« September 2011 | Main | June 2012 »
This is "Grandpa Snazzy". Today it is me against him. As soon as I can get this guy co-operating I can start selling my wares:)
. . .needing a techy angel to land on my doorstep. . .or some divine knowledge, one of the two will do.
Guess I better go face the music.
I think Grandpa Snazzy likes to polka. . .he just seems like that kinda guy.
Cue the music.
Enjoy your day, I'm going to try. . gulp.
The good stuff.
The mixer thang.
Cutting it up.
Stacking them high.
No comment Grandpa Snazzy. No comment.
Yesterday was my 35th birthday. It was also the "unofficial" date I set to launch Gorp. Translation: to have a successful production run that would end in a sellable product by the end of the day.
It was a day full of success and a bit of failure (just to keep me humble I'm sure;). I produced 200 bars. The scale up recipe was fantastic in the taste quotient. Yes. The air powered cutting machine worked like a charm. The packaging machine (whom I dearly and not so dearly refer to as Grandpa Snazzy) co-operated for the first 150 bars, then proceeded to self destruct. Grrrr. It was a day full of thinkings. . .. maybe cause it was my birthday and I'm feeling like I'm halfway to heaven. . .maybe it was because of the bittersweet turnout to my BIG day.
BUT. In the end, even though I was ready to pull my hair out, the phrase LIFE IS GOOD was impressed on my heart. Not in the narrow minded sense. But the broadest one there is. LIFE IS GOOD. My faithful daughter was beside me during the last 3 nasty hours of fighting with Grandpa Snazzy, I had dear friends drop by to see how things were going. Flowers arrived on my doorstep from a far away friend who is so supportive that I felt downright unworthy of her friendship. Every time I feel like I want to throw in the towel God is shouting back at me. . .DON'T YOU DARE, AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHY. And He does. Every time.
As I look around my kitchen the morning after. .. there is a huge mess to clean up, an angry machine to contend with and a few boxes of bars that are packaged a little crooked, but I can consider them "sellable" to the people that will forgive my learning curve. Not the GIANT success I had hoped for, but I'll take it:)
Gorp out.
"Ohhhhh! What the. .. wait. ..ummmm. . . freaking stink!"
That's what was going through my head when I opened the back doors of my truck and saw these freaked out yellow eyes peering at me from beneath the stroller tossed in the back. I was backed into the loading dock at Bee Maid honey, picking up some of the sweet stuff for my first test run of energy bars, there were a handful of guys standing on the loading dock, so I was already nervous about backing up in the right spot, not getting into the way of the semi driver beside me, and basically looking as professional as I could. (you know, so they didn't suspect that I was a hick mom from the country who didn't know how to act in the big city;)
Well, apparently my cover was blown when my extremely pregnant and scared out of her freaking mind cat leaped into my FACE and attempted to run into the plant. Nice. Professional. . you bet? Stink.
I totally got all weird and couldn't think straight. .. all I could focus on was not letting Ninja (prego cat) escape while at the same time getting my honey loaded. (No logic entered brain) So I raced to the front of the truck, tossed her in. .. .ran like snot to the back of the truck to quickly load a barrel of honey before she came screaming over the seat into my face again. SCRATCHING ALL THE WAY. I'd catch her and start the whole process over again, painfully aware that I was being watched, but too dazed to even care. It worked the first time. .. for the second and third barrels Ninja was onto my game and upped the ante with her lightening speed. After a few more failed attempts to get the other barrels loaded I chanced a frazzled look up onto the loading dock. . .yup. All the guys were staring at me as I feared. I zeroed in on the one with the kindest (least disgusted eyes) and asked if he's either load the honey for me or hold my pregnant cat. I felt like such a winner, let me tell ya. He laughed and said he was just waiting for me to ask:) Nice. Teach me to be all independent and stupid.
He opted for loading the honey. I don't blame him.
I still had two more stops that day, but had to cut my city day short due to the "sounds". .. coming from Ninja. I can't even really say they were sounds. .. it was more like a ghost giving birth. .. yeah, without an epidural either. I raced home listening to the horrifying harmonies of what I thought were crazy cat birthing pains. But she must have just been writhing in fear, cause she's still prego. Whew.
I'm sure I made an impression over there at Bee Maid. Better luck next time?
Tomorrow my goal is to have the first batch of bars through the factory, packaged and ready to present to retail FOR SALE! We shall see, the technical challenges thus far have almost done me in. Lord help me.
HERE WE GO!
Kinda cool. My branding company Clarkhuot/Cocoon scooped up a Signature award the other night for the design of the Gorp bar packaging! Good work guys:)
Here's the link!
Yesterday was filled with intrigue and weirdness. . .hopefully I can chill out on the couch later and blog about it. .. .I'll warn ya. .. the story contains a harrowing account of cat-napping and birthing sounds. .. gag!
As for today, tree planting and packaging machine figuring are on the menu, anyone have a sledge hammer?
Today the plan is to be mighty. Tonight the plan is to cry into my pillow;)
.