim of Domestic Abuse I feel strongly about getting the word out and letting women know that they are not alone in their battle. I will be posting poetry, information and stories about Domestic Abuse. I will also share bits and pieces of my own story. When I experienced this, it seemed that there were stages I went through in dealing with him and the abuse. I remember when the abuse first started and I didn't want to tell anyone because I was embarrassed. The first time he ever really left a mark on me was in the Spring of 2001. Our daughter was a few months old. He punched me in my eye and it turned black and blue and the side of my face was swollen. I didn't want to go to work with my face messed up because I was a Bank Teller and my customers were regulars. I didn't want to deal with anyone asking quest...

Happy October! Halloween is approaching and this time of the year always reminds me of Door Decorating Contests back in elementary school. I miss those days. A few things you should know about October: The name October comes from the Greek word 'Octo' which means eight. On old Roman Calendars October was the 8th month. October's Birthstone is the Opal The beautiful Calendula is October's official flower October is an important month for a few reasons. The #1 reason: This is my birthday month :) Yay! Also, this is the last month for voters to decide who they will vote for. This is the last full month to campaign and get out the message of change. Voter registration deadline is 10/06/08. October is Domestic Abuse Awareness month. Here are a few fun Reasons to celebrate October: 10/02 Name your Car Day 10/04 National Golf Day 10/06 Child Health Day 10/12 Farmer's Day 10/13 Columbus Day 10/15 National Poetry Day 10/17 Black Poetry Day 10/18 Sweetest Day 10/19 Mother-i...