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Browsing tag: career

  • January 31, 2011

    If you’re gonna brag make sure it’s your money you flaunt; depend on no one else to give you what you want

    <via>

    My dad once asked me what I valued most in the world. He asked me to write it down and give it to him. (He’s odd like that.)

    I never did. Not because I resented my parents (which was often true back then, let’s be honest) but because I really didn’t know.

    His earlier question was easy enough to answer. What is the most important thing?

    Love, of course.

    My brother went for Truth, by the way.

    But this one…I thought about it. And I could not come up with a definitive answer.

    A while later, he called me out on it. You never gave me a reply, he said. But I think I know what it is. You value your independence, more than anything else.

    The plan was always to leave home upon graduating from high school and starting university. I ended up leaving a year and a half before that. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t planned that way. It was messy, conspicuous and no doubt caused gossip among the neighbours. And a lot changed for me after that. To the casual observer, it might seem that I might as well just have moved back in.

    But it went much deeper than that. Barring major catastrophe, I know that I will never again live with my parents. I will do whatever it takes to stand on my own two feet. Even accepting a graduation gift (cash) from them was very difficult to come to terms with. I never ask for help  (and I am aware that is not always something to be proud of, by the way); I find ways to manage on my own.  I have given a lot to BF, but never to the point of jeopardising my own stability. A little part of me has an irrational fear of ending up on the street (although I know it won’t happen). It’s why I’m so set on having a solid emergency fund in the bank.

    Eventually, I realised he was right. The funny thing was, he knew me better than I knew myself. We may have very little in common, but some things, I suppose, are passed down.

    Independence. Essentially, that was, I think, the root of all our problems. The result: I became fully independent earlier than I bargained. And I embraced it. I was born for it. To make my own decisions, to answer to myself.

    Now I’m starting to wonder, can one ever be truly independent working for someone else? I love having a steady job, great colleagues, regular pay. I love not having to chase payments or seek out clients.

    I read a lot of blogs. Some touch on, or even focus on, escaping the 9-5 and lifestyle design. I’m also following a lot of blogs about freelancing, particularly in the writing field. At this stage, that’s not for me. In fact, freelancing is slowly starting to take up more and more of my time…and I’m going to have to draw a line in the sand.

    But increasingly I’m wondering: Should this be something I actively work towards? I’m not saying never, especially as I don’t know if I’d want to work full time when we have kids one day…but is putting most of my eggs in the employee basket going to hurt in the long run?

    What are your thoughts? Is working for a corporation ever the best answer?

  • January 20, 2011

    The ‘job-that-you-wake-up-excited-for’ propaganda

    job that you wake up excited for

    Modified CC image, original by Flickr user noodlepie

    I’ve got to say, I’m a little tired of people advocating for us all to go out and find our dream jobs. Jobs that you wake up excited to go to. Jobs that you sit bolt upright in bed in the middle of the night grinning about at the sheer thought of. Jobs that you would happily pay to do. (Don’t you know that nothing less will do?!)

    Surely I can’t be the only one who can’t think of a job that fits this description. No matter how awesome, ultimately a job is a job.

    I get disproportionately excited over little things. Dessert. (Heck, almost anything to do with good food). The way the sky looks at sunset. A good hair day. And these bursts of excitement are sharp, yet short. But I don’t actually wake up excited for anything, barring a concert or maybe a trip away somewhere. Least of all, work (although there are days when I can actually gush “I love what I do”). And yet, my job is, more or less, my ideal job. Meanwhile, I freelance ultimately not so much for the love of writing but for the experience and money.

    I “followed my passion”. So where is this soul-shaking, ear-to-ear grinning, electrifying feeling? Did I go wrong somewhere along the way? Or…is this increasingly popular concept simply setting the vast majority of us up for disappointment?

    I know the mantra goes “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. I always knew I would work with words; that was what I enjoyed, and what I excelled at. But sometimes, the sheer fact that you are doing what you supposedly love, eventually takes away something from it. (This hasn’t really happened, but I feel sure that this would be the case with any other path. Heck, I fell so out of love with guitar I stopped playing for three years, because I made it too much like work. I got frustrated with my lack of technical progress and lost sight of why I started in the first place).

