Day 481

1.  I couldn't help myself - Barnardo's Bear needed a tie...

2.  After which I reluctantly put my sewing machine away!

3.  I have a new mantra - ONE DAY ALL THAT WILL BE LEFT TO DO IS RUN!

4.  But not today!!

5.  Finally somewhere around midnight all was packed and ready to go and fingers were crossed for sunshine and shoppers!

London - 254

Glasgow - 51
Total Distance covered     800.8 miles

Day 480

1.  A Level results day! (Part One)  A morning filled with anticipation and the added excitement of unexpectedly getting to drive C to school and wait for him to pick them up! Time to quickly crochet another flower and as the nervous energy started to rise the longer he was in coming back time to pull it out again as I kept making mistakes!

2.  Asked not to broadcast over social media - suffice to say I'm a proud mum!

3.  Slowly starting to gather my bits for Saturday, but as the contents of the under stairs cupboard are still spilling out into our living space (although there is less than there once was) it's hard to tell what I've done and what's still to do!

4.  I think I have a very busy day ahead of me tomorrow - especially as I seem to have been unable to acknowledge that the sewing part of it is over and put my sewing machine away! But what can I possibly waste my time making now?! (All may yet be revealed!).

5.  Very pleased to report that I forced myself to go out for a run late afternoon.  I was all ready to give myself the day off but I'm glad that I didn't.  Had forgotten until I was on my way home that this run would see me break the 800 training miles mark! Not altogether surprisingly - it's been a long 300 miles since Brighton!

London - 255

Glasgow - 52
Distance covered                3.8 miles
Total Distance covered     800.8 miles

Day 479

1.  Public Liability Insurance - check

2.  Clothes Rail - check

3.  Gazebo - check (but I'm still not convinced going to make it a bit more like a shop than a stall!)

4.  Bunting - check (or it will be when I've finished it! But it's soooo much fun to make I may have to rethink my views on the stuff!)

5.  All in all a productive day and still time to lie on our backs this evening (H under his duvet, me in a sleeping bag, Etsy Favouriter under a blanket, Al and C manning it out) as we gazed up at the sky and waited for the International Space Station to pass - which it did, and for the meteor shower to arrive - which it did not!  Apparently we had a better chance of seeing it at 3am but we called it a day long before then!

London - 256

Glasgow - 53
Total Distance covered     797 miles

Day 478

1.  Oh dear it seems posting a triple bill on Sunday was a step too far this weekend - lots of you read Friday and Saturday's but had clearly reached saturation point by the time it got to reading the third. Thanks to those who stuck it out through all three!  Just realised that I am a day late in posting this so I hope a Wednesday double bill doesn't have the same effect!

2.  Even worse - it has turned into a Thursday night triple after I failed to post yesterday! Oh well only time will tell!

3.  Dog show draws ever nearer and I am trying hard not to panic despite the fact that I don't have public liability cover, the clothes rail to display my bags on has yet to arrive, I've still to work out what I'm doing with the gazebo and I haven't even begun to make the bunting yet! BUNTING?! Never did I think my life would come to this!

4.  Meanwhile we have decided that now would be a good time to empty our under stairs cupboard! Like the cupboard version of Mary Poppins' Bag the stuff just kept coming! Who knew we had ever bought so much paint, let alone kept every last tin regardless of how much was actually left?! Our dining room now contains the contents as we begin the process of deciding what's being allowed back in!

5.  Good run this morning.  The speed is starting to come back to my legs and I was pleased to get my average pace per mile below nine minutes with walk breaks!  Pushing myself on the home straight I did have a moments reflection over the fact that I'm supposed to be putting speed to one side in Glasgow.... Damn! Am I going to have to admit that sisterofMG750 (and the rest of my family) was right all along and I can't do it?!

London - 257

Glasgow - 54
Distance covered              3.8 miles
Total Distance covered     797 miles

Day 477

1.  Having already questioned the Met Office's ability to predict the weather I'm not sure why I'm allowing their prediction of rain on Saturday to affect my mood so much - especially when they predicted sunny intervals today and we had the most torrential of downpours!

2.  Perhaps the chance of rain is not the only thing dampening my parade.  I am so demoralised that all efforts on Etsy have yet to yield any success that I'm struggling to believe Saturday will be any different.

3.  So I have decided to concentrate my efforts on getting people to feel sorry enough for me to put a donation in my collection tin, and have decided that a crocheted flower pin to say thank you is the way to go...

4.  A trip to the local wool shop saw me purchasing some Barnardo's lime green wool, and for reasons I can only guess at some fluorescent pink stuff! It's almost like I want to jeopardise my chances of success.  Alternatively perhaps subconsciously I employed some reverse psychology to my purchase decision - I really like the bags I've made and I can't get anyone to bite the bullet and buy - perhaps if I make something I really don't like I'll be inundated with interest!

5.  I'm hoping that they are bright enough to lure some young girls over with their poor long suffering grandparents.... little do they know that it's a trap to get them hoodwinked into also buying a bag of crafting bits and bobs the likes of which have not been seen since Westival! I will rid myself of those toilet rolls, painted egg boxes, pipe cleaners and pompoms somehow!

London - 258

Glasgow - 55
Total Distance covered 793.2 miles

Day 476

1.  Woke up this morning and for a few minutes I half hoped that I would get a text from fellow parkrunner saying that she wasn't up for running this morning - then the penny dropped that I'd still have to go!

2.  Beautiful morning for our ten miler - so much so I even took a photo!

3.  Text this morning from sisterofMG750 wondering how on earth she's going to get half marathon fit in six weeks, when she realised it was eight weeks - problem solved!

4.  Had a lovely weekend with Al, half way through the summer holidays and just enjoying being in each others company.  The fact that I'm writing this whilst he's cooking tea and has just brought me little taste just made me love him all the more!

5.  Post run euphoric, loved up, and both boys home... it's been a good day.


London - 259

Glasgow - 56
Distance covered             10 miles
Total Distance covered 793.2 miles

Day 475

1.  Saving my legs for a ten miler with fellow parkrunner tomorrow - an ideal opportunity to volunteer at parkrun instead.

2.  I love volunteering! It is so much easier than running - especially in the sunshine this morning.  But it appears that I have been conditioned into feeling a surge of excitement when I get a text from parkrun on a Saturday morning whether I have run or not! Text arrived whilst sitting in the cafe and for a moment I got all excited about seeing what my time was - before it dawned on me that I hadn't actually run and it was 'thanks for volunteering' one instead!

3. Lovely to see sisterofFMG in her trainers and running this morning after a long injury break. Made me wish you were there too sis. I would even have let you hand out tokens with me rather than risk having you swear at me on your way past up the hill!

4.  At last I have stopped sewing or fretting about Etsy long enough to do something else - unfortunately it was to wade through the finances which are (surprisingly enough) never healthier for being left to their own devices for a while!

5.  Ever so slightly excited that C is coming back from his holidays tomorrow, and by then H might even have got home after going out yesterday morning!

London - 260

Glasgow - 57
Total Distance covered 783.2 miles