Royal Icing Recipe - Question/Answer

Question/Answer
Nicole wants to know if she can decorate gingerbread man cookies with my "Royal Icing" recipe. An answer to her question - absolutely. In fact, that's how I was introduced to this recipe. When my nieces and nephews were real little and coming to my house for Christmas. I made homemade gingerbread man cookies for them and I wanted to pipe out their names with icing. I was very pleased with the results. You can tweak the recipe anyway you want, if you want it really stiff or more smooth. The original recipe (the way it is written out) was stiff enough for me to pipe on the cookies.

As far as coloring the icing. Yes, you can divide it up in portions and add a little food coloring. Have fun with it!

Nicole, I hope I was able to answer your questions and have fun make those delicious cookies. I absolutely love homemade gingerbread and it has a lot of love put into it. It's nothing like you buy at the store. For the rest of y'all out there. If you've never made gingerbread, you've got to make it at least once in your lifetime. Lots of love and oh so good!

Tax Free Day
Well, I was one of millions of people out and about today, taking advantage of "Tax Free Day." Katie and I picked up the rest of her school supplies - glue stick, crayons, washable markers, pencils, and washable watercolor paint. We roamed over to the clothes and picked up a couple of jeans. She absolutely hates denim jeans, but I was able to persuade her with a pair of glitter jeans and another pair of jeans with some embroidery (flowers & hearts) by the front pocket & both back pockets. I was also able to persuaded her to get a denim skirt. I didn't push anymore because I was afraid that I would be pushing my luck. She liked a couple of shirts. One was a short sleeve peace sign with hearts and other art work on it along with glitter. Are you seeing a trend with Katie and glitter or BLING? I can't get over how she agreed to get a long sleeve sweater hoodie. I think it's because it was pink.

I think Katiebug is set for school next week. She asks me every now and then when she starts school. A week ago, I picked up a "Clifford" book about Clifford's first day at school. I'm hoping it will ease her nerves because I know how nervous a person can get going into a new environment. I think it's not knowing what to expect that unnerves people. I remember feeling sick at my stomach the first day of school until I hit high school. I bought Katie some Children's Tums to ease her stomach. She's never really had stomach issues, except for this past week when her sinuses have been draining into her stomach. She's had a little Summer cold for a few days. That's what we get for allowing her to run her fan in her room during the night.

Peggy is allowing me to do a little shopping this weekend. See if I can find any bargains. Woo Hoo! I do need to go to Babies R Us. It makes me so mad when I go to Walmart and see something that I might need for Colton. I think, well I don't need it right now so I'll wait and get it later. Uh, I've found out that I had better get it , if I see it because it may not be there later. Ugh! I need disposable bibs and "when" Walmart has them in stock, it's maybe 2 or 3 and their large. I need the medium! It took me 3 weeks of checking back in order to get the large ones. It's too bad that a Babies R Us or Toys R Us isn't close by. They always have what I need! Another thing I'm having troubles finding is fat free tortillas . I've checked Walmart and the local grocery stores. Nope, nada. I know Walmart sells them because I found them at a super center in Hoover. I also know the Target Supercenter in Madison sells the FF tortillas, so I'm going to try there this weekend. So aggravating.

Katie Story
Yesterday, it was so cute. Colton was in his bed playing, when I heard Katie talking in his room. When I peeked around the doorway to see what was going on, it was so sweet. She took one of her story books into Colton's room. Standing on the side of the rail, she was reading him a story. What was so cute, she was showing him the pictures in the book. I slipped away to get my video camera. Thankfully, I was able to tape a little bit of the precious moment. As I got a little closer to his bed, I wanted to film him watching Katie, all I could see were feet. He was playing with his feet, listening to his big sissy reading him a story. Is that sweet? Oh well, I guess it's a mom thing. I've been pretty busy, so I'll try to post the movie as soon as I possibly can.