Dickinson Bayou Brawl

The Dickinson Bayou Brawl is a canoe race held once a year on Dickinson Bayou (in Dickinson, TX). Most of the participants are students of Mrs. Kathie Derrick's homeschool Science and canoeing classes. LittleJ just started taking canoeing a couple of months ago, and absolutely loves it. Here he is at the beginning of a race called the "War Canoe Race". This a race which includes teams of four students, various ages and experience in each canoe. They much race to a certain point, turn around, and "portage" their canoes (take them out of the water and across a certain expance of land) three times at designated spots. Meanwhile, any of your competitors may try to tump your canoe, throw mud at you, steal your oars, etc., to try and delay you from winning. Hence the "War" part of the race! The above pic is LittleJ at the beginning of the race. He is the second child in the green canoe.

Here are one of the canoe teams portaging their canoe. LittleJ's canoe is actually behind this one, coming across the land (the boy in the blue vest is on LittleJ's team.... J is behind him kind of bent over carrying the canoe). Note the girl on the left side of the picture...she is throwing mud at the teams coming across the finger of land.

Here they are at the finish!!
In case you are wondering, why doesn't he have a paddle? Earlier in the race, the girl in the back, who is steering the canoe, lost hers in a battle to keep the canoe upright, so she took LittleJ's in order to keep steering. Tiny's comments at the end of the video are too cute.

After the race, you can see that it is not the cleanest activity, but boy was he happy!

Guess who's team came in FIRST place???? Wahhooooo!

Somebody emailed me this, and because I'm bored and just feel like it, I'm going to post it here instead of mailing it out to everyone in my address book (although because I didn't mail it out, I will NOT get my wish, and I will have bad luck, and I will not receive the $10,000 check promised to me by Bill Gates)....

Ahem....

Four jobs I've had - (besides my current job(s)....
1. Counter person at Pennington's Fried Chicken
2. Sales person at... Joskes, Dillards, Palais Royal, On Stage, Gymboree, Eddie Bauer...
3. Radio News and Talk Show Producer at KIKK Radio
4. Tech Writer in both Aerospace and Oil/Gas Industries

Four movies I could watch over and over -
1. You've Got Mail
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. When Harry Met Sally
4. Sweet Home Alabama

Four places I've lived -
1. Houston, TX
2. Seabrook, TX
3. League City, TX
4. Wilmington, DE (when I was TWO!... I was desperate to name somewhere else!)

Four TV shows I love -
1. CSI:NY
2. Criminal Minds
3. House
4. Good Eats

Four places I've vacationed -
1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Nashville, TN
3. Orlando, FL
4. On the MS Southward (Cruise of the Caribbean in 1986)

Four of my favorite dishes -
1. Chicken and Sausage Gumbo from Floyd's
2. Chicken and Dumplings from Crackerbarrel
3. My bacon-wrapped meatloaf
4. Fajitas from Chili's

Four favorite drinks -
1. Sweet Tea from Chick-Fil-A
2. Peppermint Latte from Starbucks
3. Vanilla Coke from Sonic
4. Water

Four sites I visit daily -
1. My Facebook page
2. A bunch of Blogs (I know it's not one, but I have them bookmarked on a pop-down menu... Ginny, Cheryl, Celeste, Kathy (finger pointing at Kathy!) and more if I have time).
3. Townhall.com
4. Fox News Stockmarket page

Four places I'd rather be right now -
1. Camping in the country with my family
2. Making something in my art studio (without any interruptions!)
3. Asleep
4. Watching a movie with my honey on our big screen tv with dinner and dessert!

I'm on Facebook!

Hey y'all! I'm on facebook now! How cool is that? If you are out there, and are on it too, feel free to look me up.

What else is new... Buddyboy is off this week in Austin. Bugman's parents came and took him to visit Keith's Uncle Terry. Terry played on the PGA (you can read about him here, if you are into knowing that sort of thing). Buddy has been wanting to go and visit and get some pointers from Terry for awhile. Well, it finally happened! What a first day they had yesterday... golf lessons in the afternoon, and Terry gave Buddy TWO pairs of Footjoy golf shoes (and he needed new ones). He also got some new golf gloves, some balls, and he gets to "borrow" Terry's Odyssey putter! He has to bring it when he comes back to Austin (is that an invite, Uncle Terry?). Today, they were going to play nine holes at the country club, lunch, more lessons, and dinner at Terry's house. Then they'll play some more tomorrow and some more lessons before heading home. I know how exciting it is for Buddyboy!

