Shonda Rhimes Experiment

Have you read Shonda Rhimes' book, 'The Year of Yes'?  No?  Why the heck not?  There are so many great things about the book that really hit home for me.  I felt like she was talking about me, and giving me an instruction manual for my life.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have any delusions that my life is anything similar to Shonda's.  I mean, she's totally awesome and super creative.  She is the mastermind behind Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.

One of the things she said in her book that I know would help me to get what I want and where I want, is to practice my craft every single day.  So, like Shonda and her Year of Yes, I am going to do a Year of Practice.

There are 2 things I am going to practice every day:
1.  Cookie decorating.  I love cookie decorating and I always feel woefully inadequate, but I bet if I practiced every day for a year that I would really have something to show for it.  I am going to post pictures every day of something cookie wise that I have done to improve my craft.

2.  I am going to blog every day.  I hope this will help my creative flow in all aspects of my life, work, home, cookies.  I am pretty sure that between my family life with 5 daughters, my job as a 911 dispatcher, and my cookie business I can come up with something every day to talk about.

So, this is my first blog post of my Year...later I will post a picture of something cookie I have done.

Feel free to follow along with me on my journey.  Please do feel welcomed to post words of encouragement, feedback and share your stories with me too!

Sweetly,
Tracy

I Need A Bigger Plate

We have all heard the saying "she has a lot on her plate" right?  I have always functioned with a lot on my plate, for starters I have 5 daughters.  Those ladies alone are enough to fill my plate to overflow!  But I also have a full-time job as a police dispatcher.  I work the graveyard shift.  I also have my cookie business.

Balancing all of that is quite a challenge.  Some days my job makes it even more of a challenge.

When I have cookie orders I come home from work, sleep about 4 hours, get up to do the decorating, and then try to get some more sleep before my shift.  Some days I get up early to bake off all the cookies for the next orders and then go to work from the bakery.

Then there are those super challenging days where I get up early to decorate and order that is due soon and my job will call to ask me to come in because someone has called out sick, or had to leave their shift early for a family emergency.

See, I'm what some call an empath, I feel deeply, and I'm also very maternal, I want to take care of people.  So when my work calls me and says they need my help, I'm suckered right in.  It's nearly a compulsion, I need to go.  I appreciate the extra money OT brings, but I hate the lack of sleep and the tightening of my cookie deadlines it causes.

BUT, I love my job as a dispatcher.  I often wonder what I would do if my cookie business began to become a bigger part of my income.  Or how much my skills and creativity would improve if I had nothing else to focus on but my cookies.

No, It's Mine!

I haven't blogged in a while, but this was one I just had to put in writing!

There are some really funny things that people fight over!  Tonight I took a 911 call over neighbors fighting over ..... Wait for it!!!

A mop!!!

Every Once In A While This Happens

Every once in a while, as a small (by small I mean micro) business, I get a great opportunity to play a small part in something really big.  This particular opportunity came from an order by a marketing company on behalf of Macy's.

Lady Gaga and Elton John have collaborated to create a product line with Macy's called Love Bravery and I was contracted to do cookies for Macy's for an event for the product line.  The unfortunate part of orders like these, is I may not ever find out what the cookies were used for, or the reaction to them.  Sigh.

Here are the cookies that were created for them.

I Love doing This on Cookies

My letter piping on cookies is terrible.  I'm not afraid to admit my faults.  I always have an anxiety attack when I know I have to pipe writing on a cookie.

I have been working to find a better way to put text on a cookie.  I tried stencils, but I did not like how they had to have cuts in the letters to keep them from falling out of the stencil.  

          

You can see were I had to put a line in letters like "O", "P", "E", etc. to keep the center part from falling out.  This was just not very visually appealing for me so I started looking at other options.

I recently discovered screen printing and this technique really has me excited.  Here are some of my "trial and error" tests.

                      

These are not bad at all, but I had lots of problem with the screens getting "jammed" with the icing.  I was not having an easy time of it at all.  I watched lots of Evil Cake Genius' videos.  She does amazing work with screen printing, but I just could not get the hang of it the way she was doing it. 

