Want to check out some great music?

Okay, so I might be biased, but if you want to hear an awesome, original singer/songwriter check out my big sis Koo tomorrow night at Bondi. It might be the last time she plays in Sydney before she heads back to New York where she'e a mega star. bDetails below:

Mocean (opposite the Bondi Beach)
34a Campbell Parade
Cover charge : $10

LINE UP:
8.15 Grant Lindonb
9.00 Declan Kelly
9.45 Koo
10.30 Barebones

Hope to see you all there

If you would like to laugh....

This might be the laziest post I have written, but I'm really busy today, but have been pestered by friends to blog more.
So, I'm going to point you in the direction of some funny things that have happened to me since becoming a mum. They weren't funny at the time, but now I find them quite hilarious

http://tarasmum.blogspot.com/2004/11/babies-are-smarter-than-you-think.html


http://tarasmum.blogspot.com/2005/05/have-you-ever-noticed-how-little.html


Enjoy

P.S To all you lazy readers, blogging is a two way street. LEAVE SOME COMMENTS

Kiss kiss

Still looking for a part-time job

How's this for a laugh

I applied for a journalist role at the....
wait for it.....
you're gonna piss yourself....

The Australian Jewish News!

I suppose this is my own little social experiment. I bet I get a standard, ''Thanks but not thanks'' rejection. I even stated my expertise in Palestinian - Israeli issues.

On a serious note however, how exciting would it be if I actually got a call back. That Editor would have to have balls. I think his name is Goldberg or Spielberg or, Katz or something like that.
Will let you know how I go. P.S I'm not anti-semitic.

On a completely different topic. The Bali 9. If the Australian government - and specifically John bloody Howard - don't do something (and when I mean something I mean STOP the executions) this travesty of justice, this barbarous event will be one the darkest, bloodiest blotches in Australian history.
John Howard - pull your finger out. Telling ``young Australians'' not to import drugs is NOT enough.

Now on another completely different topic.

The Biggest Loser T.V show.
I have been watching this all week and really have found myself scratching my head - especially tonight as I sat stuffing my face with Dominos Pizza and Coke Zero. It was something my husband said. Did these fatty boombaladas just wake up one morning at 30000 kgs and say, ''ohh I'm fat. How did I get to this size.''
Seriously FOUR words
LESS FOOD MORE EXERCISE

That's my two cents tonight, I hope you enjoyed reading.
And from one cheesy person to another (Go on, you all love Johnny Young)
``Close your eyes and I'll kiss you..
Goodnight Australia.

Okay, so I promised last post I would catch all my readers up to speed - but I lied. Well, I had ever intention, but life has a way of getting the better of you. In a nutshell this is what's been going on the last 2 and a half months:

Three trips to the Emergency Room - Tara falling down the stairs resulting in a pulled elbow. She also gave herself a paper cut to the eye (don't ask) and one trip for me. I broke my pinky toe. Now before you laugh, it freakin hurt like billy-o and it's now a demented shape. My 12th broken bone. You should have seen the radiologist's eyes pop out of his head when he was handed my file. I told him I was accident prone - they think my husband bashes me.

Christmas and New Year - need I say more? Thank God for Ebay where I did all my Christmas Shopping.

A bout of icky toddler diahhreah, one high fever (Eden's first) and a friend's 30th Birthday party. My gorgeous angel Eden is still not crawling, but does this stomach-shimmy and roll to get about. She's so chubby cute, I just want to eat her thighs.

Ohh and let's not forget no sleep. I've had that many hairy nights e.g both Tara and Eden waking at 1am and falling asleep at 5.30am I'm ready to run straight into a brick wall and knock myself out.

I do have one major thing I'm looking forward to.
TARA'S 2ND BIRTHDAY

Can you believe it? I'm super excited as we are taking her and her cousins to an indoor playcentre to just run amock. She can now put five word sentences together (a little genius like her mum) and has been practicing all week how she's going to blow out her candles at her ``PAR-TEEE''


And I'm also super excited about another big event coming up. A really dear, sweet friend of mine who relocated to the States a few years ago is coming home to get married. I CAN'T WAIT to see you Aff-faces (she knows who she is).

