Secret Diary

As May draws to a close (can it be this close to summer already?) the double-daring challenges keep rolling in. Gloria at Gloria’s Place invites readers to break out the eco-paints and brushes and paint a room. Colleen Katana, inspired by Dancing With The Stars and a chapter from Double-Daring, challenges her readers to do a waltz. The Casual Perfectionist starts a dream journal for her young daughter and dares commenters to share their own dreams. At Miss O’s Library Land, the challenge (inspired by the chapter on starting your own Mother-Daughter Book Club) is for librarians to share their best Mother-Daughter Book Club moment. And Cursing Mama makes a rock tower and challenges her readers to best her at stacking rocks. Mama Fasha also has a rock-tower-building challenge going on, with great pictures of her kids and their well-balanced rocks. At The Zen of Motherhood, it’s a hula-hooping contest; My Little Patch of Sunshine dares readers to make a decoupage bowl; and at The Spice Choir, Heather tries her hand at the ancient art of furoshiki.

At Hobson’s Choice, the challenge for the day is to hang a spoon on your nose (and send pictures!). Mars2Buckeyes asks readers to try their hands (and feet!) at pogo-stick jumping. Continuing last week’s trend, 21st-Century Mom offers a worry-doll smack down (complete with an awesome picture of her efforts). At Simple Bliss, Cat double-dares her readers to either make a snow globe or craft some antique paper. Blue Milk invites readers to try and beat her six-rock rock tower. And you might think that the author of a blog titled “Juggling Life” would challenge everyone to a juggle-off, but instead Juggling Life invited her friends and readers to play a game of pool (with some great photos of how it all turned out).

This week brings us not one, but two worry doll challenges. Production Not Reproduction features a great entry on worry dolls (with adorable photographic proof of her worry-doll-making prowess), and offers readers two ways to win a copy of the book: by leaving a comment, or by making their own worry dolls. At A Wrung Sponge, readers are invited to share their worries in the comments, and each person who writes about a worry is promised a hand-made worry doll in return!

Elsewhere, Jenn at Jenn’s Journal challenges her readers to get messy with marble paper. Sandra at Diary of a SAHM makes some beautiful paper lanterns and inspires her readers to make their own. Jen at Here We Go Again asks her readers to try a hand at making a rope ladder (and shares pictures of hers, which she made using some awesome blue rope). And The Crib Chick goes for a hoe-down throw-down, challenging everyone to learn to dance the Cotton-Eyed Joe (the pictures are fantastic!).

Bethany at Mommy Writer posts a “worry wart challenge,” asking her readers to pick six friends who worry too much and then make them worry dolls to ease some of their worries. CPA Mom “double-dog” dares her readers to reconnect with friends and celebrate friendship. Stephanie at Jason For The Love Of God challenges her readers to a hula-hoop throw-down (24 is her hula-hoop count to beat). Reverend Mother asks her readers to try walking through a sheet of paper. Over at Between The Lines, Shawn tried her hand at making rock towers with her daughters, and challenges her readers to try stacking more than 8 rocks. At Holding Still, the challenge is to write a poem using some of the words from the “Words to Impress” chapter. Over at It’s All Good, Lisa challenges her readers to learn how to juggle. And Melodee at Actual Unretouched Photo dares her readers to make a raft, run away and join the circus, or, if that isn’t possible, to join in a game of SPOONS with friends!

“April showers bring May flowers” — or so the saying goes. So what do May showers bring? Double-Daring challenges!

Our good friend (and author in her own right) Mel is throwing us a book shower this month, and all of the “guests” are blogging about the Double-Daring Book — with a twist. Not only are they posting about some of their favorite chapters in the book, they are also trying them out, and issuing a “double-daring” challenge to their readers to do the same.

Today’s challenges come from Caroline at Food For Thought, who attempts some pogo-sticking with her sons and challenges her blog readers to best their record of three pogo-stick hops in a row; and from Much More Than A Mom, who was so taken with the April Fool’s Day chapter that she’s challenged her readers to pull a prank this week (she performed a light-hearted prank on her own by taking the “little kid” cups and bowls from their usual spot in the cupboard and putting them in the bathtub — much to delight of her toddlers). If you’re interested in attempting either challenge, grab a copy of the book, check out those chapters, give it a shot, and post your results!

Stay tuned — there’s more to come!