Thursday, January 18, 2007

Happiness is a box (or two) of Thin Mints

OK. Enough with the bad cold and apartment search. What's really important is that it's Girl Scout cookie time. There's just something about winter and the taste of Thin Mints. Or Samoas. Or Trefoils. Or (insert your favorite GS cookie here). Shell out $3.50 a box and paradise is all yours. Mmmm.

I remember selling them door to door (for 50 cents a box - that's how old I am) in the neighborhood when I was a a Brownie and Girl Scout. And vying with other Scouts in school to see who could sell first to teachers. If I wanted to sell to Daddy's co-workers at TVA, I'd have to don my uniform and get down to his office to make the rounds. He wasn't one to just post the list at the water cooler, as many parents do today.

When Kate was in Scouts, I made her do the same thing - get her uniform on and show up to the office to sell cookies. She always sold more boxes per/person that folks who just posted the sign-up sheet with a no-show Scout. Really, who can resist a sweet faced little Brownie selling cookies? Hm?

As a Scout leader, I always got stuck with left-overs from the cookie sales, so I'd keep them in my office at Turner and let the crew know that they were there, but I expected a note saying what was taken and $2.50 payment. The system worked pretty well, believe it or not. I'd have guys coming to me in June asking if I still had a stray box or two of Samoas or Tagalongs. I coulda sold those for $10 a box, I bet.

I have my own Girl Scout cookie-eating technique: buy a quart of milk, sit down in front of the TV with your Thin Mints or Do-Si-Dos, and eat the whole box. That's right. Just eat the whole box. You're gonna do it anyway, and rationing yourself to 4 cookies a day for a couple of weeks only prolongs the guilt. My way lets you completely sate your craving, indulge in one big guilt-trip, and move on with life until the next Girl Scout cookie orgy. Mmmmmmm.

9 comments:

Joy Des Jardins said...

Yep, it's time....and I'm waiting for the doorbell to ring. I've been getting Girl Scount cookies since my girls were selling them quite a few years ago. I've gotten them through nieces and friends; but now I have to rely on someone coming to the door...or...hoping to see some Girls Scouts camped out in front of some of the stores I frequent. I still love them...but not the prices. Geesh...have some compassion for us old cookie lovers girls.

Chris said...

We don't have this wonderful tradition here. (Why do we pinch the 'trick or treat' idea from our American cousins but not this much better one? I'd happily pay kids for goodies).

The nearest to it for us is 'Bob a Job' week run by Boy Scouts - and I'm not sure that this happens these days. It dates back to pre-decimal days when we had proper money and a shilling was affectionately called a 'bob' and was worth something.

Mind you, some unscrupulous people would push their luck and have those poor boys working their socks off.

Anonymous said...

Say it ain't so! I followed the link to the listing of the various Girl Scout cookies, only to find that my eat-an-entire-box-at-a-time favorite, Lemon Pastry Cremes, have been replaced by "Lemonades". I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the taste hasn't changed.

Anonymous said...

I look forward to the once a year grab for the peanut butter sandwiches. Are those the Do-si-dos? For several years I would buy a case of them, intending to hide them away and make them last the better part of a year. Wrong... All gone in a couple of weeks, and let my belt out a notch. Now I just get a box or two and eat them before the Girl Scout is out of sight. You know, protecting the cookies from the dog...

Liz Hinds said...

I use the same technique when I have biscuits, cake, chocolate ... Once it's gone, it's gone, and with it the temptation.

Anonymous said...

Hope you're feeling better, girlie. Headcolds can get really icky.

As for thin mints, my fav since I was a little girl would be After Eight. That was mom's fav too, so I guess it went straight down from one generation to another.
And since I'm living where they are made today, I can have them in a lot of different kinds of flavours. The originals being the best though :)

I've moved Awfulsouls btw. Did it last night since I got tired of dying servers in the weekends.
New url is under my name here :)

Elsie said...

Not sure if I should share this, but when you need a Thin Mint and they're not around, Keebler's Grasshoppers taste exactly the same (or so I've heard...)!

jomoore said...

Well, well, well - a company-wide email just arrived in my inbox: "Girl Scout Cookies!". A kindly dad is selling cookies on behalf of his daughter. I wonder if he'll send them over to the UK via the internal mail system...

Clare said...

I am a Brownie Guider and i often wish we had a cookie scheme too - good way of raising money, and much better than getting the Brownies to cook them themselves - often a disater area!