Most Dangerous Cake Recipe in the World

My aunt, Patty, who is a most excellent chef sent
me this recipe. I haven't been able to try it.
But knowing my aunt, this has to be good!

MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 Coffee or Hot Chocolate Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that's plain flour,
not self-rising)
4  tablespoons sugar
2  tablespoons baking cocoa
1  egg
3  tablespoons milk
3  tablespoons oil
3  tablespoons chocolate chips(optional)
Nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, mix well. Add
egg and mix thoroughly.Pour in milk and
oil and mix well. Add chocolate chips and
nuts (if using)and vanilla, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for
3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over
the top of the mug, but don't be  alarmed ...
it won't run over.  Allow to cool a little,
and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!
(This can serve 2 if you want to share!)

"And why is this the most dangerous cake
recipe in the world? Because now we are all
only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at
any time of the day or night!"

Thanks, Aunt Patty! Too bad I didn't have
this recipe to play with when I was working
on 101 Things To Do With Chocolate!!

Need a Good Laugh, Watch This!

Thanks to my friend, Kendra, for sharing this hilarious YouTube clip with me. This is a video taken from the Summit Ward Talent Show. I really needed a good laugh, so thanks again!

Last Weekend Update

A butterfly enjoying itself
at the Tucson Botanical Gardens!

I know this is late, but I've been meaning to write about last weekend. Last Friday (Halloween) Ivan arranged for Margie Delgado to watch Emma so we could go on a date while the other kids were in school. The Sunday before (with the kids help) he had sent me on a scavenger hunt looking for all kinds of clues which ended in an encoded message that I had to decode. The message stated that I needed to be ready for a date at 9 a.m. at our address on Friday morning. It was very detailed. I was very impressed!

So, we went to the Botanical Gardens in Tucson. We caught the tour at 10 a.m. which was very informative. In the middle of the tour, I thought about how nice it was to actually be able to listen without reminding kids to look only with their eyes and without worrying about the kids running into a cactus! It was very enjoyable and I gained a new appreciation for the plants that survive and thrive in our dessert environment.

After our tour, we headed to lunch. We decided to try something new. We went to 5 & Dinner on Stone Ave. across from the Tucson Mall. It was a little pricey for Hamburgers ($7.50-9 per plate), but the food was excellent and the ambiance and old music were fun. It was decorated as a 50s Diner.

Ivan ran to pick up the kids since we were a little late. Luckily the staff at Estes is very understanding. That night we enjoyed Trick or Treating and seeing all our neighbors and friends. I blogged more about this earlier.

Saturday night we went to the adult session of Stake Conference. The testimonies born really touched my heart especially the testimony born of the Savior by a sister in our stake. She told about her daughter who had a severe progressively disabling disease. She told about her hear breaking as she would watch her daughter struggle to walk down their lane each day from the bus stop. She would long to run out and help her, but she knew how good it was for her to do it on her own. She shared how she would sometimes cry as she watched her daughter struggling to reach home. She likened this to our Savior who watches us struggle and sometimes fall as we try to take the path home. I know I'm not doing justice to what she shared, but it was so powerful!

I think the spirit teaches us each individually, and I'm sure everyone had different things hit them throughout this meeting. The thought that hit me from her talk was that I need to let my children do things on their own more. I often run to their aid without letting them work things out on their own. I need to be better at helping them develop "their wings" so that some day they can "fly" on their own. This wasn't anything that was taught, but I know that lesson came from the Holy Ghost.

Sunday we got up super early to get the kids and ourselves ready to drive the 30 minutes to the Stake Center to assure that we would be in our seats by 7:55 a.m.. We went with Jen and Jason Mouso and their family to a special session of the conference for recent converts. Emma (22 months) was having a hard time so I spent a lot of the meeting in the foyer. They had various people share what drew them to the church and what was the tipping point for them to be baptized. The spirit was really strong as people shared their stories and feelings about having the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. I wish I could have heard all of it, but the portion I was able to hear was great.

Then, we drove back to our building in Marana to watch the Arizona Regional Broadcast with our own ward. The broadcast was really good. Elder Packer was the concluding speaker. He mentioned President Hinkley telling of hard times to come and emphasized that these times are now. I left the meeting with a sense of needing to make sure our food storage is in order and a renewed sense of securing our family spiritually.

