Tuesday at Camp

Morning 2 - Tuesday. I knew this day was going to be busy when a child was sick at the dining hall as soon as I arrived for breakfast. Poor thing had a stomach ache. She stayed in the infirmary with me until the beginning of the first class. It was a steady stream after that of some bee stings, headaches, cuts, etc. I did inspections, but then I was in the cabin the rest of the morning. I read, so it was very relaxing even though I had a lot of kids coming in. One little girl was so sad and homesick. I talked to her for a while, and she seemed much better when she left. I hope she enjoys the rest of the week. I want her to be able to have as great of a time as I did here.

For lunch, we had peanut butter and jelly. This made me nervous as there is one girl who is very allergic to peanuts. She made it through it fine. After lunch, I read during rest hour. I even logged in and checked email as it was the first time I could get to the internet from the infirmary. Mike has been moved from cook to maintenance guy. He got the internet working, so I liked this change. He has adapted well, and he even has a maintenance man cup. Now, whenever I ask for something, he asks if I put in a work order. He did bring me breakfast this morning too when I had the sick camper and couldn't stay

After rest hour, I went to the lake to swim. I did some back dives, back flips, dives, and even attempted an inward (it was ugly). I was chicken to do a back flip from the top dock, but I eventually did it. It was fun. THEN, it was time to change to the older girl, and the counselors blob first. Mike and I got to blob with the counselors. We had a blast. The girls love getting to go high.

After that, several of the counselors were playing around on the boards. It was fun. A girl got a bloody nose then, so I went back to the infirmary. I got the dinner meds ready and fixed my hair (or tried to anyway). For dinner, we had hamburgers. I asked for cheese at the window, and I don't think the kitchen staff liked that very much. Oh well. Who eats a hamburger without cheese (well, Morgan does but she is 9). I read for a while, and then I went down to watch the kids play watermelon knocker (we called it greased watermelon when I was a kid). They coated the watermelon with crisco and threw it into the lake. The girls were on two teams and had to try to get it to the other side.

They also had relay races, canoe races, treading water contests, biggest splash, and water fun fights. Some girls weren't feeling well, so I went back to the cabin. Mike was invited to go to the boys' camp to play poker with the counselors over there. I read and relaxed. What a fantastic day. I love looking out from the infirmary and seeing the beauty. It is so gorgeous here.

Monday at Camp

Monday morning, the bell rang at 7:45. The bell is right next to the infirmary, so I always hear it. That is good. It isn't like my alarm clock that I can turn up. The LIT's (Leaders in Trainng) come and fill my water cooler with ice water so that the kids have good cold water to take their medss with and take my trash out first thing in the morning. I know that I have to get up immediately and unlock the door, so it gets me going.

Then, I get dressed and get ready for the day and prepare all of the meds for the campers for the before breakfast meds. I sweep the porch (and more if there is time). The campers come down the hill cabin by cabin, and it takes me back to when I was a camper here. It was always so fun to walk together as a group singing cabin songs.

After breakfast, there are 3 classes. I do cabin inspections during the first class. My mom thinks this is hysterical. I rate each cabin on how well they sweep the pavement, clean the showers and toilets, clean the bathroom floor, sweep the stairs and floor in the cabin, pick up their clothes, and sweep under the beds. The winner gets the Golden Dustpan. Today, waoka got it.

After the 3 classes, the kids go back to their cabins for about 30 minutes before lunch. I get the lunch meds ready at this time. Today lunch was ham or turkey sandwiches. After lunch is my favorite time -Rest hour. It is quiet and still and wonderful. I think we should get rest hour at work. :)

After rest hour is free swim and then free time (or the opposite for the older girls). Today, they did a swim test to see who is allowed in the deep parts of the lake. After free time, I get the dinner meds ready, and then they go to dinner.

After dinner, the older girls went to the mud pit, and the younger girls played an underground railroad game. There was a jail and a safe place. There were angels who could free the people in jail. If you were in jail, you got sprayed with water. If you sat down in a group of at least 2, then the counselors couldn't tag you. Only one person was told where the safe place was, and you could only tell one person. The idea was for this information to slowly get through all of the people. It went pretty slowly until one girl yelled it out. :)

Sunday at Camp (Opening Day)

Morgan's bunk bed

We didn't get up until almost 9. There was no bell. hmmm... no breakfast either...hmmm...Morgan suggests McDonald's.

We went into Clarksville for McDonald’s breakfast (Morgan’s request), and then we went to Rite Aid for some supplied (popsicles, tweezers, band-aids). We went to lunch at the boys camp, but we didn’t eat cause we were full. We got Michael and Chris dropped off, and we went back to the girls’ camp. Before camp started, Katie and Morgan found a copperhead snake right outside of the infirmary. Lovely. The counselors chopped its head off. Nice.

The spot of the snake
About 30% of the campers have medicine they take every day. WOW. Joanie, a nurse wh0 helps the first day 0f each session, came and helped me get all of the meds captured. She has a great system that helps give out the meds. Basically, you put a piece of paper for each kid and then put a paper medicine cup on top of it with the child's name on the bottom. Then, you have the kids come take them and flip the cup back upside down. At a glance, you can easily see who has taken meds and who hasn't.

The cabins here are two story. The first floor is the bathroom, and then upstairs there is a counselor area and a camper area.

In each cabin, they put a sign up for each year that lists all of the campers for the summer. I have found my name on three signs.

Keego 1982

Zonta 1983

OPA 1984

We had chicken fingers for dinner. YUM...and I didn't even have to cook them. Love it. Didn't even have to go through a drive through or microwave. Love it.

