Merry Christmas Eve!
I woke up a bit groggy this morning, I'm not sure why. I awoke with kind of a jolt, only to immediately realize I hadn't overslept, missed an appointment, or something like that. A second of panic, followed by an immediate slow-down. As my heartbeat returned to normal, for whatever reason, I was thinking about how I got here. Waking up in this house. In Kentucky. Chihuahuas curled at my side.
10 years ago, if you'd said this would be my future, I would have laughed. I was 21, a senior in college, single, and had not a second to spare. I took a full load of classes, worked 30 hours a week, and coached a club volleyball team that monopolized my weekends.
I was waking up in a sorority house. In Oregon. To the sound of girls squabbling over who knows what (If you've ever lived with 60 girls, you know they argue about absolutely everything. No joke. Everything). Dreading having to drag my exhausted butt out of bed and into the rain to trudge to classes.
5 years ago, the hubby and I were newlyweds. I was 26. Working crazy, long hours for a large regional bank. I was working 60-70 hour weeks. Going to work at 6:30 in the morning and sometimes having to stay till 10 o'clock at night.
I was waking up in a rental house in Beaverton. In Oregon. To the sound of my roommate's blowdryer and the smell of Chanel perfume. Hating my life, because all I did was work. I was living to work, instead of working to live.
I still never would have believed I'd end up in Kentucky.
3 years ago, the hubby and I were starting to slide into a hopeless situation. We were living in Ashland, KY after packing up our lives to start over. In a tiny, very rundown rental. The 2 jobs that we had moved there for the hubby to get had fallen through, and the hubby was working for his father finishing concrete. For all of you who don't know, finishing concrete is extremely hard and takes a giant toll on the body. It is definitely a young man's job. The work was back-breaking, and very unsatisfying for the hubby. I didn't have a job, the hubby's job didn't pay well, and there weren't a lot of options for good jobs in the area. We'd burned through our savings and were beginning to accumulate debt.
We both felt the panic. And the heaviness of what we thought was a mistake.
It was around this time that the hubby got his job with the company he works for now. And life turned around.
The hubby loves his job. It pays well, enough that I don't have to work unless I want to. We were able to build our dream home out in the country. And I've been extremely thankful ever since.
Because now I feel grateful almost every morning I wake up. Because I wake up in my nice, warm bed in my beautiful master bedroom with 2 beautiful dogs right next to me. Because I'm not exhausted. Because I don't hate my life. Because it's not misery to get out of bed.
Life works in such mysterious ways :)
And... it's Christmas!
I have realized that all the treats I've shared thus far require very little work, and little-to-no baking. Well, this cookie takes care of that. The baking, that is. They are still very little work, though. These cookies actually utilize boxed cake mix with fantastic results. I was surprised by how much these cookies taste like sugar cookies. Really, really soft sugar cookies. Biting into these cookies is like biting into a little pillow. They really are that light and soft. Plus, everyone loves sprinkles, right? If you need a last minute cookie, these would be great. Thanks to the cake mix, it takes no time to mix the dough. They bake quickly, and come out delicious. No chilling. No rolling pins. You don't even need a mixer if you don't want to use one. I mixed these by hand. Easy peasy.
Seriously. Whip some up today!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas friends! :)
Ingredients (makes ~25 cookies):
1 (18.25 oz) box vanilla cake mix
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sprinkles
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly coat 2 cookies sheets with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and baking powder. Whisk to mix.
3. In a separate large bowl, combine eggs, oil, and vanilla. Whisk vigorously. Add cake mix mixture to wet ingredients. Stir vigorously until there are no remaining pockets of dried cake mix.
4. Add sprinkles to dough, use a spatula to fold in. Do not oevermix, or the sprinkles will start to bleed.
5. Using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop, drop rounded balls onto cookie sheet. I placed 16 cookies per sheet. They don't spread a ton. Bake for 8-9 minutes, but do not allow the cookies to get brown. 8 minutes was perfect for my oven. Remove from heat and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from sheet and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely before storage.
Looking for other quick cookie recipes? Try these!
