6) Lose weight - attempt to be under 11 stone

I was always the skinny one in my family. Growing up, I was a total stringbean, not a bit of fat on me.

I remember when we used to have our 'fat testing' at England netball (ok sum of skinfolds but we called it fat testing). People would look at my number first and go 'what the ...' and then go 'oh its Judith'. I was kept being told to bulk up, but I just couldn't. It just wasn't me. I couldn't do it. I ate, but I exercised. A lot. But I was just skinny.

If only I'd known that knackering up your knees and having children would have been the answer to all my prayers - bulky? Somewhat! Hard to lose? Hell yeah!

I don't actually know how much I weighed before I gave birth but I had got big very quickly with my second child. At the end, they told me my bump wasn't growing so all happened quickly to get her out! Putting yourself on the scales was not the first thing on my mind. I also never weighed myself when pregnant first time round so I decided not to do the same. Big mistake as I'd at least have more of a gauge.

But I was big - pretty huge and had a lot of extra weight to lose. And breastfeeding was only shifting so much, even with a gorgeous girl who took to feeding like a duck to water. But there was a real tum, fat legs, eurgh it wasn't nice.

Day one - babies are helpful for covering large tums!

I was sensible this time and held off doing sit ups or anything strenuous until the six week check in late August (and then took my son swimming the next day!) But when September came around I decided to take action. Enough was enough. 

Ok, I'm smaller than a tractor at least....

On the 1st September I went for my first run - well I ran the first 10 mins which equated to a mile. Then I allowed myself to die a little. Well walk. It was 3.30pm and we had an impossibly hot summer. Nothing like pushing yourself. And I weighed myself. 13 stone, 5lb. We have some work to do....

At the same time, my sisters and I decided to sign ourselves up for a Race for Life. A Twilight one in October (don't do it, it's pitchblack and is likely to make you badly sprain your ankle like me). I decided to give up booze (cos pregnancy wasn't enough) and chocolate after we had a family party for Freya on 8th September until after the race. Mmm.

Well I did it, and I did the race. I wasn't that quick - about 36 mins but I got round, without stopping (well if you don't include the episode of me falling off the pavement in the pitch black within the first kilometre) which was more than a lot of the 'runners' were doing (sorry but if you have to walk every couple of hundred metres you are not a runner)

Even with broken knees I've persisted. And on some days I've near starved myself. But I wanted to lose the weight. I got into a bit of a routine - but Freya down for her morning sleep, do 300 situps. Yeah, that's the sort of me time I go for...

And where am I now? Well days before the big 40 I weighed in at 11 stone 12lb. Not the 'under 11 stone' but remember it was an 'attempt to be' and I did. I have. But I want to keep this weight off and will keep working on it. I'm not completely happy yet, maybe another half a stone. But I am much happier with where I am now - I can at least get into my skinny jeans - that can't be bad! 

Me now - still a bit to go, but a lot lost too! 

So another I think ticked off the list. If I can get to two stone lost then I'll be very happy indeed. So watch this space!

13) Get up to 400 followers on Twitter

I can't quite remember how I even started on Twitter. Or why. But I did. It was probably some desperate way of learning on the job - decided we were going to have a Twitter account for something at work and thought the best way to learn was to have an account myself.

It's been a few years and I've not followed that many and oh, not that many had followed me. I'd been stuck in the early 100 mark for quite a while. And I thought, you know, to be taken seriously you need more followers than that.

So to the task. Lets go for 400. Well it's 40 x 10 (that is right isn't it, I haven't lost the ability to calculate in my ageing years?) and I thought that would be a good enough challenge.

And it was tough. I was helped by a number of people - firstly my husband @ben_ineson and my sister @sarahlady getting a few helpers along the way. My brother @robobmann came to the party but towards the end they all stepped up considerably and were practically begging people to follow me. Well what else is family for.

But then the people they begged helped too. @juliaontour was tempting people to follow me and help hit the 200 mark by offering a couple of sweet treat parcels. Seeing the food that she posts pictures of on twitter, frankly I'd have followed myself (I think there would have been a stewards inquiry though) to get the parcels! @ianbrice has tweeted and retweeted too and I think his mum may well be a follower too. Late on @corporatebaby got in the game and she was marvellous with her efforts.

A couple of weeks out from the big day we were still only at the half way point. I was nervous and thought there was no chance of making it. But with a few begging tweets myself and personally hounding people, you know what? We did it with a day to spare!!!

Yes!!! Made it to 400! 

So, another off the list and there are still that many followers. No, I lie I have 413! Heck I'm almost in the Lady Gaga league (well ok, I may have to do a little more yet!)

I am 40!

Yep, the 40th birthday has come and passed.

So did I complete the whole list? Do you want to know now, or shall I keep updating on the whole of the things I did do. Oh no, that makes it sound as if I didn't accomplish them all.

It's a challenge, and sometimes you complete challenges, sometimes you don't, sometimes you work your backside off and still fall a little short. I reckon I'm in the latter. I've given it a darn good go.

And while I won't spoil the surprise tonight (as it's still my birthday week and frankly I deserve to still be treated as a princess and no scorn) I will reveal all next week and my 40 vow. You see, surely that's worth keeping reading for!

But, and I better put this in now, turning 40 hasn't been so bad. In the main, I've been treated fabulously, lots of amazing presents, experiences and I've had a lot of champagne in preparation for and in celebration of. Can't all be bad. But, I've decided that while I may not be ready to create a 50 before 50 list yet (might be a little premature), I am looking at taking this decade by the short and curlies and embracing and loving life. There will be changes ahead and lots of new experiences. I'm not doing the same old things because I've done them always, I'm looking at what new things there are to do that I've never done before. Because, well if you don't, will you live to regret it? No point waiting to find out - get on with it!

Well I'm older now - I may even be a bit wiser!!!

15) Watch five live sports you've never seen

Water polo

No one is sure of the exact origins of the game of water polo but one things for sure, teams probably kept things simple when they first started playing. There certainly wasn't the M25 to screw up your travel arrangements and make the opposition late.

My final game to watch (you're thinking this is the fourth you've written, how can it be the final one - it is, I haven't actually written the first one yet, sorry!) takes me to Watford to watch the men's waterpolo team.

