Friday, December 16, 2022

"The gig economy is here- and we aren't ready"/ The Simpsons/ Precarious Professor documentary

 Dec. 9, 2022: This article came out 6 years ago.  However, I still find this article and the comments well- written and relevant to now:



Oct. 21, 2017 "The gig economy is here- and we aren't ready": Today I found this article by Linda Nazareth in the Globe and Mail:



Economist and author Linda Nazareth is the senior fellow for Economics and Population Change at the MacDonald Laurier Institute. Her fourth book, Work is Not a Place:

Reimagining our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy, will be published in 2018. Follow her on Twitter at @relentlesseco or visit her at www.relentlesseconomics.com

The labour market is complicated but our social-insurance systems are simple. Think about it: if you are employed full-time, you get paid regularly, and if you are unemployed, you are eligible for employment insurance (EI).

What happens, though, if you work two part-time jobs or a short-term contract or are self-employed? 

The need to think beyond "binary" employment status was highlighted last week by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in their World Economic Outlook

In their words, "the rise of part-time employment and temporary contracts challenges the current structure of social-insurance systems." 

Translation: the gig economy is happening, so the policies that made sense during the Great Depression may not be a fit for the realities of the 21st century.

The transformation to a gig economy is happening at an astonishing speed in Canada. According to staffing company Randstad Canada, if you add up all the contingent workers, freelancers, independent contractors and consultants, you are talking about 20 to 30 per cent of the Canadian workforce being "non-traditional workers" already. 

That percentage is only going higher. Eighty-five per cent of the companies surveyed by Randstad figure that they will increasingly move to an "agile workforce" over the next few years.

The switch to gig work is first and foremost about employers moving to what is efficient for them. For about a hundred years (from the Industrial Revolution through to the latter part of the 20th century) that meant forming large companies, hiring a bunch of people, giving them wages and benefits and having them in-house to do what needed to be done. 

It made economic sense: in his work on why firms exist, Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase concluded that firms exist because the transaction costs of bringing resources together as needed were just too high.

Now, technology has changed the game. You can bring in who you need for as many hours as you need and call it a day, and if you do want full-time workers, they can be contractors rather than employees. 

Some call it the "Hollywood Model," whereby you assemble talent to make a movie, employing them just for the project rather than permanently.

In a way, the choice facing employers is now between gig workers and robots, or at least technology. Nearly a decade after the global economic crisis, it is still a tough economy and everyone is looking for efficiencies. Robots are an attractive way to get the work done, given that they work cheap, do not demand benefits, never whine about needing a work-life balance and are not going to get drunk at the holiday party.

In the same way, a gig worker (who you do not provide with benefits or invite to the party) may be competition for the robots. Employees are still necessary on occasion, but hardly the only way to go. The restructuring to include more gig workers may be one reason why, in countries such as the United States and Canada, unemployment rates keep falling but wage growth is stubbornly slow.

To be fair, gig work may very well be the preferred choice for many workers. Baby boomers who want to ease their way out of the workforce, or who want to keep working as they age, are a prime example. In a 2016 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 65 per cent of U.S. workers aged over 50 said they had a strong desire to work as independent contractors rather than employees. 

Millennials, however, are surprisingly conservative in their views of the gig economy. In the PwC survey, only 33 per cent of those under 34 said that they had a strong desire to go that route. Still, workers of all ages accept that independent work could be their future, with 53 per cent of those surveyed expected to be self-employed over the coming five years.

In Canada, that overhaul of the social-insurance system will be a herculean task and not one that should happen without some careful analysis. The first step in the process is realizing that the old model of work has already been shelved for many and that the new gig workers need a system that works for them. The IMF has started the conversation, and the discussions need to continue.

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/the-gig-economy-is-here-and-we-arent-ready/article36678505/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&



There are 17 comments:

ThinkRightGM
7 hours ago

Note to younger workers: it might not be a good idea to train for any knowledge work that can be performed over the internet by someone in a low wage place. 

Think instead of careers that are locked to your region or that require physical mobility, since that will take a lot longer for robots to get good at. 

