What's wrong with those? I don't have time to spin any more, or even to knit much - but I certainly have done it! And I make soap (as those of you who were at AN or the European competitions know)..... not rag rugs, though!

Meanwhile, this morning I was very tired after a booze-up - no, booze-cruise to France & Belgium on Friday/Saturday, so really only pottered around the rink this morning, mostly watching Husband.

Flowing: He was shown how to do a parallel - camel - spin, also a sitspin. We think he'll master them by May. We did a Fiesta Tango together and, while it is not yet good, at least it was moving!

Frozen: We tried a Foxtrot, but I have got muddled with some of the steps and need to be reminded what to do. It is coming, though... slowly.

Our Winter Festival is tonight; unlike many rinks it's a competition, not a show, and sadly, this year, only free skating, no interpretive or artistic. So we are helping rather than skating. We bought sparkling wine for the judges while we were in France, must go and wrap it!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I made "boot deodorizor" spray the other day.....150% grain alcohol, lavendar oil, tea tree oil, water....because my skates were starting to reek!!! Maybe I should try making soap too!

Sprayed some in my daughter's skates when she wasn't looking!

Coming this summer-Terry's 2nd attempt at dying lycra! (yes, I will be ordering the good dye from Dharma Trading!)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Nothing wrong with spinning yarn, making soap, or making rag rugs, etc. We were all just astonished at how many craft projects she was doing with a newborn and a two-year-old in the house and her husband away on business (and I think she was doing some freelance work, too)!


Yup, it was SCW, the 2:55 session. Not crowded at all--perhaps two or three other people in lesson. The sessions before and after were not crowded either. The ice felt so nice. I had a heck of a time getting there, though, because of the road construction. I missed the turn the first time, then turned around, missed my other chance for a turn, turned around again and realized that there was a jersey wall between me and the turn I wanted to make, so I had to turn around yet again! Getting home was much easier.

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Thanks, Jen. Yep, that's what I did yesterday and last night. Today, it feels better - I can bend it now, and it hurts much less (and really only at the spot where it hit the ice). It's just a bruise now (which will probably be there for a while), but no swelling, thank goodness.

I have a lesson tomorrow and was planning on skating 2 sessions, with an off-ice jump class in between. Depending on how the knee feels tomorrow, I may just do the first session (the one with the lesson) and call it a day. Darn 8-step!

Does this work? My skates do sorta stink. I didn't know there was anything you could really do.

I wipe down my feet with antibacterial handwipes after a session, but the skates stink.

Anyway, practice was pretty good today. We got about six extra minutes. I was constructive and got right to work. Starting with moves, I went through the bronze test, not in runthrough, but did each element. Forward and backward perimeter stroking felt fairly strong, I'm getting comfortable with those elements. Power 3s were a bit better. This other adult skater who passed bronze moves said they looked pass worthy to her, so that was encouraging. The back crossover to back edges were ok. I'm still not generating any power when I do the extension, but I think they are competent. Finally, the 5 step mohawks were ok, still just a wee bit wobbly.

Freestyle was ok today. No lutzitis. Did have a case of flip trouble though. I also kept missing my sit/change sit. Finally got annoyed and just told myself I needed to shut up and do my program, no excuses. I was able to do a pretty good spin. Also landed the lutz/loop, which was very nice. No flip toe combo though and a wonky second lutz. The rest of the program felt smoother.

Worked on axels at the end. I'm not there yet, but not too bad either.

Everything seems to be FROZEN lately! We had show rehearsal this morning, during which our party scene went smoothly (for once), however, it turned ugly after that.....found out mandatory (miss it and you're out of the show) dress rehearsal is on Thursday instead of Friday (oops, didn't catch that one) on the same night as daughter's Winter Concert (which is mandatory and counts as a grade)!!!

