No Trip to the Store One Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

Okay, so my husband and son are out of town, and life is a lot simpler this weekend. It's just me and the 3 1/2 year old, who still takes naps. Today, we had no external agenda. I got to decide what to do with my day. After having coffee and a little orange juice for breakfast, doing yard work, and having a super-healthy lunch, I decided it was time for chocolate. But by that time, O was yawning for a nap, and a trip to the store would have ended up being punishment for me. So I started to consider what I already had in the house that was made out of chocolate. There had to be something! Was there anything hidden in the back of the freezer? No. Behind the spices? No. Sugar-free Jello Pudding, yes, but that wasn't going to cut it today. I should have known right away I wouldn't have any chocolate. If I keep chocolate too handy, I just eat all of it anyway, so there is never any around.

But I did have cocoa powder. I thought about making those brownies that my old college roomie used to make us. Those used cocoa, and those were good. Very good, and definitely chocolate. But then I realized how gross I would feel eating all of that, because I very well know I will eat at least 1/4 of the recipe as soon as they cool enough. At this point I realized I still had about six frozen bags of cooked pumpkin in the freezer. And pumpkin is healthy. What could I make with pumpkin and chocolate? A cake? I scoured the internet for cake recipes, and found one that looked good. I printed it, salivating already. I went to make it, though, and found that I only had two eggs, and the recipe called for five eggs. Rgh.

Once I made chocolate pumpkin muffins, which only needed one egg... so I went to get my old buddy, the red and white checked cookbook. To find the muffin recipe that I bastardize every time I use it. The muffin recipe that only uses one egg. I have pushed the limits of that recipe for years, adding extra blueberries, oat bran, dried apricots, cutting the fat out. I flipped the book open to a page marked by an index card which bears a handwritten copy of my Grandma Hinton's boiled custard recipe, and assumed it was stuck into the "Bread" section, because that's where the pancake and muffin recipes are, and that's what I'm usually making for me and the kids. So I started flipping page by page, but as luck would have it, I was in the "Cake" section, and came across an "Easy" One Layer Chocolate Cake recipe. Which would probably work, but as I was figuring out how I would have to adjust the moisture to include the pumpkin, I noticed the Banana Cake recipe. Now we were in business... I had a recipe to mangle. And it only took two eggs.

So here is how I made my chocolate-craving inspired cake, complete with fudge sauce since I didn't make brownies and I didn't have any chocolate chips to add to the cake. I guess it would have been easier in the end to just make the brownies. But then I wouldn't have used up any pumpkin.

No Trip to the Store One Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
With Thanks to Deva Chan, who Taught Me How to Cook and Freeze Pumpkin.
And Thanks to Mrs. Wilson, who Sent Us Home With Seven Pumpkins Last October From Her Garden in Willcox!

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. cocoa, sifted
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. pureed cooked pumpkin w/ juice (I used a hand-blender to puree it nice & smooth)
1-2 tsp. honey (totally optional-- I threw it in b/c I thought I might need to make up for the fact that bananas are sweet and pumpkin is not.)
1/2 c. lowfat plain yogurt (because I didn't have buttermilk and the red and white checked cookbook said I could substitute-- it tasted great!)
1/2 c. butter, soft (original called for shortening)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add pumpkin, yogurt, butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed till combined. Beat on medium speed for three minutes.
Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan and spread evenly. Lick the beaters and the bowl. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack as long as you can stand it while you make the fudge sauce, then dig in even though the piece you cut will fall apart if the cake is still warm.

Stupid Fudge Sauce
So, once you figured out you were making something out of chocolate, even though the cake might have been a smarter choice than making brownies, you lost your mind and wanted something richer. You can make this sauce to serve with your cake:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1-2 tsp. dark or regular corn syrup
pinch salt
1/4-1/3 c. of cocoa powder (I didn't really measure, but that's what it looked like)
2 T. of butter
1 tsp. of vanilla (eyeball)

Put everything except the butter and the vanilla in a small saucepan and whisk to get the cocoa incorporated. Heat to a slow boil and boil for two minutes. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla, stirring to incorporate. Way too easy.

