Completed Challenge 26 - Showjumping!

It's probably worth admitting at that start that I did fall off. Not even in a dramatic way. More off a whoops, I'm falling, I'll just slide off kind of way. But as the saying goes I got back on the horse and jumped again. All be it a little shaky with a few tears.

My friend Kim, who is a fab friend, a trusted drinking partner, and one of the few people I can go on holiday with also turned out to be an amazing teacher. I was so glad to have someone I trusted completely guiding the way and I felt instantly comfortable.

She had made a lot of effort to protect me from injury - at her birthday party last year I cracked a rib roller skating and the guilt lives on. Despite that being entirely my fault! She was also very patient and Rupert the horse was very forgiving of my rookie skills.

It was a full workout for Kim who had to run me round the jumps to train me and to spur on the slightly lazy Rupert. I was doing pretty well and she let me go it alone, I lost my confidence a bit and slid off but I was so proud of myself. No broken bones, not even a bruise!

This was the only potentially really dangerous challenge I really did and it felt an amazing thing to achieve. It's given me the confidence to go riding again with Kim in the summer.

Huge thanks to Kim, everyone at the stables and especially Lucy for the loan of a wonderful horse, her support on the day and being so sympathetic when I made a fool of myself! Please see below for videos of Kim's great training and the not so epic fall.

Remember you can support this or any other challenge by donating at www.justgiving.com/30before30sense

Completed Challenge 19# - Watch The Mirrors!

Well, watch the mirrors indeed. This was very nearly the one challenge I didn't manage! Even with a thourough clean up of the garage it was an incredibly tight squeeze.

I began the mammoth task of clearing out old stuff in February. I gritted my teeth and started to be ruthless. I had kept so much old school stuff in the belief that I would 'absolutely use it someday'. But now I have the job I've always wanted and I whittled down to 2 boxes that I could take with me to my new office.

It was fun to begin with. Going through old stuff and thinking how far I'd come. Then it was boring. Then it was hell. I piled my car up and heading for the tip only to be told by the guy peering at the headings on my paper that they don't take "trade waste!". It's paper! "You're a teacher - it's trade waste." Turns out I'm not charming enough so had to head off.

Following this the challenge has whittled away at me. There was tyres there but I didn't want to change them over til the weather was better, there was a chest freezer that a friends having but I hadn't sorted out delivering. So at the weekend I was ruthless again, made a plan and prayed that my measurements were right and that the freezer would fit in our car (the bigger car!).

With all this sorted tonight, I was pretty pleased with myself. Until it came the time to actually drive it in. With a lot of huffing and 'stop', 'turn a bit', 'no less', 'no right' from my husband it fit. Just.

Now we're wondering what to do with all the empty space in our garage and I have itchy fingers for some more storage boxes...

Completed Challenge 22# - Karaoke

This one comes with a warning: IT IS AWFUL! I think people genuinely assumed I was being modest. Everyone can sing a little bit right? I can't. Not even a teensy bit. The copious amounts of wine helped the confidence but not the pitch. I also outraged my friends by admitting I'd never seen The Bodyguard, did not sing it in the shower and did not know the words.

If you doubt any of what I'm saying watch the clips. If you value your ear drums or your sanity don't! It is split into 3 as such a long song.

Please remember you can make this humiliation worth my while by donating at www.justgiving.com/30beforesense

Thanks to Kate, Sarah and Fran for their wonderful, candle-lit, backing dancing!

Completed Challenge 29# - Ballet

A great feeling to have the penultimate really embarrassing one done! I was less scared about this than the flute as I figured a little improvisation would go a long way. However there were some moves Hannah had specified so I was busy you-tubing those to make sure I incorporated them in some way.

Hannah had kindly (read cruelly!) chosen a very contemporary and long song. This did at least mean I could choreograph a chorus to give something to link my general flaying about together. My next door neighbours kindly donated and came a long and although they were very kind they did mention that there was a lot of twirling my hands, pointing my toes and hoping for the best. They were right!

Another dimension was the requirement to dress like a ballerina. I found myself pulling a tutu over my head as the 30 year old figure did not quite lend itself to such slender dress.

