Post Script

Today I received a most awesome Secret Santa gift (Cheers DC!). They show me completing the rest of my challenges - and honest Guv there's been no Photoshop here!!! So there you have it all my 40b440 challenges complete. Looks like it's time for some new challenges! xx

Enjoy!

 

I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing

In my last post I alluded to the fact that I'd recorded a song. Well folks this is the grand unveiling of that Hit/Flop* 

I have had quite a few offers to help me with Challenge number one. Mostly it's people saying "I've got a mate who knows someone, who has a friend who has a studio" or something equally vague like that. But there was never a question for me as to whose help I needed on this one as I have a super talented musician friend. Not just a mate who strums a bit on his guitar. Oh no, my super-talented musician friend has had a song in the Top 40. I bet your "mate who knows someone, who has a friend who has a studio" can't boast that! 

Not that my mate Doug would ever boast. He's also the most humble man I know. He has no idea how brilliant he is. Despite what we tell him, and his wife tells him and his kids tell him. But anyone who knows him knows it. And so there was never any question about who I needed to help me with this challenge.

Step forward Doug Walker - Future Global Megastar! (He's even got a Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Walker_(musician)  )

Now the only trouble with asking someone credible to help you with a project like this is that they then expect you to create a credible song. Our first attempt at song writing did not go well. Now don't get me wrong I have a reasonable talent for writing ditties about vegetables and raps about pirates. But writing an actual credible song... it's a lot harder than it seems. Apparently you're not just meant to write in cute rhyming couplets and you have to actually say something profound. It's taken Doug years to be the brilliant song writer that he is. I was never going to achieve this in one day. 

So we put it to one side and meant to get back to it... but neither of us was very inspired to have another go at my credible songwriting.

And so I turned 40 and Doug decided it was time to dumb it down to an appropriate level for me! "We'll get a backing track off the web of an existing song and record that!". 

Splendid - we're onto something now!

So I went armed to Doug's house with a few song choice ideas - all of which he rejected very politely before he selected something completely different. 

Doug set up a recording studio in his front room - the sound booth was made from up-ended sofas fact fans! - and Doug's magical computer was in the kitchen.

 

He gave me a professional microphone and cans (I can talk the lingo now you see) and we did take after take until he was happy he'd got enough from me.  I then left Doug to tweak my voice (he assures me everyone uses autotune these days!) and do a mix using the backing track.

But here's the thing with a musician: they can't just do that. No Doug decided it sounded too Karaoke so wrote and recorded his own version of a backing track and it's this version that you can hear if you click here:

https://soundcloud.com/daybarkle/dreams-cover-by-liz-day

Clearly all I hear when I listen is every vocal imperfection (Autotune can't perform miracles) but I do also hear Doug's hard work and general fabulousness too. I suspect real singers must feel some of this mixed feeling stuff too.

I hope you enjoy my attempts at recording a song (and it doesn't offend your ears) - and I hope it inspires you to do a spot of singing too.

And if you get an earworm as a result of this then my work is truly done.

* To be decided by you

Slip Slidin' Away

I must confess that this feels a bit like I am Cher announcing another Farewell Tour. But due to a mixture of popular demand and opportunity I have more to write about and so, for now at least, my 40b440 is continuing (albeit I should probably change it to "40b440something").

So since my birthday 3 exciting things have occurred. The first is that I received an email from Liz Day. No, I'm not going mad and it is not just an email I'd sent from my work address to my personal account but from a bonefide other Liz Day. This one lives in Brooklyn and had heard about my challenges through my old school friend Tracy-Ann (Thanks T-A!). It ended with the awesome line: "I'm 40 too :) Nice to meet you!". So how cool is that? She's called Liz Day and she's the same age too. Pretty cool I'd say. Now the question is does meeting someone on email count as meeting someone? I need your thoughts on this lovely 40b440ers. I can't afford to fly off to New York and it would be a bit much for me to demand she comes to the UK... so can I cross this off my list?

The second exciting occurrence was that another dear pal has helped me record a song. Now I'm not going to expand on this as he's still mixing it for me so I shall post about this once it is ready for you to hear. I shall reveal the song choice then too when I launch my music to you all... I really am turning into Cher! 

