Overthinking.

Well, I'm certain that I speak for all of Team PJP when I say that we thoroughly enjoyed our extended holiday weekend.  We were inundated with orders over the holiday weekend and provided pie in all different sizes for three different weddings on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...so a proper two days off was A DELIGHT, INDEED. Because we weren't working today, Jeanne and I found ourselves at the outlet mall in Osage Beach.  We both burn through pairs of tennis shoes like you wouldn't even imagine.  Or maybe you would, if you've seen PJP's concrete floors.  Jeanne's strict "no sitting" policy is rough on the back and legs and it doesn't take long for even our college aged employees to remark that their feet hurt.  (And if you are wondering why we don't put down anti-fatigue mats, here's why:  flour collects under them.  And if flour collects under them, Jeanne makes us pick them up every day and sweep and scrape the flour under them.  And those mats are heavy.  And it is annoying.  So we just don't use them.)

We probably replace our tennis shoes every three months.  We wear them out quickly because of use and also, when you bake hundreds of pies in the same shoes, you can quickly start to see spills of certain ingredients on our shoes.  I think this is probably why professional chefs wear professional chef shoes that can be wiped down, but a) we aren't professional chefs, and b) I have yet to see a cute pair of professional chef shoes.

I only wear one particular brand and style of tennis shoe to PJP (it is the Nike Air Reax Run 5).  I once deviated and it was the longest, most stressful, and overly trying three months of PJP life.  Logically, there is no connection...but well...I prefer to stick with what works because I'm super good at overthinking things.  I just CANNOT EVEN with the thought that soon, Nike will inevitably break my heart and discontinue this shoe.  If I send them this blog post, do we think they will set aside a pallet for me in the warehouse of the Reax Run 5?  (Jeanne has none of these problems.  She buys whatever is cute.  She thinks I'm crazy.)

The store we visited today had a full stock of Reax Run 5s, so I snatched up all the size 9 pairs.  And then when I got home, I compared new shoe to 12 week old shoe...

I'm pretty sure that is a dollop of French Silk on the upper right...