Late Night Silence

I am still here, I promise. I've just been...busy...since A got out of school 2 weeks ago. (Has it only been 2 weeks?! Ooooooh, this is going to be a long summer...) But by the same token, I cannot believe that tomorrow is the first day of July! Insanity!

The weather here has overall been amazing. It's been cloudy and rainy and cool. (I'm talking in the 60's F, cool.) A lot of friends and family have been dealing with temps anywhere from 80* to over 100*F! We had a few warm days earlier this week where we hit in the mid-80's range, but those few days were enough of that, and I am very thankful to be back in the 60's!

With said wet weather, the boys and I have been pretty confined to the house. And that, in turn, means breaking up a lot of fights and picking up a lot of laundry and toys all over the house. I've not made any new trips since Belgium, and I'm feeling the "not-traveling-blues" harder than I thought I would. Unfortunately, it's not like we can afford to have me constantly traipsing off...especially with my BFF getting married in September (which I will be going back to the States for)! I have, however, gone down to visit Misha a couple of times, and enjoyed some much needed kid-free time. :) The first of the two times, I got my hair cut and colored...and I got bangs. :O

Then this past weekend, I went back down and Misha and I redeemed the 25-minute massage part of our gift certificates at the spa on base that he got for us for Mother's Day! :D It was my first ever massage, and it was amazing. I nearly fell asleep more than once, and after it was done (and we sipped some hot tea), I could have easily taken a nap...but instead, I went and got my bangs fixed (I couldn't stand the side-swept thing...they were driving me to distraction!) we went back to Misha's house and she prettified me up with make up and we took a walk. And I had my first ever "photoshoot."

Growing up, I always wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a singer. Give sold out concerts around the world, make CD's, support myself (and the family I now have with The Instigator, of course) with something I truly love to do. Well, that's obviously not happened. LOL But part of the fame is the publicity and photo shoots. No fame, no amazing photos, right? Wrong! Misha is amazing with a camera and her photo editing. (I don't care what she says in protest, I think she could run her own little photography stint and charge to do portraits! She's amazing!) In fact, here are some results from said walk:

And I'd originally posted them on Facebook in an album titled "My 1st (& only) 'photoshoot'"...and she said it would definitely not be the only one! LOL

Other than that, though, I haven't been up to much. I actually started playing WoW again, and I've been working (somewhat)-diligently on Misha's Elphaba Sweater. It's coming along so well! I am very happy with how it's turning out!

All I've got left on it is to finish the border/collar and seaming up the sides and the sleeves. :D then it's on to a couple of super-secret projects!

Doggone it...

I know, I know. I've been silent for a looooooooooooooong time over here. That's because I have been so involved with the HSKS swap, and I have a special "Potter blog" for it that I've been keeping up on. :) I recently took a trip to Edinburgh that I'm currently blogging about over there, so feel free to swing by and check that out...

Of course, my silence wasn't helped at all by the amount of my time that was being consumed--no, make that devoured--by playing World of Warcraft. (Yes, I am a nerd, and yes, I realize it.) ;) However, I am now off my "WoW kick" and back to knitting and crocheting like a maniac! I finished a fourth set of cancer caps (Yay!) and realized how much I'd slacked off on them! I will be working on them more diligently in the near future. For the moment, however, I cast on a hat for me! It's not often, at least that I've noticed, for a crafter to keep any of their creations themselves. Most of the time we gift them for holidays or birthdays or baby showers or weddings or something. Well, today I decided to use the yummy yarn that I bought in Edinburgh for myself. I cast on the Hermione cable and eyelet hat. It's a beautiful hat, and the yarn I have is super soft! I want to make it so that I can have something small, Potter-wise, to wear to the premiere of Half-Blood Prince...So I started it, and the whole time am thinking "Wow, that's a tall ribbing....am I really only halfway through it?...that's just a really tall section of ribbing!...maybe I should adapt it...I don't like ribbing that tall....it doesn't look right..." While I was telling myself these things, I just kept knitting. (I have been having a Potter-a-thon, and when I'm knitting or crocheting in front of the TV, I tend to just go on autopilot...) I didn't check the gauge. I should have, but I didn't. I got 13 rows into the 16 row ribbing before I finally checked it...and wouldn't you know, I was off. Le sigh. So now...Yeah, I'm going to rip it. Gauge it. Start again. No fun. :( But, on the plus side, I'm only on the third movie...that means I have plenty of time to frog and cast on again and I should be able to still finish the hat before I run out of Potter to watch! LOL I think the general consensus on Ravelry is that if you didn't make gauge with (US) size 5 needles, try a 2 or 3....so, here I go!

