I have never... been to the Coal Mining Museum

Family activities most definitely count you know, which is a good thing as there are a few places we haven't been and wanted to try.

On Bank Holiday Monday we went to the National Coal Mining Museum. It's taken a while for me to be confident that my youngest could cope with being underground in the dark for an extended period. Plus I wasn't sure before now that the subject would be very thrilling for them.

But actually it was a lovely day. The underground tour was fascinating and once Phoebe learnt to cope with the dark, really funny. The nature trail was a real hit too, as were the cornish pasties.

It's free to go, although you do have to pay for the mining tour and it really is a must. If only to learn exactly how dark is pitch black and to teach you to thank your lucky stars you are a child of the 1980s.

Painting something on something to make, well something.

So I've worked out the first problem with this challenge.

I should have set a start date in about three months time so I could plan things. I have a list of things as long as my arm but most of them take planning to some extent. Even if it's just waiting for the instructor to get back to me, booking an appointment of some sort or just allowing for a bit of procrastination for the scary stuff.

This week was extremely busy and I was floundering a little. I ended up doing something crafty. I don't really do craft so it did tick all the boxes even if it wasn't the trickiest thing in the world. Let me break it down in case you ever want to replicate my master piece.

I took a wooden magazine rack. I painted it cream. Then I painted some lollies and sweets on it with acrylic paint. Then I wondered what I would do with it and put it back on the shelf. One day it might contain recipes for, well, lollies and sweets.

I quite liked it. It's not wonderful but I did actually do it myself and spent a bit of time on it. Of course it's not worth putting on Pinterest. Which is good because I don't understand Pinterest.

Here are some pictures for your delectation.

I have never... watched an insect circus

I'm starting with an easy one but it's just timing. I'm not copping out and ignoring all the physical activities I promise.

Ok so I've never been to a circus I enjoyed. And I've definitely never been to one where every act involved an acrobat dressed as an insect. Who knew that was a thing? Well it is. The Insect Circus.

It was a pre-birthday surprise for my youngest to go to the circus yesterday. The stunning vintage style big top was pretty exciting, although I did get decidedly worried when three human sized flies starting buzzing around the audience and waving their bottoms in our general direction. Audience participation is most definitely not my daughter's thing. She demanded to sit on Paul's knee and I wondered if it was going to be a very long afternoon.

The wasp taming act was equally disconcerting for her. It astonishes me why she cannot suspend disbelief when faced with a woman dressed as a lion tamer hitting a box to encourage human dressed as wasps to stand on one leg, but bless her she just can't. I wonder now whether she genuinely believed they had stung their human counterpart.

But following all that anxiety everything got better. They both adored it. I was thrilled that they could see first hand amazing people (women in particular) doing staggering things. Aerial acrobatics, tight rope walking, hula hooping, gymnastics and very entertaining hat juggling - what more could you ask for?

Well I could ask for more comfortable seats but you can't have everything.

There were even some fabulous puppets - the worm charmer was one of my favourite acts and who wouldn't want to see a ten foot high snail.

We came out into the sunshine and went into the Insect Circus museum - a small wooden trailer showing the creative back story of the circus. So much attention to detail really made me smile with artefacts from the Insect Circus stretching back years along with little animated scenes. Bonkers.

The girls came out and went on a few old fashioned (and some more modern) fair ground rides and had a whale of a time. I tried not to consider the impact on my wallet and have a day for once where we said yes to oversized lollies and swing chairs. It was a truly lovely day.

The Insect Circus is doing short sections throughout the May Day event today, Sunday 18th May, so I'd encourage you to go if you get the chance. Especially if you like tightrope walking bees.

The Rules

Ok so this is going to be fluid I suspect but so far I have come up with the following.

The things I do cannot be:

1. Illegal. I am not doing graffiti where it's not allowed or stealing any Starburst. I was once encouraged by a friend to spit chewing gum out in the street when I was ten and I still feel guilty about it now.

2. Dangerous. Obviously a bit of adrenalin is a good thing but if it's scary it has to be in controlled conditions. This rules out hitch-hiking and base jumping.

3. Vastly expensive. I can real off a number of countries I want to visit and activities I would like to partake in. It's not going to happen unless I get a PPI payment or find some diamonds down the sofa. I'll pay out a bit but flying that aeroplane might have to wait a bit.

