George laughs at me because on weekends I always get up earlier than I do on weekdays. I guess it is because Saturday and Sundays are "my" days...and I want to hop up and get going on all my projects. Today I woke up thinking of making a chocolate cocoa cake first thing. I still have to go to the grocery store for sour cream and buttermilk to make the other cakes. George found cinnamon chips at a new Star Market near his office and bought five packages. Cinnamon chips are his secret ingredient in Oatmeal cookies that make them extra delicious and have people wondering what the devil makes them so good.
Easter is my favorite holiday because it comes with an expectation of Spring, and warm weather. At church I am a worker-bee at Easter, and try to make the coffee hour special and welcoming. I bought Dunkin Donuts coffee and two apple coffee cakes from the Swedish bakery yesterday. (I also bought six hot cross buns for our Easter breakfast.) Besides hosting coffee hour, and playing in the bell choir, I am also an usher tomorrow. Ushering is also fun because there are so many "newbies" there, and sometimes they need a little coaxing from the usher to do the right thing. I like to help. One of the keys to being a good usher at church is to smile, darnit. Sometimes the older men are so droll...newcomers are intimidated. Smiling helps everything.
When I was a young girl, performing on a highschool stage, I realized that the answer to stage fright was to think of the other person on the stage with you, or the person that was performing right before you. Getting out of yourself is the best cure for malaise of any kind and helping others is key to a healthy life I think. That is a philosophy of mine that I developed when I was about 13 years old and it has always worked for me. Doing something nice for someone else always makes me feel better.
Baking all these cakes today is a labor of love, and something that I want to do. I have a beautiful new professional-grade Kitchen-Aid mixer, and it just purrs along and makes things easy. With George here to help me gather the ingredients as we go, and to help me carry and transport the cakes and platters to the church later...it will be fun and I'm eager to get started.
Have a great Easter everyone.