    Would I be happier doing something else on a day-to-day basis? No. And nobody would pay me for any of my hobbies either, be it amateurish baking or photography or travel. Sure, I could try to turn any one of those things into a job too, but why would I? That would suck the simple pleasure out of it. For example, I don’t want to rebrand myself as a travel writer; the places I want to go are, honestly, places other people have been to millions of times before and written about.  Also, I wish to enjoy my travels, not spend time thinking about story angles and making pitch after pitch. And becoming a location-independent nomad isn’t a lifestyle I want to pursue.

    It’s a little depressing when I talk to harried colleagues who are looking desperately forward to their next holiday (“As long as I’m not here!”). I’m not at that stage, THANKFULLY, and pray I never will be: but honestly, if I could choose to come into work only when I felt like it, you can bet I wouldn’t be there five days a week.

    I’ve said plenty of times that I can’t imagine what people do in retirement. I mainly said those things while I was a stretched-thin student with no time for myself. No time to rediscover doing things just for me, just for the sake of enjoyment. Going to a 40-hour work week has enabled me to live a much more balanced, healthy and sane life. I do get professional satisfaction through my work, but equally (and perhaps more importantly) I get personal satisfaction through the interests and relationships I devote my spare time to.

    I never thought I’d say this, but I think I could happily live the life of a lady of leisure, if such a lifestyle could be funded. I have so many books to read. Songs to learn. Movies to watch. Recipes to try. Places and friends to visit. I might work or volunteer a couple of days a week, and that would be enough for me. Doing exactly what I want, when I want. I don’t believe that’s in any job description, though 😉

    I may have veered a bit off topic here but I think you get the point I’m trying to make. Enjoying my work is important, but I know I’m not the only one who thinks that loving your job wholeheartedly is a bit of a myth. (And for those who might see fit to chime in with “why don’t you work for yourself instead?” I will point you here courtesy of Paranoid Asteroid.) I also value a job that I can mostly leave behind when I leave the office, stability, decent pay, low stress levels, autonomy and regular working hours. And if you’re one of the people like T, who hasn’t “found their passion” and have read Barbara Sher, you’ll be familiar with the concept of the “good enough” job, which pays well, doesn’t demand too much of you and allows you to pursue your interests in your spare time. And there is nothing wrong with that, either.

    No doubt there are plenty of people out there who loathe their work, and are stuck for one reason or another. I just wish the propaganda machine would tone down the selling of a somewhat unrealistic myth – Gen Y rhetoric, IMO, overstates expectations of the “perfect” job, which I find hard to swallow. (Don’t we already face enough pressures to create the ultimate existence – great friends, great love life, great sex life, great body, etc?) By all means, PURSUE THE DREAM, but don’t feel like a failure if it doesn’t actually have you leaping out of bed in the mornings and screaming from the rooftops every day.

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  • November 22, 2010

    On being a woman in publishing

    I’d like to think that as both a woman and an ethnic minority, I’m pretty lucky. I’ve never experienced sexual harassment and I haven’t experienced any discernible discrimination in my career.

    Granted, I graduated less than a year ago; this is really only the beginning for me. I’m 22, working in a sub-editing role in online media; although I’ve only held my title since earlier this year, I’ve worked in the biz in one way or another for 3-plus years. Heck, if you count all the unpaid writing I did for various websites throughout high school, we could take it back to 2002! Oh, and although you probably know this already, entry level starts from $30k (perhaps not so much in Auckland, but certainly in smaller towns).

    Unlike, say, engineering or IT, media/publishing is pretty evenly split gender-wise. Going into third year journalism, it was definitely female heavy, but balanced out by a large proportion of post-grad male students (we shared virtually all our classes).

    As women, do we have any advantages in the field? Perhaps some people may be more inclined to talk to young, pretty things. I can imagine it might be a plus in a situation like a doorknock (after a death); we’re often perceived as being more sensitive, less threatening, less hard-talking.

    I’ve certainly noticed a dearth of females in more senior and management roles. The exception would probably be more on the magazine side (especially in lifestyle/fashion titles, obviously). No surprise there really; it’s a workforce-wide issue. This isn’t a 9-5 job – unless you’re a business writer, maybe – and not super-conducive to work-life balance.

    One thing that’s always bugged me is that a friend of mine, whom I got a job here, was hired about six months after me at a higher rate. I got a raise and promotion earlier this year, and again, six months later, the same happened for him – again at a higher rate. Now, I’m not talking huge amounts…more like 50c-$1 per hour. But I’d really like to know if this is a matter of timing, or if this actually was a case of gender discrimination at play.

