Alphabet Soup

First, thank you all so much for the birthday wishes!! Sorry it took me a little longer than planned to get the winner drawn.  A group of almost 20 wild and crazy 8 & 9 year olds playing laser tag and eating pizza took my attention.  :) The winner, chosen by random.org is commenter number 2 -- Jen!!  And you're right, I'm not sure what you can't buy at Amazon.  I need you to email me to arrange (electronic) delivery of your gift certificate!  alphabet dot soup at live dot com  Thanks!! Enjoy!  :)

And I'll doing the gift-giving if I want to!  :) I don't have much to say today.  It's been a day...it's been a month!  I'm usually pretty fond of January, but this year?  Not so much.  I'm hoping that February proves to be the start of a better rest of the year.  What am I giving away?  A $35 gift certificate to Amazon.com.  I thought about giving away a cookbook, or some fun kitchen gadgets.  But how do I know which ones you want or need?  Well, maybe you don't want anything kitchen related at all!  Although I can't imagine... And how did I come up with the $35 amount?  Would you believe me if I said it's just a random number I came up with?  No??  Okay, fine.  It's my 35th birthday today.  There.  Happy?  :) How do you enter?  Just leave a comment on this post.  Talk about anything you want to.  Maybe what you'd buy if you won.  Just as long as it's no...

The winner to the giveaway is comment #9: Nugglemama!! Congratulations!!! Be on the lookout for an email from me! :-) Thanks to everyone that entered! And thanks for all the birthday wishes! Katy :)

So, what's a girl to do when it's her birthday, she's stuck at home because of the weather, everyone feels a little sick with allergies and colds, and there's no birthday cake in the house? Why, make chocolate cupcakes, of course!! Someone asked why I was baking on my birthday. First, I like to bake. And second, I knew no one else in the house was going to bake for me!! I made Martha Stewarts One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes . It was the first time I've used that recipe, but I can guarantee it won't be the last!! They are easy, very chocolatey, moist and just darn good!! Sean has already requested these for his class birthday party at school this next week. I halved the recipe, and got 10 cupcakes out of it. To go with the cupcakes, I made some chocolate cream cheese frosting. Yum!! Kade could be found eating the frosting with a spoon!! I halved that recipe as well, but will post the full recipe below. In honor of my birthday, I've decided to hold a little givea...