Household Manual for Coolio's family.
Wondering how Coolio's family operates? Take a look at his household manual below to find out.
WELCOME TO OUR HOME
Welcome to our digs – where there is always something for Mom to clean, fold, or fix. My boyfriend, Coolio, and my three kids – Majaniek (14), Javante (10), and Tariq (5) live here in a Gangsta's Paradise.
It's very quiet now because the kids are at school until around 2:30pm, and Coolio is either coming back from the road or fast asleep until mid-afternoon. If there's a suitcase in the living room it means he's here, so just try to keep it down until you hear the TV turn on. When the kids get home, count them. Three are mine. The rest belong to the neighbors and they'll be here until you've finished cooking everyone dinner.
Coolio and I have been together for about three years. He travels a lot performing. I don't have any help here at the house, so I do everything on my own. I also have two overnight jobs. Get ready for a busy and very physically active week! I hope you brought an apron and some sexy stockings! If not, you can borrow mine.
I'm off work in the middle of the night. After a quick nap, I wake the kids so they can be ready for school by 7am. After they are showered, clothed, and fed, I try to get another quick nap in before I get up to start dinner, do laundry for five, and clean the entire four bedroom house from top to bottom. It is a constant balancing act. And get ready, because 10 kids will be here after school to play.
Dinner is always something rich and simple -- like tacos or fried chicken -- but it has to be between 6pm and 7pm so that I have enough time to get dolled up for work and head out on time. I work as a bartender at The Hookah Palace a couple of nights a week. The remainder of the week, I'm a dancer at Déjà Vu.
You're probably thinking I'm a party animal, but my kids are my top priority. Their good grades, manners, and happiness are my responsibility. I love having kids and I love being the person taking care of them. This is why I do it all on my own. I chose to have kids and I'm here for them until my dying day.
During the night while I'm at work, my friend Starr is here making sure everything is okay. This way, I can focus on my jobs because that's how I pay my bills here in Las Vegas. If it's cool with you, I need you to cover my shifts while I'm gone. Don't worry, it's pretty easy to learn on the fly and Coolio will stop by to check on you.
You're going to love this Fantastic Voyage. One bit of advice: don't let Coolio cook or you'll never make it to work on time and it will throw off everyone's whole schedule.
MY CHILDREN
My rocker daughter, Majaniek, is a boyfriend-obsessed 14-year-old. She and her 17-year-old boyfriend are always breaking up and getting back together. Neither Coolio nor I approve of the relationship. We're also not thrilled that she likes to wear short shorts and mini-dresses at her age. She plays guitar and dyes her own hair.
Juvante is my fun little 10-year-old who loves video games. He's starting to discover girls. He now has a new girlfriend every day but keeps breaking up with them for new ones. He thinks he's a little player.
Tariq is my youngest. He's a 5-year-old little mama's boy and just started kindergarten. He and his older brother both play football. Tariq idolizes Coolio and watches online videos of him all the time.
HOUSEHOLD ROLES
Coolio and I have known each other for over eight years. However, we've only been together for about three. It's finally become normal for me to be living with a hip-hop star. He is constantly on the road and when he's home, he's usually catching up on sleep (while I'm catching up on his laundry).
As soon as he arrives home from a concert, I unpack his suitcases and start washing his clothes. He'll go nap or watch TV or both. I try to make sure the kids aren't hassling him too much since he usually sleeps until the early afternoon and then naps again a couple hours later. He complains he's getting old and needs his "periodic naps."
In addition to Coolio's laundry, I am also washing clothes and cleaning up after my three kids. It's a 24-hour a day job to keep this house functioning so anytime I'm awake, I'm maintaining our house.
I don't have any help with the kids except for my friend Starr. She babysits while I work my two jobs. I bartend the graveyard shift at The Hookah Palace and I'm a dancer at the other.
Neither Coolio nor I believe in wasting money. I'm very frugal. I save for emergencies and for college because you never know what can happen with kids. Since I work so much and Coolio is constantly traveling, we rarely go out on dates.
We've found ways to make home fun. As a result, my house is where all of the neighborhood kids come after school and on weekends. On any given day, there can be 10 kids running around our house.
COOKING AND EATING HABITS
Every night, I make dinner for everyone. We have great comfort food style meals. This could be anything from spaghetti to smothered chicken or tacos and hamburgers. Everyone eats together at the dinner table.
The dinner menu usually depends on our financial situation. I shop when I get paid and I buy food on sale, so it's never anything fancy.
Once the food is ready, everyone grabs a plate and serves themselves. At dinner, we catch up on anything we may have missed during the day -- homework, test scores, parent-teacher conferences or whatever is on their mind. Dinner is between 6pm and 7pm every night unless...
Coolio is cooking. Coolio loves to cook but there's just one problem... he takes FOREVER! He has no concept of time and he thinks that food should be prepared slowly. He has no problem letting meat braise for five hours at a time. That's a major problem since the kids have to get ready for bed and I have to leave for work.
HOUSEHOLD MAINTANENCE and CHORES
I do all the cleaning around the house. My house gets extremely messy very quickly because of all of the kids running around. Not a moment passes that I'm not throwing away the trash, picking up clothes off the floor, mopping footprints, or scrubbing counters.
The kids help me with some of the chores. Majaniek cleans the bathrooms and everyone helps take out the trash. I have to ride them a little to clean up but they're kids and that comes with the territory. Generally, they're pretty good about helping out.