Apart from a few curious kids, the audience was somewhat limited which I was grateful for. The sides of the bandstand also afforded me a degree of secrecy! But it's not something I will be volunteering to do again and I'll certainly be keeping my head down in the supermarkets and pubs for the next few weeks.

Thanks to Hannah, Sophie, Maria and Laurie for their support and encouragement. I especially enjoyed listening back to their narration while filming!

Ballet attire and happy challenger

Now for the video! Please keep your laughter to yourself! I've had to split the video into 2 as it's too large. An added bonus of these challenges is some new IT skills.

Completed challenge 23# - play us a tune!

Off all the challenges this has been one of the hardest. Unlike the others, where although they were often things I didn't particularly want to do, this was something I didn't want to do AGAIN.

I had stopped playing the flute as a child as I hated to play in public or perform really in anyway. So in preparing for this challenge all those feelings came back with the added difficult that I couldn't play. I had naively assumed it would be like riding a bike; but I didn't remember any of the finger placements or even how to play music.

On the Monday before the challenge I was really frustrated and worried that this might be the first challenge I was unsuccessful at. I was whinging away to my sister about not wanting to do it. Then at work one of my special needs children showed me their holiday scrapbook where they had cut out my picture from the paper. It gave me the perspective and push I needed to remember what I was really doing this for.

I practiced every night til I had cramp in my fingers and by the performance felt almost ready. I had highlighted sheets of the finger placements, written all letters underneath all my notes. It turned out I needn't have worried as the other musicians and audience at the pub were so friendly and accommodating that they put me very much at ease.

I don't think I'll be rushing off to become a musician any time soon, but a hige thank you to Geoff and all at The Flying Childer's who supported me. This time I truly have done something I didn't think I would be able to do.

Please see below my many cheat sheets, and a video of the very short performance.

Completed Challenge 25# - A day in the life of an octopus!

Just out of a long hot bath as it turns out wearing a heavy octopus head all day makes you pretty achy!! But despite the crick in my neck and the flush of embarassment in my cheeks it was totally worth it for the £104.54 that was raised!

The worst part of the day was sitting in briefing in front of all my colleagues who I pray normally take me seriously. This was swiftly followed by having to walk past kid after kid who did a double take or just stood in front of me laughing. I had also managed to time this day with my dog coming in for animal care. This went absolutely fine but was certainly not my proudest moment cleaning dog muck up dressed as an octopus! It did lead some Year 11 students to come running out and emptying all their change out to me saying they felt it was a new low for me.

There were some great moments when a student watched my dog cuddling up to me and said "ooh she must like seafood" and when my year 7's carried on working, and whinging about working, as if nothing else was happening.

Being made to carry on wearing it for a drink in the pub after work was not what I bargained for but did lead to another couple of quid from the punters - all in a day's work.

Thanks to the challengers and costume makers and everyone that donating!!

Completed Challenge 28# - No Social Media!

Success! I made it through the month. No crisis happened. No really horrid photos or posts. But truth be told I did miss it.

It didn't help that Facebook emailed me daily to say I had notifications. They would also tell me I had friend requests and messages. I would mull over what these could be and whether people would think me rude for not responding. I had two major events during the month and I was jealous not to be involved in the fun anecdotal statuses afterwards or prolong the fun flicking through the photos.

I missed the odd invitation to things and a few funny stories. But it's important to remember I didn't miss any major life events and it didn't reduce my contact with my best friends. If anything I tried to contact them more as I couldn't just 'spy' on their lives through Facebook.

One friend sent me a 4 page letter catching me up on everything that was going on with them which was really sweet. I wrote a lengthy letter back and we realised we had shared far more than we ever would have done on Facebook. I was reminded that it simply does not replace the connection we have with people in our real lives.

So thank you to the challengers, it was a good thing for me to do. Thank you to those who donated. Thank you to  everyone that still contacted me. And thank you to everyone who welcomed me back to the social media world today!!

Please remember you can donate to support this or any other challenge at www.justgiving.com/30before30sense