A moment of quiet

It was a crazy morning. Two out of my five employees are (legitimately, and sadly) ill-- as of this morning. Annaliese had been promised a morning of helping Mommy, and I don't like to change plans on my two-year-old.

But we got it done. By we, I mean me, Annaliese, and of course, Anika. Who somehow managed to chunk watermelon with a two year old, for which she deserves some kind of medal.

But! The coolers are stocked, 3 blueberry pies and all the Irish soda bread and crusty rolls are sold, watermelon stock is dropping steadily, and the homemade and finally really delicious peach ice cream is in the freezer.

And the store has emptied out for the lunchtime lull. Which will hopefully be filled with cash register sounds next Wednesday, since we'll start doing made-to-order sandwiches. Onwards and Upwards. I love making me some money.

K came home, picked up Annaliese, and they're off to have Working With Daddy time. I think fire is involved. Good thing he is a great father or I'd be worried.

I really like working here. It is an uphill battle-- people are blind, and it's tiring to point out with a smile the freshly baked bread or the whatever for the 1000th time, but it's also really satisfying to have a young mother tell me how much she loves our store, how everything she has ever gotten here-- from tomatoes to bread to milk to fancy cheese-- has been fantastic. I like playing: setting out samples, doing a jam and peanut butter display that has tripled our Bonne Maman sales. I don't know why I find it so satisfying, but I do.

It helps that I have five people to do what I see. We redid our soda display yesterday, by which I mean that I asked them to move a cooler and make some pyramid displays with our new cases and then fill the cooler from dark to light, Cheerwine to Sundrop, and they did. Added their own touches-- Zapp's chips perched on the pyramids and whatnot-- and it looks great. One girl spends about five hours a day doing nothing but slicing meat and cheese and packing spices, pasta, and whatnot when she gets through with that. I am so grateful that I don't have to do that :)

Cheeers. Happy 4th. We'll be selling until sundown tomorrow and then we're going to friends for a lazy, food-filled afternoon.