But this year I had the added bonus of being circled by the Black Dog again. Except it wasn't quite as much of a Black Dog as the episode I had and wrote about last year, so perhaps it was more of a Black Puppy lolloping around. But that makes it sound more adorable than it actually was. This year's Christmas Episode of Woe luckily didn't involve my inner critic whispering in my ear how fucking useless I was and how no-one would miss me if I died, although I could hear her trying to get in through the door. No, this year involved walking around for a good couple of weeks with The Stone of Misery heavily lodged in my chest, accompanied by much Deep Sighing and a complete lack of desire to Get Anything Done. There was some sobbing and consideration of huge life changes, all undertaken in privacy in the garage and now all discarded as just me being mental (I've come through the other side and am now 'normal' again) and being oversensitive although there were extenuating circumstances. But never mind, I'm back on an even keel again and that's to be welcomed. Obviously I'm keeping an eye on these episodes and should they start getting more frequent and/or more intense, I shall head off to my doctor so fast you won't see me for dust.
So Christmas was 'interesting'. We stayed at home and didn't see anyone on the actual day. We had chicken with all the trimmings (no point in a big turkey for just the two of us - Sylvester the Cat doesn't eat real poultry anymore), opened our presents to each other - I got a Garmin GPS running watch thingy and a brilliant wireless hifi system, called Sonos, to play music in every room in the house (I can highly recommend it - you can control it from your smartphone, laptop and tablet). I also got a selection of stuff from my Amazon wishlist which makes me sound rather alarming - a three book set on the history of the Third Reich and two of the operas in Wagner's Ring Cycle. We'll just draw a discreet veil over that, shall we?
I also got this brill thing called the 'Big Head Squirrel Feeder' which I spotted earlier in the year and thought was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I laughed till I nearly had an accident. The Lovely Husband had been paying attention and secretly got one for me for Christmas. It's a large, hollow, caricature of a squirrel's head that you fill with seed and suspend about a foot from the ground. The squirrels come along and eat the seeds while looking incredibly comical. Look:
We've not set it up yet but I promise there will be photos when I do.
My lovely mum got me a painting that I'd taken a fancy to at a local arts society exhibition, my brother and his family got us wine.
We went to my brother's yesterday for the family get-together and present swap. I gave my brother and his wife a painting I'd done of their two littlest kids taken from a photo he'd taken of them, which, I think, they liked:
I'd also made little crocheted rose brooches and knitted some twirly scarves for my sister-in-law and my two oldest nieces:
which they all seemed genuinely delighted with (thereby declaring themselves knitworthy), but none more so than my littlest 2-year old niece who grabbed her mum's scarf, wrapped it round her neck and went running around the room! This, of course, means that I will now knit her her very own one in pink for her birthday in February!
So food was eaten and drink consumed (I now know I like Amaretto...), and a most convivial time was had by all.
We're now in that liminal period between Christmas and New Year, when thoughts turn to 2013. I'm not normally one for New Year's Resolutions and there are some which will go without saying, such as 'do more painting', but I do think I'd rather like to try and lose some weight if possible and I'm definitely setting myself a new total distance running target because - drumroll, please - I ACHIEVED MY GOAL OF RUNNING 100 MILES IN 2012!!
I actually achieved this goal a few days before Christmas but couldn't be bothered to blog about it (see references to the Black Puppy above), but I did do it. I actually ran further because I only set the target at the beginning of March so it doesn't take into account January and February's distances but, on the other hand, there were at least 6 to 8 weeks between March and December when I couldn't run at all due to crappy feet issues so perhaps it all evens out.
I decided to take a complete break from running over the Christmas period and will start again in the New Year. And I've decided to stick my neck out and try and run 250 miles in 2013. I'm pretty damn sure I could do 200 miles fairly easily - after all, that's only 3.8 miles per week or 16.66 miles per month, and my last two runs were both 5 miles each. So adding an extra 50 overall increases that to 4.8 miles per week (i.e., only an extra mile)/20.8 miles per month. I have at least two online friends who have both run over 1000 miles in 2012 alone so I'm thinking I can achieve a piddling 250 - as long as my feet hold out, though. This year I've had to contend with a neuroma in my left foot and plantar fasciitis/tendonitis in my right but both seem to have sorted themselves out - fingers crossed this lasts.
So that's the running. As for crafts, I'm joining a Knit-Along project with a group on Ravelry of a circular shawl in the form of a star-chart of the northern sky, with beads for constellations.
I'm doing mine in a very dark blue with silver-lined glass beads for the stars. A mass cast-on is scheduled for 1 January and I'm hoping that with approx. 200 other people also doing it at the same time as me that there'll be plenty of help available. I sincerely hope so! Anyway wish me luck!
I'll also do my best to try and blog and bit more, I think. I know I'm not the most interesting and scintillating of writers but this blog does sort of act as a kind of diary and I'm currently finding it especially useful for keeping track of the arty painting stuff so for that alone it's worth keeping it going.
And with that, I shall love you and leave you, and wish you all the very best for 2013.
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