Starting over

Nutcracker's over now, and I'm not sure it's set in yet.  I keep thinking, "when I go to Nutcracker tomorrow, I need to remember--oh, wait."
So pretty much all I have is work until the New Year, and when I'm done with work, I get to actually go straight home and hang out (what a novel idea!).  I want to spend the first week working on Christmas presents.  Dad wants me to spend both weeks working on cleaning/organizing my room.  I got him to let me do the Christmas presents this week, though, which is nice.  I'm sure after Tuesday, though, he's going to push for my room.  Oh, joy.  (What's worse, then I'll have all the presents to find somewhere to put, too.)

All of that aside, the world is demonstrating once again how fallen it is.  When a psyco takes a gun to an elementary school (or a theater, or a college, or wherever), and shoots people, it's hard not to realize we're messed up.  It's hard to ignore the sin around us.
Having lost a dear friend several years ago, I sort of understand how horrible it is for all the families, even though a friend is nothing compared to a family member.  If any of them happen to be reading this blog (I have readers in a lot of strange places, apparently), I am so sorry for your loss, and I am constantly praying for you.

To all of my quilting readers, I've been thinking that it would be really cool to make a quilt for each of the families of someone killed.  I'm thinking they probably shouldn't be bed-sized, probably between 3'x3' and 4'x4'.  If we can find the info, I'd love to personalize them, make them reflect that person as much as possible.  I think it would be a very tangible way of showing them that people do care.  If you'd like to do one, please comment or message me, including if there's one person you'd particularly like to do one for.  Thanks!

 pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Buying a computer, and other "fun" stuff

I've known for awhile that I'll need a computer at Belhaven.  Since the laptop I had for around for years finally died about a month ago, I obviously needed a new one.  So I went Black Friday shopping and got myself a computer.  Fortunately, it's a high quality one and it was relatively cheap.  Unfortunately, it's a Windows 8.  The most recent thing I used was an XP.

This means that I have a lot of catching up to do.  For one thing, there's no "Start" menu anymore.  I don't have all my programs at the touch of a button, I have to go figure out where they are.  I found out while I was waiting and waiting for stuff I needed to finish downloading that I also don't have Solitare and Freecell and all those little games you play when you're waiting for something.  The only games that show up as being remotely accessible are a few X-box games, and I think you have to buy even those.  I'm not sure how to get the little ones, either.

Another annoyance is that all of my things aren't where and what I expect them to be.  Instead of files, I now have "libraries", groupings of similar types of files (eg, I have a photo library, a music library, a movie library, etc).  I can still get to that menu by the same key combination (the little flag button + e), but I can't get it anywhere else because I don't have a Start button.

The keyboard is different from my old laptop too, because it has one of those ten key number pads, so the letter keyboard isn't centered.  That's the only one that I've adjusted to yet.

I still don't have it all figured out yet, but I'm hoping I will soon.  The one thing I do know for sure is it's name.  (Yes, I name my expensive stuff.)  My computer's name is Faith.  Since my car is named Esperanza ("hope" in Spanish), now all I need is something to call "Love", and a cool language to call it Love in, and I'll be fine.  :)

In other news, work is crazy since everyone is rushing around trying to do their Christmas shopping, and they need somewhere to eat.  I've been doing more hours, and they've been busier when I'm there.  My dance schedule is also crazy, with regular classes and Nutcracker rehearsals.  I'm also trying to plan my trip out to Belhaven for the dance audition in February.

Other than all of the above, though, I'm doing just fine.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

A week with no computer

I know--horrifying, right?
In today's world, it's hard to detach ourselves from our electronics, because most of our communication comes from there.  Even our phones are little computers now, sending emails and playing games, not just calling or texting.  I think we have a tendency to become addicted to screens, because we use them so much, and therefore feel slightly disconnected.
One of the hardest parts for me was that there's a game on the computer that I love, and I was starting to get pretty good at it, and it was hard not to try to get on to play it.  I predict that when I play later tonight, I'll be a bit rusty.  Fortunately, I'm not to the really hard levels yet, so I'll have some time to get back in swing.
I noticed I had more time on my hands, especially in the evening.  I try to make Christmas presents every year, and having a job has really cut into production time.  I got a lot more done on those than I had been.  I might need to set aside one day each week to be "project day," where I don't do anything except work on presents (and other projects, especially after Christmas is over).  Probably Saturday, or whatever day I'm off from work that week.
Another thing I noticed was that it got harder and harder to keep away from the computer, and then suddenly it got easier (though perhaps that might have been due to the screen time overload watching football on Sunday rather than that I was getting used to no computer.
I'm trying to figure out whether I'll try again for a week of no computer sometime.  It will have to be before I start college, since I will have to have the computer for a lot of that.  We'll see.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Of forgetfulness, insanity, and lost children

I had an epic post a few days ago, and I couldn't get on then, and now I don't remember it.  I hate it when that happens.  I also hate it when I've worked so hard to learn a dance, and then they change it.  It's so hard to remember the change, and then you make the teacher unhappy with you.  Sigh.
My schedule has been crazy the past few weeks, with work, Nutcracker, cleaning my room, etc.  Being sick last week didn't help matters either, though it was nice that it hit over UEA weekend, so I didn't miss as much as I would have.
Emotional chaos, I've found, makes your day seem really long.  Thursday, a little boy got lost at work.  We were looking for him for probably fifteen minutes before we found him, and that was after his grandmother got worried enough that she told us he was missing.  We looked in the bathrooms, and in the play-land, to the point of me and another girl climbing up in the tubes to ask the kids what their names were.  It would have been kind of fun to get to climb up there if it wasn't so serious.  The play-land was where we eventually found him.  It turned out that when we had asked the kids what their names were, he had lied.  He probably thought he was in trouble, but he was probably in even bigger trouble because we thought he wasn't there.  His poor grandmother was almost in hysterics by the time we found him.  She was very glad to see him, but I'd hate to be the little boy after his grandmother calmed down just enough to get angry.  The day seemed to drag after that.  It seemed like so much had happened that it should be a lot late than it was whenever I looked.
Anyhow, so that's how my crazy life is going.  I keep feeling like there's something else I should be saying, either some great story or some brilliant insight or something, but I can't think of what it was, so I'll have to post it later if I think of it.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Jobs, Surprises, and Nutcracker

Seems like just a bit ago, I was posting that I was really busy.  I had no idea.
After looking for a job for about a week, I walked into Chickfila, asked for an application, and walked out an hour and a half later with a job.
After a couple days of orientation, I started working the register and doing dining room (clearing & cleaning tables, sweeping floors, refilling drinks, etc.)  It's been a crazy two weeks.

Plus, I go to dance right after work, so that compounds the tiredness.  Friday I wouldn't have dance except that I have Nutcracker rehearsals (more about that later), though those don't start until several hours after work, so that helps.  Hypothetically, I have Saturday off of both work and dance, but I also have rehearsal on Saturday, so not quite as off as might be.  Sunday I have church, which is great, except that it means that I'm out of the house every day.  Fortunately, Saturday and Sunday only have one thing each, and then I can be home for the rest of the day.  (Not that it ends there, my room is a disaster because my closet needs sorting so the stuff I actually need fits and the rest gets passed down, so it's a disaster.  And there's laundry and dishes and clutter patrol, etc, etc, etc.  And crafts I need to finish, most before Christmas.  So I'm pretty much busy all the time.)

Thursday night, the US Olympic gymnastics teams were doing a showcase here, so I took C12, because she's a gymnastics nut.  We forgot to bring the earplugs and the binoculars, both of which we needed.  Other than that, it was pretty good.  C thought so too, even though she almost didn't come because I wouldn't tell her where we were going.  Apparently, when they announced the gymnasts, she thought they were fakes.  When she finally figured out that she was in the same building as Jordan Wieber, Ali Raisman, and Gabby Douglas, she screamed.  She kept saying "no way, no way, NO WAY!!!"  It was pretty amusing.  So for the next week or so, I seem to be the greatest big sister in the world.

