a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog
Play this. Not "Inchworm".
http://grooveshark.com/widget.swf
[Not seeing anything from your RSS/email feed? Reading from your phone? Find the playlist on Grooveshark. It's awesome.]
What are your current (ie, from this decade) favorite dance songs?
One year ago: Other People's Paint, in which I make a bad hip-hop joke and reference.
Two years ago: Pam Beasley and Jim, in which I am still impressed with acronym jokes.
I was waxing philosophical on my run today, thinking of my motivations to be a runner. Like, why would I really run, not just lace up my shoes every 10 days and jog about the neighborhood (like I have been doing this summer).
There are a lot of reasons I'd like to call myself a runner again (let's admit that I haven't jogged much since the marathon last fall), but my main topic of thought was:
Does 'want' equal sacrifice?
Why do I want to run? In fact, why does anyone want to do anything?
While my life isn't exactly cushy, I'm not uncomfortable in any way. I get enough sleep, eat enough food, have a roof over my head, electricity, a gym membership, a fun job, great friends and family… Well, maybe it IS cushy.
I WANT to be a runner; I WANT to lose 10 pounds; I WANT to get sponsors for mah blog; I WANT to do LOTS of things. But all of those things require me to DO something: to sacrifice time, energy, delicious food, pride, etc.
If you want something, isn't it slightly out of reach? Because if it wasn't out of reach, you would just have it. But what makes us want something that is out of reach?
Any ideas? Give me your best psychological/philosophical review. Comments are welcome!
One year ago: LLLL, in which we party.
– BUDGETS! Being self-employed is AWESOME, but also really scary, mostly in the money department. There's taxes and overhead and insurance and investments to deal with, where before there was just a paycheck. We hadn't put that much thought into where and how our money was going around (it just was), but I think I got it on lockdown. Big thumbs up to mint.com for being helpful and easy to understand (once I swore at it for a couple hours). I must say it's a big relief to know exactly where our money is going.
– DEBT SNOWBALL! Another relief? Doing a debt snowball. Thanks to Trees Full of Money for their automatic and slightly pretty version. Mortgage paid off in 5 years? OKAY.
– thanks for all the homeschooling feedback. I feel a little like a freak about it. Plus, we went to a homeschool association picnic and the kids and adults were pretty normal-seeming and not dressed like they were from Laura Ingalls Wilder books OR wearing too much hemp.
– celebrated my friend's birthday (SO WHAT if it was 7 months late? extended birthday celebration – yay!) at The Paint Pub, where you paint… and drink. Awesome. More about that later this week.
– manicure. I got my acrylic nails off, had a manicure, and got a gel polish. My nails are short, blindingly pink, and amazing. Happy Nails on Snelling (Saint Paul, MN yo) is the bomb. Go there.
– cruise directing. The G and I had a bunch of people ask us if we would put on a dance cruise, so we are. We were highly complimented that people think we're fun.
How was your week? Are your kids back in school? Are you back in school?
It's three piece suit week!
Two years ago: Ear Candy, in which I know you're lying.
How To Perform Badly While Ballroom Dancing
OH WAIT. YOU MEAN YOU'RE TRYING NOT TO PERFORM BADLY?
PLEASE GOD, THEN, STOP DOING THOSE THINGS!
Tips for Performing Well
* Men, your in-depth version is coming soon.
Happy Friday!
Two years ago: Craft From The Past, in which I make stuff.
I started MAH BLOG as an effort to communicate less.
Or communicate EVERYTHING, but less repeatedly.
On that note, here's what I'll have to explain to everyone at some point:
Why We Are Choosing Homeschool
Thoughts About Homeschooling
Feel free to comment. I will virtually stick my tongue out or high five you, depending on a rant or rave.
One year ago: Does This Make Me Bad or Great?, in which I still wrinkle my nose.
Two years ago: Something Salad-y, in which DDL strangely appears again.
We bought a fixer-upper a few years ago. [Grand understatement.]
The first year or so was the blissful demolition of the sagging back deck and sketchy basement "apartment" and pulling up the carpet.
Then we moved onto refinishing the overly polyurethaned wood floors and removing the five unnecessary doors separating our lower level rooms.
Overhauling the kitchen was next.
After that, there was ripping off the old siding and starting to replace it, which lead to replacing the exterior doors and fixing some floor joists and putting in header beams to open up the floor plan, and on and on and on.
Basically, we've been living in a construction zone for 5 years. There are many unfinished edges.
But we are making progress.
As of a week ago, my home has two, TWO, entry points which open and shut AND lock.
It's nonsense.
There is a wall of lovely double hung windows where a drafty, missing-paned, unsecure pair of French doors used to be.
