Old Age is Hard on Scouts

     I am writing this blog as a plea to the general, cookie buying, public.  I know those cute little girls in the blue and brown Girl Scout uniforms are hard to resist when they ask you to buy cookies.  I know those big doe eyes on a 5 year old make it impossible to say no.  I know because I have one.  I'm glad their cuteness works and you stop to buy a box of cookies even if you don't want it.
     In our troop, we are thankful for every box sold.  I want to ask you, though, please, please, don't pass up the older girls.  Teenagers are hard.  I know, I have one of those, too.  As a troop leader, its even harder to keep the older girls engaged.  They have so much more to do between school work, many after school activities, and having a normal teenage social life.  So, to see them continue to invest in a program that is teaching them to be strong women who will change the world makes my heart soar.  The Biggest One is now a Cadette in Scouts.  She wears the tan uniform, usually with a cat ear headband, and she looks like she is 15, even though she isn't.  She is smart, funny, and driven.  She already has a plan for her life that I wish I had at her age.  This year, she is implementing that plan by going to a special camp where she will start as a councilor in training.  Her plan is, by the time she turns 16, be a junior camp counselor, and at 18, be a Girl Scout camp counselor all through college each summer for her summer job to help pay for books.
     The thing is, this camp is expensive.  Even more so than a normal scout camp.  In fact, most of her activities are more expensive as an older scout.  So each and every one of those boxes of cookies she sells are vitally important to her.  She needs to raise the money to be able to get to her camp, learn more about astronomy with trips to the closest observatory, as she is still trying to decide between astronomy and microbiology as degree and career path (she is leaning toward microbiology as she wants to be able to research lupis and find a cure or treatment that actually works).  Knowing that she needs to sell more, she works harder.  She works with every one of those little doe eyed girls and shows them how to sell cookies.  She teaches and trains them like a champ.  After all, she has been selling since she was a little doe eyed 5 year old.  She is willing to go house to house for hours.  She will work every single booth sale I allow her, in between play practice on weekends and all county band.  Even with all that hard work, she can't sell as many as the cute little girls do.  For some reason, it is easier to say no to the older girls. I guess you think they can take it. The last time she went door to door, she went to street after street, and only sold 5 boxes.  Hours of work for 5 boxes.  She was ready to go out for more, though.  She wants that sale.  Same thing happens at both sales.  I pair her with a little one as often as I can so that the sales are higher for her.  She knows it, too, but she doesn't let it stop her.  I respect that drive, and I wish every one out there would, too.
     So, the next time a girl in a tan uniform knocks on your door, please open it and consider buying a box.  If they are still selling by the time they look like they are about to drive, it means they are strong, dedicated girls who will be the next leaders and game changers of our world.  Consider that dedication, and buy a box, even though they don't have doe eyes, even though they may be as tall or taller than you, and even though they might wear cat ears when they ask.  I promise it means as much if not more than the box you buy from the cute little bitty ones.  Don't stop buying from the cute little ones, either.  I'm just saying, a scout is a scout, and consider your purchase equally.  After all, I have three girls, from the cute little doe eyed one in a blue uniform, to a middle aged (for scouts) girl in the Girl Scout green uniform, up to my oldest in the tan.  She is almost as tall as me, which is another of her life goals, but don't let that stop you.  Buy a box.  Please.  I promise she will say thank you.

If you want to buy any boxes from any of my girls, you can buy from the littlest one here.

You can buy from the middle one (she is pretty cute, too, though I didn't get to talk much about her in this blog) here.

And last, but not least at all, the biggest one here.

No matter who you buy from, what council, what age of girl, I appreciate each of you who buy cookies, and please, don't forget that if you can't eat them, you can treat them to members of the military by donating cookies.  (Cookie donations to the military are also tax deducible if your into that kind of thing!!)

Thanks again, and try the new S'mores cookie.