My Day as an Election Judge

Yesterday I arrived at the polls at 5 a.m. to help finish the preparations needed to open the polls at 6 a.m.. Our first voter arrived at 5:20 a.m.. Before 6 a.m. we had quite the line. By 6:30 the line wrapped completely around the building. Some waited an hour or longer to get their opportunity to vote. We had a constant line from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m.. Things slowed down for a couple hours with only 2-10 people in line to vote. Then, around 4:30 p.m. our lines picked back up and we had a constant line until we closed. Our line had about 20 people in line at 7 p.m. when we were able to close the line. As long as you are in line by 7 p.m., you are able to vote in Arizona. We were done by 7:30 with the voting section of the elections. After verifying our areas election results and putting everything away, I was able to get home a few minutes before 9 p.m.. McCain actually had the most votes casted that day in our area not including early voting or provisional ballets cast. He almost had double the votes of Obama. We were actual surprised by that, because our area is very democratic.

My thoughts:

I was so excited to see our turn out. For the Primaries, we only had 300 vote all day. For this election, we had 990 cast votes. It was amazing to see so many people exercising this amazing freedom to cast their votes. I had the blessed opportunity to thank them each for coming in to vote. Many thanked us as well.

We live in a great country! May we always cherish these blessed freedoms that we receive from being citizens of the United States of America!

Thank You for Supporting Proposition 102 and Propostition 8

Something wonderful happened yesterday. Proposition 102 passed which amends the Arizona Constitution to state: "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state."

It also looks like Proposition 8 which will amend the California constitution may have also passed. The media hasn't called it yet, but the Secretary of the State of California is showing that it passed.

I just want to thank everyone who voted in favor of marriage this election.

11/06 Note: Proposition 8 not only passed, but Floridians also got 62% of their votes in favor of amending their constitution for marriage being between one man and one woman as well.

Vote Today!

If you haven't had a chance to vote by early ballot, I would encourage you to do so today. I leave in about 5 minutes for the polls where I will be an election judge today. Please keep us busy!

Lots of love,

Stephanie

Editorial Letter by Newt Gingrich

I'm on Newt Gingrich's email list. Today I received the following letter from him. I wanted to share it.

“The state cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man.”
-- William Graham Sumner

"Dear Fellow American,
Almost 100 years ago, economist William Graham Sumner aptly described the way a big government philosophy – the same philosophy Barack Obama espouses today - treats the productive American worker, calling him the “Forgotten Man.”

Well, recently Americans learned about one of those Forgotten Men – Joe the Plumber. And Joe the Plumber helped us all see what an Obama White House will mean for working Americans.
When Joe confronted Senator Obama on the campaign trail with the question of what would happen to his taxes under an Obama Administration should he realize his dream of owning his own business, Joe cast the decision that faces us in this election in stark relief.

Which is better for our economy: Politicians redistributing our wealth or growing more wealth?
And Senator Obama gave us an equally stark answer: Under his leadership, America will focus on “spreading around” the Forgotten Man’s wealth, not encouraging him to create more of it.
So while Obama claims he will cut taxes for 95% of working families, what he really plans is to take more money from the Americans who already pay the great majority of income taxes and “spread the wealth” to many who don’t even pay taxes to begin with in the form of a government check. The Barack Obama Democrats may think it’s their right to redistribute wealth, but it surely isn’t the view of the average American worker, and it’s clearly wrong.
We know that government should focus on creating the economic conditions that will allow all Americans to prosper, not to try and redistribute wealth more evenly among Americans. We also know that the way for America to prosper is to leave Americans with more of their income, allowing them to do what they do best -- create the businesses, jobs, and opportunities that drive our vast economy.

Joe the Plumber has struck a chord because he reminds us (and should remind politicians in Washington) that government, no matter how well intentioned, has to be paid for, and that money comes from guys like Joe. Politicians can either bleed him dry to fund their programs, or they can encourage Americans to create more jobs and more wealth – and keep government limited and effective.

That’s the choice we face in this election.

Barack Obama wants to drastically raise taxes on Americans who earn more than $250,000 a year. He wants to help Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid “spread the wealth around” to their allies and pay for more of their big government programs. But you have an opportunity now to support our campaign for Republican victory and lower taxes before he gets the chance.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich"