A FRIDAY FUNNY

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon.  As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest.  After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, “I’m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.”

The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Your duck is dead,” replied the vet.

“How can you be so sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something.”

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around, and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.

The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck.”

The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman.

The duck’s owner, still in shock, took the bill. “$150!” she cried, “$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!” The vet shrugged, “I’m sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it’s now $150.”

(Thanks to our very own Darling Hollie for passing along that one. :bees )

FREE BOOK FRIDAY

This week’s Free Book Friday offering is (I think) our very first historical romance: Tempting Juliana by Lauren Royal.

To enter the giveaway for this book, simply leave a comment to today’s post that includes the code FBF—for “Free Book Friday,” of course—to let me know you’re interested in the drawing. (U.S. residents only for the prize, please, but everyone is welcome to chat.)

Winner will be announced during our Happy Sunday post on…well, you know, Sunday. Winner is responsible for contacting me with her mailing information—i.e. I will not be contacting you—so be sure to check back in or you might not even know you won! :crying (If prize isn’t claimed within 14 days, another name may be drawn or item may be tossed back into the goody bag to be re-used for a future giveaway.)

Have you read HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR yet?  I keep promising a quiz & a couple of really cute giveaways, & they are on their way.  I swear!

Keep an eye out next week, when I will finally get off my butt & share the fun stuff. Really.  I mean it this time.

In the meantime, you’d better read the book & brush up on your Marc & Vanessa trivia so you’ll be ready. :chick

Okay, so I promised a final recipe—submitted by one of our very own Darlings of The Dungeon—last week.  But then I got a little sidetracked by my melancholy at not attending the RWA conference in New York.  So I filled the week with mopey-dope stuff instead.  (Hey, the Black & Blue Party was fun, wasn’t it?! :tongue )

I will make it up to you today, though!

All of the recipes you guys submitted sounded fabulous, & I really, really am going to try them.  (Just as soon as I’m finished with this deadline & get back to actually cooking instead of simply eating Spaghetti Os straight out of the can. :spaghetti )

But the one I think I’m going to post again…maybe because it makes me hungry every time I think of it *g*…is Carole’s recipe for chocolate cake that’s supposed to taste like fudge.  Chocolate cake & fudge—omg, gimme now! :eats

DARLING CAROLE’S CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees.

In a large bowl, combine:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, mix:

1 cup water
1 stick margarine
4 Tablespoons Hershey cocoa
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Heat on stove and bring to a boil.
Pour liquid into bow of dry ingredients and beat well.
Place in 11×17 sheet pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

In the same saucepan that you used for the chocolate mixture, combine:

4 Tablespoons of Hershey cocoa
1 stick margarine
6 Tablespoons milk

Melt on low heat, then mix in about 1 box of powdered sugar.

Let cake cool for about 5 minutes before spreading frosting on cake.

When it cools, it tastes like you’re eating fudge!  Yum!

I hope I got everything right, Carole!  Please let me know if I need to make any corrections.  I also didn’t know what this cake looked like when it was ready to eat, so I kind of…um, “fudged” that, too. :wink

Enjoy, everyone!

Look what I think I may have missed by not going to New York… Damn me. :crying