Homework galore!
Dear Diary,
I don’t have much time because I accidentally took a 20 minute nap a few minutes ago instead of doing homework! It’s getting toward the end of the term and I’m awfully tired. I have a bunch of final projects to get working on, plus regular homework, and I’m starting to wonder if I’ll be able to complete it all in time! In one of my classes, all of the students are about a week behind, so I’m hoping that the professor will understand and give us some leeway. He is out sick today anyhow, so I turned in last week’s assignment (he let us turn it in today) and plan to work on the other one that was supposed to be due today over the next few days to try to get caught up. I’m not sure how well it will work.
I’m trying to split up my work through the day and allow some time for crafting, but I’m starting to wonder if that’s such a great idea. I mean, I know I need it for my own sanity but if I’m not done with my homework I don’t know how much sanity I’m saving. I’m so glad that next term, my class load will be a little lighter. I registered this morning and decided to take a light load to offset some costs associated with wizardcare and give myself a bit of a break. Then comes summer, and I won’t be doing any classes over the summer – I plan to stay in touch with all my new friends at Hogwarts, though! The problem is getting through this term. I can feel myself starting to burn out, and that’s a dangerous place for me to be. I really want to maintain my O average (for muggles, that’s a 4.0) but I might be overextending myself to do it. Argh, this is frustrating.
Maybe I should just get what needs to be done for tomorrow completed and go to bed early tonight. No crafting, no games, just bed. We’ll see…
le sigh.
Dear Diary,
I feel I have to admit to a certain amount of frustration, as I wasn’t even looking where the snitch was found. I’m not sure how it happened, but some logistical owls must have gotten eaten somewhere in the flurry of getting ready for Quidditch, and the list of blogs that I searched was not the same as the list on the main HSKS blog. Darnit. I suppose it was my own fault, and next time I’ll be even more prepared, so Ravenclaw will catch that thing! After all, we deserve it!
I’m also a little upset that I skipped my weekly knitting circle to not catch the snitch, particularly since it’s the only time I set aside for JUST ME during the week. Maybe I’m a little moody today, but I could cry (and would, if I weren’t sitting in a room with a ton of other people) knowing that I gave up that time for nothing. It was my choice, though, so maybe I shouldn’t complain. I hope I’m not putting too much of my real life aside to attend Hogwarts.
I do want to congratulate the Gryffindors for getting the snitch again. I’m not particularly happy that they did, but congratulations are still in order. I think I’ll go find a quiet corner somewhere now.
The Chronicles of The Bag, part I
(Also known as Kit Crazy part I)
This is my very first swap. Ever. Having said that, as soon as I started thinking about a bag I wanted to try to design and sew one myself. I’ve been sewing for MUCH longer than I’ve been knitting, especially considering I’ve been knitting for just over a month now, and crocheting for about two months longer than that.
Knowing I wanted to sew the bag, I had to start thinking about a design. I know that Penelope is not very stationary, so the bag needed to be able to travel well. Having a background in some aspects of her current life, I know she’s probably around a lot of dust and dirt on occasion. That ruled out fabrics of a nonwashable nature (as if I’d even consider dry clean fabrics for a kit bag, but still!!!) and required, in my mind, some major sturdiness. Imagine my surprise (and glee) when I came across silver corduroy fabric in the Red Tag section of the local big box fabric store!!! Silver, not so much gray. Fabric for main body of bag? Check.
The next step was designing the actual bag. I had seen a really interesting chart of the Slytherin snake and decided to do it in filet crochet to cover one side of the bag. I had some leftover Lion Brand Wool-ease in Forest Green Heather from making a Slytherin scarf for Malcolm, and set to work. Within rows, however, I realized that I would be INSANE to make a bag as big as the snake was turning out to be. Oops. Back to the drawing board. I knew I wanted a snake on one side of the bag, so I allowed myself to mull over that and went back to overall bag design.