Whoops!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month!!! Things have been pretty crazy here. We lost power for 12 hours one day; our car was in the shop for 3-4 days (and will have to go back once a new part comes in, which, being in Italy, takes FOREVER!); A got sick and passed it to all of us, so altogether there was at least one sick person in this house for 2 solid weeks; now we're out of gasolio, which means no heat and no hot water (thank goodness for space heaters and friends with showers!!!); our DVD player died on us, so The Husband had to buy a new one, and then when he tried to hook it up...our TV upstairs was too old a model for the player! So he had to bring up the big TV from downstairs and says we'll have to get another (larger) one for downstairs...it's just been one thing after another here! On top of all that, I've really been missing all my friends and family in the States. I'm missing out on all the Christmas parties, and I'm bummed with myself for not getting out the Christmas packages in time. :( The only one I got out was to my mom's. I still have my in-laws' package to finish and send out, as well as my best friend's, and a couple of other miscellaneous packages.

And I have been VERY distracted. I reached level 80 in WoW and my time has suddenly switched from being consumed by crafting to playing that silly game! There suddenly is a whole other realm to play when you reach 80...there's heroic dungeons to run, there's gear to be had, there's achievements to accomplish...so MUCH! But it's down for maintenance today, so I figured I'd catch up on a few other things...like posting about my kit!!!

WOW!!! I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for my HSKS6 kit to come in the mail, and DH brought it in one day and said, "Oh yeah, this came, like, 4 or 5 days ago. I just kept forgetting to bring it in from the car." And I was in the middle of a dungeon! So I had to wait to open it. The box was taunting me. LOL Sitting there, looking at me, saying "I'm here! I'm here! And you can't open me yet because you've got other people depending on you in this dungeon!" Ugh! But get the kit I did, and I opened it as soon as I was out of that instance! Here are the fantastic pictures:

Just opened:

My GORGEOUS new bag!!!:

I absolutely love the rich colors of the bag!!! It's gorgeous!!!


The lining and pockets on the side have origami swans! (She's in Japan...) How cute is that?!:

Super pretty sock pattern (Faux Cable Socks):

VERY yummy and soft Ravenclaw sock yarn and my first set of wood dpn's (Knit Picks, size 2):

I can't wait to make my faux cable socks with my new needles and delicious yarn! I was "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" over the yarn and petting it and commenting over and over how it was so pretty and soft....and my husband has the nerve to say "so you're using that yarn to make my socks, right?" HA!!!!! AS IF!!! This is SO for me! And like I would reward his late delivery of my kit to begin with... ;)


A little bit of Japan...chopsticks, a wine bottle holder and Japanese candy:

The wine bottle holder being "modeled":

Owl note cards, a beautiful wallet, and a fridge notepad:

The whole kit together!:

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Jade!!! I love my kit! With no heat and no WoW, I may actually get to starting my socks today... ;) LOL (ETA: There was also a blue tape measure in there, but it somehow got out of being in the pictures...must not be very photogenic...) ;)

Then a day or two ago, my husband brought me in another package...it was my bookmark "kit"! Thank you, Antonio, I love it!


Bookmarks and tea:

I'm typically not a tea drinker, but I'm really looking forward to trying the vanilla chai...I've heard chai is pretty fantastic stuff, but haven't yet tried it. (Silly me...what a perfectly warming drink! I should go brew it...)


Bookmark (front):

I'm a bit of a superhero fan, so the Wonder Woman thing was very much appreciated! :) (Someone did their homework....and even between terms! I may have a little bit of a crush...LOL)

Bookmark (back):

And on the back of the bookmarks is a picture of Ron and two quotes:

"Aren't you ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?"

and

"That's what Hermione does. When in doubt, go to the library."

Love, love, love it, Antonio! Thank you!!! I still have to make Emma's...I could get that done today! Yay!

In other crafting news....I had intended to make 3 scarves for the Special Olympics, but have yet to even finish the first one! I don't know what days my husband has off this week (I've heard he's working Christmas Eve) :( but if he's home, I'm sure I could just tell him I'm not allowed to play WoW until I finish a project a day! LOL That wouldn't really be too challenging, really, as it only takes me 2-3 hours to crochet something up. As it is, he's even commented at how unnatural it is for me to be neglecting my crafting for video games! I've slowed way down on the cancer caps, which is not cool, especially considering there's still new requests coming in and I still have several others to complete. Hmmm. Maybe I should tell the hubby to only allow me 2-3 hours of play time per project finished...that might be a little more productive...We'll see what happens, I guess! I'm sure I won't be posting again before Christmas, so Happy Holidays to all, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or even none of the above! Stay warm!