    TV is a bit of a different beast. It doesn’t take much to realise that much like in Hollywood, age is definitely a barrier for women in TV news. (As for ethnicity, we won’t even venture there). Ex-journalist Janet Wilson caused a bit of a furore earlier this year when she blogged on the matter, accusing female telly reporters of being “all tits and teeth” while, looks and age aren’t, perhaps, so much factors for men.

    But from my limited experience and observations, I don’t feel there’s any inherent bias against women in publishing. It’s about working your connections. It’s about tenacity. It’s about dedication. This is perhaps where some females (like myself) might struggle a bit; you need to be pushy sometimes, there’s no room for shame or shyness. Ultimately, your success will come down to your personality and how much you’re willing to put into your work.

    How about you? Have you been a victim of discrimination; are you forced to work harder to prove yourself or is your industry pretty darn egalitarian? Share your experiences in the comments.

    “If I were a Boy” Carnival

    This post is part of a series of bloggers sharing their candid experiences or observations about women in the workplace which is not at all meant to be a male-bashing expedition whatsoever.

    Please head over to these other wonderful bloggers and read about their experiences.

  • November 7, 2010

    Guest post: From student to 9-5 worker

    My Cubicle @ Work

    Image by Vincent Ma via Flickr

    When I graduated last fall I was one of the very few from my class to get a job straight out of college. And while I was thankful — the money in my pockets made me grin — I wasn’t truly “happy.” I was tired all the time. I missed my friends and family that I was forced to leave behind. And that 9 to 5 schedule? Yeah— it got real monotonous real quick.

    Let me be the first to say that the transition from college student to the working life can be difficult. But it’s different for everyone. While some can adapt more quickly, others linger in that weird limbo stage of being a half-grown up, half-student. But there are some ways to make the transition a little easier. Below are some points recent grads need to watch out for and some ways to deal if you’re caught between both the student and professional world.

    Rigid Schedule
    In college most students tailor their class schedules to meet their own personal needs. (Ed – I missed out on this, and resent it! Damn you AUT and your inflexible Communications courses.) You’re not a morning person? No problem. You can simply take a class in the afternoon. You like to have lots of breaks to take naps? No problem. You can spread your classes sporadically throughout the day. The point is, students are used to doing things on their own time and to their own liking. Once you enter the professional world however, this changes. You will have a strict schedule of how long your lunch break is and when you need to arrive to work. And don’t think that if you arrive to work just a few minutes late that your boss will let it slide like your professor—you could be “written up” for your infraction. Too many and you can get fired.

    Get Some Sleep
    So why were you late in the first place? Did you stay up till 4am drinking beers with your buddies or lose track of time tuning-in on the Family Guy marathon? In college you may have been able to stay awake till all odd hours of the night and stagger into class in your pajamas the next morning, but you can’t do this in the professional world. You need to be able to present yourself in a professional manner everyday and must come to work energised and clear-headed so that you can focus and do what your bosses are paying you to do—your job.

    How are you going to successfully accomplish your tasks at hand if you’re falling asleep at your desk? Do your best to get the standard 6 to 8 hours of sleep. It might be difficult at first but try to make set a sleep schedule. For example, you go to bed at midnight and wake up at 7am everyday. If you are a heavy sleeper, by all means set more than one alarm to get yourself going in the morning. But chances are if you stick with your schedule your body will build an eternal alarm clock and you will start waking up on time on your own.

    Eat Right
    Even if you do get an adequate amount of sleep, sometimes your body can get tired because you are dehydrated or you are not nourishing your body with the proper nutrients and vitamins. With that said, you collegiate diet of Ramen Noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese needs to go. If you don’t have time to cook, try to make smart food choices when going out to eat, loading up on energising fruits and veggies such as apples, pears and dark leafy greens such as broccoli and spinach. Avoid dehydrating drinks such as soda and alcohol and consume more water.

    Make New Friends
    Part of the reason the transition is so hard is because you miss your college friends. While this can make things difficult you can always make new friends. A good place to start is at the workplace. Your coworkers are the ones who will not only make coming to work every day more pleasant but will give you praise for your achievements and promotions and will encourage you to stay strong if times get rough.

