Twice in one week complete strangers have offered to help me in my business, for no pay!  The first kind offer came from a woman who works part time at Okanagan Grocery, the German bakery.  She said she loves my fruitcakes and would love to help me bake. 

The second offer came by phone, and it was from a nice woman who had stumbled upon my site while searching for Christmas cookies.  She began to read my blog, took pity on me, and called me to say she was willing and able to lend a hand as required!

It’s funny, isn’t it, how complete strangers, especially women, run to help when they see it’s needed.  I’m not used to that, as I’m surrounded by useless males.  To whit: the other day I bought several heavy bags of salt for the water softener, and unloaded them into the carport and asked Nicky to carry them downstairs for me.

Needless to say, they’ve been there ever since, with Nicky coming and going, whistling a happy tune as he goes by them.  He kicks over his beer and Jaegermeister empties, also in the carport, and comes into the house, all nice and hungry from the gym.

Luke surprised me by arriving home on Friday morning.  He said he came home now because he might not get Christmas off, which is totally shocking.  I told him he simply has to try, but he said as a single guy, he can’t really justify it.  I said, “But tell them about your poor, sainted mother, for God’s sake….”

Last night he and Nicky ran upstairs holding Luke’s laptop, and announced they were going to make cinnamon buns.  I looked for yeast, but must’ve thrown out the last of it due to age, and so they had to abandon the idea.  Luke said, “What kind of artisan baker doesn’t have yeast in the house?”

I said, “Look, here’s egg nog,” and diverted them with that.  This morning when I went downstairs I saw the remnants of their night.  There was the empty egg nog container, a few mini marshmallows sprinkled over the floor, cans of Red Bull with a few dregs in the bottom of each, and an empty tin of those finger-shaped biscuits coated in chocolate.

But besides being masterful junk food imbibers, it turned out Luke was tremendously helpful to his old mother.  As you know, I’ve practically had a nervous breakdown over my vacuum-sealing machine, which is now fixed.  However, I didn’t like the way it seals, and the repair place had no clue how to fix that.

Luke took three minutes, re-jigged the length of the vacuum time, and the machine’s now sealing beautifully, so at least he has some very marketable skills when it comes to me and my business.

Now if only I could get either of them to work for more than five minutes at a time I wouldn’t have to rely on the kindness of strangers.