My Annual Cookie Plea

So, every year since I think I started blogging, I have blogged about the woes, and sometimes the highs, of the Girl Scout cookie selling process, all the while, really hoping that someone will jump up, feel the strong pull of the spirit of giving, and contact me asking to help out.  I fully expect to share a woe filled post later, as I am again being the cookie mom for my brand new troop, of all most all new kids and parents who are scared to death of selling cookies.  However, I'm not here to cry, yet.  I'm here to get rid of the thin veil usually covering my plea, and just come right out and beg.

If anyone who reads this would like to help out our troop, I have a great, tax deductible  way to do so.  This year, brand new to our Council, is a program called Building A Mountain of Hope.  It is a long and rather confusing name for a program that is really pretty great, and simple.  You can purchase a box of cookies that we will donate to the Tennessee National Guard.  The Guard can then send them to their troops who are deployed over seas or use them for Disaster Relief, etc.  I think it is awesome, and nearly as great as Operation Thin Mint back in San Diego.  Nearly.
Anyway, if anyone would like to support my troop, and Girl Scouts in general, while getting a nifty little tax deduction, please, please (see the begging) contact me.  Along with your tax receipt, I'll send you a very nifty little thank you note hand made by one of The Big Girls!
Thanks for at least reading this, and hopefully thinking about it.

I Know I Have Gone Insane

I'm updating my blog, not really because I want to at the moment.  In fact, I would much, much rather be sleeping, like the rest of the people in my house.  However, in 18 minutes, I can grab more booth slots for my Girl Scouts.  So, even though every little person in currently snoozing away, I'm up.  Here.  For you.  No.  For me.  Whining.
Its moments like these that I realize just how insane I am.  Even though I am currently in this alone, since my co leader had to move quickly thanks to military life, and my husband is still yet deployed, I am going, full throttle, into a cookie season where I am leader, cookie parent, and more.  All of that, along with running my moms group, volunteering at my daughter's school, and simply trying to survive with three kids all by myself isn't easy, in fact, sometimes it feels like I suffocating. I know I'm not though.  I'm going to muddle through each and every bit of this, and ride the tide of crazy that comes along with doing too much sometimes.  I know I can handle this.  I may not do the best job that any one has ever done on all of it, but it will all get done, and that is just going to have to be good enough.  I may not have the time to take long showers and get my hair done, or keep myself looking like I want to, but those things aren't really important in the grand scheme of life.  I can be a little unkempt.  I can wear nothing but jeans and t-shirts, if that is where life takes me.  If I brush my hair as I am walking out the door, and the first mirror I look in is the rear view when I take off each day, so be it.  For the moment, that may be the best I can do.
So, you will have to excuse me as I keep this post short.  I'm about to go pick times to take my kids and stand in front of a whole bunch of stores, trying to sell cookies.  I may go looking like I've been raised by wolves, but I will be there.

I Have a Beef With Cookies

If you read my last post, then you know where this is headed.  Cookie season in Girl Scouts has got to be one of the most stressful things ever.
Cookies haven't even started yet, and already this has been a bumpy roller coaster ride.  From one low, into a loop de loop, straight to a huge, stomach tossing dip.   I found a parent to go.  I am so incredibly thankful for her.  After all the scrambelling and worrying I did over the last 24 hours, trying desperately to find someone to go in my place to the Cookie Lottery, I moved from stressed out to pissed off. I offered childcare to everyone in the troop, but she managed to get it worked out on her own at the last second.  She was going a little late, but she would go.  She is also the newest parent to all of this that I have.  She doesn't have any training in cookies, and has never been part of the process before, but she was able to go.  She did the best she could, and that is all I could ask of her.  What raises my ire is that when she got there, there were children at the event.  I was told specifically that there were to be no children, and we struggled with it, yet people were allowed to come in.  I had to send the only person i could, and our girls were seriously disadvantage by having someone with no experience go, in order to follow the rule.

The women there weren't even all that nice to the parent i sent.  In a fantastic display 0of immaturity, other women were taking up seats with their purses, just so no one could sit beside them and leaving no open seats in the hall for my parent.  The process has become so competitive that people forget we are all supposed to be "a sister to every Girl Scout".  That is something we have our girls say at every meeting. I know that in our troop in particular, we are very focused on that.  I want the girls to learn to be good sports, and compete to the best of their ability, but without a malicious undertone.  It can be done.  We try to focus on how cookies help every girl, and not just our troop.  We want them to see the greater good of the whole process.
The whole process, all of cookies sales, is what I dislike most about Girl Scouts.  So many times, I wish we could skip it, but there are valuable lessons to be learned if we choose to focus on them.  I am going to do my best to do just that.  In fact, I suppose I should make this a learning opportunity for myself.  I really need to learn to ignore all the bad behaviour that I see from other adults, not let it get to me so much, and focus on making this great for my girls.  For those who have lost sight of what cookies should be, well, Bless their Hearts, I hope they do great and get out of it whatever they want, too.

One Of THOSE Nights

Tonight sucks.  Totally sucks.  It really sucks to have my husband gone right now.  This time, it isn't because my children were off the wall today.  Actually, considering everything we had to do they were pretty good.  It isn't because, yet again, he missed a really special moment.
This time, its because sometimes day to day life is hard, and you need a partner to be there for you.  When you are married or in a committed relationship, you expect to have that, and when you don't it hurts sometimes.

I know that being a military spouse, we usually don't say a lot.  We just suffer in silence, or relate our sadness to those who are in the same situation.  We don't complain  about how absolutely horrible it can be at times, and it is.  At least, I can tell you that I usually don't say much.  I tell people "Its fine", "We will make it", or some other very white washed expression of how I feel.  I know that I will make it.  I don't have a choice.  I have to continue on, but sometimes, like tonight, I just want to cry myself to sleep.  Unfortunately, I can't because I have too much to do to even sleep.

Girl Scout Cookie sales start at the end of this month.  Thanks to military downsizing, I lost our troop leader very suddenly over the Christmas break.  My world was instantly screwed.  Her world much more so, I'm sure, but still.  She and I worked together on everything last year.  We make a great team.  Our husbands are fantastic Girl Scout dads, and they pitch in every where they can.  So, I went from a team of four to get cookies done, to me.  Just me.  Saying that I feel overwhelmed doesn't even begin to cover it.
I have had to beg and plead to get my training.  Though I managed cookies last year, I was still required to go though the multiple hour cookie training again this year.  Problem is, this year, I have an infant.  Cookies are in general a no children allowed process.  No children at training.  No children at the Booth Sale Lottery.  No children at cookie pickup.  You get the idea.  The only times we can have any children with us are when we are selling the cookies, and it is supposed to be just the Girl Scout selling, no siblings, or tag-a-longs as they call them, at all.  This includes infants strapped to your chest in carriers.
I managed to beg a parent into going to the training for us, just so that we could sell.  Now, I have to get the rest done.
My husband is gone.  My co leader is gone.  I have no family here.  I can't leave my breast fed, straight up clingy 8 month old with a sitter.  I'm screwed.
No one gets that, either.

You would think that most people in charge who work with the scouts have children themselves, and would be more understanding.  Not so.
Tomorrow morning is the big Booth Sale Lottery.  This is a huge deal in the cookie world.  This is when we get to select our locations for selling cookies.  If you don't go, you don't get booths.  If you do, you get the crap left over at the places that don't sell that no one wants.  Some of them even come with notes about which way to face to avoid the loads of indigent people that will be around.  Really, I don't want girls there.  So, going to this lottery is vital to each troop.
However, again, I can't take the baby.  I can't leave her with any one.  So, I can't go.The parent that helped me before has no child care for tomorrow.  He can't go.  I have a small troop.  Most of my parents are in the same situation I am, mostly military families with no one here to help out.
So, were all screwed.
What really upsets me is that this year, my parents are willing to put in the work because they all want their children to earn camp, but we are all hurt by a system that isn't understanding of our situations.  If we don't get these booths tomorrow, no one will earn camp.  We won't be able to sell enough cookies to do it.  There is no way.  None of us have childcare.  None of us can go.
I need my husband.  Not just tomorrow, but for this whole process.   I need someone here tonight to tell me just to breath, and that we will figure it out.  I need someone to have my back.
I don't though. Not right now. Not for a little while longer.
This is a hard life.  Nights like tonight, when you just need a hug, are the hardest.

