So everyone is just in awe of Beyonce being almost naked on the red carpet at the Met Gala, in her mosquito net with sequins attached in just the right places.
Beyonce at the Met Gala 2015
I get it. She has an amazing body, and wants to show it off. With two other people there in nearly identical nude dresses, I wouldn’t really say that she’s doing anything that amazing. Even bigger LOLs at the peeps who are trying to claim that Kim Kardashian ripped off her look. It’s kind of hard to rip off someone’s look, when you’re at the same event.
Kim K and JLo in matching sheer booties
Even more amusing, is all the haters trolling Jelena Karleusa. All of Bey’s fans are directing hate at the Serbian singer, because apparently since people in America are unfamiliar with her work, she is “a nobody” and that people in the US would never copy her. Actually, if you were a big star in the US, and were going to copy anyone’s style, it would be smart to pick a sassy singer from overseas who none of your own fans had heard of.
Beyonce’s dress already has comparisons. The bride to be in Coming to America, and Left Eye Lopez from TLC.
Coming to AmericaLeft Eye
The sheer dress trend, or as I like to think of it, The Emperor’s New Red Carpet dress, is hardly new and groundbreaking. It’s been done so many times, it’s actually quite boring to me. Cher has been doing the naked sequin look forever.
Cher, way back in 1988
Think Rihanna was risque when she did the nearly naked dress on the red carpet? Nope.
Cher showed off her nipples way before Rihanna
Now, Jennifer Lopez has been almost naked on the red carpet more times than in actual opaque fabric. Here’s just a few of her outfits.
Jennifer Lopez sheer dresses
Then there’s all these people. Some, like Natalie Portman or Nicole Kidman that you wouldn’t expect to see if sheer outfits. Some are more tasteful than others….
It seems the only real difference to whether people approve of your outfit is whether the commentators over at Fashion Police like you or not. It always amazes me that a dress on one person could be seen as “Fashion Forward” while if another celebrity wore the same thing, they’d be fined for looking like an idiot.
Case in point, Sarah Jessica Parker. If anyone else turned up in this headgear, people would be rolling on the floor with laughter. Somehow, no matter what SJP wears, it’s “just amazing“. Ugh. Sorry, I’ve never been a fan of her style. I guess at least she tried to go with the Chinese theme, which is more than can be said for any of the sheer outfits.
Maybe there’s a mosquito problem on the red carpet, and that’s why they’re all wearing this long sheer mosquito netting stuff. I get that these women spend hours hitting the gym, and are proud of their bodies, but, why can’t we just like you because you can sing, or dance, or act? Can’t we just respect you for your talent, without expecting you to be nearly naked on the red carpet?
Since living in America, I have come to love Thanksgiving. It’s a non religious holiday, so it’s the one holiday that every single American celebrates. It’s a day when everyone gets together, has a huge meal, and just enjoys the day. There’s no gifts, no cards, no commercialism. – That comes the next day, on Black Friday. I really love that there’s a day where everyone just gets together, and thinks about all the things that they’re grateful for.
I’m Thankful for a lot this year. After four years of dealing with the Hey Dad thing, it’s finally over. I’ve had a few months to decompress, and put things in perspective. It was a long process, and I know it was important, but I am very glad it’s over. I’m thankful that several more people in the industry have been outed, and more importantly, they’re not being covered up or apologized for. It seems like we’re really starting to make a change towards protecting kids.
I’m thankful for my job. I’ve been on my project for almost three years now. I work with a great team, and my job really is just gravy. It’s easy to do, I have good hours, I get long weekends, and I really am happy there.
We finally sold our house a couple of months ago. My work is about 2.5 hrs outside of San Antonio, and I had been living down there during the week, and Matt and I would see each other on weekends. Matt has a fabulous job, and he was working from home. So we decided to sell the house, get a bigger RV, and be together. The house sold, and now we’re together all the time. I’ve always wanted to try tiny house living, and the RV is pretty close to that. Downsizing meant no more lawn to mow, massive reduction in bills, and a stress free living environment. We even like our neighbours!
I’ve gotten to travel a bunch this year. So much that I earned Platinum status on American Airlines! I had two trips to Australia, which were definitely not vacations, but I’ve taken a couple trips to Florida and LA. My brother came over to the US, and I met him down in Ft Lauderdale. I’ve been to Tampa a couple times with Matt, and will go back again next month. We’ve started taking the dog with us. It’s nice to be in a position where we can afford to take her with us. Yes, we’re that couple that takes their dog everywhere. We don’t have kids, and she is our baby. She’s also getting old, and we don’t like to leave her with other people. Thankfully, places in Florida are super dog friendly, so it’s not a big deal. She travels really well. She gets to sit under my feet on the plane, and isn’t bothered by it. We’ve planned a big trip to Europe next year. One of my BFFs is turning 30 and wanted to celebrate in Greece. So we planned a trip there, and also to Italy to visit Giulia, who was our exchange student years ago. I’m super excited about that trip, even though it’s almost 10 months away.