They must be:

1. Something I have never done before.

2. Unusual. I will happily blog abou visiting any place or restaurant I haven't been to before but it may not count towards the 52. Unless it's something mad like the Fat Duck. And that's not going to happen - see number 3 above.

3. Achievable. A bit of realism here - I am a busy working mum of two with commitments and a lack of fitness. Attempting to walk the width of the country is unlikely to happen with the amount of holiday I get, not to mention my dodgy hips.

4. A stretch. This can be mentally or physically.

5. Often with friends.  Ok so it's unlikly I will be able to encourage someone to do everything with me. Mutual eye brow waxing just isn't really a thing. But looking at my friend's responses on Facebook it seems perhaps we are all looking for a bit of 'out of the ordinary', and if I organise things it just might be a draw to entice a few others to join me. If you weasel they will come. Or something.

That's it for now. There are only 8 and it feels like there should be 10. I'll work on the others while I chisel the first out of this block of granite.

Small Stuff

Ok so getting this thing off the ground is proving interesting.

I have explained my idea to lots of people. Suggestions have been good and wide ranging with quite a few people even showing enthusiasm to join me for parts of it, in theory at least. But I'm spending the evening doing some planning to help me along a bit.

In anticipation of something big and significant I have been doing a number of small things that I've never done before.

I watched a documentary about a female punk lead singer I'd never heard of then went out to dinner. We sat in Piccolino's new exciting outside/inside bit with patio heaters. It was nice but obviously not funny or unusual enough to count.

I let my nearly six year old cut up a pepper with a real sharp knife. It gave me palpitations.

Yesterday I got dressed in an unusual order, putting my underwear on as late as possible in the process. It felt strange to stand for a brief moment in nothing but my socks and denim skirt and altogether too odd for my liking.

I also went all morning without eating a snack. That was just plain wrong and I only managed it because I wasn't feeling very well at the time.

Clearly I need some more significant ideas and to set some rules for myself so I know what I can and can't get away with. Otherwise I'll just try a different restaurant each week and stand on one leg in different rooms of the house and call it a success.

While I set the rules, keep the suggestions coming please. I can't guarantee I'll do them but the more ideas the better.

The seed of an idea...

It's time to set myself a challenge. I decided this as I considered the patch of plaster on my ceiling that after six years still needs painting.

Because when you are nearly forty, patches of ceiling become bigger and less painted, for want of a better life metaphor.  I mean it needs doing and it irritates me daily, like most of the other pretty dull things a grown up has to contend with. But I don't expect when I've done it I will feel a great sense of achievement. And while I'm at it shall I beat myself up for not having painted it earlier? Because that's what this 38 year old does.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lovely family and a lovely life. Lots of things in it are wonderful. But the routine scares me. Let's be honest it terrifies me. I need to step outside my norm and shake some stuff up.

I am, for want of a better word, dull. I'm 38 and I am more boring than I have ever been. (This is where those of you who know me leap to my defence...well go on then...)

So back to the challenge.

I know what you are thinking. "Oh great it's one of those midlife crisis blogs where she sets off to rediscover herself". A bucket list, 100happydays, a painful copy of the "Yes Man" (the book not that awful film with Jim Carrey in it) or maybe she's about to buy a boat and sail around Ireland in it. Another silly challenge to cheer up her grumpy middle-aged existence and make her realise that life can be a thrilling experience again, forty is the new twenty and you are only as young as you feel. Well you are not far wrong.

This is my idea. It is probably already being done all over the world with a snazzy hashtag of some sort and a forum to provide support. Let it be known that if it is, I didn't realise, sorry. But mine will be different because mine is, well, mine.

Drum roll........

I am going to do something I have never done before. Every week for a year. 

Wow sounds exciting doesn't it? Ok well give me time and it might at least be a giggle.

Some of these things will, to some of you, seem ridiculous. "Surely there isn't anyone in the world who hasn't done that" you will cry, or at least mutter.

Then there hopefully will be different stuff. It isn't about jumping out of aeroplanes though - let me get that out there from the start. My pelvic floor may be better but that would be a bridge too far.

How can you help I hear you shout encouragingly? You are very welcome to suggest things to give me some ideas, but I'd avoid suggesting anything dangerous to start with. Or anything that involves coordination. Or fitness.

It is about tentatively stepping over the edge of the box. I'll be doing so mostly in Sheffield, so the blog will be splattered with entries about things in our lovely city and around it. But who knows where it might go.

That's it for now. I'm off to think up some ideas and not to paint the flipping ceiling.