HOW TO... Give your Cat a Bath Part 3

1.)    Now its time for the drying off process to begin. First you must get your cat out of the shower. Its your lucky day open the shower curtain and your cat will jump right out! You wont have to do a thing! Now’s the tricky part. Take the towel and try to rub/squeegee as much water off of your cat as possible. Weather you have to wrap him/her up in the towel like a baby or if you are just going for the pounce and rub effect! Either will work but only one will be fit to the personality of your cat. Any other improved versions of these will work too as long as you are successfully getting as much water off as possible! 

2.)    This is the important step. You don’t want your little kitty to catch a cold (or ruin any furniture) so you must blow-dry them! I often find its easier if the hair dryer is plugged in by the bathroom door because that is where the cat will be spending the majority of its time meowing and pawing at the door trying to get out! All you have to do is just try to move the hair dryer around so you don’t over heat one part of your kitties skin and brush the hair around with your hand so it will dry even faster! Do this until the fur is either all the way dry or mostly dry just make sure he/she is not wet enough to catch a cold!    

3.)    The ninth step is brushing your cat. You can do this now or give your cat time to run and roll around on the floor first. But make sure you brush everywhere so he/she’s fur looks nice and clean!

    10.)  So now your cat is clean but are you? Either towel all the excess kitty hair off you              or take your own shower! What ever will help you feel as clean as your newly cleaned cat! But remember you just put your kitty though 30 minutes of hell. So for your benefit, give your kitty a treat and know you are the best parent in the world!

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HOW TO... Give your Cat a Bath Part 2

1.)    Now its time to get down and dirty. Possibly the hardest step, if your cat is smart, will be getting your kitty into the bathroom now containing running water, shampoo, a towel, and a hair dryer. So in order to chase your cat down you may need to put on some running shoes…just a suggestion. When you have successfully captured your kitty and managed to drag he or she (or in those unfortunate ball chopping situations an it) to the bathroom. Once inside close the door swiftly. There’s no turning back now.

2.)    Now its time to get your cat into the bath! Pick them up and carry them inside the shower closing the curtain or door firmly behind you. You are now free to set down your fur ball friend knowing he/she will not be getting away.

3.)    Once the initial freak out has subsided you can start wetting your cat down. I myself always put him under the spicket and then just scoop water with my hands on the other not wet places. Do not wet the face if you don’t have to! You do not want to have any risk of soap in the eye or water up the nose! Alas be very sure to avoid the ears unless you want to be applying swimmers ear eardrops for the next month!

4.)    Now you have to lather your kitty up! Squirt a quarter size amount of shampoo onto your cats back and gently rub it around (while also attempting to hold your cat in place). If you do not reach all spots with a quarters worth then add some more where its needed. Make sure to rub it around and make this as enjoyable for the cat as possible weather you only pet the can in one direction or if you give them a kind of massage, whatever your cat will like best! You’re the parent YOU decide. After rubbing in all the soap its time to rinse it all out and again I suggest placing your cat under the spicket and using handfulls of water to rinse those none reachable places.

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HOW TO... Give your Cat a Bath Part 1

If any of you are cat lovers like me then you know from experience just how hard it is to give your cat a bath. Every time my kitty Otis manages to escape into the wild of my back yard I just know he is going to come back with flecks of mulch and shovels of sand in his fur. This is when the very precise skill of giving a cat a bath comes in handy.

1.)    The very first step towards getting back that new cat shine is making sure you have everything your going to need. Anything that you could possibly need because once you close that door it will be the survival of the fittest. Who will win…you or the cat? The most necessary items will of course be animal shampoo (sold at your local pet store) a towel, and a kitty brush. Another essential is a hair dryer. You may think why couldn’t I just towel my kitty off and let him air-dry his fur? This is a big NO NO if you don’t blow dry their fur at least mostly dry there is a ginormous (as in bigger than the completely ginormous toilets in elf) risk of your cat getting a cold. Not to mention the dampness you may feel when sitting down on your couch.

