Riot and Frolic

FitBit and #%$^#&$

Recently, I got one of those damn FitBit devices.

I have the super boring black one, but I want THIS ONE

I'm a sucker for fitness-tech gear and figured it was a nice stepping stone to getting a heart rate monitor.*

Along with keeping track of my exercise (eventually there will running again) without draining my iPhone battery (plus I hate wearing an arm band while running), I've wanted to do some research on how many calories you really burn doing ballroom dancing in all its different forms: lessons, practicing, rounds, competitions, etc.  And because I don't believe the charts I've seen.

After buying and using it for a couple months, here's what I learned along the way:

Settings

Especially if you're a ballroom dancer and want to stop swearing every time you look at your FitBit app, CHANGE THE SETTINGS.  

When we spend a lot of time in dance frame, or practicing our Latin motion, we're not exactly racking up steps since our wrist isn't moving enough to garner any shock to our tracking device.  

Likewise, even during a really good Jive or Swing, there's not enough of a jolt (damn you, foot articulation and body control!) to tell our tech we're really actually totally moving.  

This is not what I want to see after teaching Cha Cha for 4 hours:

after a full day of teaching and dancing. [sad trombone]

1 active minute?! 

ONE?!

Go to fitbit.com (you can't do it from your phone) and get thee to the "devices" menu under "settings".

Change your "sleep tracking" to "sensitive".  

change this

Suddenly, all those amazing steps you take (with your wrist basically still on someone's arm) will start counting.  (If you're mainly interested in sleep tracking, this will not work.  I'm only getting "4 hours of sleep" a night due to "restlessness" according to ye olde FitBit now. )

huzzah!

Super bonus setting: pregnancy or nursing setting.  WHAT. 

Yes.

Also, on the real website, under "settings", then "personal info", you can check several handy settings for the mothering active lady.  Apparently, it adjusts your caloric needs based on all that science-y stuff about having babies.  

Fashion

I got the Flex (wristband) because I did.  Sometimes, it looks dorky or doesn't coordinate with my Look for the day (hahahahaha, when I try).  Or I want to wear it, but don't want people to see it (dance comps).  Of course, you could invest in an array of colors to match any ensemble.  Or...

Commiserating about fitness and fashion one day, one of our awesome students told me she had a Zip (the little clippy one).  Then, she showed me her brilliant solution - hanging it from the bridge of her bra!  

can you see me now?

Invisible fitness tracker!  

 

What's your story?  Do you do the whole fitness/tech thing?  What's your favorite app?  

 

*Anyone have a good recommendation for one?

Leaf Week in Review

Let's review the simpleness that was Theme Week #1:

Monday

Leaf Magnets: a fairly fool-proof craft that included enough exercise and education to look like a school thingy.

Tuesday

Placecards: in case the girls got lost around our huge dining room table, I made (the ladies were too busy playing outside/helping pick up construction material from the siding that is getting put on our house [huzzah!]) the fantastically easy table decorations from Craft-a-Day, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

The book is filled with [guess how many] 365 SUPER SIMPLE, QUICK, AWESOME CRAFTS.  Depending on your age range, you could complete most of the projects in under 10 minutes, with very basic art supplies (paper, scissors, and glue are the most needed).  It comes with templates to match the seasonal theme weeks [hmmmm, I wonder where I got the idea for theme weeks...] and is perfect for a soothing mini-craft session, or making stuff with kids.  

peanut butter cheerios are also highly recommended

Also note our snazzy centerpiece, made with the leftover leaves from Monday's project.  

Wednesday

Leaf barrettes: also from the amazing Craft-a-Day, I traced the handy leaf template onto some felt, released my inner perfectionist, and let the girls (who more or LESS know how to use scissors) cut out their own leaves.  

Mae Cake conceded after a few minutes and let me "finish" hers, V did a pretty good job, and Zoo's looked more like a diamond than a leaf, but they were all very proud of their work, and wore their hair ornaments proudly for the rest of the week.

Even Zoo.  Who has minimal hair.

Thursday

Thursday got away from me, theme-week-wise, since I finally got to break in my new waffle iron.  I diligently searched the interwebs for the most reliable looking recipe I could find and this one seemed to fit the bill: Waffle of Insane Greatness.  It was not badly named.

