Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Quidditch Round 3

1. When Hagrid returns to Hogwarts after being sent to see the giants with Madame Maxime, Professor Umbridge questions him on his late return to school. She suspects that Hagrid had been to the mountains, but where does he tell her he has been?


d. South of France

2. Professor Umbridge comes to Hagrid's Hut and searches his cabin one evening (as she believes Harry, Ron and Hermione are there visiting him at night when they are not supposed to). When she walks past the place where Harry, Ron and Hermione are hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry holds his breath. True or false?

b. False


3. A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl is one of the members of the Advance Guard who rescues Harry from Privet Drive. What is her name?


a. Emmeline Vance

4. What is the name of the witch who was killed two weeks after the photo of the original Order of the Phoenix was taken?


b. Marlene McKinnon

5. Which two fifth year Ravenclaw students does Dumbledore choose to be prefects?


d. Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil


6. Which house was Rose Zeller sorted into?

d. Hufflepuff


7. What is the color of Murtlap's essence?


c. Yellow

8. Name the Ravenclaw girl who became prefect in Harry's fifth year

b. Padma Patil


9. According to a healer's portrait at St. Mungo's hospital, which disease was Ron suffering from?

d. Spattergroit

10. Which book did Harry give Hermione for Christmas?


a. "A New Theory of Numerology"

Picture Scavenger Hunt



Padma Patil

Hannah Abott

Percy

Dumbledore's Army

Cedric Diggory

(Extra 5 pts - What movie will Robert Patterson star in this December?) Twilight!

Owl Delivery!

Just as I was getting my owl ready to send out a VIP (Very Important Package), another bird swooped into my window! This poor owl was very tired, as he had flown here all the way from Azerbaijan where my spoiler's hubby works for the US Embassy (right?) I gave him some water right away, and he even stooped to eating the cat food I had just put out for my hungry little familiars.

Bella Shacklebolt did a fabulous job of spoiling me! She must have used occlemency to determine exactly what I want and need the most! If it's not too late, I'd like to nominate her for the Best Kit award.

As soon as I opened the box I knew I was in for a treat, because the package was beautifully wrapped and adorned with some cute stickers: A Gryffindor crest and the charming Neville Longbottom, one of my favorite characters.

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Right on top of the package I found a beautiful zippered pouch from an Azerbaijian street market adorned with a Kingsley Shacklebolt sticker--my favorite member of the OotP and Bella's father. This pouch will be perfect for storing little notions.

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Here are the rest of the magical goodies:

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Bella sent me a gorgeous felted bag in Gryffindor colors. It's the perfect size for a small-medium project or my lunch! I just love the pebbly texture that yarn takes on when it felts--it makes me so happy. This particular felted bag is so fluffy and soft--it must be a wool/alpaca or wool/mohair blend. I love it! Also included was a booklet on the Magic Loop technique (love this!), TWO sets of needles--size US0 bamboo dpns and a KnitPicks metal circ in a US1 (perfect for magic loop!), dpn and wip tubes (My dpn collection is all over the place and I am forever dropping stitches when my wip bounces around in my handbag, so I really need these!), point protectors (will also help with the wip control), the most amazing stitch markers from etsy (KnitSticks), and best of all, gorgeous gorgeous yarn from Cosmic Fibers. The stitch markers are unbelievable. There's so much detail, yet they're so tiny. Each one has a different crest--each of the houses and the final one has the Hogwarts crest. I requested yarn that is reminiscent of the HP and the OotP book cover, and I can't believe how gorgeous it is. It's a varigated blue and charcoal gray yarn, and the colors have such depth, I can't stop looking at them. Bella tells me that the Cosmic Fibers had a HP book cover yarn club, and I am so jealous that I missed out on this! I'll definitely be visiting this seller's etsy shop soon :).

By the way...I wasn't the only one who enjoyed this special delivery. Check out one of my cats exploring and eating the box it all came in.

First she played with the ribbon

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Then she got friendly with the box.

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(She doesn't seem to know it, but she's a little too fat and fluffy to fit in that box) I think she approves.

Thanks, Bella!

Monday, July 14, 2008

I Won!

I haven't won anything since I won the "Read Around the World" contest at Adamsville School in third grade. I was a quiet, shy child, and I was so excited that I could compete in something I actually was actually good at--unlike so many of my traumatic experiences with gym class dodgeball. I spent all of my free time with my nose in a book during that contest. Yet I was still so surprised when my name was announced over the loudspeaker. Me, a winner?

I guess I still have that attitude, because I was completely stunned when I saw my name on Laurie (trumom on ravelry)'s winners post. Laurie is walking in the San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, and she had a raffle to encourage ravelers to donate for this great cause. I hesitated to donate not because I doubted the worthiness of the cause but because I didn't think my donation was enough. The 3-Day walk is a big deal, and walkers are required to raise a lot of money to participate. My $10, all I could afford to give, was really just a drop in the bucket, no? Does $10 really make a difference? Furthermore, would I even have a chance of winning a raffle prize when other donating ravelers surely could afford to give more than I did? Then I stopped all those negative thoughts and reminded myself that (1) It's not about the prizes, and (2) Every little bit really does count. So I made my donation and moved on. Now, thanks to that small bit of generosity on my part, and a huge bit of generosity on Laurie's part, I am the proud winner of a skein of alpaca yarn from K2Tog, Laurie's LYS in San Francisco.

The raffle is over, but you can still donate to Laurie, Michelle, or Deena, other members of Team BFF (Breast Friends Forever). Even though neither my family nor I have been affected by breast cancer, it's a cause I feel passionate about. Just think of everyone in your life who loves or appreciates your boobs. Maybe it's your significant other or a child you nursed, or maybe you just think you look dead sexy in a turtleneck sweater. That's reason enough for me!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Gryffindor Quiz

Cryptogram (sort of)

"E FM YJA DBFU," QFET KFXXG EY F VJD RJESB WHXG YJD PHMPEYN AKXJHNK KEM QJ AKFA KB AKJHNKA KB MENKA FAAFSU YFPB EY F MJMBYA. "AKBY PXJRB EA! MFQABX GJHXQBVW!" QPFA QYFPB.

"I AM NOT WEAK," SAID HARRY IN A LOW VOICE, FURY PUMPING THROUGH HIM SO THAT HE THOUGHT HE MIGHT ATTACK SNAPE IN A MOMENT. "THEN PROVE IT! MASTER YOURSELF!" SPAT SNAPE.

I say sort of because a in a true
cryptogram no letter can represent itself and in this one, neither "p" nor "m" were encoded. It was still cool and fun to figure out, though. Now I want to make my up own little coded messages! Like I have time for another hobby...