Thin Mintgate 2000

I took a couple of years off college, and when I returned to finish my Bachelors degree, I lived off campus with 2 roommates, E & V, across the street from the Porter Square T stop in Cambridge, MA.

One summer, V sublet her room to a young woman whose name is lost on me, so I'll just call her Jane. Jane was very young and didn't appear to have much experience living with others, as noted by her lack of toilet paper buying, and more egregiously, she ate E's Thin Mints, which were in the freezer. Now people, what makes GSCs so special is that they are ONLY available for a short period every spring, and as mentioned, this was SUMMER.

Thin Mintgate put E over the edge and she chastised Jane for her social faux pas. Luckily, Jane redeemed herself by purchasing a Costco sized pack of TP and finding Thin Mints on the internet.

Don’t worry folks, I’ll be sure to raise my boys to ALWAYS respect other people’s Girl Scout Cookies.

Hey, that sounds kinda dirty.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas? Oh no, dear Internet Reader, it's. . .Girl Scout Cookie Time!!

My favorite Girl Scout Cookie are the Samoas, which at some point were deemed politically incorrect and renamed Caramel deLites, and now they go by both names. Second are Thin Mints (DUH!), which are especially good frozen. I have stories dedicated to each cookie, and I'll post them later this week, but for today, I'd like to share my own brief experience with the Girl Scouts of America.

Actually, I never made it to full Girl Scout status; I pooped out after Brownies.  Pretty much all of my childhood pursuits ended in half assed Monkey Brainery (See: flute, viola, piano and acting lessons). I mean who are we kidding? I'm sure the focus and ability to finish stuff that is required to be a successful Girl Scout goes against the very heart of a Monkey Brain.

I think that I was so bad at Brownie-ing that I blocked everything out but the following:

First, Brownies met on Tuesdays. And it was on a Tuesday in third grade that I was wearing my Brownie uniform and my mom had to pick me up because I had lice (I blamed Smelly R, because obviously smelly boys also carried lice--DUH). Instead of going home, we went to the New Rochelle Mall, did some Christmas shopping and I got my picture taken with a particularly crazy-eyed Santa (I REALLY wish I had that picture!), whom I probably gave lice. Oops.

Second, I was a horrible cookie seller. Painfully shy and introverted, going door to door? And selling stuff? To strangers? Oh the panic. I'm pretty sure that some of my cookie-loving family members were my best customers. This was before the days of Girl Scouts setting up shop in front of the local Safeway where all they had to do was show their yummy wares and impulse shoppers like me are hooked. I sold cookies when we had to bring order forms to our neighbors, and remember to deliver the dang boxes. In the snow! Uphill both ways!

Anyhoo.

God bless Girl Scout Cookies and the United States of America! (And God bless the extra calorie burn of breastfeeding!)

Oh good gravy, and chocolate, and noodles, and did I mention the salt?

I’ve been trying to be mindful of my food groups for this pregnancy, using the USDA pyramid for moms to gauge and my nutritional needs. Overall, it’s been going pretty well, getting my DHA, veggies and whatnot. However, this last week has been all out of whack:

Thursday: The Great Salt Lick Fiasco of 2009
Friday: Veggie Madness, featuring roasted Brussels sprouts
Sunday: Sugarpalooza, sponsored by marshmallow crisp rice bars
Monday: No Carb Left Behind Tour 2009, with a salt lick chaser
Tuesday: Brought to you by the letters M. . .&M (peanut)

I read somewhere that when studied, toddlers get their overall food needs over the course of a few days, so if they miss out on a given food group in one day, they’ll make up for it later. This is what I tell myself when I have thoughts like, well, if the Dead Sea runs out, they can always drain my pregnant body, which is now carrying enough sodium to float an elephant in spring water.

Monkey Brain

When I was thirteen, I had a bunny rabbit named Mopsy. We installed a salt lick for her, which basically looks like a white roll of stone toilet paper, made out of compressed salt. I remember thinking, what weirdo animal needs to lick salt?

Based on the amount of sodium that I consumed today, I'd say it's time to drop all pretense of "food" and just install a salt lick in my office. Seriously folks, no amount of cucumbers will offset the last twelve hours.