It looked however that my first ever game was going to end in dramatic non starting fashion as the opposition only had four, then five and eventually six players. But that was still one too short.So one of the spectators donned a pair of Speedos. As you do. Well it meant they could start.

I've only seen people half mucking around in the pool before so to see an actual game being played was almost a treat. Considering I had been to ice hockey the night before it was practically tropical sat up in the stands by a swimming pool! It's seven a side with six players padding around in the pool and a goalie at each end. Players wear coloured caps with numbers on them with goalies wearing red ones. Well goalies are special of course.

And so the action started. I had no one to explain the rules but I kind of worked on them myself. There seems, like basketball, a certain period of time on each offence so the attacking team need to take a shot within 30 secs (I think!). After a goal is scored or goalie saves (or there is some infringement I couldn't understand) then the players all swim off to the other end of the pool. And that bit I loved. The sound of that rhythmic swimming across the pool was lovely. It was almost hypnotic. Then they'd start after each other again.

The ball would be passed around the team - trying to find someone in an open position to be able to take a shot. It looked, like in defence you could pretty much do anything, really get stuck in and if you get the ball out of their hands, so be it. When you've played a non contact sport all your life, then it comes as a bit of a shock! And we aren't hands off but er this was much, much closer.

And they did swing the ball around, and took some great shots, really tactically opening up the space. And Watford commanded from the start but then Beckenham started to come back into it. Well they needed some time to warm up. But Watford were starting to turn around their fortunes and were looking to get another win under their belts. And they didn't disappoint, taking out the game 13-10.

It was good, easy to watch but actually something I'd love to have a go at myself. With my knees it looks like something that might be easier to play and a heck of a lot of fun. I can certainly do the ball throwing bit ok I guess!

In the thick of the action!

18) Eat 10 foods I've never eaten before

I have always been a bit of a fusspot about food. Picky, picky, picky.

As a young child I didn't eat butter or cream, would never fight for the cream at the top of the bottle and would pour it back into a glass and stick it into the fridge. On rare occasions we had croissants I'd hide upstairs as the smell of the butter would make my stomach turn.

I didn't really 'do' fish. Then lucky me, I got selected to go to a Guiding Jamboree overseas. In Finland. Mmmm. On the plane they gave us tuna. I realised I'd have to embrace it (still refused roll mops though - come on)

So there are quite a few things I haven't eaten. And plenty I've tried to avoid. If it's too hot, too fishy, too weird I won't have it. My husband however will wade in. In fact he got me to eat olives. I know, 31 and didn't really eat them, now try and stop me.

So the boy from Yorkshire broadened my taste horizons but even he had to admit defeat in some aspects - so the challenge. And the results:

1) Welsh Cake
No really. I know they're not very mysterious and it wasn't something I was actively avoiding but I hadn't ever eaten or purchased. Then my best mate with a touch of Welshness brought lunch with her when visiting me and my babes. So wade in. Currants, sugar yep it was fine.

2) Sharon fruit
One of my other challenges is to complete the book 'This Book will Change your Life' and on one of the days it asks you to try a new fruit. I love fruit so I've tried many but saw the wee Sharon and went for it. To be honest, don't bother. It was fiddly and didn't really taste of much so we won't be meeting again.

3) Cockles
I'm really not a seafood person so it took me a long while to even eat prawns (see Finland trip!) so funnily enough I am not going to be the first person getting fishy stuff at the seafront. So even picking up the jar of cockles in the supermarket was a fairly big step.
But, they were ok. I had more than one, but less than four. And gave the jar away. I won't fear them but we won't be friends.

4) Mussels
Why? I mean honestly. My friend cooked them in the seafood Jambalaya (another new food but I've not included) and it was all lovely bar these. I put them in my first serving but they did not return. Might as well have chewy seawater in your mouth. Yuck Yuck as my son would say.

5) Red Thai Curry
I'm a bit of a play it safe with curries or Thai food. Mind you, half of this is down to the fact that I love Chicken Satay and Pad Thai Noodles so I tend to stick to what I love. I've had Green Thai so one time I thought no, lets give it a go. Well it was delicious. A little hotter than my normal fayre but really good.

6) Crickets
Yes how amazing I got to 39 years and never had a cricket. I mean they're such standard food. Exactly. My 'best' friend motivated by the challenge decided to buy these and the food below. Well I hadn't eaten them before and I don't choose to again. Why? Well I think the wispy antennae bit was the worst, felt like stuck in my throat. But they taste of nothing. And that's why I made them eat them too.

What a shocker - I don't fancy eating a cricket

7) Mealworms

Again, managed 39 years without them. She brought two different flavours as if that would make any difference. To be honest - they were fine. They probably needed the flavouring, they don't really taste of much. So you know, if you get offered one, dive in...

Bye Bye mealworm

8) Beef Biltong

You know you see these things hanging up in the supermarket and you think, I wonder what they taste like. Well I had never eaten this or jerky. And I still wish I hadn't. Utterly vile. I mean, ok, dried meat in a bag is potentially not so nice an idea but biltong tastes awful. My husband agreed. I can't believe people eat these for fun. I can only assume in South Africa they keep the good stuff and send us the leftover rubbish. This is all I can think. We didn't even finish it. I hate wasting food but frankly, this isn't food.

9) Chocolate Philadelphia

I like chocolate, I like cream cheese, but when I first saw this advertised I thought no, it can't be done, it shouldn't be done. It's like those Marmite chewy bars all over again (a form of food torture). So I avoided it. I also thought it was a heart attack in a pot.

Then I saw the 'dunkers' pots. Little biscuits with the choccy cheese. Ok, you've won me over, I'll give it a go. Well I'm pretty glad I did. Pretty yummy. But I reckon we may have to avoid each other if the weight loss is going to continue!

10) Reece's Peanut Cups cereal

I hadn't had these until we went to Chicago in 2010. Now my husband is addicted and regularly gets sent care packages. So to is my sister. She just doesn't get the care packages. But her loving older sister bought her this treat - they now come in cereal form. They weren't cheap so told her to treasure every bite - which she did. But she let me have some. Man, they were nice. Can't have too many - it's chocolatey and peanuty all in one! 

