Starfoxy
All posts written by "Starfoxy"
By: Starfoxy
I'm late sharing this, I know, but a few months ago I was released as the singing time leader. So there will be no more singing time posts. I was a little sad to be released, but I was getting to the point where I was ready for a change. The reason I was released was so that I could be called to teach the senior nursery with my husband.
By: Starfoxy
I'm a tense sort of person, and I carry my stress in my shoulders. I have lots of trouble relaxing. I've often thought that it would be good for me to get a massage. Not just the sort where my husband half-heartedly rubs my shoulders for five minutes, but the sort where you lay down on a special table and get a high quality rub-down from a trained professional for a good half hour or so.
While the whole thing sounds very appealing, it also squicks me out.
By: Starfoxy
I knit. I don't know how I came to enjoy knitting so much, especially since I live in a convection oven. There isn't much demand for knitted goods around here, so I end up giving quite a few things away.
By: Starfoxy
There are some songs in the Primary songbook that just ooze hand motions. These songs are generally wiggle songs (My hands, I wiggle, etc.), but hand motions are incredibly useful in holding the kids' attention, and helping them remember the songs. Unfortunately for most reverent songs it is incredibly difficult to make up movements. Another wrench in the process is that my ward follows a policy that doesn't allow hand motions when singing in sacrament meeting, with an exception for American Sign Language.
By: Starfoxy
So, over at fMh a commenter named Whitney said this:
"I asked a question about how women can consider themselves active members of a patriarchal system and also consider themselves feminists."
I gave her a snarky answer, but then thought that it wasn't very nice and decided to tackle her question in earnest. I do consider myself a feminist, sometimes I even consider myself a radical feminist.
By: Starfoxy
Like many others, I dated a few people that were not good matches for me. Most of the people I dated were good guys, we just had different expectations, needs, and priorities. However, one of the people I dated exhibited abusive tendencies. I did not see his behavior as such and nearly married him. Even though I didn't marry him, the time I spent with him took a heavy toll on my self-esteem and changed my life for the worse in many ways. He never crossed the line into outright abuse (physical or emotional), and so I have hope that his marriage is a happy one. But this post isn't about him, it's about Curtis.
By: Starfoxy
When I was called as the primary chorister it was 3 weeks before the Primary Program. I had been in the ward for two weeks, and had never had a calling in primary before. The previous chorister had moved from the ward the week before we moved in, and substitutes had been doing singing time for the three weeks before I started. After struggling through the program I found myself adrift in my calling. I didn't know the kids. I didn't know how to teach the kids songs. I didn't know what they responded to, games they were familiar with, or even the basic songs they knew. The first few weeks were full of awkward moments with me singing by myself songs that I was certain everyone knew. I found myself wishing over and over again that I had been given a list of songs the kids knew. That way I could have known which songs we could just sing, and which songs I would have to teach them (or else sing solo).
By: Starfoxy
There is a pamphlet put out by the church that encourages parents to use proper names when discussing body parts.The use of proper names for body parts is something about which I feel very strongly.
By: Starfoxy
A woman in my ward recently posted a request for recipes on her personal blog. This woman is an avid cook, and already has more recipes than most. The reason she put out this request was because she had decided to take a more active role in reducing the amount of meat in her diet. One reason she cited was the phrase from D&C 89 that says to eat meat sparingly.
She never said that she was attempting vegetarianism, let alone veganism. All she said was that she wanted to reduce the amount of meat in her diet, and so wanted more recipes that had little to meat in them. This declaration didn't seem at all unusual to me, and is even something I have considered doing myself. I was taken aback when the first comment on her post expressed deep concern about my friend's motivations for doing something so drastic. A later post intimated other friends and family members had expressed similar sentiments to my friend in person.
By: Starfoxy
In the past I've taken cues from my parents and bemoaned the commercialization of Christmas. I've lamented how quickly the birth of Christ is forgotten among the gifts and festivities.
These days, however, I'm seriously considering cutting my losses and completely separating my recognition of Christ's birth from the midwinter celebrations.
By: Starfoxy
Shortly after I was married my Father-in-law asked me about one of my relatives. He said "How did George (name changed) get to be so nice? He's so softspoken and thoughtful, it's really refreshing." My first impulse was to shrug my shoulders and mumble a non-committal "I dunno." You see, 'nice' isn't the word I would have picked to describe George. I would probably have picked 'angry' first.
By: Starfoxy
This is a very simple game that allows the kids to select the songs to sing during singing time. It can also be adapted for a very wide range of uses.
By: Starfoxy
For this activity I used two oldish blankets, a blue one and a green one, and some paper flowers. At the beginning of singing time I got out my blue blanket and declared "I have a blanket, and I want to play pretend with it! What should I play?" A few kids shouted out things like sleeping, being a superhero with a cape, and fishing. I mimed a few of those and then said, "I want to pretend that my blanket is a stream!" and laid the blanket on the ground.
By: Starfoxy
A piece of advice I've heard over and over again from various sources is to 'practice church' during the week. How on earth do you go about doing that, exactly?
By: Starfoxy
I'm sure I'm not the only person who gets nervous when praying for a large group. I've only prayed in Sacrament meeting once or twice and was rather nervous both times. Because of this it is not suprising to me when someone does something like praying for the health and safety of their children by name in a large group meeting.
By: Starfoxy
One of the more enjoyable games I've used to successfully teach a song is as follows. I write all of the words to the song up on the chalkboard. We recite the words together without music once or twice, then sing the song through. At this point I pick someone to select a word (or two) from the song, and I erase every instance of that word from the board.