It's that time of year again.  If you are on a diet, you hate it. If you count the days until you can get your hands on a Samoas Cookie, you love it.  In the South, we call that Girl Scout coconut cookie a Caramel de Lite because there are two bakers for the cookies. If you ask me, there must have been a spat on Girl Scout cookie names and ABC Bakers who supplies NC cookies, did not win the fight.

The popular Girl Scout cookie Order Here:

The original naming rights apparently went to Little Brownie Bakers. I spend half my time during Girl Scout cookie season trying to decipher a person's request for a Do-Si-Dos cookie followed by a Tag-a-Long.  Damn it, we are raising funds for the same Girl Scout organization. Can't people make the cookie names consistent?  Do we really need two cookie names for the same cookie and two different types of s'mores cookies, depending on the baker? Geesh!! But, at least we all know that a thin mint means a thin mint cookie no matter the baker.



As a mom to a seven-year-old Daisy, I have a love-hate relationship with the Girl Scout Cookies. I love eating them. That's where the love stops. As for my Daisy, she is more excited about eating the twenty boxes of cookie that her Dad bought from her than selling and delivering cookies.

We've sold a few cookies to our neighbors. Selling is fun. Delivering the goods is not so fun, especially when you get out of school late and it gets dark early.

I always text before delivering to a customer because I'm certainly not going to waste time going if no one is home. Half the time, Liza doesn't even want to go and deliver to the people who bought cookies from her. I have to tell her that the neighbors may have a cat or dog. That gets her motivated for at least one trip or two.

For one nice neighbor, it took us several days of texting to coordinate a delivery. I would text. He wouldn't be home. He would text and it was too late to go over. At one point, he was in his car getting ready to leave when I texted so I ran outside and he did a "drive-by" on his way out of town. He was a big spender at 5 boxes.

On Thursday, we finally had a free block in our schedule to try to tackle some more deliveries. She wanted to ride her bike. We weren't going far, but a bike trip turned what would have been a five-minute walk into a 20-minute bike ride one way. She is slow. Biking is not faster.  Math was never my strong point, but that is almost an hour to deliver just four boxes of cookies when we have a whole stack to deliver in the garage, but it is what is is.  At least one Girl Scout cookie customer would be eating well in the neighborhood tonight.

Since my son was in the house, I closed the garage door and went out the side garage door. I checked the handle and off we went.

We returned almost 40 minutes later, in the dark.  I told you it would take us a long time with her on that bike. I told her to stay in the driveway and I would let her in through the garage. Or so I thought. It turns out that when I checked the handle of the side entry garage door before we left, it really was not unlocked.

We were locked out of the house. Luckily, I had my phone so I didn't feel totally helpless, but the two of us went to the front door to try to get Jack's attention.

I imagined at this point that he's celebrating that he is alone in the house. I envision him with his headphones on and deep into whatever computer game he's playing.  He was not answering the door.

We kept ringing the doorbell like maniacs.  And we didn't just ring and stop. We did a continuous ring that would signal panic to most ears.

Honestly, we were in panic mode by this point.  Once we realized we could be stuck outside then the little one had to pee, and pee badly.

I did what anyone would do in an emergency. I called my husband.  This just happened to be the one night he had plans getting the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby race set up.  He didn't answer.

I was on my own.

We rung the bell again. And again.  And again. Finally, I saw a figure. He opened the door looking at us as if we were wild, crazy people.

He said, "Why didn't you ring the doorbell like a normal person? I thought it was Liza playing."

We were not playing, but I was so happy to be rescued. I then walked out the patio door to get her bike, and bam...somehow my finger got smashed into the door.

In less than a minute, I went from panic to misery.  All because of Girl Scout cookies.

That my friends is my tale about the day that we delivered just four boxes of cookies to a customer. Just forty more to cookie deliveries to go and two cookie booths to work.

But, at least she's cute. I do all of it for her. but I draw the line at camping. Not going to happen. What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie?

Shop Liza's online cookie site for those out-of-towners.

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The other day I posted the following to my personal Facebook feed. 

"Often times, I pull into the garage, the kids get out of the car and go into the house. I stay in the garage for a few minutes looking at my phone because it's quiet. I relish the quiet. It's hardly ever quiet in my car. Shortly, I hear chaos inside. Yelling. Screaming and sometimes crying. It usually happens within three minutes of my kids going inside. I so often want to just back out of the garage. They eventually find me and my peace is gone. That is is parenting reveal for today."

As parents, I think it is important to realize that we are not perfect. We are human. And it's OK to have these thoughts. It's just not OK to act on them. Therefore, I never back out of the garage, but that certainly doesn't mean I didn't want to do it. And I'm OK with admitting these feelings. I think we need to verbalize our feelings for us to be healthy as parents. 

I've been working to archive some of my older posts, updating posts and photos. Folks, this little blog is  like a time capsule. There are six years of personal stories mixed in with recipes and other miscellaneous stuff.  While doing so, I came across a post I did when I was looking at magnet schools in February 2011 for my son to start kindergarten.  

Guess what? I've come full circle with a big loop of deja vu. We are back again looking at schools, but this time it is middle school. 

