Every cookie has its price.

I can go for extended periods of time without eating sweets, until I am eating them several times daily.  Does anyone else know what I am talking about?  And keep in mind, I am selective about what I will binge on.  If I buy store bought cookies, they will sit in the pantry until I throw them out. (they are just not binge worthy)  I bought a huge bag of jolly ranchers about three months ago and still am working off that same bag.  But, let there be peanut M&M's in the house and I am like a rabid addict, once started, can't stop.  Even worse....candy corn.  If I break down and buy a bag, I know that once it is opened, I might as well resign myself to eating most of it in one sitting (even as I feel sick), just to get it out of the house.

I was wondering where this behavior came from.  Especially since I am so particular in what will draw me in.  I think I had a glimpse into my madness when I was eating a oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (did I say singular - HAHAHAHAHA) and thought to myself, I need to hide these or Terry will eat the rest of them.  The good news was, I didn't hide them and even more good news...I had a "recovered" memory.

Chief negotiator and crew

When we were growing up, Mom had the pleasure (and I use the term loosely) of trying to instill a fair allocation of EVERYTHING amongst five children - all very close in age.  There was no special advantage to birth order since five in six years tends to level the playing field.  We took turns for everything.   We divided everything and we split everything.  Let me give some examples.

We all had chores which we were assigned weekly by the days of the week.  We each had our own day of the week (Mom always had Saturday and Sunday).  Not only did you have the chore that went with your day of the week but you got to sit in the front seat on your day of the week, and have first pick of TV shows on your day.  Obviously, no one worried about child height/weight/age for front seat safety back in those days!  And if you had Monday one week, you would have Tuesday the next and so on and so forth.

My brother and I loved to bake.  If we made a double batch of cookies (and made them small) we could usually get around 72 cookies out of that batch.  After they cooled, we would take the total number made, divided by six and put the cookies in six baggies - marked with our names on them.  Katy used to hide her stash.  I am sure mine never lasted that long.  We didn't fight over the special treats, Mom made sure of that.  We just divided them.

On Saturdays (Mom's day), before the Lawrence Welk show came on (and probably just to keep the complaining down), Mom made popcorn and allowed us to each share a 16 oz. bottle of Pepsi.  The rule was, whoever did the pouring, the other party got first picks.  We learned about fair share and fairness at a young age in our household.

Banana Bread

But perhaps one thing that isn't readily apparent  was a life long lesson  learned early on - negotiation skills.  Halloween night was like the New York Stock exchange with every one's treasures poured out and bidding going on that became more sophisticated, the older we got.  Ahhh, those were the days!

All I know is, some of my best childhood deals started out with "if you give me one of your cookies...."

Until next time,

#cantwaitforchristmasbaking

Your pal,

Kari