I am hoping to have a little extra time tomorrow to make a card for an upcoming birthday (hehehe). I also am hoping to sign up for a class with Janet Hopkins at By Design next weekend. I was thinking I would miss the class but they added an extra on Friday night! Whooo hooo! I am so excited. I hope Bugman doesn't mind.

New Pics and Art

For those two or three of you who might actually read this, I will be cross-posting some of this on my other blog...

I had 207 items on my camera, so decided it was time to download. But before I did, I took some pics of my latest piece. I was inspired by a sermon our pastor did where he talked about listening with your head vs. listening with your heart.


What is the "18-inch Gap"? It's the approximate distance between your head and your heart. How do you hear Him? Do you hear Him directly, or through a filter?

Close ups...

That's Newton, my cat. He looks on a bit disinterested. Why are you bothering me, he wonders.

This is one of the largest pieces I have ever done, approx. 12" x 18". It was incredible doing it... it started as I heard the sermon, and began sketching and taking notes right there in church (well... who said when you take notes in church they had to be written???). I then came home and didn't actually work on it for a few days... maybe weeks.... I did a rough layout, tried various letters and options... The color even is inspired. Grey, behind the head. Why? What do we call the brain (pssst.... grey matter!). And what color is the heart (um.... supposedly red, right?).
My hubby (the Bugman) thinks its weird, but then again, he thinks most of what I do is weird. He loves me enough to be impressed, and to build me a "studio" in our garage.

Oh, and Novel Approach is open again after the hurricane, and had a Hurricane sale where you (for a fee, of course) stuff the bag. I came home with a bundle of stuff including lots of papers, Pinata alcohol inks, some Neopaque paints, some Memory Makers acrylic paints, some stickers... and more paper, and more paper. And ONE Magenta (brand) stamp. Love Magenta (older stuff especially). I intended to get there at 10 a.m. when they opened, but last night my back was broken out (allergic reaction to SOMETHING we can't identify) so I took Benedryl. Not good, in that I did NOT want to get up this morning, and ended up there an hour late (and I'm sure I missed out on a bundle of good stuff).

BTW, how come when I DO cook lately no one wants to eat, but if I DON'T cook, then they gripe that there is nothing to eat??? I just can't win!

Oh well.

Here I am!

How are you all? We are doing well. Ike was kind to us, although our business has been SLOW. Bugman had to venture into new territory...no, not bug territory, but employment territory. Bugman AND Buddyboy have gone to work "for the Man". Bugman is delivering pizza for a major pizza chain, and Buddyboy is going to be answering phones and making pizzas. I thought about a parttime job (hmmm... William-Sonoma would be good... ) but we figured after taxes, and paying for Legoboy to babysit, I would have about a buck left for profit. Not really worth it, huh?

School is going well, but I am getting burned out. Legoboy leaves me weary, and Buddyboy is really working hard in his Biology class, but is struggling to keep up. Luckily his teacher (my favorite doctor!) is so kind-hearted and understanding. She is really trying to help him. I am proud of him.

Shall we mention politics? Uh, no, let's not. It's too depressing for me.

Oh good news (yes, there is some!). God is good! And... for the first time in 15 years, we are getting a "refund". I overpaid when we filed our extension, and we are getting a bunch back and with the "stimulus" check (what a joke) I will have more than enough to pay my school taxes, my county taxes, my homeowner's insurance, my windstorm insurance, and my city taxes. LOL... wait, where did that money go that I got back?????

Other good news! I found a plumber (bless his heart... he was wonderful! Mike's Plumbing here in League City) and he got our gas line run... and my new stove was delivered, and is now hooked up! Waaaahoooo! and I am now "cooking with gas!". I am soooo happy. You can see what I got here.

Okay kids are hungry. guess I should go feed them. They always seem to be hungry... hmmm.