For Nutcracker this year, I decided to do the Mountain West Ballet one rather than the Ballet West one, mostly because I did the BW one last year, and the kids parts are mostly done by height.  I was in the tallest part there was, and it was pretty boring.  I'm sure I haven't gotten shorter, so I decided to do the MWB one.  (The MWB one, btw, is done entirely by volunteers.  The only parts adults get are the party parents, and those are the people who teach the other roles.  The kids get all the rest of the parts.)  I got Waltz of the Flowers!  We've already had two rehearsals, and our dance is so much FUN!!!  I'm also super happy for one of my best friends, because she got Sugarplum Fairy, which she TOTALLY deserved!

(I know, I'm using a lot of caps today.  I have a lot I'm excited about, what can I say?)

I don't know what cast I'm in or what days I'm performing, but I'll let you know as soon as I do.
The annoying thing about doing a thing like this is that they have a very specific way they want the makeup done so it all looks the same.  I can understand that, but it's still annoying to have to buy a color of lipstick that doesn't look good on you, that you will never wear again after the last performance, just so you can look identical.  The tutus are gorgeous, though.  I wish we could take them home.
Anyway, ramblings, gripings, etc aside, I'm really busy doing a lot of hectic, demanding, yet fun things.  I'll try to post more often than I have been, but I don't know if I'll have the time.  I may have to shoot for once every two weeks instead of once a week.  We'll see.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Never Forgotten

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children." -President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

 

 This gesture of defiance shot around the world.  In the midst of chaos, confusion, and nightmare, three men raised a symbol of hope and freedom into a shocked and devastated country and world.

They were determined to make order again, and signaled their intention and determination across the nation, giving us hope that life could go on.

I was seven on 9-11.  I remember coming to breakfast, and Mom coming in nearly crying.  As far as I know, my dad has never cried, but he was close that morning.  Mom told us as calmly as she could that some bad people had stolen planes and knocked down two towers with the planes, and a lot of people had died. 

I understood a little, but it didn't really seem real to me.  I don't know how much L, then five, knew, but we both could tell that Mom and Dad were upset.

Mom didn't want Dad to go to work.  He went ahead and went, but I think he went late.    Mom told us not to worry about doing school that day, and sent us out to play.  Then she watched the news for a bit.  I came in once and saw her watching, but before I could see what was on the TV, she shut it off so I couldn't see it.  I got curious, and I kept trying to come in to see, but she never let me get close enough to see it.

 This just freaked me out more.  I knew if she wouldn't let me see it, it was really bad.  I had nightmares for a long time.  Of course, not having seen actual footage, my nightmares were just slightly different versions of reoccurring nightmares, so they weren't that bad.  I think they would have been considerably worse if Mom had let me see the footage.  Even looking at pictures of it now to find the picture I used here amazed me.  I probably won't have nightmares now, although I'm sure I would have if Mom had let me see it then.

The Al Quaida  terrorists made history.  They pulled off the first attack on US soil (Hawaii was only a territory at the time of Pearl Harbor).  But the history-making ends there.  They were not the first, only the second, group to find out what happens when one of the most powerful nations in the world is justly enraged.

Eleven years ago, four planes stunned the world.  But the stories that have come out in the intervening time are incredible.  People giving up their lives to save others.  People who were running late and missed their flight or didn't get to work.  An entire flight of people who knew they were going to die, and chose to die saving others lives rather than taking them.  Soldiers who are still fighting Al Quaida, still giving their lives to ensure this never happens again.

What happened eleven years ago was horrible.  Three thousand people died on that day, and subsequent days from injuries sustained that day.  More died in the years since, fighting for their country.  Every one of those is mourned by someone.  And all of them are mourned by the nation.

Many are the lives this has touched.  They will not forget.  We cannot afford to forget either.  The day we forget is the day we lose a part of who we are as a nation.

