Friday, February 12, 2016

Figure Skating Books For Girls

Christmas is behind us and on my quest to find figure skating gifts for my daughter I found some great ideas in books. She loved getting these for Christmas and of course getting kids to read is so hard job sometimes. She has a passion for skating like myself and I am seriously tempted to sneak some of her books and read them myself.

During the 1990's the Silver Blades Series of books was being read by millions of girls. I found these Silver Blades books on ebay which can be purchased one at a time or in lots.

Below is the Gold Medal Series of 3 Books.


Silver Blades - On The Edge - Gold Medal Dreams #1



Silver Blades - Chance of A Lifetime - Gold Medal Dream - #3


I also found that American Girl had a figure skating series of books. My daughter was thrilled to get these for Christmas as she is also obsessed with American Girl Dolls.

Mia - American Girl








Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Fun Figure Skating Craft - Ice Skate Bookmarks

I have noticed there aren't very many figure skating crafts or websites focusing on life "figure skating". I found this fun craft to do with our skaters. These would make great gifts or just to use ourselves. These are adorable and easy to make. How To Make Felt Ice Skate Bookmarks




Please Follow this link for the How To Make Felt Ice Skate Bookmarks

Happy Skating!


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The Figure Skating Roller Coaster And Other Dilemmas!

Why is it so emotional at the rink? Maybe it's that I make some gains and then plateau. This past week I accomplished my first Waltz Jumps. I incorporated the backward cross overs and voila! I did it. On the drive home I literally had a smile on my face. I have not signed up for lessons as of yet. If I can't afford to put my daughter in lessons I sure as heck am not taking them myself.

Right now I am taking it easy on my sciatic nerve. Sadly I have that problem, I assume from having 5 children and not having "birthing hips".  I was recently able to acquire health insurance from my husbands job, which creates a financial problem for us. It's a no win situation.

I would love to pay for a private coach for my daughter and myself, but she comes first. She's 10 and I am coaching her as far as I can. We also watch and study youtube videos that are so very helpful.

She has a passion to skate like myself. She's really good for the short time she has been skating. She started skating for the very first time in November, 2015. She's spinning, spiraling, shooting the duck and cross-overing all over the ice. I know with "real" coaching she will go very far. She is driven. She also has a blog Marah Skates.

I ordered a handbook for some extra tips on figure skating. It is an official handbook propared for the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA). The title is Basic Ice Skating Skills. It is very helpful and has photos and step by step instructions.

Basic Ice Skating Skills Book


That takes me back to the financial situation. I'm a stay at home mom and I have my ebay sales and I have a store on amazon. My website is figureskatinggifts.com. I make and sell novelty ice skate soakers and blade towels and will be offering many other figure skating gifts very soon.

It's a growing business and I have a lot of things in the works when it comes to figure skating gifts. It is truly a passion and I also love to sew and handcraft things. I take pride in that.

Sadly our new insurance is over $500 a month and my husband also pays out over $600 a month in child support that is wasted at the mall. Those two payments really kill a paycheck and that's before anything else is paid and those two bills HAVE to be paid. My ex-husband does not pay child support and my husband is raising my children. We chose for me to be a stay at home mom for the 3 we are raising together. My kids had been through a lot and my husband wanted the best for them. The law doesn't care about "step kids" they can go without or in my children's case much less than my husbands children even though my husband doesn't think it's fair either.

So we can't afford "coaching". If I go back to work full-time I won't be able to practice or take my daughter to The "figure skating" slot during the day that our local rink offers. I am looking to work part-time in the morning but office work is usually full time. The choice left over is possibly room cleaning at a hotel or Dunkin Donuts A.K.A fast food. The pay would be about $8.50 an hour. If I go back to work full-time my daughters dream is over.

We will have to make this work somehow. She is my youngest and I won't take that away from her. Figure skating takes a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of hours, and a parents dedication to make it happen.

There is no figure skating club here in my city. They closed it down a couple of years ago. The only skating clubs are about 250 miles away. We are in this on our own for the most part but I have to be there for her to do this. Of course I will skate too but she can really go far. My hope is that I will make it to adult nationals in the next year or two. She could go to the Olympics if she had the chance. She's so passionate and I'm glad. She is no quitter.

I will be working very hard on growing my at home business, I really love it!