So, its back to stressing out about what to do, and trying to find someone, anyone, to help out.

Yes, I look forward to his retirement.  I look forward to having him home, and being able to get that hug anytime I need it.  No matter what, though, for the rest of my life, I will always be understanding of those who are in the same situation I am in right now.  I will always extend my hand, or do anything I can, to help those who don't have the support they want and need because they are military families.
Tonight, I'm sending out lots of love and virtual hugs to all the military spouses sitting a home while their spouses are gone.  Much love to you all, and speedy return so that you too can get a hug, and maybe even a kiss.

We Did It!!!!!

Throughout this whole Girl Scout Cookie ordeal, we have had a goal.  One of the things we, as leaders, try to teach the girls is about goal setting, and planning to reach them.  When we sat down with our troop, the girls collectively decided that they wanted to sell 3,000 boxes.  That is a whole lotta cookies for 6 little girls.  We had them do the math, and that meant each girl needed to sell 500 boxes.  While there are lots of little prizes that the girls can earn for selling cookies, 500 boxes is the first big one.  When you hit 500, you get to go to camp.  Each of our girls wanted to do that.  They decided they could.  Honestly, I wasn't sure, but our leader said we could do it.  So, we all set our goals.

When I talked to The Big One alone about her goal, she was adamant that she wanted to hit 500.  She really, really wants to go to camp.  If we had to pay for a camp, they aren't cheap, either.  They are a few hundred dollars to start with for the cheaper camps.  So, if she wanted it, she would have to earn it.
She has worked really hard during all this.  She did walk-a-bouts with her cookie mobile wagon just about every weekend.  Sometimes more than once a weekend.  She did every booth sale we could get to.  The child has honestly worked for her goal.

Of course, her mother and father have worked pretty hard, too.  We are the ones going to the booth sales with her.  We have to take her one the walk-a-bouts.  In particular, her father has busted his rump moving cookies.  They have a new nickname for him at work in regards to selling cookies.  I don't want to post it, after all, I don't want to use that kind of language in relation to Girl Scouts, but I will say that he is being likened to a special kind of "working girl" who would sell cookies.  One variation of the two words in his nick name might both also have a double "o" vowel if you need yet another hint.  The point is not how crass the people he work with are though, in fact, they are realy to thank for supporting her.  So, if they want to call him some endearing term like that, I'll let them.

We had decided that we wouldn't focus on the prize throughout selling, but keeping her focused on her job, by not telling her how many cookies she had sold until the end.  We told her to work as hard as she could no matter what her progress.  We would tell her after everything was all said and done.
I was so nervous about trying to meet her goal, and I didn't want that for her.  The last weekend before booth sales, her leader and I decided to take a huge risk.  As I was counting up the sales we had left, and the number of boxes we had  to take to each one, I realized that the troop didn't have enough cookies for both of them to make it their goal.  So, I went and picked up 14 cases as the very last moment.
Half way through that weekend, I realized that she made her goal.  I started crying.  I do that a lot, I know, but I was so happy for her, and so proud of all the hard work.  I told My husband and thanked him for working so hard, too.  Together, we all did it.
I still wasn't going to tell her until the money was in, and the camp was selected, though.
Finally, yesterday I finished everything up.  Got my paperwork in, and money all done.  I submitted my report on what the girls earned, and selected their camp dates.  So, this morning, I showed her what she ended up at on the computer.  She read the screen, said the number out loud, and then started screaming, jumping in place, and then turning in circles all at once.  She was also chanting about going to camp.  It was awesome.  She and her friend who also sold enough to earn camp will be going together.  They may not get to be together in the same tent or cabin, but at least they will each have a friend at camp.
I'm thrilled.  She is thrilled.  I'm so excited that she earned her very first sleep away camp.  I know that this is something she will remember for the rest of her life.  I hope she loves camp, and cherishes the experience always.

