Gimme

I want to win a free handbag!! Specifically, the one to the left, because I'm in the market for a brown purse right now. Thanks to Abby for telling me about this contest -- visit www.handbagplanet.com to register to win a free handbag. They're giving away a free bag every hour for 24 hours on October 15th! Yay! And if I post a link to the contest on my blog, then I get not ONE entry, but 25 entries!! Sorry, I know, I'm lame. But I really want a bag. And you have to admit, this is a pretty brilliant promotional scheme by Handbag Planet. So, I will give them props for their 21st century marketing ingenuity. :-)

Robot Dance

Okay, sorry for all the videos lately, but Tim and I are obsessed with this commercial right now. I love these kids. (Don't worry, it's only 16 seconds!)

He Claps!

Be sure to check out the 36-second mark, too, when Weston makes a brief but moving speech to all you fine viewers.

Best-Ever General Conference Treat (If You Watch from Home)

First things first... A TEMPLE IS COMING TO PHILLY!!! A TEMPLE IS COMING TO PHILLY!!! YAAAAAAAAY!!! President Thomas S. Monson (president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) announced this morning that a site has been chosen for a new temple in Philadelphia. I know all the Latter-day Saints in the Philadelphia Stake and other surrounding stakes have been praying long and hard for this day to come! And now our prayers have been answered! Hooray!!! I imagine there's a lot of (reverent) celebrating going on back in Philly right now. :-) The temple is very special to me and to all members of our church; it is the House of the Lord, where sacred ordinances and very special meetings take place. Tim and I got married in a temple, where we were sealed together as an eternal family in a very small and inspiring ceremony. I just couldn't be happier about this!!!

Okay, so this recipe comes from Laura W (thanks hon!), and I like it because it's super fun, it's super easy, and it's super tasty. Therefore, I am heretofore designating it as the Best-Ever General Conference Treat, because you can whip it up really quickly during a hymn, and then eat it during the next talk. :-) Haha! It takes about 5 minutes to mix, and then another 3 minutes to bake in the microwave. It's also really easy because you can just use the same tablespoon measurer for all the ingredients, so there's hardly any clean-up. Go ahead and give it a whirl!

Chocolate Mug Cake
A moist, spongy mini-cake that you can make in a mug in the microwave.

4 Tbsp flour (plain, not self-rising)
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp oil
Small splash of vanilla
3 Tbsp chocolate chips (optional)
Some chopped nuts (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Pour into a microwave-safe mug and cook on High for 3 minutes. (The cake will rise about an inch above the rim of the mug, but don't worry! It'll resettle.) Allow it to cool, and then tip it onto a plate, or just eat it out of the mug. Best served with milk or whipped cream or ice cream!

I, naturally, have already given it a whirl. Here's the mixed batter, ready for pouring into the mug:

Here's the finished mug cake:
Yum-O!

At first, I was a little disappointed that all the chocolate chips had sunken to the bottom of the mug, but then I decided that it was okay, because they're delicious wherever they are, and then I decided that it's awesome, because you get to find a secret surprise of melty chocolate at the bottom! Yaaaaaay secret melty chocolate surprise!!

Our Lists of Completely Random Awesome Things

Off the top of my head, here are Jean's Top 5 Awesome Things Right Now:

(1) Happy Hour at Philly's Best, where you get a free Tastykake with your sandwich.
(2) Our neighbor's lawn, featuring actual green grass, which (I was delighted to learn) I am welcome to sit upon with Weston, since our own "front lawn" is nothing more than a concrete walkway. It is VERY nice to walk 20 steps to their house with a blanket and some toys, rather than driving to a local park. Seriously, our neighbors win the Awesome Award this week for welcoming us into their world of Lawn.
(3) The temperature today: a blessed, sunny, beautiful 76 degrees (finally the weather has noticed that it's October and not July).
(4) Weston clapping his little hands, which is his newest (and certainly one of his cutest) developments. He seems to rather enjoy it, too - especially my high-pitched "YAY!!!'s" in response to his clapping.
(5) General Conference weekend! I'm-a git edified.

Off the top of his head, here are Tim's Top 5 Awesome Things Right Now (as transcribed by Jean):

(1) Glow sticks. You can get them in the dollar rack at Target right now. Tim has used them for school projects lately, but mostly he just likes to play with them. And stick them in his mouth so that he has Green Glow-Mouth.
(2) Weston. "In general."
(3) Transformers. Jean: "Even though it came out, like, ages ago?" Tim: "Yeeeeeaaaaaaah."
(4) Sleep, in theory. Tim: "I've heard sleep is pretty good."
(5) Cheesesteaks. (Although I'd like to point out that his initial answer in response to my prodding for a #5 Awesome Thing was "I love lamp.")