and let us not grow weary...

i don't want to be one of *those* bloggers who complains incessantly. so i am thinking if i don't have anything positive to blog, i won't blog. seems fair?

then perhaps you'd never hear from me again. hmmm. a much quieter blogdom, to be sure.

i had a decent working relationship with the food editor of our local paper - she liked me for whatever reason and was always generous in giving us wonderful, "above-the-fold" coverage in the sunday paper whenever an article was printed on the restaurant. she has lost her job, i have lost my "in" with the press. she emails me on occasion to let me know her life is "in the crapper," pardon the expression. her notes to me are less than uplifting and when i read them, i know i am in for a bit of a "woe is me" kind of read.

i don't want to be like that here, so i am not going to.

but one last thing for the road, eh?

financial aid stuff had me beside myself on monday. i expended monies i didn't have from my corporate account to keep son in college, thereby shorting myself when it came to paying a certain purveyor who is starting to "put the screws to me" about his outstanding accounts. not that he doesn't have every right to, mind you. i told him yesterday it was the best i could do, we had an exchange of words and i said "do what you have to do." i am sick over that.

when i arrived at work yesterday, it was discovered our "open" sign was left on all night. save for some embarrassment in having had that be the case, i was a bit amused since it drew attention to us throughout the wee small hours. i went in and turned it off immediately, but smelled something "funny" - like someone had been smoking in the restaurant - i opened the kitchen door and to my surprise, strike that - horror - my dear husband who puts the big pot of potatoes and water on the stove for me to cook off first thing, had done so - but also turned on the stove to HIGH - 13 hours of boiling away and my pot was almost on fire. i turned off the stove, looked at the black goo that was once red bliss potatoes and grabbed some bar mops to throw the pot outside; i immediately doused it when it was away from the building.

oh.
my.
God.

consider this: our landlord loves to drive around the property and will call to tell us if we didn't set the security alarm. how he didn't drive by and see the open sign on all night defies logic. why losing our lease was my first thought - coming in to turn off the open sign and subsequently nosing himself into the kitchen and finding the burning pot...vs. the restaurant going up in flames is beyond me.

but it gets better.

new pot with potatoes and water on, now, back right-hand burner - can't go near the front left-hand burner because it is still WHITE from being on all night - you know the expression "white-hot?" i get the bacon going and set up the small hotel (metal) pan with bread to let the bacon drain, put it on back left-hand burner, next to the pot of now-boiling potatoes. i leave the room to put my stuff away, and when i return, find the hotel pan with bread ON FIRE because the gas was apparently on on the left hand, back burner the entire time but had nothing to give it direction so when i put the pan on, it covered the burner and the up-until-then free-flowing gas had a little direction and the flames from the adjacent pot of boiling water met with the gas and it ignited.

and i thought i was putting out fires the previous day.

after muttering some unfit for print expletives, i grabbed the pan and threw it outside, landing squarely on top of the burnt pot of potatoes.

let's review: open sign on all night, least of my problems.
pot of potatoes on left front burner, burnt to a crisp. gas left on all night, directly behind said burning pot, thank God the exhaust fans were on all night pulling the offensive smoke and flames away from the back burner or there would have been an explosion and we would not be in business today.

oh, and i could have blown up with the restaurant, too.

with the meat guy starting to lay the smack-down on me, i said to him "there is nothing that can happen to me that can make my day any worse." at that, the phone rang - the people who were going to supply us with 15 cases of soda and water for the benefit this friday night bailed on me. it seems they've already donated cases of water to the relief effort, "sorry."

*sigh*

i broke down and started sobbing. i kept thinking in my head of the scripture from galatians 6:9: And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

i lost heart yesterday so i guess i am not gonna reap. if anyone finds it, please let me know where i can pick it up.