Friday, January 8, 2010

Hello to all

Hello fellow bloggers or just readers,

I haven't written in here for a long time. So much has happened. Lets see, I am still working at Camp Courageous and I will be working there for another year. The fall season was great! I got to meet new campers and visit with some past time campers. I also got to travel some. I went to the Twin Cities in Minnesota to the Mall of America. I then went to Omaha, NE for a weekend. Then at the end of Nov and first part of Dec. I was able to travel to Orlando, FL. I went to Disney World. That was a very AWESOME trip.

Other then just traveling and working nothing else is going on. I got a month off of work for vacation. I came home to spend it with my family. I celebrated Christmas with me family and have been helping out a friend of mine doing Daycare. I leave to go back to Iowa in a week. My month off has been a good break for me. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things.

Have a wonderful New Year everyone!!!!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Contacts a New Way of Seeing

I recently had to get contacts. Actually I didn't but I thought it would be better to get then go through getting my glasses broke time after time. I received my new contacts on Friday and ever since then I am having an insight of things.

Do you ever feel that when things are going good they just keep getting better? Or if things are going bad they just get worse? Well this past week and weekend it got good and weird and then weirder.

My week at camp was great. I had a great time with my co-counselor and my campers. Then Friday I got new glasses and contacts. I was excited. A new look for myself, that is what I was thinking. Some people like it and some are not for sure how they feel. I like it because it is less hassle. Also I don't have to worry about my glasses getting broke or bent or thrown across the lodge.

Its not just about my contacts. I was getting a lot of compliments for my job with a certain camper and I found out a lot of information about a coworker who I do consider a friend. Do you ever look at this person and kind of judge them without knowing them at all? Then you get to know them and what you thought of them before is TOTALLY different then who they are?

That is what it feels like right now. I am still ok with them but WOW. It takes a while to get used to the person who they are now.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Okay I just got done talking to one of my friends and I am sad, disappointed, and ummm. It makes me sad to think that two people who care for each other very much, can not get together. He is too stubborn and she does not have enough confidence to tell him how she feels. They both like each other very much but they both won't tell each other the truth.

It makes me think that if these two people can't be together or meant to be together. Is there hope for me? I am 25 years old now and haven't even had a boyfriend for a while! Am I to. to controlling of my feelings? Do I even show my feelings? I think I just get stuck on one person.

You see I think I love this one guy but I can't tell him. We haven't even dated. We were friends and then not and then we were friends again. Now I have no idea what we are. Due to we live so many miles apart. I know that God has someone out there for me but what if I blew that chance? How do we know if that chance came and I was too scared to do anything about it? What if I didn't even pick up the signs? Aggggggggggggggg

I just don't know anymore ....... I always say that I am fine without having a boyfriend but lately .. lately I wish I had someone to confide in ... To go out and have fun on a date ... to not look forward to my 26th birthday and see that I am alone again!!!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Cheyenne Trip

My trip was pretty cool. Yes there were ups and downs but I got through it. First of all before I get ahead of myself let me tell you about last week. Last week was one of the best week I have had in a long time. I had a group of boys.

The boys were energetic, funny, going, and wanted to do all the fun things! We had a blast this week from canoeing, caving, fishing(seeing a snake that I think was dead), camping out, having a mild heart attack, getting thrown into the pool about 5 times, doing evening program, and other crazy things.

To explain the heart attack: We were camping out and a boy decided to walk back to the cabin by himself. Didn't notice he was gone until another counselor brought him back. That is when I had the heart attack. And then later on when I thought he left again by himself but he was only outside the tee-pee.

Also getting thrown in the pool is pretty natural around here. Especially with the staff around. Campers love to "push" us counselors in. We also like to push other counselor/staff in.

Cheyenne, WY Trip:
We left Sunday the 19 of July. We stopped in Lincoln, NE to eat at King Kong's and the campers loved eating there! They loved seeing minature King Kong's.I will also say, it was good to be back in my HOME state!! Then we went to Grand Island and spent the night. The next day we went to my parent's house to eat lunch. My mom was great! She made roast, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, rolls, salad, homemade ice-cream, brownies and drinks (Tea & Lemonade). My dad was really great too. They opened our house to the campers. The campers couldn't stop talking about eating at my parent's house.

Then after we ate we went to Cheyenne, WY for Frontier Days. That night we went to the PBR and ate at the fair. The next day, Tuesday, we went to the parade, went to the Old West Museum, and Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo. I loved going there! The campers went shopping and if they had the money they probably could of bought out the WHOLE Frontier Days.

Wednesday we went to an air show with the Thunderbirds. It was pretty cool. Then we went to Chris and Ann Delay's grandparents' house. They feed use GOOD. We ate brats, huge carrots, rolls, onions, and desserts. The campers loved that too.

That night we stayed in North Platte, NE and then left Thursday morning to head back to camp. We arrived at camp about 8:30 pm/ct. Friday the campers left around noon. I really liked going to Cheyenne.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

What has been going on ...

Okay last time I wrote on here I was depressed. Well I was just feeling down and lonely. Tons of things have happened since then. First of all I thought I would tell you we are on our 8th week of camp. That week starts on Sunday. It is another Youth Week. I am so excited. I am with boys! I am happy about that. They only thing I am scared of is that they are teenage boys. I know I can handle it but I am just scared because it is teenage boys and their hormones change all the time. My weeks of campers have been great.

