The Cookie Lady

Tuesday is, hands down, the best day of the work week. No contest. And let me explain why...

Mondays are the worst. Everyone knows that. You spend all weekend enjoying yourself and when that alarm goes off Monday morning, it's the mind-numbing reminder that the next five days will be spent toiling away at your desk, staring a computer screen for eight hours a day. Mondays have nothing to offer.

Tuesdays. Tuesdays, on the other hand are the most satisfying day of the work week at Morris Engineering. Not only do we have the occasional pleasure of welcoming my uncle to the office, but we also have the reliable arrival of The Cookie Lady. The Cookie Lady, whom those less familiar with her culinary talents might refer to as Betsy, arrives each and every Tuesday, usually around 10:30 or 11:00, without fail (except for the tragically upsetting week or two when she decides to take a vacation).

Now The Cookie Lady excites every single person in our office, not just me. When her little Toyota pulls into our parking lot, the first person to spot it declares "Cookie Lady Alert!" or "The Cookies Have Arrived!" And then we all play it cool. We sit down at our desks trying not to make it obvious that we are anxiously awaiting the new ziplock baggy full of goodness. She then walks over to Ray's desk, sets the ziplock bag down, turns around and walks back out the door. As soon as we see her car pulling out of the parking lot, someone rushes over to Ray's desk, opens the ziplock back and walks around to everyone in the office offering each of us our first cookie of the day. The ziplock baggy then gets placed on the table next to the coffee machine, officially declaring it communal property!

The Cookie Lady is Ray's mother-in-law and she makes THE best homemade cookies I've ever tasted. And she rarely repeats a recipe. We get cookies with m&ms in them, we get chocolate cookies with mint chips in them, and butterscotch cookies and oatmeal, and plain old chocolate chip. The list doesn't end. AND she's festive. For Christmas we had red and green m&ms in our cookies, and for easter we have pastel m&ms in our cookies. It's perfection!

Each week, after the cookies have arrived we stand around and discuss this latest batch and how it compares to the history of other cookies we have received from The Cookie Lady. There was only one week that we were disappointed in the results of her efforts, and we haven't received a similar sort of cookie since, much to our constant excitement.

The scariest part is that the ziplock bag full of cookies usually doesn't last until Wednesday. These cookies are so good that any time someone walks past the bag they grab a couple, and this continues until the cookies are devoured. If you don't make it in to the office on Tuesday, you don't get cookies because they aren't around on Wednesday morning.

So, here's to The Cookie Lady and Tuesdays for all of they joy they have brought me over the past year!

(During the vegetable season, she also brings us fresh tomatoes, zucchini and other fresh veggies from her garden, along with (of course) the cookies!)