Saturday Market

We had a great time at the Saturday Market! Pretty much sold out. I had five items left at the end of the day out of the 170 that I started with.
I have to say that I really feel that the success of the day was because of my wonderful sister-in-law, Anya, who came with me. What's the saying? She could sell ... to a ... Well, she could!
Matt and Anya came with me to set up, which I much appreciated! I got up at 4:30 and started stuff going immediately and basically didn't stop baking till we walked out the door at 7:45. Matt and Anya helped me pack up the car (Matt's car cause it wouldn't all fit in mine). Let me rephrase that: Matt and Anya packed up the car while I finished baking and changed. :|
We got to the market a few minutes before eight and got a spot and set up. Matt volunteered to come along for the first few times to help set up, which I really appreciate because while Anya and I could do it ourselves, and I probably can do it all by myself (I'm a big girl! I can do it myself! Down Ziva, down!), it is a lot simpler and less stressful to have help! He even ran to McDonald's and got me some food and coffee since I hadn't eaten yet. And came up with a solution to the leaking tub.
Anya, in the mean time, helped me set everything up and get all the pastries out there. Baking that morning really paid off, cause a lot of stuff was still warm and giving off that wonderful fresh baked smell, which Anya utilized to sell. I'm so not a people person, and she is, so I took money from people and refilled the trays and kept things neat and tidy and Anya sold stuff. She kept our booth so busy that we barely had time to sit down! Honest. Or eat breakfast or anything else for that matter. The market lasts from 9am until 3pm and people started hitting our booth just before 9am and neither of us had time to think until about 12:30. Even then, Anya managed to keep the booth pretty busy and some people who came back got disappointed because we were mostly sold out by the time they made it back. She had to leave at 1:30, but by then she had sold all but maybe 12-15 items. And it took me the rest of the market to sell those down so that there were only five left.
I'm definitely planning on making some more items for this weekend, but I've also decided that Anya is absolutely indispensable for running my booth! Now I just need to convince her of that!

I really appreciate the support and prayers I have had for this. I really don't feel like I can make this a success, but if God wants to, He can. And He seems to be, so I am just trying to hang on for the ride.

To Market, To Market...!

Today is my last day to prep for tomorrow, which will be my first market day. I am curious to see how it will go. I have no idea how much stuff to take and I am still ironing out details like pricing. There are so many rules and regulations (like I have to bring my own water for hand-washing and take it away with me too), it is a bit daunting, but I am sure that after the first month I will have it more-or-less down pat. I've also conscripted Matt and Anya to help set up and stuff tomorrow, which I am sure will make things a bit easier.
I'm keeping my "menu" simple this time. Mostly croissants, a few danish, some tarts (including this chocolate one that I made this week that is utterly dangerous for me to make because I can't stop eating them!), and some bolussen (Dutch sticky buns). I'm prepping stuff today, but will bake it tomorrow morning, which means early to bed--early to rise.
Unfortunately, I am in the throes of a cold and woke up with a wee bit of a migraine this morning (well, I went to bed with it last night, but hoped that the drugs I took then would have scared it away, but 'parently not). But even though I don't feel that great I am excited to bake. As always! :P
Prayers would definitely be appreciated for that all.

When I got up this morning and read my devotional, I also realized that it is Good Friday today. And I am in a mood to be thoughtful about it. This Easter week is flying by and part of me does wish for the longer celebration that goes on in Ukraine, but I am appreciating the little reminders that God keeps dropping in my lap about Easter. I am not being caught off guard this year and I am glad. It is amazing to have such a solemnly joyous occasion to celebrate. It is an honour to understand the truth of Easter and be able to celebrate that. My heart goes out to my neighbors and the many other people who cross my path who just don't know. They are missing out on so much, in this life, but especially in the next. It makes my heart heavy for them. And it reminds me that this is why Christ came, so that we all could experience the beauty of a relationship and eternity with Him.

