It's Easier to Breathe When It's Temperate Out
Sunday's Hat:
I was delighted to find these among the winter hats! Wearing it drew a lot of interest, and several people tried it on throughout the night. Finally someone bought one, which pleased me greatly as that was the first sale of that hat since they've arrived. "Wear the hat you want to sell!"
It was very busy all night, but we were fully staffed for most of it so we got through it. And because there were more hands to help with closing tasks we got out of there more quickly too.
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Monday's activities:
- Mailing the condolence letters to my step-aunt and stepmom (aaaand it's Indigenous Peoples Day so the letters sat out there all day.)
- Requesting a new vote-by-mail ballot as mine was sent on 10/03 and either never appeared or I threw it out accidentally
- Laundry
- Trombone practice with a focus on mute changes (such a pain argh mutes)
- Making the caramels I've promised to send before going on tour
- Sweeping hurricane debris from the pool patio
- Meeting w/transcription QA person
For the first time in a really long time, I messed up my caramels.
Near the end of the process, just as the temperature of the candy was starting to hit remove-from-heat stage, I smelled burning. But there was nothing I could do with only three degrees to go; I just kept stirring and then removed from the burner as soon as the correct temp was hit.
Upon pouring out the caramel I saw that one small crescent-shaped sliver on the bottom of the pan was truly burnt, like my spatula hadn't even touched there.
What I believe happened is that I used a different spatula today, and it's the wrong shape.
The purple spatula is the one I used (it's also discolored after only one use which is disappointing.)
The red spatula is the kind I've used in the past (I went out and bought it from Publix after realizing what had happened.)
You can kinda see that the purple one doesn't have as much surface area at the tip because it's so strongly curved. The red one has a defined flat surface area, if that makes sense. I think I was doing my normal stirring pattern, but the new spatula wasn't reaching an area of the pan, hence it burned.
Anyway the caramel is still good, but it's not **PERFECT** so I feel disappointed :(
After tasting it myself and making Jameson taste it, we agreed that it doesn't have a burnt flavor/aftertaste.
So if you're getting caramels from me: I'm so very sorry. They're not the best example of what I can do, and I wanted you to have the BEST caramels I could make :( :( But hopefully you will still enjoy them, and you will let me try again after the holidays?
The transcription meeting was to let me know that I've done well enough to be allowed to turn in work without direct supervision/correction from now on. YAY! This is a type of work that I very much enjoy, and it's important to me to do an exceptional job. They seem well pleased and that was wonderful to hear. There are still quite a few things that I need to work on, but many of them are experience-based (I will understand things better as I go.)
This bucked up my mood from the earlier caramel fail.
The rest of the night was quiet.
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Tuesday's doings:
- Setting up and starting my new transcription project
- Processing the caramels (cutting and wrapping them, forgot to photograph this process)
- Lowe's for a hanging basket for one of the petunias
- A local car repair shop that has serviced my car many times, to drop off caramels I've promised like four times lol
- Checking on my vote-by-mail ballot (it'll be here soon)
- Grocery for ingredients for tomorrow's dinner
- Shipping caramels to an LJ friend :)
- More transcription
- Closing shift at the hat shop
Today's hat:
Yes I've technically worn this hat already in a different color, but that was on Hurricane Day and there were almost no customers, so I feel it's OK to have a repeat just this once :p
It was moderately busy and we beat our sales goal by over $1000, yay (we don't get commission, just $1/hr extra in pay for that day, which frankly is the equivalent of finding five bucks in your coat pocket.) At the end of the night I was less cheery than usual because my back was hurting again...I don't suppose it could be because after straining it, I then swept and mopped at the hat shop two shifts in a row, and also spent 40 minutes sweeping our pool deck. DUH. Well, hopefully the massage on Friday will work that out.
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Wednesday was the first "cool" day of "fall" here in Florida. It was about 68°F (20°C) when I woke up. I opened the screen door to enjoy it while eating breakfast.
Today I didn't have a to-do list because the transcription work trumped everything else.
Worked on it all morning, ate lunch, practiced Elf.
After lunch Jameson and I went out back and breathed the cool air. I'm from the northeastern U.S. and Jameson lived in the north for a significant time as well, so we both often long for cooler, drier weather. In 48 hours it's supposed to be back up to the mid-80s. We will savor this cooler weather while it lasts and what a treat it was today. Never thought that I would view temperatures in the mid-60s as a rare treasure, but here we are.
For dinner I made us butter chicken meatballs with brown rice and peas, naan on the side.
The sauce was so good I could have drank it! Jameson liked it a lot so I'll be making it again.
We left the patio door open to enjoy the cool air for as long as we could before going to bed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not a lot on the docket for coming days...I've still got the to-do list but am also not sure if my hat shop boss will continue to schedule me, or decide to cut me loose early. I've got a massage on Friday and of course continued tour prep.
