(Click image to play video.)

What do you think?

Former Test paceman Glenn McGrath – whose wife Jane died of cancer in 2008 – has been seen with his new girlfriend, Sara Leonardi, 28.

As next Monday’s Woman’s Day reveals, the pair spent Tuesday night at a Sydney restaurant.

The magazine, which has secured a photo spread of the couple, reports she is a beautiful brunette and that McGrath’s friends are delighted he has again found happiness. (Image Source).

I watched some reactions to this on TV this morning, and of course there were differing of opinions. One person was very honest saying at first they were a little shocked as it seemed quite soon, but then they realised who the hell are they to judge.

Others were worried about his children to which someone replied, the best person who knows what’s best for his kids, is Glenn himself, and I can’t imagine he’d introduce just anyone to his kids.

I’m sure it’s hard enough for people to lose a spouse, let alone having to do it in the very public eye. I actually think the news is great and wonderful that Glenn and his kids now seem to be in a happy place where they can invite someone else into their lives.

What do you think?

Here is the article from the front page of The Herald (Newcastle) this morning:

Hunter police seek alcohol limit after violent Australia Day

ANGRY police have vowed to push for more alcohol restrictions after Australia Day celebrations turned into the worst violence seen in Newcastle for more than a decade.

Constant brawls between drunken “ferals”, some thought to be as young as 12, pushed emergency services to the limit as Newcastle’s parks became a battle ground for alcohol-fuelled rage. John Hunter Hospital staff said the day was a “nightmare”.

The emergency ward needed extra security as even those with injuries had to be sedated and tied to beds because of their aggression.

Newcastle Ocean Baths was closed and emptied to clean up loads of broken glass dumped by drunks. Newcastle police chief Max Mitchell’s anger was palpable yesterday. He said the situations his officers had to deal were disgraceful.

“Like always, they do not know when to stop drinking and the yobbo element takes over,” Superintendent Mitchell said.

“We just had brawl after brawl after brawl. And the really unfortunate issue is that many of these [people] were under 18, and I am talking at 10pm or 11pm at night.

“I don’t understand the mentality of the kids’ parents and I am sick and tired of having to constantly deal with these people.”

Police made 10 arrests in the city but many offenders were able to escape as officers tried to control the brawls instead of taking people into custody.

About 20,000 people celebrated Australia Day in areas surrounding the Newcastle Foreshore, King Edward Park and Empire Park.

Superintendent Mitchell said he would lobby the council to change alcohol-free zones in the parks, including the 8am-8pm “window” allowing alcohol consumption in King Edward Park, where thousands of mainly teenaged drinkers gathered.

“Many of my officers have said it was the worst night they have seen in more than 10 years,” he said.

“Many others said they had never seen such attitude from young people, such abuse of alcohol and the amount of fights.”

Newcastle Lord Mayor John Tate said he expected the council would support any police moves for tougher restrictions, adding it was “annoying that yobs and idiots just go mad on a day like that”.

John Hunter Hospital emergency department services manager Catherine Foster-Curry said the evening was a “nightmare”.

“From 7pm to about 5am we were faced with an endless procession of aggressive drunk young men, some with very significant injuries,” she said. “We needed security in the emergency department all night just trying to keep order.” Staff were physically and verbally abused with many patients having to be restrained and sedated so they could be treated.

(Article wesite link.)

Fed-up and disrespectful are words that come to mind, among other’s that I can’t repeat on here. I will never understand these people’s mentality that think it’s OK to abuse people, physically and verbally. Australia Day is to celebrate this great country that we live in, and for years now its just constantly escalated into a day to get totally shitfaced and cause trouble. The Australian Way? I don’t think so.

There was also a letter to the editor in today’s paper, which genuinely saddened me from a man describing his family Australia Day. Druken youths in the alcohol-free zone. Objects being thrown at Sudanese children. And this:  “Then, when we returned to our car in Stevenson Place, we found empty or part-empty beer bottles placed under the wheels of about eight cars, including our own. Across the road I heard a group of young Sudanese men who appeared to have been drinking heavily, with empty bottles around. As I stared at them, one started crossing the road towards me, walked up to our vehicle, removed the two bottles from under our wheels and walked off. My wife and I drove home shaken, disappointed and remain in a state of dismay as to what has happened to Newcastle.” Mr Blanch, Macquarie Hills (Newcastle).

Sadly Mr Blanch, I don’t think it just happened to Newcastle.

