I intended on posting this last night so it was at least in the same week, but that obviously didn’t happen. So pretend you read this last night and you won’t be reading 52:1 and 52:2 in the same week.

I completed my random act of kindness on Friday. My husband’s schedule requires him to work out of town from time to time. Come the day before he is flying home, I’m scrambling to get everything done that I procrastinated about and didn’t finish in the time I had while he was gone. This last Thursday was no different. I had 5 loads of laundry to finish. Two bathrooms to clean. Sheets to wash and put back on the bed. Vacuuming and sweeping. The jeep was in desperate need of a clean up. Book club was on Saturday and I was co hosting, yet we had made previous plans, so I wasn’t attending. I was still in charge of the goodie bags, so of course, those needed to be finished as well to be delivered Friday morning. All of this and more needed to be done, all before gym class at 6 pm.

When I got up though and thought of everything I needed to get done, I got an idea for my first act of kindness. My post office. We live in a newer sub division and don’t have individual mailboxes yet. In fact, since most of Alaska is so spread out, most areas in town have cluster boxes anyway. That option isn’t available to us yet, so we had to get a PO Box. Luckily, our post office is less than a mile from our house and is a smaller version of the madness that is the main post office downtown.

The staff is fantastic. There are 3 regulars that work there, and few here and there that assist. They are always friendly and ask about your day. They remember my name. For a while, I CONSTANTLY lost my box key, yet they never complained when I had to ask for the 158th time that week for them to grab my mail because I didn’t have my key. They stay open until six, an hour later than the main branch, and on numerous occasions have stayed late to give people their packages, including yours truly.

I wanted to do something nice and let them know they are appreciated. You know what says that all at once? Cookies! Delicious, chocolatey, squishy, best ever cookies!

For most of us, whipping up a batch of cookies isn’t hard. I was able to do this, all while getting my chores done, and throwing together a cute little box. I even got to use my sweet new alphabet stamp kit. Something I totally needed, duh.

I threw together this little gift box, and even got all my list of things done. I had to leave to pick up Andy from the airport Friday morning, so I planned my delivery for then. I luckily had a slip in my box for a package, so I had an excuse to stand in line other than being the cookie lady. I handed the worker my slip, and handed him his cookies. His face lit up and he gave me a very genuine thank you. I explained that we always appreciate getting our mail on time, and the little things they do to provide great service. He thanked me again, and said he really appreciated the gift.

Mission accomplished.

As I left the post office, I thought, whether he eats them all, shares with the others, or even dumps them in the trash (food from strangers can be iffy, I’ll admit), it felt really good to know that even for just a few minutes I had made someone else’s day a little better.

For those of you that want to share in that joy of the best cookie ever, here you go:

2 1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch (the secret to the BEST part)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips ( I like to use Ghiradelli brand milk and white choc)

Mix all your ingredients like your supposed to. You know, liquids together, dry together, then mix the two, yada yada yada.

Here’s the kicker. Chill your dough for at LEAST two hours, up to 3 days. When ready, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and pull your dough to sit at room temperature for about 10 mins. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. I’ve found what works best is to form balls and squish flat a little before placing on sheet. Bake for 11-12 mins. NO MORE! I do mine at exactly 11 minutes and do my best to get them off the sheet asap, without destroying them in the process. They will look undercooked, which is what you want. They will be the perfect amount of a crispy bottom and a squishy inside.