Mark My Words: Happy Easter to You!

I promise that this week's post will be more lighthearted than last week's. (Some of the people who usually like my posts didn't like last week's.) But let me just get this out of the way first:

It is in extremely poor taste to compare sincere, politically engaged teenagers to Nazis. If you share such memes or videos, you will rise to the top of my list to unfriend. I have already unfriended one person for this reason. That's all for now.

Moving on to my lighthearted promises:

Yay for spring! I am happy we have "popcorn" on our apricot tree this year, because we didn't last year, and subsequently we didn't have any apricots. I'm looking forward to apricot jam, crisp, and maybe meringue pie in July or August.

This week I went through some old stuff and got rid of things. My mom got rid of my x-rays from when I was nine years old. I feel like society has two conflicting sets of values. One is that we should reduce, reuse, recycle; we should be thrifty. The other is that we should simplify our lives and not be hoarders. I sometimes have a hard time reconciling these two things.

I love to make dishes that include vegetables prepared in unusual ways, because otherwise it's hard to get veggies. At Eastertime, I love to cook with carrots. So this week I made carrot pie with phyllo crust. It also had dates, raisins, and onions. It was decent.

"When his mother says, 'Oh Sonny dear, how about some carrot pie?'"--An obscure Easter song you have probably never heard.

Last week I also went to JoAnn and got materials to make Easter pillowcases, which I finished this week. Note that I had to get materials that had Easter candy. (I also got materials for St. Patrick's Day and Independence Day, the latter of which has popsicles on it.)

This is really random, but I put it on my bucket list to write the lyrics for a musical album, so I made an imaginary Easter album. I say "imaginary" because it will never exist, since I don't have the musical know-how to put it to music, nor the knowledge of copyright/royalty laws to cover songs. But I have often wondered why we have so much music for Christmas and so little for the other holidays. So I wrote Easter lyrics! Of all my holiday playlists, Easter is the worst, so it needs some help. I make no claims that my lyrics are good, but let's be honest, very few holiday songs are lyrically sophisticated. Even Sia released a delightful Christmas album with very simple lyrics ("Puppies Are Forever!"). My own songs have the following titles: "Happy Eastertime," "Happy Springtime," "Take Care of Your Pets," "Nests," and "Happy Spring." The imaginary album would also cover the following songs: "Eggbert the Easter Egg," "The Foggy Dew," "I Wish I Was a Whisker on the Easter Bunny’s Chin," "Bring on the Blue Sky," "Nature’s Easter Story," "Eggbert the Easter Egg" (a different song with the same name), "Easter Mornin’," "Every Spring the Easter Bunny Never Sleeps," "Here Comes Peter Cottontail," "Sonny the Bunny," and "Those Crazy Peeps."

I also wanted to see Peter Rabbit before Easter, because I had no interest in seeing it at any other time of the year. It was visually appealing, but unfortunately that was the only thing appealing about it. Sadly, more people have seen/will see that movie than another British movie about anthropomorphic animals, Paddington 2--even though I give Peter Rabbit 4 or 5/10, but Paddington 2 10/10. (The first Paddington gets 9/10.)

On Friday I attended a mission reunion, this time with my first mission president. These reunions are attended by fewer and fewer people as time goes on. My first mission reunion was eight years ago! I talked to people who are much better at life than I am. They have steady, interesting jobs. I got nothing. They have nice houses and property. I live with my parents. They have multiple children. I...adopted a cat. One even has cattle. Again, I have a cat.

Today he woke me up because he was chasing the bird shadows on my blinds. It is a shame he can't go outside, because he would be a fantastic mouser.

Oh well. At least I'm a published author, which most people can't say.

I did typical Easter things with my family--egg hunt, getting baskets, coloring eggs, and Easter dinner.

Eight years ago, my BYU FHE group introduced me to using colored crayons on eggs, and it changed my life.

Easter morning meant Lent is over, and so is my counting calories. You can bet that I binged on candy and carrot cake today, especially since I can't have any candy after Easter is over. (This isn't entirely true, as I can eat candy early if I'm reviewing it, and I am planning on some reviews soon.)

I am so happy that the trails have thawed out. I've had a hard time being motivated lately to go running, but dry trails should bring back motivation. (However, not counting calories will bring less motivation.)

Glacier lilies kind of freak me out, but they mark the return of wildflower season! Next I will watch for yellowbells, phlox, and arrowleaf balsamroot.

Can we talk about conference for a minute? I almost feel like President Nelson did more in one conference than President Monson did in ten years. The surprises just kept coming. I have no problem with white American Apostles, but I think it will be good all around to have more diversity. I think it will be great to have more inclusive elders quorums, and ministering rather than home/visiting teaching. But TBH, I would have preferred announcements about a two-hour block or a new name for Mia Maids. (I had another thing on this list, but my mom said it would be better left unsaid. Maybe I could tell you in person.)

It was on my bucket list to make a layer cake, so I decided Easter would be an ideal time. In 2012, I independently decided carrot cake was an Easter dessert, and since 2013, lots of carrot cake products have come out at Eastertime, showing I'm justified in my opinion. (There have been carrot cake M&Ms, candy corn, Hershey's Kisses, Hostess Donettes, and Little Debbie Rolls.) Carrot cake is my all-time favorite dessert--mostly because it's delectable, but also because I love vegetables prepared in unusual ways. This was the first time I ever made a layer cake, and the first time I really decorated a cake like this. If it were at a store, it would end up on Cake Wrecks, but I like it for my first try. It was tasty and pretty, though the frosting wasn't the greatest. (In my geology classes, I learned that the freeze-thaw cycle wreaks havoc on landscapes, but today I learned it also messes with the texture of cream cheese.)