IntPiPoMo 2017 27-28/50
stargrace 
27/50
28/50
2017
Star Wars Christmas Ball
I made a lovely practice ball first before attempting what I really wanted which was a Star Wars themed tree ornament. The pattern (found on Ravelry) called for fingering yarn, but I did it with sport, and size 1 double pointed needles. The problem is during the construction of the trial one I snapped my dpn when it came to closing up the ball. Doing those ktog were really difficult on the needles and involved a lot of bending.
I started a second one in fingering – and realized my gauge was way off. There was no way I was going to be able to close the ball up with that size, so I scrapped the entire project and started over, this time using red and green sport yarn. It went much better, but once again I snapped one of my wooden dpn.
If I want to continue to make these adorable little Christmas balls I’m going to either have to replace my wooden dpn with metal ones (and hope I don’t warp them too much) or start using magic loop (I know how to magic loop but I don’t enjoy it, my stitches seem to have long runs that way). I have 21 of the styrofoam balls, enough for a really nice collection of hand knit tree ornaments, themed or otherwise. This year I’m trying to have all my ornaments be hand made as a surprise for my husband when he comes home from depot for Christmas. Me and llama bean are going to be making some salt dough cookie ornaments for the tree this weekend. I haven’t made those since I was in elementary school so I hope they turn out.
I have been taking a bit of a break from knitting my shawl, I worked on it pretty regularly until I got to the feather / fan portion and then set it aside. That will be something I need to pick back up before too long. I just haven’t really felt like dealing with a pattern that I have to follow along with, and I needed a bit of a break. The yarn is an absolute dream to work with so I’m sure I’ll get back to it before too long.
Meal Prep Sunday
Sunday. A day I really just don’t like. I spend most of it cleaning and cooking, doing groceries and other chores that need to get done. By the time Monday rolls around though I’m incredibly thankful that I’ve gotten all of my meal cooking done on Sunday, even if it does make that one day stressful.
This week was pretty easy. I spent about $50 CAD total on groceries for me for the week (not including things that llama bean also eats / needed). The menu was simple, this time of year simple comfort food is what works best for me.
I made turkey meat pies with mashed potatoes and gravy (potato recipe, cooked in my instant pot). That would be dinner for the week.
Roast beef sandwich meat was on sale, one of my absolute favourites. I don’t normally like sandwiches, but combine it with buns (also on sale), chipotle mayo, some aged cheddar, and lettuce – and now we’re talking. Lunch is a roast beef sandwich with chipotle mayo, and egg bites (for lack of a better word). The instant pot crowd had been going absolutely bonkers for these egg bite things that you can buy at Starbucks, it’s apparently much cheaper to make them. I used this recipe. I did it wrong, but they still turned out, just not exactly as I expected. You’re supposed to blend everything up in a blender to make all the pieces tiny and the mixture light and fluffy. I did none of that, so I still have egg bites with ham and cheese but texture wise they’re not airy. No big deal, I only made enough for a few days to start so I’ll make sure I blend the second batch.
Snacks are another easy comfort food, smoked oysters were on sale, so I got a few packages of those along with some black bean garlic crackers that are just delicious. Honestly, there was very little actual cooking involved this week, and I think that’s OK. Meals are portioned out, and I know it’s food I won’t get bored of eating.
Health wise, I’m down to 191 pounds. My goal was to reach 190 before my husband came home last week but I was two pounds off. My next goal is to reach 180 by his graduation, January 29th. I’m hoping I can do this even with the holidays just around the corner. Still, 248 to 191 in a year is not too shabby.
For weight loss the key for me has really been all about pre-planning my meals, taking the stress out of what I’m going to eat, and portion control. I eat whatever I have a desire to eat, sometimes that’s pizza, sometimes it’s sandwhiches, other times it’s tacos. I don’t deny myself food, but I do go in knowing what I’m going to eat from Sunday-Saturday and I stick with it. Removing the stress from cooking a different meal every single day and having to decide what I’m going to eat every single day has helped my frame of mind when it comes to food and knowing that food is not bad. For me, it works. I know this isn’t the case for everyone. I’ve been doing this for 17 weeks now and I’ve gone from 215 to 191 in that 17 week period. It’s just a matter of trying to figure out what works for you.
IntPiPoMo 23-26/50
23/50
24/50
25/50
26/50
Oh Look, SQUIRREL!
I was just talking about how I had logged my hunter in, played her a bunch, got her ready for the first tier of raids, and how I was hoping she would become my new main.
NOPE.
I had no desire to log her in over the weekend, so I took a look at one of my paladins. I have two. One horde, one alliance. I prefer horde and I always have even though a majority of my friends play alliance. I’ve faction changed so many times it makes me dizzy. Anyway, I logged my horde paladin in and blew the cobwebs off of her armour, eager to get her first artifact weapon.
I decided to stray from the norm a little bit. I knew my priest played better (ie: easier) when I went discipline due to the heals even though it was less DPS than going shadow. I decided I would stick to my protection stance and get my shield / sword artifact, opting for better survivability over faster kills.
So far, I’m incredibly impressed. Mobs were melting like butter and my paladin is wearing pretty shoddy gear. A handful of heirloom for the experience bonus, and some blues back when the invasions to level up to 100 were a thing. Her artifact was also the easiest one I’ve gotten to date (I have priest, druid, and monk artifacts so far) and it sort of left me scratching my head wondering if that’s all there was to it. NOT that I am complaining!
I picked a zone to start in, and set out to reach level 101. It took me about an hour which made the leveling process seem much more appealing to me. I’ve got 700 blacksmithing but only 200 mining, so my professions are a mixture of odds and ends. So far I’m enjoying playing the character a ton, but the true test of whether or not this will be the character for me is who I’ll be playing next week. If I could just settle down with one character and not 800 I know I would feel so much better about my gaming experiences.
We’ll just have to see! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.