Palm Sunday

I didn't make it to church at all yesterday. I was bummed about that, but after it took me about 1 1/2 hours to get ready for church in the morning, I realized that if I was moving that slowly it might be best to just stay home. There was also a small group social function at the other campus of my church in the evening, which I figured I could still go to, but didn't make it to that either.
Interestingly though, it was still a better day than most of last week. I'm kind of glad that I chose to use that energy at home though, esp. since today I woke up and am feeling like I am coming down with a cold.
So, back to Palm Sunday. I don't want to miss Easter this year. That has happened to me before and it really stinks. Naturally, I was bummed to miss Palm Sunday since that kind of sets the tone for the week. I put on some Easter music, but that didn't really change much.
This morning, I got up and just put Itunes onto the "DJ" setting and all of a sudden this song comes up "He Never Said a Mumblin' Word". It is all about how Christ did not complain, grumble or defend Himself before Pilate or when He was crucified. The lyrics are simple and repetitive (which means I can actually understand them). Then, later as I was delivering my order listening to the radio in the car, another song popped up about how Christ forgave without admonition; He just simply forgave and let it go.
I want to be like Him. And really, that put my mind onto Easter. Christ really made a huge sacrifice and He did it so graciously, so kindly. He didn't remonstrate or complain when the disciples left Him, when Peter denied Him, and when they doubted Him after He rose again. He just patiently loved. I just can't quite wrap my little mind around His sacrifice and the attitude with which He made it. A gentle lamb.

Allergy Season

That pretty much sums up my life. I mean, what season isn't allergy season? Winter is generally pretty good, allergy wise, but the cold makes life difficult.
I think my body just hates me. Since February I've had increasing allergies. Basically, since it began to warm up here. I get this every spring, but it has been particularly noticeable this one, perhaps because I am actually beginning to feel a little better overall. Now when I get knocked on my back, it seems worse because I am able to spend more time up. My body just can't tolerate the extra load of allergies and it affects me across the board--making my chemical sensitivities worse and any pain I have or attacking other weak areas.
I was figuring that out the other day though and I realized that I still have incredibly few hours in my active/profitable day. I think I'm averaging around seven hours out of bed right now. It's been low the last few weeks, I should be getting at least 10 and 12 on a day when I push myself. The couch is my best friend. And my worst enemy.
On the other hand, last week, after I mentioned that I wasn't feeling great and asked ya'll to pray for me, I did feel an upsurge a couple of days later. So, I thought I'd put out a second appeal. Your prayers really do make a difference in my life and in my work. They are needed so that I can do what God asks of me.

The good thing about being sick is that it does help you to focus priorities a bit. I mean, if you only have a few hours up, you want to use that time the best you can. It doesn't mean I always do, but I try. Plus, it keeps my focus on eternity and remembering that this life is "but 70 years" and so I am almost half way through the race! It is one heck of an endurance run! :)
I've also been thinking a lot about how far I have come healthwise. I mean, ya, I still struggle a lot, but compared to a few years ago...! Wow. Vast improvements! Being out of bed for four hours a day used to be remarkable, incredible, a really good day. Now that is a really bad day and mostly I have twice that much energy. I'm also free from the pain from herniating the disk in my back. I am no longer in constant pain. I still have pain from other areas of my body, but rarely from that. It is amazing to think back and realize the work of healing that God did there! I'm so grateful.

Do I get down from being sick so much? Yes. I've been feeling down about it all this week. Frustrated with myself. Wanting to rise above, move on with my life. I want to do all the work that normal people are able to do. Instead, I'm stuck here. Chained to my couch. It makes me feel worthless and like I don't deserve the support I receive. But, I'm not in charge of that; God is. And in the end, He is the one working in and through me to achieve His perfect will. And that's when I realize that I am privileged because of my struggles I get to see God "up close and personal" providing me the energy and focus to do what He wants me to do today, providing for my physical needs, providing for the strength and grace and patience for each day.

Marketing "Monday"

You know, on a side note, I think that I actually like writing. I couldn't have said that a few months ago, most likely. I get burnt out on it, but when I'm not, it is actually enjoyable.

I already can't remember when I wrote about Marketing Monday, was it just last week? or the week before? And of course, I'm too lazy to look it up. Well, this week, and last week (hmmm, must've written about it more than two weeks ago) I didn't go "door to door". Instead, I've been working on getting into the local farmer's market. It isn't quite as intimidating as the "door to door" type marketing, although I do want to keep up with that a little too. My sister-in-law has promised to help me, but I still need to pull myself together to do it.
For now, though, I am pretty happy to work on the market stuff. The Saturday market is already open. It opens the beginning of April and runs through October. I haven't been yet, but am hoping to go this Saturday. In the meantime, I've already gotten accepted to sell there. Now I'm working on pulling everything else together: I bought a canopy, but still need to buy weights; I need to buy a banner/sign so people will know who I am; I need to pull together a table and chairs, plus get tablecloths, something to display my pastries in, a container for water for hand washing, plus some other miscellaneous things.
Yeah! My canopy just arrived! Now I need to make sure that all the pieces are there as some of the reviews indicated that the walls were missing. :) Which, in Oregon, walls are important because you never know when it is going to rain!

