Nobody Came - Robbie Garner with Toni Maguire

Nobody Came- the appalling true story of brothers cruelly abused in a Jersey care home -by Robbie Garner with Toni Maguire.

This true story follows Robbie through his childhood. Living with his alcoholic mother, older brother John, younger brother Davie and baby sister Denise. His father Stanley tries to take his own life, which causes police to become involved and they remove the children from their parents.

Robbie, Davie and Denise are taken to Sacre Couer, an orphanage. Denise is taken to the girls sections where the boys have no idea what has happened to her. John is taken to another place Haut de la Garenne. The boys suffer abuse of all sorts within the orphanage.

Eventually Robbie is removed from Sacre Couer and put into Haut de la Garenne. His older brother John has already left there and is awaiting his brother's release.

Horrific and torturious things happen at Haur de la Garenne.

Upon his 15th birthday Robbie is released and he and John set up home together, awaiting Davie's release which is two years away.

Haut de la Garenne became under investigation when a child's skull was found beneath their building.

GREAT book.

A must read

Happy Birthday Michael Jackson!

I am still at a loss over this. I know people are probably thinking "OMG get the F over it!" but I really haven't.. I truly believe that he was such a fantastic man! Completely innocent of everything thrown at him.. I do agree he made somoe bad choices but I don't believe for a second that he ever hurt or abused any child. Not many people have the fame that this man did/does. He would have been targeted for absolutely anything he did..

Happy Birthday Angel Michael Joesph Jackson!

R.I.P

you're forever in my heart!

Parents Home Girls Weekend!

Naomi and I headed off for our girlie weekend away at about 12.30pm. Thankfully Tas let me take the day off and head up early. If I had to have worked I wouldn't have gotten all that way till late Friday night.

We did get a little lost.. GPS didn't pick up the address and the melways didn't even list the suburb! We thought we were in huge trouble.. Kym helped us out with some directions, unfortunately she came from a different direction so she actually made things worse for us... lol

At least we did get there in the end, and we were really happy! The house we stayed at was fantastic. I would recommend this place to anyone who has a biggish group and kids. Charleson Farm is prefect!

Spending the weekend with Kym and Ben, Jane and Joel, Nikki, Karina, Michelle and Lisa was absolutely fantastic.. It was such a stress free weekend. Every one was themselves and no one was out of place. Naomi and I put on a full on wog bbq on Saturday which I was very nervous about whether the girls would like it all or not, and was very happy that it was a huge success.

There were camera's snapping around every where and I have stolen one of Karina's for the header above. She's the best photographer, and came up with some awesome photos..

It was sad though when it was time to make the journey back home, and the weather was absolutely disgusting! A weekend just didn't seem long enough..

Till next time ladies, love to you all

xoxo

The World Is A Lesser Place.....

June 25th 2009 rocked my world.. A legend has passed away and the music industry will never be the same.. Michael Joesph Jackson has died, and it has me so saddened.
I've always been a Michael Jackson fan..

It really saddens me that my kids and generations to come won't experience the King Of Pop, which in my opinion doesn't give the man justice at all.

My boys love MJ. Billy's favourite song is "Black or White" and Jorge's is "Beat It" followed closely by "Dirty Diana"

Tas and I had a conversation only days before his death about whether he'd come to Australia, and if he did we were DEFINITELY spending whatever to see him perform... Well I'm guessing he didn't want to see us, as he died shortly after our conversation.... :(

Right now, I'm loving "Dirty Diana." That song is bloody great! MJ in that film is FUCKING HOT!! I'm serious.. He is sexy as in it.... YummY!

June 09

June has been hectic! Well so have all the months of 2009! Still not getting the calmness and relaxation I was hoping for... But in saying that I've had some great fun this year too... lol

1st we celebrated Naomi's 28th birthday!! F*&K we're getting old... I can't believe how old we are.. I think I'll sink into a depression when my 30th looms.. ROFL

The long awaited P!nk concert finally came along.. It was great to see Chelle and Jane, as I hadn't seen them since we went to QLD in Feb. I LOVE my PH girls.. I really do!! Love ya guts girls! ♥ I also shared the funtour with Sarah, Georgia (sister) and Annemarie (cousin)

May 09

I'm loving my Nikon! I've been taking some awesome pictures lately.. Not Karina standard or anything, but really nice portrait shots. The one above also.

Do you remember that I bought Pussy Cat Doll tickets for Tas for his birthday? Well, any way on the day of the concert Tas informs me that he's got too much work to do and won't be able to make it to the concert.. He wasn't happy about it but I still got shitty! Well wouldn't you?? I decided to take my friend Sarah to the concert instead.

