Shivonne Glenn and Unemployment are no longer synonymous!

Hoorah!

I am now a working girl. Um, I mean a girl who works. You get the picture. Thankfully I've been gainfully employed by an adorable deli/cafe called The Pickle Barrel located a convenient three minute walk from my house share in Williamstown. At the present I have not discovered the origins of the slightly uncommon name, but I aim to do so soon. The cutesy cafe is owned by a brother/sister duo and actually employs another American if you can imagine (but she's from Indiana so I keep the cool Texan factor to myself). And the best part (or at least Chris thinks so)? I get to bring home leftover sandwiches/wraps/cakes/loaves/rolls at the end of my shift that would otherwise be thrown out. Hopefully this will help make a dent in our grocery bill. The only downside I have yet to discover is the danger of working in close proximity to pastries and bread treats. I'm not sure if you're aware, but during my 5 month stint working in a bakery in Scotland, I managed to gain a whopping 15 pounds. Yikes. Luckily most of the treats aren't chocolate based which is my biggest downfall. Willpower, prepare to be tempted.

Chris has also found a bit of employment for himself-he's working weekends at a restaurant/pub called the Atomic Bar. Hopefully as the weather improves (don't forget we're at the end of winter over here) they will need him for more hours. In the meantime he's looking for a second job to fill in the week and finance his rent.

Being as neither of us is in the money so to speak at the moment, I'd like to share with you our activities list of as late:

Activities for the frugal minded:
1. Learn to wear layers. Lots of them. With a shortage of funds we decided to cut a few corners to mitigate our bills. On the top of the list is heating. No one tells you Australia can be cold. It seems all like laughing on the beach frolicking around in bathing suits. Let me tell you it's not. It is FREAKING FREEZING here (at least without the support of a central heating system). I walk around the house in no less than leggings, sweat pants, two pairs of socks, tshirt, long sleeve shirt, and one of Chris' ginormous hoodies. Top it all off with a duvet and the teeth will stop chattering.
2. Take Walks We have instated a new daily activity-twilight walks. It's free. It's exercise. It gets us out of the house and away from the TV/laptops. What more could you ask for?
3. Play Boardgames Well, in this instance, monopoly since it's the only one in the house. We've played three games in the past three days. Chris is a bit more enthusiastic than me (I'm more of a once in a blue moon monopoly participant). I'd like to note that I've won two out of those three games, not that it's winning that is important. Ahem. Note to self: check the charity shop for second hand games to cut down on excessive monopoly play.
4. Visit the Library Thankfully Williamstown has it's own local library. It's not as fancy as the State Library in Melbourne with it's towering dome, free wifi, and open exhibits but at least it has books, magazines, and internet terminals. I can spend a lovely rainy afternoon holed up here.
5. Learn to cook with mince Turns out ground beef is a cheap eat. Being a chicken eater myself, I've never really explored mince recipes. There's more than you'd think. In the past week we've had hamburgers, spaghetti bolognese, mince curry, and Italian mince and veggies. I'm becoming quite the mince connoisseur.

Well that's about all I have for now. As you might have noticed from the shockingly bare picture department on my blogs, I still haven't accessed wifi. I hope to fix this problem soon so I can share some visuals. Miss you all dearly!