After much discussion, and skating director not relenting, the only choice was to send notice to the choir director letting her know the situation and asking for leniency. Since daughter does not have a solo piece, and people have been known to get excusal for extenuating circumstances, I'm hoping she can get one.
-----edited to remove my rant----some things are better left unsaid------
I tried to work on my power-3's, but they suck and will suck for the show. Right now, I don't care. I'm really disgusted with everything at this point.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

It seems to be working! Here's what I did:

Filled a spray bottle with 2 Tablespoons of the grain alcohol-this helps to disperse the oils so they mix well. I used grain alcohol because it doesn't have it's own odor and I always have it on hand (for medicinal purposes )

Add 20 drops of lavender oil-for scent

Add 20 drops of tea tree oil-it's a disenfectant

Fill bottle with 1/2 cup of water and shake well. It will look cloudy. Spray as needed, usually 1-2 squirts (set to fine mist) into the boot after you've skated (you don't want to put a wet boot on). I've sprayed it once and skated about 3 days and so far-no reek! Again, these measure are what I used, adjust to suit yourself!

I suppose you could use lemon/orange oil or vanilla if you wanted to. I'd be careful about using too strong a scent or perfume-it might react with the foot bacteria in the boot and give a "different" odor than what you want.

I don't usually care for lavender, but this isn't too strong. I smell it when I take my boot off, then is goes away.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Hmmm I'll give it a try. I'm getting into making my own "soft chemistry" cleaners.

Where does one obtain grain alcohol?

The liquor store. If you are underage use rubbing alcohol. If you don't want to go in, send someone else or you could use vodka, gin, or rubbing alcohol (cheaper at $.50/bottle at the dollar store). It all works the same, since you will be covering it up with the oils.

I had it on hand.....use it for skin stuff so I have to use the grain alcohol (that's the medicinal purposes-I don't drink!)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Oh ok, I can just use the vodka we have at home. Two tablespoons isn't very much.

I was thinking of that 100% pure grain alcohol, I thought you had to get in Canada or something.

Flowing

Hah! Fixed that LFI 3-turn jinx! They still need a lot of work, but yesterday I spent a whole hour doing nothing but darn thing and finally got it. So now I can do it both ways, finally.

Frozen

Well, the only reason I got down to 3-turns was everything else simply refused to work. Spins were shaky, jumps - clumsy and mohawks - scratchy.

To compesate, went home early and had a nice walk while the sun was still out there. Sometimes it's good to be reminded that there are other nice things beside skating (though skating still comes first!)

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My other car is a Zamboni

No, you can get it anywhere, eh!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I think mostly anwhere, at least in the USA. I think it's illegal in Virginia. (Friends of mine from VA stopped by a liquor store in MD on their way through the state one time and were thrilled to find it.)

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Wow, I didn't know that, Mika! And, I used to live there! Well, they strictly regulate everything down there, so whatever you find in the ABC (I think that's what they are called-brain fart right now) stores......

Now, up here in Delaware, we just got booze sales made legal on Sundays, so right after church you can now buy your six-pack ! but you still can't buy lottery tickets on Sundays?!?!?!?!

Vodka or gin will do (for the purists), as will rubbing alcohol (for those on a budget, who don't care, or underage).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Frozen:
Simply put, my rink!! My toes were numb when I took my skates off tonight.
It was very hard to bend knees and get into the ice, which made the runthrough of my freeskate program, well as disaster.
My toeloop and sitspin are totally frozen!

Flowing:
My backscratch and forward scratch spins- once Coach worked on them with me!

After this Christmas show, it's full tilt boogie work on the freeskate to get it back to competition shape for February!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Terri C:
You have until February to compete. Coach handed me the schedule and my first one is January 16! That's the day after my program debuts at our exhibition skate! Yikes! That leaves me NO time to "fix" any problems (there are many now )...

oh, well. Never said I wasn't insane.....

Glad to hear your backscratch is good!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

...and you live in the land where it's TAX FREE.....

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Yeah, but the shopping SUCKS!!!!

We went to the King of Prussia mall no long ago.....I was in nirvana!!!

Glad I can now buy clothes in an "off the rack" size!!! I luv to shop now!!!

And, dragging hubby into Victorias Secret (just to "browse") got me 2 very nice rings!!! This is from el-cheapo man who doesn't buy birthday cards!!
Whatever it takes!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Some new videos (taken with my digital camera even, so the quality is good) here: http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/ice_skating/2005-12-12/

Flowing: Well my spins are not *too* terribly bad these days.

Frozen: The last 2 videos show examples of "when spinning goes wrong". Not only that, but my posture is bad and arms are uneven in all the spins. Sigh...gotta figure out how to fix it. And I need to exit spins in practice more, it's apparent that I never do it.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve