Work woes and job joys

This has been an incredibly long week.  The company I work for has been having a huge sale and two days this week I have worked open to close at my store, then gone to our main store to help out until they closed.  9:40 on Tuesday, 10:30 on Thursday.  Wordy has been a bit needy and I ended up driving to see him at 9:30 Wednesday night.  I've got a chest cold and just haven't been sleeping well.  Talk about a long week.  Thankfully, my employees helped out and covered some of the hours.  In fact, "My new girl" covered my Wednesday evening shift so I could have dinner with my grandma, who I hadn't seen in several months (she winters in Florida).  See, I told you she was great!  On top of all this, a coworker from another store, who I've been friends with for a long time, has been going through a really rough time and needed some time off, so I'm covering his store today and Monday (thankfully he has a college kid working the weekend!).  I came in to the store this morning to find that the shelves were in disarray, the trash hadn't been taken out and the floors needed swept.  This is the first time I've ever worked this store, but I know how the manager is - about as particular as I am!  At 11:45 I finally sat down and sent the following e-mail to my employees:

"First, I'd like to mention that I've been here (at the E**** store) since 9:30 and I just now finished fronting the shelves, stocking, taking out trash and sweeping the floors. I knew I had a great staff, but let me tell you guys how much more I appreciate you at this point! I know you work hard to keep our store looking good all the time and not just on special cleaning days and that really means a lot as far as making my life easier, so THANK YOU!!
"Second, I wanted to let you know that I was hearing great things about all of you at the final day of the sale last night. The S******* staff was very impressed with all of you, and that means good things for you, for me and for our store. Remember that keeping your name in the forefront of their minds is the best way to be thought of for raises, promotions and wintertime hours, when everyone's fighting for work. You guys definitely made a good impression and I know you'll work hard all summer to remind all of our stores just how great C***** (our store) is!
"Thank you all, and keep up the hard work! :)"

Even on a rough day in a rough week, I know my employees are working hard to make my life easier and it's so great to know that I can help out a friend and they will be there to cover my store and make sure things run smoothly.  It lets me know that Monday when I'm back up here, my new girl is working our store and my assistant manager (also known as my cousin!) is covering another store, we're all in good hands.  I am so lucky to have an incredible staff!

UPDATE: I failed to mention that I screwed up when I packed my lunch today.  I brought chili, no spoon.  I'm not used to having to pack utensils, because I keep a box of plasticware at my store and never need to bring any from home.  I posted on facebook about how disappointed I was and within an hour I had offers (that's right, plural) from friends I haven't seen in years to bring me lunch!  Of course by then I'd ordered a pizza, but it's still great to know I am connected with such awesome people who are willing to take time out of their busy day to bring lunch to an old friend!