I was delighted to find these among the winter hats! Wearing it drew a lot of interest, and several people tried it on throughout the night. Finally someone bought one, which pleased me greatly as that was the first sale of that hat since they've arrived. "Wear the hat you want to sell!"
It was very busy all night, but we were fully staffed for most of it so we got through it. And because there were more hands to help with closing tasks we got out of there more quickly too.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday's activities:
- Mailing the condolence letters to my step-aunt and stepmom (aaaand it's Indigenous Peoples Day so the letters sat out there all day.)
- Requesting a new vote-by-mail ballot as mine was sent on 10/03 and either never appeared or I threw it out accidentally
- Laundry
- Trombone practice with a focus on mute changes (such a pain argh mutes)
- Making the caramels I've promised to send before going on tour
- Sweeping hurricane debris from the pool patio
- Meeting w/transcription QA person
For the first time in a really long time, I messed up my caramels.
Near the end of the process, just as the temperature of the candy was starting to hit remove-from-heat stage, I smelled burning. But there was nothing I could do with only three degrees to go; I just kept stirring and then removed from the burner as soon as the correct temp was hit.
Upon pouring out the caramel I saw that one small crescent-shaped sliver on the bottom of the pan was truly burnt, like my spatula hadn't even touched there.
What I believe happened is that I used a different spatula today, and it's the wrong shape.
The purple spatula is the one I used (it's also discolored after only one use which is disappointing.)
The red spatula is the kind I've used in the past (I went out and bought it from Publix after realizing what had happened.)
You can kinda see that the purple one doesn't have as much surface area at the tip because it's so strongly curved. The red one has a defined flat surface area, if that makes sense. I think I was doing my normal stirring pattern, but the new spatula wasn't reaching an area of the pan, hence it burned.
Anyway the caramel is still good, but it's not **PERFECT** so I feel disappointed :(
After tasting it myself and making Jameson taste it, we agreed that it doesn't have a burnt flavor/aftertaste.
So if you're getting caramels from me: I'm so very sorry. They're not the best example of what I can do, and I wanted you to have the BEST caramels I could make :( :( But hopefully you will still enjoy them, and you will let me try again after the holidays?
The transcription meeting was to let me know that I've done well enough to be allowed to turn in work without direct supervision/correction from now on. YAY! This is a type of work that I very much enjoy, and it's important to me to do an exceptional job. They seem well pleased and that was wonderful to hear. There are still quite a few things that I need to work on, but many of them are experience-based (I will understand things better as I go.)
This bucked up my mood from the earlier caramel fail.
The rest of the night was quiet.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday's doings:
- Setting up and starting my new transcription project
- Processing the caramels (cutting and wrapping them, forgot to photograph this process)
- Lowe's for a hanging basket for one of the petunias
- A local car repair shop that has serviced my car many times, to drop off caramels I've promised like four times lol
- Checking on my vote-by-mail ballot (it'll be here soon)
- Grocery for ingredients for tomorrow's dinner
- Shipping caramels to an LJ friend :)
- More transcription
- Closing shift at the hat shop
Today's hat:
Yes I've technically worn this hat already in a different color, but that was on Hurricane Day and there were almost no customers, so I feel it's OK to have a repeat just this once :p
It was moderately busy and we beat our sales goal by over $1000, yay (we don't get commission, just $1/hr extra in pay for that day, which frankly is the equivalent of finding five bucks in your coat pocket.) At the end of the night I was less cheery than usual because my back was hurting again...I don't suppose it could be because after straining it, I then swept and mopped at the hat shop two shifts in a row, and also spent 40 minutes sweeping our pool deck. DUH. Well, hopefully the massage on Friday will work that out.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday was the first "cool" day of "fall" here in Florida. It was about 68°F (20°C) when I woke up. I opened the screen door to enjoy it while eating breakfast.
Today I didn't have a to-do list because the transcription work trumped everything else.
Worked on it all morning, ate lunch, practiced Elf.
After lunch Jameson and I went out back and breathed the cool air. I'm from the northeastern U.S. and Jameson lived in the north for a significant time as well, so we both often long for cooler, drier weather. In 48 hours it's supposed to be back up to the mid-80s. We will savor this cooler weather while it lasts and what a treat it was today. Never thought that I would view temperatures in the mid-60s as a rare treasure, but here we are.
For dinner I made us butter chicken meatballs with brown rice and peas, naan on the side.
The sauce was so good I could have drank it! Jameson liked it a lot so I'll be making it again.
We left the patio door open to enjoy the cool air for as long as we could before going to bed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not a lot on the docket for coming days...I've still got the to-do list but am also not sure if my hat shop boss will continue to schedule me, or decide to cut me loose early. I've got a massage on Friday and of course continued tour prep.