The dimensions of the bag itself ended up being somewhere around 8x10x3″, which is just about the size of a small canvas tote bag. As I designed it, I started thinking that I really wanted it to be able to open up for quick access to small pockets. A quick look in my huge stash of random sewing stuff that will be “useful someday” I find to my relief a strip of snaps on cotton webbing stuff. Score! The pockets get designed so that on one side, they’ll hold all the yarn for a sock project. The other side has a series of shorter pockets that can hold stitch markers, scissors, etc. Two of the shorter pockets are narrow enough to hold a set of short DPNs without easily offering them to the gods of lost needles. The inside has to be as pretty as the outside since it’ll be able to open. Okay! Let’s get to work!
to be continued…
House Quiz
I’ve been so worried about Penelope’s kit and so preoccupied with homework, a wizardling’s second birthday, and Singles Awareness Day I almost FORGOT to do the house quiz!!!
So without further adieu (or procrastination) here are my answers:
1. What is Professor McGonnagall’s first name?
Minerva
2. Who is the librarian of Hogwarts?
Madam Irma Pince
3. What is Madam Rosmerta’s job?
She’s the hottest Three Broomsticks barwench around… AND she owns the bar too!
4. What is Rita Skeeter’s secret?
She’s an unregistered beetle Animagus.
5. Madam Hooch is instructor of what subject?
FLYING. WHEEEEE!
6. Who is Parvati Patil’s best friend?
Lavender Brown
7. What Quidditch position does Cho Chang play?
She’s a Seeker, just like Harry.
8. What is the name of Fleur Delacour’s little sister?
Gabrielle Delacour
9. Who is professor of Divination?
Sybill Trelawney
10. Who wrote “A History of Magic”?
Bathilda Bagshot
OKAY! Good! I’ve done that! PHEW!
Valentine’s Goodies!
Dear Diary,
I stopped by the LYS today on my way back to Ravenclaw Tower from classes. (Really, it wasn’t THAT bad of a detour!!!) I spent some of my gift certificate on a book that most Hogwarts students already know about – Charmed Knits! How exciting! There’s a few patterns in there that I’m REALLY REALLY looking forward to making, for myself and the small wizardlings. And Malcolm too, of course! The rest of my gift certificate I think I’ll spend on yarn for some big project – maybe a sweater for myself? Hm… I have lots of things I’d like to make, what to pick is the problem!!!
Oh my Goodness!
Dear Diary,
I think I officially love Malcolm MacCoinneach. Really. Even though he’s a Slytherin, he can be so thoughtful sometimes! Really, I’m sure he has ulterior motives, but STILL. This evening, since we won’t see much of each other tomorrow, he gave me my Valentine’s Day gift… a gift certificate to my LYS!!! Wahoooooooo!!! I’m so excited! I might just run in tomorrow, we’ll see. Hopefully I’ll get to see one of the girls that works there – she just had her second baby and I want to see him!!! What a sneak Malcolm is… I was IN the LYS today and the lady he bought the gift certificate from must be in Slytherin too because she kept a straight face the whole two and a half hours I was there knitting!!! Geez!!!
Ahh… love. I got chocolates too. And a movie. He got adorable boxers and, despite my better judgment, a muggle yard gnome riding a frog. I thought that was romantic, since he LOVES muggle yard gnomes and I love frogs… hee hee hee…
Doldrums
Dear Diary,
I’m feeling pretty down in the dumps today for several reasons, so I decided against going to Hogsmeade even though I had originally planned on making the trip. I just have too much to do here, and since Arithmancy homework is likely to take me the rest of the day today AND all day tomorrow, I can’t expect much of anything. I’m tired and very irritable today, and I feel horrible for anyone around me. I’m also cry-ish moody, with no hormonal imbalances to blame for it.
The good news is that I sent off my spoilee’s package yesterday, I’m getting closer to finished on my sister’s babies’ present (the goal is Wednesday), and I haven’t killed any small wizardlings or Malcolm yet.
