Girl Scouts

This year I signed Kimberly up to be a girl scout.  I was a girl scout growing up and loved it.  There was so much we did and I loved earning badges.  So I have always wanted Kimberly to be a girl scout.  This year at her school, they started a troop.  I was so excited and so was she.  The first day we went, they mentioned they needed help like leaders.  I don't know why but I knew I wanted to be a leader.  Maybe it was because my mom was my leader... not sure why.  So I signed up to be a leader.  Within the first couple of weeks, I also signed up to take on the title Cookie Manager.  I didn't really know what this entailed but it sounded fun.  UGH!  I should have read all the details of Cookie Manager.  Just kidding.  It has been very stressful but a good challenge.  Our troop consists of about 45 girls.  Yes that is a lot but the first year of a troop is free to the troop.  It is called a Discovery troop.  I am sure when the girls have to pay next year, the numbers will drop.  So as Cookie Manager I am in charge of 45 girls' cookie orders.  Yes it is insane.  Just trying to get all the orders on time was a nightmare (some of the familes don't speak a lot of English).  Then I have to proof each cookie order to make sure the additions are correct.  Then I have to enter them into the cookie system.  That doesn't sound so bad, right.  But then we have to guess at how many cookies we might sell during booth sells.  When we make this guess, we have to divide it up among the 8 kinds of cookies.  This is basically a crapshoot.  You never know how many cookies you are going to sell.  If you get too many, you are stuck with them as a troop and have to pay for them.  If you order too little, you might run out before all your cookie booths are done.  A complete joke for a Cookie Manager.  Then you have to take all these booth cookies and divide them up among your girls in your troop.  They say to be fair and equal... a little hard when you have 45 girls.  So much stress!  Oh and to top it off, you are on a time-line and have to have all this done by a certain time and date.  Luckily I was able to get it all done with 6 hrs to spare.  I think I have done an ok job.  I hope so anyway.  For now I am on a cookie break.  Until the end of the month when all 5400 boxes of cookies arrive and I have to figure out a way to get them to my house, divide them up among the girls, and deliver them.  Not to mention during all of this... my sweet Kimberly girl scout sold 265 boxes of cookies (most of them door to door).  I am so proud of her.. and honestly a little happy with myself too!

Not sure if I am going to take on this challenge again next year.  (I do have an advantage having done it one year... don't tell my hubby I said this!)