But after driving past King Edward Park (big park in Newcastle) yesterday on our way home from an Australia Day BBQ, I was ashamed to be in the ‘category’ of a Gen Y Australian.

The park was beyond dirty. There were masses of young people, and masses of rubbish. Australian flag cape wearing, beer drinking young Aussie’s who have no respect for the surrounds that they were inhabiting for the day, and no doubt thought that someone else would clean up after them.

It is these people that end up spoiling things for the rest of us. The Newcastle foreshore yesterday was an alcohol free zone “from sunset today, Monday 25 January until sunrise on Thursday 27 January” according to the council website: www.ncc.nsw.gov.au. Furthermore activities were to finish at 6pm and there were NO fireworks.

Why? Because there are people who decide that Australia Day is a great day to get, like, totally pissed, and be a public nuisance, therefore ruining it for well behaved other people to, say, have a BBQ in town on the foreshore, have a few beers, and play a bit of cricket. Aussie? Too right.

But no, you weren’t allowed to. Yep that’s right unless you were in the comfort of your own home having a BBQ, you couldn’t have a beer or an alcoholic drink of any description for that matter if you had a BBQ on the Newcastle foreshore.

I’m the first to bang on about the minority spoiling it for the majority, but after seeing the disgrace that was King Edward Park yesterday, is this getting pissed in public and carrying on business the majority? All I can say is, I really hope not.

It really pains me to ask what the hell this Gen Y thing is that they think they shouldn’t have to clean up after themselves. And if the alcohol ban was all along the Newcastle foreshore then why wasn’t it extended to the park as well? Yes it would have prevented other non flag cape wearers from being able to enjoy a beer, but it sure would have prevented that disgusting disrespectful mess that SOMEONE ELSE had to clean up.

Because at the end of the day despite what some Gen Y-er’s think, getting trashed, wearing a flag as a cape, causing trouble in public and expecting other people to clean up their shit, is totally UNAUSTRALIAN.

George Clooney

No that’s not a trick question! So George Clooney thinks he would make a lousy husband. That noise you just heard, was women all over the world madly making themselves up and jumping on planes to find George and tell him he’d make a wonderful husband and they’d like to be his wife.

According to www.smh.com.au:

The Up in the Air star – who was previously married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993 – doesn’t know how he even manages to get girlfriends because he wouldn’t date himself.

George – who is currently romancing Italian actress and presenter Elisabetta Canalis, 31 – said: “I am always working and have so many different interests outside acting. If I was my girlfriend, I wouldn’t put up with me for very long – and they don’t either!

“People are always trying to marry me off, thinking I am suffering in some way. I tried marriage – and it didn’t work. I have had long relationships with women and they get bored with me working all the time. My fear is that I would still make a lousy husband and I don’t want to put myself – or anyone else – through the pain of finding out.”

House Husband

Recently I wrote about what it means to be a good wife. You can read that HERE. So I guess we should talk about what it means to be a good husband. Being that I’m you know, a girl, which of course makes me a wife, it’s a little hard for me to say from a male point of view what it means to be a good husband. But from a wife’s point of view, I can definitely tell you what I think makes a good husband!

If we take the old fashioned route then the list would look something like this:

• Mow the lawns
• Take out the garbage
• Change light bulbs
• Move heavy things
• Fix things

You get the gist. So what happens when we take the modern day route? Well really all the above applies as well, except maybe:

• Help with the housework
• Help with the cooking
• Help with the washing
• Help with the kids (if you have them)

You know, all those things us woman bitch and moan about having to do. Oh yes, except the cooking. Hubby tends to do most of that. But I am getting better in the kitchen! On a serious note though, unlike the ‘old days’ I’d like to think that there’s none of these strictly defined roles as to what woman and men are supposed to do. Maybe more like couples work together to get stuff done, you know, like a team.

Of course we still fall into ‘roles’ within our lives, stay at home mum’s, breadwinners etc, but I don’t think it’s as stringent as it used to be.

So do you think George has a point, and that he’d make a bad husband? Maybe take out the fact that he’s the sexiest man alive, quite well off, and seems to be an all round nice kinda guy. Ok, can’t get past all that? Me, either!

What makes your husband/partner a catch? Or are you a husband/partner, who would like to share why you think you’re pretty special?!

“I’m still so full of life and healthy at 60, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be treated,” she told The Mail on Sunday.

Hmmm, this is a tricky situation, but of course I still have an opinion! While Ms Tollefsen may still be full of life at the age of 60 and may desperately want a second child, (her first was born 2 years ago via IVF) is it the right thing to do? I personally think that she is too old. And I know I am saying that without having met her, or know anything about her health. But in reality when the child is 10 she will be 70, and when the child is finishing school at 18 she will be 78.

I hear countless stories from mum’s aged anywhere from 25 to 40 about how tiring it is to raise children, so I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to be a full time Mum at the age of 60.

Politician’s have given their opinion: Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has called for parliament to intervene and announce new laws setting an upper age limit for IVF.

“Once you pass the point of natural conception, that’s when you should stop,” she told the newspaper. We need to legislate for this because, inevitably, society will have to pick up the cost later.”

It’s so hard to not be judgemental in these situations, and I do think that a lot of where my opinion is coming from is what society views as acceptable, or see’s as the norm.

You can read the full article HERE. What do you think?

And so, this isn’t a Puff Piece about how I’ve grown old before my time, it is about the real dangers that now face people who decide to go out ‘after dark’. If you live in Newcastle you would have heard the story on what happened in Beaumont Street on Saturday morning. If you’re not a Novacastrian, in the early hours of Saturday morning a man copped a single punch to the head after which he allegedly hit the ground with a sickening thud. The victim died at the scene.

According to newspaper reports (www.theherald.com.au): The man charged with manslaughter, and two friends were shadow boxing outside the hotel when the victim, and his brother left. It appears the accused and his group then sought out the victim’s group.  And according to Police Prosecutor Will Thomas “It doesn’t appear the victim plays a significant role prior to being punched’.

When I first heard this story on Saturday morning as I drove to a friends place to feed his dog, I thought thank God we don’t go out and ‘hit the town’ anymore. But then my second thought was, but if we wanted to, we should have that choice and be able to feel safe doing so. The goings on that occur on a Friday and Saturday night are just plain scary. Look at all the crap that happens in Sydney nightlife. And now it appears Newcastle is catching up.

I don’t expect to bring our future children into a world wrapped in cotton wool where every street is like Ramsay Street. But is it too much to ask for human beings to have some common decency and realise that they’re playing with people’s lives.

People are losing their lives and it doesn’t get anymore serious than that.

One word: Bullshit.

If it were an accident as they are now maintaining, and a judge has also believed, quashing Bird’s conviction, then why the hell did they not say this in first place and fight his innocence with the truth, instead of initially blaming it on a flat mate that wasn’t even within the vicinity.

So here we have another footballer ‘getting off’. What kind of example are we setting for those that look up to these people? Regardless now of whether he did or did not ‘glass’ his girlfriend, they have both lied to police and lied to the courts.

I simply just don’t have any more words to say about this other than UGH.

You can read the full news story HERE.

On Sunday night I watched the 60 minutes story about pig farms and the atrocious conditions in which these animals are kept.

Close to tears and watching the disturbing pictures, I realised that by eating the pork, the bacon and the ham that we do, we are not only condoning these hideous pig farms, we’re also financially supporting it.

Instantly my husband and I made a decision to not eat it at all, or to source out organic or RSPCA approved products from pigs, from farms where they have been humanely treated.

It was quite rightly pointed out in the story that if someone were to treat say a dog how these pigs are being treated, they would be charged and prosecuted no questions asked. So why does this not apply to all animals? Is it because pigs are a food source and dogs are not? I don’t know. But whatever the answer is, it’s wrong. No animal should be treated this way.

The only way to fight this horrible practice that occurs on these pig farms is for the consumer, YOU, to make an educated choice. Clearly the Australian Pork association has been useless in keeping an eye on these practices, one, because a director of this company was one of the worst offenders with his pig farm treating his animals appalling, and two, because according to Andrew Spencer CEO of Australian Pork, the pigs apparently liked being shoved in a sow stall with only a centimeter of room on each side. Pfft. Give me a break Mr Spencer. How about we shove you in a stall with 2cm of room and see how you like it.

Here’s an excerpt from the 60 minutes story transcript. It starts after Mr Spencer was shown images of the filthy pig farm run by one of it’s Director’s.

ANDREW SPENCER, CEO AUSTRALIAN PORK: That’s an old shed. It’s filthy, doesn’t look good and I can imagine people seeing that and being a bit revolted by that.

LIAM BARTLETT: A bit revolted?

ANDREW SPENCER: However, look at the pigs. Those pigs were in fantastic condition.

LIAM BARTLETT: We showed the pictures to Andrew Spencer, chief executive of the Australian pork industry. He argues the alternative to sow stalls is much worse – sows on the loose, fighting, and he gave us his pictures to prove his point.

