The Best Bad Day

Today was a bad day for me... The kind of day that could make me curl up in bed and cry for a while but I didn't and I PROBABLY won't.

I awoke tired, not really a great way to get out of bed but it's not as if I've never dealt with that before. I managed to get out of the house and on the road on time. So far so good. I ate my delicious yogurt on the road- yes, while driving- and didn't drip any of it on me. Hooray! Then things got a little yucky: the second part of my breakfast was leftover cold pancakes which turned out to be moldy. I'd left them in my hot car yesterday and I guess that was enough to create mold in this humid environment. Ok, so half of my breakfast was ruined but I had still eaten yogurt so I was going to be ok.

I made it to work on time. :) There was only one order for today but there were four or so due first thing tomorrow morning so my day was to start with those. I started getting my cases filled and somehow managed to pull and label a couple extra things... Guess I just wasn't paying a lot of attention. It wasn't really a problem, though, it just meant that the case was a little extra full for a Thursday but tomorrow is Friday so it won't be full for long. I went to get started on the order for today, only to find out that there was no cake size written on the form and the phone number, when we finally got it to ring, went to a message saying that it was disconnected! Ok, ok, Molly took the order and she'd be in at 1 PM and the order was for 4 so I'd just talk to her and see if she knew the answer. In the mean time, I'd just work on tomorrow's orders.

Only one cake had a filling so I decided to start with that one. I got everything done with a few minor mishaps- ice down the shirt in the freezer, tripped over a box but managed to stay upright, bumped into people, etc. As I was going to get a box for the cake, the phone rang... It was the customer- the one whose cake I had just finished- wanting to change the flavor. What could I say? It was supposed to be for tomorrow so... I had to redo it. *Insert Major Groan in my day* The first cake was PERFECT! Ok, fine. Time to start trying to think happy thoughts.

The minor problems were starting to get me down so I decided that it was time to hum a happy song while I got out the new cake flavor and re-created the cake that I was calling my practice cake. No problem, I was going to choose to be happy and the day was bound to get better. So I pulled out the next layer, I iced, I hummed, I even sang a little... And I realized that I forgot to fill the cake. These cakes are baked in thick sheets and to fill it we have to cut them in half- not something that I agree with, but I don't get much of a choice on how things are done. Ok, so I forgot. No big deal, I'd just started icing so I figured I'd just pull most of the icing off, leaving a crumb coat, cut and fill. But the cake didn't agree and I ended up cutting it all wrong. "Fine," I think, "I'll cut this 1/2 sheet into two 1/4 sheets and fill each separately. No. Big. Deal."

I started re-cutting the first 1/4 sheet and piecing together the bottom... And sliced right into my left thumb. At this point I'm about to give up on the happy thoughts, but I decided to laugh instead of cry, hunted down a couple of Band-aids and went back to humming. My thumb was HURTING but, hey, what do you expect? Back to the cake. The roses turned out worse because the bandages on my thumb made turning the rose nail awkward so the second cake DID NOT turn out as well as the first but, oh well, the customer will never know that. On to the next cake: A 1/4 sheet with flowers and NINE names on it. For those of you who don't know, many decorators find it hard to fit more than one name on a cake and I was expected to fit nine. Thankfully, WAY back when I sat at a table in the front foyer of Macey's and wrote paragraphs on six inch heart-shaped cookies. I FIT those nine names on that cake and you could still read each and every one.

The rest of the day was up and down. My shoe lace came untied and before I realized it, I tripped again. I missed the trash can, went to pick up my garbage and slammed my head into the paper towel dispenser on the way back up. Molly arrived and I whipped out that 1/4 sheet cake in no time. Someone called 1/2 an hour before I was to be off work and wanted to order a cake for 6 AM tomorrow, forcing me to stay late. I made that cake- start to finish- in 20 minutes but, because I had to clean, I still left late and I had to have a manager clock me out. I got stuck in the beginnings of rush hour traffic but enjoyed talking to Branden on the phone and received a text from one of my best friends which made me realize that my bad day could have been worse. I forgot to pick up my first paycheck. I found out that my bank, which I believed was out here as well, isn't here so I need to start a new bank account but won't be able to close my current accounts until... The next time I return to UT for a visit.

Up and down, down and up... But I laughed and I smiled and I hummed and I declared over and over that today was GOING to get better. It didn't, but I'm still doing ok and the only reason for that is my choosing to laugh instead of cry this morning. I consciously chose to be positive today. It didn't make my bad day into a good day but it did make my bad day into the best bad day I've ever had.