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Girl Scouts feed my annual addiction

Tahoe Daily Tribune

It is my mom’s fault that I am a cookie snob. I hate store bought cookies.

So it is a very good thing Girl Scout cookies are sold outside of stores.

You see, as soon as I was tall enough to reach the counter I was mixing up batches of cookies. Mom said if we (me and my three sisters) wanted cookies, we could make them ourselves.



Mom had spent years baking us cookies, so we knew her recipes were the best. She had spoiled us by passing on the crunchy, boring perfectly shaped grocery store variety.

And by making us figure out that three teaspoons make a tablespoon, that brown sugar should be stored in Tupperware, that flour really doesn’t need to be sifted, she was teaching us to be bakers. Now it is something her four girls all excel at.



Ultimately she was making us self-sufficient. Of course we didn’t realize that at the time.

Mom still makes a mean cookie. In fact, she has no problem spending the time it takes to create sugar cookies — decorated of course. Until you make them, you don’t have a good appreciation for the labor involved. I am often the beneficiary of these when she comes to visit or I head to her house.

But mom did something else. She brought Thin Mints into the house once a year. I don’t know if she or dad like them more, but let me tell you Girl Scout cookies don’t last long in their house.

Earlier this year, I was thrilled to find out I was working in another office where a colleague’s daughter doesn’t hesitate to go from desk to desk taking orders for these addicting creations.

Lauren, 8, had no problem filling out her form with just my cohorts’ orders. Last week was D-Day — Delivery Day! This member of Troop 577 had handful after handful to dole out.

Her sister, 10-year-old Rachel, is in Girl Scout Troop 1206. The two worked in tandem to sell and deliver the sugar concoctions. They did all the packing and verifying of money without their mom’s help.

I started off with six boxes of Thin Mints. I’m not about to divulge how little is left. Some went into my desk drawer, some into my freezer. Chilled is the best way to eat them; along with a glass of milk.

I had thought six boxes would get me through for a year. And they probably would have, but days after Lauren and Rachel hit me up, I saw my 7-year-old niece.

Unlike when I was a Brownie, these girls in brown sell the trademark cookies each winter. I could hardly turn Jacqueline down. She is going to give my three boxes of Thin Mints to my mom, who is supposed to give them to me later this month.

Usually I trust my mom. But she has such a weakness for Thin Mints I may have my niece mail me them.

I’m thinking my whole family should probably get into therapy because of our addiction. It’s so bad I refuse to go the grocery store while the girls are out peddling there goods for fear I may buy more.

The way I keep eating them, I’m going to turn into a Heavy Mint.

Kathryn Reed is managing editor of the Tahoe Daily Tribune. She may be reached at kreed@tahoedailytribune.com or (530) 541-3880, ext. 251.


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