So I Was Just Thinking

...She Rocks! ...And Strolls. And Twirls. And Kicks. And Leaps. She is amazing. If I do so say so myself. ( Photos by Take2OK.com - They are a wonderful dance photo company. These are a little fuzzy because of the way I downloaded them for this post. )

...even when they are. This guy Blaine Hogan is something else! You have to see this and tell me that it doesn't make you smile. HAPPY FRIDAY DANCE PARTY INTERNET MASH-UP from blaine hogan on Vimeo . It all started here...Yep... even more smiles. Happy Friday Dance Party #1 from blaine hogan on Vimeo . We should all feel so free to dance like this no matter what. In the morning, I turn on my play list and make James breakfast. While he is eating I dance around the house. I wouldn't mind showing you the dancing...it's the messy house I don't want to share on the internet. :-) So tomorrow morning (or this morning if you are early morning blog reader) while waiting for your eggs to boil or your coffee/tea to brew, break out the tunes and have a little or a lotta fun. I will. PS - Please, go on over and share some love with this Blaine here or here where I found the videos.

I just realized how much time I waste on Facebook when I could be crafting or blogging or reading or exercising. Does that mean I am going to change? Who knows, but I thought it was time for some of my random thoughts to hit the blog page. Other than the computer, what else has been taking up my time? Let see: School started over a month ago. We are well into the swing of things. There are still some school provided programs not in place yet, but I make do with what I have. My students are sweet, generally well behaved kids. It takes many of them much longer to learn things than the kids I taught last year. I am learning how to help them. When they make certain mistakes in math, it makes my head swirl because it is so beyond me how you couldn't get it after a week of daily tutoring and a week of lessons and teacher's aide coming around to help them individually whenever they are stuck. My coworker said, "You must have asked God to give you patience." I must have. C...

When Caitlin was three, I enrolled her in a place called Texas Stars. It was a performing arts school that focused on developing a well rounded performer. They began with tumbling, then singing and dancing. They wore black athletic pants and t-shirts and white Keds. They learned to do sign language to "Proud to be an American" sing and dance to Zippidee Doo Dah. It was such a neat school. This was before we knew about Caitlin's special needs. Throughout the class, Ms. Debbie could be continually heard saying, "Caitlin Rose, Caitlin Rose, Caitlin Rose." I wasn't too worried though because at every performance, Caitlin did what was expected...until the Christmas performance. That day, while all the other girls and boys were dancing and singing at the front of the stage, Caitlin was was walking in circles behind everyone else. That was the end of Caitlin's experience at Texas Stars. Three years later, I decided to let her try again. By that point, I knew Ca...

I decided today, I would play catch up with you all and share some of the little things we have been doing that keep us busy. On Palm Sunday, we went to church. As usual after church, we made our way to our regular breakfast spot. When we got there, however, it was packed to the point that their parking lot and banks parking lot were full. When this diner is too full, they don't have the best service so we decided to go somewhere else. That somewhere else turned out to be The Cracker Barrel. We had a good time and good food. Mom likes Cracker barrel, but it is too far to go every week. James is not sure about this hair style. Cait looks like she was wondering when we were leaving. After breakfast we rushed home to get Caitlin ready for dance photos. Her group is dancing to a song called the heaven hop where they come on stage dressed as nuns. Part of the way into the song they remove the habits and show off their sparkly angel dresses. Before we went to the dance studio, I took he...

Sitting at home recovering from minor surgery, I decided to take advantage of the quiet time to catch up on some art projects. I always start with an idea in mind, but something always changes it. I like, however, how this turned out. I am enjoying Marit's workshop very much. I am finally doing things that I keep putting on my crafty list. It's still a very long list. I have two more projects to do for this workshop and one more for another workshop.

Thanks for all of the kind words to my daughter about her post. And NOW back to my regularly unscheduled post. Every time I see my daughter dance I am impressed. I think back to her earlier days around age 3 when I put her in a group called Texas Stars. They were a singing/dancing/tumbling group. At that time, we didn't know about her Asperger's . She was just a quiet girl who kept to herself. We used to have to call her by her first and middle name just to get her attention, and we used to have to do it several times. I would take her to class and sit in the lobby that was only divided by a thin curtain. I am sure her teacher was overwhelmed by Caitlin. Every class was filled with repeated calls to "Caitlin Rose, Caitlin Rose." (Be sure to add an annoying lilt to the call.) Despite the disastrous classes, when the group would attend grand openings and the like, Caitlin would pull out all the stops and shake her sparkly red pompoms, dance to Zippidy Doo Da or sign the...

Wow, it's July and I have managed to stay focused enough to stick with something and not drop out. I would say that is something new and different for me. My friends and I are still reflecting on our words and continuing on this journey together. Come share the journey with us. Discipline “Discipline is remembering what you want.” David Campbell “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” Jim Rohn “Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.” Roy L Smith “Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” Buddha My daughter epitomizes the definitions of discipline described above. She has working since September towards the goal of attending the Showcase National Dance Competition. By setting an achievable and measurable goal, she was able to see that dream come to fruition this past weekend. Caitlin spent several hours a week attending ballet, tap, jazz and technique classes wit...

When I was little, my mother put me in ballet classes. I think she thought I was too chubby. I couldn't have been more than 4. I remember going to those classes in my black leotard, pink tights and pink leather slippers thinking, "Don't I look cute?" Our teacher would make us practice our splits, but I don't think I was able to do them. Even back then, I would get lost in thought and forget to switch legs when she told us to. After that year, my mom never enrolled me again. I never forgot that. Fifteen years later, my roommate and I tried out for cheerleader in college. I had never done it before - I was known as a dyed in the wool "band geek/flag twirler." Tryouts were fun, but I didn't make it. I called my mother to let her know, and her only comment was, "Well, you were never very coordinated." It was like a stab to the heart. Weren't moms supposed to console you no matter how bad you were at something? A few years later I became an ...