Category: Family Matters

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It’s Girl Scout Cookie Time!

girl scout cookie box artA few weeks ago I waxed poetic over at Persephone on how much I love that MaM is a Daisy Girl Scout. I mean, I am really enjoying her whole Daisy Girl Scout experience. The field trips, the friendship, the unique experiences….I just love it all so much.

Then we went to the Girl Scout Cookie Rally last night, and my joy was brought to a whole new level. We got her cookie order form (it looks just the ones I used in 1985) and the manila money envelope — I think the National Office must have ordered 5.5 million of them back in the day, because they are exactly the same. Exactly.

The price, of course, has gone up. Cookie counts, of course, have gone down. Boxes are now $3.50 each, and some cookie counts are as low as 14. But they taste exactly the same, and man are they good!

Something I found interesting when looking at the cookie order form is that a) all ingredients and nutritional info is listed for each type of cookie and b)the ingredients, for the most part are pretty basic.

Only one cookie has HFCS, the Dulche De Leche (listed in the containts less than 2% of the following section), and only the chocolate varieties (Thin Mints, Samoas & Tagalongs) contain Partially Hydrogenated Soy Oil. I think that’s a testament to the fact that the recipes really haven’t changed all that much since I was selling these yummies myself.

New (to me, anyway) is the program “Operation Cookie Drop”, where patrons can donate the equivalent to the price of a box of cookies and a box of cookies will be sent to military troops. Here in Indiana, the cookies are sent to the troops being processed in and out of Camp Atterbury.

We can officially start taking orders today — leave a comment if you’re interested and I will email you to confirm!

(MaM does need to be involved in the process, so she’ll be making some phone calls & writing thank you notes)

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Ideas for 2011

I’m not calling them resolutions, and I’m getting a little intimidated by calling them goals, to be honest. But I do have some ideas about what I’d like to see happen in 2011.

1) First and FOREMOST I’d like to see this here house SELL. We decided one year ago this week that we were bound for a more roomy abode. 12 months later, we are living a slightly less cluttered life, but we’ve also paid for almost a year of storage.

2) I’d like to have a better handle on our grocery/household supplies bill. I’ve started tracking what we spend and when, and hope to see some patterns I can amend. Because wow, do I really need to spend $10 a week on granola bars? Seriously.

3) It’s time to get back to exercising. We’ve belonged to the gym now for about 8 months. We seem to go through spurts of either feast or famine, turbo charged exercise or nothing at all. It’s time to either use it or drop it. And since I’d like to drop some pounds, I don’t think dropping the gym membership is the way to go.

So I’ve been trolling the Internet, really searching for houses I could see us living in, and figuring out what our real price range will be. This, in turn, will help determine what our bottom line price will be on this house. I’m willing to do what it takes to be in a new house by the time school starts in the fall for MaM.

I’m tackling the groceries week by week, keeping track of what I buy and what we use and where the best price may be at the stores I frequent. I am hoping to make some real progress, which will only help our bottom line.

I’m also adding the gym to our regular routine. I started doing this in November – the days I go to work*,  I pick of MaM and then head straight to the gym. This month, I’m adding a day, and committing to hitting a few group fitness classes. That, on top of planning for a half-marathon in June should keep moving.

Those are my ideas for 2011. What are yours?

P.S. If meal-planning is one of your “ideas” for 2011, check this week’s Savvy deal…$16 for 6 months of meal planning from Relish! Could be a good thing to have!

*Yes, I have a part-time job! More to come on that in a bit…

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This Was the Year…..

That at some point, both children warmed up to the guy in red.

That I got over my fear of making sugar cookies.

That we trekked out on a snowy day to cut down our own Christmas tree.

That we made most of our Christmas ornaments (many with applesauce & cinnamon).

That both kids really like playing the snow, wherever we were.

That MaM was geeked to help with stamping the Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. She also got into hiding gifts for her dad and brother. “They’re in my dresser drawer, Mommy, because they won’t look there.”

This was the year…

That MaM explained Christmas to Junior through song, quoting “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” almost daily as Christmas approached.

That Junior became obsessed with The Grinch, and “his green hands!”

That we watched The Wizard of Oz together during a cold snowy night during the week before Christmas.

That I showed MaM what my Little People Dollhouse looked like when I was a girl, via gingerbread (part of this year’s display at Conner Prairie).

That we played in Jolly Days, and Celebration Crossing.

That MaM discovered Cole Porter during her “Mom and Dad” day during the week before Christmas.

That MaM got dressed up as an angel for the 4:30 Children’s Mass.

That the four of us took a second to take a family photo (we don’t do that often enough….perhaps a goal for 2011 in the making…).

Ah, it’s been a good long run, this Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas (a few days late) and Happy New Year,  Friends!