The final, and most exciting, event happened on Thursday at work. An email had gone out asking for volunteers to take part in a world record attempt that was taking place live on Blue Peter and in return you would gain... A BLUE PETER BADGE!

Now I can't begin to tell you how much I've always wanted one of these. You may well feel the same way too. I was that child that saved up milk bottle tops to raise money for guide dogs. I drew my design for the boss at York Minster. I cringed every time Simon Groom pronounced the word new "nooue". I have loved the great BP from a child and still love it today. I remember seeing Sarah Green once in the flesh when we were young and feeling in awe. I gasped every time Peter Duncan took on another daring stunt (and had much the same response 30 years later watching Helen Skelton take on daredevil stunts). 

In fact at school I once asked a senior (and very serious) teacher what he thought I should do for a living when I grew up. He thought for several minutes clearly going through every job he could think of before slowly and grandly stating "I think, Elizabeth, that you would make and excellent Blue Peter presenter". Brilliant! Thanks Mr Thatcher! Suggest a job where there are (normally) only 3 of these in the world. Make my life harder why don't you? And whilst I probably would have been awesome in this role (I would have been the presenter that cries and screams when forced to climb up something high but I would also have done lovely "makes") I did not decide to pursue this particular line of work as even then I was something of a realist. 

But before I start going on about making the tinsel covered advent thing with coat hangers or sticky back plastic and Tracey Island I will get back to the story in hand.

You might think that gaining a BP badge was an easy thing to do. If you're under 16 it is. You can gain them for all kinds of brilliant things - A Green badge for writing a letter explaining about something you did to help the environment; a Sport badge for explaining how you encouraged someone to take up a sport etc. But as an adult... it's really hard! I even know people that work on the show. This should make it easy right? Wrong! The badges are kept firmly under lock and key and very few have access. They are counted in and out and all accounted for. Getting a BP badge as an adult is a big deal. You've actually got to appear on screen and do something which contributes to the programme. I'd been hoping for a chance like this for more than 3 years now. These opportunities come along extremely rarely. There were a lot of disappointed faces in our office this week as only a few could take part - we even got our names drawn out of a hat.

So Thursday afternoon came and 60 of us were taken through rehearsals and safety briefings and told in more detail about the World record attempt that we would participate in. The most people being gunged in 3 minutes. The world record stood at 49. I was allocated number 39 and given a t-shirt with my number on. We lined up and awaited the moment. 

The actual gunging would take place in the studio in a specially constructed gunge-pen. We had been shown the 3 positions we would need to stand in. Position 1: climb over the small wall of the pen and stand in the "waiting position". Position 2: Stand on the X and wait for Barney Harwood (current BP presenter for those of you odd people who don't still watch) to pour 2 litres of green slime on your head from a bucket. Position 3: post-gunge, get your head sorted before moving into the post-gunge area (walking on anti-slip mats of course!). 

The biggest worry wasn't being gunged or knowing what to do... the biggest worry was "Will I slip over on live TV?". It's fair to say I am not blessed with natural balance or co-ordination. I have fallen over in all manner of places and comedy ways (Who can forget the time I fell over in Adelaide with a 20kg+ backpack on and ended up waving my legs in the air like a turtle on his shell, completely unable to get back up as people walked past laughing!?). 

The moment came. I managed to climb over the wall, side stepped into the firing zone...


And waited for what seemed like minutes before suddenly being absolutely covered in green, sticky, slimey gunge!

Yes that really is me being totally gunged! Good work Barney! Magnificently I moved to position 3 and into the pen without falling over and moved to the holding area to cheer on the others:

The great news is that with just one disqualification we set a new world record of 59 people gunged in 3 minutes. So as well as being a VERY proud Blue Peter badge holder I am also a world record holder. Get me!

Although we were offered use of showers I opted for getting home so wrapped my head in a white towel (which quickly became a green towel) and headed home... only stopping at a Drive Thru when I realised that I didn't have food in the house and this was the way I could see the least people. Being Eccles though, noone batted an eyelid at a woman covered in slime and wearing a green and white towel on her head. Makes you wonder what state other people go through in!

Maybe the real Cher goes through in her stage costumes when she's in town for one of her Farewell Tours!

It's My Party...

And so the day has finally arrived. Today I am marking my 40th lap of the sun (and I've never even owned running shoes). In the last few weeks I've completed challenges 26 and 28 which brings the measly total that I've completed to just 25. 