I’m Thankful for my friends and family. I have the most amazing mother and father in law. They love me like I was their own. I’m at their house right now as I type this. They’re the most down to earth people, who don’t have a mean bone in their body. They’re kind of sad we’ve moved so far away, but we meet them in the middle at our ranch, where we’ve both set up a camp.
I’m thankful for my friends, especially the ones who have really been there for me, and put up with my moods while dealing with all the court BS. I’ve reconnected with some old friends from school, and made some amazing new ones. I’m especially Thankful for all the people at A Minor Consideration. They have been my rock through the whole court thing.
I’m Thankful for the past year, and I’m Thankful that the year ahead looks so bright. I’ve got some interesting things happening next year, including another trip back to Australia. I’ll get to tell y’all more about that soon.
I hope everyone else in the US has an awesome Turkey Day, and that you all have a lot to be Thankful this year. For those in Oz and elsewhere, you don’t need a special day to be Thankful, but I hope you do have much to be Thankful for. If you don’t, don’t worry, it’ll pass. Bad times just make us more thankful in the good times.
I am so pleased all the other girls made it to court yesterday to see Robert being sentenced. I would have really liked to have been there to see him hide in his corner in the dock. Kudos to whoever it was that decided to put the press in the jury stand, directly opposite him. Even though I couldn’t be there, it was awesome being able to watch it all unfold in real time on Twitter.
It seemed like there was thousands of tweets about the case last night. I’m sure some people were thrilled by the new mute button! There was so many tweets, and me retweeting as many as I could, this happened:
There was some outstanding tweets coming from the journo stand, but I have to give it to Jodie Speers. She was on it! She was constantly updating, and was super professional. Although she did let one personal comment slip, and I thought it was brilliant.
There was some other pretty good tweets in my stream, ranging from witty
to deep
I liked this one
So a huge Thank You to everyone who followed along with me last night. I may have been at home alone with the dog, but I felt like I had a whole room full of people standing with me. Much love to you all.
How to tell the difference between real friends and faux friends
I checked the mail when I went home at lunch, and I had a package. My friend Carissa had sent me the Woman’s Day issue with Robert’s niece in it. She also made me cookies and put in some Rescue Remedy. Carissa is one of the best friends I’ve ever had. We went to High School together at Meriden. We had lost touch, but had gotten back in touch before I went public. When I did go public, Carissa was always there, checking up on me. She’d let me know when people were talking about it on the radio. She was always making sure I was doing OK, and sending me hugs. When I go home to Australia, she’s the first one to offer me a ride to and from the airport. She takes me out to eat. She makes me cupcakes. But here’s how I know Carissa is a real friend. She does all of this privately. Sure, we tweet back and forth publicly as well, but 90% of her communication to me is private. She doesn’t need to make a public display of caring for me. Real friends don’t need to publicly display their affection. I’ve been lucky to have several friends over the last few years who have supported me privately. Even other people in the public eye. Charlotte Dawson used to regularly send me messages, privately. The last message I got from her was on the 10th of February. It was the first day of the trial, but it wasn’t in the media, cause there was a suppression order. Charlotte remembered anyway, and let me know she was thinking of me. Entertainment reporter Peter Ford and I are always talking, and he never spills what we talk about. The reason I did 2DayFM and not Kyle and Jackie O? Cause producer Matt Simpson is always sending me love. Real friends are just there. They don’t need to publicize it.
Then there’s the faux friends… It’s funny how getting a package from a real friend helped point one of the faux friends. These are the people who seem to pop up whenever there’s a camera or journalist, but never bother to send you a message in real life. Simone and I are on FaceBook, so we’ve kept in touch, and see all the normal everyday stuff. But everyone else? Not a peep. Not a tweet, text, email, poke or even old fashioned snail mail. For the last four years, I’ve been completely alone, except for Simone. Funny though, how people keep popping their heads up, to say how much they care; when there’s an interview opportunity. – People have said the cops told them not to talk to me. The cops told me not to talk to people about the case, not cut off communication altogether.
