It all started with an email...

Denise sent me an email titled "The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe" I opened it and was amazed to read about a recipe for a coffee mug chocolate cake. I was intrigued! Of course I must try this!

Mix 4 Tablespoons of flour and sugar.


Add in 2 Tablespoons of cocoa and mix well.

Mix in one large egg.


but don't use the whisk...too messy!


Stir in 3 Tablespoons of oil and milk and a splash of vanilla.
If you want you can mix in 3 Tablespoons of chocolate chips.
(I didn't have any)

This is me being very excited about the thought of chocolate cake!

Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes.

This rose to the top of the mug while cooking but sank after the cooking was done. Let is cool for a few minutes and then tip it out into a dish. Mine was a little rubbery so I drizzled it with Hershey's Syrup. I want to try the chocolate chips next time. It is an ugly cake but not too bad...I definitely think it will be something I will be experimenting! ;)

Here is the recipe:
5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla
large coffee mug
Add the dry ingredients to the mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract and mix well.
Put the mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes
The cake will probably rise to the top or even past the top but will sink after the cooking stops.
Let it cool for a few minutes and then dump it into a plate or bowl.

I recommend that you drizzle with chocolate syrup and I think the vanilla ice cream would be a tasty addition!

Let me know if you try it and what you think of it!

"Turn out the lights, the party's over...

....they say that all good things must end.
Call it a night! The party's over and tomorrow
starts the same old thing again!"
(in the style of Willie)

Well another spring break has come and gone. This week was about as perfect as I could have hoped for. Madeline and I stayed home and did home things as well as a little shopping but mostly just being mama and daughter :) Will was able to take off work on Friday and we had a family day of the zoo, Chuy's Tex-Mex, ice cream and weird people watching at the mall. All in all, a beautiful time was had by all!

Here's hoping that you and yours enjoyed your spring break or at least the GORGEOUS spring weather!

Magic Cupcakes...

Today I was feeling especially domestic so I decided to make what I call "magic cupcakes" Madeline was supposed to help me but she took a long nap this afternoon. It actually turned out to be better because I was able to surprise her tonight after dinner! They were so fun to make and I iced them with yellow icing...it was my take on "A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow".
They turned out so pretty!!!!

Social network sites on the internet are popping up all over the place. Sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the blogging sites are continuously growing. It seems that these day everyone has at least one account and sometimes multiples! Our pastor even has a Facebook! I heard on NPR the other day that organizations that support animal rights have created Facebook profiles for their individual animals and grad students at an American university are creating pages for the marine animals they are studying! I also hear about the growing concern about how these sites will affect the younger generations ability to interact with their peers in face to face situations because so much time is spent developing cyber-relationships. Many of my parents mention these things when we have conferences with them about their child's behavior or progress in class.

I am not judging, I have a Facebook profile, a blog and I only recently canceled my MySpace. I worry about our addiction to these sites and hope that they can serve to link us with new and exciting friends as well as old friends from the past. It has been so fun these past few months reconnecting with my friends from Odessa. I have enjoyed seeing how everyone is doing and where they are living and their beautiful families. I do how ever hope that these opportunities are just that...opportunities to expand our social interactions in face to face encounters.

Another thing that concerns me is the idea of privacy on the internet. I have listened to 2 NPR accounts about people that have been fired from their jobs because of their use of these social networking sites during work hours and also because of the content posted. Our generation is so accustomed to the rights of free speech and the liberating feeling of blogging our triumphs and our woes, our great times and our not so great times but once that stuff is out on the world wide web, it no longer is our private thoughts. Now the content we post belongs to whomever stumbles across it! I think it is important for those of us that take advantage of these sites to remember that an impression is hard to erase. Employers are searching these sites to keep up with their employees and to see what potential hires are doing in their spare time.

I say this all because of one thing. What you put out there is free speech but it is also free to be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Be aware that these images and words that we put out there are available to a mass of people that we could not even possibly imagine! And what they might do with these words and images could come back to haunt us in the future. As Christians we are supposed to live by example and I believe that includes our cyber-example too.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I put an end to childish ways. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13: 11-13

Doo, Doo, Doo, Lookin' Out My Back Door

It's officially spring break here but it doesn't feel very springy.

Oh baby, Oh how I am ready for the break!

Reap what you sow?

Will and I both grew up in families with Dads that gardened. There were years that our garden didn't produce much and there were years were we had so much stuff we couldn't give it away! My senior year my dad planted the garden and decided to double up on a few things that hadn't done well the year before. One of those things was squash. He planted roly-poly squash and just hoped we would have a few. That year all of the squash took and we had more squash than we knew what to do with!

That said, this year Will decided we needed a garden. Being the planner that he is, we spent months researching plants, seeds, methods, techniques, and locations. Finally Will took the plunge and bought the seeds. He then drew up a plan in AutoCad (he is an architect) and was ready to go.

Thursday night he planted some of the seeds in pots so they will grow into seedlings.
He had a great helper!

Saturday morning Will got up and headed to our recycling center, picked up a trailer load of compost and headed back to the house.

Our garden plot after he scraped it down.

Will's load of compost

My daughter helping her daddy.
If you know me very well you can imagine what a stretch it was for me to
just let her lose in that mess!

Making progress!

Dumping it in!

Look at her shovel! She got it our of the sandbox:)

After she and Daddy finished!
Do you see the feet and the black rings around her eyes????

After 2 baths and some ruined socks, she was finally clean:)

More garden fun tomorrow!!!

it's official!

Madeline was accepted!
:D
Dallas Christian School