     2.)  The second step is getting everything ready! I always choose to wash my cat in my shower with me                     (bathtub included) because its easier to control him and when the curtain is pulled there is no way for your kitty to get out! So in order to prepare my surroundings I make sure the shampoo is in the shower, the bathtub is being filled with a comfortable temperature of water. Then I put the towel on the counter outside the shower and plug the hair dryer next to the brush so I’m all ready to go afterwards. The last thing you must do when getting ready is change. You may be saying, why would I do that? I can just bend over and only get my legs wet! Well darlin there’s going to be a lot more getting wet than just your legs. So for your comfort please put on a swimming suit and shorts if you must. 


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Compare Contrast Part 2

Clothes:

            The clothes you wear while singing these two different kinds of music are very different. In choir all we do is throw on a old smelly green robe and some black character shoes. In opera however we always try to dress like a diva. When my school choir competes at a music competition we put on our robes with our hair however it had been the entire day. When I compete with opera, half the competition is who has the nicest outfits! We wear floor length gowns or old homecoming dresses! Also you never perform without wearing makeup! I always find myself putting on extra eyeliner and blush and it’s so fun to get ready! With choir I usually just wear my makeup like I would any other day! (which would be nothing!) The difference in appearance is huge, not to mention the additional costs of always having to have formal outfits.

Voice Part:

            One of the last big differences between singing opera and singing in school is what voice part I sing. When I’m with my voice teacher, I hit notes you wouldn’t believe! All of which are way above the staff but because I can also sing strongly very low, I have richness to my voice that is more common in a mezzo or alto. Because of this richness, I don’t blend as well with the soprano as I do with the mezzo-sopranos. In opera, this is no problem because I’m usually singing solo so I don’t have to worry about blending with other people. However, because high school choir is all about blend, I have been placed as a mezzo instead.

Similarity:

Although opera and singing in the Kennedy choir is quite a bit different, there are also some similarities. For one, both require being able to sing and read music. Another similarity would be the ping. Even though I tend to use more ping in choir, it is still vital in operatic singing and without good ping your voice tends to lose excitement and sometimes even can go flat. Also breathing is very similar in both choirs. Both types of singing require you to fill up your lungs as much as possible. If you can’t get enough breath when singing your voice could sound airy and for both types of singing that would not be good. The last big similarity is technicality. In both types of singing’ it is extremely necessary to use dynamics and other elements of music that makes the singing more fun to listen to.

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Compare Contrast Part 1

Throughout my entire life, I have loved to sing. Whether it was elementary school in the VeeGee’s, middle school in FLaPCo or high school in the chamber choir, I have always tried to be a strong singer in any choir I’m a part of. When you’re like me and you have been in many different kinds of choirs, it’s very easy to compare and contrast them. The two kinds of singing I do that are the most different are my high school choir and my private opera lessons.

Placement:

            The space where you sing in opera is very different from where I sing in my high school choir. With my voice teacher, Karla, I have a very big amount of space. When I’m singing opera I sing more in the back of my throat. Singing farther back helps in opera because it helps you get a 3D sound when you’re singing and helps relax your larynx (vocal chords). In choir however, we sing very far forward. Most high school students don’t take opera lessons and many of them do not know how to sing with space and get that 3D sound. So in order for all of us to blend, we sing more forward and use the right amount of ping to add some vibrancy to our voices. Although this sounds fine with a group of people, it’s definitely not the voice I would use when singing a solo.

Vibrato:

            One of the reasons I love opera is because my vibrato comes so naturally when I sing and it just adds richness to my voice. Because in opera I am singing with a bigger space, I automatically take deeper breaths. Also because when singing solo, there is generally more breaks in the music, it gives me more time to make sure I take a big back breath so I can support my vibrato so it doesn’t sound forced. In choir although sometimes we sing with vibrato, generally our teachers tell us not to because when everyone in a choir is singing with vibrato, the notes start to sound a little sharp or flat. This happens even more when the singers aren’t taking deep enough breaths’ to fully support their voice. I don’t like that we generally don’t use vibrato in choir because it comes naturally and forcing your voice not to use vibrato can be taxing in the long run.
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Nicola Faires

This weekend my cousin, Nicola Craig, now called Nicola Faires, got hitched. She is 25 and has been in Alaska, with the Navy, for one year and eight months. My cousins’ family is very religious and church always comes first with them. They also go by the “you don’t date until your ready to mate” policy. Well I guess my cousin was ready to do just that because only six months ago she met Mark. He is a missionary up in Alaska and has a plane that he uses to travel from city to city since there aren’t very many roads connecting all the cities’ up there.