I sure wish Arithmancy was going better than it is – I really do think that’s causing most of my stress related mood issues right now. It doesn’t help that campus has been closed for the last two days, removing the day we were supposed to be able to ask questions in Arithmancy about our homework that is now due on Monday. I don’t understand it, and now I have to figure it out without anyone to answer my questions. *sob* yep… I think that’s my problem.
I guess I’d better get back to it – next time I take a break from studying I’ll be a bit of a sheep and do the ‘about me’ meme. I haven’t decided yet which one I’ll do – all the ones I’ve seen from the lovely Ravenclaw ladies have been interesting and unique!
Yippeeeeee!!!
Dear Diary,
I’m going to the post office today to send off a certain Slytherin’s package! I made sure to take lots of pictures before I put it all into the box, and I think I might share a little teaser since I’m so excited!!!
There is one thing in the box that’s a goody now but didn’t start out as one… by the time I finished it, the size was NOT conducive to a bag. So it’s just a goody now. I really liked it, even though it didn’t like me so much some of the time! Wanna see some of it? 😉
How fun! My classes were canceled again today, but I’m not getting much done because instead of being able to do homework I’m chasing after a wee wizard. Yikes. This afternoon, when I have a chance to get out of the house and go to the post office, I also plan to run some other errands and then tonight after normal wizard bedtimes do homework. In the meantime, maybe I’ll get some crocheting done for my sister who is expecting in less than a month and finish up her present – I’m a lot closer than I expected to be right now!
So. Tired.
Dear Diary,
Life has been so busy lately! Muggle Discrete Math is really quite difficult, and I’m struggling to keep up with that in addition to my Hogwarts class load. I tried to get some of the homework for that done last night, but as yesterday was a long day for me in classes, my brain hit overload before I could even get halfway done. I quit before I had intended to originally and relaxed by finishing my very first knit project, a hat! I started the matching scarf earlier yesterday and did a few rows on it yesterday evening, too. I missed the Knitting Club meeting because of homework, unplugging a kitchen sink without magic, and putting a few wizardlings to bed. I was sorry to miss it!!!
In a stroke of good luck, Malcolm brought me a wonderful piece of paper – a Muggle W2 form! I was finally able to send in my forms for American federal aid for school, which is very important for me being able to continue on at Hogwarts.
No school today for me – even though this is the nicest day we’ve had in a long time, NOW they decide to close campus for snow removal. I can understand the logic, but it irritates me that I had to drive through horrific blizzard conditions (really, I could hardly see the road and only my knowledge of exactly where stop lights are along my route told me where to slow down to even more of a crawl to squint through the snow to see if they were red) just to get to school. And now they close it on a day I can see the road to get there. Oh well, I guess there’s more homework time… Off to finish up some of that homework and put some finishing touches on a certain someone’s package. How exciting, I can’t believe it’s ready for sending at long last! I kept thinking it was almost ready, almost ready, and then I’d think of something more to add. Now, I’m actually done but for one tiny little thing and the packing it up in a box! WOW! So excited…
Almost done!
Dear Diary,
I’m almost done with my spoilee’s package. I’m waiting for some paint to dry (muah ha ha ha!) and then I’ve got a few things left on one particular extra goody, and then it’s all ready to go!
I’ve been working very hard to make a slightly different deadline: my mother is leaving to visit my sister in a few weeks, and I have a little set of gifts for my sister’s babies (they’re coming in right about a month) to send with my mother so as to save a bit on shipping. They’re not heavy, but they’ll take up more space and have to go in a bigger box than I’m wanting to pay shipping for. I’ve got the two hats done, one each for the boy and girl, and only need to finish the decoration for them. The to-be-shared blankie is progressing and not too badly at that, so I plan to take that with me tomorrow and work on it during a break between classes. I think I’ve only got about 5 squares left to make, then sewing them all together and doing the border. Whee!
Cecilia's Diary 