Post About Posts

Is it bad to admit that I hate spending money on cat scratchers? I mean, I know the kitties need it for various instinctual reasons but spending money that is literally being shredded, I don't even want to deal with it. 

But, the fact remained that the cats were in desperate need of new scratching posts. Miss Kitten shredded both of her sisal rope ones and she was starting to unravel it from their posts. Ian uses the posts too but likes to sneak around an scratch Mom's sofa despite us using the 'no-scrach' spray. :/ 

The posts weren't that expensive- probably in the $15-25 range and I got one from Target and I found the other at Burlington Coat Factory (not where you'd imagine seeing pet things but they do have a few cheaper items there). Of course, being the inexpensive posts that they were, their lifetime was pretty short. I think they each lasted about 6 months or so.

So, if you think about it- if you buy 4 posts a year that's nearly $100 already that is just pointless money being spent. 

Instead of heading to Petco or Petsmart, I decided to head over to everyone's favorite virtual shopping experience, Amazon. I've used it a ton for the truck or anything I can't find and I get free shipping because I forgot to cancel my free trial of Amazon Prime earlier this year. I think they count on a lot of people doing that. 

Anyways, I looked up various scratchers and the #1 Bestseller really caught my eye. It wasn't a sisal scratcher (which from experience the cats love those but they don't last) and it was 32 inches tall which allows for the cats to fully stretch. I also like them to have scratchers that are sturdy and tall enough for them to use or they won't use it if they deem it flimsy.

The reviews were wonderful and many people have had it for years and it's barely shown any wear-and-tear. I really didn't want to pay $45. I also really really didn't want to buy two because we needed one for upstairs and downstairs.

But, I figured if they do last as long as the reviews claim that in the long run it would be worth it. 

Less than two days later they were delivered and I was immediately stunned by how heavy the box they came in was! 

They were extremely easy to put together: there were two boards that stuck together with pegs to make the base and a couple screws to hold the post in place. Pretty straight forward.

I was surprised about how the new posts dwarfed the old ones! I definitely think the sheer size of the new posts were well worth the money. 

The base is nice and sturdy and Ian took to the new post right away. Putting one near Mom's sofa has definitely changed his scratching habits now. Miss Kitten had to be coaxed with toys but she seems to like them and is now using them all the time. 

I've had them for nearly a month now and they haven't shown any sign of wear yet so I deem this a pretty great purchase!

  

Launched

Hello again! I've been absent for a while but I'm sure you are all okay with it, it's not like you're refreshing this page and waiting with bated breath for me to post.

So yeah, August 9th we officially launched Bake My Day. The days leading up until our launch were so exhausting! We had so much work to do; not only to prep our products but also to prep the truck and make sure it was in working order as well as the generator. 

The worst decision we could have made was the bake at 5am the morning of opening. I broke into tears twice and was heinous and stressed for the entire morning. We had to cut two menu items because we had no room to bake anything and the ovens suuuuck at our kitchen. The cookies came out horribly and we had to adjust the baking time and babysit everything in the oven. It was awful. 

But, the day did turn out quite well! We sold a lot, had a little bit of leftovers (just because we had no idea the quantity to make at all). Our view was spectacular though. :)

My brother captured our very first truck transaction! 

Contrary to what this picture might say, I am not miserable in my truck- just extremely exhausted and warm because we were facing the sun all day. 

After sleeping for two hours the night before, getting up at 3:30 to leave at 4 and arrive at the kitchen around 5 to bake for four hours and leave around 10 to arrive at our site and set up... and then to work the truck for five hours... we were all just dead on our feet.

The entire ride home not a word was spoken, I just drove on and then we unloaded the truck, scrounged for dinner and went to sleep where I slept for about 12 hours to recover from the days events. 

Since then we've taken the truck out two more times and I think things are going pretty well. It's a lot of guesstimating about how much to make at certain sites and we're still learning and probably will learn something new everyday. 

I'm hoping as I learn to work this schedule that I'll be able to pop back in here a little more often!

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

The countdown is on, we've got a huge week ahead. Our opening date is officially Saturday August 9, at 11 am. We're only five days away but I still have a to-do list a mile long and I'm so exhausted that I don't feel like doing anything. 

We have two designated spots we're going to be parking at.

1.) 1250 Denny Way, Seattle
This spot is an empty lot that's going to be turned into a substation next year. Right now though, curators from Portland have turned the spot into a place for public art and performances. 

The green box is where we'll be parking, not to scale, obviously. 

2.) 516 Broad St; Ride The Ducks Seattle

We will be parked almost in the shadow of the Space Needle, it's a dream spot! We went down there last weekend on a Saturday to see how the traffic would be and it was really busy. I'm hoping we will definitely be easily seen on that busy corner!

Right now we've got a set schedule for 3 days a week but we can definitely pick up other spots as they come available. Some people double book themselves and sell their spots for a discount at a certain place for the day so we might be able to pick up some places that way. 

It's not a commonly known fact that food truck owners have to pay to rent the spots they part at. Sometimes the property owners even expect a percentage of sales. Sometimes they set stipulations on the spot such as we can't sell anything pre-packaged like drinks or chips that could compete with another business nearby. 

There's a lot more that goes into owning a food truck than buying a truck and hitting the road. I wish it were that easy!