I Made My Own Dance Floor . . . . Seriously!!!

I have dreams of tap-dancing.

When I was in college, I was in Nunsense which has one tap dance number. For this I learned the time-step, the Buffalo, and a few other simple steps. Put together, I was really tapping, and totally fell in love.

Seriously, have you ever tapped? It’s a blast. One song, performed during a run of about 10 performances, and it totally gave me the bug. I spent the entire semester working on that one dance.

I dreamed that once I became a stay-at-home mom, I would get to do all of the fun things that you just don’t have the time to do when you have a “real job.”

hahahahahaha.

Somehow I didn’t think about things like the fact that children probably wouldn’t want to sit there quietly watching their mother hoof around. So quietly that a dance instructor wouldn’t mind at all that they were there.

My children, pre-conception, while they only lived in my dreams, were so well behaved.

I think I realized on Day 2 of motherhood that I was wrong.

But I haven’t given up. I still look through the community college catalog every semester when it comes in the mail to see if they offer a tap class. And I dream of taking one someday when all the kids are in school. Not that I’m looking forward to that day AT ALL.

So motherhood rocked my dream-world right at 8 years ago. Then about 5 years ago, I ordered some tap shoes off of ebay. With motherhood came two much larger feet than the ones that fit into the tap shoes of my college-days .

Now, here it is 2010, three kids later, and I’m ready to tap. Still can’t do a class, but I just ordered a dvd I’ve been looking at for years. I’d seen it on ebay, and the 80s look of the cover turned me off. I was scared to spend the money.

But, since I’ve been earning Amazon giftcards by using Swagbucks, I had some virtual money burning a hole in my virtual pocket. (If you haven’t signed up for swagbucks, you totally should. If you don’t understand what it is, read this post that explains.) I started browsing Amazon and found that the video I Hate to Exercise, I Love to Tap had very high ratings.

So I got the video since I didn’t have to spend a dime of “real” money.

Tap isn’t like jazz. You can’t just do it in your living room. I do have wood floors, but I learned the hard way years ago at my parents’ house that you really shouldn’t tap on nice floors. Oops.

So, what did I do? I MADE MY OWN DANCE FLOOR!!!

Seriously.

I’m so excited.

I used a piece of plywood that used to be about 4X8, but my husband had cut off 2 or 3 feet of it for my 6yo who is obsessed with building. This is a piece of wood that has been in the backyard for ahem, quite a while, salvaged from a construction project at my husband’s workplace. It’s not in the greatest shape, but totally works.

I taped all of the edges, to preserve my floors as I slide it into place. It also gives a place to hold on and avoid splinters.

I used this never-used-so-why-do-I-have-it bath scrubber thingy to brush off excess dirt.

I found an old/stained tablecloth that I put under it in the living room, so that it won’t leave any splinters in the carpet.