The best chocolate cake recipe is Hershey’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake. But I have to confess, I do not use Hershey’s cocoa. I use Ghiradelli instead. It’s much better. Also I substitute 1/2 of the milk for Half and Half (Half cream/half milk). You can change the flavor of this easily too. Use creme de menthe instead of vanilla, for a mint cake. Use orange extract with grated orange rind, use amaretto for almond flavor or almond extract and so on. Yum!

Here’s a birthday/Christmas cake I made for our friend, Ben,

Artwork by Melanie Rose Hampton, Honorable Mention Winner Category 4th-5th Grade

Forgive me for not being able to get a comic done for today, but it has been a whirlwind of activity here at Smart Poodle Publishing for several weeks! Do you have any idea what it takes to process 176 entries, choose the winners, post the winning stories and artwork, blast out emails and press releases, visit schools, generate certificates, mail prizes, return original artwork, thank a lot of people and answer hundreds of emails from entrants?

Well I do! And I have to say it is all very exciting, albeit time consuming. It was worth every minute. Children have a way with words and pictures that adults do not. Their honesty and creativity is captivating. Children see the world in such a refreshing way that we adults often can’t comprehend. What’s more wholesome than reading a story about a sloth, a millipede and a toucan who save the rain forest? What’s more inspiring than colorful artwork of rain forest animals painted by tiny hands? In case you didn’t already notice, I love children!  Actually I adore them!

Now that the contest is over, we can reflect upon what we accomplished. There are 176 children in the US who now know a lot about the plants and animals of Costa Rica’s rain forest. They know how to do research, write an essay and site the resources they used for information. I never did that when I was in elementary school.

I must thank some teachers, who worked tirelessly, teaching their students about the rain forest and getting them exciting about researching, writing and drawing. The amount of work it took on their part to get these projects done, emailed, signed and mailed on a massive scale was overwhelming:

• Rachel Pulido from Summit Questa Montessori, Davie, FL (I visited te school on Wednesday, and the children are so adorable!)
• Steven Noyes and Nicole Thompson from Naples Village School, Naples, FL (I visited the school yesterday, and it is a wonderful place to be!)
• Jane Kamp and Ms. Ryan from Lake Park Baptist School, Lake Park, FL
• Victoria Arrietta and Celeste Mims from Dietz Elementary School, Tucson AZ
• Teresa Speer from Reagan Magnet School, Odessa, TX

I’d also like to thank our wonderful judges for volunteering so much time to read and evaluate the entries with honesty and objectivity:

• Ronna Mandel -  Associate Editor at LA Parent, blogger at Good Reads with Ronna, featuring children’s book reviews
• Dr. Jessie Voigts – Publisher of Wandering Educators, photographer extraordinaire
• Tim Lytle – Publisher of The Real Costa Rica Website, blogger and manager of The Association of the Residents of Costa Rica Forums
• Eli Gerzon -  Travel expert who takes families on World School Travel Tours and is an advocate of “unschooling.”
• Tim Ravenna – Well-traveled award-winning artist and designer, photographer and founder of Ravenna Design, art and graphic design studio.
• Dave Fox – Award-winning freelance travel, humor writer, teacher and tour guide.
• Rachel Glade – High school senior, PSAT National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, pianist and sitarist, and my incredibly supportive and helpful daughter.

Also a thank you to my dear friend, Teresa Blain from Visualize World Geography for helping to spread the word about our contest in her state of Texas. And my friend and brilliant web designer, Michael Knauf, who dropped everything to get pages and pages of essays, photos and illustrations up on our website in no time flat. (Check out his family’s performing arts summer camp, French Woods. It is the best performing arts camp on the planet.)

Most of all I would like to thank Rand Mcnally for generously donating such fabulous prizes! Rand McNally is one of our nation’s best companies. Their purpose is to educate us by offering the highest quality geography and travel products available anywhere in the world.

Without Rand McNally, we wouldn’t know where we are going!

Thank you Rand McNally!! You’re awesome!

For all of you out there who are freezing, here’s a photo that should warm you up. It’s hot here in Miami, and I’m not saying that to rub it in. We actually want it to cool off here. 87 is too hot for mid December!

View the contest results right now!

Amazing artwork from 1st Place Winner in the 4th-5th grade Category, Kevin Huo from CA!

We’re getting our winners together for the BIG announcement tomorrow afternoon, so we don’t have time to blog! Check back with us tomorrow.

Click here to read.

I love themed travel! Book lovers will love this too!

© 2009 by Debbie Glade, Smart Poodle Publishing. All rights reserved.

Click here to read last week’s comic.