Okay, I'll go check the buggers are still in bed and then I'll post again. I have so much I want to write. Eden has rolled off my bed twice in two weeks. Lucky she's chubby. She just bounced back up.

Some recent pics

Beautiful Tara


Stunning Smiley Eden


Me and my hubby on New Year's Eve


Just wanted to share some recent pics of the last couple of months

Hamas won the election?

OK, I'm back

Full rewind later.

But, I really don't have time to blog right now, but I just couldn't help jotting down a few words on the Palestinian elections.

HAMAS won?

Surprised? No, not really. Well a little. I need to contemplate this major change before I can write anything that makes sense.

I suppose people have been growing more and more disenfranchised with FATAH.

Anyway have to run, I promise to update. In the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I know this is a few days early, but I just couldn't resist!
Aren't my little reindeers gorgeous?

I love being a mum

Wiggly Wiggles

Imagine this,

Tara, Eden, myself, my sister, her three boys (all under the age of seven) and about 10,000 other screaming kids at the Entertainment Centre - and NO pram.

So, we took the kids to the Wiggles Concert as an early Christmas present on Monday, and I can honestly say, NEVER AGAIN! Not that it wasn't a good show (except for Greg Wiggle, that's the yellow one, having just had a hernia operation and couldn't wiggle much at all) but I was SO damned exhausted by it all it took me three days to get over my migraine. Thank God my sis left her baby at home or we both would've had to grow another set of arms each to hold our kids sticky little hands.

And, to top it all off, you'd think Tara would LOVE the show. She watches the four dancing dudes every morning, but alas, as soon as the lights dimmed, Tara completely FREAKED out, covered her ears, crawled into my sister's lap and.. wait for it....

FELL ASLEEP!!!

Yes, you read it right. My little ball of energy, my fast re-charge battery Tara who has NEVER slept for more than 30mins during the day and a max of four hours at night (I'm baffled as to how she does it. This morning she woke at 5.30am and is STILL not sleeping) fell asleep during the super-noisy performance.

I was completely dumb founded! I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my two eyes. She preferred to sleep than watch the prancing and the dancing and the RIP OFF MERCHANTS! Which leads me to my second biggest gripe of the day. The merchandise was so bloody expensive. Would you believe that a single helium balloon was $10! Yes TEN DOLLARS for a stupid balloon that would either fly away once we left the show or deflate within a day of getting home. What amazed me even more were the stupid parents who bought them for their whiney kids. No joke, almost two-thirds of the kids had a balloon - and a t-shirt, flashing cup, Dorothy dinosaur tails, captain feathersword wands (and the list goes on).

Anyway,
On a COMPLETELY different track, my beautiful Eden angel said her first word! She's been babbling for a couple of days now, but she actually said DA DA (which was also Tara's first word). As usual, the mum is always second best in the eyes of little girls.

Rally anyone?

For all those who want to be a part of something positive in light of the recent riots, a rally has been organised for this Sunday, December 18. Below are the details.

Hope to see you there!

I'll be the one pushing the double pram, waving Aussie, Croatian and Palestinian flags while bribing Tara with chocolate so she'll stay put.

The Unite Against Racism Rally

WHEN: Sunday 18th December 2005

TIME: 1pm

WHERE: Town Hall Square


The rally will make it's way to Belmore Park where there will be a number of speakers, celebrities and sports people from varied cultural and religious groups.

For more info, visit

Darpism

Smiley, Chubby Eden

I haven't posted any pictures of my beautiful girls in AGES, so I thought I'd lighten up the mood of my blog and share some of my recent favourite pics.

They are both growing up SO fast, sometimes it's hard to imagine that I'm a mum to TWO babies. Tara is super-duper intelligent and completely charismatic. Everywhere we go, people stop to chat to her. Eden is such an little angel, the perfect baby. On solids now, she is even (finally) sleeping through the night. She has a calm and soothing demeanor, utterly lovable.

Can I be even more soppy? I'm allowed to, their mine

Tara hard at work!

