I now have five out of 23 boxes vacuum-sealed for the Nokia order.  It’s surprising how long it takes to vacuum seal 1,125 fruitcakes!  Thank God for CBC Radio as it seems to keep my mind sufficiently occupied to prevent a catastrophe.  An example of this would be analyzing what I’m doing, decide to quit, and start throwing butter at the walls.

I’m also losing it a bit on the packaging, and must now do the rabid pack-per-order nightmare that I vowed to avoid.  As I perused the year’s sales to date, I suddenly felt sick as I saw that I’ve already sold 2,000 and the season’s just begun.  What will become of me?

I had a wonderful response to my e mail to the Osoyoos Times.  A really nice woman phoned and said that she will be doing an article.  Then today the Okanagan Life Magazine came out, and on page 22, should you feel bored, there’s a dear article about my fruitcakes.  The boxes just looked so Martha Stewart that I felt quite proud.

It’s very hard to do, but Nicky managed to strip the transmission in the little Nissan van.  I asked him what had happened, and he said he was losing power and wanted to keep with the flow of traffic, and to do so engaged the overdrive.  I said to him that I never touch the overdrive, to which he just shrugged.

So this morning I had to drive him to school, and he said he didn’t want the dogs to come along.  I said, “Well then you’re taking the bus, because I’m not leaving without the dogs.”  Seeing that there was finally a line that was not going to be crossed, he had to acquiesce, though he refused to allow them the front seat.  Ricky perched on my neck as usual, but poor Arnie and Mojo had to sit on the back seat.

I’ve had a nice invitation to be the guest speaker at the holiday wine tasting event at the BC Wine Museum on December 6th.  It’s called Glitter and Gold, and apparently will feature bubblies, late harvests, ice wines and ports.  After my talk we are to adjourn to the wine room where guests will sample my cakes with a variety of ports.  To which I said, “Wahoo!”

On Friday night I made chicken enchiladas, on Saturday shrimp jambalaya, on Sunday chicken cashew stir-fry and last night lightly floured red snapper fried in butter, accompanied by mashed yams and steamed brussels sprouts.  So, today I announced that there is a Rising Crust Pizza in the oven, and people can either eat that, or starve.  At this point, it’s every man for himself as I work like a frightened idiot until December 25th.