    Have Fun
    Remember that just because you may feel like you’re a 40-year-old because your new schedule forces you to go to bed by midnight that doesn’t mean that you are. You’re young and it’s important that you still find time to have fun. There is no rule that says you can’t continue to do the things you found enjoyable in college such as dancing, drinking or playing video games till 5 a.m. Just try to save these activities for the weekend so that it does not interfere with work.

    This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes about top online colleges.

  • August 27, 2010

    A sign of maturity, or insanity?

    magic of the holidays 9: the river of light
    Image by jmtimages via Flickr

    Thanks to Stacking Pennies, I recently found out that at Netflix, workers get to take as many holidays as they want.

    “Employees … were responding to emails on weekends, they were solving problems online at home at night. And every so often, they would take off an afternoon to ferry a child to the paediatrician or to check in on an ageing parent.

    “Since Netflix wasn’t tracking how many hours people were logging each work day, these employees wondered, why should it track how many holidays people were taking each work year? “

    In my industry – and many others I’m sure – the line between work and non-work is blurring. Thanks, technology.

    At this stage, I don’t really mind it. If I want to go above and beyond on my own time, then I will. I’ll do it for the benefit of the company that employs me, because I want us to be the best at what we do. Perhaps if I was regularly expected to, this might start to chafe. But for now, that’s not the case.

    By law, we are entitled to four weeks (which is more than fair – add in public holidays and it’s quite a lot of time off IMO). Also, business for us doesn’t stop on public holidays – there’s always someone rostered on, so there’s the opportunity to earn extra days in lieu. And barring last year, when the company decided that holding so much accrued leave was uneconomical in a recession and forced us all (even me, a very part-time worker/student at the time) to take time off, any way we want to schedule leave is generally fine.

    When I first started working, I thought four weeks off every year sounded like an eternity. Bear in mind that yes, we got summers off and at least three other breaks with a minimum of two weeks during the year during uni. But I had to work all of those periods. Bills don’t stop. Rent doesn’t stop. I didn’t have the luxury of taking off on trips. the last time I had any extended period of time off was the summer between high school and uni when I worked only a couple of days a week and spent the rest broke and bored out of my mind.

    I’ve been working full time since November, and I still haven’t taken any real leave. I had a long weekend in February, and I’ve worked every single weekend since then on my new schedule. I’m planning to take the weekend before T’s birthday in September off, and a couple of weeks around Christmas. I don’t care if we don’t go anywhere amazing – I just need a breather.

    So while I love the idea of such a flexible environment ala Netflix, I just don’t know if it would work in my office. It’s already difficult enough to manage a seven-day roster (and coverage for 14plus hours a day) with people taking their annual allotment of leave throughout the year. Can you imagine the carnage that would ensue in a free-for-all?

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  • August 5, 2010

    Lessons learned: The things they don’t teach you

    What I’ve learned in the six months plus I’ve been a full time worker boil down to three things:

    Communication
    Find out how your boss likes to be kept in the loop (okay, I stole this one from Basic Black:
    The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work and in Life     – a great read, by the way) and follow it. Learn how to use the ‘reply all’ button; something I honestly had never used in my life until recently. And learn when it’s appropriate to cc in people on emails.

    Visibility
    Don’t always enter by the side door, even if it’s more convenient for you. Come into the office by the main door sometimes; make the effort say hello and goodbye to your boss and workmates. Have the confidence to speak up and contribute in meetings and discussions. But most importantly, let your boss know when you’ve done good work – otherwise it may well go unnoticed (or someone else might pinch credit for it). And while it’s great to be a team player and to fix up mistakes by others as you see them, sometimes it’s necessary to point them out to the person whose responsibility it is; a) they need to learn and b) you deserve credit for your attention to detail.

    Patience
    Sometimes you just need to wait for recognition. Don’t shy away from new tasks or extra responsibility, even if it means more work for nothing (within reason, of course). While some people may be able to talk their way into a promotion, the best way is simply to just do the job and prove your ability. I found that once I got on with it and shone, the rest followed…eventually.

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  • July 19, 2010

    Where to from here?

    The very word networking scares me. Talking to strangers scares me. Working a room is an alien concept to me.

    Helping out other people and genuinely taking an interest in them, now that I can do. If it’s in my power to help someone, I naturally do all I can to facilitate that, even if I don’t know them very well. (The other part of networking – approaching people further along the career line than you, isn’t so much in my nature.)