The Fallout-- A Ramble

Well, there are four weeks of summer left; the end of summer is a point of reference claimed by students, parents and educators. The rest of the world continues on through its perpetual twelve month cycle. They are oblivious to the cycle that teachers sometimes take for granted, the cycle of reading & long-term planning over the summer, envisioning who our students might be, what the challenges might be this year, literally and figuratively plotting our courses; envisioning our classroom, ordering posters, shopping for professional attire; plunging in, discovering the realities that our visions lacked, furiously memorizing names, faces, bell schedules, details that will help us connect with our students; assigning, collecting, assessing, providing feedback, re-envisioning constantly; making thousands of decisions a day until sometime around February we sort of cave in, assign long-term projects and hand the responsibility for our students' success back to them, to often thrilling results. They have grown. We continue to push until we are exhausted. And by then, it is May, and we're just trying to keep everyone hooked until summer, when we pile the extra stacks of papers into a cardboard box marked "To File," wipe down the cabinetry, and surrender to summer.

Except that this summer was different. This summer, I had a pink slip, a RIF slip. This summer, I collected unemployment and prayed, hoped, affirmed, envisioned, clung to the notion that I might get rehired by my old district (TUSD). My husband had lost his job in November, and we had to short-sell our home because of it. We had not anticipated that, and never did we anticipate that my teaching jobs would be so unsure, either. This summer, we moved into a family-friendly rental. I spent the first few weeks unpacking, organizing, arranging. It would have gone a lot faster without actual daily life continuing on. Oh, that, and the full schedule of parks and recreation classes I had scheduled for the kids. (Side note: Tucson Parks and Rec. has an amazing variety of offerings. Check it out! We qualified for a discount!)

By the time I came up for air and went back to my job search in earnest, almost half of summer had passed. And by then I was in the middle of real estate school. My husband has been a Realtor for 6 years, and we figured, why not? It might be the key to our financial recovery. And I really think we are going to enjoy working together.

So I was in the middle of real estate school, in the middle of a fervent job search, and the state legislature had passed the budget, a budget which doesn't completely eliminate public education in Arizona. But it was/is really difficult to know what that budget really means for those teachers who have lost their jobs, or for those of us with first graders thinking about the first days of school.

So, tomorrow I finish my real estate salesperson's class at Hogan, and I am beginning to reflect on this whole experience. I'm still awaiting word from TUSD (what word we get is often fairly vague and unhelpful. I guess "word" will either be a callback or the public notice that they are finished calling back RIFfed teachers.) I'm still sending out sincere applications for other positions; maybe I will find something better, something that opens new professional doors. I am really trying to remain open, although it is difficult to give up the idea of that cycle of the school year in which summer is normally a delicious limbo, a time for professional development and personal recharging.

I'm not exactly sure what kinds of reflections will be coming here in this blog, but I thought I should transition away from the pleading rhetoric from the pre-budget weeks, and forward to what will come next, for our family, for my son, for my career, and for all of Arizona, especially those families with school age children. We will see!

Teachers, Students, We Have a Problem. Act Now!

Arizonans, do you want your children's schools to be stable and not have a transitory collection of teachers moving through each year? Do you want teachers to have an opportunity to build their craft and become expert instructors? Do you want educators to continue to be able to advocate for educational issues about which they are passionate?

Below I have pasted the summary of the current Arizona budget proposal that will most likely end up on Governor Brewer's desk today. Even more shocking than the slashes to state revenue are the ridiculous controls the bill puts on teachers and school districts. Why are these seeming punishments in the budget bill? Ask your legislators, especially if they are Republicans.

This summary was published on the AEA Website. Make sure you scroll down to see the new regulations on the teaching profession:

FY2010 Governor - Republican Leaders Budget

(Fiscal Year 2010: July 1, 2009 � June 30, 2010)

This is a summary of the major budget and policy items in the negotiated FY10 deal between Governor Brewer and Senate President Burns and House Speaker Adams.