Trick or Treat!

Wow! Today certainly has not calmed my fear of owls! I received a package today from Bevin Rae that took multiple owls to carry it! I nearly ran away in fright at the sight of all those birds winging their way toward me, but once Rowena and Ophelia C. assured me they carried something for me and were not merely erratic birds (nor were they as over-excited as the bunch of owls that landed me in St. Mungo’s), I relaxed. A little bit, anyhow. :)

The package was for our in-House Trick-or-Treat swap, and I was blown away at how much there was inside! At first I couldn’t believe it was for that swap, as Olive said to use a bubbled envelope. I thought she meant a small one. I almost feel bad for how small and simple mine was that went out. Bevin used a bubbled envelope, but it was a large one.

I got a knit sock pattern, a crochet scarf pattern, a kit to make a Halloween garland, a witch pez dispenser, a post card from California, a candy corn candy holder STUFFED with candy (I don’t know how she got it all in there!), 4 pairs of plastic vampire teeth, and some Ravenclaw blue ink that I used with my quill tonight. :D On top of all that, there was also another envelope in there stuffed with fun craft goodies from her kiddos to mine!

My boys were very excited to see it all and were quite upset with me when I told them it was too late for them to get into it tonight. (I didn’t get the package until my husband got home.) They seemed to be pacified, though, with a sticker each and to each play with a set of the fangs. Tomorrow we’ll be crafty. :)

I’ve been keeping myself quite busy with S.P.E.W. as of late. I still haven’t heard anything about anything officially this term for it, so I’ve kind of just gone my own way and done my own chapter of it, if you will. As October is breast cancer awareness month, I’ve been making free beanie-style hats, some knit and some crochet, for cancer patients losing their hair because of going through chemotherapy. The first 7 I made are long gone, and I’ve got another 15 to send out yet. Over the past couple of days, I’ve finished 3 of those needed 15, and am working on the 4^th.

I am really not happy with the fact that our Internet is down again. I had started to get back into playing WoW, and was actively leveling my paladin, trying to prepare for the expansion by making level 70 before the release on November 13^th. The other night, I got up to two bars away from making level 66 and was in the midst of getting the seasonal achievements for Hallow’s End…and I got booted offline. I’m trying to give the Italians the benefit of the doubt that it was caused by the massive storm that we’ve had going on over the span of the past couple of days, even though it stormed the whole day before it cut off that night and that it was clear out today and we’re still not back online, but given that they’ve shut us off twice in the last 8 months, it’s hard. They had better not have disconnected us again. (The Italians will shut off your Internet without any cause, just so they can charge you the reconnect fee to get a little extra money, and it ticks me off! They get away with it!) If they did, they’d better hope it’s my husband dealing with them, because I’ll have no patience with them. Especially since we’ve been back online from the last time for maybe a month! I guess only time will tell, though…

Tomorrow (Halloween), there’s a carnival going on at the base in the afternoon, so I’m hoping I can get my boys to actually wear their costumes (they wouldn’t the other night) and get some pictures. Here’s hoping!

So, thank you, Bevin Rae for the spectacular trick-or-treat package! I absolutely love it! I feel quite spoiled!

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Now playing: Eberhard Kraus - Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565
via FoxyTunes

Just around the corner...

It's almost time for the sock kit swap!!!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! Unfortunately, being over here in Italy, I have to be up and online at 7 am on Saturday to really try and get into Ravenclaw. I'm really hoping for that...keeping my fingers and toes crossed and everything. :)

I still haven't figured out how to post a pattern to this blog effectively, even with platformnine trying to help me. I'm just not getting what she's saying, for some reason. :( I added that Lordearon chart a couple months back, but the lines on it are all blurry and it's so small and hard to see. *sigh* Of course, I might figure it out if I were to spend more time trying to get it, too. But instead, since HSKS will be taking top priority (well, top priority in my hobbies, at any rate, certainly not over my boys....but I'm sure I can squeeze it in above housework...Heehee) in a couple of days, I'm trying to level my Paladin on WoW.