Rachel taking good care of her cereal

So there you go - 10 new foods, some lovely, some we will do our damndest to never meet again!

35) Take in five cultural experiences

Recording of a radio comedy

I can't say this is the first time I've been involved in radio. Heck, it's not my first recording even for Radio 4. That honour goes back to the recording of the morning prayers/sing song which was recorded from the chapel of Alton Convent back in the 80s. No really. And yes we sang.

I also worked in local radio on work experience - the flying eye. Well ok, I did traffic and travel. I can still be relied to say on quite confidently 'at the moment there are no problems on local buses or on South West Trains' - well it was quite a while ago, trains seemed to run better then....

And I chose a life of PR, so I've either undertaken radio interviews or thrust others under the spotlight/microphone. So it's not a new phenomenon to be in a radio studio.

A radio theatre though? Yep, that's new. And a comedy? Yep, new too.

Thanks to the BBC Audiences, I got to get tickets to see/hear the recording of the new Stephen K Amos Life: An Idiot's Guide. Well it was a close thing. Despite my sister getting there in good time, they had a real jobsworth at the door who wouldn't accept it and put me on the standby. We did get in. Just. Standing room only.

Anyway, we went along to see what it was all about. Lots of audience participation and ask you to fill out q couple of questions on the topic so they can pounce on you to make the show. Well again if you get there in time. This one was on break ups - not great for Sarah who had just broken up with her ex, but I told her she may well find out that others were worse off. They were.

I mean at least her ex didn't join the army to get away from her (Yep, he said the frontline was easier - ouch) or said you'd gone to Africa. But then you could be the nauseating people who'd been together for 40 years. But then they live on the Isle of Wight so heck, what's worse?

Stephen talks/tortures the audience and then brings on a couple of stand ups to also talk about the subject - young up and coming artistes to get a bit of a break. I'm sorry I can't remember their names but they were good - check when it's on air ok? Well he would, but sometimes we were a little unresponsive, like it was a police interview (I guess of course). I think it's mainly as a lot of people came with their better/worse halves so could see people thinking 'should I laugh at this, how will you feel, etc etc' but there were some great stories and some really funny stuff.

Would definitely recommend signing up to their mailing list to be in the audience. You need to be there in good time as work on a first come first served basis but its certainly worth it for a night of comedy. Apparently it won't be on air until May so I'll have to remind myself to tune in!

39) Get my watch fixed

This may seem a little mad or a bit of a cop out. It's not honestly!

Well if you think it is then I'm sorry, hopefully will make sense.

When I went travelling to Australia in 2001 I had a fab Casio Baby G watch. I needed something practical and waterproof for all the excursions and mad things I'd be doing. My younger sister kind of sent it my way but mainly as she's a watch fiend, owed me money and that was her repayment. Didn't matter, I was happy.

I wore it all over Oz, but one night at a netball game it parted company with me. Yes, you have to take jewellery off but it left the bag I had left it in. Gutted.

For a time I made do with an £8 Winnie the Pooh watch - hey it had clouds that lit up. My goddaughter loved it! But that eventually conked out too.

Fast forward a few years. In 2006, my boyfriend (now husband) and I had a weekend away in London. It was a few weeks before my birthday and somehow we ended up in the Casio shop as he needed something for his watch. But it wasn't. It was to buy me a replacement Baby G.

Soooo happy and I've lovingly worn it. So much it needed a new strap as the other discoloured. And one year he got it reset when it went all funny. Then the battery died. About two years ago.

I've missed it. Timing how long it took me to swim lengths, when I started running how long it took me. Just to have a practical watch than to wear my more expensive, smart one every day.

It was only a battery. And it's fixed, and it's proudly back on my arm and been timing going on runs! How did I leave it so long? Matters not. We're together again!

15) Watch five live sports you've never seen

Ice hockey

A temporary ice rink in the food court of Milton Keynes. That's where this 40 before 40 sees me on a Saturday night. No, I am working on one of the list - there really is a live sport going on here!

To the ice kings and queens of Milton Keynes it will be common knowledge that the main ice rink is being refurbished/rebuilt/remodelled. It's closed anyway. The main ice hockey team have been sent to Coventry (include your own pun) but the MK Thunder, participants in National Ice Hockey League South have stayed true to the city.

But without a main ice rink they've adapted a disused supermarket, stuck in a rink, some fold away seats, portaloos and set up shop. Well if it's good enough for two participants of Dancing on Ice to practice on (sorry I realise I've set that as a benchmark for greatness) well they've made a home.

It's not exactly a fortress though. Sadly the MK team sit bottom of the league so it was going to be a struggle to get amongst the points. More so if you're playing the league leaders. Still, I got myself a hot chocolate (which was lovely, well recommended!) and settled in.

Players were warming up when I got there, then went off for a final team talk and back on the ice. Teams were announced and players skate in to the middle and stand in a line. Then we were asked to stand. For the national anthem. In my sport we save that for internationals only. But no, it was played (no singing though).

They're warming up - more than the supporters!

Then to action. The Chelmsford visitors seemed quite brutal but I wouldn't say they completely owned the ice to start with and the Thunder gave a good fight. But it seemed that they threatened the attacking goal a little less than their opposition. I followed as best I could, there were ref signals in the programme but as far as I could make out, it was a bit of no holds barred. I heard someone say in the second period 'it was a head check' but that's about as much as I could work out was a no no. Bashing, blocking, flooring, scooping the puck out from underneath people  was all ok, it was just like a hockey match in an all girls school - brutal! But then the away side started to chip away and get a breakthrough. Think about 4-0 up after the first 20 mins.

Then a 15 min break, so I thought, half time? No, quick check with my hubby holding the fort back home and it was third time. Sorry? Yes it's played in thirds. Thirds? 60 mins split into three. I haven't worked it out yet as to why but apparently so.

During the break the ice machine comes out. Now, that's a beast. I should have had that as a 40 challenge - drive an ice sweeper beast. But it killed a bit of time when you're sat alone!

The ice sweeper beast!

So onto the second period/third. Chelmsford got more confident and seemed to work a bit more magic, increasing their lead to 8-0 by the end of that time. I decided I had seen enough and I was cold and knew I also had another sport to watch the next day. Needless to say am a bit disappointed to find out that the Thunder did score in the last third! Typical really!

In the thick of it!

From what my little knowledge of ice hockey provided there was some talent on the MK side. While I always have a bias to goalies, Denis Bell for Thunder is really very good and if he wasn't in their goal then they would be a lot worse off. And I'm not alone in these thoughts as he has been picked for junior international honours. Lets hope he continues to improve. They didn't give up and they also defended their goalie when he got picked on a bit. Ok a little bit of a fight. Excellent....

Would I go again? It's not really my cup of tea, mainly as I'd need a few to keep warm enough to watch. But fair play to those in Milton Keynes for creating their own haven and making an ice rink accessible for the community and keeping the spirit alive. If it inspires more young people to try the sport then that's great. I'm just horrendous on the ice!

38) Have a day of J ness

I know, it sounds mad doesn't it. But it was an idea of my friend's - make a day all about me - but also all about the J. The letter J.

And so we did. It seemed appropriate that while I was on my weekend away with the girls so we decided that the Saturday should be all about J related food, drinks, games - you name it.

Preparation in advance was key - lots of J purchases made - not sure as many Jelly Babies, Jamaican ginger cakes, jam tarts, Jammie Dodgers, Japanese rice crackers the works. Trust me, if it was something that began with a J we totally embraced it. In fact my bessie mate Tash was busy in the off licence on Fri pm buying things like Joe's cocktails and Jacob's Creek cos you know they begin with the J.

My sister however chanced it with a bottle of Jinro. No, we didn't know either but figured Waitrose couldn't be poisoning us. It was a type of Sake. Rachel happily carried it around Center Parcs for the day but excelled herself by decanting it into an empty Evian bottle for the Just Jhoom dance class. Looks like water, not quite the same refreshment....

You never know when you'll need Jinro...

As you've seen from my blog on the new sport we 'partook' in Just Jhoom well what other physical activity from the list could we pick (and aqua jetting was sold out) and then headed back to the gaf!

After being told I HAD to have a bath - mainly so I could get out of the way while they decorated the place - my mate Ellie cracked on with the evening food - Jambalaya and Jalfrezi both dishes I hadn't had before either! And then on with the fabulous costumes! Yes I was joined for the evening by Jesus, Judas Iscariot (we tried to keep them from kissing each other) Jack Sparrow and a Jester. Me? I was a jockey. Well I'm 6ft tall, what else was I going to be!?!?

We played Scattergories making answers with the letter J (then realised this was fairly hard!) but drank much, ate much, and frankly had a brilliant time! Thanks ladies so much for embracing it - it's a pretty mad letter but we did good!

A Jester rocking out the drinks and her Just Jhoom moves!

J selfies with the crew!

Horsing around as a jockey!

10) Win the lottery, preferably big but a small win will do

I admit I'm not an avid player of the lottery - every now and then I remember to go and get a ticket and in the old days I may have won a tenner once.

I did have five numbers come up once, and it was on a day when I toyed with getting a lottery ticket when I popped to the corner shop and didn't. Then five numbers came up. I thought I'd blown the chance of a considerable amount of money and sulked most of the weekend. My now husband told me on the Monday that I missed out on about £1,600. Nice but not life changing. I got over it a bit more easily.

So in the last few months I've been dabbling with lotto and euromillions and to no avail. A couple of numbers here and there but nothing to really write home about and not enough numbers to make a difference. So I switched to scratchcards. Sometimes doing both. I was probably starting to get talked about as having a scratch card addiction. That poor Mum with the red buggy, always getting herself a card.

But no more, no, today I struck lucky. Bought two £1 scratchcards and only a double strike. Like buses, wait ages for a win then two come at once. Not exactly enough to retire on - a mere £4 across both wins - but it is a win and one that I only had so much control over without going bankrupt! Think my husband was getting a little nervous about the amount of scratchcards in the bin!

The winning Tickets!!

40) Take on a voluntary role

It's not that I've never volunteered before - being a member of various netball teams over the years has seen me take on numerous roles from captaincy to club secretary and publicity to coaching, but I guess many of them have been an extension of something I was already doing.

But this time I wanted to do something else, something that worked with the lives of my children and that I know I could do and still fit in with working. So when Joshua's pre school committee were looking for new people to join then I decided it was time to get involved.

The pre school has a committee run approach so are really involved in the day to day management and overseeing of how the pre school runs. With one child just having started and another to hopefully join in a few years I wanted to take an active role in helping the school develop and thrive and provide a positive experience for children in the village.

I've only been to one meeting so far, and don't have a specific role, but will get more to do as things go on, helping with various events and encouraging people to get involved. It's not much at the moment but it's a start and also helping me to meet more mums and get to know more people in the area too.

And if I can do something to help in the education and understanding of other young children then it's not too difficult a decision to take. I hope I can play a part in it growing from strength to strength.

15) Watch five live sports you've never seen

Snooker

Bizarre as it may seem, as a teenager I really loved snooker. Even more bizarre I had a bit of a thing for Stephen Hendry. Well he was probably the closest in my age of the people I watched at the time. Well come on, if you admitted to that you'd look for an excuse!

But for all the time I watched on TV or cut pieces out of the newspaper, I didn't actually ever see a game live. Well ok, people mucking about on the snooker table at the hotel where I worked, but it was hardly what you'd call a game. More, every now and then, a ball may go in a pocket.

So it's been one of those things that I never got round to doing and then Hendry retired and I'll be honest that I didn't see much in the game at the moment that I wanted to watch.

But then I fell upon an event which would answer a number of issues for me - Snooker Legends.

Convinced the hubby to come with me (always helps if you buy the tickets!) as the line up was pretty good - Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White and Dennis Taylor - quite a line up and one you'd have paid good money to get in one room together.

It was pairs and singles competition - so battle to see the first to five wins. The evening was compared by John Virgo, who warmed up the audience with some trick shots as in Big Break and a few impressions of snooker legends - pretty much on the money and very entertaining.

