Today the mass is about Mary Magdalene, and I love this. I love the part of the hymn that goes like "the woman that fell into too many sins". It gives me hope. I feel like it speaks of me. It makes me count my sins in the most positive way, and then makes me count the work that has been done towards conquering these sins. Still a road to travel, but part of the distance already travelled....

My house smells of butter. And cookies. I have always found it weird. When I am fasting, I never eat anything that is not included in the allowerd food for the fast. No matter how hungry I am, how tired of the tastes I might be, I never cheat while fasting. If only I could keep the feeling while dieting, I would have been 55 kilos by now...lol

Good Tuesday is second cookie recipe baking day. It is also god children shopping day. We give specific presents to the god children for easter. Three things: A big chocolate egg, a fancy wax candle that is decorated with stuff like ribbons, flowers, toys, crystals, really depends on the age of the receiver. (There are barbie candles, disney candles, to sophisticated candles decorated with real swarowsky crystals. These candles are taken to the church mass on Good Saturday, in midnight, where the light from the holy grave has been brought to Athens by plane, and is distributed to all the churches all around greece.) And a pair of shoes. So that the child will have a new pair of shoes to walk through the new life directed by Jesus's ultimate sacrifice.

It is also shopping day for the ingredients of the second traditional Easter thingy that will go to the baskets. These are called "tsoureki" and I have tried to find a word in so many dictionaries for many years. The one I found was a complete dissapointment. "A kind of bun"

This is made by yeast, flour, many eggs, butter, sugar, anice, and masticha. It is usually formed on the size of a big loaf of bread, and it is shaped like a big braid, or a big round spiral. It is soft and yummy. And it is a very hard work to make them. First, because all women have too many to make. For their families, for their relatives, for the god children, for friends. We are talking about at least 4 kilos of flour into the recipe. I am using 5 kilos. And it takes lots of time to make too. Cos first, you take the yeast and some warm water and a bit of flour, and work with it, then wait for 3-4 hours till it rises. Then you add the rest of the ingredients and you knead forever. Because the essential trick for complete success is excess kneading. This is what makes it so soft and gives it a special texture you only find in this. Then, you have to let it rest and rise for at least 6 hours. But if you leave it for around 10, then it super rises and it gets so wonderful. Then you have to knead it again. Then let it rest and rise again, another 4 to 6 hours. Then you shape it in braids, put it in the trays, let it rise again for a couple of hours, brush it with egg yolk, sprinkle it with toasted and sliced almonds, then bake them one by one, because the exterior dries out if you bake them in the air function. I am making about 20 of those, in smaller size actually, so I can fit two in a tray. Yet, it takes me about 5 hours to bake them all! I usually start with the yeast on Tuesday evening, and I knead the first time just before bed (and while the cookies are almost done) and let it rest all night. I use the same basin I use to take the laundry out to hang it. And when I add the ingredients to the yeast and knead, it fills about the 1/4 of the basin. And when I wake up in the morning, it usually falls out of the basin.

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I have an appointment at 7 this evening to see yet another appartment. I have seen 21 so far. Call me picky, but our current appartment is really very nice, besides the small balconies and a few other things. We mainly want to move cos of the silly neighbours we have who are not only silly but noisy silly too. And when we have sex on Sunday afternoons they hit the wall to our bedroom because they can hear us. But I can hear them snoaring sometimes too. Fake walls. So we are looking for specific things. 3 bedrooms, big balconies, niceness. And top floor if possible, so we won't hear our neighbour's heels like we do now.

My weight is up 500 gr since yesterday. 88.6. Irrational. I am not upset, I know its the bloat from my period arriving in the next couple of days at max. I am weirdly pms'ing, more on the quiet sad - ish side.

We will not spend Easter with Vangelis and Sofia. I am a bit sad about it too, I was really looking forward to a traditional village Easter. But they can't go due to works in their house, and although they offered us the keys to their house, it won't be fun without them. So it is the summer house most prolly, though we are taking this decision tonight.

Right, off to the shower now. Did I tell you that today was the second day of 30 mins in the treadmill? I am slowly coming back to my morning workouts! But I feel really tired after 15 mins, getting to 30 is such a struggle!!! My poor body is so overworked! But I feel so much better during the day!