A site for people who want to get back to being a bit more “me” again and following my challenge to do 50in50@50 taking on midlife and busting boredom.
Is everyone decluttering at the moment? It’s on my list and if you saw my house you’d understand why 😉 but what does it actually mean? I’ve been testing it out this week and I think it means more than just chucking stuff out. I think it means reviewing how you do things, what you…
After dusting off the sewing machine in week #19 and then seeing the need for more scrubs in UK hospitals it seemed as though this was a challenge being put in front of me. Perfect for a 50in50@50. To be honest it was also looking like one of the more testing of my challenges, I…
Choux pastry. I’m not that keen on cream cakes, hence previously avoiding the weird mysteries of a pastry made in a saucepan, but custard fillings are another matter entirely so it went on the list. Never made it before and it seems I may have met my 50 challenge nemesis. But challenges are not challenges…
Showing someone how to do something for the first time was an item already on my list but it seems that in our current lockdown this is something that many people will be doing, whether they like it or not! Spending more time as a family has given us greater opportunity to share knowledge and…
I’ve been reading about green cleaning for a while and it’s on my list of 50 challenges in 2020. Like it or not the lockdown situation seems the perfect opportunity to give it a go! Marigolds on and washable ecloths at the ready. I’m seeing how the more environmentally friendly options compare to our usual…
This week I have signed up for an Open University course. It’s an estimated 25 hours commitment and I’m really excited to have got started on something to tickle the grey cells. I am a strong believer in life long learning but it does tend to get pushed aside when daily life is busy and…
I’m a long term supporter of food banks, usually donating food as part of my weekly shop. So this challenge was on my list prior to the current circumstances. I knew that normally it’s around May that stocks tend to get low and that during the course of last year high demand was already being…
It’s lucky that I already had some ‘stay at home’ challenges on my list. This week I’m cooking things well known as a national dish but which I have never had before and definitely never made myself. With the help of some of my international friends I have come up with a few things so…
Does this title strike horror into your heart? Why? Here is a tasty, nutritious and environmentally friendly food source. Eaten by millions of people around the world but just not so much by us here in the West. Massively less land and water required than for meat production, all the essential amino acids and rich…
How do you feel when you read that this was achieved with a public petition: “NHS and social care staff will be given free car parking during the coronavirus outbreak, after 400,000 people signed a petition urging the government to thank NHS workers by scrapping charges”. Did you sign it? Do you see yourself as…
I had no clue that my 50 challenges would be tested through a global pandemic, but whilst I’m spending more time at home and looking for ways to stay positive it’s been the ideal time to look for inspirational stories of women told on film. I’m looking out for celebrations of female achievement and empowerment…
When purple is my favourite colour and purple veg is known to be highly nutritious then it sounds like a retrieving challenge (50in50@50) to grow my own. Coincidentally this week I got free beetroot seeds from my supermarket – it’s a sign! The purple sweet potato got great press when it was shown that the…
What happens in your head when you visit a completely new location, particularly if you get the opportunity to experience another culture? I’m always excited to go somewhere new because I switch off from day to day worries, becoming totally absorbed in seeing and hearing what’s going on around me. It’s a visual feast to…
About ten years ago I ate a whole loaf of fresh warm bread for lunch. I was hungry, it was fresh and irresistible. Then I got an awful stomach ache, felt sick, weak and dizzy for a few hours. This was confirmation of my nagging suspicions and the final nail in the coffin for my…
I’m on ice this week and testing out a physical challenge to try curling for the first time. It’s a sport that’s been on my list for some time. I’m a winter sports fan so visit locations where curling is available, but before setting myself 50 challenges I hadn’t made the effort to go. I’ve…
I listen to a lot of music and I think I have broad tastes but…where does that music come from? Almost exclusively Europe and North America. Time to look over the horizon and find out what else is out there. The joy of the internet is that I can instantly track down recommendations for international…
Using a blow torch in the kitchen always looked like a pretty cool thing to do to me, the instant transformation of food, the involvement of a lot of sugar and the opportunity to play with fire. What’s not to like. Not sure how tricky this was going to be to get a good result…
This week’s challenge is about trying to reduce my environmental impacts. I already do my best with our recycling but get frustrated about how much can’t be recycled, so can I reduce the packaging that we have coming into the house? I’m also looking into my garden to make it more wildlife friendly. It’s week…
Time to calm things down a little after the excitement of the axe wielding and long lunches for 23. I read about micro-lending a while ago and was keen to give it a go. As you might expect it means lending small amounts of money. Or at least small to me but with big implications…
When was your last family gathering? I have 9 first cousins and also 5 brothers and sisters who all range in age from 24 to 51. With that age gap and also due also to location, I haven’t always seen that much of them over the years. I thought that the new year would be…
It came as a bit of a surprise to me that axe throwing was a thing that you could turn up and do, a bit like a bowling alley but with very sharp objects. Once I saw it though I was in no doubt that this had a be a 50 challenge. Different, exhilarating and…
Of all the challenges that I have thought up that this is one of the ones that intimidates me the most. Terrifying!! I have never made it much further than Facebook. I have some reservations about social media, one of the key ones being ‘who has time to look at all this stuff?’ and another…
If you are thinking about new adventures or activities it’s definitely interesting to reflect on previous experiences and to consider revisiting them. I recommend focusing on the legal ones. I was made to sing in the school choir (on the basis of headcount and not any talent) but suspect that voluntary participation as an adult might be…