So ya, the markets have kind of taken over my other marketing plans. But I am hoping that they will be a marketing opportunity as well as a way to make a little money.

Oh PS. I could really use prayer for sleeping. I'm not sleeping well and it is leaving me exhausted to the point of lightheadedness (and that's before noon!).

Birthdays and All That

Time flies. And it drags. Really depends on the day. The last ten days or so have flown by, but the week before that absolutely dragged.
There were lots of reasons why, I wasn't feeling great, was frustrated about getting back into work (every time I travel my schedule gets upset and it takes me about two weeks to rewire and come back to some semblance of normal), and my birthday was coming up on the weekend (March 27th) but due to work and church commitments we weren't able to get together that weekend and the next weekend was iffy and the one after that was definitely out. Week nights don't work because Matthew works every evening. We are a very difficult family to schedule. So, I was just generally bummed out. And stressed. Cause of the whole bakery business thing. It is hard not to put all of ones hopes into one basket.
But last week, well, that was a different story. We got the birthday thing sorted out so we had a party at my place on this past Saturday. I got my perspective at least temporarily straightened out about the bakery and I got back into a semblance of a schedule, which makes me feel better in the end. I also got a little more on track diet wise. I'm trying to lose some weight, and every time I get off track and then get back on track I rediscover that carbs make me feel tired. I just do much better physically if I am eating less carbs. But of course, comfort food=carbs. :| And working on new recipes for the bakery doesn't help. I've been developing my croissant and puff pastry skills and um, well, of course I have to taste-test! (speaking of which, I really need to remember to take some pictures of those--let me just say, they are FABULOUS! And yes, I DO say so myself, which is pretty rare. Most of what I bake doesn't suck me in, but croissants...oh help! They are incredibly difficult to resist. Well, my croissants are, not the crap ones that you can buy in grocery stores here. Mine melt in your mouth and are just beautifully buttery and rich and delightful. *melts onto the couch)
I have to say, once we finally got my birthday all together, I had a blast! I made everyone come to my house (my birthday is the only celebration that I can really claim--being as I'm the only single one left, so I had to make the most of that). We had Cajun Shrimp, recipe thanks to Sarah and Bill, and homemade hummus with veggies and bagel chips (made by me, not from a package). And then cake. Of course cake. Well, torte actually. A beautiful, lovely chocolate mint torte. Although the mint flavoring was a little mild (I was afraid of making it too strong). It had three layers of white genoise, soaked with mint syrup and layered with creme freche. First a layer of cake, then a layer of chocolate creme freche, then a layer of meringue, then a layer of plain creme freche. Another layer of cake, a layer of creme freche with chocolate pieces, cake and then creme freche on top. To decorate the outside I made a chocolate wrap and wrapped the whole thing in chocolate and then made chocolate fans to put on top. It was fun. :D Pictures to come.
I also made a cake for my small group. Same general idea as the chocolate one, but instead of chocolate I used apricots and apricot syrup. So, all the same layers, only flavored with apricot instead of chocolate, plus a layer of apricot halves. For the outside, I did a marbled chocolate wrap and put mini meringues on top. I actually liked it better than the chocolate cake. And it was all eaten up at home group. :)
Unfortunately, one of the eventful things that happened during the making of the first cake was that I sliced my finger open (I was cutting chunks of chocolate off a brick, with my new knife). My pinky on my right hand. :( It was on the verge of an ER visit bad. But eventually, I managed to stop the bleeding (by holding my hand over my head for an hour while laying on the couch) and now five days later it seems like it is healing up pretty well. I don't think they could have done much except glue it together. But that has slowed my baking for this week. And pretty much everything else. It is amazing how much you need your pinkies. It is also amazing how accident prone I am. :| On the up side, being forced to take a break from baking is helping me to get my routine back together a little, which does relieve stress. Speaking of which, I should really get back to work. I'm trying out danishes today and making a larger sized croissant too (I prefer the small and mini sizes because they are so rich, but I was asked about a sandwich size, so...). Plus, I need to do some more editing/writing on the Facilitator's Handbook before I go let myself play...I mean work! work! yes, it is work--definitely work in the kitchen. :| *whistles innocently