Pretty rubbish eh? Well, I'd have to disagree with you there. 2 years ago I'd never been to Rome, drunk Tequila, watched the Godfather, cooked a souffle... I could go on. The point is that doing these challenges has brought me so many new experiences and even new friendships. It's provided me with so much fun; pushed me out of my comfort zone... I went to the Eurovision Song Contest for goodness sake! But I've said much of this in my last post (have a read if you've not already).

So the real question today on my 40th birthday... the day this was all meant to end is... what next? 

Do I carry on and try to achieve the final 15? Do I add another 10 and make it 50b450? Do I set myself a whole new set of challenges for 50?

*50 countries before I'm 50 (I've done 23 so far... I checked)
*50 IKEAs before 50 (I've been to 12 UK and 4 International ones so far... don't ask)
*Get Fit Forties - A fitness challenge for every year of my forties
*50 Landmarks before 50

 I could go on... I'd love to do the first two and last one but realistically I doubt I could afford to and I genuinely considered the third one until I remembered that I hate exercise and am intrinsically lazy! 

So what then? 

I actually don't know! What do you think? 

The Story of My Life

With less than 2 months to go until I turn 40, many people have been asking me whether I've completed my list of 40b440. Well you only have to glance at the list to see that there are still 17 more challenges waiting to turn red. 23 complete: "not too impressive" I suspect you think. "How will she get 17 done in less than 2 months?" Well the truth of it is that I won't! Sure, I will probably achieve a few more - some are well on the way; one will be achieved tonight... no not number 27. But all 17? Highly unlikely. 

I said right from the start that it wasn't about finishing them but the dreaded J word (that would be "journey" not "jelly"). And that has been true. For the last 2 years I've had something really positive in my life to focus on. Being a single girl in your late 30s life can sometimes seem tough. Yet another wedding to go to on your own; another Valentines Day alone; Christmas parties, Saturday nights in, Saturday nights out... you name it they keep coming and all of them with just yourself for company. But don't feel sorry for me; this absolutely isn't a cry for help or a pity party because for the last 2 years I've had a blast. 

I've had things to look forward to, plans to make. So many friends have wanted to be involved. I've travelled to places I've never been: done things I would never have bothered to do. I've met new people and reconnected with old friends. It's been amazing! 

I've even inspired people to make their own lists. I've inspired people! 

When people start to write their own lists they always start with big things:

"Get married"
"Have a child"
"Become America's Next Top Model"

And they always seem surprised that there are no big things on my list. I always counter with the fact that I wanted to make them achievable and that these were more fun... but a funny thing has happened in the last few months. Whilst the big things never seemed worth pursuing before, the closer I've got to my 40th the more they seem to matter. Life has taken over from my 40b440 list. I've started to put all my efforts into achieving the dream job and buying my first property instead of catching a fish or going for a nice walk. 

That's not to say the things on my list are any less worthwhile. They've given me so much. They've helped me (*cliches alert*) re-find myself to some extent as they've forced me to rediscover my creative side more. I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for the little things. Without them the big things wouldn't be happening in my life. 

I'm not going to apologise for this post being a very different tone to my normal ones. The silly will return I'm sure. I just think that it's important to evaluate what you've achieved and where life has taken you. It may look like I've only done 57.5% of my challenges but my life improvement score is way higher. As the great Ferris Bueller once said:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Make sure you do the same.

Castles in the Sand

There are few things that sum up the childhood of a Brit more than the image of making sandcastles on a beach. Just thinking of it brings back happy memories and a sense of the warm fuzzies. So it's no surprise that of all my challenges "Build an impressive sandcastle" has had more volunteers than any of my other challenges. Apologies if you offered your services for this one and didn't get the opportunity to join me but hopefully this post will inspire you to get out there and make your own creations.
To help me I assembled a crack team of the best in the business. Two old friends who have a complementary skill base so that between us we have the chance to build something structurally sound (Clr is an engineer), creatively top notch (well I'll have a bash at that sort of thing) and on a beach (Lizzie's mum lives by the seaside and was happy to accommodate us for the weekend): the perfect team!
But first I needed to do my research. For my birthday last year Lizzie gave me an amazing book about how to build impressive sandcastles. 