    I had a really good chat to someone who’s currently doing the same course I did; one year ago, I was in exactly the same place she was. (Incidentally, they’ve changed a lot about the teaching and paper structures -most notably, separating out the third year bachelors and post-grad students. Apparently the PGs are doing better on their own…presumably, not being dragged down by the more immature bachelors? Is it along the lines of how girls supposedly perform better in single sex schools while boys thrive in mixed ones – two formulae that cannot reconcile?)

    The thing about attempting to dish out advice is you invariably get the hard questions about your own career and where you’re going next. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about this in the few months since my official elevation in title. I guess like Amanda, I find it hard to just be content for long.

    For the last six months, my goal has been to get to where I am now. And now that I’m where I want to be…I’m not sure what the next step is. (I don’t anticipate it being for years yet, but it’s never too early to start thinking about it). Logically, it would be to get better hours without taking too much of a pay cut. Beyond that, I really couldn’t say. This isn’t an industry that’s very linear – in other professions, it’s a pretty straight rise up the ladder. In media, people move laterally into magazines, print, trade publications, freelancing, subbing, writing, PR…the list goes on.

    The funny thing is, since I first started writing the draft of this post, a possible new opportunity has revealed itself. At this stage it’s nothing more than talk, and probably (hopefully) will remain that way for a while yet. While initially I dismissed the idea, the more I consider it, the more I’m intrigued.

    But whatever happens, we musn’t get complacent.

    [Photo]

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  • June 21, 2010

    Followup

    I really appreciated all your thoughts on this post. Resentment and imbalance is never good in a relationship – it’s downright toxic – and it was seriously cathartic just to purge the thoughts swirling around in my head.

    One great idea raised was to simplify our expenses. I think I’ve got that pretty much down to a T. Each paycheck is split into rent, bills, groceries, and the rest (if any) divided up for fun, gas, cell phone and if needed, clothes and personal care kind of stuff. (Proper budget post coming up…well, ‘proper’ as by my definitions).

    Another asked what T does during the day, apart from comb job postings? Sleep. Sometimes cook. Go to the park to shoot hoops. Sometimes visit his sister/family (she’s a SAHM). Sometimes hang out with friends (after they finish work, or during the day – some are still students, or if it’s bad weather, because some of them work outdoors). Oh yeah, and it also affords him plenty of time to be sucked into various family crises on any given day – enough said.

    He’s also spent a fair amount of time on car-related crap – namely calling around, driving all over the city, finding parts and getting it up to scratch for our recent warrant, plus dealing with the recent accident and following up on that. Happily, our car is finally back to normal and hopefully we can keep it that way!

    Now, other income streams: One thing he’s mentioned before is getting equipment and making things like go-karts, but aside from the initial outlay, we have no garage or workshop, and that stuff has got to be done inside. And personally, I am sceptical about the market for that, although he insists there is demand. Another thing he mentioned was possibly setting up as a service to help people procure parts for their cars (ever tried it? It’s a bitch). He took part in two market research sessions last month, but I think they’re drying up a bit now. So that was helpful too.

    I’ve been trying to communicate more with him on the matter, which seems to be really helping (surprise, surprise). He feels bad about ‘living off’ me and occasionally has really down days. Either way, as one reader said, I need to deal or not deal. In my mind, I’ve set a deadline of the end of the year. Something has to change, in a significant way. And on a smaller scale, something’s also gotta change in the next couple of months. Many of you mentioned possible PT work – I totally agree. And I have been keeping half an eye on those kinds of jobs, although to be honest, his work skills pretty much only lend themselves to full time work.   He’s only been looking at FT work – aiming high? – but even PT money would help (and keep him occupied…and would be a boon if he ends up going back to study and needs a casual gig)

    As to courses, he’s already taken a foundation course so he can get university entry – that covered a lot of subjects, mainly in the arts faculty. (It didn’t set off any lightbulbs for him, but it was definitely worth it.) There’s no point rushing into any course this semester – so I’ve told him he’s got six months till the end of year, by which he’d need to settle on possible degree pathways and figure out the application requirements.

    Getting trade certified – like an apprenticeship – requires an employer to take you on. That’s something he was on track to begin before layoffs at the end of 2008. Might it be worth him taking a welding course? That gets him a ‘ticket’, which is a certification that lasts a certain amount of time, and might open up more jobs for him. Still, a lot of those will be only fixed term but it’s something to consider.

