Oh look! It actually was.

It's just 40 days (excluding Sundays) until Easter Sunday from today, Ash Wednesday.

According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica's modern-day equivalent Wikipedia, the date of Easter varies in a manner too complicated to summarise in a simple formula.

Wikipedia then proceeded to summarise the none-too-simple formula in a complicated manner.

In short, Easter falls on the Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon. The “computus” is the procedure of determining the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon falling on or after March 21 and the difficulty arose from doing this over centuries without accurate means of measuring the precise solar or lunar years.

Simply put, someone smarter than me is doing the sums. (I could hazard a guess at the dates but I could not show you my working out.)

Thanks to the smarter someone, I now know Easter falls on March 25-28 this year.

Since 1583 the Roman Catholic Church has been using March 21 under the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of Easter while the Eastern Orthodox Church continued to use March 20 under the Julian calendar. 

Somewhat in tune with the moon, Target was going by the Lindt calendar to stock its shelves with chocolate carrots and bunnies this week while there were other tell-tale signs Easter was on the hop like Shrove Tuesday yesterday.

Our youngest sprang out of bed when I told her it was Pancake Tuesday only to find we were offering cereal and toast for breakfast.

Sensing a potential flip-out I counselled her accordingly: “There will be pancakes at school today.” (I said a little prayer that this was still going to be the case.)

Later in the day when I suggested pancakes for dessert, the youngest was not having a bar of it.

"I've already had pancakes at school today!" she said. “I’m full up with pancakes.”

Speaking of going from feast to famine, Lent begins today. 

Traditionally Lent was a time of fasting, moderation and self-denial observed by Catholics and some Protestants from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. 

The length of the Lenten fast was determined in the fourth century as 46 days (40 days excluding Sundays). 

During Lent participants ate sparingly or gave up a particular food or habit. 

In 2016 people are likely to give up alcohol or chocolate or social media (just Facebook, not Insta too – one account is trial enough). It’s looked on as six weeks of self-discipline.

When I asked our nine-year-old what she planned to give up for Lent this year she struggled with the fine detail.

“Lollies on Tuesdays and … or was it Wednesdays and Fridays?” she offered. “I’ll have to check.”

Given that Ash Wednesday was on the horizon, I suggested she look into it fast. (Pun intended.)

Other years she’s given up takeaway (we rarely eat out), being mean to her sister (she almost never is) and lollies and/or sweets (the most challenging to date and subsequently modified in 2016).

My only hope is that those nearest and dearest, living and working closest to me, do not give up coffee or carbs.

I cannot do six weeks of cranky!