Cookies, Movies, and Ramblings!

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, room temperature ½ cup powdered sugar 1 tsp lemon extract 2 cups flour Powdered sugar to coat Directions: Preheat oven to 350° Beat butter with an electric mixer for two minutes, add powdered sugar and lemon extract. Stir in flour with a strong wood spoon until well mixed. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on aluminum foil lined pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before rolling warm cookies in powdered sugar. Place on rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar when cookies are completely cool. Makes about 3 dozen. This Lemon Snowball is a recipe I came up with probably 8 years ago, give or take a year. I wanted something like those peppermint cookies they used to make around this time of year, or the pfeffernüsse cookies that are so popular with those EU folk, but with a more widely appealing flavor. I discovered those powdered sugar covered wedding cookies but for some strange reason I never really liked nuts in my cookies so they simp...

1 cup butter, softened ½ cup confectioner’s sugar ½ cup granulated sugar ¾ cup peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups flour Cooking spray or parchment paper Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat softened butter with an electric mixer on medium for 1 to 2 minutes. Add peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla and continue to beat until all ingredients are mixed together (about another minute). Add flour and stir together with a rubber spatula. Dough should be light but able to hold a ball form. Roll the cookie dough into 1 ½ inch balls and place on lightly sprayed cookie sheet (or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper), about two inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before removing them from the pan or they will explode! (I mean break. Ho ho ho!)

Well, the jolliest month is nearly halfway through and it is very clear that barring some sort of Christmas miracle I will not make my weight loss goal for this year. I am extremely disappointed in myself. At this point I have lost 104 pounds since January first. My goal is 10 pounds per month, so I really want to be at about 115 this week and staring down 120 by New Year's Eve. Doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Not unless I magically drop 16 pounds in 20 days. And so far, my best has been 13 pounds in a month. Ah, if only I could go to The Biggest Loser fat camp for the remainder of the year! I am trying not to be too down about it around other people. They just don't understand, anyway. I realize what they are saying when they remind me of how well I have done overall and I try not to argue with them. They mean well, even if they don't get it. You know, it's the same bug that motivated me to lose the weight in the first place that is sitting in my ear an...