Here are some pics I took the concert....

2009! OMG Settle down!

I can't believe how busy this year has been.. I just can't keep up! Since Billy started primary school, things have changed. I now have two different drop offs in the morning before heading to work... Work is so busy (which is great) but it's so extreme.. There is so much to keep on top of, and now with having less available hours to work and having to fit a full day in the time I do have is really tiring me out... Leave work at 2.45pm, even though Billy doesn't finish school till 3.15pm. I've got to beat other mum's to get the good parking spots... lol

Then I either pick Jorge up straight away, or I drag Billy along to do whatever errands that need to be done.

I'm so tired already!

I get home and sit with Billy to read his reader, I like to do it straight away as he loses interest later in the evening and I also lose my patience so it's safer for both of us to do it straight away.. lol

The new house is absolutely fantastic... I love my home! All that is left to do is have the study fitted out with the desks and cupboards we've ordered through a client. Should arrive and be installed in about two weeks.. Woo Hoo.. I miss my PC! I can't wait to have all of my personal documents and my photo albums and etc all organised again... CAN NOT WAIT!

Now I did say I love the new house but it's a lot bigger than the old house, which means a lot more cleaning... Down stairs is majority white tiles! White tiles, means vac and mopping pretty much every day...

Tas, still does nothing around the house, but in saying that with the business being so busy, he is spending more time at work.. I'm thankful though that he does his extra hours in the morning while the boys and I are sleeping which means he still has dinner with us and spends some time with us. Even though he usually goes to sleep when the boys do... Which gives me more alone time to fold clothes, or vac down stairs, or mop, or make lunches, or if I'm lucky get to sit on my ass & just relax.

At the beginning of the year I thought the busy thing was only due to not being in a routine with Billy going to school and our move. But it still hasn't settled.. I think unfortunately this is the way things are now!

Well atleast being so busy, days are quickly turning into weeks, which are turning into months.. So Christmas holidays should be just around the corner.. ;)

Today (well I haven't slept yet so as far as I'm concerned it's still Friday 15th May) is the 3rd anniversary of the most influential man in my lifes passing...... NONNO I can't believe it's already been 3 bloody years! I still miss him so much, I feel as though it's all just happened.. Most of you where all there for me during that terrible time for me and appreciate so much all the support and love you all shared with me.. I think I took it all so hard with him not only because he and I were so close and are so alike, it was the first time I'd had to deal with death in immediate surroundings. Tas's grandmother passed away in 2002, and was such a lovely lady but she wasn't mine (so sorry if that sounds terrible.. probably not wording that correctly). Nonno was/is mine! It was like losing a part of myself, when I lost him.. I'll always remember the couple days before he passed where I spent my whole evenings in hospital beside him with my mum, nonna, aunts, uncle and my cousins passing through here and there.. My sister and I were there every night and just sat with him for hours on end! Well until it got really late and had to leave..

I'm so happy that I did so much that he was proud of. No one in my family had ever finished high school, and he was there at my high school graduation and thought I was the most smartest girl in the whole world! He was there at my wedding, and was so proud of me and told me so all day! He was one of the first people to come and visit my boy Billy.. He was so proud of me, and always let me know it. I gave him his first great grandchild that he was actually given the chance to get to know and love.. Billy still remembers him and brings him up.. He mentions his scratchy beard when he'd kiss him.. I am very glad Jorge was able to meet him. Jorge was only 6 months old when nonno past away but I have such gorgeous photos of nonno holding Jorge and the pride in his face is so obvious.

Wow, this wasn't supposed to turn into such a long and emotional post! I'm so sorry guys...

PAOLO SALVATORE TASSO

R.I.P

TILL WE MEET AGAIN NONNO,

I KNOW YOU ARE LOOKING

OVER ME AND MY FAMILY

XOXOXOXOXO

TI AMO!

I absolutely love this photo! It's nonno, holding Jorge not long after we came home from hospital... I think the pride just radiates off him and the happiness is so obvious!!! GOD, I miss him!!!

Bye Bye ABC!

Well on Friday Jorge had his last night at ABC child care.

At the end of December 08, his ABC centre (Epping East) was closed down and he was transfered to ABC Epping South.

The only reason I was okay with this was because mine and his favourite carers (well most of the them) were going along with him.. From day one I wasn't overly impressed with the new centre. Nothing personal against the people who work there as I'm sure they are nice people, but no one even bothered to try to get to know the parents coming from the closed down centre. It was pretty much just saying to parents what needed to be said and be on your way. It was always very awkard...

