Lessons From Sugar Cookie Dough

Tonight I started my Halloween sugar cookie process.  Making the dough is not my favorite part but it is what is needed before you can make the cookies. Needless to say I have been able to learn a few life lessons while making sugar cookies over the years. I know it sounds kind of strange to say that but trust me when I say it is a surprise what you can take away from sugar cookie dough.
My first lesson is one that m mother taught me when I she taught me how to bake / cook.......Clean Up As You Go.  She taught me that if I spill something to wipe it up and not wait until the very end.  I think this lesson can be used for more than just baking.  But I will confess if you look at my room right now you will see that I am not too good at following this rule.  LOL  I have tried to clean up my messes as I make them.  Sometimes it has taken me awhile but I have tried my best to do so.  I have also probably been to cautious so I would not make too many messes, I am not very good at cleaning. Another thing thing that I have learned from making these sugar cookies is there is going to be something added that you have to do that you don't like but you can't let that one thing ruin it for you.  I do not like sour cream. I do not like the smell of it, the feel of it, or the taste of it. The sugar cookie recipe that I make calls for sour cream to be added.  I am sure if I did not add the sour cream they would taste fine but they would not be the same.  I have learned that sometimes in life you have to do something you don't like but that doesn't mean your whole life is going to be bad.  Just do it and enjoy the rest of the wonderful stuff that comes with it. I am sure a mother doesn't like changing a dirty diaper or two but it is something you have to do when you have a child. Yet I am sure that all the other stuff that comes with being a mother is worth it.  
There also comes a point when I am making the cookies where I have to add lots of flour.  There comes a point in this process where the beaters on the mixer are not strong enough to mix all the flour into the dough. At that point I do not stop mixing and say the dough is done because it is not.  It is sticky and will not roll out correctly if I stop now.  So in order to finish and make the dough just right I have to put the beaters aside and use my hands, yes I wash them first.  LOL I have to really get in there and mix the dough. The lesson I have learned from this is you have to finish the job even it it starts to get hard.  Sure I would like to stop when the beaters stop working but then the job / dough is not done.  So you have to keep going until it is ready and you are done.  The flour is the last step for the dough making process and once it is all done I cover up the dough and put it in the fridge to chill. So you see sometime there are good thing in life that take work and if you don't put in all the work you will never fully understand or realize its full worth.  Things in life are going to start out good and maybe easy but there will come a point where it starts to get hard.  You can't give up! You have to keep going, keep working, and do all that you can to finish and when it is all done you get to sit back and chill for awhile until the next adventure begins.