Happy Birthday to ya, Happy Birthday!!!!

I must start by sending warm birthday wishes to mi papa!!! Without his support and generosity, Harmony would still be a dream deferred. I wish I could be with you today to celebrate but I know that we will see you soon. We send you lots of hugs and kisses and most of all peace on your special day. Love ya much Dad.

I am still up b/c I had a diet coke after 1 pm. I know better but I really needed a kick this afternoon. I was dragging and knew that I needed a small jolt to get everything done today with the kids home. Now I am paying the price. It never fails. If I drink anything with caffeine after 1pm, I am up all night. This came in really handy during my college years and especially in the R&D world when I had to do production test runs on new products. These usually occur in the middle of the night when food manufacturing slows down because it doesn't cost the plant much to run a test if a production line is not being used. I can honestly say that the one thing that I miss the most about my former job is testing new product formulations. Watching a product being made in a food plant has always fascinated me. I remember my first internship at the Nabisco Philadelphia Bakery back in the 90's. I was in charge of the fudge covered Oreo line and loved every min. of that summer. Think of the show Unwrapped, I got to make America's favorite cookie and cover it in fudge! I always thought that it was so cool that a food scientist actually got paid to test their formulas in a food plant. Some R&D folks hate going to plants, but for me there will always be a thrill in taking something from the lab and scaling it up in a manufacturing plant. I get the same thrill when I create a new cupcake flavor. My kitchen is my lab and I suppose that Harmony's kitchen will be like the plants that I made so many products in over the years, but MUCH better (and cleaner). Don't get me started about food plant sanitation and GMP's (good manufacturing practices); after all that I have seen, it's a wonder that I still eat.

Well, I guess the caffeine will come in handy when I am working true bakers hours.

I am going to try and get some sleep. We meet with the architect at our location tomorrow morning and I want to make a good impression.

Sweet dreams.