Charming Hermione

Lately, I've been holed up in the manor with the poltergeists. Normally, that sort of thing is dictated by weather or health (we generally stay indoors if it's raining, as there's really no place on base for the boys to play indoors, and if any of the three of us are feeling under the weather, I just don't even try. lol) But today I managed to venture forth and get some things done, one of which included stopping by the owlery...and I'm so glad that I did! I got the handmade portion of my kit! And I love, love, love it!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems as though Rowan tossed in a pair of spectrespecs for me, very appropriate for a character that needed help with the open mind aspect. :) (I can't say I'm not unlike Miss Granger in that aspect...)

How do you think they look on me? :D

And the other part of the handmade item? It's the best thing EVAR!!!! I looooooooooooooooooooove it!!!!! In all the years of getting jewelry, I've never before had a charm bracelet. (And I've been heavily hinting to my husband that I've wanted one for some time...) Rowan is clearly accomplished in Occlumency! I put it on right away and was sad that I couldn't get a decent picture while wearing it, because that meant I had to take it back of. I may not be too adept at Divination, but I don't see myself removing it much, if at all. :)

The charms (from left to right) are: a spider (for Aragog...I don't generally like spiders, but I love htat it's on the bracelet!), a crown (for Ron, as "Weasley is our King"), a cat (for Crookshanks, of course!), an owl (for Hedwig, and by proxy, Harry), an eagle (for Ravenclaw!) and a Pegasus (for Care of Magical Creatures, since a Hippogryph for Buckbeak evaded her searches). I am so in love with this bracelet!!! THANK YOU, Rowan!!!!

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

It's here! It's here! It's here!!!!! I finally made it to the owlery today (which is where Persephone has to fly into and out of, since we're stationed overseas and all), and wouldn't you know it, there was an owl waiting for me!!! (Well, 3, actually...the other two were from my mom and Knit Picks...but only one really matters...) ;)

Rowan, I love my kit!!! And I'm excited that there's more to come! :D

The first thing I saw when I opened this box was this gorgeous Ravenclaw hued tin!

I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I have no doubt in my mind that I will find a use for it, and it will be well-loved in whatever capacity it's cast into. :D

Inside the tin were a lot of fun Ravenclaw-y and Hermione-ish things!

There was a pattern that matches the Hermione Hat I made myself for my trip to England last year, complete with pretty grey wool and a pair of needles that I had been coveting the style of way back when I went to Loops in Tulsa with Pren! (How on earth did she know?!)

There are some cute little pins (very Ron/Hermione-centric!):

There were also a couple of cute ceramic owls that will also be serving an as-of-yet undetermined purpose:

There was also a cute little frog (who I think shall be named "Ron"...or maybe "Won-Won"...I'm not sure yet...LOL):

And here's everything all together!!!

Thank you so much, Rowan Dragonsinger! I love it! And I'm excited to see what comes in Part II... :D

Owl Delays

I had every intention of sending out my package to Siobhan today for S.P.E.W. (and in the process send off a couple of other packages that are needing to go out!), but somehow I never made it out the front door. Today had nothing to do with poltergeist-hidden keys, either. I stayed up late tagging the hats I'm sending to a cancer treatment facility, with fiber content and washing instructions, so I got a late start to the day, and it just went all downhill from there. On top of that, I kept myself plenty busy with other yarn-related activities, not to mention playing with play-doh with the poltergeists. It's definitely been one of the more laid back kind of days. Tomorrow is a new day, though, with nothing gone amiss, and here's to hoping I can get it started off on the right foot and be productive! Goodness knows the state of my house attests that I need to be...

Faulty wand....

I just can't figure it out....Alohomora has always worked before...and yet, today, after the poltergeists got a hold of my keys, no amount of spell-casting has made any difference! Ack! I'm beginning to think that this is more involved in the Dark Arts than just a couple of poltergeists, because Accio isn't working, either...Things have been stressful around the Bagnold manor as of late, anyhow. Mr Bagnold will be returning "soon." (For those of you not adept in Ancient Runes, "soon" translates into too soon to do anything majorly productive like lose a desired amount of weight or re-organize the house, but too far away to do me any use of comfort today...)

This term is nearly over, which always bums me out. I love seeing everyone's kits and hearing their brags, but it means we'll soon all be boarding the Hogwarts Express and leaving these hallowed halls once more. On the plus side, I've already been contacted by the Camp Director over at HSKS Summer Camp to be heavily involved in camp activities! I am quite excited about the prospect of going back to the summer camp and seeing Azurina, the hippocampus friend I made last summer. :) Life is constantly and simultaneously filled with ups and downs, it seems.

You know, I think I may have a little bit of good old Felix Felicis stashed away somewhere...maybe if I drink a drop or two, I may find those dratted keys...::wanders off in search of her potions::

So....tired....

Oh my. You would think that after having been a responsible student for all of my public schooling career, that I would have continued that habit...but nooooooooooooo. Soon after graduating high school, I became a procrastinator. It never fails! Even with Clara's kit I was so super excited, and had so many ideas, and got started on them so early on, I feared I would need to restrain myself to not try to send before the early send dates! I should have known better...I had everything but one final part finished weeks before the early send period. So why didn't I continue on with that last thing? Because doing so would have meant I had to clean my house (or at least part of it!) to do so....and housework...well, let's just say that I don't usually share the enthusiasm of those poor, enslaved House Elves that think they actually enjoy housework! But I slowly got what I needed to done...and I intended to finish that last bit on Wednesday night, giving me Thursday and Friday to wrap it all up and ship it out. I had to wait until the poltergeists were in bed to begin, and once I went to start....I realized I didn't have everything I needed!!! So it was delayed until the next night, after I could get my hands on the things I needed. (Thankfully, they were available!) So last night, it began...and went on, and on, and on......and on, and on, and on, and on....


By the time I finally finished the last bit of said unnamed item (which is, I think, the coolset part of Clara's kit!!!), and wrapped it all up and labeled it all and packed up the box and filled out the customs form and addressed everything.....IT WAS NINE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about an all-nighter!!!!!!!!! Thankfully, I was able to lay down and rest for a few hours, anyway. It was enough for me to be able to drive on, and that was what mattered. ;) So I made it to the owlery, in fears that with my luck, it would be closed for some random, silly reason I hadn't known about. But thankfully, it was open! So Persephone (who only just recently returned from delivering prizes to some of the House of Ravenclaw!) was able to get everything settled for customs and be on her way!

So I made the early send date after all, even if only barely! Hmmm, maybe I didn't procrastinate quite as badly as I had feared....at least that wasn't scraping by to make the final send date!!!!

Clara, I hope you enjoy your kit as much as I enjoyed making it for you!