Christmas Isn’t Over Yet…

Ten years ago a friend from college came up with a clever way to celebrate the holidays. She always wanted to have a Christmas Party but had trouble finding a day to host the party. Everyone knows how hectic December can get and the weekends fill up fast.  Her idea was to host her party the first weekend in January. It is a terrific idea because the stress of the holiday is behind you, yet  it’s still the holiday season. With the stress of December gone  you can kick back, relax and really enjoy yourself. It has been a huge success and my husband and I look forward to it every year. I am just sorry she thought of it before I did.

My good friend Kerri and I at her

10th Annual Holiday Rendezvous

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Girl Scout Cookies- Which is your favorite?

Are you ready? It’s that time again.

Girl Scout Cookie Season!

     Today starts Girl Scout Cookie Season. It is the time of year when I must hit up everyone I know to purchase a box, or two, or three of Girl Scout Cookies. And don’t hate me, but I am the mom who puts the order form in the staff room at work. Before you get too mad know that I do reciprocate and buy candy bars, coupon books, cookie dough, wrapping paper and whatever else the Local PTA’s can come up with to sell.

This year a box of Girl Scout Cookie deliciousness will cost you $4.00.  Over the years cookies have come and gone.  Sugar Free Chocolate Chip, Thank You Berry Munch, and All Abouts are just some of the varieties that have been discontinued. For  2012 The Girl Scouts have decided to stick with their six best selling cookies. The Girl Scout Cookies that have survived the chopping block are: Savannah Smiles, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, Samoas, Tagalongs, and Thin Mints.

     It is an exciting year for The Girl Scouts as they are celebrating their 100th Anniversary. To mark this important milestone they are introducing a new cookie, Savannah Smiles. These lemon flavored cookies are dusted in powdered sugar and are shaped like a smile. Savannah Smiles are in honor of Girl Scout founder Juliette Low who was from Savannah, Georgia. If you think they sound familiar you are correct they were sold before under the name Lemon Coolers.
     I have to say Girl Scout Cookies are pretty popular. They are so popular that this year they even have their own app, the Cookie Finder. You can download this app to your Ipad, Itouch, or Iphone to help you locate where you can purchase cookies.
     The popularity  of Girl Scouts Cookies is due entirely to the fact that Girl Scouts are marketing geniuses. They don’t flood the market with their cookies. By only offering them once a year they leave everyone wanting and waiting for Cookie Season. And they are probably the only products in the world that you cannot purchase online, so you must actually seek out a Girl Scout to purchase the cookie your craving. Therefore many people look forward to this special season all year. Who doesn’t love a Thin Mint? Those are my favorite. I find most people are fans of the Samoas. My family’s personal favorite is the Tagalong. Unfortunately, I do not like peanut butter and chocolate mixed. I realize this puts me in a category by myself since chocolate and peanut butter together seems to be a national pastime. I wonder if that is why my kids like them so much?  They know I will never eat them.
     Now that the official selling season has begun I will need to assist my two scouts with their cookie sales. My generous sister usually sells some at her office as well. Of course I will need to make sure they each sell the same amount. Heaven forbid one sister sell one box more than the other sister. I shudder at the thought.  Of course I need to buy several as well. Those boxes usually sit in the house for months because I will put them in a remote location to get them out of my way, and forget that I bought them. It also is a certainty that I will wait until the last minute to get the order form together and deliver it to that brave mom who has volunteered to be the cookie mom. I will whisk in a the last second with my order forms and  a very big personal check to cover the cost of the Girl Scout Cookies.
     Last year I ran into a little glitch. The order forms were such a mess I decided to make new order forms on Excel. I made an order form for each of my two scouts. I even color-coded the columns to coordinate with the cookie box color. I was so proud of myself. How organized!  Fast forward a couple of weeks I pick up our orders from the cookie mom’s house. Then head on home to sort. My daughter Grace is a big helper and sorting cookies is right up her alley. I went in to the kitchen and began getting dinner ready  and she began her sorting. A few minutes of sorting goes by and she comes into the kitchen and complains that there aren’t enough cookies. As any good mother would do, I told her she must be mistaken and to check the lists again. Obviously she did something wrong. This scenario played out several times and resulted in me stopping what I was doing and going to check it out for myself. Which was when I discovered I had sent in the same order form twice. In my haste I must have printed two copies of the same form. I  couldn’t believe it, what a major blunder! At the end of the day those people who I was too embarrassed to tell about my screw up recieved the cookies they ordered. Close friends and family got whatever was left. Thankfully they were good sports about it.
Posted in Food & Snacks | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Kindergarten Registration- She is growing up too fast!

Amelia when she was cute and cuddly!                    Sisterly love.

I can’t believe it is already time for my baby to head off to Kindergarten. What’s really crazy is that we still call her baby, and she is four. But I can’t help it she is my baby!!! Even when she runs around the house telling me she loves Justing Beiber- she is still just a baby to me. Caroline and Grace seemed so big to me when they were four. Not this baby, not Amelia. She is still my little pumpkin. It is funny how as parents we really keep those last borns little forever. When it was time for the other girls to head off to Kindergarten I was so excited. I wanted them to start their school journeys and I was so thrilled for them. Yet with Amelia I am so sad! When did my baby get so big. And what’s worse is that instead of grounding my sorrows my friends are all saying, “Kindergarten already?” They are as bad as I am.

