30 Days of Thanks – Days 14, 15, 16 and 17

Day 14 – Something new
I know I’ve said it before, but I’m thankful for this little guy. My something (someone) new.

Day 15 – a recipe
Soon, we’ll be past the Thanksgiving holiday and heading into Christmas….which means it’s cookie time! Specifically, peanut blossom cookie-time. Yum. I made these cookies for the first time last year (before last year, I had access to my mom and grandma’s cookies.) It was love at first bite.

Ingredients

1 cup shortening
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar for decoration
2 (9 ounce) bags milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and stir in the milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven, and immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. Allow to cool completely; the kiss will harden as it cools.

Recipe found on the internet here.

Day 16 – an experience
I ran my first marathon in 2007. I signed up on a whim, and trained with Team in Training. The day we got engaged, I ran my first 10-mile run. I had never even run a half marathon before I decided to do a full. I just remember one of my old cross-country friends telling me to go for the full, because if I did the half, I may never do a full.

I blogged about the experience. most of my race day photos were taken in the emergency room – the camera died while Kenny was trying to take pictures of me finishing. Go figure.

The race was pretty amazing. And the blog makes me smile when I remember that it’s still around.

Day 17 – a store
This sounds a little crazy, but I’m so grateful for Target. I can get just about anything I want need there. I remember what life was like without having Target in my life – and within driving distance – and it wasn’t pretty. Now I have two Target stores within reasonable driving distance of my house and it’s fabulous.

I’m also a little more poor because of Target.