Mudrooms, snakes, and a sheet cake

Not much in common there...lol...figured it might get your attention! :-)

To answer Therese, from the previous post, a mudroom is (typically) a space at/near the backdoor, where the family can come in, drop the nasty stuff, and go into the house clean. In a home like mine, there is a completely seperate entrance for the mudroom. Some mudrooms have the laundry facilities and a bathroom right there, so that dirty folks (muddy booted farmers, soaking wet children, etc) can come in, do their business, and head back outside, without leaving a trail of icky sticky black clay, puddles of water, or, worse yet, sometimes both. We were very blessed that this house had one--a seperate entrance near the backdoor, laundry with cabinets overhead on your left, a small closet for the hwh just past that...the bathroom is on your right, and has a shower, but no tub. There is a small, open closet with shelves, where I keep my cleaning supplies and larger items like my 22 qt electric roaster, crockpots, etc...as well as the paint and painting supplies I need for the rest of the house. There is tile on the floor, and that makes clean up much easier.

One article I read some years back, referred to a particular family's mudroom space (much nicer than mine, btw) as a "decontamination chamber". They had even made the bathroom fully tiled floor to ceiling, and put a drain in the middle of the floor, etc. Nice tile, as I recall. They wanted to be able to wash their dogs indoors, after a walk through the rain/mud outdoors...

Now...snakes...we *had* a hen that had gone broody and was sitting on eight eggs. But sometime overnight, a snake ate all of the eggs. Dang it. I was really hoping for another addition to the home flock. Try, try again. Big Momma is still broody, but in a different nest box. :-(

Sheet cake...yum. Cake. I like cake. I like cake ALOT...but in small doses. The husband called last night, and asked me to make a cake (nothing fancy) for him to bring in to work this afternoon, as the shift he is currently on, is planning to make dinner there...he decided to bring a dessert. So I pulled out my handy dandy copy of the Pioneer Woman's The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. Figured I ought to get it done this morning, while it was still cool....definitely a wise idea around here in the summertime, folks. Smells DIVINE...

Here's a link, if you would like to try it.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/

It sounds like it might be more difficult, but it really is not. Oh, and YUMMMO on the topping. Small pieces, folks! SMALL pieces (of course, I will undoubtedly eat mine while drinking a Dr Pepper, so the sugar rush should be complete!). And yes, the recipe for the topping and the cake itself calls for almost a full pound of butter. But oh my goodness gracious, this stuff is goooooood. Take it to the church social good. Bring it to a girls' night in with your friends. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for the family. But it is definitely a keeper. I've made this one before, and it never fails to please...it is simple enough that I will likely let my 10 yr old up and coming chef make it herself next time (with adequate adult supervision, of course).

No painting going on right now--I managed to get the rest of the front yard mowed yesterday, and today I am hoping to get the weed whacker going (I cannot figure out how to get the string out so I can replace it--one of those "He had better show me how" things...).

Hope you all are having a great day!