My wife is awesome!

When I first met Amanda, her diet consisted of a variety of beige food washed down with coke or Ribena - how things have changed.

She now cooks more than me and can knock up a mean stew, chilli or sweet and sour chicken. All made form scratch of course. No packets or jars used here. Her culinary exploits don't stop there however. Last night we had homemade vanilla ice cream. No ice cream maker and homemade Vanilla essence. At work today I have some natural yoghurt with some super yummy Raspberry Chia seed jam. No sugar required.

But, wait there's more. In addition to keeping us fed with Real Food, Amanda has reduced how many chemicals are in our home and used on our bodies. Thanks to her we have washing powder, washing detergent, moisturizer, deodorant and shaving cream - all homemade, using minimal common ingredients. Her most recent production is Soap.

She claims not to be creative, yet she can knock up a cool and funky shopping bag from a pillow case and tie in a jiffy. And has made both a Kindle cover, cushion covers and more for the home.

And all this it should be said, whilst doing a complete u turn in her career and working her way up from receptionist to an indispensable project administrator - a role in which she caught enough attention to be head-hunted for a move into HSE where she continues to excel - (she just needs to believe it!)

Finally she entertains me in my various follies and joins me at least once and sometimes more on whichever activity is my current passion.

Blog

Oh, and she will shortly be blogging about it all here - "Simple recipes for a natural and healthy home".

Let her know which thing you would like the recipe for first :0)

Photos

Here are some photographs (not handmade) - the Limoncello is mine :0)

Museli & Limoncello

Shaving Cream

Soap & Door Stop

Washing Powder & Moisturiser

Deodorant

Bags

Goodbye Fraedom, Hello Contracting

No, I've not been banged up and nor is that a spelling mistake!

Almost four years ago (four years!) I joined an awesome company called Spendvision; so awesome in fact that I felt compelled to blog about it.

We recently changed our name to Fraedom and adopted some new branding. The company has grown a lot since I joined, not just in size (40 odd to 130+ in Auckland alone) but also how they manage staff and develop software. As a place to work the company is even better now than when I joined.

And so it was with great difficulty that I have decided to leave Fraedom and start a new adventure - in fact this is only possible due to how much I have learnt during my time there.

So where now?

I recently started a contract with a small Auckland based start-up of just 5 people, and am helping them complete their initial prototype and then Alhpa and Beta releases. I can't really say much about what they do, but I have the opportunity to get involved in all aspects of the business, learn many new skills and be pivotal in delivering their product.

It's going to be hard work and there are virtually no perks but it's definitely exciting.

Meanwhile, I'll still be volunteering for TakeMyHands and hopefully picking up some useful insights that will help deliver my own project at some point!