I've been grinding the heck out of that thing. I want to (ideally) be a well-geared (or at least decently-geared) level 70 with an epic flyer before the expansion comes out this fall/winter. Sadly, had I not lost the other WoW account, I would already (most likely) have had my epic flyer and be working on the gear issue. I'm not really sure who's more to blame for my loss of that toon: my husband or his friend. DH because when he "bought" the account, he didn't actually buy the account....he left it in his friend's name but took over the payments. His friend because he was the creep who decided he wasn't done with WoW and wanted the account back so that he didn't have to start over from scratch. So "lucky me" got to instead. All of the hard work I put into that level 70, just gone. With only 1200 gold and some odds and ends (like heavy netherweave bandages and a couple of pieces of fair armor that I hadn't equipped) to show for it. *sigh* So since I'm not sure whose fault it is, I'm just going to forget about placing the blame and level the heck out of my "new" toon. I'm up to level 57! Three more levels and I can finally start questing for my epic mount and head to the Outlands to level faster! Wahoo! LOL

But it looks like I need to start my day with giving my boys attention...they've really become little delinquents lately. Already! And they're only toddlers! *sigh* Off to play with the kids....maybe read a book (to share my love of being a bookworm) or color together (gotta get those creative juices flowing!). I will most likely blog on Saturday, once I know what House I got into! :)

Cleaning Day...

I've been so caught up in my crafting that I've hardly been gaming, so when Tuesday rolled around, I hardly even noticed! (Tuesdays are my "cleaning" days because WoW is usually down all day for maintenance.) So today is cleaning day. Especially moreso because we have guests coming over tonight! Normally, I take breaks in my cleaning to quickly check my e-mail and profile pages, and at that time, shoot off a not to The Husband at work...problem is, he actually has to do stuff today! LOL (Not that he doesn't otherwise work...it's just today's not a good day to be distracting--er, I mean, interrupting his work day.) So instead, you all get to suffer! Bwahahahahaha! ;)

I'm actually feeling pretty productive! I've already picked up and sorted out and put away all the boys' toys (which had found their way to the most remote corners of the house...) so I could sweep their floors. Speaking of which, due to C's development of nightmares and sleep talking, where he woke A up and A started yelling at C to be quiet until C woke up and neither of them got good sleep, the boys now have separate rooms! C kept the room they were sharing, and A got to have his big boy bed moved to a big boy room upstairs near mommy and daddy's room, with the big boy toys! He was pretty excited about the change and seems to like having his own space, especially when his friends come over to play. :) When C naps, now A and his friends have somewhere to play where they don't have to keep things quiet! LOL

I've also cleaned up and swept the game/computer/TV room. I'm hoping that the futon that The Husband bought a while back (and that is still sitting in the warehouse, waiting to be picked up as soon as we borrow somebody's truck) will be here before the weekend.

And now that all the picking up of stuff is done, it's time to get to the heavy cleaning. The bathroom, kitchen and dining room! The dishes aren't really a big deal, but the rest of those three rooms take a lot of elbow grease and scrubbing! *sigh* I actually kinda wish I were done already. LOL But as soon as C's down for his nap and A's either settled in with a movie or playing in his room, it's back to cleaning for me! (They're eating lunch right now...) Eh, why put it off? I'll go turn on some music and start the dishes...I can't wait til this part of my day is over...I've got yarn and knitting needles calling out to me!!!

Lordaeron Chart

My husband started it. He swore that one day he'd get me to try his games. I laughed. He said I'd like them. I laughed some more and told him I doubted it. He said I'd get addicted. And I said he was crazy. Guess who's laughing now? Yep. He is. He finally got me to play WoW (World of Warcraft) about a week ago. I'm hooked. Unfortunately, though, being a mother to two toddler boys and being home with them all day long, I don't get to play much. But I guess that keeps the addiction at bay. LOL Besides that, I do still value my own interests above gaming, namely crafting. But why not bring those two interests together?

I originally started looking up patterns for knitting and crocheting things that revolved around games from Mario Brothers to Zelda to WoW, so I could try and make him things. But once I started gaming, I had to start joining groups at Ravelry about gaming. LOL There have been a couple of charts there provided for WoW specifically, and there was someone looking for a specific chart. I figured I'd give it a go. Granted, the squares are a lot smaller than the other charts, and it's a bit larger, but I figure it's a good start and the chart can mutate from here. (And I'm sorry it's so blurry...if anyone knows of a way to fix that, please let me know! I drew it up in Excel and saved it as a picture in Paint so that I could upload it here.) So without further ado, I give you the chart for the Lordaeron symbol!: