Friday, May 21, 2010

Well THAT was a fiasco.

So Wednesday I bought a new cookie scoop. It was like a monkey with a banana. I HAD to make a batch of cookies just to try it. Of course, then my SON had to try it. But the beauty of it was that I NEVER HAD TO PUT MY FINGERS IN COOKIE DOUGH!!!

Yes. That was worth the caps. See, I'm OCD. I wash my hands every 5 seconds when making cookies. I can't stand the stuff on my fingers, and dropping cookie dough onto the pan is definitely messy. Plus, now all my cookies are a uniform size and exactly a serving (For those keeping track, that's a tablespoon, which is 1/8 of a cup. Which is not a lot of cookie, I'm afraid, but we live in a portion confused society....which is a blog for another day.)

Well anyway...I'm excited.

So, I'm making lac cookies with my new cookie scoop. But what do I need 82 cookies for? Seriously, they're good. I will eat them all. By myself. (Point of fact, I am eating the very last one while I type this). So I decide it's a FABULOUS time to get those samples out to the bloggers who are doing reviews. I whip out my sewing machine! I whip out my cotton! I whip out my ruler! I cut out my fabric, sew up the bags, go to stick my cookies in...They're too small. So I cut out a bigger one. Still...too small.
Screw it. I go back to baking. I left my graham dough out too long while I was breastfeeding the baby, and it doesn't want to roll nicely so it takes me forever to cut a dozen cookies. While they're baking I finish the rest of the dough, which is getting more and more resistant every second and I'm getting stressed because the baby has made it very clear it is 9 o'clock and thus her bedtime. I get the second batch of cookies in (the last of which I didn't even bother to roll but just mooshed into a flattish shape with my hand) and wait impatiently for it to finish.
Okay, I'm done, I give up, I throw a dish towel over the second batch that isn't going out as a sample and leave it on the counter. I take my daughter (who is very upset at this point in her high chair) and my son (who is reenacting the aftermath of a hurricane in my living room) to bed.

In the morning, fresh and well rested, I get up and cut an even BIGGER bag. Okay, finally success. Whew.

So, good, it's about noon by now. Determined not to pay $10.70 in shipping per box at USPS for cookies that weigh less than a lb, I head over to Wal Mart and buy some boxes that are a little more appropriate in size. Of course, I have to buy packaging tape too. Of course.

I get to the Post Office and proceed to pack up my cookies into their shipment boxes....only to discover the boxes are bigger than I anticipated and I don't have enough bubble wrap to fill in the spaces. (Which is exactly why I will be shipping with biodegradable packing peanuts from now on.) And of course they don't have any packing peanuts for sale. So I must buy their $3 bubble wrap. Which is, fortunately, juuuust enough to fill up the boxes enough to keep my cookies from (hopefully) breaking on the trip. I hope. So with the bubblewrap and postage, I still have come out less than flat rate priority shipping. But not by much.

Lesson learned. When in doubt.... buy more bubble wrap while you're still at Wal Mart.

Fortunately, the custom sized sample boxes I bought came today. And my packing peanuts will be here some time very soon. So hopefully this will be the last 'OMG what else will go wrong' entry for awhile.

I think I'll finally get around to those low fat chocolate crinkle cookies tomorrow. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

  1. oh my goodness! that sounds so chaotic! glad everything seems to be coming together for you though :) your business will be running smoothly soon enough! :)

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  2. Kep at it mama! You'll get the kinks worked out. =)

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