Blog 15 - Music moods...

 

This challenge was one of the easiest but was very long! Challenge 36 was to LISTEN TO MY ENTIRE CD COLLECTION in its entirety i.e. listen to all songs on all the albums I own,  all the way through. Since having children and mostly giving up the remote control on the TV and never getting the time to listen to my own music, I thought of this challenge as it would give me an excuse to turn off the children’s CDs and put my own music needs first for a change. I began this challenge in August and finished listening to all 186 CDs from my and Nick’s collection this week, all in all taking almost 6 months!

Although not a hard challenge, as I managed to listen to my CDs when I was driving mostly, it really depended on which CD I was listening to as to what mood it put me in for the day. Some days it made me all fired up and sometimes it brought me right down, sleepy or low, the music choice really affected my mood. There were some low points, and some truly awful albums in my opinion (mostly Nick’s 80s albums it has to be said!), some amusing moments including Mr Blobby CD and a few albums that brought back some amazing memories.  

One memory that came flooding back was when listening to U2 and I recalled the live concert I attended in Budapest when I was travelling when I was 18. I never really liked U2 until we got offered very cheap tickets in Budapest and I was totally in love with the band after it. I also met two young guys from the then Yugoslavia who lived in the same village and had grown up together but were currently at war and after the concert they would be going back to their respective sides and carry on fighting even though they were the best of friends. It was really emotional towards the end of the concert and a moment in history I will never forget!

On a lighter note, I also remembered running around Glastonbury as a young 20 something watching Prodigy live and singing a long to one of their most famous tracks, but in my naivety thought the lyrics were ‘Take my Picture’, if any of you know the correct lyrics for this song you will know how wrong I was! What a tit!

Anyway memories aside it was an enjoyable challenge on the whole and has helped me narrow down my choices for me to sing in a future challenge, but that story is for another blog!

So my 12th challenge completed, 28 to go!!

COMPLETED CHALLENGES:

Challenge 4 – SWIM 40 LENGTHS – Swam 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay with Lara Ramsay on 27.10.13. (Money spent £16 for goggles and entry to pool)

Challenge 8 – SCORE 40 ON A DART BOARD WITH ONE DART – Got a double top on my 9^th try on 12.1.14

Challenge 9 – 40 HOUR FAST – I completed 40 hours not eating any food and surviving on water and flavoured water only. (Sept, with Karen Daniel)

Challenge 12 – VOLUNTEER FOR 40 HOURS - Aside from my RSPCA volunteering, 40 hours of my free time were given volunteering for NSPCC Childline Schools Service, PTA events and other fundraising events.  

Challenge 16 – 40 HOUR NO SWEARING OR £1 FINE – Completed between Tuesday 5 to Wednesday 6 November 2013.

Challenge 18 – TURN MOBILE PHONE OFF FOR 40 HOURS – I turned my phone off and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails at all for 40 hours. (Oct)

Challenge 19 – 40 HOUR SILENCE – Completed between Midnight on Thursday 14.11.13 until 4pm on Saturday 16.11.13.

Challenge 22 – ADOPTED A WILD ANIMAL – I adopted Jubilee an Asian Elephant through the Born Free Foundation. (Spent £30 for adoption fee)

Challenge 25 – GIVE BLOOD – Completed on 11.10.13.

Challenge 30 – APPLY FOR A GAME SHOW – I applied to two game shows ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘The Chase’ in August but have still not heard anything back. I also applied to Bargain Hunt this month for my colleague Paul who would love to go on this programme.

Challenge 36 – LISTEN TO MY ENTIRE CD COLLECTION – All 186 CDs were listened to by 17.2.14

Challenge 38 – HULA HOOP FOR 40 REVOLUTIONS – Completed in Sept. (Spent £18 on buying hoola hoop)

blog 14 - Making the most of my time...

A really important part of this year of challenges was also to make a difference in some way. I wanted to raise money for charity but also wanted to give more of my spare time volunteering for a good cause. So aside from my normal volunteering work of fostering animals for the RSPCA, I also signed up to the NSPCC Childline Schools Service. This entails volunteers going into schools and presenting an assembly to Year 5 and 6 children, telling them all about Childline and raising awareness of the phone number and website. We also help to define different types of abuse and explain the importance of talking to trusted adults or Childline if they are unhappy, unsafe or worried about anything. We then go back into the classes and give them an hour workshop exploring these things in more depth.

