Not to brag or anything, but I'm REALLY good at starting things. I'm like a Starting Things Superstar. When I want to do something or something needs to get done... I just go for it. I say... why waste time? Push that start button on the microwave. Don't just stand there trying to decide if it needs 20 seconds or 37 seconds to warm up enough to not be a popsicle but not so much that it turns into molten lava in your mouth. Just press start. Your kids are going to need your desperate help finding their shoes before it's over anyway. And then you'll be under the bed wondering who gave them that battery operated hamster when you discover 7 years worth of laundry that never got washed which will remind you that you're actually out of laundry soap because you never remember to put it on the list...but you have a coupon...if only you could find it...and then it's 3 days later and you realized you never did get to eat that food in the microwave. So really...jus...

Sometimes I get a little wrapped up in cookies. Sometimes I can't stop thinking about them. I'll be walking through the grocery store and notice a snowflake pattern on a box of cookies and then completely zone out trying to remember if I have a cutter that would work for that pattern while simultaneously planning 4-5 more designs that would complete the set perfectly. I end up at home 20 minutes later with 3 jars of sweet pickles, Ajax and a bag of Cheetos that my daughter swears I just bought for her. I mean... sure, you could use the word "obsessed" if you wanted to get all detailey and accurate. But really, haven't we all been there? The poppy cookies I made for Veteran's Day have been living their own life this week. They kept me up at night and made an awful mess of my house. And they would not stop talking to me. They just didn't come out right the first time. But I couldn't decide what was wrong with them. My head said everything...bu...

Oooh. It's been awhile since we've talked about fun new cookie products! And that's been all my fault. Because there is some really cool stuff that has come out this year. Let's back things up a little though and talk about silver sprays today. If you don't have an airbrush, you can still get a metallic finish on your cookies by using an edible silver spray. I tried out the Wilton silver color mist and PME lustre spray. And I've got to tell you... I was a little surprised! When I sprayed the PME silver -- I wanted to EAT IT. It smells amazing! The other surprise is that neither of the silvers are actually opaque. I had some blotching on my cookie (due to an experiment in blotching!) and neither of the sprays covered it. Wilton Silver Color Mist $3-$6 (Find it online HERE ) Pros:   You can find this pretty much everywhere crafts are sold.  It's cheap. It's a true, light silver color. Cons: It smells like spray paint.  At only ...

  I don't know what it is like to go to war. I've never done it. But I know what it's like to love a soldier. To sit with them as they sort their belongings into piles and carefully pack and re-pack that green bag. To walk with them as they cross a bustling parking lot and toss it on to an already full truck. I've watched them trying to stay busy in those final hours before boarding a plane. And I've walked away, willing myself to look back, but knowing I would never figure out how to start breathing again if I had to force myself to turn away one more time. I've seen the inside of hours that never go away. Months that never end. I've read letters and written letters and stayed up all night hoping for phone calls. I've listened to half details and tired conversations that end abruptly. I've spent my life praying that the change in his voice, that edge, wouldn't always be there. I've been to those homes. The ones where they aren't c...

Sometimes cookies stress me out. Usually it happens when I realize I haven't even started on them and it's already 8pm the night before the cookies are needed, which is usually also the same day that the entire neighborhood is coming over to celebrate a Victorian Tea themed birthday party for my 3 year old daughter that includes period costumes for everyone and coincidentally, also turns out to be the same weekend I intend to climb Mt. Everest...blindfolded. So you know...not a lot going on besides cookies. I've come to really appreciate the under appreciated cookie designs. You know, the ones that will never be the hero and save the princess from the dragon in the castle. Just the regular, working class cookie designs that make sure everyone gets where they need to go safely but no one realizes how crazy important they are until suddenly all the flights in the entire country are grounded for days and you're stranded at the airport with no way to get home an...

