I took a look back at my 2009 New Year’s Resolutions.  They were easy – well not necessarily easy to do, but mildly easy to complete, if that makes any sense.  Will had to come out somehow!  And really it makes sense, at 6 months pregnant all I could think about was getting the baby out and doing a good job after that.  I suppose I would have to say that I have completed my 2009 goals, although the “be a good mom” goal is subjective.

With that in mind I set some 2010 goals:

• Go on a date with Mark once every month
• Spend lots of time with Will
• Use mindful based stress reduction to relax and enjoy life a bit more
• Exercise 30 minutes twice a week (at a minimum!), this is of course above and beyond the constant exercising of lifting a 23lbs baby.
• Read more often than watch SG-1 on Hulu
• Take a couple of days off to help on the farm
• Read the book my dad is recommending to me about making a living farm a small acreage
• Complete 1 home improvement project
• Complete 1 sewing project

I have danced at churches for many years now and I’m in a position to pass my knowledge on to a young dancer. There are obvious things to teach her – like my approach to liturgical choreography. But, like web programming, there is much more to dancing at church than just doing the dance itself.

I know this post will be useful to a limited number of people (and not my usual readers), but I hope that someone out there finds it helpful.  Liturgical dance is an exciting dance form, but it is also the easiest dance form to overlook the logistics.  If a dancer can get a handle on these logistics in addition to the grace and beauty of dance, the churches will be coming back for more.  And while some people will find this hard to believe, a dancer that can master these can make a living at it.  Churches have dance troupes and there are church conferences that bring guest teachers in as well.

In terms of logistics, dancers often think of what to wear when dancing at church. The key is to keep it modest and build yourself a collection of colors to work with (church colors that is). A long sleeve leotard, tights, a full length flowing skirt, and a tunic work great. Its easiest to start with different colored tunics, then build your collection of skirts. I sew my own, but you can purchase these as well.

There are lots of other logistics that get glossed over though. First, who gets to select the piece? I recommend hearing music at least once before committing to doing choreography and dancing. I also recommend setting deadlines. Such as ensuring you get the music 3 or 4 weeks before the day of the service. How many weeks is really up to the individual, but know your limits. Also make sure this includes an audio copy. It should not be up to the dancer to play the song on a piano (or other instrument) when they are suppose to be dancing.

Next, communicate about rehearsing. Its easy to say yes you can dance on a given Sunday, but then forget that you need to rehearse with your accompanist (or choir, etc) in the sanctuary. There are a few key pieces here. First is timing. Make sure everyone needed is available. Second is having the rehearsals with enough time to make adjustments for tempo and other changes in the music. Rehearsing the day before the service is not recommended when you are first starting out.  I have received an audio copy that was a one temp and then gone to a rehearsal to hear a completely different tempo.  I had to re-choreograph most of the piece.  Last is having enough time for adjustments to physical space. Remember sanctuaries are not theatres. You have candleabras, baptism fountains, alters, stairs, and other various physical limitations.  It is also important to know what space is available to you.  There may be other musicians using some of the space and you need to communicate up front what space you have to use.  I’ve done an entire piece with just an aisle.

The logistics are done up front mostly for your sanity.  Remember that liturgical dance is about letting God shine through you.

I learned a lot today.  I’m thankful for a lot too, but I sure learned a lot today.

1. A cat will pee where a cat has peed before no matter how much you clean it.  I’m doing my best to salvage an infant car seat now.  Wish me luck.
2. Will is determined to walk…immediately.  He practically ran to his Grandpa earlier today (he was holding someone’s hands).  We’re lucky that he can’t stand on his own yet or pull himself up, but even those are a matter of time.  The baby gate is ready to trap him and the cabinets that need to be are safety protected!  We’re as ready as parents can be (I hope).
3. As tired as it made me the first time, I will entertain the idea of going to a mall at midnight on Thanksgiving purely to be with family.  I’m 99.9% sure I’m not going, but time with my sisters’ is precious and that 0.1% of me really wants to hang out with them.  I just keep reminding myself that Will wakes up tomorrow at 7AM regardless of how late I stay up and I will see my sisters tomorrow too.
4. You can toss together two different families, keep a few special traditions from both, and have one heck of a Thanksgiving.  So much good food!  Lots of laughter too.
5. Once babies discover a new skill, such as standing up to play with things on their changing table, they do not want to go to bed.  They don’t even want their milk to go to bed.  BUT if you toss them in the crib and turn out the lights, they suddenly realize you mean business, drink their milk, and go to bed.
6. I gave birth to a large baby.  I forget this because he’s my baby and therefore he was just the right size.  Then I tell people and they gasp and I remember – he was big.

You can probably tell that in just this one day, Will has changed a lot.  There was a time period where it seemed like he was just sitting back and watching everything go by.  It appears that time is past and he is now ready to take what he learned and put it into action.  I’m a little scared, but also very excited.  My baby boy is growing up!

This week we say goodbye to Eight Ball as his kidneys begin to fail him and he can no longer live a comfortable life.

We got Eight Ball in 1993 when Fluffy was a kitten and it became clear he needed a friend.  We got both Fluffy and Eight Ball from friends of ours (the family had a son my brother’s age and a daughter my age).  If I remember right, my brother and his friend named Eight Ball before we even knew we were going to get him.  So I’m not really sure how they came up with Eight Ball aside from he was a black cat.

He was one of few cats to play a part in a live play though.  He and Fluffy both acted in Oliver.  They kind of stole the scene one night when they pulled the table cloth (and tea set along with it) into their basket.  I found sugar cubes in their basket backstage for the rest of the night.

As he grew older and Fluffy left us, Eight Ball became very set in his ways and liked his routine.  He would lecture my mom until she took him for his walks.  And he would sit and stare until you moved so he could sit in his chair (although he got away with it more when he broke his leg).

I’m sure I can come up with many stories about Eight Ball and my mom has even more stories, but in the end he was a sweet and ornery cat that lived a good long life.  I’m sad to see him leave us, but I’m glad he’ll be happier now.  To honor him, I put together some pictures on Flickr.

We had a sad and unfortunate moment this weekend.  Long before Will was born, we were given a beautiful bassinet from my brother and his wife.  They were moving and wouldn’t need it anymore.  We used it the first couple of weeks with Will before moving him to his crib (he squeaked an awful lot in his sleep).  I wanted it out of the way then, so we moved it under the stairs for storage.  This weekend we decided to do some organizing under the stairs since we had tossed lots of other Will things under there too.  What we found was among the most disgusting things I have ever seen.

Remember the cat problem I discussed a while back?  It was worse than we could have ever imagined.  As it turns out, Star was peeing in the bassinet for 3 months!  And then the pee soaked (and water tight) bassinet sat for 4 months.  Then one beautiful Saturday afternoon, we pulled that once pure white bassinet out of storage and were horrified by the stench of cat pee.  7 months of damage had destroyed the bassinet turning it brown.

I’m a little in shock still.  It is destroyed which makes me incredibly sad.  I was really looking forward to using it in the distant future or at least passing it on to friends.  It was so pretty and Will looked so cute in it (sorry, past Will photos are only open to family and friends).

Don’t worry though, it is all wrapped in garbage bags ready for the trash.  No way that grossness is staying around this house!  *washes hands 10 times*