Well, not just to Iraq; got some on the way to Afghanistan, as well. Jack and I dropped off four packages this morning. One was a very small box (the customs form was bigger than the box), headed for a young man in Iraq who has insisted on letters only, but I couldn’t let him go without SOMETHING at this time of the year. He’ll probably fuss at me, but that’s the breaks. I’ve been fussed at by experts; he can’t scare me. Two were large FRB’s, and the other one was a larger box headed for a group of 21, so I needed to put more stuff in it than in the two that were going to a group of 3 and a group of 5. By the time I added a book of stamps to the mix, I wound up writing a check for $50.20.
I’ve had such a good response this year to my request for items to put in Christmas packages for our troops, and have also had a great response to “Help Raise Dough for the Troops,” which is going to allow me to send a lot more packages than I had hoped. I’m going to try to get four or five more packed up and ready to go out in Monday’s mail, and I don’t know how many more after that, but there will be more…
I’ll be baking tomorrow, but not a lot. There are three orders for Cinnamon Swirl bread, one loaf each, so I’ll be getting $15 on Monday. I’ll bake again Tuesday evening, two loaves of Cinnamon Swirl bread, and 2 dozen white rolls to be delivered on Wednesday, so there’s another $15. There are a LOT of orders for dinner rolls and some loaves of bread that people want delivered on the 23rd and 24th for Thanksgiving, and that’s going to boost the balance in the Troop Support account quite a bit. I’m seriously considering taking half a day off on the 23rd in order to get everything baked for Tuesday’s delivery. I have two personal days I haven’t used, and more than ten vacation days as well, so half a day off won’t hurt a thing.
When we went to Sam’s today, I bought 75 lbs. of bread flour, a huge package of cinnamon, a five pound bottle of honey, three dozen eggs, and ten more pounds of sugar – That ought to get me through the bread/roll requests until after Thanksgiving. I’ve got part of a pound of yeast in the fridge and two more one-pound packages in the pantry, so I’m good with that. Just gotta roll up my sleeves and GET BUSY BAKING!!
Thanks for reading my ramblings again. I have to write (otherwise, I’ll bust!) but you don’t have to read – so I appreciate you taking the time to do so. Hugs to you {{{{family and friends}}}}