I thought I died for a second when I took my first bite: crispy, chewy, salty, sweet... HOW DID I EVER LOVE EGGOS?!

Eight waffles later (I SWEAR I MADE EXTRA FOR THE GUYS WORKING ON THE HOUSE), I had perfected my technique, but lost time (patience/energy) for making stuff.

Friday

Field trip to the Arboretum: the one in Chanhassen.  Why did people keep asking me "Which one?"  IS THERE MORE THAN ONE?!

It's so damn pretty.  We saw about a tenth of it and I loved everything: flowers, trees (CHANGING COLORS!), waterfalls, ponds, herbs, maple syrup house, bakery...

Um, the muffins there are amazing.  

We're going back this month because A) the ladies are free B) I want to see ALL OF IT (there were rumors of fairy gardens and playgrounds, so... that's a whole day) C) you basically get a two-for-one with any paid admission.  

Plus, I need to take more pictures like this:
Happy Monday!

Three years ago: A Hard Day's Night, in which I'm self-important.

Bullet Journal 202

Things have gotten REAL since my last take on ye olde bullet journal.  Not that this summer wasn't totally filled with adventures and expansions, but now there's school and more working and still feeding the people and cleaning the shelter.  

Plus, there's this whole blog thing.  

I needed to change up my weekly spread because

• I wasn't using my cute and motivational sidebars
• my to-list is more of a weekly thing, than a daily thing (with urgent things getting done first, of course) and is ever growing
• I have several facets of my life that I wanted all boiled down on one page (with notes and business at length referenced elsewhere).

Here was version 1.1 of the last spread:

Notice how the cleaning section is gone?  Yeeeeeeah.  That didn't work out great.  Not that my house is a mess, but having a cleaning schedule with simple chores relegated to certain days makes it easier to tell my children what to clean.  

Okay, fine.  Sometimes I do it, too.

This is what I'm working with now:

 

It's OS 2.0.  

With the all-inclusive checklists and chores and things to do:

Problem: I've been so happy with the whole bullet journal thing that when I ran out of my fav Kraft Squared Large Moleskine Journal, I got all cocky and "upgraded" to a Large Moleskine Notebook.  Which are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS.  I even bought a cute little cover.  

 

Problem continued: while it's kind of a pain in the ass to transfer some collection pages from planner to planner, I feel like I'm outgrowing the half-sheet size of the "large".

More problems: y'all, I think I need to upgrade to the Extra Large Moleskine.  I hate feeling like I'm squashing things in when I'm writing and that's what it feels like.  I, like the Dixie Chicks, like wide, open spaces.  But then [careful: whining follows] where do I put it?  I mean, obviously, I'll need to get a new bag or carry around my backpack like I'm still 20 but who am I kidding, I'll need to break out my bigger bag pretty soon anyways because diapers and 

Well.  Let's just stop right there.

Look!  There's Sam Rockwell dancing!

One year ago: The Garden of Good (and Barely Any Evil) : 2013 Part 3, in which I take a stab at things. 

 

Leaf Week

(It's like Shark Week, but totally different.)

In an effort to be even more of a nerd, I have declared a theme for every week around my house.  This week, it's LEAF WEEK.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I "pinned" some super cool leaf magnets: leafs!  trapped in time!  under plastic!  on your fridge!

Stoked and clearly underestimating the size of a standard leaf, I bought these laminating pouches:

Really? 2.5" by 3.5"? Have I ever seen a maple leaf?

And since it was spring, I waited for fall...

Two and half years later, after the inception of Leaf Week, I remembered that I had the supplies for CRAFT-TIME waiting for us.

Here's the thing about making stuff with little kids.  It has to be STUPID EASY and take less than an hour.  Less than 10 minutes is usually even better.  And a back-up plan should be in place.  

(I still have anxiety/inadequency issues about my kindergarten class going outside in winter [in full Minnesota snow regalia] to find nature-y things which we would then glue on paper.  I had bad-ass mittens on, so my hands were toasty, but I COULDN'T GRAB ANYTHING.  When I did take off a mitten and pick something up, it would fall out of my claw-like grasp the second I put my mitten back on.  Hence, back-up plan.  To eleviate future therapy concerns.)