Remember the spat I had about Barbara Walters telling Corey Feldman that he’s “destroying an entire industry” by speaking out about pedophilia? Imagine the look on my face when someone in an interview with me says, “A Man’s life in ruined”. Yep, they edited out my reaction to that. Here’s a tip, when you’re sitting with a victim of abuse, who has spent years trying to bring a pedophile to justice, and has had the whole of Oz slapping her down for it, the rest of the cast is guilt tripping that person for not getting any work, and then you come out and blame said victim for ruining a pedo’s life… Don’t expect a Christmas card….. Just saying. Also, probably shouldn’t go on TV saying you didn’t know anything, then do an article saying you knew about it, but you’re only sad cause now it’s sullied the show and it won’t get shown anymore. Not the only faux friend, but a good example.
I’m sure come Friday, when someone asks for comment on the sentencing, they’ll be only to happy to say some BS about how they hope I get closure, or how it’s all over now, blah, blah, blah, but unless you’re sending me a message to say it to ME, personally, it’s absolutely meaningless. But as long as you look good on camera, that’s all that matters, right?
I know I should “play the game” and pretend we’re all really tight, but I’m over it. My life is about honesty. If I don’t give a shit, I’m not going to pretend I do.
Back to the real friends; Carissa sells cupcakes over at the Fox Studios markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They’re the best cupcakes in Sydney. Go visit her. Tell her Hi! Try her cupcakes and give her a hug for me. She’s awesome. Follow her on twitter @Carissacupcake or see what yummy creation she’s come up with on Instagram
To all my other real friends, thanks for being there. I appreciate all of you!
Beliebers and Directioners, what’s wrong with them?
Male singers and boy bands have always had legions of screaming fans. New Kids on the Block, Westlife, Boys to Men, even way back in the age of The Beatles and Elvis, girls were crying hysterically and fainting at the sight of their chosen singing Idol. Girls packed airports, hoping to catch a glimpse of their crush as they landed for a tour. They saved for weeks to buy tickets to see them in concert. Groupies devised ways to get a little closer to their chosen tasty treat. There’s all kinds of movies depicting what went on behind the scenes of bands that catered to the 18-30 crowd.
But I wonder if women were always this psycho and bitchy about bands, or if we’re only just now seeing it because of social media. Did our mothers threaten to kill another girl because Elvis smiled at her. Did we tell a girl to kill herself because Marky Mark said hi to her at a party?
It seems like every week there’s an article about Beliebers or Directions mass hounding someone because they went on a date, said hi to, or unbelievably, because they were retweeted… Yes, Beliebers are threatening death because a girl got retweeted and she wasn’t a previous fan.
Seriously girls, get a grip. I hate to break it to you, but no matter how much you think you’re in love with a singer, he’s probably never, ever going to go out with you. Even if you were to meet, the first time they see you flip out and go all cavewoman on another chick he’s talking to, he’s not going to just ditch you, there’s going to be some serious restraining orders against you.
Now, in some cases, singers do go out with regular girls. The Hanson brothers all married groupies, I mean, girls they met at concerts. Maybe boys these days are better, but it wasn’t long ago that singers would be married, but still be tapping everything they could on the road. Do you really want to be with a guy who isn’t faithful? I don’t care how famous someone is, if they’re not keeping it in their pants, it ain’t worth it. There’s way too many gross things out there that don’t wash off…
Then there’s the question of how are these kids on social media and issuing death threats without getting a serious whipping from their parents? Shouldn’t parents be monitoring their social media use? How are girls on Facebook and Twitter and just going all kinds of crazy? Parents need to be monitoring their children’s social media use. They need to explain to their daughters that it’s not OK to tell another girl to kill herself, or threaten to kill her because she was seen with a singer.
Parents should also be monitoring their kids social media for other reasons. There are just as many psycho cyber stalkers targeting these young girls as there are young girls targeting other young girls. While the girls are going crazy, there are devious men out there who will use social media to try to groom girls online. There are people who will hound a celebrity, hoping to get a message back, then make it look like they know a celebrity. The young girls will be naive enough to talk to the pervert, thinking there’s some connection there. In some cases, girls are kidnapped because they believe the creep and will agree to meet somewhere, thinking it will lead to meeting the celebrity.
