Working girl
Whew! What a week I've had - chasing work, doing evening shifts, going to interviews, & in between trying to shop, cook & clean. I'm exhausted & it all starts over again tomorrow.
Today I washed the kitchen & bathroom floors, then took my shopping trolley & walked over to the shopping centre at Broadway. It took me longer than I expected; what I thought was the shortest route - up my street several blocks to the highway (Parramatta Rd) & down the highway to Broadway - took me 45 minutes, even without stopping to look at the many antiques emporiums (emporia for the pedantic). It seems the winding route through Forest Lodge & into Glebe & thence to the back entrance of the shopping centre is quicker, as I did it a fortnight ago in under 30 mins. Still, at least there is a bus across the road from Broadway to take me home.
The reason I'm doing cleaning, shopping & cooking on a Sunday instead of relaxing in the nearby waterfront park or even on my upstairs verandah, is because I'm an almost full-time working girl (although my income doesn't yet reflect that). I've picked up some casual market research phone interviewing, (that's the 4-5 hour evening shifts), and yesterday I did a full day shift - 6 hours, with two breaks of 15 minutes, surveying people about their car maintenance habits. During the week I also attended an interview with a freelance agency who might just possibly find me some more freelance writing projects, and on Friday I had a 4 hour training session with a different phone research agency. This one is attached to the NSW Health Dept, and will involve quite long interviews with people about their health - much more worthwhile than customer satisfaction surveys for banks & credit cards, phone providers etc, the main evening work I've been doing (as well as paying slightly better).
I start with NSW Health next Tuesday & have two evening shifts, which, together with the last of the car maintenance surveys, means I'll be working 5 nights next week. No tv for me after Dr Who tonight!! But it will settle down a bit after that, as I will then only work at NSW H, & will have a little more time to get on with the other sort of interviewing I do - picking the brains of experts so I can write some articles.
After I got back with the groceries, I went down the street again with my trolley to the local greengrocer, only half a block away, (I can't fit groceries & fruit/veg in the one trolley; they have to take turns.) The greengrocer is also an all-purpose deli and grocery store; the fresh stuff is cheap enough if I buy wisely, but the tinned & packet things are a bit pricey. They do have some delicious cheeses, Italian smallgoods & tempting Italian & Lebanese pastries right by the checkout. I read a good quote from someone's grandmother on a cooking blog I look at once in a while,Limes & Lycopene: "Spend as much as you can at the greengrocer, as much as you must at the butcher, and as little as possible at the grocer." I thought it was canny advice, so I've been trying to follow it, & it is certainly easier with a greengrocer's so close handy.
Once I had all my supplies, I had a scratch lunch of left-over vegetarian pizza (which was definitely improved by the reheating & slight overcooking) & then got on with making stock from chicken wings, putting together a gravy beef casserole & inventing another variation on my basic poached pear dessert, this time with green ginger wine.
Once I've finished this post, I'll do something about dinner, & then its off to put my feet up & watch Dr Who save the earth once again!
Today I washed the kitchen & bathroom floors, then took my shopping trolley & walked over to the shopping centre at Broadway. It took me longer than I expected; what I thought was the shortest route - up my street several blocks to the highway (Parramatta Rd) & down the highway to Broadway - took me 45 minutes, even without stopping to look at the many antiques emporiums (emporia for the pedantic). It seems the winding route through Forest Lodge & into Glebe & thence to the back entrance of the shopping centre is quicker, as I did it a fortnight ago in under 30 mins. Still, at least there is a bus across the road from Broadway to take me home.
The reason I'm doing cleaning, shopping & cooking on a Sunday instead of relaxing in the nearby waterfront park or even on my upstairs verandah, is because I'm an almost full-time working girl (although my income doesn't yet reflect that). I've picked up some casual market research phone interviewing, (that's the 4-5 hour evening shifts), and yesterday I did a full day shift - 6 hours, with two breaks of 15 minutes, surveying people about their car maintenance habits. During the week I also attended an interview with a freelance agency who might just possibly find me some more freelance writing projects, and on Friday I had a 4 hour training session with a different phone research agency. This one is attached to the NSW Health Dept, and will involve quite long interviews with people about their health - much more worthwhile than customer satisfaction surveys for banks & credit cards, phone providers etc, the main evening work I've been doing (as well as paying slightly better).
I start with NSW Health next Tuesday & have two evening shifts, which, together with the last of the car maintenance surveys, means I'll be working 5 nights next week. No tv for me after Dr Who tonight!! But it will settle down a bit after that, as I will then only work at NSW H, & will have a little more time to get on with the other sort of interviewing I do - picking the brains of experts so I can write some articles.
After I got back with the groceries, I went down the street again with my trolley to the local greengrocer, only half a block away, (I can't fit groceries & fruit/veg in the one trolley; they have to take turns.) The greengrocer is also an all-purpose deli and grocery store; the fresh stuff is cheap enough if I buy wisely, but the tinned & packet things are a bit pricey. They do have some delicious cheeses, Italian smallgoods & tempting Italian & Lebanese pastries right by the checkout. I read a good quote from someone's grandmother on a cooking blog I look at once in a while,Limes & Lycopene: "Spend as much as you can at the greengrocer, as much as you must at the butcher, and as little as possible at the grocer." I thought it was canny advice, so I've been trying to follow it, & it is certainly easier with a greengrocer's so close handy.
Once I had all my supplies, I had a scratch lunch of left-over vegetarian pizza (which was definitely improved by the reheating & slight overcooking) & then got on with making stock from chicken wings, putting together a gravy beef casserole & inventing another variation on my basic poached pear dessert, this time with green ginger wine.
Once I've finished this post, I'll do something about dinner, & then its off to put my feet up & watch Dr Who save the earth once again!