Motivated

I have a lot to do this weekend.



1. Clean this miserable house. It would be less miserable if it was clean; however, it would be cleaner if it was less-miserable. It's a vicious cycle, and I can't really get inspired to SERIOUSLY clean until I'm no longer living in a construction zone.



2. Go through my bills and make an HONEST inventory of my finances. Being broke has a bad effect on me; I tend to go into a mild state of denial around the 10th of the month, once the main bills are paid. I stop opening the mail; I try not to think about the other bills, the ones that aren't getting paid. Every so often, guilt-ridden, I get very organized, go through all the bills, and look at where I really am, instead of where I wish I was.



3. Gather all the documentation for my lawsuit against Bob the Plumber. Incidentally, I would like to take this opportunity to provide you all a public service: MidAmerica Bank is a bunch of crooks and you should run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Do you know how much they want for a copy of a cancelled check, front and back? $7.50. PER CHECK. I need eight cancelled checks for this lawsuit--and I wouldn't need ANYTHING if they actually sent my checks back in the statement--the way they USED to do, when they were MidTown Bank, before they got bought out.



4. Do the writeup for my Attorney General's complaint against B the P. I think I might even get Target 5--the consumer-affairs arm of the local NBC affiliate--into the story.



5. Make my business plan for my holiday business.



That's right, boys and girls: Gladys is going into business. I'm going to start it out as just a seasonal thing, but if it works out, who knows?



And what, you ask, might this business venture be?



Caramel corn. The best, most delicious caramel corn you have ever encountered.



This started two years ago, actually. My first Christmas at my job, I figured it would be a very good idea to make a good impression; and what better way to make a good impression than by bringing a ton of homemade yummies into the office on the last day before the holidays? So I baked. I made spritz cookies and fudge and lemon bars and raspberry-oatmeal bars and these wonderful, WONDERFUL chocolate-caramel sugar cookies which barely made it out of the house because I couldn't keep my paws off them. And everyone was duly impressed.



Being a glutton for praise, I did it again the next year, with a few variations, and one of the variations was the addition of caramel corn. Well, Beverly (the boss) glommed onto that caramel corn, and at the end of the party I told her she could take the leftovers home to her husband and daughters.



So last October, she tells me "I want to give that caramel corn as gifts this Christmas. I'll pay for materials and you can charge me whatever you want over and above that." I didn't quite know what I was getting into--I believe the final count was twenty-three batches, hand-delivered to her house in two big lawn-and-leaf-sized Hefty bags by my mom (who lives WAY closer to Beverly's house than I do.) But everyone raved about it--in fact, her husband, who is a dentist and should know better, issued a veto order against one of the planned recipients, and kept THAT basket for himself! I didn't make a huge profit, of course, but then again I would have charged more if she hadn't been my boss!



And it got me thinking. If I had a better space for the production end of it--a rental kitchen, in a church or a school or something, and facilities to do a lot of popcorn at once--I could sell it in little gift baskets--you know, for teacher gifts and the like. And I think I could do a pretty good business, provided I didn't price myself out of the market...



The thing is, this stuff is GOOD. Buttery and rich and just...yummy. :::pause as I wipe my chin:::... If I could give out some little samples, I'd absolutely get some business. And god knows I travel through enough of the city that delivery wouldn't be much of an issue...



I think I could do this. And this weekend, I'm going to figure out how.