This time. I think he's ready, but I'm not sure I'm ready. We have loved our elementary school experience and its' size. The school we've applied to this time has more than 1,000 kids and the 6th grade is half the size of his current elementary school. 

But, I know it's the right fit. It's time for him to grow and have even more opportunity. I took him to every school we were considering, not once, but twice. I really wanted him to pick where he wanted to go to middle school.  In kindergarten, we didn't do that. It was our choice. 

Now things need to be differently. He has his own interests. He has own comfort level and feelings. 

We are all in agreement of where he would like to spend his next three years in school. But, it's not up to us totally. It's still a lottery system, but we are going into this magnet pool with some weighted priority so we're hopeful that it will all work as planned. 

On one of the days we were touring, I decided to take him to lunch before taking him back to school for the day. He's my foodie in the family. I thought this would be a good opportunity to explore all of those downtown Raleigh restaurants that we never explore with his sister who is more of a cheeseburger and chicken tenders cuisine type of gal.  The plethora of restaurants would be ours on this day. Just me and him. We could do, Asian, Sushi, Italian, Greek, German, Southern Chicken and Waffles. You name it. We could do it.  It would be fun. 

He couldn't decide.  He finally came up with the idea that chicken salad would be nice for lunch. 

I said, "I know the perfect place. They have great soups, sandwiches, salads and chicken salad." 
We went there. He looked at the menu. The chicken salad was the gourmet kind with grapes and pecans. 

"But, it's good," I said exasperatedly.  I was not liking his attitude. 

He was being stubborn and refused to look at anything else on the menu. He had wanted chicken salad, but he had his own idea of what that chicken salad would taste like to him, and it did not contain pecans or grapes. He wanted nothing fancy about it. 

In front of people, I snapped, "Fine. I'm taking you back to school." And we walked out with my pushing him out the door. I think I even mumbled how ungrateful he was because I'm sure other kids his age don't have his opportunities. 

"Don't take me back. I don't like chicken salad with pecans and grapes. I just want to eat plain chicken salad," he exclaimed. 

"Well, where do you like chicken salad?" I was annoyed because my whole idea of lunch was going down the tubes rather quickly. 

"I just want some plain chicken salad." he stated. 

I'm not sure what made me come to my senses. Perhaps, I realized that my goal was to spend quality time with him. It shouldn't be about the menu or even chicken salad. Instead, it should be about being together. Sometimes, we have our own set ideas that it can make it difficult to see through the forest when trouble comes along. 

Maybe an angel helped me come to my senses, but I must have had some divine intervention because I very quickly realized that this day was about him deciding his future.  I didn't need to win this battle. 

I said, "I'm taking you to the perfect place to get chicken salad. There is no place to sit, we will make do. I used to love getting their chicken salad." 

And we went to Snoopy's, a Raleigh institution since 1978. We parked on a side street and walked to the little drive-in that only takes walkers. 

We loved our lunch on a little bench outside the restaurant. It was the perfect city picnic. 

It turned out to be a beautiful day. There was not a pecan or grape in sight. 





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The first day of January is like a brand new beautiful baby to us.  It's so fresh and new.

I love it because it's a brand new start. Yes, we can wipe that "old 2016 slate" clean.

When January comes, we all have great ideas to boom our businesses, lose weight around the middle, and have more fun. We have good intentions to laugh more, fuss less, and get enough shut eye so that coffee is not a necessity, but rather a luxury perk.

Then after a couple of weeks, this little new little new year baby even though still fresh and fun starts to aggravate you a little just like past years. There are meetings. Housework to work.  PTA meetings to attend. Children continue to have homework and projects due. Bills need to be paid. And there is no telling what Trump will tweet. You almost dread to see your Facebook page to see what your friends are selling, who is on a glamorous vacation or who has died. (Y'all know I have a sense of humor I sell things just like the rest of them.)

Oh yes, it may be a new year, but over time, the scenarios repeat itself.

How many of you have had this little drama unfold?

It's Sunday night at 7 pm and your child just so happens to remember the following important information, "Hey, Mom. I am supposed to bring cupcakes to school tomorrow."

"Now you tell me. You could not think to tell me when we passed the cupcake aisle at Harris Teeter five hours ago.?"

Or this one?

I ask a 5th grader at 3:50 pm on a Thursday. "What type of homework do you have tonight?"

Response. "Just a quick worksheet."

Wonderful. He plays on the computer because the silence is golden.

Fast-forward to 10 pm at night. "You need to go to bed now. It's really late."

Panic sets in.  It escalates. "I have a test tomorrow. I forgot. "

Yep, that's called Parenthood.

Our word for every year is usually chaos.

But, we wouldn't have it any other way. Chaos is pure joy to parents even in the weirdest way. Just when you feel like you want to drop them off at the fire department or maybe it would be less hard to send them to a really good boarding school, they do something that makes your heart melt.

As chaotic as our life is, our children make our lives worth living.

We just all wish for a child-free escape every now and then.

Happy New Year!!! If you can, tell me your funny child scenario that will ring in your chaos in 2017 and where you would like to escape to on any given week.

As you daydream, don't forget that you can book your stays with Marriot.com off my site as well as Hotels. com, Living Social and Expedia.