Knitting break??? WHAT???

Well, you don't think I'm gong to completely stop knitting, do you?  But it's the April Holidays in the House Cup.  We're still a couple of days out from knowing who won.  Professors are still calculating Bonus Points, Things are being discussed, and a ton of off-month activities have been posted (including the silliest April Fool's Joke ever.  Really, awesomely epic, and included a manatee in a space suit.  How could you go wrong, right?)

So, no knitting for points this month.  So I have a pair of socks going--trying to perfect my knit-to-fit method--and I just finished and sent out my Reducio swap yesterday--and I still have the Epic Shawl of Doom to complete, since it didn't get done for a badge this month and it still needs finishing.  And I'll be swatching for next Term's OWL later in the month--but I'm really aiming at that being the only new thing I cast on this month.

I shall fill my time thusly:

• I shall SEW!  I have several projects that want working on.
• D1's new comforter/blankets.  I've had the fabric for a year now.  Seriously.  I could at least get one done.
• The corners (and this is hand sewing, as I almost busted my machine trying to do it that way) of a blanket I've been making for ages for River.  Sigh.  
• The lining of Mary's Christmas stocking
• I shall BE HEALTHY!
• Thanks to OneNeedleKnitting, I found a site called MyFitnessPal.com.  It is another diet/weight loss/exercise tracking site.  All right: I love SparkPeople.  I love the SparkPoints; I love the trophies; I love that so many of my friends have found their way there.  But their nutrition and exercise tracking tools are hard to use.  So here's the plan:
• I will track my food and exercise on MFP.  The mobile app is easy to use and has--get this--a bar code scanner! I can scan about 90% of my food instead of trying to look it up!  So easy!
• I will use "quick track" on Spark People to keep track of fruits and veggies and exercise (I get SparkPoints for minutes tracked, but I get to eat more on MFP for exercise tracked, so I will do both.  It's not that hard).
• I will re-vamp the House Cup SparkTeam to make it a little more user friendly and encouraging.  More challenges!!! Hooray!
• I will continue to walk or do some other kind of exercise at least 5 times a week.
• I will continue to track my food.
• I shall conquer Lego Harry Potter!
• After the boy goes to bed
• I have my own copy for the DSi hidden carefully away.  Someday I shall also play it on the Wii... but I won't hold my breath.  April I will play a little LHP every night.  I've already finished the first Year, but I still have a lot of stuff I can go back and get after I gain more spells.
• I shall READ
• The Hunger Games.  So good!
• The Spark.  I'm finding it much more interesting and empowering than I thought I would.
• Catching Fire (book 2 of the Hunger Games cycle.  I will move on to book three if I have time).

So that's the plan!  I like plans.  But not much actual knitting will happen this month.  Still, wanna see what I did last month?

Ten PM, Munchie Time

Well.  It's 10pm, and as certain as clockwork, I have the munchies.  I find myself anxiously looking around the kitchen, thinking of food.  If I have to get up to do something, I look at, touch, and itchily consider eating pieces of food.  This is a difficult time for me.

Fortunately, today is the first day of Term for the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry!  I'm an official Sixth Year now (which means I've been at it for six three-month Terms, so going on two years at the end of this Term).  We're a big old humongous Virtual world, and let me tell you, I love it.  There are eight classes to choose from--you're only supposed to do six, though I've known people to do all eight.  I'm plotting *two* OWLs this term--long term, bigger projects that take at least a couple of months to craft.  So tonight I'll be starting a hat.  I've already done one small project (Mom!  You have earrings now, I just have to take pictures!) today and now I'm on to more ambitious things.  My yarn for my big projects isn't here yet, because I didn't order it until late.  It should be here on or about Thursday, and then I can swatch for my projects during the weekend.  So I would like to burn through a couple of projects this week: the hat, a pair of socks, and maybe start on my amigurumi design project.  And finish Tom's gloves.  Really really, I want them done.  But apparently not enough to, you know, actually work on them.

And my gals from the House Cup are joining me on SparkPeople.  Not only is Julia my buddy-sweet-buddy, but my Claws have a Spark Team just for us.  That was the problem for me on SP before, I think: I didn't know enough people.  My friend list has grown from 4 people (if you include the guy who started SP, who friends everyone) to 16 in two days, and I've been given credit for referring 4 people, which just makes me happy.  The other 3 people are two friends from Real Life and another Virtual Friend, Aunt Barb, whom I met hatching virtual dragons on LiveJournal about 4 years ago.  I love my Virtual Friends.  You can meet people online that you'd never meet in Real Life (Barb lives in Nebraska... when is that ever going to be on my travel list, right?) who have similar interests and care about the same things you do.

So before I sign out, I will give a recap of my eating day: we went to a party, so I didn't keep track.  I tried to make the healthiest choices I could, though.  I ate yogurt with fruit; squash soup; pickles; veggies and hummus; a couple of crackers; one scone.  At home I had stew I made in the slow-cooker, and it was delicious and nutritious (only about 218 calories for a 1-cup serving).  And I'm still hungry.  I think I will have to eat something.

I believe I will be going to find the yarn for Tom's hat now.  I have to finish a finger of that glove before I can cast it on, as they use the same size needle, which will bring the glove one finger closer to completion.  Good all around.

Er... a picture... um...

Detail of the Castle Cardi I made for EazyC last term.