It will be awhile before we have internet based tradespeople or physiotherapists etcetera.
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My opinion: That's a good tip.


My2CentsEh
3 hours ago

It used to be that worker supply/demand shifted back-and-forth. Companies and labour each took advantage when conditions were right and, over time, a kind of uneasy peace was achieved. 

Now, given overseas workers and robotics, it seems supply may always exceed demand. 

This does not bode well for the young and they may have to rely on their governments to intervene or create their own opportunities. A tough row to hoe, indeed.
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Andrew Smith
53 minutes ago

I agree with most of Linda's points. I think that many young workers who have joined the gig economy are doing it to augment a full time job however and not replace it. Many Uber / Lyft / Airbnb workers whom I know are providing the services to generate a little bit of extra income, not as a full time career.

The underlying issue, and the one that I find amusing given the left support for the gig economy, is that worker rights (and specifically unions) are being undermined.

Flexibility, freedom, and choice are really just euphemisms for the lack of job security, employment rights and a social security net.
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CivilSociety
1 hour ago

re your first point, that's like saying women used to work for 'key' money....
On your second, only the left supports the gig economy? Who are the most rabid purveyors of neoliberal social and economic policies-free market, etc.? 

You have a point about unions and the role of 'flexible' work in their declining power, its too bad you diminish it with your reflexive bias. BTW, unions have been making -though painfully slow- strides toward addressing precarious work; slow because neoliberal policies mean they operate under constant threat of capital flight.



spain36
13 hours ago

Job insecurity is the best way too ensure that Canadians cannot afford to have children and is in effect the death of a nation...but trustfunder boy wouldn't know about that ... would he .. he can just ship some in
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My2CentsEh
2 hours ago

Access to overseas workers and robotics make this a very hard train for our governments to get in front of. That said, I'm not sure who else can help.
I could have done without the name-calling, "spain36", to be honest, but you've pointed your finger in the direction of a possible ... if not a cure then at least perhaps a salve. Whether governments can do anything to help remains to be seen as this economic shift may be bigger than they are.



GregLatiak
3 hours ago

The rise of the gig economy shows how far we have come transitioning back to slavery. Effectively the owner-craftsman relationship of mutual dependency is being replaced with a one-sided day labor approach where the workers become interchangeable. 

(See quotes from Andrew Carnegie about this.) The abrogation of retirement agreements when companies went under while the execs pocketed bonuses exposes this even in traditional workplaces. So where does the reliable cash flow that banks demand when getting a mortgage? Or anything else? 

The stability of employment underlies much of our economy -- so there is more at stake than just the perpetual anxiety of the underemployed. 

With a universal basic income as a prop this might work. But if there is no social safety net to sustain the populace one could see a far darker future -- like the world of Soylent Green, perhaps.
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BMracek
2 hours ago

Lately I've become aware of quite a number of young people with good educations in technical areas that cannot find jobs. Nevertheless I still believe education and training are key to finding employment. People nowadays should continue to train themselves for possible employment, even if they are currently employed. 

Governments should think about what the world will look like in a few years and aim their policies at ensuring Canada has ready skills for the world. As already mentioned...the current middle class should not be allowed to slide backwards into poverty or there will be a huge backlash.
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The Work Farce
3 hours ago

Some folks can't see through the fog of war on the working class and are so totally gobsmacked by the swamp of the middle class, they hardly know or care the Establishment economy is rigging for a gigging.

That's the old news. The new news is the robots are coming, the robots are coming.
The good news is only a sheep would allow him or herself to be fleeced by this economic terrorism. The bad news is Canadians are becoming more like sheep with each passing...um...er...gig.
LOL



DennisCasaccio
5 hours ago

The problem with the "gig" economy and other disruptive mechanics is that the wealth that they create is not shared equally but rather sequestered at the top.