TAXES

Sales Tax (HCR2037)

-Ballot proposition to voters at the November 3, 2009 election for one percent sales tax increase to be in effect for three years starting on January 1, 2010 . The tax money generated will be used with two-thirds going to K-12 and higher education and one-third going towards health and human services and public safety. Any revenues collected during FY10 (January 1, 2010 � June 30, 2010), must first be used to decrease the reductions in state spending for education. (Estimated revenue derived from this sales tax: $450 million available for FY10 with a total three-year impact of approximately $3 billion).

Flat Tax (HB2653)

-Replaces the current graduated individual income tax with a flat tax rate of 2.8% beginning in FY12. This is a loss of revenue to the state of approximately $450 million per year.

Single/Married Filing Separate income brackets	Married Filing Joint/Head of Household income brackets	Current Individual Income Tax Rates	New Rate with the Flat Tax
$0 - $10,000	$0 - $20,000	2.59%	0%
$10,001 - $25,000	$20,001 - $50,000	2.88%	2.8%
$25,001 - $50,000	$50,001 - $100,000	3.36%	2.8%
$50,001 - $150,000	$100,001 - $300,000	4.24%	2.8%
$150,001 and over	$300,001 and over	4.54%	2.8%

-Establishes a Task Force to determine the final individual income tax rate to be in effect in 2012 (the charge of the Task Force would prevent the rate from exceeding 3%).

Permanent Repeal of the State Equalization Property Tax�aka the school tax (HB2644)

-Permanently repeals the state equalization property tax. This is a loss of revenue to the state of approximately $250 million per year.

Reduction of Assessment Ratio for Business� Secondary Property Tax (HB2644)

-Phases down the assessment ratio for secondary property tax purposes on business property from 20% to 15% beginning in tax year 2012.

o Tax year 2012 = 19%

o Tax year 2013 = 18%

o Tax year 2014 = 17%

o Tax year 2015 = 16%

o Tax year 2016 = 15%

There is no estimate for the loss of this revenue stream at the local level. As business� taxes decrease, homeowner�s taxes must increase to generate the equivalent amount of money for school district bonds and overrides.

Vehicle License Tax (VLT) used to offset basic state aid (HB2644)

-Sweeps $22 million in VLT from cities and towns in FY10 to pay a portion of basic state aid for education.

-Note: This amount is reduced from the $95 million VLT sweep found in the budget that passed on June 4. The $53 million VLT sweep from the counties is completely out. The $42 million VLT sweep from the cities has been reduced to $22 million.

K-12 EDUCATION

Fails to actually fund the 2% inflation to school districts (HB2648)

-Section 9 in HB2648 sets the base level for FY10 at $3,267.72 which gives school districts the full 2% inflation factor. However, in section 25, there is a notwithstanding clause which then removes the 2% inflation to the base and instead sets the base level at $3,201.89 for FY10.

From a historical standpoint, here are the base funding levels for the past two fiscal years:

-2007-08 school year (FY08): $3,226.88

-2008-2009 school year (FY09): $3,291.42

-2009-2010 school year (FY10): $3,201.89 (this is the actual base level amount per student that a school district will receive)

The $3,201.89 amount for FY10 results in an amount that includes the reduction of the $121 million in education funding cuts that were part of the FY09 budget fix passed on January 31, 2009.

Soft Capital Reduction

-Delays the $175 million additional cut to soft capital until January 1, 2010. The general appropriation trailer bill (HB2643) restores this funding if sufficient excess revenues are available by December 2009.

-School districts with fewer than 600 students will be impacted with only half of this reduction.

-Of the remaining statewide allocation of soft capital funds (approximately $23 million total), a district may use their local share for any operating expenses.

No Funding for Utility Costs

-Fails to provide any funding for the new utility formula that was passed last session for �excess utilities� (this is an $80 million cut to school districts that previously levied for �excess utilities�).

Teacher Performance Pay

-Reduces the Career Ladder program funding by 0.5% for FY10 (from 5.5% to 5%) and limits this program only to teachers who participated in FY09 (the 2008-09 school year).

