Need something to look forward to in this never-ending winter? Never fear. Girl Scout cookies have arrived.

A large group of moms and other volunteers braved the snow Thursday morning to sort through Scotch Plains-Fanwood's shipment. The truck arrived at 8:30 a.m. to Evangel Church in Scotch Plains, and with it came 3009 cases of cookies, 814 of which were thin mints. The truck workers made their delivery from Orange County, N.Y., where they said winter weather all week had caused some of their trucks to get snowed in. Luckily, the SP-F one was able to make the delivery to the waiting Girl Scout volunteers.

Proclaimed "Cookie Diva" Liz Hensley employed a highly-organized system for sorting the cookies. The men on the truck worked diligently to unload case after case, only taking down one of the eight flavors at a time. Once out, Hensley counted the boxes, signed off on the order, then gave the go-ahead for the rest of the volunteers to take them away. The volunteers used hand trucks, wagons, or just their own two arms to move the boxes around, delivering them to different areas of the room depending on each troop's order. Papers arranged throughout the room signified a troop's cookies needs. On each sheet were colored triangles representing the flavors needed, then inside those triangles were white circles containing the number of cases ordered for that flavor. The volunteers spread the cookies until each case made its way to a troop's pile. The piles were then double checked for errors.

Because unloading the truck was a lengthier process than the organizing of the boxes, there was plenty of time for the volunteers to stand around and chat. One topic of conversation among the moms was the new price of Girl Scout cookies, which has jumped to $4 from $3.50. Some people thought that this would discourage people from buying, while others thought that they would end up with about the same amount of profit. One woman pointed out that the $4 price meant that no one had to carry around quarters for change. 

Another topic of conversation was the ethics of selling to friends and family who don't live nearby. Some women thought that it provided too much of a hassle, while others were all for selling to anyone willing to buy because it's such a help to the Girl Scout troops. One woman even took a picture of the cookies with her phone and uploaded it directly to Facebook, stating that doing so in the past has prompted people to request cookies and thus increased her sales slightly.

Moms also commended "cookie diva" Hensley on her Girl Scout-sorting methods. Hensley, who has been heading the local effort for six years now, said she was surprised, but happy, with the number of volunteers who showed up on Thursday morning, noting that they all did the job well and efficiently.

Now, it's all up to the troops to distribute their goods so the cookie eating can begin.