And then the teams came out - the pairs games they took turns at the table and while Steve Davis had a go, Stephen Hendry was pretty shocking - in fact I think if I had watched him during his career he'd never have won seven world titles. Jimmy White however cleaned up and showed how it's tragic that the world title alluded him. Beautiful work around the table.

Steve Davis trying to restore some pride for his doubles team

Then there were singles and eventually Stephen Hendry did win, but I think frankly Dennis Taylor was more interested in telling jokes. Well I say they were jokes.... He'd stop lining up a shot and turn to the audience with another ditty.

Steve Davis is far from the 'interesting' player he was criticised of being in his career. He was very funny, very dry and comes across as a genuinely nice guy - very much as he did in the jungle.

It was a great evening and at the end of it the players all sat to sign autographs (official merchandise only!) Admittedly though I just lined up to get some pics for the blog and was mercilessly teased by Jimmy White for taking a pic of the floor - I got a better side of him in the end.

Jimmy graciously posing next to John

I was really pleased to have seen snooker in this way. It was a lighthearted night so while the players wanted to win, they were happy to lark around too and be put off by John's commentary! It also shows how class is permanent in any sportsperson - the way they can still put away some amazing shots showed exactly why they were leaders in their game. A pleasure to watch. If such an event is on in your area then I'd definitely recommend it!

Finally I get to see Stephen Hendry play. Just not necessarily win...

31) Try a new sport

It's probably become apparent before now that I quite like sport. Ok, like may be falling a bit short. And that's why seeing five sports live is becoming a challenge as I've watched and participated in quite a lot of sports. That would be a downside to living and working at a national sports centre for three years!

As time ticked on I thought what could be practical and eventually fell upon something which fitted into quite a lot of things.

Just Jhoom.

Yes exactly. It went through my mind too. But as I was having a day of Jness within my weekend of being away (see a number of birds and one stone) I felt it was a new physical activity not done before and one I could rope my friends into too. Well it's dull if you take on these challenges just by yourself!

So I roped in the girls. I did forewarn them, then went ahead and booked the class (well I paid so they can only moan so much! But it was something none of them had done before - Just Jhoom is a Bollywood dance class!

A vague attempt at Just Jhoom

We trundled down to the Jardin des Sports at Center Parcs and made our way to the class. The teacher was very nice and even let my mate without a pass join in (although due to her head injury had to keep sitting out!) and took pics of the assembled groups before the class.

We could all don a jingling bell wrap around to get in the move and we got taken through the basic hand moves so we'd know when to do palms or bees and then the moves. Each song we did more moves, and sometimes we even followed them.

It was a bit like an aerobics class to an extent (so no good for me - how can I be co-ordinated enough(ish) for netball but not this!) but with extra moves and hand gestures to get the real Bollywood feel. It was fun, at times I did feel I was doing some vague sort of dancing, but not sure if that was at the time Rachel made me drink some Jinro (like sake) or my own water! It can have that effect! But most importantly we did a bit of exercise and had some fun, even if we did have a dark walk back to the villa afterwards!

Oh and even better, the dance teacher couldn't believe we were here for my 40th and said it was more likely to be my 30th. Fantastic, I'll take that every day!

Well we gave it our best shot!

14) Play netball again - even if just once!

Netball is my passion. Actually is that enough? Is it more than that? It's like a part of me, it's always been in me.

Why? Well it started at school and frankly it was the only game I was good at. Being ridiculously tall at a young age helped but I liked it, I made the school team in the second year (thanks to Katie Branigan leaving and a bit of a shift around) and it went on from there. I eventually played for the County U16 in 1989 and went on from there to other county sides, region development and South Region U21.

I went on to university and carried on playing. My uni was naff at sport, we were proudly known as a team who actually won sports matches in the Universities cup and not by default. I changed counties and regions and eventually made it to the big one.

Yep my passion, and more a lot of hard work as I'm not the most naturally gifted player, meant that I played for England. In October 1994 (I can never remember if it was the 21st or 22nd so I have both as my lottery numbers!) I was selected for the England U21 squad. I took in a deep breath of excitement and then burst into tears. My mum did exactly the same. My county coach was so proud too. Thank you to her, Sonia Taylor and so many others who had faith. Sonia is no longer with us and netball and I miss her greatly.

From there I went on and played for the senior squad for three years and won the European Championships too. And then disaster.

That young England netballer and thin too!

I'd moved counties again and I'd played my first game for new side Essex Met. Horrendous, their first loss in about six years and possibly they'd lose the league. Not the best start. I'd driven up to Derby rather than take the team bus as had to work that evening. I got to Wembley Arena in good time ahead of a televised basketball game. Dropped my bag in the box office and went to see my boss.

I took one step down the stairs and woah, the pain. My knee slid out to the side and back in again. I only didn't swear as there were kids playing basketball. But something had happened. Fortunately I only needed to be on my feet for another six hours and then drive home to south London!

Three weeks out from England trials I needed to train but my knee was still painful. I was popping ibuprofen like a mad thing and by Tuesday I decided to do the stadium stairs (not an easy workout) by Thurs still bad so spoke to basketball physio. You've dislocated your knee. Right, so I have trials in three weeks. No you don't - yeah I do. NO YOU DON'T.

I didn't trial. I had a late trial but didn't get in. I rested a bit but played that season and even ended up in the deciding game for the county in the league. Against my old county. We needed to win by five to win the league. We won by 11. I have the cutting where I was named in The Times. Good days.

Won the regional tournament a month later. A week later I was under the knife - patella tendon shortened. Six weeks in plaster. A leg brace, learning to walk again.

I played again. Lots. I had more operations. When I got married I decided it was time out. I needed a big op - my cartilage was to be regrafted. 12 weeks in a brace.

Except I got pregnant between them removing cartilage and putting it back in. Out of retirement when my son was a few months old and playing with a new team.

Coming back after three ops and one child was tough. After two children and five ops? I didn't think it was even going to happen.

Hence the target. But it did. I first did a friendly which was ok but felt my fitness needed some work. Then in the new year I was asked if I'd help the club third team out in their midweek league. Yep but no promises on how I'd go.