I don't pay the kids an allowance. They have chores I expect their help with and if they keep up their end of the bargain, I'll give them some weekend spending money or buy them the clothes and toys they want.
I don't have any housekeepers because I made the choice to have children and be a mother. Kids are messy and part of being a mom is taking care of them as well as my home. So, I'm ok with having given my life over to cleaning up after them.
APPEARANCES
I never dress flashy in the home! The most I do with my hair is put it in a ponytail. At home, I'm usually in a sports bra and a pair of Capris. THAT'S IT! My night job requires me to dress sexy in fishnets and skimpy outfits, so when I'm home cleaning up after kids all day, I want to be comfortable.
Coolio has no complaints.
He is, however, the exact opposite. It takes Coolio 45 minutes to an hour to pick out an outfit. It's ridiculous. He is notorious for changing clothes multiple times and everything has to match perfectly until he finds the perfect ensemble. This makes us late for everything.
The kids have two sets of clothes -- school clothes and play clothes. When they get home from school, their first job is to change out of their school clothes and into their play clothes.
DAILY ROUTINE - EARLY MORNING
Most people start their day in the morning and finish at night. My routine is active 24-hours a day.
I get home from work anywhere between 2am and 4am. I then take a little nap until I get the kids up at 7am. I make their breakfast and lunches and make sure they are dressed and ready for the day. I then try to go back to bed for a couple of hours. Coolio is still asleep and doesn't wake up until 12pm to 2pm.
DAILY ROUTINE - AFTERNOON
My daytime hours are spent cleaning my house and making sure everything is in order from the bedrooms to the kitchen to the yard. During this time, I go grocery shopping, catch up on bills, and try to keep it kind of quiet since Coolio is probably still sleeping. If I have a moment of free time, I usually try to visit the gym a couple of times a week.
The kids get out of school at 2:20pm and they're home by 2:30pm. They have to change into their play clothes before they do anything else. Next is homework. This has to be completed before any playing. Whenever they finish, my house fills up with all of the neighborhood kids. They play in our yard or inside with video games.
DAILY ROUTINE - EVENING
The neighborhood kids have to leave when dinner is ready, which is between 6pm and 7pm every night. After dinner, the kids can go watch TV. Everyone has their own TV in their rooms and they can watch them until it's time to go to bed.
While the kids are getting ready for bed, I'm upstairs getting ready for work. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I work at a hookah lounge on the strip. I leave by 9:20pm to arrive by 9:45pm. On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays I'm an exotic dancer at Déjà Vu. It takes me a little bit of time to get ready for work so I rely on Coolio and Starr to help me with the kids during that time. I need to find the right outfit and get sexy.
DAILY ROUTINE - LATE EVENING
The neighborhood kids have to leave when dinner is ready, which is between 6pm and 7pm every night. After dinner, the kids can go watch TV. Everyone has their own TV in their rooms and they can watch them until it's time to go to bed.
While the kids are getting ready for bed, I'm upstairs getting ready for work. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I work at a hookah lounge on the strip. I leave by 9:20pm to arrive by 9:45pm. On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays I'm an exotic dancer at Déjà Vu. It takes me a little bit of time to get ready for work so I rely on Coolio and Starr to help me with the kids during that time. I need to find the right outfit and get sexy.
DISCIPLINE/RULES
My kids know how to push my buttons. No running. No slamming doors. I am serious about the slamming doors. I hate it. I am the person who settles the arguments in the house and it's pretty quick. Coolio loves my kids, but since they are my kids, he allows me to do all the disciplining. I'll send the kids to their room to cool off or ask them to stop. If I have to ask them to stop more than three times, they are grounded for a day with no TV, internet, phone, or video games... and they get a spankin'!
My kids know they need to get good grades. I like A's but B's are fine, too. I do not tolerate D's and F's under any circumstances.
When the neighborhood kids come over they follow my rules or they are asked to leave. There is no screaming and no cussing allowed in my house. And I'm serious about the "no running" in the house. If I catch you running, you're out.
OUR RELATIONSHIP
It took a long time for me to actually go on a date with Coolio. We met through a mutual friend and he kept asking me out and I was like, "Hell, No!" When I finally gave in and went out with him it was pretty annoying because everywhere we went people would interrupt and try to talk to him. It doesn't really bother me now but we don't really go out that much because of that (and because I'm a busy mom).
Coolio and I have a pretty chill relationship. It works all right for us. He let's me have my time and I let him have his. He's not a bugaboo calling me every 10 minutes or following me from room to room. I like that. Having said that, sometimes it pisses me off when I call him and he doesn't call me back. But we're working on that.
He doesn't like doing anything very physically active. He's 49 and I'm 31, so he feels too old to put his body at risk with things like ice-skating. But we like to go to clubs together or shoot pool once in a while. If a guy flirts with me when we go out, he gets really jealous but I couldn't care less if women talk to him. I think it's funny as hell.
My biggest complaint about the relationship is just that he's late to everything except a flight or a gig. I'd like to get him onto a regular schedule where family stuff takes the same priority as work.
We're a pretty normal family, really. I don't argue and I don't tolerate a lot of anger or negativity. I think you're in good hands with my house full of kids who I love and give my heart and soul to. I hope you will, too.