Thank you to everyone out there who supported her, and really to anyone who bought cookies from any Girl Scout.  You have helped to make the day of not only The Big One, but many other happy kids out there.  The money you spent will go on to great thing, not just for camps, but community service projects that will hopefully make a difference in your own community.  You are all fantastic!

Support The Troops In the Yummiest Of Ways

The Girl Scout Council here in San Diego has a fantastic way to support our men and women in the military.  It happens to be one of the nicest, most wonderful ways to do something for the military that I have ever heard of, and its called "Operation Thin Mint".

Operation Thin Mint is program that lets anyone donate Girl Scout Cookies to our deployed troops.

When I think of our men and women serving overseas, my heart breaks sometimes.  I know how much they miss their families.  They miss this country.  They miss everything about home.  I think about some of the situations they live and work in, and how vastly different they are from what they know here.  I think about her terrible the conditions are in some of those camps for them.

I love to find ways to make things a little brighter or better for those that serve.  I want to brighten some one's day, and make them feel a little less homesick.

To me, there are few things in this world that are as American as Girl Scout Cookies.  Seriously, don't they rank just below baseball and apple pie?

So, the idea of being able to directly donate cookies to those serving abroad just sets my heart all a flutter.  I mean, this is such a great way to send a piece of home to someone who can really use it.

The program is super easy, too.  You give any girl scout that is participating the program the cost of one box of cookies, $4 for us, and tell them it is for Operation Thin Mint.  They mark it down, and a box of cookies is donated to the troops.  Just like that.

How cool is that.

The Big One loves it, too.  She knows how much it means when we send her daddy cookies when he is deployed and wants to give that to every person in the military that she can.  She would like to really help this program, and set herself a goal of 100 boxes to get to the troops.  If I could afford all 100, I would do it in a heart beat.  I love it that much.

To make it even better, you can even send thank you notes with your box.  Girl Scouts will gladly accept, and encourages, people to write little "thank you"s to go with all those cookies.  The idea of being a part of a pallet full of Girl Scout cookies with thank you notes is fantastic to me.

As if this program needed to be any better, the whole price of the donation is tax deductible.  Ask any Girl Scout about it and they can help you with that.

So, you get to support our military, support your local Girl Scout troop, and take a tax donation.  This to me, is the ultimate donation program.

If you, or anyone you know, would like to donate cookies to the troops, please contact me, or check with your local Girl Scout council about donating.  Help us to help the troops by sending in thank you notes, and buying a box in honor of every person you know who serves.  Make the day a little brighter for someone who does such an incredible job.

Cookies Galore

This year,  I am the Troop Cookie Manager for The Big One's Girl Scout Troop.  Yes, that is a real title.  We even get our own abbreviation (TCM) in all the hand out materials that parents get.
I am in charge of the whole cookie process for our troop.

I have to tell you, as much I used to think the whole cookie thing was a little crazy, that was nothing compared to the knowledge I have gained and the realization that this is nuts.

For starters, as the TCM, I had to attend training on how to do my job.  I was given a manual that is actually about a half inch thick, and the size of standard notebook paper.  There is tons of information in there.   I have found that manual to be invaluable already.  I carry it like my Bible.