Well I made it, played the second half and did ok. It wasn't brilliant but I gave an experienced head to the proceedings and helped give direction to the others and even got a couple of intercepts.

Due to lack of numbers I got signed up to the regional side and played a quarter in one game (though was mercilessly picked upon by the umpire so taken off) and I almost made a sizzler of an intercept - just a finger tip away! I played again for the thirds last night and did a whole game and a lot more intercepts. The brain can read what's going on but the body is a bit slow at times!

But in reality I know that there aren't many games left in me. There is something fundamentally still wrong with the knee and chucking a body round a netball court isn't really going to help it. I have a choice to keep on and on or decide that it's the time to play with my children now and save my legs for their pastimes and being Zurg in the park. Netball has been good to me, it's been an incredible journey, but perhaps this next retirement should really be the last.

30) Have a weekend away

Well when you have two small children, getting a weekend away with adults is a truly rare thing and probably only achieved when I've had some netball kit to wear!

So, it was a definite one to strive to and in the end I thought, what better way than to have a girlie weekend to celebrate my birthday!

So off to Center Parcs we went, as a proposed team of six (although one of my mates came down ill just the day before and had to pull out) with much fun and madness on the agenda and no entry to the villa unless carrying a bottle of champagne.

I toyed with looking at us having a break in a town or city and staying at a B&B but actually the beauty of being at Center Parcs was we had our own little pad, en suite rooms and fab leisure facilities. While we were miles from the car park or the main facilities, through some cunning, walking and cadging lifts, somehow I managed to avoid having to use the land train all weekend. Thanks ladies.

Rachel looking 'pensive' - in explorer mode

My friend Ellie and I rocked up early on the Friday and made great haste to get to the Subtropical water paradise. It didn't disappoint. We discovered the outdoor pool and almost congratulated ourselves on being outside in a pool in January. And then I found the white water rapids. OMG. Basically fling yourself from the warm pool into a cold waterfall and then get yourself swept along a path of water up and down and over and around - so much fun! We screamed and laughed and said 'again, again' like kids. I only went on it twelve times over two days. Brilliant. We also took in water slides and had general merry fun. And then brought the rest of the crew into the madness the next day!

We drank, we ate, we laughed, we sang, we had a ball. We saw a rabbit outside our apartment, and as one of my favourite animals ever I was touched he came along too. I made sure I made a note of the wildlife I'd see for him.

Bunny comes to say hi!

We also made sure that the weekend embraced a day of J'ness (see no 38) but I'll talk more about that in another blog post. We had four or five of the foods I hadn't eaten, so that list is pretty much there as well and we started on the 10 languages for hello and goodbye but need to complete that (where is the list Melissa!)

On the Sat night we took in our Just Jhoom and the whole J ness in food, drink and costumes. Much late night drinking and chatting too.

Sunday morning spent watching Aussie Open tennis final and naturally being hungover ate lots of rubbish food. And I still have that wedding dress to fit into! More sit ups I think!

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I can't thank the girls enough. Well I might if more of them got onto twitter and helped me with the 400 followers! And while I missed my babies the cuddles were great when I got home.

The message board - with a few to the housekeeper too!

The pad of 40 year old madness!

25) Get Josh a passport

Does a child need a passport? Well not if you don't have much money and going abroad on holidays is not really an option. But you know, one day a long lost rich uncle may come along and demand that we travel extensively and if we don't immediately go away he'd be most disappointed. Well a girl can dream.

No, it was something that just wanted to do so that, if we could or should ever want to go away, even if not that far, we could do it. But I wanted to get mine updated first so that we'd have ones with the same surname.

So we went off and had our passport pictures taken at a photographic shop so that we could get the perfect pictures, and Josh didn't disappoint - he knew not to smile, look as miserable as possible, and frankly create a pose that could work on a wanted poster!

A few hiccups with the forms (I know my friend Caroline reads my blog so she knows what I mean with her different personas!) but eventually all signed and off they went.

And this week it arrived back and Josh finally has his 'plane book' as we've been calling it. And as an added bonus (ie wasn't on the list) Freya has one too. Well we couldn't leave the littlest Ineson out.

Clearly for security reasons I'm not adding any pics, but we have three very shiny passports. Now where's that uncle.....

35) Take in five cultural experiences

3) Santa Cruise

Christmas 2013 was probably the first of my son's Christmases where his excitement was without compare. He totally got it, he learnt his songs for nursery and pre school nativities and was very aware of Father Christmas and that you did need to be good.

He probably got to meet the big man himself about six times over the festive season, I just couldn't resist seeing his face each time. But one thing we really wanted to do for him was something I had never heard before - a Santa Cruise!

No, not in Hawaii or other far flung warm places. It was less than a mile from our house (and we live in exotic Buckinghamshire). Since becoming home owners, we have been fortunate to live very close to the Grand Union Canal. In our first home, our road actually owned a part of the canal (well we had a residents committee and funds so that we could pay for it's upkeep - you probably got more from it if you lived at that part of the road, not higher up the hill like us!) and now we also live close to the canal.

But, it's been a while since we've been on the waterways themselves so when I saw the Santa experience advertised by our local company Grebe Canal Cruises, I decided we had to get involved!

Our Santa boat awaits

On the Saturday before Christmas, we boarded our boat and set sail down the canal. The elves brought around mulled wine and mince pies for the grown ups (mulled wine was lush) and soft drinks and choice of biscuits and lollypops for the children. Happy toddler already.

We were told that they had heard from Santa and he was currently in Leighton Buzzard and would be with us in about fifteen minutes. Mmm, we thought, wonder where he actually is. Not long later we were told he can't pick out our boat from the others so could we start singing Jingle Bells. So we all did, Joshie very excitedly so. The next thing we heard was a thud on the roof and lots of banging of footsteps and hooves. He's arrived! Joshie was squealing with excitement, as then a pair of boots arrived from the roof through the gap and in walked Father Christmas. 

Someone is a little excited!

Each child was called in turn to Santa's grotto. Joshie was starting to fear his name wasn't going to get called as they were obviously picking things out of the sack one by one and his present was down the bottom, but he was very patient and worth it for his bus in the end! We had a lovely sail down the canal including going through a lock to turn around and come back which we all enjoyed watching the boat rise up and the walls magically disappear! 