Girls, if you have been contacted online by some perv pretending to be friends with a celebrity, it’s not real. Tell your parents. Tell the police. Remember you’re not the only one being targeted. The pedo is going to be trying to contact lots of girls, hoping one will fall for his bullshit. I hear of girls who don’t want to tell their parents when they’ve been contacted by someone online who turns out to be scamming them, because they’re worried about losing rights to social media. But I need you to tell people if this happens to you. You need to know you’re not the only one targeted, and someone else may not be as smart as you and find out before they get hurt. I know you’re fighting over trying to get to the boy, but you will feel terrible if another girl really is raped and killed because she believed a boy online could get her to a celebrity. Never believe someone who contacts you online pretending to be able to hook you up. If someone online engages in inappropriate conversation with you, take a screenshot of it, and show it to your parents. Parents, observe your kids online behaviour and make sure they’re not being targeted by internet predators.
You’re never too young to start working on your bucket list.
My dad was 36 when he died. He died 13 days after his 36th birthday. He had cardiomyopathy, and it was his 3rd heart attack that killed him. He taught me an important lesson, which I’ve never really put into practice, but now that I’m only 3 months away from being the same age he was when he died, I’m going to start putting those lessons into practice.
Dad could have had a heart transplant, but he would have had to change his lifestyle. He was a fashion designer. He loved to travel. He went to Disneyland 11 times. He was a bit of an alco, and he had a mistress. But he packed more into his 36 years than some people pack into 90. Dad didn’t want a transplant because he liked his life the way it was and if he had surgery, he’d have to be on medication forever, he’d have to give up alcohol, riding the Matterhorn, and maybe even the mistress… He said he’d rather die young but live a full life than grow old but be bored to death. I miss my dad, and wish he was still here, but I’m glad he went out with a bang. (Literally. He came home from a “business trip” that involved the honeymoon suite & lingerie) Mum got the CC bill….
His important lessons included Dress for comfort and not for style. You can’t please everyone so you might as well please yourself. You can claim you’re going to see the fashions in LA but you’re really going to Disneyland. He also taught me that you might not live to old age, and you should live life to the max while you can. You can’t keep putting the good stuff off until you’re too old to enjoy it. So I’ve been thinking about my bucket list. They’re kind of divided into two categories though. Some are regular civilian things that I want to do, and some are more along the lines of things I wish I had done when I was young. I can’t believe I’m at an age where I wish I had done things when I was younger, but hey, I’m a former child star, and we have slightly different childhoods than most…
I guess I can start with the kid stuff, cause maybe when all this court shit is over and I can come out from under my rock, I can get some of it done. Unlike today, when kid stars are everywhere, we were meant to be seen and not heard. We didn’t get to rock a bunch of red carpets, or do all kinds of awesome photo shoots. I remember I wanted to be on the cover of Dolly magazine so bad. Apparently I got a pic on the inside of a 1992 edition, but it’s a picture of me as a 3 year old in a tracksuit. – Not quite the glamour look….
I still think it would be fun to do a full glamour photo shoot. I’m too old for Dolly now, but I want to dress in couture, be fawned over by hair and make-up for hours, and still be photoshopped like crazy. I want to spend a day being fabulous and then have a bunch of beautiful shots that I can show off to the folks at the old people’s home and say, See, I was hot once.
I’d like to get in shape this year. I want to get motivated to work out, eat healthy and look fabulous in case I get asked to do a photo shoot. Also, so I don’t have a heart attack while I’m 36….. I know it’s a physical impossibility, cause she’s 5’9″ and I’m 4’11”, but I’d like to get into Miranda Kerr kinda shape. She’s so beautiful. Although I think the reason I love her so much is because she always looks like she’s so happy. She just radiates happiness. It’s so refreshing.
I’d like to go to an awards ceremony as an adult. They’re really not all that fun as a 14 year old. You can’t drink, hook up, go to after parties, etc. I don’t want to hook up, but the drinking and partying would be fun.
That’s actually about it on the childhood stuff. I thought there’d be more….
As for regular stuff, there’s a much bigger list. First of all, I’m looking forward to court. I want to get that part of my life taken care of. I want to really get involved in changing laws to make the world a safer place for kids.
I want to pamper myself a little.
I want to take a trip with Matt to Italy to visit our exchange student, Giulia.
I want to do some more scuba diving. I want to document it & share all the cool locations with everyone on Going Down.
I’d like to meet my new niece, and see my nephew again.
I’d like to do a crazy celeb reality show where I get to win a chunk of change for charity.
I want to be the breadwinner for a year so Matt can take a year off & do whatever the hell he wants.
I’d like to learn how to do my own hair & makeup. (And actually look good afterwards)
I want to take Matt on a Kardashian style vacation where it’s totally first class.
I’d like to be like all the other cool kids and create my own perfume.
I’d like to grow olives and grapes and release my own lines of Olive Oil and Wine.
