This past week has been a little rough for me.  I know I just talked about having a bad day last week and surely don’t mean to sound complainy but last Thursday I found out one of the children I work with (I am a speech therapist in real life) passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  I was obviously pretty devastated when I found out but overall it has been a slow and sneaking kind of grief.  Usually I am fine, but just when I think that I am safe, the sadness will hit like a wave and overwhelm me for a time until it recedes again.   Mostly I am feeling the pain and loss for his sweet family.  Needless to say, I have been making an effort to be careful with myself this week and taking time to do things that are comforting for me.  This has meant letting myself make out-of-the-way trips to Fresh Market for my favorite Pumpkin Spice coffee and “Harvest” white chocolate covered pretzels, buying the cutest little white pumpkins I could find, lazing in my bed and reading my book, and letting the tiny kitten I found on the side of the road on Monday curl up and sleep on my chest for hours instead of being proactive about finding a home for him.  Comfort for me also meant spending a few hours on Tuesday evening making pumpkin cookies instead of any of the millions of other things I should have been doing.  Sorry world, but I have kicked the concept of practicalness to the curb at least for this week.  I choose to do what feels good.

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies by Libby’s Pumpkin

If any of you need some comfort food, I highly highly recommend this recipe.  The cookies are so soft and perfect that they melt in your mouth and taste like an explosion of fall.  Usually I would write the recipe here in the post but because I don’t really feel like it right now, I am not going to.  You don’t mind, right?  You guys can surely click the link to see the recipe if you so desire.

I added an extra 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp cloves to the dry mixtures.  This was in addition to what it already called for.  I also added an additional 1/2 tsp vanilla.  I almost always do this when I bake because I like my things really flavory and I really wanted these bad boys to taste like Autumn in my mouth.

And that is just about where I forgot to remember to take pictures.  Oops.  Sorry ya’ll.  You will just have to imagine the rest.

For the glaze, I used the recipe but added a little more milk and 1 tsp of cinnamon to flavor it along with a tiny bit of extra vanilla.

Of course they are delightful anytime, but I really find that they taste best in the morning with my cup of pumpkin coffee.  Since I forgot to take pictures and did not write out the recipe, I will make it up to ya’ll by sharing teany tiny kitten pictures.  I apologize to those of you who have seen these on facebook or instagram.  I am obsessed.