It was a 45 minute sail in all and it was a thoroughly fantastic experience. The team really put the effort in, we got to have a sail which they hadn't done before, and all got their own time with Father Christmas without a lot of standing up and queuing which we'd done a fair bit of already at other events. The only downer was the weather and that Granny wasn't well enough to come but nothing the organisers could control. And they managed to warm us up with seconds of mulled wine so I think my hubby is booking for next year already! 

Freya weighing up the present from Father Christmas

33) Sell five things on eBay

I've been buying things on eBay for years. I think pretty much since I met my husband in 2005 trying to find him nutty little gifts such as bizarre Halifax Town memorabilia or Panini World Cup football albums. No he has been appreciative of most of these things.....

But never sold anything. Keep talking about it, never quite got round to it. Money on eBay was all one way traffic. I've lined plenty of other bank accounts but never balanced it with money back to mine. The intention was good, I've put things aside to sell, heck we even moved house with a box of 'items for eBay', but never quite got round to listing things.

So it seemed a fairly sensible thing to put on the list. I know there's a game of chance that someone (or five somebodies) may actually like the same mad stuff that I do, but I thought priced relatively attractively that someone might bite. Well take a nibble.

Well they did! From a gift from an ex boyfriend 10 years ago, to a scarf previously bought for my son on eBay, I have achieved five sold items. As you can see I haven't made stacks of cash, but I have managed to rid ourselves of things we no longer needed, or wanted in the house (well I haven't wanted a lot of ex boyfriend stuff for a while but I knew someone would buy it!) and I've loved watching the things mount up, seeing people make their bids and now I just need to wait until my funds are released. And then of course, spend it straight back on eBay......

11) Make something for the house

So, I may be a writer but I'm not a great craftswoman. So this is a bit of a challenge. Especially when I realised that I also don't have a sewing machine and I would have practically been banned from our textiles classes at school. It wasn't pretty for anyone concerned. And here's a confession. That day when I got 80% for beautiful stitching of press studs and hook and eyes? It was Rebecca Surman, my best friend at the time who did them. Not me. I was appalling.

But in time I found that I quite liked doing things and making things but they will never be things I can sell. So I do them in the hope we can find them some place to live in our home. So far the only thing was a Winnie the Pooh sampler which took a mere seven years to make. Yes, seven years. Now, do you see this is a challenge.

But in the run up to Christmas I decided to make a Christmas decoration for my little daughter. I followed a pattern of course, but still had to get things done. I was a bit pushed for time so it won't actually get onto to the tree until next Christmas, but it was completed on Christmas Day itself.

I hope it will adorn our tree for many years and for my daughter's too when she's older. Our son has one too and one day, who knows there will be grandchildren to make them for. As long as they give me plenty of notice of course!

The finished decoration

15) Watch five live sports you've never seen

1) Darts

I love sport. Just love it. Participating (am somewhat competitive but we'll leave that for now) when my wrecked body allows it and watching. I have sports that I love to watch but frankly I'm of the mindset that I'll watch anything once. I may not watch it more than once but at least I can say I've watched it.

Which does make this challenge quite a challenge! As I've watched so many sports! So trying to claim one I haven't seen before isn't as easy as you'd think.

But darts was one. Darts is one of those sports which traditionally had the idea of big men, drinking lots of beer and smoking and chucking little metal things around. Ok, there's probably still some larger men, but not all of them are like that, and they're not allowed to sup booze at the oche. But it's something that always appears as a real place of entertainment and one that would be good to get on the list.

So roping in my younger sister we travelled to the Lakeside on Monday to take in the Darts World Champs. Hang on I hear you cry, hasn't that happened already? Er yes. And no. Long and short of it - big split, two bodies - PDC and BDO. And they both have a world champs. You can't be in both. If you move from one to the other there's a stand down period. One is on Sky and one on the Beeb. We were at the Beeb one. Which makes it the poor man's darts I guess.

Anyway, with our banners at the ready we settled down to our darts. Admittedly both driving wasn't the best plan as about 90% of people there were drinking. And heavily. Particularly the lads at our table who were on their annual massive drinkathon! The early games involved a first round for the womens title which was a bit heavy going (and Rachel thinking she could probably do alright) and a qualifier. Our 180 boards weren't massively troubled.

As the games went on though there was more action and more drinking from those around us! The darts was good but there were other things that make the Lakeside so unique. Darts still has that feeling of the stars are still one of us. The WAGs table is in amongst the paying public - close to the players entrance so can see them or head back stage. No glitz or glamour, just there. As a result, players come out to meet family and meet their supporters, and they're happy to have pics taken or have a bit of a chat. So many sports now have stars isolated and that isn't something you can accuse the BDO of.

 

Curiously someone also went round with raffle tickets. I thought I was back at county netball. This is a world champs and there are raffle tickets? I'm not sure what the prize was I just thought it was a tad random. Many people dress up, costumes galore, we saw lederhosen, crayons, lions, fifties gear... actually that might not have been a costume.

And we got to meet a legend of the game - Martin 'Wolfie' Adams. He's a 3 time BDO World Champ and former captain of England as well as making his 21st consecutive Lakeside appearance. If you know your arrows, you know who Wolfie is. I think he was quite surprised we did but happy to oblige with a photo!

Wolfie meets the Mann sisters - presumably inspiring his win the next day!

It was random but we thought it might be, but it was a really entertaining night out and one I would absolutely recommend. Will certainly book again but next time I'm on the beers too!

16) Read five classic novels

I've always loved reading - my mum talks of me learning to read, recognising things from the TV and repeating them back. Once I started school I loved the monthly book clubs and was so disappointed the time we couldn't buy me a new book as we were moving house and my teacher lent me a school book to take home. I wanted books that much. Needless to say our house is crammed with them and I will always buy my children books - you just need to look in their rooms.....

But when you're a working mum of two, me time is scarce and finding time to read, well anything, is hard. And I figured, there are a few gaping holes in my reading which a challenge like this would help address. Don't fret these aren't the first classic novels I read - my English teachers at school made sure of this and I also have A Level English Literature. That's fairly hard to pass without brushing past a few classics (I could have avoided Chaucer though...)