Beautiful Eden

Beautiful Tara

The Irony of Ironies

How's this for Ironic?

As I was taking Tara and Eden out for lunch today, I came across two youths of ``Middle Eastern Appearance'' selling raffle tickets to raise money for Surf Life Saving Australia.

I bought $20 worth.

Ha!

P.S Having been bombarded today by images of violence from the riots at Cronulla on the TV, I became more and more angry at the one sided coverage of the news. I did not see ONE SINGLE person of Middle Eastern Appearance interviewed and asked their views at the scene of the violence. One broadcast on channel 7 did however cut to a young Arabic looking guy of about 20 who was watching what was going on in Brighton. The pearls of wisdom coming out of his mouth? ``Ohh MY Gawddd''. Just another blatant way in which the Australian media portray those who are not ``Aussies'' as ineloquent, second class and not worth listening to. Keysar Trad from the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia seems to be the only Lebanese-Australian contact that ALL media outlets have.

I'm Disgusted!

To quote an Aussie icon.....

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

I'm disgusted, appalled, scared, angry and horrified by the actions of my so-called fellow Australians.

But, I'm not shocked or surprised.

What happened at Cronulla and then subsequently at neighbouring suburbs Brighton, Maroubra etc makes me BOIL. To all those people who believe Australia is a fair and racist-free country, they are COMPLETELY deluded. This farce of MULTICULTURALISM is just a catch phrase, a loosely thrown around word which people hide behind in an effort to mask their true racist feelings.

Now, before I go on, I would like to first make it clear where I stand.
Violence is WRONG, there is NO excuse for humans to act like animals. I do not condone what happened firstly to the surf lifesaver, nor to the THOUSANDS of racists that came out en force yesterday to `protest' nor the retaliatory strikes later that night.

However, there is blame to place. The police, the media and more generally the culture of Australia. Oh, and the individual idiots who actually SPECIFICALLY went out for a fight. Let's not kid ourselves, the 5000 strong crowd did not go out to protest in a positive, nationalistic manner.

Police
They knew there was going to be a riot. Why the hell weren't they were better prepared? Why didn't they stop the massive crowd from disintegrating into such a disgusting pack of animals? Why weren't they more vigilant with banning alcohol on the beach? Why didn't they use fire hydrants or some other means rather than tiny bottles of capsicum spray (which are only effective on 1 person at close range)? They are pathetic! They looked like a bunch of scared pussys.
Which leads me to ask. Did they want this to happen? Everyone knows (even though I'm not from the Shire) there have always been racial tensions in the area.

Media
As a (former) member of the Australian press, the Media have the job to report factually, not to ESCALATE or INFLAME. They have a responsibility not to use terms such as MIDDLE EASTERN APPEARANCE, or LEBANESE Youths! The language is wrong, the language fuels hatred. It pisses me right off that they use these terms. It paints a picture that these gangs have been imported right from Lebanon. I was born here, however, because I am of Middle Eastern Appearance, does it mean that this is how I will always be described? Not as an Australian even though this is who I am?

Culture
Racism is alive and rampant in Australia. I have always been aware of it (ever since I was first called a WOG at the age of 6) and have on numerous occasions been a target of it. I see it everywhere I go, am aware of it when sales assistants serve my mum (who has been here since 1971) with a smirk and a ``couldn't be bothered attitude'' because of her accent, when people speak to my dad with patronising words and tones dripping off their tongues, when my brother is set upon by three police brandishing batons because of his looks, when my sister is at a fast food restaurant with her beautiful children and told by middle aged women that ``it's people like you who hold up the line''.

It's not fair, and I live with it, like most people I know.

However, the difference is that I would not act like an animal and bash a complete stranger.

How do we change people's attitudes? It starts with the parents, teachers (who at my school called those who weren't Anglo-Saxon ETHNICS - brandishing the word as if it was a swear word) and then the Media, the GOVERNMENT. I always find it ironic how ``Australians'' selectively embrace parts of other cultures - tabouli, stir frys, kebabs, pasta, red wine - but then lump all WOGS in one pile as soon as there is any violence or anti-social behavior. It makes me sick.