 

This has been a really eye opening experience for me and rewarding as the feedback from children on the Childline website after we have been to the schools really makes you realise how worthwhile it is. I did initially struggle and worry how I was going to talk to children about such serious issues and if it was too soon to talk to them at their age (9/10/11) about these sorts of issues but this was quickly dispelled as I realised how much actually children know or think they know at that age! The biggest issues that do come out are about bullying and the amount of stress that is on our young people nowadays. There are times that I see and meet some kids that I think about and worry about after but ultimately I’m glad that I’m doing it. I’m glad that we are getting the message out to young people that there is always someone to talk to and hope that somehow in our small way we are helping some children, in the future as well as for now.

So for this challenge I wanted to donate 40 hours of my time volunteering, so aside from my RSPCA work I also have given 36 hours for Childline so far, 3 hours for helping out at School PTA fairs and events and 2 hours helping out at a fundraising fair for Arthritis UK. I will be carrying on volunteering for Childline for at least another year hopefully so my volunteer hours should continue to grow.

So this is my 11^th challenge completed and I am continuing to chip away at some of the others, Ive managed to book the Big Zipper, West End Play and the Mudrunner and my training is underway for the running 40k challenge...

Update on the other challenges:

· (Challenge 1 – Write 40 Blogs) this is blog number 14 written

· (Challenge 2 –Get 40 people to donate £10 to charity) Raised £150 so far, £250 to go!!

· (Challenge6 – 40 Sit ups every day) keeping up although some days are a bit half hearted!

· (Challenge 10 - Take 40 photos) – I’ve realised that the photos I have taken for the challenges would fit this brief so I have taken 10 so far.

· (Challenge 11 – Read 40 Books) I am on book number 20

· (Challenge 14 – Have 40 dates with my husband) – Had 17 dates so far.

· (Challenge 17 – Visit 40 pubs) I have visited 20 pubs so far.

· (Challenge 23 – See a Play on the West End) – Booked for Other Desert Cities at the Old Vic for Saturday 19 April 2014.

· (Challenge 24 – Have Afternoon Tea at The Ritz) This is booked for May 2014 to also celebrate my mum’s 70th Birthday.

· (Challenge 26 – lose 14 pounds in weight) struggling big time with this one and have the full 14 pounds to lose!!

· (Challenge 28 – Commit 12 acts of kindness to random strangers) I have completed 10 acts so far.

· (Challenge 31 – Complete the Big Zipper) – Booked for Sunday 25 May 2014.

· (Challenge 35 –Cook 12 new recipes) - 5 recipes made.

· (Challenge 36 – Listen to my entire CD collection) I am still trying to get through this one!

COMPLETED:

Challenge 4 – SWIM 40 LENGTHS – Swan 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay with Lara Ramsay on 27.10.13. (Money spent £16 for goggles and entry to pool)

Challenge 8 – SCORE 40 ON A DART BOARD WITH ONE DART - Got a double top on my 9^th try on 1.2.14.

Challenge 9 – 40 HOUR FAST – I completed 40 hours not eating any food and surviving on water and flavoured water only. (Sept, with Karen Daniel)

Challenge 12 – Volunteer for 40 hours - Aside from my RSPCA volunteering, 40 hours of my free time was given volunteering for NSPCC Childline Schools Service, PTA events and other fundraising events. (I will be carrying on with the volunteering for Childline and RSPCA so am expecting to clock up over 80 hours by the end of the year)

Challenge 16 – 40 HOUR NO SWEARING OR £1 FINE – Completed between Tuesday 5 to Wednesday 6 November 2013. (cost me £21)

Challenge 18 – TURN MOBILE PHONE OFF FOR 40 HOURS – I turned my phone off and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails at all for 40 hours. (Oct)

Challenge 19 – 40 HOUR SILENCE – Completed between Midnight on Thursday 14.11.13 until 4pm on Saturday 16.11.13.

Challenge 22 – ADOPTED A WILD ANIMAL – I adopted Jubilee an Asian Elephant through the Born Free Foundation. (Spent £30 for adoption fee)

Challenge 25 – GIVE BLOOD – Completed on 11.10.13.

Challenge 30 – APPLY FOR A GAME SHOW – I applied to two game shows ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘The Chase’ in August but have still not heard anything back. I also applied to Bargain Hunt this month for my colleague Paul who would love to go on this programme.

Challenge 38 – HULA HOOP FOR 40 REVOLUTIONS – Completed in Sept. (Spent £18 on buying hoola hoop)

Blog 13 - Double top...

Ok so Challenge 8 was to score 40 on a dart board with a single dart, which meant that I had to get a double top. This was a tough challenge in that, I attempted to do it a number of times but was unable to actually get on a dart board in a pub as the board was always busy! I took to carrying around a pack of ‘Emergency darts’ in my bag which is not ideal as for some occasions this might be described as carrying an offense weapon!

These emergency darts however, came in very handy when popping into local pub The Birchgrove on our way home from the Wales v Italy rugby 6 Nations game and low and behold the dart board was free!!!! Slightly worse for wear as Nick and I had been drinking most of the afternoon, I thought this is it… so enlisting the help of a bunch of strangers and in particular a mentor called Steve, we explained what I needed to do and flushed with a Welsh win, they all starting cheering me on. With the first couple of darts I think it became clear that this might take a while and the spectators started moving out of the firing line as they realised their life might be in danger!

Nick and the group were all shouting various directions, ‘aim towards the top’ ‘aim at the 20’ ‘for the love of god aim at the board!’ and I was just getting worse. Then on my 9^th attempt, my mentor Steve said I was aiming too low so said ‘aim at the ceiling’, I adjusted my stance, I concentrated hard and focused on the ceiling, I let go of the dart and there was silence in the pub until it flew right in the middle of the double top!!! It felt like I had scored the winning try at the rugby as the corner of the pub erupted and everyone was cheering or in complete stunned silence that I actually managed it!!!

It obviously was a complete fluke as Nick and I played darts for the next hour with me still aiming for the double top the whole time and I didn’t manage to get it again. Don’t ask me why but I secretly thought that I might have some undiscovered talent as a darts player and this dream has now been squashed but I just might have lots more fun times having a go though! Although I will have to make sure I have a wide berth from the spectators!

You can tell I was a little worse for wear, as I couldn't even point at the 20 properly!

 

Update on the other challenges:

· (Challenge 1 – Write 40 Blogs) this is blog number 13 written

· (Challenge 2 –Get 40 people to donate £10 to charity) Raised £150 so far, £250 to go!!

· (Challenge6 – 40 Sit ups every day) keeping up although some days are a bit half hearted!

· (Challenge 10 - Take 40 photos) – None taken yet.

· (Challenge 11 – Read 40 Books) I am on book number 18

· (Challenge 12 – Volunteer for 40 hours) Aside from my RSPCA volunteering, 37 hours given volunteering for NSPCC, PTA events and other fundraising events.

· (Challenge 14 – Have 40 dates with my husband) – Had 17 dates so far.

· (Challenge 17 – Visit 40 pubs) I have visited 20 pubs so far.

· (Challenge 24 – Have Afternoon Tea at The Ritz) This is booked for May 2014 to also celebrate my mum’s 70th Birthday.

· (Challenge 26 – lose 14 pounds in weight) struggling big time with this one and have the full 14 pounds to lose!!

· (Challenge 28 – Commit 12 acts of kindness to random strangers) I have completed 10 acts so far.

· (Challenge 35 –Cook 12 new recipes) - 5 recipes made.

· (Challenge 36 – Listen to my entire CD collection) I am still trying to get through this one!

 

COMPLETED:

Challenge 4 – SWIM 40 LENGTHS – Swan 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay with Lara Ramsay on 27.10.13. (Money spent £16 for goggles and entry to pool)

Challenge 8 – SCORE 40 ON A DART BOARD WITH ONE DART - Got a double top on my 9^th try on 1.2.14.