Then two days ago as I was drifting off to sleep after a very busy night shift, the thought came to me, what if I mixed piping gel with food color?  I couldn't wait to give it a try. Today I had a little extra time (major luxury) that I used to try this idea out.  I love the way it worked.  The text is so clean.  And while I did have a bit of a boo boo on the lower left edge of the screen, I know with more practice I'll get it right eventually.  I'm very excited about this technique and can't wait to use it more often!  Next goal will be trying to learn to do multiple colors. 

   

If you are a cookie artist, would this be something you would like to see a video on how it's done?  Leave a comment.  

Bows - Who Knew?

Did you have any idea that it is soooo hard to tie 7/8" ribbon into bows?   Well, it sure is...and try doing it when you have only had 3-1/2 hours of sleep, and you're at work dispatching police and fire on a night when it feels like every citizen in the town is angry and shooting at each other!

I had a great idea that I would pre tie bows on twist ties so that I could package 150 cookies first thing in the morning when I get home.  Well, it's not going as planned.

Team No Sleep

A lot of my cookier friends can attest to the fact that a lot of us have full-time jobs, and when we get big cookie orders we spend less time sleeping.  We call ourselves part of Team No Sleep.

Add to that the fact that not only do I work a full time job, but I work the graveyard shift.  Then there are the days that I get held over in the morning for overtime to cover a colleague who is ill.  And then that same day have to attend a mandatory training class, which turned out to be very informative.

Went home to sleep and then was woke up 4 hours into sleep to watch a grand baby for 45 mins.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not complaining at all.  I love my hectic life; I'm just saying, TODAY I have earned my way on to Team No Sleep!

I'm at work, and I'm tired. But the citizens of our town still need my time and attention.  So today's blog post is brought to you by Starbucks who is fueling my body with cups of strong coffee.  Thank you Starbucks!!!

Back to business...911 lines are ringing.

Am I Wrong?

Am I wrong, or weak for wanting the approval of my peers, customers, family, friends?  

I am a pretty optimistic person.  Like every other human on the planet, I have had my fair share of drama, trauma and stupid mistakes in my life that have changed my plans, ruined my plans, changed my direction in life and determined my direction in life.  But through it all I have remained upbeat.  It's been my experience that a rosy disposition makes up for all the crappy things that can happen in life.

Wanting to be liked and accepted by our peers is actually a survival mechanism.  Our ancient ancestors had to be liked by those in their clan.  If they weren't, they were outcast, which meant death from starvation, exposure or being some predator's lunch.

Recently someone who I have admired for her cookie decorating talent, and would love to have her approval and friendship, finally alienated me one time too many with her abrasive, biting response.  She has stated previously that she doesn't need anyone's approval and she certainly has made it clear that she is not interested in my input or questions.  I was left feeling very little.  This wasn't the first time, but it was definitely going to be the last time.  I stopped following her on social media and I actually feel a lot better.

So, I have decided, I want to be liked, and I want to be surrounded with pleasant, supportive, cheerful people.  Talent does not replace positivity and friendliness.  But, friendliness can definitely make up for lack of talent.

The Barter, The Better

It is expensive to open a store front.  It is my goal, and I know that I am quickly outgrowing my current kitchen.  I know I have to find an option that is affordable or my business is not going to grow.

At CookieCon Dotty Raleigh of Sugar Dot Cookies spoke about her kitchen arrangement, a shared commercial kitchen; this put the thought in my head to find an arrangement that could work for me.

Barter is a great way to grow your business.

I was so fortunate to come across a great opportunity to use a commercial kitchen on the day they do not bake in exchange for cookies for them.  So last week was my first time in their kitchen.  I got use their 20 qt mixer and commercial convection oven.  It was a bit frustrating for me because I had to get use to both the mixer and the oven.

I overmixed my dough and underbaked some of my cookies.
But I got the hang of it by the end of the day.

It was so exciting being able to make 5 batches of my recipe at 1 time and baking 200 cookies in 30 minutes.  I got to spend the next few days decorating instead of baking and mixing.  I can see how this is really going to help grow my business because I will be able to spend just 1 day baking off all my orders and the rest of the week decorating, packing and delivering.

