Family Matters

Win $5000 with your family video

2008-04-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Ikea is holding a competition looking for the best family home videos. Do you have something pretty good in your video camera? Send it in for your chance to win $5000.
Enter here

You can't change a leopards spots

2008-04-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

According to Yahoo news, Kerry Packer was a "sugar daddy" to Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills when she worked as a high-class prostitute, according to a British TV documentary.

The claim about the late Australian billionaire and media magnate is made by Denise Hewitt, who says she worked as a STG10,000 ($A21,000) a night escort with Mills in the 1980s, London's Daily Mail newspaper reports.

"We went into high-class prostitution behind closed doors and nobody knew about it ... [Adnan] Kashoggi, Kerry Packer and one of the royal princes of Saudi, they were the big fish, and there were a couple of others that were classed as Heather's sugar daddies," says Hewitt, 44.

"We used to get a lot of jewellery as gifts - rings, watches, Bulgari bracelets, cars. The world was our oyster. We enjoyed it," she says in the Channel 4 documentary What Really Happened.

"No one knew what we did and we didn't expect it to come out. I don't look on it as sleazy. It was experiencing something we couldn't have experienced if we hadn't done this."

Hewitt says Mills is a manipulator.

"Heather knows how to play people, she's very clever, she's got an X factor with men for some reason.

"They just fall madly in love with her, and I take my hat off to her because she manipulates people and they're besotted, like enchanted, you know - like she throws fairy dust all over them."

Hewitt also tells of Mills' determination to marry the former Beatle before they wed in 2002.

"She said, 'I'll give him an ultimatum and if he doesn't marry me within say eight months, 10 months, I'm going to leave him.'"

But Hewitt said Mills made disparaging remarks about McCartney's age, saying: "Well, look at me, I'm marrying an old man with bigger tits than me."

Details of Mills's colourful sexual history were first revealed in the News of the World newspaper in June 2006, one month after she separated from her husband.

She has denied being a call girl for wealthy businessmen but has never sued over the allegations.

The 40-year-old Mills was labelled a "fantasist" and described as "less than candid" by a judge during the couple's divorce case last month, in which she was awarded a STG24 million ($A50 million) settlement.

Mills has declined to comment on the claims in the TV documentary.

Kerry Packer was Australia's richest man when he died in December 2005.

After Packer, Mills target Paul McCartney and landed herself a multi million dollars settlement. This woman knows how to get rich, even if it means opening up to ugly old men. Not something I could do and sleep at night.

A wealthy family can be a happy family

2008-04-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

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Take care, take time

2008-03-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

A friend sent my this lovely email about taking time for family. I think it's worth sharing...

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"
He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."

I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway."

I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?

Jump Jumps

2008-03-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

I was awoken this morning by the sounds of my one year old granddaughter finding easter bunnies my visiting niece had left outside my bedroom door. "Jump jumps," she said. "Jump jumps." She doesn't know how to say the name of most animals yet, so she calls them by their actions. Cats are meow meows, chickens are bok boks and dogs are ... well she just pants for 'dog'.

She brought in two lovely purple cadbury bunnies and placed them on my bedside table where she gazed at them adoringly with the hugest smile I think I've ever seen on her face. She then carted them around the house, one under each arm. I was wondering how long they would survive before melting, but I didn't have to worry... she worked out that if she peeled back the foil, the bunnies were made of chocolate.

Oh dear. Well, I tried to restrict the amount of chocolate she had access to, which resulted in very sad, sad tears. "Jump jump," she wailed. The bunnies went into the fridge, minus a couple of ears, and I felt like the wicked witch of the west. After that, her mother organised an easter egg hunt for her, in which she scored about a dozen little chocolate eggs. Easier to dole out little eggs than portions of jump jumps, but needless to say, I had to let her loose on the beach for a while to burn off the sugar.

In hindsight, do I have any advice to parents of little ones at Easter time? Nope. No matter if you try to keep the chocolate available to a minimum, there will always be someone lovingly trying to bring more into your home. Don't fight it, just try to manage it. Remember rule number 2: Don't take yourself too seriously. And rule number 1: Don't take anything too seriously. Life's not permanent- enjoy it while you can.

Cheers,
Groovy Granny

Library Books and Felt Pens

2008-03-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

For my first blog, I just wanted to remind all grandparents and parents that when the little ones have felt pens or crayons, make sure they don't have any good books available, especially library books. The library can charge you for a new replacement book even though your little treasure has decorated their old one for no charge at all.

Groovy Grannie