The Not Really Resolutions: Update 3

1. Run 5km race: Running continues to go well. I am capable of running 5km and now it’s just a case of improving my fitness generally. Although my old knee problems have subsided, I still get terrible pain in my shins that isn’t shin splints but which no-one seems able to diagnose. I would like to run further, and in the back of mind I can hear a 10km calling but I don’t want to hurt myself. I’m considering just slowly increasing my distance and seeing how I go.

We’re also having training sessions as a group. One of the girls is rather helpfully going out with a personal trainer and he’s giving us some training for free. This involves improving our fitness and recovery times, running round cones and then doing 12 sets of 400m. It is difficult, but my competitiveness keeps me running, I don’t want to be the loser. We’re yet to run a whole 5km together which worries me slightly, I don’t want them holding me back goddamnit!

2. Crochet a ripple blanket: Mwah ha ha ha ha. I am an official rippler. It tried to break me down, it tried to crush me but eventually I have conquered it. In my last update I was practicing and things weren’t going well. I decided to start over with another practice session and really concentrated on my counting and suddenly all was going well – I think the first time round I had just run out of fingers and toes.

I would tell you more, but I really think it deserves a post of its own.

3. Back up photos on to CD: All the photos from my old laptop are now transferred on to CD. When it was done I started celebrating because I thought “Hurrah I can cross that off my list now!” but then I thought that really really I shouldn’t just be talking about my old laptop, even though that’s what I meant when I made this resolution. I should be backing up all my photos, including the ones on my current laptop and then I will be able to keep updating the CDs as I take more photos.

So that’s what I’m doing now. So I know I said last time that I wanted this one crossed off when I next did an update, technically it is crossed off but I’ve extended it to include more photos. I have bought more CDs and I’m ready to rock, I just need a quiet evening/weekend to sit down and sort them out. Hey I can ripple and copy photos at the same time and have a Not Really Resolution Day!

4. Paint my frog – Done, done and done.

5. Go to the cinema on my own: I’m pretty sure there’s something wrong with me. There is nothing that I want to see at the cinema. I don’t know why but nothing takes my fancy. I haven’t gone to the cinema at all let alone by myself. I could go and see some random film and just get it over with but I think we all know that your first time needs to be special (nudge nudge, wink wink).

6. Project 365: Carries on merrily. Over 100 photos taken and officially a third of the way through. Wowza. The turn in the weather and the plethora of bank holidays in April provided more photo opportunities but I continue to live in a state of fear that there’s going to come a day when I literally cannot find anything to take a photo of. All I can say is thank goodness for cats. On days when there’s nothing to photograph (meaning I really haven’t done anything) they provide willing (and hilarious) subjects.

7. Make album/scrapbook of my France 2010 holiday: Thanks goes to Alex for helping me with this one. She let me know about a deal on Snapfish which although I couldn’t take part in (it was for existing customers) did lead me to have a little browse around and discover that I could have all my photos printed for a bargain basement price. So I now have all my photos. I have my little book. I have all the little bits I saved along the way. I have a little list of all the things we did each day. I have a nice pen. In short. No excuses, time to get on with it!

I have also been looking at the photobooks you can create on Snapfish which seem like a really nice alternative to doing it yourself, I will definitely be bearing that in mind if I ever have another holiday! Or. How about completing one with all your favourite photos in from one year? That’s certainly started me thinking.

8. Travel to Belfast to see my family: Keep your fingers crossed guys but I might just have managed to save some money up for this one. I think my Mum’s going to be coming over with me and we’re looking provisionally at September to pop over for a long weekend. But funnily enough, some of my family are going to be coming over towards the end of May for my niece’s christening so I’ll be seeing them anyway!

9. Read 12 classics: I am still on schedule with this one. I was way ahead of schedule and then along came Wuthering Heights. It’s been on the go for ages but for some reason I can’t get a grasp on it and I ended up leaving it alone for a few weeks. Big mistake. This means I now have to get back into it. I need to get it finished this month or then I’ll be behind schedule. Noooooooooooo.

This reading of classics has also had an interesting effect on my overall reading. I’ve found myself now reading “easier” books generally rather than the options I normally go for because I feel like I need to rest my brain in between classics. Not sure how I feel about this, my intention of reading the classics was to expand my reading overall, not leave it virtually unchanged, or heaven forbid, worse.

10. Cross stitch one Christmas card per month: Also on track with this one. Four months have passed and four cards have been completed. I’m quite enjoying flipping through my overflowing file of charts and choosing something to cross stitch and having the time to stitch more complicated things. It’s also making me want to design some more of my own after the card I made in March.

The card on the bottom right is very cool and is Three French Hens, unfortunately some of it has been chopped off in the making of the mosaic.

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Can't believe how much things have changed in a couple of months. I've gone from not being able to do several of my not really resolutions to being potentially on track to getting them all done. This is thanks to bloggy friends for acting as Yarn Fairies and Photo Fairies and the fact that my job is not only officially safe (hurray) but has also resulted in a payrise, meaning I've been able to save some dosh (bigger hurray).
 
I am looking forward to my next update already - please to god I'll have at least one thing crossed off!