I want to kidnap Lindsay Lohan, help her work out what’s wrong, how she can fix it, keep her away from the paparazzi for a while and then re-release a new fabulous LiLo on the world.
I want to make a movie or show that uses a bunch of former child stars, ala Dickie Roberts.
I want to buy a small yacht.
I want to start a retreat at the ranch for current & former child stars where they can chillax away from the media.
I want to have a law named after me.
I want to do something awesome that people will always remember me for. – I don’t know what this is yet, but it’s going to be awesome!
After seeing 10 years of the G’Day LA events, and every year saying we should go next year, I’d like to actually go to LA for the weekend and attend the Black Tie Gala.
I think that’s all that’s on there for now. Like most people, I’m sure I’ll add to it. When I look back at articles I did as a kid, I’m surprised at how many I’ve already crossed off my list. In one article I wanted to be in the Army when I grew up. Another I wanted to own a ranch in Texas or Montana. So there’s at least two done. 🙂
As many of you know, I’m into sustainable housing and the tiny house movement. I don’t feel the need to live in a huge McMansion. We have a 2 story 2400 sq. ft. house in San Antonio that we only use half of. The other rooms just gather dust.
For a while now I’ve known that I eventually want to build an Earthship. I also like Eco-Domes and had though of building one down at our ranch. If we ever built the Earthship, the Eco-Dome would become a guest house.
I’ve also looked at a lot of the tiny house movement and sustainable living designs. I love many of them, but Matt doesn’t. He wants to be earth friendly, but doesn’t want to live in 100 sq. ft. I guess that’s why we both like the Earthship. It’s bigger like he wants, but totally off grid like I want.
A lot of people in the tiny house movement have bought old Airstreams and fixed them up and live in them full time. The Airstream is a classic piece of Americana. They’re built to last and are instantly recognizable. They’re trendy with the Hollywood set too.
Matt and I spent several years traveling around in a Class C Motorhome when he was contracting. We liked it much better than hotels, but I didn’t like feeling like we were living in a bus. I always wanted a Travel Trailer. It’s just a little more homey.
So last year I joined the Guard. Then someone told me about one of the deployments that’s essentially a full time active duty position. There’s six locations, none of them in San Antonio. I thought it would be an incredible opportunity to work full time in the Guard. It would probably be my only chance to ever wear a uniform full time. It had always been my dream to serve in the regular full time military, so this was an awesome opportunity. Even better, the job was actually something I was skilled at. Sitting behind a computer all day! So I applied. My Commanding Officer sent in a letter of recommendation. I got an interview call. A half hour later they called back and offered me the position. I was so excited. Even better, the location I got was only 3 hours from home. So I could still go home easily on my days off. It was also in a town we had traveled to many times and actually like. Although apparently I’m one of the few people who had a positive image of the town before coming here…
We have to supply our own accommodation down here. Some of the guys share a house together, one of the other guys rents a room from someone. I knew I wanted my own space, and I was going to get an RV. I was looking at cheap ones, and they were all so blah. I knew I wanted an Airstream. So I started searching. Eventually, I drove out to Houston to look at one, and with a week to go before I deployed, I picked her. She seemed pretty good. Matt was pissed caused she weighed way, way more than what I was supposed to buy. But hey, she was $3500. Plus, she was nice and spacious inside, and I though she just needed a cosmetic make-over. That would give me something to do while I was down here by myself.
So I took her into our local RV repair place. They said it was a good thing I hadn’t just taken her with me. She was ready to explode… So $2000 later, she had new gas lines, new electrical, patched up some leaks and a new kitchen faucet. So, now I’m $5500 into her. Still not bad. The tiny 1979 Argosy I had looked at for $6000 wasn’t as nice and was half the size, so I still felt I was ahead. Of course, by this time I was staying in a hotel because I’m a procrastinator and had waited so long. After 2 weeks though, I finally got her down to an RV park and started full timing.
I was in heaven. Then, the Heavens opened, and I was in Hell. The roof leaked. The Airstream had been in an accident years before. They hit something and crashed the front. The windows were buggered up. The front corner is dented.
What I didn’t know was that there used to be an antenna up top. I guess it got ripped off. They had kinda patched it, but not that well. So there’s water pouring in. Awesome. It’s not easy fixing a roof on an Airstream. Eventually, I took off the vents from the inside and stood inside the vent and patched the roof that way.
Of course, the other problem with leaks and a known issue with Airtreams is floor rot. Mine doesn’t appear too bad, except in the bathroom. It seems like the plastic is just sitting on the trusses. The whole sub floor is rotted out. My big project is to rip out the bathroom, replace the sub-floor and then put the bathroom back in.
