Starring in...

A couple of people have suggested that I make a short video of Andy and myself for YouTube. After much consideration, I've decided to take the plunge. My plan is to make and post it on February 13th. That's my sober date (six years!) and Andy's birthday. Seems appropriate.

Most of the letters I get from my readers ask about Andy and want to know that I'm still clean, so I thought this would be a good way to address both. I'll keep you all posted and remind you when it's closer to time.

Does anyone have any thoughts/feedback/warnings about doing this?

She's been gone too long

I've neglected my blog. I'll do better.

Nice affirmation, Kimbo.

Thank you.

I published my memoir, CRYSTAL CLEAN, the last week of August, 2012. It's roughly four and a half months later and I'm shocked at how it's doing. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe a few sales to make ends meet. You know - something to supplement the cookie business. Except that book sales have far exceeded those of my cookies.

Frankly, I have no idea how typical my results are, but I'm happy with them. Each month, the sales get bigger and bigger. Last month I sold about 540 Kindle editions, and this month I'm right at 400 and we're not even half way through the month.

I fell like a writer. No, no...I feel like an AUTHOR. Nice.

I'm trying to get into the Twitter-verse. I was talking with a friend today about how uncomfortable I am with it. When I'm there, I feel like I've walked into the world's biggest cocktail party....alone. I hate cocktail parties. I dislike parties in general. I always feel like I have nothing to say and I end up in a corner somewhere, wishing I were like other people. You know the ones. They breeze through parties and know just what to say to engage others in small talk.

That's not me. Uncomfortable and fidgety? That's me. But I'm crashing the party anyway, because I'm told over and over again that it's necessary for an author to build her platform. Engage in social networking! FaceBook! Twitter! Linked In! Pinterest! Blog tours! Blog hops! (I have no idea what the difference is between the two. There may not even be a difference.) YouTube! Do it! Do it NOW! Engage, engage, engage!!

Yeesh. Not so easy for someone who's still working on getting comfortable in her own skin. So I'll look on the bright side: at least when I crash this party, I don't have to wear a little black dress OR heels. Unless you want me to. In which case I will. POOF! There. Now I look fabulous. So if you're at the party when I pop in, please say hello. I'd hate to break out my killer footwear for nothing.

Simple tutorial for pumpkin cookies

Okay, so you've used my recipe to make your fabulous dough and you're ready to have some fun. Pumpkin cookies are simple, but they look kind of fancy when you add some dimension to them, so I'll show you how to do that. Please remember that this tutorial is for beginners. :)

The first thing you'll need to do is roll out your dough and cut your shapes. Ideally, you want all your cookies to be the same thickness, right? Here's how I do it. I use this rolling pin, which you can purchase at Karen's Cookies. It will come with two sets of rings for two different thicknesses. I typically use the 1/4 inch ring.

It took me a little while to get used to using a rolling pin with no handles, but I'll never go back to the other kind now.

While your shapes are baking, you'll need to make royal icing. Here's a link to a Google search for recipes. (like I said, I'll never share my R.I. recipe with anyone. It's what makes Kimbo's cookies extra fabulous:) Basically, you'll need to know two consistencies for your icing and here's the best way to remember them. Toothpaste and body wash. Use icing that's thick like toothpaste for outlining, and then thin it down a little so it's more along the lines of body wash for flooding your cookies. (flooding is when you fill in spaces between outlines.)

After your pumpkin cookies have cooled, flip them over (remember my tip for decorating the backs?) and outline them like this:

Using a #3 tip, add your lines for dimension like this:

You'll need to wait just a few minutes to let the icing set. Then you'll flood every other section like this(I use the same number tip for the flooding in this case):

Now you'll need to let that icing set. I usually give them about half an hour. Here's a picture where you can see the "puffiness" of the icing that will give your cookie some pizzazz.

Kind of like puffy paint:) After about a half an hour, flood the rest of the cookie.

Then you can decorate it any way you want or just add a little brown at the top for the stem. You could use a little disco dust to give them some sparkle.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to see other tutorials. Happy Halloween!!