Here We Go!

Today was a busy day for me, I went to the store this morning to finish my Thanksgiving shopping (which is unfortunately not finished). Then I cooked some stuff for the next three days, which included a meatloaf, goulash, and some gravy and mashed potatoes (the box kind, but I won't cheat on Thursday). Sarah is having a Thanksgiving lunch at work tomorrow, and she ordered a pumpkin and apple pie from my work. I don't like our pie crust, so I made those myself today too. Usually during Thanksgiving week, I eat a lot of sandwiches at work. Not this year, dammit.

Sarah was going to come in to work and help me tonight, but she is out this afternoon and I didn't want to go in too early, so I told her to stay home tonight. She will come tomorrow and Tuesday night though. She saves me a lot of time when she does that. :)

I have to go take a shower and take care of the animals while the food is cooling, then I'll pack it all up before bed. I have to hurry, because I'm getting up at 11 or so. There will be truncated blogs the next few days, probably about work. I know all both of you are on the edge of your seats.

And again.

Today was a long day at work, I was hoping to get a lot of stuff done in advance for next week. I got most of it done, I had to leave some of it. I can probably get some of the ladies to do it if they have some extra time. I haven't decided what time I want to go in on Monday (or Sunday). I probably should go in late Sunday night so I have enough time to sleep Monday afternoon.

In other exciting news, I ordered my fresh turkey today. I got a 16 pounder so we would have lots of leftovers. I am going shopping tomorrow morning for the rest of my Thanksgiving stuff, hopefully I won't forget anything. I am going to do the brine thing again this year, I've done it twice in my life and it has come out great both times. I am going to have to brush up on turkey carving online, as I have never done that. I also have to figure out what to make for breakfast; obviously something that doesn't need to go into the oven.

Sadly I will be Pookie-free almost all weekend. She was collecting canned food at the supermarket today with her mom and sister, and she's going to the Avon club meeting this afternoon, then to an outing with her boss tonight. Tomorrow she is going to the Penn Museum in Philly for Harry Potter day with her mom and sister and our niece. We went to the first one, and it was really very cool. They had Potter-related displays and classes and also tied in the museum displays to Harry Potter, where they could. They have college students playing the characters from the books, and at one point we passed Professor Snape in a stairwell. He actually glared at us and was very scary! It was a great day and I'm sad it's this weekend, because I cannot go.

I was talking with a co-worker today who just turned 21 last week. She was upset because she will be 30 in less than 9 years! I told her I will be 40 in less than a month. She said that was okay for me, because I am used to being old. That's always nice to hear. :)

Another post about work

Since this is the busiest month of the year at work (which I believe I have mentioned ad nauseum), this is getting to be a bit difficult coming up with something everyday. Next week will be even worse, look forward to it!

I have been pretty tired lately, and I think I know why. Besides getting up at 12.30 on work days, and going to sleep around 7 each night, and having sleep apnea and a CPAP, I think lack of singing is a problem. I worked by myself for a very long time, I was usually there alone for more than half the day. But this year I finally got some help, I pick up my co-worker every day, and she does a lot of stuff that I usually do, so I can do more bread and rolls. It really is a big help, because usually I have to bring my own help from home, and then it's only on holidays (that would be Sarah).

When I was by myself, I had my music up loud and I would sing along loudly, without worrying about people hearing me. Now, I can't do that anymore. I do have music on, but I have to turn it down, because I can't hear my co-worker talking if it's too loud (and she enjoys talking). That means no singing too, because I feel weird about that. I also had to make a non-cursing playlist on the iPod, because she is Amish and I have a little respect, I guess. So like Butthead says, you gotta have stuff that sucks in order to have stuff that's cool. I am looking forward to the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is the next time I'll be by myself at work. Let the cursing resound!!

Happy Anniversary To ME.

Today is my work anniversary! I started working at Byler's in 2001, while I was still working in the 13th circle of hell (Sam's Club). The only other place I've worked as long was for my dad, which was 9 years and 4 months.

The bakery actually opened the day I started working there. The store was expanded in August I think, but the bakery wasn't finished until November. We opened on the Monday before Thanksgiving, which I really tried to talk them out of. We had what seemed like a huge space back then, and it was me, my supervisor, her husband, and another woman who made up the bakery. We started at 7 in the morning, which was horrible because it was so late (I convinced them to start at 4 the following week). We didn't really have a plan, we just baked stuff and put it out for sale. We did have a few pie orders for Wednesday, because they had advance notice throughout the store that the bakery was coming.