At the old centre, when I'd go to pick up my boys I was there for roughly about half an hour talking about stuff to any of the carers. All of them where fantastic.. At this centre unless one of the Epping East girls where there I was in and out within minutes picking up Jorge.

It was a hard decision to take Jorge from where he was to start him somewhere new but I felt it had to be done.

He starts at a Pelican centre on Monday (tomorrow) and I'm quite nervous, Jorge isn't really good with change so I know we'll be having those screaming moments in the mornings for a while.

I feel that it's going to be easier for Jorge to get used to the new centre while it's small and just opened.. Rather than let myself get really fed up with the ABC and try to get Jorge to get used to a new centre with 20 upward kids in his room alone.

I'll really miss Fatime but I feel I'll be seeing her soon again soon enough ;)

I'll really miss Sally too, but there is always face book ;) and I'll keep in touch with her..

Fingers Crossed he does ok!!!

Oh Man!

2009 has so far proven to be a real struggle for my marriage.. Fight after fight after fight.. I do so much for my husband and I wish he'd realise how much. I wish he'd see us as equals but at the end of the day when he says something he expects me to bow down and just listen.. I guess it's how his parents were so that's what he finds normal.. Yeah well your parents are divorced now, and were miserable through out most of their marriage.. So change would do you good!

What will be will be! This is going to be a hard one to try to get through..... I would consider some form of counceling but Tas would never go for that!

Ohhhh Reunion!

Well it's been 10 years since I graduated from high school.. OMFG can i feel any older? 1999 was the best year for me.. I had started seeing Tas at the beginning of the year, so all my books said Leni Tsolakis Loves Tas Katsanis! This was scrolled around the school everywhere... ROFL

Before year 12 the girls in our year level who hung out together always had the odd arguement and shit, but in year 12 everyone came together and just got along awesome.

There were some shit hot parties. Ohh the parties.. Such fun!! At this time I loved living out of home or at Tas' as I could do whatever I wanted when ever I wanted.. So year 12 was quite fun!

I must say this was the most confident part of my life. I was happy with myself (mostly) and wasn't ashamed of my body at all.. In fact I was known for flashing my bum to pretty much any one who cared to look (year 11 and 12)..

Ahhh such great memories... ROFL

But anyway back to 2009! Mmmmmmm!

I'm very anxious about this upcoming reunion.. Though in saying that I don have a good 7 months to prepare myself. I vow that I will lose as much weight as possible in order to still wow these people.

Why do I care I hear you say?? Well these people know me as a tiny size 6! I feel terrible about the state of my body and if this is what is going to push me further than so be it.

I really have a paranoia about seeing people from high school unless I really trust them. I don't want to be the person that people say "oh Leni has put on weight hasn't she?" Shallow of me I know but it's the way I feel.

So in saying that.. I need to weigh myself to know where I'm starting from.. I CAN DO THIS! JUST PUT YOUR MIND TO IT FATTY!!!!

New Blog!

I decided to start over with my blog.. All fresh for 2009! Well I'm already a few months late, but I can recap on all that has happened this year so far!

Well my little man Billy began grade prep.. It was such an emotional day. I was in disbelief the whole day thinking hmmm can this really be happening...
He is loving prep though, and doing great. He had his prep assessment and he was given a higher than average grade so I was very proud.



On the 25th Jan I turned 27! At the last minute it was decided we'd have a house cooling party to coinside with my 27th and Tas' 29th..
Awesome night.. We decided on a cocktail party with a Hollywood theme.. It F&*KING rocked!




On Feb 13th, we moved into our new home. We have settled in nicely here and it feels like home already. There is heaps more to clean here but I have found that I'm managing it quite well along with the kids, hubby and working. So YAY for me!

On the 27th Feb I went to see Sheree in QLD for her 30th birthday.. There were many of us there from all around Australia and I tell you it was such a fantastic weekend...

Nikki and I have known each other since early 05. We've always been close and it was so fantastic to finally meet her.. I love her to bits!

Me and Nay at the party.. I needed to get her to travel who knows how many miles away to realise that she loves these girls just as much as I do...

Me, Nikki and Kym (Kym wore a skirt :P )

Good shot!!
Jane, Me, Nikki and Nay! Rock On ♥

Kazza absolutely rocked man

Next morning! Had absolutely no sleep, so a little worse for wear!
Samantha, Nay,Bobbie, Kym,Leni, Nikki and Angie