Some of the easier projects have been cosmetic on the inside. I pulled all the broken perspex off the front window, then cleaned the old bubbling tint on there. It was amazing the difference that small window made.
I got rid of the old broken rolling window shade in the kitchen. I painted the hideous yellowing plastic in silver, and installed mini blinds. I had found these cool plastic metallic backsplashes which worked like a champ with the curve of the Airstream. So for $20, I had a pretty new backsplash. The blinds were $8 each. Paint was $14 for the metallic and the primer I had to use first. So for under $50, I had a total kitchen make-over.
I thought the Aistream was pretty dark and wondered why there wasn’t more lighting. Turns out the roof vents also had lights under there. I didn’t find this out till I pulled down the ugly vents when I was fixing the roof. It was pretty gross up there. About 30 years worth of mold… I had to completely sanitize everything. I had been watching a series on American Restoration and they replaced the vents.
I wanted to do the same. Matt suggested I paint them, which at first thought was silly. Then one day I grabbed the paint and tried it, and they ended up looking pretty good. Well, in the day time at least. At night when the lights are on they look a little funny.
While out shopping I saw the most awesome bedroom sets. They had sheets, comforters and and matching curtains in my favourite shades of Fuschia and Cyan. I also found a shower curtain with matching colours, a floor mat and even a broom in the same shades. I figured if I couldn’t do the floor yet, I could at least make the interior bright and happy to live in. I also installed the mini blinds behind the curtains. Some weeks I work nights, and I like it dark to sleep in.
I started painting over the other ugly yellow plastic parts too. The biggest part is at the front. The end dome was this awful shade of orange yellow. I painted it silver too.
I’ve got some pretty new curtains that go with my retro theme for the front. I haven’t put them up yet though. As I work on stuff, I’ll post it up here. It has been a pretty fun project. I finally broke down and installed a flat screen TV a couple weeks ago. Put up the swivel mount, installed the TV, then realized there wasn’t a jack on the outside to hook up to the cable… The jack on the inside went to the old antenna. Which, surprisingly, picked up two Mexican channels. So then I ran new coax and installed a jack on the outside.
I’ve always been handy, and sometimes I’m surprised at the amount of stuff I can work on myself. I’m looking forward to re-doing the bathroom and then I’ll lay new flooring throughout. The lino in here is pretty fugly.
At the end of my deployment, hopefully I’ll have her all shiny and new and I can sell her and get my money back. The vintage Airstreams are pretty trendy right now. I’ve seen some that have been restored or refurbished go for almost $20k. I know mine’s not going to sell for that kind of cash, but if I can break even on my accommodation costs I’ll be happy. In the meantime, I’m still coming out ahead. I only pay $215 a month rent on my RV space, which includes cable TV and free WiFi. My electricity is about $20 a month. (I’m constantly unplugging things if I’m not using them) Even if I shared a house I’d have to pay more than that. I take my laundry home on my days off. Best of all, I have my own space. I like the people I work with, but I probably wouldn’t if I had to live with them as well…
I see articles in the paper in Oz about the housing crisis in Sydney. Maybe if more people could downsize, or if councils weren’t so anal retentive about micro managing every aspect of building, people could have more affordable housing. Maybe younger people could look at living in RV’s and save up their money for a house. Or look at buying land and building an Eco-Dome. It’s not just the building itself, but these things cost much less in electricity and water too. People could make caravan parks where they have US style RV’s that are completely self contained. I remember staying at Kate’s caravan as a kid and we had to walk 10 minutes to pee or shower. That sucked. I can’t imagine staying in a camper now and not having a toilet and shower.
Instead of buying into the dream of owning a big home, think outside the box. Look at alternative housing. It might surprise you how comfortable it is.
I just wanted to share with y’all the email I got yesterday from Protect.org
Alicia Kozakiewicz in Austin at the launch of Alicia's Law, with Ed Smart of the Surviving Parents Coaltion and her mother, Mary.
Victory in Texas!
They said it couldn’t be done—not in Texas, not this year—but we did it!
In the middle of one of the worst budget crises in the U.S., PROTECT has secured passage of Alicia’s Law, a major expansion of funding for the men and women struggling to rescue Texas children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
What the Law Does
In Dallas, Houston and Austin, three law enforcement task forces (covering the entire state) will get $3 million in state funding over the next two years. Alicia’s Law also makes Texas the first state in the nation to give its Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) officers special subpoena power to get suspect information from ISP’s fast.