Exciting things are ahead for my cookie business with this new opportunity to bake more cookies a week!  This will increase my ability to take more orders and thereby increase my sales!  So exciting!!!

Anyone else have a barter story or tips to share?  I would love to hear them.  

Two Sides to Every Story

A couple nights ago at work we had a citizen call in and report that 4 men got out of a van with an owl and then beat it to death.

We have cameras at various spots throughout our city and this happened near a camera.  We were able to turn the camera and see the dead owl in the grass at the edge of the parking lot of a liquor store, a very busy spot in our city.

The citizen said he witnessed this act and got a license plate number of the van the men were in.

Everyone in the department was outraged at such a cruel act on an animal.

I came in to work tonight and the Sgt told us that after thorough investigation it was determined that the owl actually crashed into the van, the men got out of the van to check what happened.  They poked the bird to see if it was dead, then when it was clear to then the bird was dead, they got in their van and went home.  They had done nothing wrong.

This is a good example of the saying, "there are always two sides to every story."

The "What The HELL?" Effect

At work at night I troll social media drooling over all the beautiful cookies I see.  You know, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, getting inspired to get my cookie on.  I leave work excited and motivated, I can't wait to go to sleep so I can get up and cookie!

I wake up at 1:30 pm with the intention to work on cookie orders until I have to get ready for work at 8:30 pm.  Then Reality steps in, taps me on the shoulder and says "Oh, yeah? You thought you'd be productive today?  Check this out...."  Suddenly the kids need a ride somewhere, or need to be picked up from somewhere, or I allow myself to be distracted by Facebook, Periscope or email, or all of the above.

Next thing you know I'm saying "what the hell!?".  It's now 6 pm and I tell myself, "oh well, since I'm already off track I might as well give up on cookies and take a nap before work.  I'll start over tomorrow."  This is the "what the hell" effect:  Giving into distraction causes me to feel shame, guilt and out of control.  In an attempt to make myself feel better, I give up and tell myself I'll do better tomorrow."

The solution for this problem?  Forgiveness.  Forgive myself for being human.  The goal should be to set more realistic expectations for my day.  Today for instance, I woke up, had my coffee while I trolled social media and then took a moment to plan my day.  I have several orders to do, but instead of setting myself up for failure, I did not have a lot of time today because I'm working a 12-hour shift, I looked for anything that would be progress towards completing my cookie orders.  I made a batch of royal icing, and that made me feel very accomplished because now I will be ready to start tomorrow.

Moral of the story?  Set realistic goals for the day.  And if you get off track, forgive yourself.  Above all, be nice to yourself.

Dispatcher Humor

I have to throw in a giggle from work tonight.  A woman dialed 911 and when asked what her emergency was she stated someone broke into her home and replaced her sink.  She was asked if anything was taken from the home, her response "yes!  The old sink!".  

I don't know, seems like a pretty considerate burglar to replace her old sink! 

Turned out her landlord had done it.

Dispatch PSA

Do you know the signs of a stroke?  One-sided face drooping, one-sided arm weakness and speech difficulty.  

I took a 911 call tonight where the woman said her husband was having a heart attack.  He just dropped to the ground and could not get up.  I asked if he was awake, and she said yes.  I suspected this was not a heart attack at all.  I asked her to ask him to smile.  She did, and then answered "he can't."  I asked her to have him raise his arms, and she said, "he can't raise his left arm, nothing works on his left side, that's how I know it's a heart attack."

I stayed on the phone with her and reassured her, told her to reassure him, and we all waited for paramedics to arrive, which took only 2 mins.  The paramedics transported the gentleman to the hospital where he will receive timely care. 

With a stroke, time is very important to aid in recovery.  So be sure to know the symptoms of a stroke, you never know when you might need that knowledge! 

Can't Compare

I am a seasoned cookie decorator.  I have learned through experience that it does no one any good to compare themselves to others.  Whether that is their weight, their status in life, their relationship status, or their artistic ability, it does no good to compare yourself to others.

