Yummmy…take a look at this! Someone just sent this to me in a email, and I might have to try this. I know the kids will all want to make their own as soon as they see this. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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5 minute chocolate mug cake

For those of you who still use a microwave..…..

1 Coffee Mug (large 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)
some nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to 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, 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!
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!

I have received a letter from UBI Payment Services, that says I am guaranteed to receive $5,000.00 if…., and is dated “September 11″, thats a little creepy! I quickly spotted “Singapore” on the sending envelope, and “Australia” on the return envelope. They begin by saying “This is a very important statement”, I think of a statement as a bill I pay, unless it says Credit Statement, so my first question is “how much is this going to cost me?”. I do not see the word credit anywhere! As for the puzzle of skill…lol…20+5= 25 21 23 hmmm lets see hmmm…insult! Oh, and why do they require my signature? Ahh…sign to agree to let them send me alot of unwanted junk mail, thats what they are saying in  not so fine print on the back of letter, but very, very faint print on the back of the letter. It is so faint you hardly notice it’s there. Yes, this has SCAM written all over it!!!

Can you believe it? It’s already October 1st, 2008! What happened to September? I just looked up at the calendar and realized I need to print out a October page. I really like the fact that I can go online to www.calendarwerks.com and print a page of a month as needed, and even a whole year if I so choose. It’s pretty cool!

It is finally, officially, the calendar says so AUTUMN!

September 22 marks the Autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere and the spring in the southern hemisphere. Day and night are considered to be near equal in length at the equinox. The term equinox comes from the Latin aequus, which means equal.

It has suddenly felt more like Autumn than Summer this last week. I have mentioned this to a few other people in the last couple of days, and they said they were noticing the same thing. The last few years in late August it seems more like Autumn…it just feels different and even smells different.

I really do wonder if our seasons are shifting back a month or so.

Tree

Wow, this blog is 1 year and 15 days old and comes up number 1 on Google search. I would like to thank everyone who continues to contribute great writing and very interesting content. You are the ones that make this so much fun with all the questions, answers, ideas and much more.

So, in all my glee I here by say to you, “thank you, for all your support and help!”

I remember making these when I was in about second grade with dried and pressed flowers, a good springtime look. I think the kids will enjoy this project for lovely autumn table settings. HHmmm… Maybe send a set to Grandma’s house.

PRESSED LEAF PLACEMAT

Leaves

Wax paper

Iron

Towel

Measure an approximate size for your placemat. You’ll need two sheets of wax paper per placemat. Cut, measure and set aside. Gather your leaves. Place one sheet of wax paper (wax side up) on your work surface. Add leaves at will, no more than one layer thick. Add top layer of wax paper, wax side down.

Place a thin towel over your arrangement. Using an iron set on low, slowly and carefully press the iron into the placemat and glide across surface. Repeat after flipping placemat over. Allow to cool.

Trim edges and enjoy!

I love my oranges and plumbs. But I wish they were fresh in the same season! Peaches are looking really bad in the stores, and oranges look even worse. I know, I know. Not the best time of year. I’m happy that cherries and plumbs are back in season, and apples seem to be too. But I have a craving for oranges… Vitamin C power!!! (You know tomatoes have more vitamin C than oranges? Cool, I know. If only I liked them!)

Have you ever tried star fruit? I haven’t. It looks kinda good. Which strangely brings me to cantaloupe. Cantaloupe doesn’t look bad, so I think it’s in season over here, too. And if cantaloupe is in season, that means honey dew is too! I LOVE honey dew. It tastes sort of like cantaloupe, but it’s different… and green! Other green produce I know of is avocados! They are great in guacamole. I love guacamole with nachos, but the last time I was at the store, they looked kinda… bad.

Well, blueberries are produce too. Right? Anyway, they were moldy, but I love them, so I searched and searched until I found a container without mold… It was surprisingly hard! I’m just happy the strawberries are looking okay. I wish prices would go down, then I could eat them more often.

What I learned is that produce is good for you, and seasons matter when it comes to produce. So you can stay balanced and not have too much of let’s say… oranges. Nobody wants orange hair from eating too many

Gee…I sure am happy with my new cordless lawn mower, it works great! Now that I have my garden ready for plants I need to go and find some plants to plant. I think I’ll plant starts this year and maybe try starting from seed next year. Between the weather and the time it took clearing a garden area, which was a lot of work this year, but should be a lot easier next year. It looks to me we will still come out ahead $$$money wise and health wise buying starter plants this year.

Yes, today is the first day of summer and the longest day of sunlight for those in the northern hemisphere. I just love it. Every thing is green and blooming again. The birds are out and cheerfully eating as many bugs as they can…go birds!

I was informed by my youngest, that they ate the last organic gala apple and that I needed to go buy more. Well, we went to the store today and began to pick out a good bag of organic apples, but then noticed the price had jumped from $4 something to $7 something and the apples looked a little under the weather. While I was looking at the apples they were drooling over organic strawberries…they were $7 almost $8.00 for one container. Ouch…no strawberries today either. I think we need to plant apples trees and grow some strawberries.

Wow! This weather has been crazy!

Yesterday it was sooo nice out, it felt like summer. Then today, the temp. dropped, thunder storms off and on, and rain, rain, rain!

I like rain when its drizzling and its warm outside and nicer weather, but when its gray sky and raining a storm outside….  I don’t like that much. It makes me sleepy and want to stay under the blankets all day.

Wow! The best buy ever, our new electric lawn mower has arrived, and it is cordless! It starts right up without any hassle and mows great. It sounds like a big hair drier…sooo quiet, I like that a lot. I also like the fact that I don’t have to buy gas to mow my lawn, what a plus that it is right now.

Tree

I know many people have heard of Burts Bee’s, but others haven’t.

Burt’s Bees first started out in 1984, in Main, selling candles made out of beeswax. Look how far they’ve come!

Today, they manufacture products in categories that include, face care, body care, hair care, lip care, men’s grooming, baby care and outdoor remedies, all natural. They have big plans for some more new natural hair care and skin care products! They just keep on buzzin’.

Their products are carried in nearly 30,000 retail outlets, including major grocery and drug store chains in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

They remain committed to the environment with recycled and recyclable packaging and nature-safe manufacturing processes, and are continuing the land preservation efforts they started in Maine.

They believe that in order to take from nature, we must protect and provide for nature.

I was looking online for some new make-up that was healthy for my skin and ran across a few websites.

www.lavera.com and
www.bareescentuals.com looked like a couple of the good ones…

Lavera provides 100% natural cosmetics that have been proven effectiveness and is big mostly in Europe.
But don’t worry! They are spreading to the U.S. and you can go online to look for different products!

Lavera uses plant based liposomes for repair effects and hyaluronic acid for moisturizing sensitive skin. They have even won awards for their Lipgloss, Family Sun Spray SPF 15, Kids Sun Block Spray SPF 25, and other cosmetics!  They sell organic hair products, bath products, skin products, make-up, Anti-aging cream/ moisturizer, and they even have products for men and babies!

BareEscentuals has many organic and natural cosmetics. They also provide BareMinerals, which sells some of there products on T.V.

BareMinerals products are 100% mineral, unlike Lavera’s plant based products, and leaves your skin looking a natural luminosity. It is free of preservatives, talc, oil, fragrance and other harmful chemicals, and provides coverage for every skin type, skin tone, and concern.

Their make-up line also offers complete color treatments and cosmetics such as lip glosses, eyeliners, mascaras, lip colors, lip liners, flawless application brushes, skin preps and more!

Amazing… But those are only two companies, when I find more I will let you know!