It's been a full few days!

In the last couple of days I've produced 36 little handmade Christmas soaps for gifts. I still want to make 2 or 3 loaf type soaps, and then of course I still need to get it all wrapped up.

I've also completed my last mass-baking endeavor of the season. The pet shelter I volunteer at has a bake sale table at a local farmer's market and I'm a regular baker. I did a lot of breads this week since it's getting cold and people tend to buy more breads in the fall. I did nut, cranberry, pumpkin, apple cinnamon, lemon poppyseed, and pecan swirl. Those are almost all packed and ready to go. I'm toying with running out to Aldi and getting supplies to make a couple of batches of rice krispie treats. We've got a regular customer who really likes them, so maybe I'll make them for him one last time.

In other news, I finally stood up for myself today about all of the unpaid overtime at work.

I'm a "consultant", which means I'm paid hourly, get no vacation/benefits (except 401k), and can be let go at any moment.

In my job, there are often time where you need to put in OT to get the job done. The client always comes first. However, they never want to pay overtime, so in the past we've worked out an informal comp-time type arrangement and I was perfectly satisfied with it.

Unfortunately, my old director left and I've got a new one now, and she's always breathing down my neck asking about what I'm doing and when will I be done and what can I take on next. Which means I'm not getting much downtime to compensate for all of the overtime I've been working lately.

So, I finally sent her an email today outlining the situation. She's a reasonable woman, if a bit anal, but I'm sure we'll be able to work something out. If I were a salaried employee enjoying all the benefits thereof, I would work whatever time was needed and not breathe a word of it. But as an hourly, temporary employee there is a limit to my generosity and I'm at it!