Challenge 9 – 40 HOUR FAST – I completed 40 hours not eating any food and surviving on water and flavoured water only. (Sept, with Karen Daniel)

Challenge 16 – 40 HOUR NO SWEARING OR £1 FINE – Completed between Tuesday 5 to Wednesday 6 November 2013. (cost me £21)

Challenge 18 – TURN MOBILE PHONE OFF FOR 40 HOURS – I turned my phone off and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails at all for 40 hours. (Oct)

Challenge 19 – 40 HOUR SILENCE – Completed between Midnight on Thursday 14.11.13 until 4pm on Saturday 16.11.13.

Challenge 22 – ADOPTED A WILD ANIMAL – I adopted Jubilee an Asian Elephant through the Born Free Foundation. (Spent £30 for adoption fee)

Challenge 25 – GIVE BLOOD – Completed on 11.10.13.

Challenge 30 – APPLY FOR A GAME SHOW – I applied to two game shows ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘The Chase’ in August but have still not heard anything back. I also applied to Bargain Hunt this month for my colleague Paul who would love to go on this programme.

Challenge 38 – HULA HOOP FOR 40 REVOLUTIONS – Completed in Sept. (Spent £18 on buying hoola hoop)

Blog 12 - New Year... New Start!

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! I had a little too much celebration and not enough challenges! I’ve stuffed my face with lovely food and drink and now I have the full 14 pounds of weight to lose again… but it was worth it!

As December has been exceptionally busy I did not manage to complete any further challenges. I did manage to chalk up a new recipe, a few more dates, books, pubs and volunteer hours. I did also attempt to try the Dart Challenge however all the pubs with dart boards were so busy that I couldn’t get a go on the board, I now have a pack of emergency darts in my handbag so that if I come across a dart board in the coming months I will be prepared! I did book myself and two willing volunteers for the Mudrunner event in June and am almost there with my plans for the Big Zipper!

Christmas was also quite handy in providing me with a few helpful  things for the coming months, my husband bought me a cycle helmet for the bike challenge, my work secret santa bought me a journal for my 40 photos and the kids got a Wii for Christmas and the Just Dance game which should help me perfect my moves before the dance challenge but also help me shift this excess weight!!

So onwards and upwards I have to pull myself together and focus, as I only have 8 weeks before the running challenge (40k over 4 days) and I need to speed up on a number of other challenges too if I have any hope in achieving them! Anybody else desperate (and you would have to be desperate) to lose weight and join me on any training runs let me know as I need some motivation! So come on 2014….let’s be having you!!

Update on the other challenges:

·         (Challenge 1 – Write 40 Blogs) this is blog number 12 written

·         (Challenge 2 –Get 40 people to donate £10 to charity) Raised £60 so far, £340 to go!!

·         (Challenge6 – 40 Sit ups every day) keeping up although some days are a bit half hearted!

·         (Challenge 10 - Take 40 photos) – None taken yet.

·         (Challenge 11 – Read 40 Books) I am on book number 14

·         (Challenge 12 – Volunteer for 40 hours) Aside from my RSPCA volunteering, 30 hours given volunteering for NSPCC, PTA events and other fundraising events.

·         (Challenge 14 – Have 40 dates with my husband) – Had 13 dates so far.

·         (Challenge 17 – Visit 40 pubs) I have visited 15 pubs so far.

·          (Challenge 24 – Have Afternoon Tea at The Ritz) This is booked for May 2014 to also celebrate my mum’s 70th Birthday.

·         (Challenge 26 – lose 14 pounds in weight) up and down on the weight loss

·         (Challenge 28 – Commit 12 acts of kindness to random strangers) I have completed 9 acts so far.

·         (Challenge 35 –Cook 12 new recipes) -  4 recipes made.

·         (Challenge 36 – Listen to my entire CD collection) I am still trying to get through this one!