Learn how to make some gorgeous pear decorated sugar cookies for fall or Thanksgiving with this royal icing cookie decorating tutorial!! It's barely the middle of October and I'm already tired of making pumpkin cookies. All that orange. And the segments. And THEN you have to go and pipe a stem on top. A STEM. Like I've got time to go around piping stems on top of pumpkins. I've already got weeks worth of laundry piling up and now I've got to be worrying myself about pumpkin stems? I don't think so. I'm never going to make it through November. And it's definitely too early to skip ahead to Christmas. I mean, it's not even cool enough to turn off my air conditioner.  I absolutely refuse to get in the Christmas spirit until I can open a window and not feel the urge to bathe in popsicles. (Blue raspberry...in case you were wondering.) It's time to do something drastic. We're just going to have to start a revolution. A PEAR revolution! Pleas...

You know how kids get super tired, but they don't really understand tired yet, so they just end up falling asleep in the weirdest places? My son was like that. He fell asleep on some pizza once. But right before that happened, he kept trying to pick it up with the handle end of his fork. When he couldn't get that to work, he looked down and finally realized what he was doing. He started crying and asked, "What's happening to me?!" 20 seconds later, he was out cold and didn't even wake up when his dad opened a bag of candy. And you *know* how kids have cellophane crinkling radar. I feel like that right now. Tired beyond normal reasoning...yes. Wishing I was eating pizza...yes. But mostly -- What's happening to me??!! It's already October 7th and this is my first Halloween post of the year??!! Remember when I used to start posting Halloween cookies in August ? Sigh... the good old days. When I actually posted the cookies I made. Because... if we...

  **Fair Warning-- This post is a little wordy and full of numbers and zero actual cookies.** Remember last spring when over TWO THOUSAND of you poured your icing covered hearts out to me in an icing issues survey? I promise I didn't forget! I wasn't keeping it a secret. I *may* have lost my notebook for a few weeks this summer...but here is what I've been up to --  First -- I compiled all the numbers and made a bunch of charts and mathed things out in percentages looking for patterns and possible theories that might solve all of our icing problems. Second -- I asked for volunteers to help test those theories (and was overwhelmed by the very generous lot of you that said yes!!) I sent out different ingredients with varying methods of mixing, storing, and coloring icing. All my volunteers tested those ingredients and methods and reported back. Third -- I put all *that* information together in more charts with lots more scribbles. Some of my theories were compl...

There are two things that every cookie decorator asks me. The first -- what do you DO with all the cookies you make? The answer -- All sorts of stuff. I let my kids eat them. I let the neighbor kids eat them. I give them to everyone who will take them. I surprise teachers and coaches with them. Sometimes I throw them away when it's actually taken me 3 weeks to get myself on track and actually finish the cookies. And sometimes I give them to my friend because she likes to make magnets out of them. And the second question -- How do you keep from eating them ALL THE TIME?! The answer to that is surprisingly simple. I don't like baked goods. Cakes, muffins, cookies, pastries all have a near zero appeal to me. I would consider myself the luckiest girl in the whole wide world if I didn't know my deep secret. I LOVE CANDY. All kinds of candy except the kind that are just chocolate and nuts. I only merely like those kind. But if it's brightly colored -- I'm in love. ...

Can we talk about paper for a minute? More specifically -- the pages of a book. I know I'm a blogger and this pretty much goes against everything internetty that ever was... but I just adore books. I like the weight of them. And the smooth smooth paper. And I like that things stay in the same place. If that one recipe you love and adore more than your first glitter nail polish is on the bottom of the left page...it's always going to be on the bottom of the left page. You can ACTUALLY book mark it and it will always be right where you left it. And you can flip back and forth between two pages for as long as you like. You don't have to click on something to make it bigger. It's already bigger. And it doesn't have to load. You don't have to charge it. And if you accidentally spill your drink on a book (who does that???!) ... it's probably still going to be okay. Maybe a little wrinkled or wavy...but still totally functional.   And in all of my love of b...