Most Dangerous Cake in the World. . . .

When there is nothing sweet in the house, my usual emergency snack recipie consists of melting mini-marshmallows and butter in the microwave and throwing in some rasin bran cereal. Today I tried this recipie sent to me by my friend Melanie. It is really quick and easy and could lead to trying other concoctions. . . . hmmmm........coffee cake? cinnamon muffin? This recipie is dangerous!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

• 4 tablespoons flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
• A small splash of vanilla extract
• 1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

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 extract, and mix again.Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.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 feel slightly more virtuous).

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!

Feng Shui improvement. . . . .

According to Feng Shui your front door is very important. As you can see from the photo above, my door (right)was definitely in need of some improvement. Because this house has a side porch with an entry, this front door was seldom used. Mom often blocked it off entirely and covered it on the inside with drapes. Not a good thing to do. Blocks chi!

I've replaced the door and plan to fix the crack between the porch and the front of the house, add some flowers and a few other touches. So, now that I've made these changes, I'll be looking for some financial improvement in my life here on the farm.

In Feng Shui, chi is life force that is in everything in the Universe and can either contribute to your wellbeing or not. The ideal Feng Shui home is one in which chi can funnel through the front door and meander through the home, nourishing all residents and their life aspirations. For this reason, the front door is called the "Mouth of Chi". All opportunities, in every area of life, funnel through the Mouth of Chi, including opportunities for financial success.

What's new. . . .

What's new? Well, I've been dealing with all that repair stuff and finally found a repair person I think I can trust. So, when I received a letter from Pres Obama saying all us old people were getting a $250 stimulus check, I spent mine on a new front door. It's visible behind the table. My old one was in sad, sad shape. It also let in so much cold air! This winter the wind blew the storm door open and broke the top glass. I just filled it in with plexiglass, insulation and duct taped everything closed. The bad news is that when they replaced the door, I was able to see that my house does not contain any insulation in the walls. They just plastered right onto whatever this block stuff is - or is it tile? They don't even make this stuff any longer. Why didn't I tear this place down? I've put new windows in a place that will never be warm anyway!

I've also been trying to refinish the top of this old antique table. I've used 2 quarts of furniture refinisher and think I'll stop for awhile. I don't want to take it all the way down to the wood and have to restain. I just wanted to even out some of the coats of varnish, and have a shine. I have a table that goes with this yellow bamboo furniture (from the 70's - I keep furniture longer than husbands) but I wanted to use this old elephant leg table from the barn.

We are starting on the second day of rain. I heard on the news that this is the 5th wettest April since way back in the 1800's. With another day left they said we could move up to the 3rd place. No wonder I'm tired of rain.

A few more mushrooms. . . .

I thought I would add this picture of an all-star (my son) mushroom hunter. These were found a week ago. He said he found over 300. Personally, I wouldn't want to clean that many!

Mushrooms

I found a few more mushrooms today. These are a nice size and the kind I like to find. I was told there could be 2 more weeks of mushroom hunting. I sure have spent a lot of time traipsing through the woods in search of these. I just clean them, dip them in egg, then flour and fry them til crisp. Also, add a little salt and pepper. My son found over 300 (probably the smaller ones) a few days ago.

Shangrala shenanigans.............

This is not much of a picture. It's the result of another bad job that I had hired someone in good faith to do. Since I haven't posted for awhile, Lauren who I've emailed a couple times was kind enough to inquire how things were going. Well, I've been waiting for something good to happen! You know, "Don't say anything if you can't say something nice".......I'm attaching a copy of the email I started for her a couple days ago......Things since then have escalated to an outlay of another $1,850 cash for plumbing. I'll go into that another day. I wanted this journal to be kind of an artsy, spiritual thing. But it's hard to write lofty, idyllic things when you are constantly fighting for survival at the root level because you are being attacked by lying, cheating, scheming individuals. Don't say you get what you look for. I'm NOT looking or expecting this. That's why it keeps happening. I expect people to be honest, do what they say and it keeps NOT happening.....So, I guess my lesson this lifetime is YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYONE - not your husband, not your kids, not your neighbors, and definitely not the repairmen of the world. That just doesn't seem like the right message........ anyway, here's the email I sarted BEFORE the latest shenanigans......
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for asking about me. All is fine or should I say normal. I’ve kind of been waiting for something good to happen so I could write about that. I’m just in a funky mood - rain, rain, rain, leaky roof. This week it’s the house. I just had a new roof put on a little over 2 years ago - guarantee ran out at 2 years. do you think they did a good job? This picture of the wet, plaster cracked and ruined ceiling is in my bedroom.
Oh, the renter? He’s staying at $450 a month. He couldn’t find anything comparable at that kind of money. So, Over a week ago, I hired and paid a plumber $650 - first portion of job.. . . .it’s going to be more. He hasn’t been back to work on the problem. Wonder if he went to the casino to double his money. Actually, said someone vandalized his backhoe .......same old, same old here at the Shangra-la!
One more thing......Guy sprayed the trees a couple of weeks ago. ($1600 bill forthcoming) - - - We had all this rain forecast and I was concerned because some of the literature I’ve read mentioned that if certain chemicals gets in the roots through standing water, they can kill the trees. Note, this is 20 acres of trees and last year I paid $4,000 for trees, $6300 to have them planted. True I received some state grant money, etc; for participating in this wetland restoration program, however; they are expecting live trees. If the trees die, the state will be wanting everything back plus more...................(the money received through this grant thing affected my income to the tune of having to pay almost $8,000 in state and federal income taxes on April 15th. I love surprises) To continue the tree spraying story. . . . . .“:Nah, “ says the sprayer man, “it’s ok. Won’t hurt them.” He continues 2 days of spray, spray, spraying , right up until the time it begins to pour, rain........rain ........rain.......I won’t know the outcome of this “man procedure” for several weeks........or maybe months. Don’t know how long it will take for the trees to register any stress signs. I have my fingers crossed they will be fine like Mr. Man said.
So......today I a waiting on the roof repair man, the well repair man and the herds of people who will be descending on the farm in search of mushrooms. It’s that time of year, you know.
Seize the day,
Christine