On Efficiency..and Efficacy

Hi Everyone!   Today we're going to get up close and personal.    Or, as some might say here in the Deep Deep South...."All up in yo FACE"!  hee hee....oh well.

As you may or may not know, things are heating up and escalating if you will in Cassia's Kitchen.   After a busy busy Christmas season where we sold out of inventory, it appears that the majority of our business is now wholesale.   I am delighted but somewhat s t r e t c h e d by this, and the downright agonizing process of quantitative and qualitative assessment has been brewing on the back burner.....and now there is no good reason to not buckle down and get that sharpened pencil out already.  ouch. and oh my...and deep sigh...

My husband the Contractor/Golf Teaching Professional has been underfoot a bit lately (I say this smiling; you can see my molars between tightly clenched teeth, lol)  and the little blue vein on my forehead has been strangely protruding and whatnot...   I say this jokingly but you know the feeling right?  Am I horrible?  Yeah yeah, I know.   For those of you who do not work at home, you might be tempted to drift into a daydream but let me tell you, it is great and I wouldn't really want it any other way, but it really is not very sexy.  lol...

Anyways, he's been running a background check on my endeavors; silently but nonetheless presently.   Being a contractor and having quite an arsenal of tools, he is always trying to increase his bottom line by keeping costs down and maximizing his own use of sweat equity by doing things the Most Efficient Way.

SO.  He got all up in my face last week not once, nor twice, but three days in a row  for about two hours each day.  He effectively halted production which then produced the resulting tightness in my neck and shoulders and subsequent trips down to the chiropractor.(OK I am mostly joking but mildly serious too)..all in the name of efficiency.  And.....efficacy:

Noun

efficacy 

1.  Ability to produce a desired amount of a desired effect.

[Synonyms

• efficacity

[edit]Related terms

• effect, effective, effectiveness, 

OK, I am sure  you get the point.  

So after 3 days of torture, he got me to give him $300 and he went down promptly to Home Depot and came  back with this:

Brinkmann Turkey Fryer

with a 30 quart stockpot.   Here is a closeup

He proposes that I heat my oils in this.  It actually does fit on my stove under the microwave!  But HIS plan is to get me on the front porch of the cabin behind our house where all my packaging materials are.    Immediately I flashed on a picture of Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies making her famous lye soap out in the woods near the bootleg still....but quickly dismissed this horrific self portrait.  (Besides, I don't rightly know if I  will ever possess that spry old lady's svelte silhouette, lol).   The other things he purchased were two of these bright orange monstrosities:

 that he modified by way of adding a spigot

Cool, eh?    He keeps me thinking B I G G E R,  I tell ya!   He was talking about how nice it would be to make a big batch of lye water to keep on hand.  To me that is not hard at all to make, but what I really would like to make is a Master Batch of Oils to keep on hand that are already premixed and all you have to do is scoop out however many ounces or pounds of oils that you need and they are already premixed.     

Joe wants me to heat my oils out on the porch but we have such extremes of temperature, and I just am not sure I want to do it that way.  But at least we will have a deep fryer for turkeys come Thanksgiving!?

He also bought some sorely needing shelving material, enough to put shelves in the cabin out back so I can put product out there instead of on the counter space in the kitchen.   W H E W!   That was a blessing!

This little room in the cabin has a really cool office space that I plan on making my shipping center.   It has a phone line but no DSL but we can get wireless internet access.  That is a blessing too.    Joe will make me some more shelves in my next room......now promise you won't laugh?     Some of you have heard me go on and on about my post consumer packaging hoarding habit.  I really just cannot throw a box or a bubble wrap or a brown kraft shred of paper away if I think I can re-use it....and believe you me, I have N E V E R had to purchase such items for my business.   Here's  a peek:

Actually my assistant, Chanda, got it all organized after the Christmas rush and now it's all nicely and neatly stacked along the walls.

Please don't shudder when you see the main room of the cabin, though......as I still have not done inventory yet and there are cases of glass and spray bottles and practically a whole pallet of ribbons......sheepishly blushing; I have a passion for ribbon now....

We sort of just hurled stuff into this room trying to get the main house downstairs ready for Christmas but now it's time to clean up, and count every stinkin last piece..

I know I made fun during this post, and I am really grateful to my husband for taking the time out to troubleshoot areas where I am needing to maximize my own efficiency, efficacy and bigger picture thinking.  Thanks, Honey!  I love you, and thank you for all your hard work!

Thazz All, Folks for today, but thought you might get a kick out of this post in some ways.....

Toodles for now!  

What ways are YOU thinking about your own EFFICACY and EFFICIENCY this year?   Does your spouse help you to see a bigger picture?   How does this help you?  Please comment!