    We’ll keep trying to think of other ways he might be able to bring in some cash and see how it goes, really. One thing we both had our hopes pinned on (although we’d never admit it) was a possible apprenticeship opportunity. I think that fell flat this week, spurring him on to start talking about enlisting with the police. Next thing I know, he’s filled out the forms, got in touch with one of our friends who’s a fully fledged officer, and talking to another friend who, it turns out, wants to become a cop too.

  • June 20, 2010

    Working for The Man

    I work for The Man. It suits me just fine. I like the people I work with, the job I do, having sick leave, the occasional eats and drinks on the company tab.

    My question is: How do you feel about doing overtime?

    Most of my colleagues with the same job title are salaried. They all put in overtime (unpaid) and very few of them ever complain. For me – an hourly employee – I find it tough to imagine doing that without getting pretty resentful, pretty quickly.

    When I work overtime, you bet it goes on my timesheet. I come from a line of low-paid jobs where if you stayed 10 minutes past the end of your shift, you noted it down. You’d be stupid not to! The one and only desk job I had previously – as an admin assistant – was the same; I enjoyed the job, but it paid barely above minimum, and I was always encouraged to note down every time that I stayed late.

    Lately, though – since the raise and promotion – I’ve been feeling a bit reluctant to record extra hours worked. I guess this is because I get paid handsomely for doing the weekend shifts already, and don’t feel like I quite deserve it. Especially considering that the weekends are the quietest days, and I’m often scrounging to keep myself occupied at certain times.

    Do you find yourself putting in lots of unpaid hours? Do you prefer being salaried or hourly? Or have you ever felt like you had to work extra to prove you were worth your salary?

  • May 28, 2010

    Five on Friday

    • I attended my first networking event this week. What’s more, I went by myself. This was a proud moment: I am an anxious socialiser, to put it mildly. And when the event was booked out, thereby causing a friend to miss out, I nearly decided to skip it. And did I mention the atrocious weather? But it was great – went better than I could have expected. I got there and it was packed, but just as I started to panic after scanning the room, someone in another department at work came over and we got chatting. Then I saw a friend from school, and then another old classmate, and it was all on from there.
    • On Monday, T and I attended a research session. It was by far the weirdest market research I’ve ever done, but apparently it may become more common. Basically, we watched TV for an hour, wearing a hatful of electrodes which monitored our brain’s reactions to the programmes. But hey, we got $85 each out of it and a really delicious pastry.
    • That was followed by the worst meal ever – a waste of nearly $30. We wandered all over town trying to decide what to have for lunch (it was well after 2 by this time). Finally, we ended up at the Thai place in the Atrium on Elliot foodcourt. I’ve had good food from there before, but their “seafood tom yum” contained just two prawns and some sad fish balls, and bore no resemblance to the hot and sour flavours of tom yum. Suffice to say it was watery yellow, with no red or orange tinge. As for the deepfried sweet and sour fish, I don’t know how it ever left the kitchen. They presented me with a plate containing a small, sad,  dried out snapper, accompanied by a tiny saucer of, well, seasoned vinegar.   The Gourmet Thai, my ass. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but I was hoping for something edible.
    • We blew out our internet usage this month, basically doubling what our package allows.  Telecom used to just slow us down to dialup, which was good: Orcon lets you keep going, charging $2 per additional GB. Ouch. Hopefully with a careful eye on our account we can keep it within the limits – which used to be 6G, but is now 7G thanks to the company increasing everyone’s limits for FREE – but if this becomes a regular thing I think we’ll be upgrading to a bigger package. We can double our cap for a pretty reasonable price, and change at any time.
    • I’m not the healthiest of eaters, as you may or may not have surmised. I wanted to make one of my monthly challenges to be eating better. But life, or more accurately, work and related pursuits have just kept me so busy, and since T is currently playing stay-home spouse, he’s been totally in charge of all things grocery related. Seriously, I have had some AMAZING meals since he’s been out of work. And I have eaten SO many veggies – I don’t think we’ve had a dinner in a looong time that didn’t involve a significant portion of them. From totally homemade pizza stuffed with peppers, onions, steak and cheese to roasted kumara, carrot and meat, not to mention amazing stirfries and other dishes, I am brimming with vitamins! It feels good.

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