So, it's done - and below are the five consumed and a brief 'book club' overview!

1) The Great Gatsby
I read Tender is the Night (or Tittin as we shortened it too) for my A Level and found how terribly sad it was. Now having read TGG I realise this may be a Scott Fitzgerald thing. All the glitz and the glamour but it all has to unravel. A very good read though and quite compelling to say the least. I hope the recent film lives up to the novel.

2) Oliver Twist
Yep sung at school, watched the film, never read the book. Well I have now. The classic film with Ron Moody seems to have a different ending to the novel which I'm not going to spoil. Needless to say they wanted to give something else to the audience. It's hard to read as of course written in the style of the time which shamefully as my first Dickens, I had yet to find out, but it is good to read the whole story rather than rely on the film.

3) Sense and Sensibility
What drove me to read this novel in particular was hearing the news all Jane Austen's works were to be rewritten by modern day writers. I admit that above I said some old books were hard to read but having previously read Pride and Prejudice I strongly felt that we should remain with the original. It's bad enough that classics are hard enough to come by (my village library hardly holds classics and I had to order this in from another library) but rewriting them? Anyway, with that in mind I plumped on Sense and Sensibility. It's like many other books of this time and young women finding suitors to obviously marry and settle down with and of course secure the futures for their families. With that in mind there is always a slight sense of predictability, and you feel fairly sure of the ultimate outcome, but I felt in this case Austen seemed to get bored and suddenly rush to the end.

4) Howards End
I read this one over a week at my in laws when raiding my mother in laws book selection. I was going to go for A Room with a View but as it had been one of my sister in laws study texts, like my books it's covered in handwriting making it impossible and distracting to read. So I plumped for this and really enjoyed the book - with a number of twists to the tale but essentially a happy ending. Definitely worth a read.

5) Alice in Wonderland
Well as the clock was ticking a bit I thought it might be an idea to find a relatively short classic! And Alice did not disappoint certainly in terms of length! It's written in such a way that it's almost as nonsensical as the characters within and you race around at about 100 miles an hour. However it gets a fifth ticked off quite nicely indeed!

So there you go, definitely a good challenge as made me put time aside to read. And pleased to have it done as it means I've freed up some time to read the books that I've got stacked up in a pile but not allowed to read as they're not classics, and also time to write one of my books so it does become one!

35) Take in five cultural experiences

2) Peppa Pig World

No, stop laughing straight away. Seriously, one of the best days out I've had in a long time. Ok, that might say a lot about me....

Any parent of a young child knows about Peppa Pig. She rules the TV. She's quite a bossy boots for a young pig but the kids love her. And so do those who created her and the opportunity to make the most of merchandising.

I'd heard some good things about Peppa Pig World and with my three year old son a bit of an addict, it felt the right place to go for a shared birthday excursion for him and the daughter of one of my closest friends. 

Like most sensible people with children of non school age, we went during the week. It was a fairly grey October day but we didn't let it dampen our spirits, even if we had to queue a long while for Miss Rabbit's Helicopter Ride!

Peppa Land is actually part of Paultons Park, down near Romsey on the south coast. But for most people if you're there for Peppa you see little else. There's lots of rides, which the children want to go on again and again, and if it's not a busy time of the year then they certainly can. My son and I went on the dinosaur ride three times in a row, by getting off and running round again. Mind you that's nothing compared to the gang going off to go on a car ride while I fed my baby daughter. I'd thought they'd got lost but they just kept telling the guy they were going round again and not getting out of the car! It's ok - there were plenty of free cars.

There was a great indoor play place too which they raced around when it got a bit blustery and my son and I climbed into some of the bits together too. I loved the rides, but loved watching my son's reaction more. Getting him on my shoulders so he could touch the huge George Pig, and seeing his picture when he ran into the school room and posed with the characters just made my heart melt. Times like this are precious and I just loved watching how he beamed and laughed at the different things. Birthday money was spent in the shop purchasing his own Mr Dinesaw, and a happy boy for many weeks to come. 

Meeting George Pig!

Granny and Joshie ride on Mr Dinesaw

The excitement of the boat rides

Mr Potato charms the ladies

34) Go to an auction

There are lots of programmes on TV where people buy tut and try and sell it at an auction, get tut out of their attic and try and sell it at auction, or people take their tut to be valued in the hope it's worth a billion and sell it at auction.

For some reason I thought actually going to an auction was shrouded in some sort of mystery; that you needed to know someone to get in or have a red or blue fleece like in Bargain Hunt (actually I have a red fleece why did it take me so long?) 

There is an auction house in the nearest town to us, so with a little research, mainly trying to work out what to do, I was ready to try my hand.

I rocked up early on the Sat morn to have a look at what was available. The middle room was the first room to get kicking at Tring Market Auctions and one where, judging by the catalogue, I was likely to be able to get some things without breaking the bank.

With my number at the ready!

As advised, I watched some of the more regular bidders get in the first bids, before I took the plunge. I had spotted only once viewing had stopped some Arsenal prints, so I dived in but having not viewed them up close I wasn't sure how much they would be worth so didn't push it. A lesson to look up next time!

There were some real random things there and it was a bit like people had really brought out their junk. Seriously pretty much most things sell. To the extent I may well have a good clear out!!! I had thought about the novelty duck decanter but even I have sense to pull out when it goes for £18! It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world!

I bid a few more times but pulled out when I thought things were getting pricey. But in the end I did get some goods! Admittedly all my goods were ones uncontested - the desperation of the auctioneer - does anyone want this for £8? Actually, yes I thought, I like that picture which I hadn't noticed before! And I'm a proud owner of a print of the Solent which actually when I collected is much bigger than I thought, but also much nicer and one which actually could look nice in our room. I also got a dish for a fiver - that really was a steal and then a random box of Italian pottery. I don't know what I was thinking - but I think I may well be gifting or reselling at a boot sale sometime soon! 

My fabulous wins!

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the morning - a great way to spend a couple of hours and who knows what you could end up with. And if I can sneak out again I'm definitely going!