A day in the life of the gainfully under employed...

Up at 6:45am after a bit of a sleep in.

An hour spent checking and sorting out emails and seeing what was new in the blogosphere while eating breakfast (muesli with yoghurt and fruit, in case you're interested...)

Another hour packing up various parcels, both business and personal. Shower, dress and across to the Post Office (to get rid of the parcels and, alas, pick up the expected letter from the real estate agent putting my rent up again) then the newsagents to see what they had in the cupboard for me. I share "my" cupboard with someone who puts aside gay magazines and someone who buys florist magazines. I often wonder who they are and if we'll ever find ourselves at the counter at the same time waiting to see if there's anything new for us: "Oh! You're the gay mag guy!" "And you must be Ms Wallpaper, Living Etc and Urbis!" Anyway, I digress...

At 9:30am I drove over the J's to pick her up and act as The TSS Shuttle Service. Dropped her off at her appointment and swung over to Y's Buys and Salvos in Belconnen while I waited for her to finish. Spent $5 on three tea towels (gift wrap for presents later in the year), 2 books, 2 vintage postcards and some more jars with black and white lids for the expected plum jam making frenzy that will hit Chateau TSS this coming weekend.

Picked J up and we went to the mall so she could run her errands. I accidentally bought a copy of the latest Presets CD while we were there. But did my usual frugal/ green/ local two step: first stop Flipside to see if it's available second hand then up to The Music Shop (locally owned and, I heard this week, they are one of the distribution points for Big Issue sellers. So double brownie points for them!)

I also bought a copy of a Greg Johnson CD from the bargain bin for $3 as it seemed so sad to leave him there. I offered it to J and she's happy to give poor old Greg a new home...11am: an iced coffee each at Ha Ha Bar overlooking Lake Ginninderra. Then, when the smell of the next table's lunch became overwhelming we headed back to J's for deliciously fresh and frugal sandwiches made with mustard pickle (aka Chow chow) and cheese with lettuce & cherry tomatoes from her garden. Followed by freshly cracked nuts:And, for the first time ever, I saw an almond in its shell and realised how scary it was that I'd never actually wondered where almonds came from or what they looked like whole.

After lunch we checked out a new-to-me op shop and a couple of ones I've not been to for a while then finished the afternoon by dropping into Vinnies Belconnen where Patricia greeted me like a media star and I bought a copy of the latest Kathy Lette for $3: Which Patrica was half-way through so we had a chat about Kathy Lette's other books.

J and I headed back to my place just before 3pm for afghans and tea. Then we swung past Lyneham IGA for groceries for J and I dropped her home and picked up more freshly picked cherry tomatoes:Tonight's big plans involve knitting (Dad's now overdue vest), cooking (the gazpacho I didn't get to last night as I was out with a friend from Brisbane who was in town unexpectedly), house cleaning, lawn mowing and bread starting. We'll see how many of those I get through before I collapse in a puddle of sweat...