Reply to "How Much Spread to Expect from Good Sugar Cookie Recipe and Technique?"

I've baked cakes here with no adjustments to leavening - cakez that I also baked on the coast of California - and the results were same as at that lower altitude - so my conclusions with cookie leavening confused me too; although I have been too busy with be orders to question it.  Makes me wonder if I have something else afoot.  Perhaps my switch to H&R flour?  Costco unsalted butter?  The new oven?  I wish I could get any recipe to perform reliably.  Perhaps I need to start weighing every ingredient and head back to the drawing board.  I'm often trying to squeeze cookies in around other activities and frequent interruptions, so I think my techniques, dough temperature, and measurements may not be as reliably uniform as they ought to be - perhaps that's why I can't get a recipe to behave?