Once I was trained, I had to train all the parents on cookie selling.  It sounds pretty simple, but it isn't.  There is a ton of paperwork for each parent to fill out.  We have opted to let the girls use an online Cookie website, so with the permission slips needed for that, and the cookies in general, I had to get at least 4 signed forms from parents.  On top of that, they had a parent hand book to go over.  We have to go over all the rules of the sale, some of which are very specific, and parents must adhere to all rules or else we, as a troop, face penalties.  It is all a bit much when you go over it, but we got it done.

After every one signs up, I have to put in an order for the entire troop for cookies.  We use the "Cookies Now" program here.  That means we dont' take orders.  You start selling from day one with cookies in hand.  I have to decide how many cookies the troop will need, how to divide up the order, and then maintain everything from that point through the sale.

I just finished picking up the entire initial order for our troop from the warehouse, and that is insane.

Imagine a large warehouse that has storage and loading/unloading facilities for semi-trucks.  I pull up to see 8 semi truck loading bay windows in a row full of Girl Scout cookies.  At each window is a different area with in our Council, all labeled so that you could find your Service Unit.  In each bay is a group of women, and thousands upon thousands of boxes of cookies.  You find your window, go up, and check in.  This means you take any paperwork they have for you, and then you count every case of cookies that they have preset on a pallet for you to make sure it matches what you ordered.  Once you say they are all there, you sign for the cookies, then go to your car.  We signed up for a time slot.  At your allotted time slot, you very quickly back up to the loading bay.  Women start jumping down, and this insanely fast loading process start.  IT has to be fast.  You have fine minutes to get your cookies loaded and get out.    Really.  Seriously.

I think the next best example of crazy is the booth sale lottery.  They call it a lottery, but it really isn't.  If you are familiar with sports at all, it is much more like a draft.  Every troop send a representative.  There are sign up sheets with time slots and locations of every booth sale we can get all around the room.  The process goes in rounds.  The first round starts, and a troop number is called.  That troop screams out of excitement, gets to run up, and make their time and place pick for their first sale.  Afterward, the next number gets called. It goes on and on until all each troop has been called once in the round.  Then round two starts.  There really is a lot of screaming and some power plays for good spots.  Teams from different troops sit together muttering strategies on getting the best spots.
Insane I tell you.

There is so much more involved with the whole process.  You have the booth sales to manage for your own troop, keeping the staffed, dealing with the girls, and keeping the cookies straight.  There is inventory and money to manage.  There is so much going on behind the scenes of those cookies rolling down the street in a wagon.

I guess, before I got involved in the whole process, I just never knew how intense it is.  This is serious business.

Along the way, we are trying to teach the girls a lot about life.  We are trying to help them gain skills they can carry over into adult hood.  We are trying to raise money for community service events and more.

I'm not trying to say cookies are bad, by any means.  I'm just saying, the next time you see a worn out parent standing next to a seven year old in front of a supermarket, who has probably driven them crazy with the process, buy a box, and give the parent a nod.  Not so much for the kids, but just to say, you must be one seriously dedicated parent to go through all this, and I respect that.

Fundraising Hell

It is the beginning of the school year, just over a month in, and already we are in fundraising hell. I don't understand it. We just got hit with our 4th fundraiser of the year. Yes. Four already. The first was a "sell them junk" fundraiser for the PTA, which I hate. Normally we try to sell. This year, we really didn't. I would rather write the PTA a check for $50 and be done with it. When I have that $50 laying around, I will. Oh, wait, I already wrote them a check for $50 when I joined the PTA. (Ten dollars for dues to cover two adults then a donation) So, I suppose I am covered there.

Next, came our first of two Girl Scout fundraisers for the year. In the fall, we sell nuts. No seriously. I swear we sell nuts too. Then, in the spring come the famous cookies. That one isn't so hard because people want the cookies. People don't so much want the crap or the nuts. Nuts definitely did better than crap, though, as we actually sold some.

