You can color the textbox the normal tan when the user finishes editing the recipe. In other words, add that

code line to the textbox's Leave event, like this:

Private Sub txtInstructions_Leave(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles txtInstructions.Leave

Dim IndividualRecipe As XmlNode

Dim root As XmlNode = doc.DocumentElement

Dim Titl As String

txtInstructions.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 224, 192)

But you want to turn the textbox white when the user starts editing the recipe. You could do this in several events

(KeyDown, Keypress, TextChanged events like that). But remember they repeatedly execute every time the

user types a character. The best solution is to use the textbox's Enter event—it works quite well.

Private Sub txtInstructions_Enter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles txtInstructions.Enter

txtInstructions.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 255)

End Sub