And then a bus load of hobbying comes along

After a promising start, I have found the momentum of my hobbying starting to tail off a bit. However, now that we’ve got clear of Easter, birthdays (mine – and it’s not too late to send gifts) and various other reasons not to get on with it, the last week or so has seen a veritable flurry of activity.

Firstly, I’ve been out for the last 3 weeks with the girls at work for a natter and a jog – and I seem to remember someone once telling me that 3 times makes a habit. Therefore, I’m now an established jogger (ish). I’d forgotten the smug/shame of walking back through work’s main meeting / eating area red and sweaty from a run and getting looks of amusement from my colleagues. Well bite me. I reckon you’re all just jealous of our drive, and actually probably want to be as cool as us. Ahem.

Second, and this really deserves an independent post, so I won’t go in to it in too much detail right now, but progress on the wrist warmers has come along in leaps and bounds having gone along to a knitting in the pub club, where I think it is fair to say, those ladies and gents met their greatest challenge yet.

Finally, the lovely Libby, former colleague from Ottakar’s days came over with a bag load of stampy goodness for us to craft into a super card.

Very organised Libby ready to craft

Libby, has always been uber organised, and so I wasn’t in the least bit surprised when she produced a Mary Poppins style  carpet bag full of stamps, ink, card, pens, baby wipes, kitchen towel etc etc.

Hurrah, we got straight too it, and it was a lot of fun. I may have got a bit over excited at the beginning, as my first card looked like a small explosion at the bic factory (pen department, not ladyshaves).

So, learning from that, I decided that less is definitely more, and opted to listen to my Sensai in all matters stampy, I cracked on with card #2, which was much better.

Charlie having a go with the stamps

Pausing only for squash refills, and the occasional interruption from Charlie (who incidentally joined in, and we quickly established that he and I are equally matched in stamping prowess), we were well on our way in a crafty bubble made of purple and brown (in my case). It reminded me of art classes at school, that I thoroughly enjoyed, but generally was disappointed by the end result, and being impatient, wasn’t really prepared to invest the time in getting better. I was praying for a different outcome – though I didn’t hold out much hope.

At the end of the session, I really loved my card. It is something I am actually pretty proud of – and I’m not bloody sending it to anyone. It’s a keeper – a memento of  something I’ve made which I think is not too bad. As to whether I’ll keep it up. I don’t think so. I had a really great time, but I don’t see that I’d do it by myself. That said, if Libs ever wanted to do it again – I’d be well up for it 🙂

Here it is finished – rather fine, wouldn’t you agree?

A bit cheaty, but what the heck – my rules…

So I do kind of have a hobby already. But I’ve not been very dedicated to it, and it’s kind of languishing dangerously close to being ‘something I used to do, but I am in denial about not being able to do it any more’*

The thing is, right, before I had Charlie, I used to run. I used to run for miles. 3 or 4 times a week. I was fit. I didn’t know it, but really, I was *this* close to being bionic, I was that freaking amazing. Well that all stopped. Then last year, a friend from work was seriously ill and I promised to run the Great South Run to raise funds for MND. Sadly he died before the race, but I kept going, training away, and kept hoping that I’d regain some sort of enjoyment from it. I was forcing myself out, but really didn’t feel the love. So I ran the race, then pretty much packed up my trainers. That was last October. My running friends and I keep talking about getting out again, and finally, yesterday, we cracked on with our lunchtime running regime. I do like lunchtime running – an escape from the desk and a chance for a good gossip too. And we’ve got a goal. We’re going to hopefully take part in the Badminton Horseless Trials later in the year. 5 miles of cross country running complete with jumps. Should be a laugh. Just different enough to keep me interested. ‘Cos, as we’re starting to establish, I can’t really just do normal. So that’s another hobby to add to the list.

Knitting update: this is at a bit of a pause, cos I need to catch up with Nic about doing the thumb bit.

That’s all for now.

*Other former hobbies that fall in to this most woeful of hobby fates include playing the violin, piano, badminton  – oh the list undoubtably goes on. and on.