COMPLETED:

Challenge 4 – SWIM 40 LENGTHS – Swan 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay with Lara Ramsay on 27.10.13. (Money spent £16 for goggles and entry to pool)

Challenge 9 – 40 HOUR FAST – I completed 40 hours not eating any food and surviving on water and flavoured water only. (Sept, with Karen Daniel)

Challenge 16 – 40 HOUR NO SWEARING OR £1 FINE – Completed between Tuesday 5 to Wednesday 6 November 2013.

Challenge 18 – TURN MOBILE PHONE OFF FOR 40 HOURS – I turned my phone off and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails at all for 40 hours. (Oct)

Challenge 19 – 40 HOUR SILENCE – Completed between Midnight on Thursday 14.11.13 until 4pm on Saturday 16.11.13.

Challenge 22 – ADOPTED A WILD ANIMAL – I adopted Jubilee an Asian Elephant through the Born Free Foundation. (Spent £30 for adoption fee)

Challenge 25 – GIVE BLOOD – Completed on 11.10.13.

Challenge 30 – APPLY FOR A GAME SHOW – I applied to two game shows ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘The Chase’ in August but have still not heard anything back. I also applied to Bargain Hunt for my colleague Paul who would love to go on this programme.

Challenge 38 – HULA HOOP FOR 40 REVOLUTIONS – Completed in Sept. (Spent £18 on buying hoola hoop)

Blog 11 - Silence is golden...

This fortnight I concentrated on my language skills or lack of them?! I attempted Challenge 19 - 40 hours without swearing and if I did manage to slip up then I was fined £1 for each swear word. I chose to attempt this challenge in my working days as to be honest that’s when my potty mouth gets worse as the stress builds! I was taking the challenge seriously and really trying hard, my colleagues were watching and listening to me closely and I did succumb! Especially when my mate Jamie kept helpfully unplugging my computer mouse without me realising! So in the end the 40 hours cost me £21! S**T! I know, but at least it was £21 more to the charity pot!

Next I attempted Challenge 16 – 40 hours of silence, 40 hours of no spoken word! To be honest this was the hardest challenge so far! Obviously I had to attempt this on non-working days and luckily had a quiet day planned on Friday so spent most of the day alone although even the pets found it strange that I wasn’t talking to them! The children coped remarkably well and loved the oddness of ‘Mummy not talking or more specifically nagging!’ In fact my son said to someone ‘it isn’t much different than when she talks’ which goes to show my kids obviously don’t listen to me much anyway!!  

I carried around a notebook and pen with me, which I used to explain why I was appearing rude, and when I had to order a McDonalds for the kids. I did find the whole thing incredibly frustrating and very isolating. It really gave me a small insight into how hearing impaired people must feel and I started feeling really down and miserable not being able to express myself fully. Friends' reactions were weird too as most people started to sign language back to me or felt they couldn't talk and generally looked quite uncomfortable around me.  I didn’t talk at all even on my own as I thought if I did I would then forget around people too.

The hardest parts of the challenge were when I couldn’t read bedtime stories to the kids and when I was trying not to break under the interrogation of a 5 year old at a children’s party who just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t speaking to them.  I also struggled to cope with my ever helpful friend Dafydd who kept introducing me to other parents at the party and not explaining why I wasn’t talking to them and just kept asking me questions or making up huge lies about me just to provoke a reaction!!

I was so relieved when the challenge was over! I can’t believe I didn’t break, this really was more of a mental challenge with a test of willpower. I have realised how much I love to talk! I talk to myself, sing or hum all the time, before talking to the pets, kids and all other humans! And it brought a tear to my eye when my son hugged me so tight and was so happy when I could talk again and said “I was getting used to having a Mummy who couldn’t talk, but I’m so glad my normal Mummy is back!”  Thankfully the communication challenges are over and I can move onto more entertainment based challenges, that is once I have finished chatting to anyone who will listen!!

Update on the other challenges:

·         (Challenge 1 – Write 40 Blogs) this is blog number 11 written

·         (Challenge 2 –Get 40 people to donate £10 to charity) Raised £60 so far, £340 to go!!

·         (Challenge6 – 40 Sit ups every day) keeping up although some days are a bit half hearted!

·         (Challenge 10 - Take 40 photos) – None taken yet.

