Thursday, February 07, 2008
LSC
I went to the Belding LSC meeting tonight. It was my first LSC meeting. I learned a bit more about the way Chicago Public Schools really work, met the principal, and learned that The Boy will be on the waitlist for a K spot for next year. The principal said the odds are "good" that he'd get in, but with their K classes as they are now, to avoid overcrowding, they are waitlisting the 25 out-of-area applicants.
One last thing
I saw a sign for a new restaurant opening up in my 'hood: The Blue Line Grill & Bakery. I hope it's the kind of place that I would go to!
We are obsessed
Everywhere I go, everyone I talk to, it's all the same: schools, schools, schools. We are in the 3-month wait between application submission and acceptance notification for Chicago Public Schools. And, as mothers, we are all obsessed. It's nearly all we can talk about. I'm planning to attend an LSC meeting tomorrow night, and a meeting about the proposal below on Friday evening.
Another school-related discussion in my world of late is CPS's proposal to transfer all the students from Irving Park Middle School to Thurgood Marshall Middle School and turn Irving Park Middle School into a magnet school with a 30% holdback for area students. We're all abuzz. I am curious to see if CPS plans to expand the local attendance boundary for the new school. If so, and it includes my area, I'm all for it. It would be an every so slightly longer walk for The Boy and The Girl to attend the new school than it would be for them to attend our local elementary, Murphy, to which I have no intention of sending my children, sadly. However, if the boundary remains what it is, I'm against the plan, because my neighborhood will be rife with bused-in junior high schoolers and I get to deal with all the crap without any benefit.
The Boy has his GEAPs test in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes.
Another school-related discussion in my world of late is CPS's proposal to transfer all the students from Irving Park Middle School to Thurgood Marshall Middle School and turn Irving Park Middle School into a magnet school with a 30% holdback for area students. We're all abuzz. I am curious to see if CPS plans to expand the local attendance boundary for the new school. If so, and it includes my area, I'm all for it. It would be an every so slightly longer walk for The Boy and The Girl to attend the new school than it would be for them to attend our local elementary, Murphy, to which I have no intention of sending my children, sadly. However, if the boundary remains what it is, I'm against the plan, because my neighborhood will be rife with bused-in junior high schoolers and I get to deal with all the crap without any benefit.
The Boy has his GEAPs test in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes.
Meinl!
Yes, yesterday was the election. And Mardi Gras. But it was also my birthday. It was a good day for me as well as for my fellow (non-native) Chicagoan, Barack Obama. Last week's incident notwithstanding, I feel very blessed. I have a wonderful husband, loving parents, cute and funny kids, and great friends, most of whom called me or sent me birthday wishes throughout the day yesterday.
One of those birthday wishes came from my friend B., in the form of an invitation for dessert and coffee at Julius Meinl on Addison & Southport. We went after all the critters were in bed and it was great. Although we used to go there fairly often when we all had only children, I hadn't been to Meinl in quite awhile. The menu has expanded significantly since I was there last. I got two jam crepes and they were quite good. I ordered a very decadent latte, to which the lightness of the crepes complemented nicely. And I love that they still serve coffee drinks with a side of water because I am always thirsty after drinking coffee. My one and only complaint about it was that, although they close at 10 p.m. on weekdays, the staff did everything in their power to clear the restaurant at 9:30 p.m. -- dimming the lights, putting them brighter and brighter, killing the music, etc. I was annoyed primarily because I rarely get to go out in the evening with the peeps!
One of those birthday wishes came from my friend B., in the form of an invitation for dessert and coffee at Julius Meinl on Addison & Southport. We went after all the critters were in bed and it was great. Although we used to go there fairly often when we all had only children, I hadn't been to Meinl in quite awhile. The menu has expanded significantly since I was there last. I got two jam crepes and they were quite good. I ordered a very decadent latte, to which the lightness of the crepes complemented nicely. And I love that they still serve coffee drinks with a side of water because I am always thirsty after drinking coffee. My one and only complaint about it was that, although they close at 10 p.m. on weekdays, the staff did everything in their power to clear the restaurant at 9:30 p.m. -- dimming the lights, putting them brighter and brighter, killing the music, etc. I was annoyed primarily because I rarely get to go out in the evening with the peeps!
Monday, February 04, 2008
Around town
With The Boy safely at school and The Girl safely deposited at Mother's Day Out, I spent some of my mainly kid-free time today running errands in Lincoln Park. First, I returned to the scene of the crime for a little shopping. This time, I brought in only cash in my pocket, my cell phone, car keys, mei-tei, and The Baby. No great scores today, but found a few name-brand things for both The Baby and The Girl, including most of what I had to dump last week, and a $3 cashmere Banana Republic sweater for me.
Because I never remember to eat breakfast and because The Baby always to nurse at some point during the morning, I was starving after my trip. So we went to Sunflower Market to pick up lunch and groceries. To my great disappointment, the store is closing. To be fair, I am not terribly surprised as they were competing with the big boys of Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Treasure Island all right down the street, and they were constantly running promotions on the goods. Those promotions were part of what I loved about Sunflower Market (also liked that they came from the Minneapolis area, which just seems like a fun, quirky, middle-America kind of place [although I've only been to the Twin Cities a handful of times]), but I could see how discounting your sales could seriously hinder your ability to make a go in a market. That place was never busy or crowded. I picked up a little of this and that, but was still starving by the end.
I still had a bit of time before I needed to get The Girl from MDO, so The Baby and I got back in the car and headed a few yards south to Trader Joe's. While I was there, I ran into a neighbor, a lady I remembered seeing at the Recycle Center yesterday, and Bethany Souza, from HGTV's Designed to Sell (who was really nice and told me that they always need people to be on the show from the Chicago market -- hmm, if only I could convince The Dad!). I'm such a nerd, seeing her at Trader Joe's was really cool. She told me that she's not really that mean!
Because I never remember to eat breakfast and because The Baby always to nurse at some point during the morning, I was starving after my trip. So we went to Sunflower Market to pick up lunch and groceries. To my great disappointment, the store is closing. To be fair, I am not terribly surprised as they were competing with the big boys of Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Treasure Island all right down the street, and they were constantly running promotions on the goods. Those promotions were part of what I loved about Sunflower Market (also liked that they came from the Minneapolis area, which just seems like a fun, quirky, middle-America kind of place [although I've only been to the Twin Cities a handful of times]), but I could see how discounting your sales could seriously hinder your ability to make a go in a market. That place was never busy or crowded. I picked up a little of this and that, but was still starving by the end.
I still had a bit of time before I needed to get The Girl from MDO, so The Baby and I got back in the car and headed a few yards south to Trader Joe's. While I was there, I ran into a neighbor, a lady I remembered seeing at the Recycle Center yesterday, and Bethany Souza, from HGTV's Designed to Sell (who was really nice and told me that they always need people to be on the show from the Chicago market -- hmm, if only I could convince The Dad!). I'm such a nerd, seeing her at Trader Joe's was really cool. She told me that she's not really that mean!
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