I think I am feeling so sad because I know the reality of how fast it all flies by once they start Kindergaten. In a blink of an eye she is going to be in high school. Caroline, my oldest will be entering the high school next year. And I will be a crazy mom with a child in each of the three schools in my district. I can’t even begin to think about high school… That is for another post on another day. At least Kindergarten is chartered waters. Who knows what high school has to bring?

But I digress, my baby is going off to kindergarten. I had to sign her up yesterday. I had the morning off so I could go to the school with all the proper paperwork. I printed all the forms on-line and filled them all out the night before. I even knew, by some miracle, where her birth certificate was. But you know “best laid plains” never seem to work out. I arrived an hour later than planned at the school. This always happens to me when I take time off. I try to do too many things because I think I have endless time since I am not running off to work. Well instead I was running off to the school- with the dishes on the table and no beds made. How could that possible be since I was off all morning? Anyway, I get to the school and there are additional forms to fill out. I am now rushing to finish and fill out most of the forms wrong. Putting my name where my email should be. Writing my first name where my last name should go, all silly stuff. Then I go to hand in my forms all messy with scratched out writing and discover I need my mortgage statement, which I didn’t think I need. I guess I really need to start reading directions more carefully. So, I have to quickly dash home and then back again to the school to try it all over again. Thankfully, she is now registered for Kindergarten and I made it to work, finally.

I am going to have to learn to live with the fact that she is growing up. I know she is okay with growing up and is really excited about Kindergarten. I suppose that I will have to just deal with it. She told my  mother that it was the most exciting day of her life because her mother was signing her up for Kindergarten. Maybe I will just stop blinking.

My future Kindergartner

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Just another Manic Tuesday… Wednesday…Thursday…

Why is it I have already broken my New Year’s Resolution?

A few days into the New Year and I have already broken my top resolution. 2012 was full of promise only days ago. It was going to be the year I was going to be on time for everything. I rarely admit it, but I am always late for everything. I don’t mean to be late. I want to be on time. I try really hard to be on time.  I don’t want to be a last minute mommy. I want to be one of those perfect moms who arrives early for events and always has perfect hair. But  it never works out for me. I will have to settle for being the mom who is always running out the door hair in a ponytail, at the last second, who parks illegally so we can run in quickly and not be so late.

My New Year’s Resolution to be on time was mostly inspired by my job. I need, no I want to get to work on time. I have these grandiose thoughts in my head of getting up at 6 am, getting ready for work, preparing the kids lunches, snacks, and backpacks and having time left over to throw in a load of laundry. Nice dream, right? Well someone must have pinched me this morning because I was given a bracing reality check. Every morning my mother, who is a Godsend, arrives at my house and gets my children off to school because I am supposed to leave long before they do. She is the greatest!  Well this morning she walks right into my bedroom at 7:30 when I am supposed to be leaving for work. I am fast asleep under the covers snoozing away… probably dreaming of being on time. I don’t know what is more upsetting that I overslept so much, or that my mother was able to get in the house with no one noticing. Not even the dog woke up and barked. We really must be house of the living dead. Fortunately my hair looks okay in a ponytail, all the wash was done, and I am an expert at putting my makeup on at traffic lights.

So 2012 I guess a new alarm clock is first on my list.  Any suggestions??

My sleepy watchdog, Barkley

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Impulse Buy

I have never in my life bought anything from the Home Shopping Network. But there I was with my husband watching HSN the other night. I think he was channel surfing and  must have stopped for a moment and that was all it took. It was over for us. We were two hypnotized idiots. We couldn’t take our eyes off the screen. It really is amazing how persuasive the hosts on that channel are. You are powerless to their charms. It’s as if your life will not be complete if you do not jump up and purchase the item they are selling. And you better hurry because they are running out of that very item at that very minute! I see why I never watch this channel. I am easily persuaded and I would be broke.

Well there we were hooked on the VuPoint Magic Wand Portable Document and Photo Scanner.  The man and woman hosts on the television were telling me how much I needed one to make my life clutter free. They were scanning everything receipts, kids art work, Christmas Cards, recipes everything. So simple- scan it and throw it out. In addition you can scan, restore and digitize old photos. I quickly had visions of becoming a paperless household with no paper clutter anywhere. What a wonderful world that would be. As well as being able to restore all my grandmother’s photos from her albums and reaffirming my position as her favorite grandchild.

My husband turned to me and said, “You better go downstairs and order it.” So off I went still hypnotized by promises of scanning everything I own. Thankfully there were a few hundred left and I was easily able to purchase  my magic wand for $94.40 including tax and shipping. At the time of this posting the HSN is out of stock of this item, I guess I wasn’t the only one, and the price has returned to $199.90. So at the end of the day  I think I got a good deal, but did I need it? Probably not.

I think I will stay off the HSN.

Do you think it was a bad idea to sign up for daily emails? I’ll let you know.

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