·         (Challenge 11 – Read 40 Books) I am on book number 10

·         (Challenge 12 – Volunteer for 40 hours) Aside from my RSPCA volunteering, 22 hours given volunteering for NSPCC, PTA events and other fundraising events.

·         (Challenge 14 – Have 40 dates with my husband) – Had 10 dates so far.

·         (Challenge 17 – Visit 40 pubs) I have visited 11 pubs so far.

·          (Challenge 24 – Have Afternoon Tea at The Ritz) This is booked for May 2014 to also celebrate my mum’s 70th Birthday.

·         (Challenge 26 – lose 14 pounds in weight) up and down on the weight loss but still only 7 pounds loss

·         (Challenge 28 – Commit 12 acts of kindness to random strangers) I have completed 9 acts so far.

·         (Challenge 35 –Cook 12 new recipes) -  3 recipes made.

·         (Challenge 36 – Listen to my entire CD collection) I am still trying to get through this one!

COMPLETED:

Challenge 4 – SWIM 40 LENGTHS – Swan 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay with Lara Ramsay on 27.10.13. (Money spent £16 for goggles and entry to pool)

Challenge 9 – 40 HOUR FAST – I completed 40 hours not eating any food and surviving on water and flavoured water only. (Sept, with Karen Daniel)

Challenge 16 – 40 HOUR NO SWEARING OR £1 FINE – Completed between Tuesday 5 to Wednesday 6 November 2013.

Challenge 18 – TURN MOBILE PHONE OFF FOR 40 HOURS – I turned my phone off and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails at all for 40 hours. (Oct)

Challenge 19 – 40 HOUR SILENCE – Completed between Midnight on Thursday 14.11.13 until 4pm on Saturday 16.11.13.

Challenge 22 – ADOPTED A WILD ANIMAL – I adopted Jubilee an Asian Elephant through the Born Free Foundation. (Spent £30 for adoption fee)

Challenge 25 – GIVE BLOOD – Completed on 11.10.13.

Challenge 30 – APPLY FOR A GAME SHOW – I applied to two game shows ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘The Chase’ in August but have still not heard anything back. I also applied to Bargain Hunt this month for my colleague Paul who would love to go on this programme.

Challenge 38 – HULA HOOP FOR 40 REVOLUTIONS – Completed in Sept. (Spent £18 on buying hoola hoop)

 

Blog 10 - Keep on Swimming, Keep on Swimming

Keep on swimming, keep on swimming….

Those were the words that were going over and over my head for over an hour today when I along with my swimming pal Lara Ramsay managed to swim 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay non-stop! I surprised myself that I managed to do it without stopping as I don’t think I’ve actually been swimming properly (without kids) for at least 3 years and have never ever swum that far in my life!

I managed 20 lengths breast stroke (old lady style), 19 lengths backstroke and 1 length front crawl! After length 16 I had a stitch the whole way and started hallucinating a bit after 31!! But I kept swimming, slow and steady like a swimming tortoise (would that be a turtle?) and the last length of front crawl I mainly looked like a panicked dog drowning but hey I did it. Truth be told, Lara didn’t look like she broke a sweat and could have done another 40, and I definately couldn’t have done it without her!! We did have a sneaky glass of presecco to celebrate after.

And our treat of Proseco!

Before the swim, all goggled up!

After the swim!

I also managed to complete Challenge 18 this week, where I turned my mobile phone off for 40 hours and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails either. Although not taxing it was a tough challenge but good to get a break from my addiction! I took time to look around and take notice of things more, I struggled to make it on time for anything as I couldn’t find a working watch to use instead of my phone and shock horror I had to use a phone directory at one point. During the 40 hours my phone was off, I missed 2 phone calls, 3 text messages, 10 Facebook messages and 8 notifications for my personal facebook and 10 notifications for work facebook, 37 personal emails and 56 work emails and finally 16 work related mentions on Twitter.

Bearing in mind the 40 hours covered the days I don’t actually work, I can see why I am so addicted! I really am going to make sure though I try to have a couple of hours off each day and take time to look around me more and properly relax my brain a lot more!