Leaf Magnets in 10 Easy Steps

1. Walk to the park across the street, which is "soooooo far".
2. At first mention of gigantic distance of park from house, start oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the gorgeous leaves on the ground.  
3. Pick up leaves to make a "bouquet".
4. Point out small leaves for small children to pick up to fit in inappropriately-sized laminating sheets since most of the leaves they have delighted in are bigger than their heads.
5. Direct leaf-selecting characteristics such as: pretty, green, brown, tiny, huge, yellow, orange, red, not covered in bugs.
6. Walk "all the way home" with booty.
7. Spread leaves out in the entryway and let small children tell you which ones will fit in the laminating thingies and which will not.  Be ridiculous in your estimations.  It's funnier that way.
8. Place leaves on sticky surface of laminating pouches and marvel at the relative ease of this project.
9. Glue magnets on backside of leafy refrigerator decorations.
10. Give yourself a high five by pouring yourself some coffee.

waiting for the glue to dry

 

magnets in action

Those extra leaves from the bouquets?  Yeah, they're table decorations now.  In vases.  And falling out of vases.  It is very autumnal around here.

[Ingredients: leaves, laminating pouches, magnets, glue]

Nathan! It's NOT Shark Week

 One year ago: LLLL, in which I was horrible or not.

What the Hell is Going On: Dancesport Registration and Program Literacy: Age Categories

Back in the day, I went on at length about proficiency levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Open) in ballroom dancesport competitions.  This time, I'm going to BRIEFLY tell you about age categories.

Ready?

DANCE YOUR AGE CATEGORY.

Sign up for the age category that you fit into RIGHT NOW.  Not the one you wish you were in, or one that applied ten years ago, or even one that you think you might pass for.

Competitors who "dance down" (sign up for younger-than-applicable age categories) are not doing themselves a favor.  Classically, the B age categories are the most competitive levels (for ladies especially; in the gentlemen categories, it's usually even better at C).  

Why?  Ladies that are 35+ or so are well out of college (and maybe even out of the debt that comes with it), have steady jobs, are very-able-bodied, and have free time.   In other words, they have the money, time, and energy to focus on ballroom.  The A division often doesn't have the money and time part, and the Cs are starting to lose the energy (although, dammit, if I haven't seen MANY awesome Ds).

Hence the catchy nickname for the ladies (and gentlemen) of this age: Killer Bs.

Also, if you're looking for your money's worth at a competition, I have often seen quarterfinals in freestyle events at the B level.  That means you could register to dance 6 dances and end up doing 18.  More dancing (as always) = more fun.

Many of the same ideas apply to the C generation, just not in the same numbers.  As much as dancesport is for all ages, our joints and tendons and muscles don't always want to be pushed at a competitive level forever (this applies to all ages, but it tends to start happening more often at 50+ and THAT'S SCIENCE), so there aren't as many competitors in the... more... experienced... age categories. 

The A division babies are insane.  Often fresh off high school or college athletic careers, they can DO things.  For better or for worse, they sometimes get pushed through the proficiency levels too quickly because of it, but see my personal note below for why it'll still work for them.

CAVEAT!  It IS fun to dance down once in awhile, just to see what happens.  And often, as you get to be an octogernarian or nonagenarian (I've seen a few centenarians), you'll outgrow even the Senior multi-dance events and are going to have to dance down if you'd like to enter a multi-dance.

ALSO FUN, if you're a Youth competitor, you may dance UP into the A category (as far as I remember).  If there's not usually a huge number of competitors in your Youth division (which there often isn't), I might sign up for the adult category if it's a possibility.

Note for Amateur Couples

• at any organization, if your partner is of a different age category than you, you must dance at the younger age division.  

Personal Note

Good GOD, if there was a Pro Masters category (or Senior I, as USADance endearingly calls my age range), I WOULD DO IT.  I swear, half of the people I compete against can't even hit the bar afterwards.  18- 23 year olds?  CRAZY.  SHAMELESS.  YOUNG.  I mean, I remember what I was like, so... Give me the 30+ crowd ANY DAY. 

  

Bonus material: this article made me laugh and laugh.  Oh God, and this, too.

Best sandwich EVER: this.

One year ago: Crafter's Block, in which I steal from other people's creativity.

Two years ago: On Not Owning a Television, in which it longer seems that revolutionary.

Three years ago: LLLL, in which I realize I have long hair.