A good baker will rise to the occasion, it's the yeast she can do.

I'm really pissed (sorry dad) and have quit the bakery, only the baker doesn't know yet. I'm feeling really passive aggressive about the whole thing. 

Everything was fine until about 2 weeks ago when I asked to get paid. I have been doing the KCC Farmers Market on Saturdays and got my pay directly from the cash box at the end of the day. During the week I would write text for her website, make labels, product lists and other marketing materials. This is what I have not been paid for, she owes me $425.00 for work done over the course of 7 weeks, about 6 hours a week.

To make the long, boring, insanity breeding story short; once I invoiced her for the money she attacked me and my work ethic accusing me of doing bad work and over charging her. Before I asked her for my money she was fine with my work. I got really mad, I didn't appreciate being called a liar and a thief and told her to forget it, I didn't want to work for her anymore and she could keep the money. 

Knowing she was leaving soon for a month, she smoothed it over by saying she didn't mean to make it sound like she was questioning my work ethic. She would pay me Tuesday. Tuesday turned into Wednesday. Wednesday turned into Thursday and Thursday turned into Saturday. In the meantime she had no problem asking me to do additional work, which I of course did not do. She agreed to put the money she owed me in the cash box Saturday morning. It wasn't there, just the normal chaotic, confusing, running late, crazed rush that had become my Saturday mornings. She left the bakery in a rush saying she would drop the money off at my house on her way to the airport and by the way please take the $50.00 bag of freshly harvested and toasted macadamia nuts to your house and I will pick that up as well. 

After market, she left a message saying take everything but $100.00 from the cash box and (if she can remember) she will leave the rest at her house (it's unlocked) in the form of a check, how much do I owe you? I call her back, she's not answering her phone, I leave a message - like I'm going to trust a check that she may or may not remember to leave at her house - I tell her the deal was cash and she can drop it off on her way to the airport. I got a call from her last night asking me if I picked up her notebook, the one she needs for her trip. I tell her no, she says she'll call me later tonight once she gets in. I didn't care at that point, I already had a plan devised with the help of my husband. Of course there was no call, but it's too late anyway.

There was $176.50 left in the cash box so it is now mine. The cash box (which was her mother's cosmetic case) and the mac nuts will be returned to her when she pays me the remaining $248.50. And, I'm not doing the market anymore, but she can find that out Saturday morning when her helper calls to say I haven't shown up and they can't get a hold of me. 

I have two questions for you. The first is: do you think I am being too harsh?

That leads to my second question. I like her, we got along great - like sisters who hadn't seen each other in a while. She is a fantastic baker creating baked goods that I have never seen before; unique, delicious and made with real food. No artificial ingredients, fillers, preservatives, no junk. It's bad food that you can feel good about eating! Bad in the sense that it's baked goods and we all know you shouldn't eat too much of those!

So, I find myself still wanting to be nice. Sometimes I want to call or email her to say I'm quitting so she can find some other sucker to do the market, so the other girls don't have to suffer from it. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, give her another chance. Dan says it's because I'm nice. So my second question is: is that being nice or being weak?

On the fun front, Dan and I went with Jillian and her family to the Kauai Farm Bureau County Fair Thursday. They had a petting zoo for the kids, carnival rides, food and a contest for produce. She had 27 entries. We all met up and went straight for the tent to see what she had won. It was amazing to see! The tent was lined with vendors selling everything from tee-shirts and bonzais to solar systems and orchids. In the back, 4 rows of tables stretching about 40 feet were covered in fruits, vegetables and herbs that people had grown. It was exciting to see how much could be grown here. Someone is even growing apples!! Impossible here we thought; until we saw them. They are being grown on the west side, high up in the mountains of Kokee. 

From what we could ferret out, Jillian had won about 10 first and second prizes, it will be published in the Garden Island newspaper soon. We had a great time watching the kids get excited about the animals and carnival rides!

Dan gives Azure a ride into the fair.

Gary checking to see if their Noni entry won.

Okra, chili peppers and long beans.

Jillian got 1st place for her Hawaiian chili peppers

and second place for their taro used to make poi.

Jillian's friend Meako checks out the eggplant.

Giant squash

Ginger

More peppers, bell peppers are really hard to grow here because of the fruit flies. As are tomatoes and zucchini.

Jackfruit in the front and red dragon fruit.

Cherry tomatoes grow well here.

Philly and his wife Tara owners of Kauai Fungi, live on the property with Gary and Jillian. They won first place and second for their oyster mushrooms

but they were the only mushroom entries =)

Jillian's Ethiopian kale

Apples!!

Mangos

Avocados

Guava, papaya and longon.

Citrus

Jillian came in 4th overall.

Beautiful orchids

Dan checks out the goats

and a huge pig

while the kids run around with the animals.

In the end, I have decided. If she calls I will tell her, if she doesn't I won't! We are on our way to a waterfall 5 minutes from the house, it was dumping rain last night so it should have a lot of water!