Getting It Done

I've learned many things from my mom, but one of the most important things is the answer to a question I hear all the time: "How do you get so much done?!?" Like everybody else I know, I don't nearly get enough done; I always seem to be playing catch-up with a set of never-ending to-do lists. And, though I will concede that some days are more "productive" than others, I have to admit that I do manage to get quite a bit done.

The day before Easter, I spent three hours at my Mom's house, cleaning her bathrooms (what can I say? She has a HUGE house! Total time spent cleaning both of my tiny bathrooms? 18 minutes.). I also boiled and dyed eggs with the kids, made up their baskets, cut and cleaned 5 pounds of strawberries for strawberry shortcake desserts, made and decorated a bunny cake, did three loads of laundry, made all the beds, did all the dishes, made a menu plan for the next four weeks, watered the gardens, made pancakes for breakfast, embroidered, and worked on crocheting Erik's blanket. I also took Tommy to his baseball game (where it was my turn to be "Team Dog" and get the after-game-snack-order in and managed) while Erik did our taxes.

I can make an equally long list of things I didn't get done on the day before Easter ~ included on that list? Clean out the car. Take a shower. ~ but it's still inevitable that somebody will ask me, "How do you get so much done?"

Here's the trick, as passed down from my mother me, and presumably from her mother to her: Stay home. Work hard.

That's it! The rest of it is the luck of the draw ~ sometimes you work hard and get so much done! Other times, you work hard, and it's just to keep your head above water. It's like my mom always said, "Every day, you go out to slay the dragon. On some days, the dragon wins."

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That bunny cake was a huge hit, and it couldn't be easier to make. I think a bunny cake, once a month or so, could make anybody happy. Forget about Easter for a minute, and go make this cake..it's perfect for Memorial Day!

Just make any cake you want in two round cake pans. Allow the cakes to cool completely, while you set up a foundation (I used a particularly large cookie sheet wrapped in tin-foil, but sturdy cardboard would probably also work). One of the round cakes will be the bunny's head. Take the other round cake and cut an arc-ed section from opposite sides of the cake.


(Think of a baseball, with the stitching being the cut line.)

Each of the cut out sections becomes an ear, and the remaining inside piece of that second round cake becomes the bow tie. Decorate however you want.

Can of corn!