Honey... I'm home!

I am back... it was fun...! I will be here over the next few days posting and telling... but am so swamped right now I don't have time to do anything but...ahhhhhhh! ::grins::

Out for a bit....

Just a note to everyone who's been leaving comments (thanks guys... if you have a journal or blog or even enjoy email, you know how I appreciate it!) I intended on leaving some comments of my own and dropping by everyone's journals... and doing some updates tonight because I am leaving in the a.m. for a week and am not certain if I will have internet access where I'll be, so I wanted to make my rounds. However, it has been a crazy day and I can't manage it. As it is I am visiting my own journal via Internet Explorer since my Mums computer doesn't have AOL and my laptop can't access her DSL. Hmmm...

Anyway, I will think of everyone, and bring treats back to share. I'll miss ya guys!

SMOOOOCH!

Creating Fun

I mentioned in my last entry that i would show some photos of my kids last weekend. I have to say, I am impressed with their ingenuity. My sister and I grew up in New Mexico, and spent our summers in west Texas. While we enjoyed an occasional trip to the lake which was quite a distance from Albuquerque, or a swim in a pool when we got lucky (we actually lived in an apartment building that had a pool one summer, and I was the happiest kid alive) or maybe even a visit to a water slide and twice (glory!) a vacation in the vicinity of a beach, we didn't often see water. Not the kind you play in.

My boys went this summer to Viginia Beach to visit their father and spent a great deal of time at the beach. My seventeen year old was in heaven, and bought a skim board. A skim board is like a surf board, except that it is thinner and usually shorter, and very lightweight. I found this explanation of skimboarding online:

"Skimboarding is a sport similar to surfing which takes place near the shore. The skimboarder stands about twenty feet from the ocean with skimboard in hand and waits for a wave. When they see a wave they run towards it with their skimboard still in hand. Upon reaching the wet sand they drop the board and jump onto it as quickly as possible. Once on the board, the skimmer must remain as stable as possible and prepare to make the transition to the ocean. The skimmer then (hopefully) glides out into the ocean toward the oncoming wave, banks off of it, and rides it back into shore. There are many possibilities for riding the waves and this is where skimboarding gets really interesting."

(If you want to learn more about skimboarding, this site is a good place to start.)

So anyway, here's my boys now ... all excited about skimboarding, and living in New Mexico. Got a board with no place to go. Hawaii looms in the near future, but of course, being kids, they cannot wait that long.

So off to the backyard the ran, shovels in hand, and dug down into the dirt in our backyard which is probably 60 percent clay, and created an impression in which they dropped a blue tarp.

And then added water.

So all the boys, my own two and my stepsons, ran outside attired in shorts and boxers and proceeded to skimboard.

You need to see it to believe it:

Goofy moments

So... my oldest boy is into breakdancing.

I remember break dancing in the 80's. A date took me to a club in Milwaukee where he spun on his head for an hour while I watched, from the side, embarrassed.
(This, from me... who was into punk and bouncing off of walls and trying to look like Madonna or Cyndi Lauper... pleeeeze)

Anyway, I never dreamed my son would be into break dancing. But he loves any kind of dancing, so I should have figured. He also into martial arts in a big way, and other fighting techniques. He is into something I do not understand called capoetta. (spelling?)
We live in the country, no trees, no water, not much to do, so the kids get creative and find entertainment. The other day they set up a surfing pond, (photos later) and while it was getting ready they put out cardboard and practiced their "moves".

I tease my son all the time, because he is there all legs-akimbo and flaiing about and he calles it dancing. (yeah... he laughs at my "moves" too) So I took a photo and played with it, animated it. It's silly. It's stupid. It has a bad word in it so forgive me.... but I have to show ya because it cracks me up. :)

http://dawnallynn.smugmug.com/photos/36247572-M.gif

Nobody Knows me but my Dog

...and though this little quiz can tell you some of it.... there's still a ton you don't wanna know... lol.
QUIZ : Dawn's Drivel
Found this link in SINS journal (octoberoots, Tidbits ... thanks for the cool link) and you can make a quiz of your own when you're done. :)

Tagged...

I got tagged (grins) by Courtenay to do "The Seven Sides of Life", so here goes my answers...

Seven Things I Plan To Do Before I Die:

1. See my children through college and help them get a good start in life.
2. Publish a book.
3. Go to Ireland and Scotland.
4. Throw away anything I don't want anyone to see when I am dead. (lol... yeah, think about it.)
5. See a few lost friends and say hello again.
6. Write memoirs down for my children and grandchildren.
7. Take my parents and my fiance somewhere wonderful.

Seven Things I Can Do:
1. Give good advice.
2. Write.
3. Photograph.
4. Create new from old.
5. Apologize when I am wrong.
6. Love without reciprocation.
7. Help others help themselves.

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. Keep from talking too much.
2. Keep from worrying what might happen.
3. Help when members of my family are arguing amongst themselves.
4. Manage my money well.
5. Watch others suffer without wanting to help.
6. Keep my opinions to myself.
7. Sleep when I have things that I am excited about, which is almost every night.

Seven Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex:
1. Confidence
2. Intelligence
3. Humor
4. Someone who has and stands up for good values and morals.
5. Good fathers.6. A nice mix of romance and strength
7. Excitement for living.

Seven Things I Say Most Often:
1. I love you.
2. Hey, guess what I read today...
3. Did you do your homework? Well then, is your room clean?
4. I missed you while you were gone today.
5. I am going to ground you for the rest of your life if you don't... (at which point they grin, because I am full of it.)
6. Did anyone feed the dogs or cats? Hello? Hello?
7. Oh gawd, get up! We're late for school again!

Seven Celebrity Crushes:
1. Sean Connery
2. Mathew McConnahey
3. James Spader
4. Orlando Bloom
5. Antonio Banderas
6. Ewan McGregor
7. Liam Neeson

Seven people I want to do this:
1. Celeste (gdireneoe)
2.Derek (deveil)
3. Aude (audedu84)
4. Dawn (princesssaurora)
5. Sue (dakbdimble)
6. Cynthia (sistercdr)
7. Jodi (jouell3935)

Photo for Katrina's Victims

I haven't mentioned the disaster on the gulf coast too much because I am so frustrated I am not quite sure what to say. I've lived through a couple of hurricanes myself (I was in Florida for Andrew) and a few other scary natural ickies (an Earthquake and a volcanic eruption in Italy that all frightened me bad.) And I never had to go through what those people on the Gulf are going through.

It kills me.

Our family has donated what we can... and I am trying to also volunteer through my local chapter to do what I can physically or otherwise. I suspect it won't be enough... and I am struggling with it.

I can't get past thinking that we can get food, water and medical aid to other countries when we are at war a lot faster than we are doing in our own backyard. And I was under the impression that we were trying to be prepared for distasters in case of terrorist attacks... If this is any indication of our preparedness levels, we're in trouble. As are our counrymen in need now.
My heart goes out to them, all of them... and I am doing what I can.
Here's my photo as suggested by John:

Thanks John.