After that the school started selling "Spooky Grams". It is a very peer pressure driven way of raising money for the fall festival at the school. You can buy your child a little Halloween themed sucker or cookie with a note stating who it is from. Your child can also buy them for other friends. Do you see the peer pressure coming at us from both the children and the adult peers? You have to buy at least one. You don't want your child to be the only one who doesn't get one. So far, we have bought three, and I expect another two minimum before it is over. Hey, peer pressure works.

Today, we received a flyer about a night out to eat to raise money for the PTA again. It is a set price pizza buffet that isn't that cheap. Again, this one has the peer pressure. Who is going? Who isn't going? Will my friends be there? Will I be left out?
I'm not sure if the peer pressure will overrule the wallet this time, but it very well might.

I know this is all to raise money for good things, but you have to give parents a break. We can't do this all at once. We need some space in there, and I don't just mean the space left in our wallet and empty bank accounts. Not only do we need the space, but we can't keep hammering people we know to buy stuff they really don't want to buy, but feel like they have to. I mean, who really buys that wrapping paper because they can't find any better or cheaper anywhere? You buy it because at least you won't have to throw it away, and you it won't give you zits or make you gain five pounds. Maybe you just buy the stuff that will make you gain five pounds because at least you can eat it. Either way, it is all stuff you can really live without.

So, please, high up people who run organizations, the PTA and Scout people, give us a little time. Space a few things out for you. Even though someone will have to bite the bullet and not get money right away, you might end up making more in the long run just by sharing your space a bit more. I'm over this fundraising hell, and would like to find a way just to help out, with out the burning sensation in my wallet.

It is just cookies!!

Since my husband and I first got together, he has made fun of the Girl Scouts out selling their cookies every single year. "Ankle biters" he calls them. In truth, they are pretty zealous in their efforts to sell you a box of cookies. Then again, it seems like some people go crazy over the cookies? Why all the hype? It is just a box of cookies!!

Anyway, this year, our own child is now one of smock and vested throngs out selling cookies in their uniforms. She will not be selling at store fronts, due to age restrictions, thank goodness, but none the less, she is selling.

Now that we are in the thick of things, I am beginning to understand why the girls get to crazy about selling. I have often heard Mary Kay representatives as belonging to the "pink Bubble" where their world revolves around MK. Well, I suppose in this case, these girls are in the cookie bubble. There are pep rallies, cheers, songs, parties, you name it, they do it to get hyped up to sell. I find it a little disturbing, honestly.

The thing that I find the most disturbing, is that they are given prizes for selling. Now, don't get me wrong, I believe in teaching children that there is a reward for hard work, but we are talking about selling cookies here, not mowing the lawn. The prizes are really crazy, too. This year, if you sell 2009 boxes of cookies, you get a helicopter ride. Yes. A real one. I believe that this is a lunch with the Girl Scout CEO, and a ride in a helo at the Operation Thin Mint kick off. That would actually be pretty cool. In fact, I think that last year they used a military helicopter for part of it, which would be super cool since her Daddy flies in helicopters for the military. Of course, it would be a little odd to watch her in a helo like his, with him being half way around the world, but I think I am How realistic is that for most girls? How do you sell that many boxes of cookies? If I had Donald Trump on my speed dial, or anyone who could afford just under 8k in cookies, I would be all over this, but alas, I don't.

So, we are going to be very realistic about all of this. We are going to set a reasonable goal for our first year selling, and I am going to show her how that hard work and dedication can also be paid off by knowing that you have done the best you can, and being proud of yourself, even without a helicopter ride.

Unless, any of you happen to have the Donald's number, and you wouldn't mind passing it on.

And, of course, if anyone wants to buy some cookies, please let me know. For just 95 more boxes, she can get a t-shirt. Then, when her dad comes home, I'll put her in the t-shirt, take her to his work, take a pic of her in the t-shirt in his helicopter, and call it a day. Hey, when you have the hook up, you have the hook up.