There were times I nearly had myself in tears early in my cookie career by comparing myself to some of my favorite cookiers.  One of my first cookie crushes was Polka Dot Zebra.  I use to literally stress myself out by comparing my cookies to hers and then I would feel like my cookies were horrible.  I use to be so worried that my cookies were subpar that I would make my daughters deliver them because I was terrified the customer would take one look at the cookies and become angry at how horrible they were.  That never happened, thank goodness.

It has taken me quite a bit of self-help book reading to realize that I should celebrate the differences between my cookies and other cookiers.  I'm perfect where my skills are and as long as I am always trying to improve I will get there.  I can now look at other cookiers' work and really appreciate the design and effort, and compliment them on their beautiful cookies.  I have come to realize that I am much happier and enjoy what I do much more when I don't compare my cookies to anyone else's and when I express my sincere amazement at what my fellow cookiers are producing.

 

By the way, I do deliver my own cookies now because I really enjoy seeing the surprise on the face of the customer when they get the cookies.  And I know without a doubt, there is nothing wrong with how my cookies look, don't you think? 

Tonight We Are on Fire!!

One thing about working graveyard, sleeping during the day.  It can be tough to get good sleep because the rest of the world does not care that you are trying to sleep.  But today, I slept way longer than I had intended!

Even so, I managed to get myself going and made 2 batches of dough.  One of my least favorite things to do is make dough.  I try to bribe my daughters to make dough for me, but today they were both busy.  In addition to the 2 batches of dough, I was able to roll out 60 cookies.  I needed 150, but progress is progress, better than none at all! 

At work tonight, I see why I may have needed that extra sleep.  I'm working the fire radio today, and it has been one call after another.  At times I have had 2 incidents working at the same time, with multiple fire units talking at the same time.  Nothing I love better than a really busy day, makes the shift go by so fast, and when you work graveyard shift, being awake all night can be a challenge and make the night feel like it goes on forever! 

One of the memorable, heartwarming things I saw today at work, when I came in at the start of my shift, one of our detectives was playing with a 4-year-old autistic boy.  He had been found wandering alone and was brought to the police station while the officers worked to identify him and his family.  It was really great to see that side of the detective.  I wish more people can see this side of cops, the side that shows they are human and not just a uniform.  

Never Say The "Q" Word

These are the days dispatchers enjoy.  Not much happening at work today.  It's my Monday shift, which makes it even more enjoyable.  After 2 days off, relaxing and forgetting about the stress of work, it's nice to not have an adrenaline pumping shift on my first day back.

My days off were totally nonproductive, other than taking daughter #4 to get her driver's license.  I only flooded 8 cookies the whole 2 days off.  I had every intention of being more productive, but like the saying goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."  My plans just sat idle while I pretty much did too. 

Here's a little interesting tidbit for those that don't know about the superstitions of dispatchers.  We never say the "Q" (quiet) word out loud, and as a matter of fact I was pretty uncomfortable just typing it here, because I am at work at the moment.

Let me tell you a story of the most memorable time, and this is the actual truth, that I was in a room with someone when they said the "Q" word:  It was 1994, January 17; Los Angeles, California.  I worked for the Califoria Highway Patrol on the graveyard shift.  Graveyard shift tends to slow down about 2a and then about 4:30a it picks up again.  I was training a new dispatcher and about 4:25a she says "is it always this quiet on this shift?"  I felt my heart jump and beat a little faster, and everyone in the room spun around to look at her.  I explained to her that we don't ever say the "Q" word at work and why.

About 5 minutes later the Northridge Earthquake hit.  If you know anything about that quake, it was one of the largest since the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake.  We had two freeways collapse, lost the life of an LAPD motorcycle officer, for a total of 57 lives lost.  It was horrific and traumatizing, and forever cemented my fear of the "Q" word!  We spent 3 days on tactical alert, meaning long hours, high stress and little sleep.

P.S. - I started writing this post at about 10:30p, near the start of my shift.  Absolutely nothing was going on throughout our City.  Remember where I said I felt uncomfortable typing out the "Q" word?  Well here it is 2:45a and things are picking up.  We have shots being fired at several locations in our Town and I have officers running back and forth across the town trying to cover all the calls for help and service.  That's what I get for even typing the "Q" word.  

