Riot and Frolic

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

recent posts

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: Uncategorized

  • Something Stinks In The Garden

    You guys, I almost took a picture of poop today.   [Never mind that I often take pictures of poop because our smallest offspring is potty-training and it is that big of a deal.] I mean, I almost took a picture of a poop of mysterious origin and then posted it, so you'd have to…

  • The Garden of Good (and Barely Any Evil) : 2013 Part 2

    Earlier this summer, I posted about my rather benign garden.   Look at the cute little seedlings. Admire the darling lettuces. It's so tidy and meager.   BOOM.  (To be fair, the children I grew seperately and the grill is not a natural occurence.) FOUR kinds of tomatoes, of which one variety has already ripened…

  • Growing Up Via Vegetables

    I have an scale of perceived adulthood based on how many vegetables I eat a week.   I average out as a toddler. In order to approach my actual age, or at least someone who can buy beer, I made that cauliflower-based pizza crust that's been all the rages on da blogs and da internets.…

  • Food Revolution Day – Winner

    I have been remiss in announcing the winner of the Food Revolution Day giveaway. The delightful winner of my copy of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is longtime reader and all-around delightful lady, Patty H.   Thanks for entering! One year ago: LLLL, in which I alphabetize things. Two years ago: Bored Boards, in which I cover…

  • 4 Wicked Brothers

    Chocolate. Scotch. Coffee. Cigars. Sold! I'm having a tasting party.  Who's in? Until then, check out this excellent graph: It's a standard graphic for describing coffee, but it works for a lot of dark and delicious things. Cheers. One year ago: LLLL, in which Paul Newman steals all the sex appeal. Two years ago: Unsolicited…

  • The Garbage Challenge – Attack of the Sandwich Bags

    The Garbage Challenge has been going pretty well since I started composting the things, recycling the other things, and actually bringing those reuseable bags into the store. But here's the next challenge: sandwich bags.  Well, produce bags, sandwich bags, and the cellophane and plastic wrap that covers EVERY SINGLE THING AT THE STORE… and all…

  • Food Revolution Day – Giveaway

    I've been mildly obsessed with Jamie Oliver since I saw him in a PBS show cooking al fresco near a lakeside mountain and went by the moniker "The Naked Chef".  I mean, he's not bad to look at, cooks like a cooking thing, and had "Naked" in his nickname. Turns out he is also a…

  • Winner Winner, Sinus Buster

    It's not a chicken dinner, but I bet the winners are excited nonetheless. These lucky ducks win a free sample of Sinus Buster or Allergy Buster (product chosen at random): A. B. Anderson M. R. Fausnaugh G. Chao L. Brown W. Patterson I'll message the winners via Facebook and send out your sinus-y goodness this…

  • To Enjoy Your Food – IT’S A GIVEAWAY

    Today is Foodilicious Day on ye olde Riot and Frolic.  And to enjoy your food, you have to be able to taste it, right?  And to taste your food, you need to be able to smell it, right?  RIGHT. Remember when I told you about my new love, Sinus Buster?  It's my new best friend.…

  • The Garden of Good (and Barely Any Evil) : 2013

    It's spring, technically, so in spite of the looming snowstorm, I'm planning my garden.  It's totally a mental preparation at this point: taking stock of what vegetable the ladies mention liking/actually eating, checking out Pinterest gardening boards, admiring seed displays in the stores, etc. More tomatoes (that fruit at different times), more flowers, more snap…