If this is not rectified a great deal of societal unrest will result as employment and income becomes uncertain; in fact, those who profit from the "gig" economy may themselves be creating vulnerable business models when disposable income shrinks.
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jrbutlert
3 hours ago

Of millennials On gig work, “ only 33 per cent of those under 34 said that they had a strong desire to go that route”. What a surprise, a good paying gig usually happens when you have made contacts, and learned the ropes, which is easiest at a full time job. Only then is a gig format attractive, Millennials are getting screwed.
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CognitiveDisonnance
12 hours ago

Gig economy is horrible
I had a steady job 25 yrs ago that I still have. Didn’t pay much then but IT WAS STEADY. And had benefits and a pension. The bank lent me money because I had a steady job. So I built a small empire in real estate thanks to the bank and A STEADY PAYCHEQUE
I really feel sorry for folks who are going job to job. I couldn’t do that. And I’ll be retired in 7 years.

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CivilSociety
58 minutes ago
Oddly, the tone of this article reads like the author is giddy about the 'gig' economy. Ulrich Beck in talking about the failed promises of modernity (in this case neoliberalism), argued that if work organizes society then the splintering of work is a prescription for the splintering of society. We only to have to lift our heads up to see how prophetic he was.


Valzar
3 hours ago
Good article. This should be worrying to everyone because these gig workers do not pay into the system that sustains us when we get older so services will erode despite all of the vocal whining and carping about it.
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unique
3 hours ago
And, OAS had been wisely moved to 67-eligible. [Bill Morneau co-authored a book while at Morneau Shapell that made the case for 67.] Eloquently and persuasively made the case for 67. Then, and we now know his low bar for scruples, Gerald Butts and Justin Trudeau wanted 'political-65'. Bingo! - Morneau jumped right over that low bar. "65-it-is!", cried Bill. Is Bill about to do a lot more crying?
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Tricky.
2 hours ago
My personal experience in business suggests that loyalty and long-term relationships with workers and suppliers is highly desirable and profitable. One issue is that well meaning labour reforms up the stakes for getting into an employer employee relationship, and the cost of compliance increases the non-salary costs of an employee.

 This effectively creates a salary floor, unique to each business sector, below which the employer will or even must look at other ways to cut costs at the expense of any mutually benefiting loyalty with the worker. This creates a feedback loop where the employee becomes less invested in any mutually benefitial endeavour with their employer. This feedback loop is going even one step beyond where new generations of “gig” workers are becoming consumer champions of companies particularly on the tech side that not only are the worst gig work offenders but even are developing business models that monetize the time inputs of people without paying them at all!




Ambient
2 hours ago
Maybe this is why the government is going after small business.
If the gig economy is growing and full-time employment is declining, the government has to rejig their tax model.
The Millennials are going to be the ones generating the tax revenue that the government needs to support the retirement and healthcare of their parents.

Aug. 4, 2020 The Simpsons: Today I watched the episode "The Miseducation of Lisa Simpson" which is an ep that came out on Feb. 2020:


"The sea captain finds treasure for which he's been searching for 40 years, but City Hall claims it since it was in city limits. Marge convinces the townspeople to use the windfall to build a STEM school. Homer crusades against automation."


Spoiler alert: Lisa notices that all the students are learning gig economy jobs, and not like actual STEM subjects.  They talk about how lots of jobs are gong to be automated.


Sept. 4, 2020 Precarious Professor documentary: Gerry Potters put this on the Edmonton Filmmakers Facebook group page.  I shared it on my page:

This is about college professors who are contract workers and don't have job security or benefits. I thought gig economy workers like Uber drivers are like that, but college professors?




This week's other blog posts:


"Employers want workers in the office for the company culture, not productivity"/ "Remote employees worried about bias toward on-site workers: Survey"

Tracy's blog: "Employers want workers in the office for the company culture, not productivity"/ "Remote employees worried about bias toward on-site workers: Survey" (badcb.blogspot.com)


"Viral LinkedIn post highlights growing worker-employer divide on remote work"/ "In 10 years, 'remote work' will simply be 'work'"




My week:


Dec. 9, 2022 "Financially stressed workers tapping into savings, seeking more income: study": Today I found this article by Holly McKenzie-Sutter on BNN: 

North American workers are more financially stressed than they were a year ago, a new survey has found, with half tapping into emergency savings over the last year and a third are looking for extra jobs to boost their income.