I'm proud of my heritage, I'm proud of my country Australia.

I'm scared for my children, I don't want them to be targets or feel like second rate citizens. To all those at the riot at Cronulla who were waving the Australian flag, you are an INSULT. Do not hide behind it and use it for your racist actions and words. To those IDIOTIC fuckwits who burnt the Aussie flag, shame on you - you should be locked up.

To everyone else, do not let ignorance and hatred rule. It's quite easy actually, common respect goes a long way.

Be prepared Sydney for revenge attacks.

Van Nguyen - less than 24 hours to live

I can hardly write this post without wiping tears from my eyes and clearing the lump in my throat.

When did it become okay to kill? Isn't it the biggest contradiction in terms that those who are charged with either possessing drugs that could potentially kill or who murder are then killed themselves? This 25 year boy, who should by any right live at least another 50 years will have his life taken - not by a higher being - but by another man. And, in such a cruel and inhumane manner.

How can any sane person support capital punishment? Singapore, who many believe is a liberal, advanced country has shown its true colours to the world. Barbarians! And to add even more insult to injury, his mother has not (at the time I'm writing this) even been given the opportunity to touch her son, to hold him, console him. The son she carried in her womb, laboured and gave birth to. This is WRONG! Maybe, because I am a mother now, I feel the pain even more deeply, more intensely. But, I also know there are millions of people like myself who are shocked and appalled by members of this human race.

I'm praying, as are many, that there will be an 11th hour reprieve.

Lord, let him live, don't let him hang

P.S I know there are many other people who have been put to death around the world (999 in the United Sates alone since 1976), I know this case is not unique and every life is precious.

Spitting Soccer players

Why is it that every time the SBS camera man did a close up of one of the players tonight (Socceroos vs Uruguay) the guy was spitting out a big, fat goli?

It's so freaking gross the way these guys conjure up these spitballs through their nasal passages, deep down from the back of their throat to the tips of their tongues and then launch the saliva-ry mess -with great accuracy may I ad - on to the carpetty grass.

I'm not a fan of soccer (sorry, Football), I think I've watched about 5 games in my life. I wouldn't know the difference between a penalty and a corner. But I thought it would be a great bonding moment with my husband (not a massive fan either but used to play state league) - and it was. I have a new appreciation for the guys - well maybe not appreciation for their skills but definitely for their looks. Not pretty boy Kewell or gigantic Balkan Zelko Callac but for dreamy-greeny eyed John Aloisi. I reckon he's HOT and has a really cute ass.

My husband thinks I'm mental.

I'm really happy for the Socceroos. It was great they won, especially since Viduka missed that goal at the end. It was so funny to read his lips after he missed it (for all those who speak Cro) it was easy to see what he yelled ( Picka te Materna - Mother C***). I'm no prude, but Cro's really can swear - and with such vim.

Anyway, watching the match got my hubby talking about how when he used to play in a team of other north shore Croats (he was a leftback) he'd punch the guys in the kidneys. Charming. My husband is not excatly a small guy, but he is very sweet, so the mental image of him digging his fists into some little guys kidneys made me laugh. After all, he is a Cro. I suppose it was karma his soccer career ended after he snapped his leg while playing the World Game. Which, in a way is good as I really can't imagine myself falling in love with a spitting soccer player, I prefer my wrestling honey.

I believe in the power of prayer

One of my best friends in the world is undergoing surgery this morning to remove a malignant tumour.

This friend of mine is more like a sister. She has always been there for me, ever since I was four years old. She has been there through all my joyful times and my woeful times. She has been a consistent force of love in my life. She needs your prayers.

Whether you believe prayer has the power to heal, I implore anyone reading this blog to take 2 minutes and just send a positve thought, a quiet prayer for health.

Thank you

Is this Gumby?

... or is this Gumby?


I'm not a huge fan of Australian Idol, but what gives me a great deal of hilarity is the way James Mathieson (one of the hosts) reminds me of Gumby.

Next time you watch the show, take extra note and notice just how he just DOES NOT BLINK!
It's quite funny.

What a Gumby!