            My cousin had a very nice church wedding and the entire congregation helped them with anything that had to be done at the church. Her dad helped pay for the bathrooms and a few of the rooms of the church to be redone and by the time the wedding came the whole church looked great. Nicola’s colors were royal blue and gray and all the groomsmen were wearing blue ties and all the bridesmaids were wearing royal blue dresses. The tables were decorated with blue tablecloths and big vases held many pretty flowers and peacock feathers!

            My sister is a cake decorator and my cousin asked her to do her wedding cake. She wanted a simple four-tier cake and my sister used whipped cream frosting and put flowers going up all the tiers. It was very pretty and my cousin really liked it! The dress Nicola wore was amazing. She is such a small girl and her dress just made her look as thin as a toothpick! It was white with lace all up and down it. It had a train with a bar back. It was not strapless but it was still very pretty and showed a lot of skin! The service was very simple and everyone enjoyed talking to family and just having a good time at the reception.

            The next day at church, there was a brunch for anyone who wanted to come from the wedding and they had some left over cake, cinnamon rolls and some other good foods! The bride’s father, my uncle, informed us that Nicola and Mark had left for their honeymoon and had told no one where they were going!  They only left the parents one emergency number to use. I guess it’s a mystery where the newly weds went to spend their first nights as a couple but wherever it was, I bet they will have so much fun, and all I can do is wish them eternal happiness.

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The Big Dance

This weekend my show choir, Happiness Inc., performed in the Big Dance Competition at Davenport North High School. This was our second competition this year and only our fourth and fifth time performing our entire show. On Saturday, January 21, 2012, we woke up early to catch a charter buss, to Davenport. It was an hour and a half long bus ride, but when sitting next to your friends playing fruit ninja and doodle jump, no bus ride is long enough!

We had to be dressed and ready at 4:10 and because I was at a wedding in Davenport until three o’clock, I had to rush back to the school so I would have time to put my make up and costume on. We had our daytime performance at 5:00pm and the feeling of performing was great! We were all so jittery before and excited to perform. Our director had told us that when we were performing we should focus only on having fun and let everything else just fall into place! When we went out to perform, that’s what we did and although there were a few little mistakes, we all felt as if we did an awesome job.

Our critic went great and she gave our band and us some good things to work on. She was a very nice woman and we all enjoyed hearing what she had to say about our show. After our critic, we went to daytime awards and patiently waited to find out who would be going on to finals and who would be sent home. The announcer of awards finally got to show choir results and announced that Happiness, Inc. had come in first place in daytime awards! We had also gotten best vocals and best band! We were all so excited but we held back our yelps. saving our voices for finals. We also found out that our prep show choir had gotten first in the prep division and would be performing last in finals!

When we returned to our homeroom, our director told us we had beat the second place group by forty-one points! In show choir, ten points is a lot and we came out forty-one points ahead! We were all so excited for finals and that Protégé was going to be able to also perform in finals and we all rushed off to have dinner before we had to get dressed and ready for our 9:00pm performance.

Our finals performance was, if possible, our best performance yet. Since the, just have fun thing had defiantly worked in daytime, we did it again at finals and because we had all had time to get our jitters worked out in our first show there was almost no mistakes! I think that I had my personal best show and we all hoped we would pull out in first, as we had during daytime.

When we went to the awards ceremony the auditorium was jam-packed! There were people everywhere and we all tried to get a good seat next to all our group members!  The announcer for the final awards hushed the entire audience as we all waited, holding our breath. He announced the places from 5^th to 1^st and we waited just hoping our name was at the bottom of the list! When there were three groups left, he announced that Happiness, Incorporated had gotten two caption awards! We won best vocals and best choreography! We were so excited and just waited to hear our name! When he announced that Happiness had come in first place and handed over the huge trophy, we all swarmed the stage just trying to grasp and remember this amazing feeling! We later found out we had beat the second place group by 75 points and that was the perfect end to a perfect day.

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