Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

Giving Up

It's Ash Wednesday and I'm Catholic, so you know I have to say something about Lent…

I guess…   Actually, I'm kind of surprised I'm mentioning religion here.  

…

On with the show!

For reference, I have been Catholic for… eight years?  For some reason, I decided I wanted to "get religious" that many years ago and not have my Sundays consist of sleeping in late, drinking 2 cups of coffee over 4 hours, reading the newspaper until it got dark out, and then go dancing until 2am.  Now I get up at a completely "AM" part of the day, put on nice clothes, and kneel for the better part of an hour and a half.

That's right.  1.5 hours.

Not to brag or anything, but I roll with, what people call, "the serious Catholics".  

Having been an agnostic, or just unknowing of any religion, for the other 26 years of my life has not made my transition to Catholicism easy.  I took the RCIA (Catholicism for Idiots) class at a nearby church, but that didn't really tell me much.  I've read parts of the bible, the cathecism, and various theology books, and I married into A Very Catholic Family, but I still don't know, or believe 100%, many of the dogmas.  

What am I doing being  Catholic then?  

Wow, personal question.  Buy a girl lunch first, huh?

Well, I like the community (you see the same people every week or more), the history (2000 years ain't bad), the code of ethics (10 Commandments, anyone?), the responsibility (the airing of greivances in reverse… confession!), and the calisthenics (up, down, kneel, stand up, sit down, fight fight fight!).  

You owe me lunch.

ANYWAYS, this year I'm going big for Lent (the 40 days preceding Easter where one traditionally gives up some luxuries and/or "diets"): I'm giving up The Facebooks.  And The Netflixs.  AND Pinterest.  

Basically, I'm giving up social media and watching t.v.

There ARE exceptions: 

  • My blog posts automatically to FB, and I am not giving up MAH BLOG, so you should see a FB post every morning or so with my daily update.
  • The G will be updating our KGB9Dance page with the pertinents.  
  • America will be updating the Coffee Run page, because she is the co-President and likewisely awesome.
  • I WILL watch Netflix or movies or television if it's for social entertainment.  Sooo, does anyone want to come over and watch Vampire Diaries with me… every week?  
  • I'll use Pinterest to do searches (boys for the end of the blog, recipes, etc.), because let's face it, it's kind of the new Google.

Voila!

I figure there might be more crafts, more sleep, more yoga and running, more yelling, and more eventual peace of mind.  There'll probably be some shakes and nausea at the beginning.  I mean, remember when I gave up coffee?  

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One year ago: Don't Judge Me

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2 responses to “Giving Up”

  1. Bethie The Boo Avatar
    Bethie The Boo

    I just popped over from the Midwest Blogger page – just wanted to tell you that you’re not alone! I’m giving up SHOPPING for Lent. I did it last year too, but it’ll still be a long 40 days!

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  2. Riot and Frolic Avatar
    Riot and Frolic

    Hey, Bethie! Thanks for stopping over!
    SHOPPING?! Really? Like recreational shopping, I’m assuming, not necessity shopping. Still. Good work.
    How did it go last year? I’m pretty sure I did something really lame last year, and did it badly, since I can’t recall what it was. I figure I’m making up for it this year.
    Happy Lent!

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