Riot and Frolic

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

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about

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.

Category: Domesticality

  • And So It Begins…

    It's Ash Wednesday and that means the start of Lent and that means I'm coining the hashtag #NewLentNewIntent BECAUSE I AM A HUGE DORK. But guys.   I am giving up flour this year.   Yeah yeah yeah, I know many of my buddies have had to do this for medical reasons and whatnot, and there are…

  • For the Mamas (Rookies and Veterans)

    Ladies, stop peeing your pants.   I'm not kidding, mamas.  It's not normal. I've had a more than a few children, which should put me solidly in the Peeing Your Pants is Cool Club from my in-depth analysis of the market*, but I refuse to join.  For years, I have heard off-hand comments from all ages of…

  • Field Trip : ABLMS

    What the hell is ABLMS?  It DOES NOT sound like a fun field trip.  It sounds like an acronym for a horrible disease. But DO YOU LIKE FOOD? DO YOU LIKE CHEAP, BUT AWESOME, LOCALLY-RAISED FOOD? ABLMS stands for Andrew Boss Laboratory of Meat Science, located on the "farm campus" [ahem, St. Paul] at the…

  • Reasons I’d Be A Great Mom

    I have a full time job as a familial manager.  I also have a part time job as a ballroom dance instructor.  While many days, I'd love to drop that first title and go all in as a dance teacher, I don't think my young offspring are too great at cooking and driving… yet. Some…

  • The Domestic Type

    I was recently flipping through Women's Health, which is a bit like Cosmo for the fitnessly inclined, when I came across this little column:  The Guys Next Door Real talk on relationships from three of the gents who put the "men" in Men's Health Q: I'm not the domestic type (cooking, cleaning).  Thoughts? Thanks! I DO…

  • Sorting Hat

    The G started reading the Harry Potter series to the kids awhile ago and last week I remembered that there's a fun "sorting hat" quiz you can take online to determine which house you'd be in.   V went first and got Hufflepuff.  Yes yes, quite. Mae Cake was next and got Ravenclaw.  Of course,…

  • Best Buys of 2016

    Sure sure, you can point out today's date and mention how we're 1/3 through 2017, but by then I would have booped your nose and told it's my blog anniversary and I can do what I want.   And no, my opinion didn't get bought by these fantastic companies and their brilliant products, BUT I'M…

  • House Rules

    Other people have those nice signs that state house rules like "Kindness comes first" or "Love each other" or even sensible things like "No hitting", but I do not live in that house. No singing sea shanties at the table. Of course, this has been expanded to include all singing (yes, even if it's from a musical…

  • Koselig

    I'm going to pretend for a minute that I'm well-rounded and tell you about something other than ballroom dancing.  Ridiculous, I know. Last year, I read about this crazy Norwegian custom of "koselig" where you, instead of lamenting the dark days of winter in these northern climes, you relish them as time to cozy up to your…

  • Being a Mom Means Throwing Stuff Away

    This is a regular day in my house; I find pieces of art made especially for me all. over. the. house. On my desk: On my refrigerator: More on my refrigerator: On my reading material: I have found art in the bathroom especially for me as well (because they know I hide there sometimes). At the end of last…