Ballet Pointe Shoes aka Toe Shoes

Ballet dancers invest time, money, and energy in finding the right shoes for their feet. For professional dancers, the shoes may be paid for by the dance company. Students, and their parents or guardians, often pay for the shoes themselves. Pointe shoes normally cost from $40 to $90 a pair, an expensive proposition given that advanced students may use up one pair a week or more.

A variety of dance stores and online dance outlets can help with the purchase of pointe shoes. New dancers benefit from the personal fitting provided at local dance stores. An example is the Empire Dance Shop, in Spokane, Washington. Owned and operated by professional dancers, Philip and Sally Broadbent, the store staff help fit dancers from local studios, as well as taking visiting trips to studios around the area.

For online purchases, ask other dancers and dance teachers, and research sites. Dancers who are familiar with pointe shoes and the individual needs of their feet are better able to navigate the many choices of pointe shoes available on these types of sites. It's easy to find the classically-known dance shoe companies such as Capezio and Freed, along with other popular companies such as Bloch, Grishko, and Sansha.

Many of the online dance sites provide videos of dancers on pointe. Pointe Shoes Online lists shoe companies. Click on "Sansha" for a selction of videos of dancers working on pointe, as well as the unusual combination of toe tap, pointe shoes with taps.

Thrift Shop Decorating with Cups, Plates, and Teapots

One way for economical table decorating is thrift shop finds.
These don't have to be original matches to make an attractive table setting.

The cup, plate, and teapot shown in the photo came from different sources. The cup and plate came from a local Goodwill store, purchased about a year apart. The Irish teapot was a gift from a friend. One day, while I was making tea, I happened to use the cup for tea, and noticed that the green edge trim matched the green edge trim of the teapot.

This accidental match happened in the middle of a busy day, when I was taking a break. Suddenly, the usual tea time gained a pretty design. The plate added a garden scene to the tea cup's farm and orchard scene.

Try this with your own table settings, whether informal or formal. At thrift shops, where plates, cups, and saucers are often only a dollar or less, choose a few that appeal to you, either for a planned match, or the accidental match made in the middle of a busy day.

Hermoine Granger Wand

If you want to know about what Hermoine Granger's wand looks, like, well here it is.

(The video may  not work. I've left it up to remind myself to fix it).

The wand turns on with a swish and flick motion. It takes some practice to get the wand to make the light come on and off. We found that we had to check the wand once we put it in its box, as it had a tendency to turn on from moving the box.

Some people have reported that their little kid can't get the wand to turn on as they can't wave it fast enough. Some solutions are to place a small piece of aluminum foil between the battery and connector.

All in all, it's a fun wand. If the price is too steep, consider home-made wands.
These are inexpensive projects for kids to make.