and that's the way the cookie crumbles

I understand the meaning. Shit happens, and sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it. So there's no use getting your panties in a bunch.

Perhaps, it's my love of all things food -- particularly of the baked goods genre -- but I would get pretty upset if my cookie crumbled, in both the literal and figurative sense. In terms of the former, it simply seems like a waste of good baking materials. Chewy and gooey and raisin-less cookies are the best anyway, so if your cookie crumbles, try a different recipe.

Now to the latter. Shit happens, I get it. But I don't like the idea that there's nothing you can do about. True, you can give something everything you've got and still all you have left is a failed attempt at basket weaving, or trigonometry, or any of the things and/or people that you think are important to making you happy. But you gave it a shot -- you took the bull by the horns and said 'Hello, bull. I'm not going to let you crumble my cookie.' And in the Book of Shelley's Stuff and Things, that ain't nothing. That's SOMETHING.