It's Official...I am a lunch lady!

To earn some extra money, last spring I began substituting in the county schools. I also wanted to earn some experience in the classroom, since I was working on my teaching degree in Family & Consumer Science. During the summer we learned that Jon's employment started to become a little unstable and our current health insurance was expensive for what little they actually paid for. I substituted a few days in a cafeteria and began to realize how much I enjoyed working as a lunch lady. I never thought I would be a lunch lady. I started applying for open positions and received a few recommendations from the schools I substituted with.

I interviewed and was offered a job at the newest school in the district last month. Our monthly health insurance costs went from $600 a month (no vision or dental) to $177 a month (with vision and dental). I have given many prayers of gratitude for this opportunity to help provide for my family. There are five ladies, including me, at my current school. I, as usual, am the only one not born and raised in Alabama.  Since our school is brand new all of us have been given the opportunity to express our ideas on how to set up and run the cafeteria. It has been great seeing some of my ideas put into action.

All of us decided that we will rotate through the different jobs in the cafeteria. My first rotation was fruits/desserts/bakery. There were stressful days, especially in the beginning, making 400 whole wheat rolls (from scratch) within three hours. A few weeks ago I made some white loaves of bread that were super yummy! I brought a few pieces home to share and Jay said they were awesome! As will any new building there have been some pains, like our lights will randomly shut off and then turn back on. Or the fact that Tonya and I could not figure out how to get the pulper to stop smelling so bad until we discovered the back panel can be removed to clean the inside of the machine and it was covered in some nasty stuff.

My day starts at 7:15 am and ends at 2:15 pm, which gives me plenty of time to pick my kids up from school. I will have nights, weekends, holidays, and summers off. The job fits me. I get to wash dishes, clean, prepare foods, serve, chat with some kids and be able to go home to my family without any stress or work.

This guy and I have spent a lot of time getting to know each other. He will hold a 40 qt or a 60 qt bowl. He can mix a lot of dough with just a push of a button.

The 60 qt bowl on the left weighs over 40 lbs and the 40 qt bowl is on the right.

For some weird reason this is my favorite room. I like the dish room. It can get chaotic, but it is never boring.

Oh, Mr. Pulper, you are such a pain to clean. We dump all of the food and paper trash into a  flowing river of water and this machine chops it up and spits it into the trash can.

The serving area.

My manager brought us all silly hats to wear on our last day before Christmas break.

What school is not complete without glitter chairs?

I forgot to take a picture of the completed school, so I found this one online. The school is literally in  the back of an old orchard. It will have plenty of room to grow.