-Reinstates the new but unfunded teacher performance pay program that was established last session (the �Gilbert School District� proposal to provide the additional Career Ladder funding to all school districts).

Overrides and Bonds

-Repeals the single ratio assessment for all voter-approved overrides and bond elections found in the budget that passed on June 4.

-Extends the timeframe during which a school district can issue a bond from six years to ten years after obtaining voter approval (this is only for future bonds to be approved by voters).

-Permits a school board to cancel an override election scheduled for November 2009 up to 10 days before the election.

-Raises the maximum budget increase a school district may request for a Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Override from 10% of the Revenue Control Limit (RCL) to 15% of the RCL.

-Establishes a Special Program Override by expanding the scope of the K-3 Override to allow for a program to be designed for any or all of the K-12 students. Specifies that the maximum amount a school district may request for an M&O Override is 10% of the RCL if the school district also requests a Special Program Override.

-Authorizes a school district, for FY10, to conduct an election in March 2010 and submit one of the following proposals to the voters of the district:

- A 15% M&O override that, if approved, replaces any previously authorized M&O and K-3 overrides.

- An additional 5% M&O or Special Program override if the voters of the school district authorize a 10% M&O override at the November 2009 election.

- A 17% M&O override for a common school district if an M&O and K-3 override are still in effect on this bill�s effective date. The 17% override, if approved, replaces any previously approved M&O and K-3 overrides and continues for the number of years of the previously approved K-3 override.

-Permits a school district to issue Class B bonds for furniture, equipment, and technology provided that the bonds mature within five fiscal years after the bonds are issued.

Policy Changes Targeted Against Teachers & Association Members

-Prohibits school district employment contracts from including compensated days for professional association activities.

-Prohibits a school district from adopting policies that provide employment retention priority for teachers based on tenure or seniority.

-Removes the current prohibition against school districts reducing the salary of a tenured teacher except under a general salary reduction applied equitably to all tenured teachers.

-Removes the contract dates (between March 15 and May 15) in which districts are required to offer teaching contracts for tenured teachers. Thus, there will be no date in statute set for contracts and school districts will each set their own contract notification deadline.

-Eliminates the May 15 statutory deadline for notice of salary reduction. Instead allows each school district to set its own salary reduction deadline for teachers.

-Removes current statute that requires a school board to notify a provisional teacher of nonrenewal by April 15; thus, there will be no date in statute set for this notification.

-Removes the current statutory requirement for a school district to give a preferred right of reappointment to a job for a teacher who has lost his/her job through the reduction in force (RIF) process if a job becomes available within three years of the RIF process.

-Reduces the time frame for requesting a hearing on dismissal or long-term suspension from 30 days to 10 days.

-Reduces the amount of a time a school district must allow a teacher to correct inadequate classroom performance from 85 instructional days to 60 instructional days.

Sweetness is not Dead

Saturday was the big end-of-camp Tennis Bonanza at Randolph Tennis Center (soon to be named the Jim Refkin Tennis Center).

G., my wandering boy who likes to pretend his racquet is a machine gun when he is in a certain mood, did really well with the 7 a.m., 5-week camp. Well, for him. He participated in warm-ups, tried hard on most games, and socialized pretty well with the other children (minus the machine guns.) For him, this was big. He spent most of last spring in Little League counting how many players were on the field. When his team returned to the dugout, he would keep running through the dugout, out the gate, and into the stands to check in with us. He couldn't remember his teammates names, for the most part. He spent many music classes this year, when the students were supposed to sing or do movements in unison, rolling on the floor and refusing to participate. It was good to see him, for the most part, checked in. The biggest issue was that he wanted more stars for the star chart, but still wasn't a completely focused team player, not a top star-earner.

