Returning to Work

My child is settled into the university daycare, I have work outfits and N95 masks prepared, air purifiers are ordered and my bag with teaching materials are packed. I’m very excited to return to work. While staying at home to get through the sleep regressions of my toddler’s infancy was a wise move (using your

Assistant Lecturer

This Semester, I start my job as an Assistant Lecturer. I was referred the job by my academic mentor, who responded to my call for work earlier this year. I know it was partially luck that they had work for me to do, and that I was available at the right time. My CV was

Simple Pleasures

A warm cup of Ovaltine on a cold night, feet covered by warm socks, with my partner watching a cosy TV show before an early bedtime snuggled under the blankets. A crackling fire and a shared bottle of weak, warm mulled cider – just enough for a buzz, nowhere near enough to cause any ill

Lean Times

The rising cost of living is making even us feel the pinch. You would think, on a doctor’s salary, we’d be quite comfortable. But paying rent, covering amenities and bills, groceries, and necessary appointments like the mechanic and the dentist, have us living paycheck-to-paycheck some weeks. It’s not that we’re poor at budgeting, it’s that

Work

As my partner scales back their career (after years of earned hard work!), I am contemplating scaling up my own career. One problem is, I have to also consider the time it takes to raise children and be available as the primary parent. This weekend was a decent illustration of this, as my partner and

Stress

Some days I feel like one of those under-socialized Pomeranian dogs who falls to pieces the second the vibes in a room get a little tense. Unfortunately, when this happens, my child picks up on it and becomes loud/whiney/clingy. Which adds to the sensory barrage as I try to figure out where the Bad Vibes(tm)

Learning to Reframe

I’ve had a bad week. Then an ok week. Then a tough week. And now a bad-kinda-good week. It’s been difficult to learn to reframe my experiences. I have anxiety and get stressed a lot, particularly when I make a mistake. I used to be yelled at for making mistakes, both by my family and

New Job

This blog has been a bit quiet lately, and for good reason. Over the past two months my husband and I have had the foundations of our daily lifestyle shaken underneath us. The question of our home – where we live, now and in the foreseeable future – is not answered. We thought we had

Record Low Birth Rates

People on social media have repeatedly asked…how do we fix the fact that my generation are having far less children? The answer is multi-fold, and I’ll list some of the reasons to get started; This list is by no means comprehensive, but it’s the list that is always raised when my generation are asked ‘why

Happy Place

My lifestyle is now luxurious and wealthy enough to set aside a ‘happy place’ just for myself. At first I was going to go full utilitarian and just make the small room for storage and linen, but with some encouragement from my husband (and, it seems, some necessity for a place I can retreat for