The survey analyzed responses from people identified as stressed, unsettled or comfortable about their finances. Within the “stressed” category, 67 per cent of people with emergency savings said they had tapped into those accounts in 2022 to pay for necessities, while 54 per cent of respondents overall reported the same.

The study found 61 per cent of employed people were more stressed about their finances than they were a year ago, and 81 per cent said they planned to cut back on expenses like dining out, shopping and entertainment.

At 78 per cent, a majority of those surveyed said they were looking to increase their income next year, and 33 per cent said they planned to do that through a side gig or second job.

Davison said many people are looking for relief by asking for raises or promotions, but those solutions are “outside their control” and may not guarantee a “financial buffer.”

The results also showed that nearly a quarter of people spent an hour or more of their work time every day thinking about their personal finances. Researchers with the Financial Wellness Lab of Canada estimated that lost time as potentially amounting to US$664 billion in lost productivity, including $US50 billion in Canada.

“Financial stress is no longer just an individual’s problem – it’s an organizational roadblock that’s costing companies billions of dollars in lost productivity,” Seth Ross, a general manager with Ceridian and its Dayforce Wallet service, said in a written statement.

Financially stressed workers tapping into savings, seeking more income: study - BNN Bloomberg


Dec. 13, 2022 "'Tiff Macklem's tough medicine:' Younger Canadians are becoming hardcore savers, poll finds": Today I found this article by Gigi Suhanic on the Financial Post:

The latest version of Maru Public Opinion’s monthly household outlook index showed that the number of households that have two months’ worth of expenses socked away rose last month, as did the number of who said they had enough investments for the future.

According to the survey, conducted on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 69 per cent of Canadians have more than two months of savings to cover any unexpected costs, up from 62 per cent in the previous month.




Dec. 8, 2022 "For those who love Christmas but hate waste, there's Thriftmas": I found this on CBC.  I like this article because it's about saving money, saving the environment, and have less things you don't want and need:

That's why some environmentally minded families have embraced Thriftmas, where you source everything you want for the season second-hand, from presents and clothing to decor.

"I know that I can find what I'm looking for, nine times out of 10, if I just put in the effort," said Sinclair Strand, 26, of Surrey, B.C.

Strand, who has a three-year-old son, estimates that 80 per cent of what she brings into her home is thrifted. That includes the Christmas presents she's found for her son so far: a toy leaf blower that she knows he'll be thrilled with and a bag of Little People farm accessories. 

Strand posts her finds — and tips — on TikTok, where she tries to normalize second-hand gift-giving (and where #thriftmas is a popular topic).

"Why does it matter where you bought it or how you found it?" Strand said. "Overconsumption in general is just crazy, but especially around the holidays … so many people are just buying things for the sake of buying things."

The problem with all that stuff? We don't use it. Or we do, for a little while, but then it goes out of style, or we get bored with it, and it piles up and we feel the urge to purge. Household waste can increase by as much as 25 per cent during the holiday season, according to Zero Waste Canada.

Here are a few gift ideas from our Thriftmasers:

  • Unique stemware, glasses, teacups or mugs. You can add a bag of fair trade coffee that supports a local business.

  • Decor, such as retro hand towels, vases or candlesticks. 

  • Flower pots and used house plants. A lot of people purge plants online.

  • Baskets or canisters. You can add consumables like local chocolates.

  • A book you own that you loved and know a friend would love, too. Add a handmade bookmark.

  • Brand-name winter jackets or boots. (Some people sell or donate new items they can't be bothered to return.)

  • Gently used sports equipment, like skates, for kids. Their feet will grow out of them by next year, anyway.

  • Board games and puzzles. (Just check that all the pieces are there.)


  1. Good grief, the usuals are out in full force, whining and crying that somebody would dare to mention consumerism, and other ways of celebrating Christmas than going into debt for the rest of the year. But even the Grinch could learn: "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." Hope you'll have a happy one.

    • This Christmas, make sure you own nothing and be happy.

      • Own or owe?

      • Your life sounds sad

    • I love waste so I'll keep calling it Christmas.

