Rooted in Mississippi

Several of you wanted me to post some more recent photos here. These are the comparison photos I took last month, the outfit from my first and second set of these photos no longer fits, so I switched to the Melodias.

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I finished my finale cake for Wilton’s Course II, Flowers and More. The flowers are made from royal icing, then allowed to air dry. The basket weave is made from buttercream icing.

My shoulder/neck was just too sore to roll out fondant for my finale cake for Course III, so I have to do it later and send pictures to my teacher.

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I made a revelation the other day that I thought I would share here, so that I could compare notes with y’all.  When I sorted through clothes last week, I put aside some things because they would be appropriate for a funeral. OK, it was on my mind because I gave away dresses that I had worn to numerous funerals over the last seven years. But still, it seemed a little creepy.

Clearly I am getting older, but when did the never-ending search for the perfect little black dress end?  When I did see a black dress and start thinking, “that would work for a funeral.”  Tell me this is not just me!  Do you all do the same thing?

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My neck has been bugging me since I got sick. Even though I felt better in general, I spent all weekend rolling my head around, like I was trying to work out a kink. The pain got worse last night. By time I woke up, my neck hurt so bad that I had to use my hands to support my head when I got out of bed. It did not get better and was really localized, so I called my doctor.  After the exam he prescribed some medicine, then sent me off for physical therapy.

I have to admit, that I felt much better and had restored range of motion right after PT.  I wish it had lasted.  I took a muscle relaxer and analgesic when I got home, then my husband pulled out the heating pad for me.  I do not remember doing anything to my upper back or neck, but I sure have some serious muscle spasms going on right now!

See what can happen when I go more than a week without yoga?

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A while ago, I made a deal with myself…nothing new could come in unless something old went out of the house. That is why when my husband bought me a KitchenAid stand mixer, I gave away my bread machine. Well, because of the weight loss, I have had to buy a lot of clothes, which means I have had to get rid of a lot of clothes. Over the last year, I made two huge donations to the Bargain Boutique…quite literally two station wagon loads of stuff. Plus, I also gave a ton of clothes to friends.

With all of this purging, you would think I would either have a clean house or clean closets, but you would be wrong.  The house is a terrible mess as always. Anyway, I got inspired and went through my closets AGAIN today.  I emptied the small closet, putting all of my suits, cocktail dresses, and evening gowns on the bed.  I also emptied half of the walk-in closet onto the bed.  I even organized my dress shoes and found two pairs of amazing sandals that I had completely forgotten that I owned.  Is that really cool or really sad?

I moved all of my belly dance costumes and accessories into the newly empty small closet.  The real fun started when I actually went through all of those clothes piled on the bed. It was really cool discovering how many of my own clothes fit me! I am significantly smaller than I was on my honeymoon.  I guess that should have been obvious, but putting on the dress we bought in Hawaii was an eye-opening experience. I discovered that I could wear stuff that I have not worn in close to a decade, including some things from before I got sick with the thyroid stuff.

I decided to part with nearly two dozen suits, keeping only a few of my favorites. I mean, I have not worn suits in over a decade and am not likely to go back to a job where I need wear them. I am also parting with another dozen or more pair of shoes, tomorrow I will do a final count when I finish loading the wagon.  To round it out, there are about a dozen dresses and skirt sets, plus four evening gowns.  They are nice enough that I would love to see someone use them as prom dresses, rather than cut them up for the material.

Maybe tomorrow I will get inspired to go through the other half of the walk-in closet. Wish me luck!

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I know, I have been completely out of touch here. I could blame cake classes, FaceBook, or being under the weather, but the truth is, I started to feel like I was talking to myself. Of course, there were worse things than talking to yourself.

Next weekend I have the big finale in two cake classes, so I will be spending most of my time working on royal icing and fondant flowers. But, last week, I uncovered a few unfinished needlework projects that I want to finish. Maybe I can get back to them in April, since I am taking a break from cake classes.

So you might be wondering, why am I back writing an entry in my blog today? Probably because I am procrastinating on getting my tax stuff together for the accountant. Maybe I am a little depressed that my attempt at being a small businesswoman was a miserable failure. I am even procrastinating on filling out the paperwork to be a vendor at the next Share-A-Stitch. The irony is, I am not ordinarily a procrastinator.

Oh, well, life has a way of moving on and ironing out these things.

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