Never Forgotten

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.  Even in the rain.~

 (I don't know what the deal is with the spacing this time.  I'll try to have it figured out and normal next time.)  

Trip 2012 update--finally

Sorry I haven't updated recently, we've been really busy.
Let's see, where to start?  We've been hither and yon and just about everywhere, in Minnesota and the Dakotas and now we're in Colorado.  There's a lot to cover, so keep your seat belt fastened and your hands inside the car at all times.  Thank you. 

We got to Grandma's house on Tuesday night.  I know I sort of promised that I'd have a fish story for you, but we didn't actually go fishing, so I don't have any.  Sorry.
Wednesday:
The turtle races were interesting, though loud.  Apparently, people race their turtles in heats of 20, the winners going on to the final.  Since there were over 500 entries, this took a very loud, crowded while.
While we were in line to get our turtles, someone behind us had brought a black lab, properly on a leash.  The dog was startled by something and started to bark.  The man behind me turned around and began chewing out the dog's owner.  "Can't you see there's a ton of kids here?  Someone could get hurt!"   The owner responded that she hadn't thought that it would be a problem, but that she would take the dog away.
Ok, seriously, this is a black lab.  They're one of the calmest breeds on the planet.  I can see a kid getting scared, maybe, but no one's going to be hurt, except perhaps the ears of those standing very close to the barking dog.  Still, this is a free country, and he's allowed to say what he wants.  So all I did was mutter something to Grandma along the lines of "He could have been nicer about it."
He heard me.  He turned around.  "Well, do you agree with me or not?"
I forget exactly how it went, but I told him he might have a point,but he could have been nicer about it.  He responded that you couldn't be polite when there were lives on the line.  I responded that the dog was well restrained, which he denied.  I pointed out that a leash was restraining, that there was really nothing else you could use to restrain a dog when you're out, and that the dog wasn't trying to attack anyone or run, he was just standing there barking.  He turned away, so I let it drop.
Grandma had been trying to get me to "calm down, just let it go," and I think she was relieved when he turned away.  Suddenly someone poked me from behind, and I turned around, half expecting another onslaught.
"Young lady," the woman behind me said, "I'm really glad you stood up for what you felt was right."  I just about fell over.  I was not expecting that at all.  It was a little unnerving.

Thursday:
We went to a farmer's market, and one of the booths had a number of crafted items.  I'm going to try to do that in UT too.  I got the directions, and they're so easy!
After lunch, we went to a little pioneer museum, and then went tourist trapping along the two blocks of the downtown of their little town.
That night, I got the email from the ballet academy that threw my world into chaos (see previous post).  I think I'm really only now getting over the shock and tension of that night.

Friday:
We went to the Headwaters of the Mississippi.  Apparently, there are at least three places where the springs turn into rivers that combine into the top of the Mississippi.  This particular place is the official Headwaters because it goes the longest before it hits the other rivers.  This tributary also has the only place the Mississippi flows north.  My sisters were wading across the river, and I debated joining them, but when C12 slipped and twisted her ankle, I decided against it.  With an audition right after I got home, the last thing I need is an injury right now.  But I had a good time anyway.

Saturday:
We went to a lake, and found some really pretty rocks.  I was really tired, so I didn't swim, but I did wade a bit.  The rest of the day, we spent relaxing.

Sunday:
We went to church, which was at a lake that day since they were doing baptisms.  We hung around for the picnic and met some of the youth group.  It was cold, so we didn't go in the lake and therefore didn't find more rocks.

Monday:
We left Grandma's house, and went as far as Bismark.  Standard road trip day, complete with rest stops, squabbling, rumble strips, and uncomfortable behinds.

Tuesday:
We had lunch and spent a couple hours with Bekah Kjos, one of my bestest friends.  I met her four years ago, and have only seen her once since then.  We've been using Facebook and such, but it just isn't the same.  Then we went to spend a day with some other friends.

