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Monday, January 17, 2011

Why Even Our Little Business Needs a Plan B....

Early last week I started to get a little cough and Reid said "Oh Sugarbritches, that doesn't sound good."  I told him I felt fine and that I was sure it would go away.  So along with pretty much the rest of the South we enjoyed Monday's surprise "snow day."  We got to sleep in and our sweet neighbor even made homemade biscuits and had her husband bring them over while they were still warm! 

Tuesday morning there was still so much ice on the road in front of our house (along with a mini skating rink at our entrance) that we decided to cancel meals for the night.  We weren't sure of the condition of the roads to Tignall and the kitchen there is kind of off the beaten path so we were sure there was still a lot of ice there.  I was glad we canceled it because by Tuesday afternoon I was starting to feel pretty bad but thought it just might be allergies/asthma from being outside.  (Yep, I'm a dork who is allergic to oak trees and other random things and will have a full on asthma attack if I eat in too close proximity to exercise.)

Wednesday I went to the hospital to see patients.  By the time I got home I literally fell into bed I was so tired.  My chest hurt, my cough was worse which made my throat hurt and my head was just about to explode.  All I wanted to do was lay in a hot bath for the next day until enough steam made its way through so I could breathe again.  (Which made me wish someone would invent some kind of bath bed but I guess it's not actually good to stay in hot water that long). 

Thursday morning I called my doctor who called in a Z-pack.  I think half of Washington was already in line at CVS and I'm sure the other half were in line at Fievet's waiting on their antibiotics.  After that I ran to the store and picked up a new shower curtain to complete the first of three productive things I have accomplished in the last week.  When I got home I took my first dose cushioned with crackers and apple juice. (I never drink apple juice but it sounded more soothing than OJ-no wonder kids love that stuff, it is delicious and void of most nutrition.)

By this point I was in full-on misery mode.  But I knew I couldn't recover without changing out my shower curtain first and scrubbing the tub-especially if I was going to take a bath.  Plus, if I desparately needed someone to come to my aid, I couldn't very well have them see a messy bathroom. 

I was so happy to see Reid when he got home that night.  For the first time being really sick and married, I wondered how I ever handled being sick single.  I was getting chills so he would take a blanket, stick it in the dryer and then when it was hot come wrap me up in it.  He was so great, peeling oranges and making sure I had plenty of water. 

Friday we went and did the second productive thing all week which was to finalize the new insurance plan for the business post-Tignall kitchen.  Poor Reid drove while I went through a roll of toilet paper sneezing and coughing the whole way.  Luckily, his birthday gift to me had come in-a pair of Manitobah Mukluks.  They have a fleece inner lining and then suede/leather/rabbit fur exterior.  My feet haven't been cold since.  I fully realized what a horrible outfit I was wearing in public with my layers to keep warm, no makeup, this fuzzy hat and furry mocassin boots but I really didn't care.  (I even sported it in downtown Athens while running in to grab a bag of coffee at 1000 Faces-UGA students-you're welcome for the entertainment.)

I basically slept all day Saturday and on Sunday afternoon I accomplished my third productive thing which was to finish monogramming and sewing this really simple dog bed.  I probably wouldn't have finished it if our dog Mattie hadn't found her way in the guest bedroom and "dug" through the block of foam that was going to go in it.  This little excavation has left little pieces of foam ALL OVER the room.  (Again I'm glad I scrubbed my bathroom-just imagine if someone had seen that AND a dirty tub?)  I filled the the bed with an old pillow instead and soon will get all the little pieces up-probably when I'm more over this though.  (For some reason the dogs have switched beds-so we have this 30# dog on a huge bed and an 85# dog trying to fit on a cushion the size of a standard size pillow).

So what does all this have to do with a Plan B?  After canceling two meals and a market due to the ice and illness (and an order due to unexpected no propane at the Tignall house-which is being looked at tomorrow since we just had it filled), I started to think about what all could go wrong.  From my experience managing kitchen employees in a hospital, I've known you don't ever want to only have one employee who can do a specific job.  It's better to have people who can "crosstrain" and fill in when someone is sick, on leave, etc.  Having an organized work environment where jobs can be broken down into simple tasks also makes it easier to hire and train employees.  Now being a "business owner" (gulp!) I see firsthand what it's like when YOU are pretty much the only employee (except for your husband who already has a full time job). 

So while laying in bed over the past week I've thought about how important that concept is even in our little business.  My first thought was "How could I have made it so that someone else could have cooked & delivered the meals?"  It is easy to get away with not being organized and exact when your business consists of you and your husband.   I think the best thing about being sick this week (other than the Edy's fruit bars) has been getting to see our little business from a completely new perspective.  Mainly from being sick (and we'll chalk Tuesday to the ice), we had to forego 2 nights of meals and the market-which in our little business is the equivalent of being "closed" all week long.  Not very good if you plan on staying in business for very long... 

Once I'm back to feeling-good mode and not getting-by mode, I'm looking forward to working (hopefully) a bit smarter in our little business.  We're excited about a girl coming to help do prep work after school and finding out which parts of our business are good to delegate to others and which parts are best to do ourselves.  (It's always a good start when you realize you can't do everything, right?)

Hope everyone is feeling better (or doesn't get sick to begin with) around here!  How many more weeks of winter????

-Kathryn