Somebody's Mom

Somebody's Mom: Bellas Restaurant Breakfast Review

Bellas Homemade Toast

Searching for places to have breakfast in Tarrytown, Bellas Restaurant came up first in my search. It could have been because it is in the beginning of the alphabet or it could be because it is the No. 1 place for breakfast in Tarrytown.  I made my decision after researching a few places to visit for breakfast, because when I called Bellas to confirm that indeed they were open, and yes, they had a full breakfast menu. The lady on the other line sounded so peppy and happy early on a Sunday morning. Plus she told me that everything is wonderful. So confident in her statement, I had to find out if it was true. Mela—my breakfast companion—and I arrived at Bellas Restaurant in Tarrytown, which was easy to find by the way, at 9:40 a.m. on a …

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Go Green Before Selling

Going green can often help sell a home more quickly.

Many households still tend to shy away from adopting green living habits for fear they’ll be too hard, time-consuming, or expensive. In reality, there are many green habits that are easy, inexpensive, and will help you sell your home faster. Cutting down on energy usage is often a great way to save money. Do you know that many buyers today will ask a seller how much they pay each month on their utilities? Some might even go so far as to ask for copies of the homeowners utility bills. In order to make this often large amount of money seem more reasonable, going green can help. Consider “greening” up your appliances. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, getting rid of old and outdated appliances can save thousands of dollars per…

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There's No Such Thing As a Bully

There's No Such Thing as a Bully: Confessions

The author emphasizes the power of the apology.

I confess. As a child, I was bullied on a fairly regular basis—sometimes physically, but usually a verbal attack—because I was always the “new kid.” My dad was a salesman and we relocated to where the work was. It wasn’t unusual for us to move on a yearly, sometimes bi-yearly, basis. Clearly, I was an easy target. But thanks to my family, and a few loyal friends, I survived pretty well. Personally, I try to use my life experiences as character builders, but I must admit that if I had the choice I would have skipped more than a few of them. They were quite painful, emotionally if not always physically, and I’d be just as happy if they’d never happened. So when my son came home with stories of being bullied, it really hit home. And if you've…

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Taryn Grimes-Herbert

6:49 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012

Raymond, You're taking the title a tad too literally. Go to http://patch.com/A-pSJh for the explanation.   more ›

Mother Knows Breast

Here we go again: the real issue at the center of any debate over 'modern motherhood' is exploitation.

You don’t want to look at it, but you can’t look away. God forbid your children see it, what will happen when they view such a corruptible, sensational image?! Oh my, it’s a breast! With a child old enough to walk, talk and ask for food attached to it. A child doing what children are meant to do. Getting attention. That’s right, the biggest—perhaps only—winners in this cover story on breastfeeding and attachment parenting are Time magazine’s publicity, marketing and circulation departments. That’s what the cover image was designed to do: Get attention. And it has gotten lots of attention. Blogs, news websites, network news shows...you name it, everyone has weighed in on the 'controversial' articles and accompanying photos. It's been almost…

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Workplace - Wild and Wonderful

Interns: Not Just for Coffee Anymore

The days of interns being office gophers are a thing of the past. Employers need to be aware of the rules for interns.

Need someone to do your filing, sort your mail, fetch your coffee and other grunt work? An unpaid intern is not the answer. Many may remember summer intern experiences where they had hoped to learn about business and a particular industry but instead spent their time being the office errand boy or girl. Woe to the company that tries that now. New federal guidelines for internships were released in 2010 in response to the uptick in the number of unpaid internships over the last few years. The concern was that some employers were bringing in unpaid labor to help them through tough economic times.    One of the issues is having unpaid interns perform tasks that displace paid workers. For example, if an intern performs work that the firm would…

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Anthony J. Bazzo

5:15 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012

The New York State Dept. of Labor requires that interns working at a place of business either receive monetary compensation or receive academic credit certified in writing by a school official.   more ›

Stay-at-Home Dad: Everything Counts

A child's report card makes me evaluate my own existence.

My oldest son’s report card came in the mail the other day. He is 13 (going on 10) and in his final months of Middle School. His grades were good for the most part, with his traditional spattering of A’s and B’s, but way down at the bottom of his progress report was a brand new letter of the alphabet to add to his transcript–a “D." When pressed about the mark he did a familiar song and dance, and ended up telling me that he just didn’t take the subject too seriously and even worse, didn’t feel like making much of an effort during the semester. Granted it would have been nice to have received a “heads up” from the teacher before his grades were etched in stone, but my wife and I chose to use this experience as an opportunity to convey the …

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Letter To the Editor: Port Chester Teachers Urge Public To Support School Budget

Union says its members have been listening to the community.

To The Editor: The Port Chester teachers have been listening to the community. We offered the District to move to one insurance (SWSCHP) and to give back salary monies, both totaling $2.2 million over the next two years, in order to save the reading program so important to our children. Sadly, this was rejected by the District. The Port Chester teachers strongly urge the community members to vote for the school budget; for the good of the remaining programming and the good our our children. Linda O'Connor President Port Chester Teachers Association

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Blake & Ryan Are My New Neighbors!

Well, technically, they've bought property one town over from mine. But now that they'll be living nearby, let's hope everyone in the region will realize those celebs are just like us.

Stop the presses! Didya hear? Hollywood A-listers Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are moving to a town near you! I heard they were spotted house hunting and window shopping in New Canaan.  My sister’s friend spotted them buying ice cream in Ridgefield! My manicurist’s fourth cousin once removed saw Blake coming out of the public restroom at a Starbucks in Bedford. Okay, that last one is stretching it a bit, and you can tell I made it up. Technically there isn’t even a Starbucks in Bedford, although that is where the two lovely Lively lovebirds actually did reportedly purchase a $2 million property together. In my cynical midlife years, it’s easy for me to be sarcastic. Not only do I know how much more important real life -- and real news…

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