Wednesday:
We went to a city in SD called Rapid City, where they have a walk-around tour of statues of the presidents.  At the gift shop associated with the tour, we were talking with the guy who worked there, and somehow we got on the topic of the Declaration of Independence.  A dispute arose as to the wording, and I cited it correctly, pulling up a copy on my phone to prove my point.  The guy offered me a job!  It was the first job offer I've ever gotten, but since it was in SD, rather than UT, I had to turn it down.

Thursday:
We left SD, leaving our emails, and getting theirs in return.  They had a little girl about J9's age, and for some reason she wanted to be around me almost more than she wanted to be around J.  She emailed me right after we left, though it took me a minute to figure out a couple of the spelling glitches.  I'm sure that will improve.  I think I'm going to turn into a mentor.  Not sure I'm ready for that.  I suppose I'll grow the same speed she does, but it's still a little nerve-racking.
We stopped in Ft Laramie, which is had been turned into a museum.  It was pretty cool, especially some of the quilts in the houses.  How anyone could sew triangles that tiny is beyond me.  Despite the stop, which added another hour to our eight-hour trip (seven hours driving, one hour of stops), we made it to our cousin's house in Denver in time for dinner.

Today:
We mostly relaxed today, but we went to Walmart because we were running out of several things.  While we were there, I noticed several pairs of sneakers that were almost half-off.  We've done so much walking this trip that my sneakers are starting to run down.  I managed to find a pair that I liked and that fit pretty quickly.  On sale, they were $9.  The original price was around $15.  My current pair of sneakers cost around $20.  I was quite proud of myself.
Tomorrow, apparently, my cousin has planned to have a small Civil War-style "ball", doing some of the dances she learned when her homeschool group paid for a company to teach them dances and stage an authentic ball.  I asked her if I could teach an Irish dance I learned during the intensive this summer, and she said I could. I've been wanting to do Waves of Tory at home ever since I learned it, so I can't wait!
Sunday we'll be going home, and Monday is my audition.  Needless to say, I've been practicing. 

So that's my trip so far, and that's the plan for the last few days.  Sorry it took so long to get this posted.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Peace

Last night, I got an email.  I was cordially informed that, due to me having graduated high school, I would no longer be able to study ballet at the studio I had been planning to study at this coming year.
Needless to say, this threw me into a bit of a panic.  It's time to register for the coming year, and suddenly, I had no idea where I was going to dance.  I mean, this is what I want to spend my life doing, and suddenly I have a maximum of two weeks to figure out where I'm going to be doing it.
I know, I know, I'm supposed to trust God, even - especially- when stuff like this happens.  But it's HARD!  How am I supposed to trust when what I thought was my world is crumbling?
I think humanly, it's just about impossible.  We weren't built for chaos, so when chaos erupts, we feel lost, alone, and bewildered.  I can't trust Him by myself when things fall apart.  I've tried it.  It doesn't work (not for me at least.  If it works for you, let me know, but I don't think it works for anyone.)  When things are working perfectly, it's easy, but somehow I just can't seem to trust Him when it starts to tangle up.
I can't remember what I said, but it was something to the effect of, "Ok, God, I don't know what you're up to, but I need your help to trust that you know what's best."  I'm not very good at coming up with long, flowy prayers.  God understands short and to the point just fine anyway, so why bother?
Anyhow, this sounds horribly cliche, but when I was done, I could trust.  I was still uncertain, but I could trust that it would be ok.
Later that night, Mom and I were talking about looking in the Yellow Pages for studios that I could go to, and suddenly, we remembered a studio that a friend of mine goes to.  She's danced there for years and she's amazing, so it has to be a good studio.  This morning I emailed them, and they said they would definitely have a place for me, I'll just have to take a placement class.
So in less than twenty-four hours, I've gone from not having a studio, to having the same studio that one of my best friends has.  Now I just have to deal with the tension drainage.