What will become of our house now that there's no longer a secret entrance? How will we keep undesirables away without the rickety staircase leading up to the only door that works? Will I have to answer the door if our doorbell actually works? Do I need to start using my dust pan in preparation when I don't have a hole in the floor that I can sweep my dirt into?
*sigh*
P.S. Looking back on the photos – BLURG! – what did we move into? A million high fives to The G (Hollister and Bratt relations, too) for doing ALL THE WORK. The house looks great, seriously.
Two years ago: LLLL, in which the new baby farts.
Recipe for Awesome Sauce:
– 1 part dijon mustard (Grey Poupon, duh)
– 1 part plain Greek yogurt
– salt and pepper to taste
Mix ingredients together and eat on everything.
Great on pork tenderloin, as fake hollandaise sauce on fake eggs Benedict (over easy eggs on toast), as a salad dressing, as soup, what have you.
Brilliant culinary concoction credit to The G.
One year ago: LLLL, in which Patrick Swayze is George Clooney.
Two years ago: The Chair and Other Nifty Gifties, in which I do inventory.
– BIRTHDAY WEEK, so:
– donuts (walked down bright and early to the local place, SugaRush) for breakfast twice.
– the cutest card of all time, that I've been saving "for V" for a year and a half.
– ridiculous birthday lunch. Yes, sprinkles. But yes, carrots, also.
– baby with balloons attached. I'm not sure why we even got her presents. Balloons were enough. This shenanigan kept her giggling for 30 minutes.
– baby midget. Zoo might have turned 2, but if you think her 2T size dress is supposed to be a maxi, you're wrong.
– The G and I had a date. We went to a dance event (a student showcase at the local Arthur Murray) with which we didn't have any professional affliation. A friend invited us; I think she thought we would say no. But YES. It was amazing. We ate all their food and sat on our butts and watched and cheered for everyone and danced silly together at the breaks in the show.
– Amazing beer. Have you NOT been to the Happy Gnome? Do you like beer? Do you like food? Do you like yourself? Then go. Because they have the best edibles and drinkables as witnessed by the name of the beer I imbibed: Clown Shoes (wait, it gets better) Porcine (yeah, like a pig) Unidragon (HALF UNICORN, HALF DRAGON).
That's right. Clown Shoes. Porcine. Unidragon.
And corn dogs. Gourmet freaking corn dogs. Wild boar sausage coated with corny, peppery crunchiness that you can dip in CREAMY BACON KETCHUP. Carnivores, delight.
– saw a bunch of fun people and did fun things and the little ladies slept until, like, 7:52am this morning, so SCORE.
Man, stellar week. How was yours?
If you hadn't noticed, I am a ballroom dancer. I have been for quite a while.
If you hadn't noticed, I am opinionated. Again, for a while.
Combine this experience with this personality trait and you get this:
Dance Products I Hate
But these? Useless. Saggy, shreddy, stupid, non-hooshzing, useless uselessness. [Buy: Capezio or bust. Caramel (light tan) is good for most ladies, toffee (dark tan) is for VERY tan dancers.]
[Buy: Ardell's DUO white lash adhesive, which comes in a tube, dries clear, and isn't annoying.]
For my all shoes to be relatively the same color, and match the "toffee" color of fishnets that I own, I dye my smooth shoes (with tanning liquid).
If you're wearing "caramel" fishnets, you have nothing to worry about. If you're wearing "toffee" tights, and haven't dyed your shoes to match your legs, your feet are glowing beacons of technique, for better or for worse, and *gasp* you're shortening your leg lines.
[Buy: shoes that match your leg color.]
[Buy: anything from Danceshopper's Self-Tanning page. I'm a big fan of Dance Spa Competition Color. Note: some products are better used to enhance existing tans, and not as a base. If you ever have a question, leave a comment and I'll let you know.]
Falsies should make people say, "Gosh, her eyes are pretty," not "Gosh, she has false eyelashes on."
[Buy: Ardell's Fashion Lashes 105. GAH! LOVE THE 105s!
What do you love/hate to use for dancing? Did I bash something you dig? Let's complain! Let's recommend!
Next week is Mustache Week! This guy is going to kick it off, but I bet you don't even recognize him without his awesome 'stache.
One year ago: Don't Think About It, in which I didn't know that very talented athlete was also crazy.
Two years ago: Can't Name This Post, in which I was too busy naming a baby to name my post.
Zoo is two.
While she is my first child to make an example of what Terrible Twos are supposed to mean, she also does this:
Have a great birthday, you weird baby.
One year ago: Birthday Baby, in which I do the same thing I did today.
Two years ago: nothing, in which I was producing a baby.
Riot and Frolic 