What it Means to Children
Survivors of child sexual abuse know that if they were being abused today chances are their tormentor would have child abuse images on his computer. Hundreds of thousands of these “child pornography collectors” have been located by authorities in the U.S., but they remain at large due to lack of resources to go get them. Alicia’s Law funds will enable investigators to follow that trail of child pornography traffic “back through the Internet,” right to the door of children in need of protection, often in their own homes. That makes the $3 million in Alicia’s Law funding the most effective money Texas ever spent to prevent child sexual abuse.
Who Made it Happen
Alicia’s Law was sponsored by Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas), Rep. John Frullo(R-Lubbock)and Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Alpine). Behind the scenes at every stage was Texas’ powerful Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who made it clear that funding Alicia’s Law when popular programs were being slashed was his personal priority.
Thanks also to our partners: the Surviving Parents Coalition, National Sheriff’s Association, the Fraternal Order of Police and Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT). And we’re proud of our PROTECT warriors on the ground, David Keith and Camille Cooper.
Credit goes first and foremost to our members and supporters. Behind the scenes this time, you were joined by a very generous and powerful group of Dallas women and men. Their quiet phone calls and emails to Austin made all the difference.
It’s great that places in America are trying so hard to protect their children from predators. States like California and Nevada have a ONE strike and you’re out policy, Texans are trying their best to protect kids here, as well as stop child sex trafficking from across the border. I’ll have to take a photo of some of the billboards up around town about that.
My best friend just moved and we went over to her place for dinner the other night, and it was nice being able to pull out my phone and do a neighbourhood check to make sure there were no registered sex offenders close by. She felt better knowing there was none on her block.
Alicia’s Law shows that if enough concerned citizens stand up and say what they think, that laws can be changed. We can help to protect our kids.
Since San Antonio is 16rs behind Sydney, I get a really long birthday! It started with a text from my brother on Monday afternoon. I was pretty excited he remembered, and even better, he said my beautiful nephew sent me kisses! I started gets tweets and FB messages from all my friends in Oz.
Tuesday I woke up and Matt had to go to work. I got to spend the day just relaxing. I pottered around, watered the garden, pulled some weeds, did some laundry. Matt came home for lunch and headed back to work. When he got home again, he told me I looked hot from working, and I should go take a shower and just relax. He said he thinks his Mom was going to come over and surprise me… I hit the MIL jackpot with Matt’s mom. She’s the nicest lady ever. She loves me like I’m her own.
Then I get a text from one of my best friends Vicki who’s another Aussie expat who had since moved from San Antonio to the coast. She was in town, and wanted to know if she could pop over to say hi.
Matt’s Mom shows up, and then our best friend Will came over. Will was my first friend in America. We actually chose where we live so we could be close to him. He was the only invited guest at our wedding, where he shared duties of best man and maid of honor. He even went dress shopping with me!
So now I’m thinking we’re going to dinner with them. Then Vicki shows up. Then, my BFF Cassandra turns up. I love Cassandra. When everything was going down last year, she was the one who held my hand through the whole thing. When Matt had to go to San Diego, he sent me to stay with her, knowing she would take care of me. I got her a job at my work, but they’ve never put us on a shift together. Probably smart…
Then, I hear my chihuahua bark, and Lindsay and Stacey are here! Lindsay’s another Aussie, and his wife Stacey is the sweetest thing on earth. I was there when their boy Casey was born and they mean the world to me. Casey is actually the only kid that Matt likes. Then, another bark, and Eric and Melissa are walking in the door. Eric is a huge giant redhead and Melissa is this beautiful petite woman. Eric and I did Boy Scouts together and we traveled all over the US and even went on a trip to Mexico together. Eric also works at Immigration and he’s been with me through my entire immigration journey. Now, we’re all going to be in the same military unit together.
So, we’re sitting around drinking Bundy Rum, having a great time, when Matt says, “Lets Go”. I’m like, what do you mean? I’m not dressed pretty, my eye was all swollen up from allergies and I had no make-up on. But I was so happy to be surrounded by my favourite people, I walked out the door.
Then I saw it. Matt had rented a big white stretched limo. It’s Fiesta in San Antonio, which is a huge week long party. So instead of trying to find parking downtown, Matt just got the limo. Then we could all drink, ride in style and not worry about parking. We all laughed when we noticed the footprint on one of the windows…
So we rolled downtown, and Cassandra had picked this really nice Italian restaurant. We got there, and they thought our reservation was for the 13th… No worries, they got a room sorted and we were all seated.