After dinner, the cabins dressed in cabin colors and made a human knot. They then did some worship and taked about goals for the week. Then, it was lights out!

Saturday - Arrival at Camp Chattooga

The lake at camp




I arrived in the North Georgia mountains late Friday night. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Cornelia for about 6 hours. $10 an hour for sleep. Not bad. I woke up and drove the remaining 35 minutes to camp and picked Morgan up. I checked in with the camp nurse from the previous week, and she told me about the broken arm and the many scrapes from the mud pit. The Gorge requires a more treacherous path now than in years past because the man who owns that part of the land had trouble with some people going down into the gorge. So, now, it is much harder and longer. Bummer.

Morgan and I went to Helen, GA and walked around the little shops. We ate at Huddle House, and it took FOREVER only to get the wrong order. Bummer. We had a blast looking at the little stores , and we went into the Hansel and Gretel Candy Store twice. :) I remember going there as a kid when we would go to Helen for our day trip. We used to get $5 to spend in the store.
Mike, Chris, Katie, and Michael met us in Helen. We went tubing and had a great time. When we went over one of the waterfalls, Morgan was completely dumped out of her tube. It was hysterical. Morgan, Katie, and I went down together. We olnly got stuck once. Mike and Michael went together (we had to split off because 5 people was way too many and Michael and Katie were fighting). When we got to the end, the kids didn’t want to get out of the water. We went to eat at a restaurant in Helen. It was a little German and Italian place. I ordered some ravioli as an appetizer because were were all pretty hungry. As I am ordering it, I realize that Morgan, Michael, and Katiee won't eat it. So, I also order chips and salsa. When the chips and salsa come, Michael says, "Yum, I am going to eat these German chips." Mike and I cracked up.

We got back to camp around 5:30 or so. We cleaned up, unpacked, etc. Chris says, "Oh yeah, this place doesn't have air conditioning." LOL...now that was funny.



Outside of the Infirmary


The cute mat in the infirmary


The kitchen in the infirmary

Of course, Morgan, Katie, and Michael went exploring, and we couldn't find them. We were relieved when we found out they went to the lodge. Mike and Chris were looking in the woodss for them. We managed to survive the night even though it was musical beds. Katie ended up in Morgan’s bed which caused Morgan to come into our bed. This made Chris go into Katie’s bed. Fun, Fun..

Childless Week 2008

With Morgan gone to camp, I had 6 whole days of childlessness. I was also husbandless for 2 days and in-law-less for the week. In case you didn't compute, that meant that I was ALL ALONE in my house for the first time in a very long time. ALLLL alone. It was heavenly. I went to Friday's with people from work on Monday night. I went to Bern's with potential clients on Tuesday night (YUM - Bern's rocks). On Wednesday, we went to Tijuana Flats to hear Jay play (he rocked), and we went to Travis and Lisa's house to swim.

Thursday night, I did laundry and packed. Friday night, I drove almost all of the day to camp (Cornelia). I arrived around 1am. I listened to Jimmy Buffett's Swine Not book on tape on the drive. The voice was so soothing that I almot fell asleep several times. I had to get out and run around the car at one point.

All in all, it was a great childless week. I needed some mommy time. :)

Funniest Divorce Story EVER

While we were out with a perspective client, this one person tells the best story ever. Basically, her ex-husband had his leg amputated, and he had an artificial leg. He usually had a spare, and a friend of theirs painted SF 49's on it because she was a huge 49's fan. He wasn't so much, but he want along with it for her. Each year, they went to New Orleans to see the 49's play the Saints. One year, they are there, and the husband has on the leg that has the SF 49's painted on it. She says, "honey, take off your leg. They are giving autographs." He actually hands her the leg, and the players actually sign it. Now, the story is pretty good even until now. But it gets better. When they get a divorce, she gets the leg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He didn't really like the 49's, so she got the leg.

One Year Smoke Free

WOW....what a difference a year makes. A year ago, I wss off to volunteer as the camp nurse for the second year. At camp, you obviously cannot smoke. As I did the year before, I quit for the week. The first year, I actually thought I would quit for good. I didn't make it but 4 weeks. Last year, I planned to just make it through the week. However, I kept going. As soon as we finished the NINE hour drive, we met friends at a bar (I was childless for the week). I remember crying because I wanted one so badly. I kept thinking that if I made it on that long roadtrip, I could make it longer. How crazy is that. I cried in a bar because I wanted a cigarette!!! Today, that seem crazy, but at the time it took everything I had to not smoke. For the next 8 weeks, it was really, really hard. Every day brought struggles. Once I made it to two months, I knew there was no going back. I still had occassional times where it was hard from monthss 2 - 4, but it lessened every day. Months 4 - 6 brought odd urges and weird dreams occassionally, but it wasn't hard to keep going. Month 6 - 12 were a breeze. Never even struggled. Yes, sometimes it smelled good. Yes, I occassionally walk outside for no reason and then realize why. But, the effort required at this point is NOTHING. If you are trying to quit, just focus on the first 2 months. Patches, gum, food, drink, whatever, just make it for the first 8 weeks. Get a counter and see how fast the cigarettes not smoked and the money saved change. I cannot believe that I would have smoked over 8500 cigarettes in this last year if I had not quit.

I feel SO much better this year. Obviously, running and exercise is easier, but it iss much more than that. Life is more relaxing. I can sit and watch a whole movie with my daughter cudding with me. I am not constantly worrying about it. When we went to Busch Gardens, I am not alway thinking about when I can have another or about getting them wet.

of course, on the day that my quit counter flipped to a year, my computer died. I was bummed, but my co-workers went to happy hour with me to celebrate (it was childless week 2008). We went to Friday's and had a really cool waiter a great time.