BTW, the trip is going great.  I'll post on that in a bit, I just wanted to let you guys know about this.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Vacation 2012--part 1

First off, sorry it's been awhile.  I've been busy finishing the intensive and packing to leave, and the past two nights there hasn't been internet access.
Our trip has been pretty good so far.  We're visiting my grandparents in Minnesota this week, and next week we'll be visiting some friends on the way home.  Dad's home keeping the animals fed, since he couldn't get it off work.
We've been in the car for about 16 hours so far, and by the end, my sisters were feeling it.  It seems like the number of quarrels went up exponentially the last couple of hours.  Everybody was starting to get grumpy, and when we almost got lost in Grandma's town, that didn't help.  We figured out where we were going, though, and now I'm sitting on Grandma's couch.
Tomorrow, apparently, we're going to the turtle races.  Apparently, turtle races are where you rent a turtle for a couple bucks, and they race to the end of a three-foot track.  Seems like it'll be a little boring, but I'll give it a shot.
At some point, there's a pioneer village that we'll go see, and there are plenty of lakes to see.  I'm hoping to find some shells, and at some point we're supposed to go fishing.  Sometime, we should have some down time, which is nice because I have a couple of sewing projects I'm trying to finish.  It's also nice because we can't go running hither and yon all day every day.
So that's about how this coming week is supposed to go.  I'll try to keep you posted on what's happening, and I'm sure I'll have interesting stories about turtle racing, and maybe a fish tale or two.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Olympics-for athletes and 9 year olds

Friday was the Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games.  Saturday was the first day of competitions.  Saturday was also the day J8 (my youngest sister) became J9.  It being July of an Olympic year, we threw her an Olympics-style party.
So far on the Olympics, we've seen swimming and men's gymnastics.  We're looking forward to seeing women's gymnastics and syncro diving tonight.  The "competitions" for J9's party were somewhat less sophisticated.  We have foam swords, so we had fencing (none of the swordplay was particularly brilliant), and we have a bow made out of PVC pipe and and arrow made out of a dowel, so we did distance archery (we didn't have a target for accuracy archery).  We had a "long jump", using the children's ballet game, "Over the Alligators".  For those unfamiliar, it involves two objects, usually a pair of shoes, which start about two feet apart, and gradually are moved farther apart as everyone leaps over both shoes.
We had gymnastics of a sort, mostly seeing who could do the best cartwheel.  Not really Olympic quality, I know.  There's a big difference between eighteen-twenty year olds who have been training nearly their whole lives and nine year olds who have virtually no experience.  J9 has had a year of gymnastics, but that was more that any of them had in any other "event".
Which brings me to the value of training.  As a dancer, I know this as well as anyone.  I would not be where I am today without ever-increasing training over the last four years.
But there is one place where training takes even greater importance.  More than a dancer, I am a soldier.  If I don't train, I could, and probably will, die.  Where is my battleground?  Right here.  As a Christian, I am constantly fighting, both myself and everything that would drag me away from God.  It is a constant battle, and it's easy to get distracted and forget what's important.  If I get distracted, I get that much more vulnerable, that much more open to attack.  I have to train all the time to keep my guard up, and, sadly, I'm not perfect.  Like ballet, I get frustrated with my progress, but I keep training anyway, because I get worse if I stop training.
I know this has been kinda rambly, especially the last paragraph.  I was working on the last paragraph when the Olympics came on.  As I was writing about being distracted, that's exactly what I was becoming.  I had a well-thought out argument, and I kept looking up and loosing it.  That's why it's so disjointed.  Sorry.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Colorado

Good heavens, Colorado has had more than it's share of disaster.  First the fires, now a psycho in a theater.  A couple of things stand out to me about these stories, mostly serving to illustrate that America is the home of the brave.

•  Countless firefighters traveled to Colorado to fight the many fires, some of which still aren't out yet. One of the incredible things about this set of fires is that there were around a dozen fires, burning thousands of acres and some 600 homes, but only TWO people are known to have died.  Timely firefighter response was a part of that.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a firefighter, being within a few feet of blazes like the ones I've seen in pictures.  It's terrifying to even see the pictures, even when the pictures are from several miles away, at least.
• During the Aurora shooting, one girl was hit in the neck and fell.  Her friend dropped with her, putting pressure on the wound, keeping her from bleeding to death until help arrived.  The girl will recover.

