Good morning from my coffee cup to yours! It has been quite some time since I have sat down to blog without starting a post, stopping, and finishing days or weeks later. I mean, the fat lady certainly has not sung yet so let’s see if I can write and post this post before I get up to do all of the things on my to-do list. Instead of doing everything on that list and then attempting and failing to blog later in the day, this is the very first thing I am doing today. Ok, ok, I washed the dishes first, but that’s IT! And that’s huge for me- Monday is usually the day I feel like a tornado trying to get through my to-do list so instead, today I am going to ease into the day with my cup of coffee and chat here for a bit… and then I will furiously get to my to-do list 😉 I am feeling a bit better after sleeping 11 hours last night. It’s strange, I DO get enough sleep during the week (usually about 7 hours), but it’s definitely not enough for the physical toll I put on my legs and feet (standing ALL DAY), and hands and arms and back. And these days, I have been going to work in fifty shades of red….look at this ridiculous combination of colors.
And also, it doesn’t help that Netflix has a new docuseries that has completely roped me in. It’s called Tiger King and it’s about people who keep tigers and other exotic animals as pets, and specifically, about Joe Exotic, who was one of the biggest “Tiger Keepers/ Breeders” in the US and had his own private zoo and is now in prison for hiring someone to kill this lady who is a big animal rights person and is out to get Joe, but also has her own “Tiger sanctuary” which she profits heavily from. It’s a great show, very interesting, and you should watch it!
It is Monday, April 13, 9:50 am and it’s rainy and cloudy and it’s the perfect day to have off from work (it’s not really off though, I have a lot to do), but a good day to stay in pajamas, do laundry, and MAKE FRENCH TOAST! We had a BEAUTIFUL challah leftover this weekend so I snagged it, grabbed some of our pure maple syrup, and I have grand plans to make french toast for today and enough for leftovers for tomorrow. Or, maybe I’ll make torrijas, which are very similar to french toast, but the spanish version. They are sweeter, and have more liquid than french toast, but also crispy on the outside because they are fried in olive oil…and they are usually served with honey, or sometimes wine…to represent the blood of Jesus. ok, maybe I won’t make torrijas with my challah, we don’t want any grandmothers rolling over in their graves! They are delicious, but I think I will leave that up to the professionals (though much of the Easter celebrations (including torrijas) are obviously not happening this year. In other challah-related news, here is the cutest baby challah that Marina made this weekend:
In other food-related news, I have a box of matzo ball mix that my good friend Val gave to me this year, so I am planning to make some matzo ball soup. It will be my first go round! I need to find a good (easy) recipe…nothing too complicated. These days, I have been very NOT into cooking. I like eating well, but the thought of spening time in the kitchen after … spending time in another kitchen… is very unappealing to me. Mom, I need you to come cook (with a mask and gloves, of course!). Lastly, in food news, Luis bought a blue cheese last week and I am loving it… we have had it for 2 nights with dinner (and red wine and crusty sourdough bread that my friend, Val, made for us!) and both nights I have found that I look down and all of the dinner food is still on my plate but this delicious cheese is quickly disappearing. It is so good- Dad, when you make it here, I’ll get some for you (and me!) and we can try a bunch of cheeses. 
On the work front, things are good! I feel..ashamed? or embarrassed? to say that, because there are many, many, many people and businesses that are suffering heavily from all of this, but there are also businesses that are choosing to be closed….out of….solidarity? I don’t know. I get it, that we all need to do our part, etc, etc, but if there life WILL go on past this and if there are no businesses left because no one survived being closed for 2 months, what will that leave us? I am very happy we have been able to stay open, but holy smokes, it is incredibly HARD work. I don’t think I can put into words just how hard it has been. Long hours of physical work (rolling over 200 bagels per day, baking cakes, making cookies, packing orders, kneeling on the floor to get down to our lowest racks to count bagels, squatting, standing, squatting standing). Then the mental aspect of it all- keeping track of hundreds of orders from Instagram, Facebook, our website, emails, and calls. And yes, I know I COULD ask people to only do it on our website, but I don’t want to do that quite yet. And then the mental part of making sure orders get packed exactly as written…we have 10 types of bagels and 4 types of cream cheese and 2 sizes and there are a lot of people who want 2 of this and 1 of that and 3 of this. I don’t think we have screwed much up (or people haven’t told me), but I have gotten a couple messages that “I ordered this and I got that”, but the mistakes are not big and I ALWAYS offer to refund a portion or send something free in their next order.
People have been generally very nice and understanding and THANKFUL for what we are doing, whereas I feel very thankful for THEM and I hope they know that. We did get a super rude email from someone this weekend because their package arrived with a peanut butter jar that had opened and leaked onto EVERYTHING and she was not happy about it and demanded a refund, which I get, but the ride part of it is completely unnecessary. Actually, it was the second time she has had a “bad experience” (her words) with us (the first being that we had a 2 hour private event in the shop on a Wednesday and didn’t post about it on Google and she came and was disappointed to see the shop was closed and sent us a nasty email, but we learned from that- we learned you can add “special hours” to Google), but then this happened and she was not happy. We returned all of her money and sent her a new package plus extra goodies, but I doubt we will see her again. Unhappy people will always be unhappy. I think we did our part to brighten her frown a bit. But, what I am saying is that those types of things are emotionally draining- to come home after working 10-12 hours all day and see an email (with attached photos) is not fun, but we get past it. For the most part, we have seen outpourings of love and support, which has been incredible.
Ok, I have officially been writing for 33 minutes and my coffee is gone so it’s time to get a refill, make my french toast and then tackle the to-do list. Today´s list includes:
- french toast with a lot of syrup
- clean up the house that gets to tornado status over the course of the week (put things away, clean the dust, sweep)
- organize a part of the “crap” – the room that holds all the extra junk (I have been attempting to do a little each week so that it can finally be USED for something and not just boxes and papers).
- order from our 2 supplies
- call one of the suppliers and tell them they charged me for something we didn’t get!!!
- call another supplier and ask why we were charged for something we haven’t ordered in months!!!
- order new business cards (we are almost out)
- design stickers for our peanut butter and Notella
- check to make sure I have been paid by everyone in the last 5 days (maybe it’s bad business, but I don’t require payment BEFORE sending an order- we have not had a problem with this, but I do always make sure to check that we have, in fact, been paid, but wow- this alone could be a full-time job)
- choose a winner for our instagram giveaway
- post on instagram
- workout! Monday and Tuesday are our workout days and we have been really enjoying the Les Mills Youtube channel- free workouts and they are very instense!
- set up my wix payments.
Lots to get to! Hope you all have a lovely Monday!