That first week made Sam's Club look really good. None of us knew what the hell was going on, the ovens weren't working right, and we were using expired closeout crap for some of the ingredients. But it was kind of exciting too, because as the weeks went on, I could see that I could really make a difference and help make the bakery into something special, which I think I have accomplished.

Over the years there have been so many changes in the bakery, and it's gotten bigger (and smaller, if that makes any sense) and a lot busier. I'm the only one left of the original four people who is still in the bakery (my supervisor went back to her office upstairs a few months after we opened), and I hope that will be the case for many years to come, as I don't know how to do anything else.

Turnips and antifreeze!

I wasn't planning on writing all that yesterday. Maybe my subconscious knew that I wanted to get a lot of things done today, and sitting at the Mac trying to hash out a blog wasn't going to help. So today is short and sweet; if I come back here after Sarah goes to work, that is the death knell for the entire day. Here is a video I like, enjoy!

BUY SOMETHIN' WILL YA!

It's been kind of slow at work lately, I think people are finally realizing that we are in a recession and are acting accordingly. It was a lot busier last year, but it was also colder last year and we even got a little snow around Thanksgiving. When the forecast is for snow here in central DE, people panic, and we sell lots of bread and milk. It's getting a little colder now, but not much. From what I have seen, people will eat more baked goods when it's cold, which makes the holiday placement very fortuitous for a baker.

The three days before Thanksgiving are the busiest of the year for me. Last year I went into work at 10 pm Sunday night (we are closed on Sundays). I don't remember when I left, but by the end of Wednesday, I almost had my 40 hours in. That may not happen this year, but I'm okay with that. I won't be getting the overtime, but I may enjoy the holiday more. I am cooking for just Sarah and me, and I have off on Friday, so it will be a lot of fun. Sarah has been sick though for the past few days, and I hope she gets better in time for Thanksgiving so she can enjoy it too.

I don't want to give the impression that we throw a lot of stuff away; we don't. When the shelf life is reached, we put it out on a rack by the registers for half price, and 99% of the time, there is nothing left (we do throw it out the next day if it doesn't sell for half price). This has only been the case for the past year or so, which again is due to the economy in my opinion.

A few weeks ago we got a new label machine for our stuff, and the labels now print the pack date instead of the ordinal date (which is what day of the year it is, in numerical order. For instance, the ordinal date on our price sticker for Christmas this year would be 9359; 9 being 2009 and Christmas being the 359th day of the year. Sorry if my explanation insults your intelligence). With the ordinal date on the package, a lot of people didn't know what it meant, and most didn't ask. Now they can see the actual production date, which had me a little worried that people wouldn't buy bread if they thought it was old. I changed the shelf life to 3 days from 4 just to be on the safe side, and we're staling a lot more bread because of it. I've been trying to make less bread, but I've been doing it one way for so long that it's hard to break the habit. One bread that I don't have to worry about is sourdough. It has been selling out everyday (which is only 6 loaves, we are a small volume bakery, unless it's a holiday), and we also recently lowered the price.

I would love to sell more bread; I love making it and I'm pretty good at it. I wish I could concentrate on just that, but we don't have the help (or the sales, so I'm told) to make that happen. We also don't have the equipment. I've mentioned before that our ovens are crappy and we don't have steam in them like regular bakeries do (Sam's Club has steam, for God's sake). Steam gives you a chewier crust, which I like, but the boss doesn't like, or didn't. All the bread had to be soft when I started working there. I have taken to putting bread pans in the oven and filling them with water when I put the bread in to simulate steam, but it doesn't work as well. I wish we could have gotten a rack oven like I asked for for 4 years, instead of the convection ovens that we did get.

Sarah took the week off next week to come in and help me, which she's been doing for a few years now. She usually sets everything up and does the pull so I can start mixing the dinner rolls right away. It's nice, because I normally wouldn't see her those three days for more than a few minutes at a time. Plus she says it reminds her of when I worked for my dad and she would come and visit me when we were dating. I just hope that I'm going to need the help next week.

:(

Sarah and I were coming home from the doctor today, and we saw a garbage truck on the opposite side of the road. From the front I saw a large pink teddy bear fall to the ground behind the truck. The guy in the back picked it up and threw it in the back of the truck, its head lolling back the whole time. I looked in the rear view mirror as we passed it and saw it among the trash, waiting to be compacted. We were quiet for a minute, and then I asked Sarah, "That was kind of sad, wasn't it?" She said "It was."