Week in Review: The squirrel got a little pink plastic egg this week - yup, that's right - Easter. It was a looong week of being wiped out with the KILLER INFLUENZA. I had subbed most all of the previous week for a teacher, whose room was apparently crawling with disease. Students were hacking, blowing, spewing, and throwing up. It got me. I had a fever for a solid week. I did teach my aerobic class on Wednesday evening, because I don't really have anybody to sub for me, but that about did me in.

I did have a very nice birthday weekend before I succumbed to the KILLER INFLUENZA - Stormy and I spent Friday night at Lindsey & Brent's in Indy - dinner at The Oceanaire, followed by Nicky Blaine's, then some shopping on Saturday. Here we are at Lindsey's enjoying birthday cosmopolitans and admiring Lindsey's cupcake tree.

Lindsey came home on Good Friday afternoon. Brent went to the NCAA tournament in D.C. with his dad to watch Purdue. The exciting thing about that is that on Saturday afternoon they were sitting by Tim Russert and his son who were rooting for West Virginia. We colored eggs and watched basketball and on Saturday night we put the Ipod on shuffle and sang and danced in the kitchen until - too late.

Here are some eggs I decorated to look like J. Lo's twins, Emme and Max. Yes, I know it's weird. It's ever weirder that they are being pestered by squirrels.

Yes, that's right - you're riding in the Bunny Mobile and you're going to LIKE it.

Here we are after church on Sunday. We invited the Smith's over and served our traditional Easter dinner, or at least, it's the exact same meal we've served for the last four years. Is that tradition or are we just boring???

Honey Baked Ham

Cheesey potatoes

Strawberry & Mushroom Spinach Salad

Asparagus

Deviled Eggs

Rolls

Carrot Cake

Coconut Cream Cake

Nick and Stormy brought some great wine, and a couple of bottles of Prosecco, with which we toasted Lindsey's passing of the audit section of the CPA Exam, this week.

Recipe of the Week: There are a couple of variations of the Coconut Cream Cake recipe. This one is Paula Deen's recipe and the cake is made from scratch. The longer it sits, the better it tastes!

Coconut Cream Cake

1 cup butter - room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling

1 cup chilled heavy cream

2 cups sour cream

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups shredded coconut (plus more for topping)

One 12-ounce container Cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round pans. For the cake, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Combine the flour and baking powder and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in the vanilla. Divide the batter among the three pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool the cakes. While they are cooling, make the filling. In a chilled bowl whip the cream until stiff. Fold in the sour cream, then gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla and fold in coconut.

Split each cake in half horizontally. Spread the filling between the layers and on top of cake. Place in an airtight container and store for 3 days before serving. When ready to serve, you can frost with Cool Whip and sprinkle more coconut on top, if desired.

"There are many stages to a man's life. In the first stage, he is young and eager, like a beaver. In the second stage, he wants to build things like dams, and maybe chew down some trees. In the third stage, he feels trapped and then 'skinned.' I'm not sure what the fourth stage is."

Jack Handy