Cupcake #4–Sugar Rush

I finished cupcake number 4 today.

I am calling it Sugar Rush.  It’s the first cupcake with a name.

Mom said that the yarn I used reminded her of the game “Sugar Rush” from the movie “Wreck-It Ralph.”

I had to agree.

So I named it Sugar Rush. 🙂

 

Cupcake #3 and a Few Other Photos

I finished cupcake #3 earlier this week.

I think it’s fun.  It turned out a bit furrier than I thought it would, but I still like it.

You can’t see it real well in these pictures, but you can still see the blue part of the cupcake really well, which helps give it shape.  It doesn’t look like the abominable cupcake in real life.

 

I took these photos yesterday, since I was planning to post then.  I decided to post them anyway.

Lucy being cute in the sun.  Just love her!

Working on a presentation for school.  The mug was full of tea – I’m fighting a NASTY cold.  I had to include this photo, because I liked it.  Not completely sure why. 🙂

The grain-free graham crackers I was stuffing myself with.  They weren’t half bad, although next time I am going to change a few things.

Just Thought You Would Like To Know

The other day I got up, and left my bed unmade.  I came back in 5 minutes, and this is what I saw.

Just help yourself.  Don’t worry about asking.  No, really.  Make yourself at home.  Yes, the middle of the bed is the best.

Sometimes I feel as if this is Lucy’s bed and she is sharing it with me.  Or at least she thinks it is.  Or I think she thinks it is.  Why I get this feeling I would have NO IDEA.

Just thought you would like to know.

 

I finished cupcake number 2 last night.

I am now more than halfway finished with number 3.  I’ll post pictures of it when it is finished.

Just thought you would like to know.

 

You might be wondering what I’ve been doing, besides crocheting cupcakes and claiming bed real estate.

Well, it’s been nothing all that exciting.  Just school.  Life.

I got a yucky cold on Saturday.  It hit in full force today.  It is just a really bad sore throat, and the normal exhaustion.  No congestion.  For that much I am thankful.  I really dislike being congested.  Not being able to breathe through my nose really bugs me.  Like REALLY bugs me.

My throat was hurting some on Saturday, and then worse yesterday.  But then I woke up at like 5 this morning, and my throat hurt REALLY BAD.  I wanted to do something to make it stop.  But I really didn’t want to get up, warm up tea, and drink it.  It was five in the morning, for goodness’ sake!  And I considered a lozenge, but the ones we made at a recent herb day take a long time to dissolve.  I didn’t think that I would be awake long enough to finish it, and falling asleep with that in my mouth probably isn’t a great idea.  And it was 5 – I really just wanted to sleep.

So I ignored the raw feeling in my throat, and went back to sleep.

Just thought you would like to know.

Yes, I Can

When I was 10, 11, and 12,  I used to love to crochet.  And I played piano, usually for an hour a day.  I loved crocheting and piano.  Crocheting was more of a hobby, but piano was something I did a little more seriously.  I somewhat viewed it as something that I always wanted to do (although I couldn’t have articulated it then).  I loved piano.

I loved to sit down and just play.  Songs I had learned, books of songs from musicals.  Just play for hours.

My family joked that I was glued to the piano bench.

But when I was twelve, my wrists started hurting.

I can’t exactly remember when, but one day my right (I think) wrist started hurting.  Then the left started.

This lasted for about a month.  It was December, and I didn’t get to do the present wrapping.  (I usually wrap all the presents for my parents, except my own.  I think they have Drake wrap those.)  I was pretty inactive, doing lots of reading, and not being able to do a whole lot else.

But then it went away for awhile.  I had already quit crocheting, and although I did dabble in it a few times over the next few years, I never really started crocheting again.

I was able to continue playing piano until I was 14, when my piano teacher married and moved away.  Although I took a few more lessons here and there, I wasn’t able to seriously play seriously anymore.  It aggravated my wrists.

At first this was really hard.  Mostly because my wrists hurt if I did anything.  Sometimes they hurt so bad that I couldn’t even read a book – it hurt to hold the book and turn the pages.

We tried all kinds of different things – some seemed to help, others didn’t.  My wrists seemed to get gradually better.  I was able to type again.  I was able to cook and bake.  But they always hurt if I tried to play piano or crochet.

This bugged me some times worse than others.  Sometimes I would feel as if playing piano was a season – one that was now over.  It would hurt a little, but, hey, if that’s the way it was, that’s the way it was.

At other times it was so difficult.  Listening to classical piano made me sad, because it reminded me of what I couldn’t do.  Seeing other people play also reminded me of this.  All these things just seemed to start a recording in my mind that repeated:

“You can’t.  You can’t.  You used to, but you can’t.  You can’t.  You can’t.”

And I really didn’t have anything to say in defense.

Because I felt like I couldn’t.

I was still teaching piano off and on through these years.  There were times when I would enjoy it.  But then there were times when I would think, “What good is a piano teacher who can’t even play the piano?”

A few weeks ago I decided to play the piano a little bit every day.  I was able to prove to myself that I could still read music (a skill that I thought I was losing).

And it didn’t hurt – at least not at first.

I also tried crocheting again.  I made a dishcloth, and then I started to think about what else I could make.

I decided to crochet a bagful of cupcakes to give to a little friend who loves cupcakes.  So I started.

I finished the first cupcake on Monday evening.  I set it on top of my bookcase, where I can see it.

And you know what it says to me?

“You can.  You can.  You CAN.”

Although trying to play piano and crocheting has caused my wrists to hurt some (they are hurting right now), I am hoping to be able to work through it, so I can at least play piano again.

And it’s so nice to have something to prove to myself that I can.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me this.

The cupcake on top of my bookcase

 

All finished!

For the First Time in 2 Years? 3 Years?

I used to crochet all the time when I was 10 until I was 12.  I loved to crochet.  I made my sister a load of crocheted food for her play kitchen.  I made a bunch of dishcloths.  But when I was 12, I started having wrist pain.  I had tendonitis.

Crocheting was one of the first things to go, followed by piano.  There was a time when I was able to do a bit of crocheting, but I had to stop again.  I have not been able to crochet for several years.

Well, I tried again yesterday.

It went fairly well.  I did some more today, and my wrists are sore.  But I am so excited to be crocheting again!  I hope if I take it slowly I can crochet more often. 

I started a dishcloth.  It is now about two thirds of the way finished.

I am so excited that God gave me the ability to do this again!

What it looked like last night

This morning