Do you send out a Holiday Newsletter every year to friends and family? There’s nothing wrong with doing so – I do it. It beats just getting an ugly card with no photo and no news. The mail is too expensive for that. People want to know what you’ve been up to and they love to see photos, especially of your kids.

http://www.internetfamilyfun.com

• Do type a letter on the computer. People understand that you do not have time to hand write 100 cards to everyone with the same news.
• Stick your newsletter inside your card. Don’t make it your card though. People like the actual cards too.
• Get a photo card made from Shutterfly or Walgreens or a ton of other places. Or get photos printed and put them into photo cards you buy in the store. (Target sells a lot of these!)
• Don’t ramble about uninteresting things. “Aunt Betty came for a visit in April. Then Agnes came a week later.” Who cares!? “I dusted the living rom, emptied the dishwasher, took out the trash and did 5 loads of laundry today. Now I’m writing this.” Wow! Exciting!
• Don’t be depressing. “After an unsuccessful hip surgery, I am now bed ridden indefinitely.” If things are very challenging for you, your closest friends will already know about it. It is okay to not send a card or newsletter every year. If you do think it is important to share some not-so-happy info, tone it down a bit.
• Do not give horrible, depressing news to people about people you know. One year I got a newsletter from a friend who wrote about how her neighbor’s young kids (who I do not know) suffocated in a discarded refrigerator. How horrible was that? And why do I want to know? Happy New Year!
• Don’t be a braggart, unless you want to have no friends. “We are so blessed! Bob got a big bonus this year, despite the horrendous economy. We are using it to take a world cruise next summer!”
• Be funny if you can. If not funny, at least interesting.
• Use a font that is easy to read.
• Make the newsletter attractive. I do a photo collage on one side, get it color photocopied and then print out the newsletter on the other side. My photos reflect the news I write about. Everyone loves this and tells me they cannot wait for my card. It is a lot of work, but worth it!
• Include your email address so people can start connecting to you online.
• Have a friend who is a good writer proofread for errors.

Mailing packages and cards for the holidays? I am in the post office a lot mailing packages and have picked up these tips.

These ought to help you out:

1. The earlier you mail before the holidays, the better.
2. Cards take longer due to the high volume of mail, so don’t be one of those people who consistently misses the holiday by not mailing the cards in time.
3. Don’t go the US post office on Mondays or Tuesdays unless you enjoy waiting in long lines. And don’t wait for 2 days before Christmas either unless you want to pay a lot of money to ship overnight and weight in looooong lines.
4. The best time to go to US post office is at the end of the week, but not at lunch time and not just before the post office closes. Some locations have extended and Saturday hours. Check online.
5. If you do have small packages to mail, consider using the self service machine in the post office. You can weigh your package, print out postage and then pay with a credit card. You then drop it in a box. If it weighs more than the specified weight or size posted on the drop box, you can just hand it to the mail clerk without waiting in line.
6. Do not put stamps on packages or envelopes that weigh more than 13 oz. These packages will be returned to you.
7. Make sure you package your gift so that it is secure and does not move around in the box.
8. If you are mailing something fragile, take it to a mailing center like The UPS Store. It will cost more to mail it, but they will guarantee the items will arrive unbroken. If not, you will be reimbursed for the $ amount it is insured for.
9. Beware of HUGE or square shaped Christmas cards. They require extra postage. I did that one year and had to pay extra for all 120 cards! Never gonna make that mistake again!
10. Pay attention to the box you are using. My Mom shipped toys a couple of years ago in a box that was from a liquor store. There were illustrations of liquor bottles on the outside of the box. The box seemed to disappear into thin air. It took 6 weeks for them to be returned to her. It was because of the box illustrations that they were returned. It is against the law to ship liquor. So use a box with no illustrations. Any indication that something else is in there that may be illegal to ship, will result in a return to you.
11. Get familiar with Priority Mailing Boxes. There is a preset flat rate for using these, as long as your item fits in there securely. Very often this is cheaper than it would be if you used your own box. You can get the boxes for free at the post office. Usual transit time is 2-3 business days.  Click here to check it out.
12. Take the time to tape up your boxes carefully  so they can withstand the long ride.
13. Print addresses clearly so there are no delays.
14. Don’t forget to include your return address.
15. Don’t get aggravated if you have to wait in line. Trust me, you will have some excellent people watching in there. Long lines at the US Post Office have given me a ton of inspiration for my writing!
16. Beware of the parking lot. The drivers are horrendous!

1. Rand McNally’s Online Store – Go here for maps, globes, atlases, GPS, gifts for kids and more. My favorite geography store!
2. The national Geographic Store – There are kids items, clothing, personalized gifts, DVDs, books, maps and more.
3. Travel Smith – They have the best clothes, accessories and luggage for traveling.
4. Discovery Channel Store - This place has the best educational toys and gadgets that have to do with our planet.
5. Magellan’s – Here you’ll find everything you may need for your next trip from travel accessories to rain gear and from shoes to money belts.
6. 1 World Globes – You won’t believe how many globes they have here!
7. Garmin – They make the best GPS systems, and many are affordable now.
8. Dolls Like Me – Multicultural dolls, toys and games.