Everything is Coming Up Roses

Mother's Day is around the corner.  I've been making and decorating all kinds of rose cookies,  I have been stretching my creative muscle, which I feel is very weak to begin with, and trying new techniques.

With this cookie I created a screenprint.  It's so clean and simple.  I love it!!  I was so happy with the result.  I think I may make a leaf screen to add leaves to the rose, but I do like the simplicity of this cookie.

The nice thing about my job as a dispatcher on the graveyard shift, is there is usually some time to practice being creative.  One thing I have been trying to learn is making roses with wafer paper.  This is such a challenge and frustrating as heck for me!  I have ruined several dozen sheets of wafer paper, but I think I am getting close!

This is the rose I made during the breaks between phone calls and incidents at work tonight.

This rose is inspired by The Painted Box's roses.  Visit her facebook page and check her cookies and cakes out.  She is freaking awesome!!!

Speaking of being at work...today was a day for patience...There is a t-shirt I need that says "We cannot fix stupid, but we can fix what stupid does."  Today was a day for stupid.

Caller dials 911 because he's irate that someone "parked in the left turn lane with all his lights out."  Uh....duh!  He's broken down, not parked!!  Geez!  Thank goodness tonight is my "Friday" shift.  I think my tolerance for nitwits is very low by the end of my week.

My goal is to blog on the nights I work, and since this is my Friday, I will be back at it in 2 nights.  I hope every one has a "rosy" few days!

Why Do I Have To Chose?

Like a lot of people, I started my cookie business with the hope of growing it to a point that it could support me and my family.  I basically was trying to replace my full-time job with my side-hustle.  At the time I was working as a community service officer with a police department, but it was in no way fulfilling.  There was no opportunity for me to have upward movement.  I worked the graveyard shift and the job was monotonous and mind numbing.  I would constantly dream of my cookie business becoming massively successful and quitting that job to do cookies full time.

Then, a full-time dispatch position opened up at another police department.  I now work at that department where my position is exciting and rarely boring.  I still work the graveyard shift, but it is a much more gratifying position.

I'm a nosy person by nature, which is why this job is so appealing to me.  I'm also a very nurturing person, which is why I have 5 daughters.  This job is exciting, and being nosy is a great quality to have when you're a dispatcher so you can get all the information the officers or firefighters are going to need.  I also get to help people in their time of need, which really appeals to my need to nurture.

Tonight I was sitting and decorating cookies, which never has reached the financial goal I had hoped for, and I came to the realization that I am currently very happy with my life.  I love my job, I love doing cookies, why do I have to decide between one or the other?  Why not both?

The point of this post?  Don't limit yourself.  Do what makes you happy and life will be so much more rewarding!!

This is what happens when you have a side hustle

Hi, I'm Tracy.  Welcome to my crazy busy life!  I am a police dispatcher, which is an incredibly fulfilling and exciting job, sometimes too exciting! Tonight for example we had a 1-year-old who was unconscious and not responding.  I had to listen to this mother screaming and try to get her to listen to me and follow directions on how to do CPR.  Thank goodness the ambulance got there within 1 minute of being dispatched to the address.  Turns out the baby is going to be fine.  It was a seizure due to a high fever.

I also have a side hustle.  I do custom decorated sugar cookies.  I have been doing cookies for a few years and have a business.  I don't blog on my cookie website because I always seem to get sidetracked from cookies and start talking cops.  So I have created this blog so that I can talk about both my passions, because cops and cookies are my life! 

This will be my platform to share things I have learned about myself, my work and my cookies.  You might see motivational quotes, because I'm all about keeping myself motivated.  I listen to motivational speeches on YouTube all the time while I'm decorating cookies to keep myself on track.  I also like to listen to audio books while I'm "cookieing" because as a police dispatcher, I don't feel productive unless I'm multitasking.  Nothing better than learning something while I'm decorating cookies!   

Feel free to follow along, comment, and share with me!