I wonder what goes through the mind of someone who does something like the Aurora shooting.  I can't come up with anything that could make someone do something this heartlessly brutal.  I also wonder what goes through the minds of the people around when someone starts shooting.  I've so far been fortunate enough to not find out, but I can't imagine the terror.
A miracle, though:  A friend of a friend's was at the theater, and was shot 3x in the arm, and once in the head.  The shot through her head came within a hair's width of hitting the brain, but went instead up the nasal cavity in the middle.  By God's providence, she will make a complete recovery.
There are also stories of homes spared from the fires, and of other victims who will make full recoveries.  My heart aches for the families of those who have died, for the family of the shooter as they deal with the actions of their son/brother, and for those who have lost nearly everything in the fires.  But I rejoice for everything that has been spared.  God's providence is truly amazing, and I hope that many more examples will emerge over the coming weeks.
One just came up now, in fact.  I was typing, and something happened, and I thought it had deleted everything I had written.  After a minute, though, I figured out where it went, and got it back without having to re-type everything.  Yay!

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Griping about colds and knees

Today, I seeb to hab a cold.  By dose is leaking like a faucet, and by head is pounding like a drub.  And by throat hurts so buch I can't talk.  I ab not happy.
Today was supposed to be the day I embarked on a massive crusade against the piles of laundry in the laundry room.  It turned into the day I laid around on the couch trying to say "ugh," and working on the books on my reading list.  I finished one, but the next one is the Diary of Anne Frank, and I do NOT feel like reading that one right now.  I already don't feel good, I don't need to be depressed too.
Having my sisters at my beck and call was kinda fun, though.  Usually they just get mad when I ask them to do something for me.  It's still not worth being sick, though.
Being injured isn't fun either.  According to the physical therapist, the little muscle that prevents my knee from over-hyper-extending got irritated, making my knee stay slightly bent for quite awhile.  It wasn't enough that I noticed it, but some muscle on the other side of my knee sure did.  So now I have two irritated muscles in my knee, and it isn't happy with me.  I can still dance, and the PT guy said I should dance, but it hurts some.  Especially after Character, which we had yesterday.  If anyone's had character, they know that, especially at barre, there's a LOT of bending and straightening, including a lot on one leg.  So now it's really not happy with me.  I'm icing it, of course, and it ought to be fine by Monday, but it's still a pain right now.
I suppose I should be grateful that I can still dance.  After all, I could have something broken, and not be able to dance at all.  Or I could be starving in the streets or something like that.
But since I'm a woman, it's still fun to get in a good gripe now and then.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me.~

Overview

Blog-

a Web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc.

So anyhow, this is my blog.  I suppose for a first post I should say a little bit about me.  My passion (my obsession, according to my sister) is ballet, and I'm looking at making a career in teaching it to children.  At the moment, I'm dancing 30 hours every week, though when the school year starts, it will go down to about half that.  Teachers use summer as a chance to beat up on you more.

I love to read, and currently have a list of about 20 books I'm supposed to be reading over the course of the summer.  My sisters keep saying I should read whatever their current favorite book happens to be, but I keep having to remind them that I simply don't have time to read anything else.  I suppose that's what comes of being a family of homeschoolers.
I feel like I should insert some really funny story here, but none are jumping to mind.  So I guess that will have to wait.


I have decided to allow reader comments, HOWEVER if you cannot be civil and keep your language clean, I will remove your comment.  (When I say clean, I mean really, really, clean.  Pretty much no vulgarity at all, and certainly no swearing.)  Other than that, though, I welcome comments/feedback.  Even debate is alright, as long as it's civil.  No name-calling, either.


Anyhow, I guess that's all I can think of for now.

pointe4Jesus

~Dancing for Him Who died for me~