      • We'll send our waste to you. Happy Holidays.

    • Imagine CBC complaining about waste in another religion's celebrations....

      • Christmas is pretty far from religious now. It's cultural and fairly consumeristic, so there is no attack on Christianity inherent in trying to curb some of the consumeristic excess.

      • Later in life we in my family have stumbled naturally into thriftmas, for no other reason that the fact we have everything we need, and no-one spends a lot of money of gifts anymore.

        Christmas presents are usually consumables in my house, like fancy chocolates or cookies the wife bakes herself, and she is truly good at it.

        It's family that has meaning for us now, not things.




    Dec. 9, 2022 "How to cut holiday costs? Thrift it, minimize it, plan for it": Today I found this article by Nick Parker, Harpuneet Nijjar, and Ania Bessonov on CBC.  Some of the tips are like having a potluck meal where people bring different dishes.  

    You can go on Kijiji and there is section of free stuff where you can get lots of things like furniture. 



    Dec. 13, 2022 "B.C. man shocked after $700 drained from his Walmart gift cards": Today I found this article by Sophia Harris on CBC: 

    Kevin Wilson was thrilled when, as part of a Black Friday promotional deal, he got two Walmart gift cards totalling $700.

    But when he went to a Walmart near his home in Surrey, B.C., this month to use his cards, Wilson was dismayed to discover they'd been drained — leaving him with a balance of just 27 cents.

    According to transaction records, one card's cash was spent at a Walmart in Richmond, B.C., and the other, at a Walmart in Mississauga, Ont. — far across the country. 

    "I was in shock. The cards hadn't left my possession," said Wilson. He added that the cards showed no signs of being tampered with. 

    He said when he received his gift cards, he was so pleased that he briefly posted a photo of them on Facebook. The bar codes were visible in the photo, but Wilson didn't think that was a problem, because the security code on each card was hidden. 

    But after doing some sleuthing, Wilson realized that his photo may have enabled fraudsters to access his cards. That's because a shopper can make purchases at self-checkout with a Walmart gift card simply by scanning its bar code — or a photo of the bar code. 

    "The light bulb went off," said Wilson. "There was a Eureka moment and I'm like, 'No way, it couldn't be that easy.'"

    Another gift card scam

    Nichelle Laus of Mississauga, Ont., almost fell for a different gift card scam. The former Ontario police officer posted her story on social media as a warning to others. 

    "It drives me crazy to have people victimized this way, especially during the holiday," said Laus.

    Her saga began in October when she tried to buy a $50 Winners gift card at Shoppers Drug Mart. She said the cashier felt the back of the card and informed Laus a fraudster had placed a sticker of another gift card's bar code overtop of the Winners card's bar code. 

    Laus said the cashier then scanned the new bar code, which showed it belonged to an Esso gift card.

    She said the cashier explained that if Laus had loaded $50 onto the Winners card, it would have wound up instead on a fraudster's Esso card. 



    Dec. 10, 2022 "Pioneering Black feminist Dorothy Pitman Hughes dies at 84": Today I found this article by Jocelyn Noveck on Yahoo:

    NEW YORK (AP) — Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a pioneering Black feminist, child welfare advocate and lifelong community activist who toured the country speaking with Gloria Steinem in the 1970s and appears with her in one of the most iconic photos of the second-wave feminist movement, has died. She was 84.

    Hughes died Dec. 1 in Tampa, Florida, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, said Maurice Sconiers of the Sconiers Funeral Home in Columbus, Georgia. Her daughter, Delethia Ridley Malmsten, said the cause was old age.

    Though they came to their feminist activism from different vantage points — Hughes from her community-based work and Steinem from journalism — the two forged a powerful speaking partnership in the early 1970s, touring the country at a time when feminism was seen as predominantly white and middle class, a divide dating back to the origins of the American women’s movement. Steinem credited Hughes with helping her become comfortable speaking in public.

    Hughes, her work always rooted in community activism, organized the first shelter for battered women in New York City and co-founded the New York City Agency for Child Development to broaden childcare services in the city. But she was perhaps best known for her work helping countless families through the community center she established on Manhattan’s West Side, offering day care, job training, advocacy training and more.