So, two more challenges completed which brings it to 7 completed challenges so far, only 33 to go! Next month I am going to try 40 hours without swearing and probably the trickest to keep uo 40 hours of complete silence as in I will not be allowed to make any sound, talk, hum or sing for 40 hours (this is the one the husband is looking forward to the most!!)

Update on the other challenges:

·         (Challenge 17 – Visit 40 pubs) I have visited 10 pubs so far.

·         (Challenge6 – 40 Sit ups every day) keeping up although some days are a bit half hearted!

·         (Challenge 26 – lose 14 pounds in weight ) up and down on the weight loss but still only 7 pounds loss

·         (Challenge 11 – Read 40 Books) I am on book number 9

• (Challenge 12 - Volunteer for 40 hours) - I have completed 5 hours of NSPCC volunteer training.
• (Challenge 14 - 40 Dates with Husband) - I have had 8 dates with the hubbie.

·         (Challenge 36 – Listen to my entire CD collection) I am still trying to get through this one!

·         (Challenge 28 – Commit 12 acts of kindness to random strangers) I have completed 5 acts so far.

·         (Challenge 24 – Have Afternoon Tea at The Ritz) This is booked for May 2014 to also celebrate my mum’s 70th Birthday.

·         (Challenge 2 –Get 40 people to donate £10 to charity) Raised £60 so far, £340 to go!!

·         (Challenge 1 – Write 40 Blogs) this is blog number 10 written

COMPLETED:

Challenge 4 – SWIM 40 LENGTHS – Swan 40 lengths of the 50m pool in Cardiff Bay with Lara Ramsay on 27.10.13. (Money spent £16 for goggles and entry to pool)

Challenge 9 – 40 HOUR FAST – I completed 40 hours not eating any food and surviving on water and flavoured water only. (Sept, with Karen Daniel)

Challenge 18 – TURN MOBILE PHONE OFF FOR 40 HOURS – I turned my phone off and had no access to facebook, twitter or emails at all for 40 hours. (Oct)

Challenge 22 – ADOPTED A WILD ANIMAL – I adopted Jubilee an Asian Elephant through the Born Free Foundation. (Spent £30 for adoption fee)

Challenge 25 – GIVE BLOOD – Completed on 11.10.13.

Challenge 30 – APPLY FOR A GAME SHOW – I applied to two game shows ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘The Chase’ in August but have still not heard anything back. I also applied to Bargain Hunt this month for my colleague Paul who would love to go on this programme.

Challenge 38 – HULA HOOP FOR 40 REVOLUTIONS – Completed in Sept. (Spent £18 on buying hoola hoop)

Blog 9 - Donate to the MUPPET charity - all in the name of charity fundraising!

Well my blog this time is all about my most embarrassing day on the planet (so far!)
In order to try and raise as much money as possible for the RSPCA and to keep me motivated to complete the 40 challenges, I agreed for an interview in the South Wales Echo. I really expected a very small piece and although grateful as hopefully it will help to get more people to sponsor me, I was not expecting a double page spread!

When the photographer came round I must admit, I was dying of embarrassment then as the photos were so cheesy! I kept saying I'm going to look awful, but the photographer was very reassuring and at one point even said... "You remind me a little of the newsreader Susannah Read" Blimey I thought the photos must be better than I thought as I bear little resemblance to the Breakfast stunner at the best of times!

When I saw the photos today however, yes I thought I do look a little like Susannah ............................................................if you are blind in one eye and clearly very drunk!!!!!

Sure enough very soon friends and colleagues all started getting wind of the coverage and proceeded to mercilessly take the mick out of me all day, or just wetting themselves laughing! It has to be said though whilst explaining to my mate Gus how to donate to my charity or to choose a charity of her choice she came back with the best quip of the day! She said that she would prefer to donate to a special charity called MUPPET as it is very close to her heart as she has a friend who suffers from the Muppet infliction. It stands for 'Most Unflattering Press Photo Ever Taken"!!!

So to see this stunning picture, check out the spread or the online coverage and judge for yourself the muppet qualities, look below. But the most important thing is look at the fundraising link as surely laying my pride on the line in the name of fundraising is worth a tenner??

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/cardiff-mum-two-sets-herself-6224320