When, during the second half of the Tennis Bonanza, Coach Megan announced that each site would be awarding three trophies (one for stars, one for improvement, and one for sportsmanship), G. immediately started crying. He knew none of those were for him, and boy, did he want a trophy. I scootched him close to me and whispered in his ear that he would get a t-shirt, whispered how well he had done and how much fun he had had, how most of these kiddos would not be headed home with a trophy, and how what was really important was that he knew for himself that he was learning a lot about tennis and getting better. I reminded him that I worked really hard as a teacher, and hadn't gotten one trophy, but that what was important was what we knew we could do, and what we decided to do better next time. He tried so hard to be a good sport, but he couldn't manage to clap and be happy for the others who had won.

He cried all the way to the Parents' Lounge where we stood in line to pick up his T-shirt, pointing out along the way all the bouncy children holding trophies, unable to see the other dozens of children without trophies.

As we stood in line, a mom came up behind me, surreptitiously holding a star trophy: "Would he like to have this?" I said, "Are you sure?" She said that her son was big, and didn't care at all about the trophy. I turned to find him and make eye contact, and found the friendly face of a 15 year-old who clearly loved tennis, and had learned that the little 4-inch trophy was not what it was all about. He waved off the trophy, and I mouthed a thank you and hid it behind my back while G. got his T-shirt. He turned back around, and I held the trophy up.
"What's that?" he asked, still teary-eyed.
"It's for you." I handed him the trophy and the tears dried up. A look spread across G.'s face: happiness, relief, accomplishment. Two thoughts swirled in my head: "Miracle" and "Cry and get what you want." I had decided to allow him his moment and get what he wanted.
He commenced with a long list of questions designed to tell him exactly how this trophy came into his hands.
I asked him, "Do you think that you deserve it?"
He said yes.
I said, "Then it's for you!"

We passed another 7-year-old perched on a wall, wearing his new NJTL shirt over his other clothes. "Lucky!" he called out to G. That boy would go home with no trophy.

What stays with me is the sweetness of the teen boy and/or his mother who had the thought of making G.'s day, without even knowing if he deserved it. They may not realize that they helped to recognize the growth he made this summer. I do hope that G. will learn that it is not all about the trophy, and that he can't always expect trophies when it is a competition, and that he needs to focus on himself, what he can do, and what he can do better, but for the moment, he feels acknowledged and validated in a way that apparently ice cream and t-shirts can't do.

Boisterous education rally briefly shuts state House doors

Boisterous education rally briefly shuts state House doors

Click above and check out what happened in Phoenix today! I wish I could have been there...

Now if only we could keep the equalization tax and get rid of the sales tax increase, I think that would be real progress. There are a lot of bad compromises in this budget, but I am relieved to see "only" a 5% cut to education vs. the worst-case scenario 18% we heard about earlier this year. Right now I am not sure if that 5% is k-12 or K-university.

To all the Republican legislators out there who are using the budget crisis as an opportunity to continue to chip away at the entire public education system: Public Education definitely needs reform, but what alternative is there ready and waiting in the wings, people? Even vouchers, charters, etc. are publicly funded. Hello! Look at the corporate-sponsored charter schools. Sure, some are excellent, but the vast majority are mediocre, a factory approach from the school end, and a product chosen by consumers looking for a way to "get credits" for graduation. In the public schools in which I have taught, the vast majority of the teachers and administrators I have known have worked to get much more out of their students, and to provide more for them. I just don't see a business model working well in an area that requires mostly altruism, idealism, hard work in good faith, and the belief in the democratizing power of education.

We need to work toward a long-term, stable commitment to funding a successful public education system in Arizona, including the charter school system. And the funding needs to come not just from sales taxes, which are fickle, and which burden the already-stressed working class. Businesses need to shoulder more of the tax burden, and the state equalization property tax wouldn't hurt, either.

One more comment: The idea that teachers and those in education "feed from the trough" of state funding is f-ing sickening. So do the legislators! So does the Governor! So do Highway Patrol officers! So do Child Care Protective Services workers. Why do legislators beat up on school teachers and not land developers, payday loan sharks, etc., etc.? That is a load of crap. Forgive my little trip to the gutter of the English language. It will get worse if I go on, so I will stop now.

Just my two-cents based on the information I have.

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