ANDREW SPENCER: They’re trying to run through each other’s ribs at 20km/h. That does bad things to pigs. That is an unacceptable welfare situation.

LIAM BARTLETT: So, you are completely happy with the welfare of those pigs in those pictures?

ANDREW SPENCER: No. I’m disgusted with the filth in that piggery, let’s make it absolutely clear. But I have seen the pigs and what’s important to me, and what’s important in a welfare discussion, is what is the state of those pigs. They look good.

LIAM BARTLETT: It turns out that a shareholder and director of the company operating that filthy piggery is Dr Ian Parish, who also sits on the board running the pork industry. Dr Parish declined our request for an interview. So the industry, the pork industry, is run by people who are happy to keep their animals in that sort of condition?

ANDREW SPENCER: No, and I think that’s a pretty unfair extrapolation. You’ve got an activist who’s gone into one piggery because their ultimate objective is a vegetarian one for our society, they want us out of business, so they will do anything that they can to do that.

LIAM BARTLETT: But when we asked to see conditions at any piggery in the country, we were told ‘no’. Instead, the industry provided footage of the Queensland University piggery and said research showed pregnant sows were actually happier in stalls.

ANDREW SPENCER: It’s a big, pregnant animal that’s not looking to frolic around. It wants to eat and sleep – that’s pig heaven. Sow stalls are good for sows, the research shows it.
Remember the backlash when the public found out how chicken’s were being kept, and it forced egg cartons to state if the eggs were from caged or free range chickens? Now tell me how many of you would willingly buy caged eggs now? I certainly do not. So why should it be any different when it comes, pork, or ham or bacon.

The RSPCA has released a list of RSPCA approved farms you can check out the list HERE.

You can read the full 60 minutes transcript or watch the story HERE.

So if you make no other choices or changes to your life except choosing to buy happy pig, then it’s a choice well bloody made. As much as I hate the term people power unfortunately without it these innocent animals will continue to suffer.

Not on the models in the magazines, the plus sized models on the catwalk, or lack there of, or the way photoshop is used to make even the tiniest of people look even tinier.

No, none of that. I’d like to talk about my own thoughts on MY body. Risky, selfish, whatever you want to call it, here’s what I think about me, myself and I.

My story isn’t one for the dramatics. I don’t have an eating disorder, and I don’t go to extremes with my food or exercise. Well I don’t really go anywhere with my exercise because I don’t really do any.

Growing up I never had a weight issue. I was naturally normal. I don’t like to say the word thin, because a) I don’t like it and b) you wouldn’t look at me and think wow she’s thin, I was you know, just a size 10. I never had to worry about bits poking out here and there, and was easily able to where usually whatever I wanted quite comfortably. God I sound up myself, but I promise you I’m not!!

So there I was plodding along not worried about my weight until a couple of years ago. Gradually I noticed that no more could I just eat whatever I wanted without consequence. And slowly the kilo’s crept on. So about 2 years ago I gradually put on about 8-10 kilos, it hovers depending on what I’ve eaten that day!

I have pants that I can juuust do up, and would ok to wear if you know I didn’t need to breathe or anything important like that. I have dresses that fit, if you call fitting, being able to do them up, but then not being able to walk for fear the side of it might split in half!

Any you know what, I’m ok with that. I’m ok with the fact that my body has changed, and I haven’t even got bloody kids to blame it on! Essentially my weight gain has been evenly distributed! So I’m just a little more padded all over! My butt pokes out more than it used to. On a bad day, I could pass my tummy off for at least 4 months preggers. My arms have that slight tuckshop lady flab going on, and don’t even get me started on my thighs!

I guess in some respect I do worry about gaining weight, enough for me to think about writing this post anyway. But not in a ‘oh my god I’m fat’ kinda way. And not in a I HAVE to look like that model in the magazine kinda way either. More that I know I’d probably feel a little better about myself if I exercised more and got my body moving. I’d be healthier and feel better phyically, and with that comes feeling better about how you look.

So I guess in a nutshell, while I grief for the clothes that I used to feel fantastic in, I’m also ok with the fact that I prefer and feel more comfortable in a maxi-dress as opposed to a mini-skirt. (Not that I ever got round in mini-skirts, but you get my point!). And for those that know me, no I haven’t lost my mind, yes most of my clothes are 10-12, but I still thought I’d share my body changing experience anyhow.

So there you have it, Ami’s Body Image according to moi! Alright, your turn now!