Now you may be under the false impression that all it takes is a bucket and a spade well let me tell you that is most certainly not the case. It's time to throw away all your old notions and learn the superior method that will lead you to be able to make your very own "impressive sandcastle". The first thing to do is to gather together your tools. The book has 6 pages of these but we scraped together our set by raiding our kitchens and Lizzie's mum's tool shed and under-stairs-cupboard. 

From Wallpaper scrapers to an ice cream scoop and novelty straws our tool kit was ready so we headed to the beach to select the ideal spot. Now the next thing to learn is about location. For your ideal build you should look at where the tide line is and build about a metre above this point. This way hopefully your sandcastle won't wash away but you're near enough to the sea to have a water source. Dry sand is no good for sandcastle building I'll have you know! 

The next task is to dig a hole. As you dig down your hole should fill up with water (if you're too far from the sea this won't happen). You then mix up the sand and water at the bottom to create your building material. If you think about it cement mixing isn't too different. You should also build yourself a sand base for your castle out of normal sand - you can use the sand you dug out of the hole for starters. Once you have your mixed sand at the right consistency you do a clever scoop and drop movement onto the top of your base and give it a little jiggle - this bit is important as it bonds the layers of sand together to make it stronger. You then add more of these sand patties on top of each other until you have what looks a little like a large stack of pancakes.  

In the picture above Lizzie is performing a vital role of warming up the hands after they'd been in the cold water. I discovered immediately that I was not suited to the job of making sand pancakes as I couldn't stand the pain of March sea water temperatures where as Clr has poor circulation and a much higher pain tolerance than me. Plus she has degrees in building stuff so clearly is more adept at this part of the job. And yes I did insist on my team wearing matching coats ;-)

As you can see from the shot on the left once your stack is at the height you want it you level off the top before doing your first bit of carving - the roof. You always carve from the top of your castle downwards or else (as Lizzie discovered later in the day to her horror) your carving is buried under the sand that falls from above. 

We went initially for a pyramid roof and then undercut it to make the walls using the stripping tool (that's a wallpaper stripping tool for any rude readers; not something with tassels on). 

 Once you're happy with your tower  you can add other features like doors, windows and by stacking up more pancakes you can create a staircase.

And don't forget to decorate your castle as you see fit too with scalloped edged roofing and small knights...

Now you may already be thinking "What an impressive Sandcastle!". We were delighted when a passer by declared those exact words at this point. But we didn't stop there. This was merely the test castle to try out our techniques. No, this time we built a much bigger base and placed three stacks on top for three towers.




But with the tide now coming in; rain coming down and only a couple of hours left until night fall would we manage to build our impressive castle in time? Well, we certainly gave it our best shot. Here are some pics for you to judge for yourself.

(I'm blowing away stray sand here not sucking it up!) 

I'm sure if we'd had more time we'd have made it even more impressive but that's one of the brilliant things about building a sandcastle, it's a limited time only offer as you can see from the sea fast coming in behind me in this shot. Granted our castle may not look a patch on the one on the cover of the book but we're a long way from being professional sand sculptors and regardless of what anyone else thinks I was impressed with our amateur efforts. A great team effort and a whole lot of fun! Give it a try yourself this summer and do send me your photos too - I'll make a gallery of castles for us all to be impressed by.

You Raise Me Up

A few months ago I attempted to make a cheese souffle - I left the decision to you whether it was successful or not and you unanimously voted it a fail. So today I thought I'd try the chocolate equivalent. Following this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-chocolate-souffl-s-474778 I gathered my ingredients and had a bash. 

It's fair to say that I don't have the best cooking genes. When we first got a microwave my mum decided to cook a spotted dick, not realising they cooked from the inside out she put it back in to cook several times until it looked like an oven cooked one. Unfortunately it took a drill to get through it (I seem to think the chisel broke) and weeks hanging up outside before the birds would eat it - I always have images of birds flying away with bent beaks but that bit was definitely in my imagination rather than memory. That's not to say that my mum is a bad cook but I don't think either of us are going to be appearing on Masterchef any time soon. 

My chocolate souffle was meant to look like this:

Mine look like this:

and this:

So what do you think? Have I successfully cooked a souffle this time? 

What do you reckon? Can I cross of the challenge or is this another Spotted Dick incident?