    “She took families off the street and gave them jobs,” Malmsten, her daughter, told The Associated Press on Sunday, reflecting on what she felt was her mother’s most important work.

    Laura L. Lovett, whose biography of Hughes, “With Her Fist Raised,” came out last year, said in Ms. Magazine that Hughes “defined herself as a feminist, but rooted her feminism in her experience and in more fundamental needs for safety, food, shelter and child care.”

    Pioneering Black feminist Dorothy Pitman Hughes dies at 84 (yahoo.com)


    Dec. 11, 2022 "Interior designer accused of killing stepfather after finding naked pictures of herself": This is by David Millward on MSN:

     Jade Janks, 39, is on trial for murdering Thomas Merriman, 64, with whom she founded Butterfly Farms, a non-profit research institution.

    Ms Janks found more images when she searched the computer and was left “beyond freaked out”, Mr Del Portillo told the jury.

    How the photographs, which were taken with consent by Ms Janks’s boyfriend a decade ago, ended up on Merriman’s computer is unclear.

    Incensed by the discovery Ms Janks plotted her revenge, the prosecuting attorney alleged.

    “This was no accident. This was murder by design,” Mr Del Portillo told the court. Ms Janks planned to kill Merriman, but make it appear as if he had taken an overdose, he added.

    He died on New Year’s Eve in 2020, hours after Janks had collected him from a rehabilitation facility where he had been recovering following a fall.

    Even though Merriman had divorced Ms Janks’s mother, she still looked after him.

    The prosecution alleged that Janks had told her friends she had drugged Mr Merriman and tried to suffocate him.

    Jurors were shown a series of incriminating texts she had sent to various contacts.

    “I just dosed the hell out of him,” she wrote in one. “He’s waking up. I really don’t want to be the one to do this.”

    Interior designer accused of killing stepfather after finding naked pictures of herself (msn.com)


    My opinion: Where do I start?


    1. If you found these naked pictures of yourself, you have to ask Merriman how he got these photos.  Also delete them if you can.

    2. I thought it was really stupid for Janks to text and tell her friends about it.  After committing a murder or a crime, you don't tell anyone about this if you want to get away with it.

    3. If she can't delete them for some reason, she should go to the police or a lawyer to get the photos off the computer.

    4. Don't take naked pictures of yourself.  Even if you do, make sure your head and face is not in the photo so they can't ID you.


    Dec. 15, 2022 "Survivor Winner Donates Entire Million Dollar Prize to Veterans: 'I Am Very Fortunate'": Today I found this article by Marisa Sullivan on Yahoo:

    Survivor 43 winner Mike Gabler made history on Wednesday night after he revealed he'd be donating his entire $1 million prize to veterans.

    The heart valve specialist, 52, had been telling viewers of the CBS competition series his plan before nabbing the win, but followed through with his promise after being named Sole Survivor.

    "There are people who need that money more," Gabler told host Jeff Probst during the Survivor after show, filmed moments after his win. "And I'm going to donate the entire prize  — the entire million dollar prize, in my father's name, Robert Gabler, who was a Green Beret — to veterans in need who are recovering from psychiatric problems, PTSD, and curb the suicide epidemic."

    "We're going to save lives and do something good," the Kingwood, Tex. native continued amid cheers from jurors and castmates. "Season 43, all of us did this. A million dollars is going to them. We made history guys," he added in the tender moment.


    Survivor Winner Donates Entire Million Dollar Prize to Veterans: 'I Am Very Fortunate' (yahoo.com)


    Dec. 10, 2022 Birthday party: M and Du had their b days.  M wanted this to be a floral theme so the women wore floral dresses like hers.  I wore a shirt with some flowers on it that my sister gave me a long time ago.  The guys dressed up.

    M cooked by rolling the zucchinis and carrots into looking like flowers for her pie.  There was a curry under it.
    M made steam dumplings and dyed it pink to look like roses.
    De bought mini donuts, cookies, cake from Bliss Baked Goods.
    I told them about the bakery Doughnut Party:







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