We got a bunch of wine, ate great food and I looked around the table and thought about how lucky I was to have such great friends in my life. Then, my phone rang, and it was Ray, one of my bestest friends in Australia. My night was made.
I am so lucky to have such great people in my life. This last year has been tough, but it also taught me a lot about who my real friends are.
So while Australia is cleaning up after Category 5 Cyclone Yasi and volcano’s are erupting in Asia, the US is in the middle of “Arctic Blast 2011”. The local news people are loving it!
We’ve had snow is San Antonio about 4 times in the last 16 years. The last great snow was the year we had gone back to Australia for Xmas. The year on the Boxing Day Tsunami. Seems like all the big things happen the same years…
The local weather people had been predicting the possibility of snow for almost a week. Most locals were skeptical. Usually, if they say snow, we might get lucky to have a real light flurry that lasts less than 5 minutes and doesn’t stick. I was at work on the other side of town. We close at 9pm and then clean up and get out about 10pm. We were watching the weather. Originally they had said snow starting at 11pm, but then an update said 10pm. So we hauled ass and started packing up. We were out to our cars at 9:30pm. It had started to sleet. The cars were getting an ice coating. Thankfully, Michelle and I both had our ice scrapers. We both laughed cause for weeks we’d had people ask us why we sold ice scrapers at work. People kept saying, we don’t get snow in San Antonio. We’d have to bite our tongue to keep from saying, “good thing they’re not snow scrapers then…” So, we did our cars, then helped scrape windshields from the girls leaving next door. I hit the road, driving as carefully as I could. The roads were icing over. Thankfully, we had spent a winter in Iowa, and I knew to just take my time, leave plenty of space, don’t slam brakes, etc. Closer I got to the house, the more people I saw sliding. Made it home safe, but I could hear sirens as I walked inside.
Matt was watching the news. I made it home with about 10 minutes to spare. They were shutting down all the highways. The city isn’t prepared for freak events like this. There was over 200 accidents in the first hour! There had been a 9 car pileup right behind me. (No, I didn’t cause it!)
They local news people stayed on TV all night, keeping the city updated. Matt tried to stay up to see the actual snow falling, but he ended up going to bed. About 1pm, it started to really fall. I ran outside to take pictures for Matt, in case it melted by the time he got up. It sounded really cool. It was soft snowflakes yet. It was freezing rain to start with. Tiny pellets of ice, so as it hit the ground and the house, there was a constant chink chink sound.
Thankfully since it had been freezing the last few nights, all the plants and pool filters were covered. The backyard and side yard were quickly covered in white. I watched the neighbours roof slowly turn white. Our gutters were filled with snow. I let the dog out to go potty. It seemed like she remembered the cold white stuff from Iowa. She ran around in it a little bit, just like a small kid would.
The whole street out the front was turning white. It was so quiet outside. No noise of cars since everything was shut down. Just the click click of ice falling. I was pretty impressed by the local news people who were up all night, following the snow. They made me laugh when they said that one reporter “Had drwn the short straw” and was stuck on remote locations. The same people were still on air 12 hours later….
About 11am, the snow was finally starting to melt. The highways were still shut down. There ws still ice on the roads, but it was slowly melting. The sun was doing a good job, but anywhere there was shade, it was still icy. The roads finally opened up again at Noon. Of course, it was like morning peak hour traffic. Thankfully, my work had already cancelled me for the day, so I didn’t have to go driving in it. Matt finally headed in to work about 12:30.
It seems funny that such a little bit of ice is such a big deal. We had snow everyday in Iowa for 5 months. Sometimes a couple feet at a time. Here, we had some freezing rain and a light dust of snow, and the whole city just shut down! But, up north, they are set up to deal with it. Here, there’s no ice scrapers, no snow ploughs. No trucks to lay down salt. Well, I take that back. Apparently, there was city trucks, but the TXDot people were waiting for it to get above freezing before they went out to try to de-ice the roads… It seems that the people in were terrified of the ice and were scared to go out in it. The TXDot spokeswoman said they weren’t prepared for ice, which made Matt laugh and yell at the TV. We don’t get snow here often, but we do get ice a fair bit in winter. Just not usually that much.
So now the sun had come out and it’s a beautiful day here. Everyone who got the day off is probably pretty happy. It’s supposed to get way down below freezing again tonight, but no precipitation is expected.
Hope everyone in Australia is doing ok. Between Sydney getting record heat and North Queensland getting all those storms and bushfires in other parts of Oz, it makes my little snow storm story seem pretty insignificant…