My first week of camp was Adult week. I had a great week of ladies. Our name was the "Giggling Gals". They giggled all the time. One would laugh and then another would laugh. Yes they were older but they had great personality. I really bonded with one of my campers. Her name was Tammy. She couldn't really communicate as well as the others but she loved eating apples. It was funny, we were told that her security was holding an apple. So the first night we gave her an apple and the next morning it was gone. We thought she just throw the apple and we would find it. During rest hour I gave her another apple because she wanted her security. During half way through the rest hour I checked on her and she ATE the WHOLE apple. I am not kidding about eating the WHOLE apple. She ate the core and stem too! After that my group decided to not give her an apple during rest hour or time for bed! The other ladies were great. Dorothy, Vivian, and Deb was great too. Vivian was our first blind camper. She was cute and slow! She couldn't really communicate but loved to say "Eat" "Eat"! It was funny. Deb and Dorothy just laughed. Deb loved listening to music and yelling "Big Money". I miss all of my gals. I also worked with two other counselors, Laura aka Skaggs and Sarah P aka Phillips. These two ladies were great to work with. I did butt heads with one of them but that happens off and on.

My second week of camp was another Adult week. This time I had younger ladies. They were all in their 20's. That week we talked about Hannah Montana, hot guys, and the color pink. My mom would love to be there and listen to me talk about different colors of pink. Just for your information, I really do NOT like the color pink. But for my campers I didn't dislike pink for them. We danced, did outdoor spa, did arts and craft. I worked with Caitlin. She is a great counselor and she did great with them. Especially when I was sick. I could not work one day due to being sick and running a fever. i hated that day. I also felt bad and sad. I cried and slept most of the day. At least the next day I felt a little bit better. One of my campers loved to steal food. She was on a restricted diet, so she really couldn't have so much to eat. Anyways, the first time she took food was at supper time. One camper was done eating and didn't want her dessert. She put her tray in the middle of the table. I didn't think of anything wrong with her doing that. Then suddenly the camper who loves food took her dessert of her tray and ate it. She started laughing after she ate. She also tried to hide the evidence. It was hilarious! She did that all the time. She even took a counselor's sandwich from her without us noticing until she started laughing!

Also thinking about working with people, I worked with a gal from Imperial, NE. Her and I grow up kinda with each other. We both knew of each other. She did some 4-H things but was mainly in show choir and drama. It was weird that we had to basically travel about 11 hours away and see each other.

My third week of campers were Youth week. This was one of my favorite weeks! I worked with some good counselors. Our group also had a GREAT volunteer. His whole youth group and some other church members came up and volunteered for a week. They were all so great! My campers were teenage boys. I was excited for them but nervous at the same time. We had one boy who was about 7 ft tall. I will say I am not that short but standing next to him I felt short and nervous. He was a big ol' teddy bear. The only thing that was bad was when he ran and gave you a hug he would lean his whole body into you. Another camper loved to grab you by the neck. He loved our volunteer and me. He had some really great moments. Our other two campers were pretty chilled and relax.

My fourth week of campers were Just for You campers. That is a week were campers can come for one on one attention. For that week I was scared. My camper was great. I think I could of been a little better at making him move from one place to another but he was a great guy. That was my very stressful week. I learned a lot about the counselors that I was working with. Some of it was okay and the other was GREAT! My camper was pretty good.

The fifth week of campers were suppose to be MDA meaning Muscular Dystrophy week but MDA canceled their camps nationwide due to Swine Flu. MDA is an association for Muscular Dystrophy. They put on camps all over the United States. And here at camp they have it here for a week. It is suppose to be the funniest week here. Then it got canceled. I was really bummed. Instead that week turned out to be "Working Week". It was okay but I wish we had campers instead.

The sixth week we had Youth week. This time I had teenage girls. The week was good. They were all independent and it really didn't feel like I was doing my job. I just basically kept them in line. We did have a fun time! We went out to Prim my first time! Prim is a two day camping experience. We made dirt candles, sleep in tents, did outdoor cooking, went swimming, did outdoor spa, and pulled off a prank. It was a fun time. The counselor that I was with was pretty amazing.

My seventh week of camp was Visually Impaired week. This was my favorite week so far. One of the reasons is because one of my campers was Deaf/Blind. I was so excited. My group was older gentleman. They were all so relaxed. We really didn't do that much activities but we sure had a lot of fun! I have a lot of quotes now from my group last week. One of campers said a very true statement. He was climbing the playpen and told us, "My feet belong on the ground." Another quote from a camper was "I'm bashful." This coming from a man who is tall and older and doesn't look like he could get bashful! We asked him if he would like to sing for karaoke. He responded that he was bashful. Another camper started singing a song he made up with loving egg salad to the tune of "If your happy and you know it."

This week is Youth week again. I have teenage boys for campers. I am excited. This summer I have accomplished a lot of things. I can now drive the bus and I can now watch the pool. I am officially a lifeguard. I did the swimming and the written test. It took a lot of work but I accomplished it. I just had my midseason review and they think I am doing a good job. So I know that I will still be working here for a year. In two weeks I go on my first travel camp. I get to go with campers to Cheyenne, WY for Frontier Days. I am looking forward to that. My parents are going to come up and see me. Also thinking about parents coming up, my mom is going to volunteer for a weekend in August. So August 7-9 my mom will be working at camp for a respite weekend. I am really looking forward to that. I can't wait to show her the ropes. Then on August 14th-23rd I get a week vacation and I am coming back home to see people. I am just a little bummed that fair ends that week. Oh well.

Nothing else is really going on. I am just working and having fun with my friends here at camp.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Alone in the World .. Or at least in my world

Okay I know this sounds very weird but I really feel alone! Ever since last week I feel alone. Something happened and I can't really get into but after that happened I feel ALONE! This week I feel like everybody is just being nice to me. I am here for a year and now I don't know if I want to be here or not. Or is God putting me through a test??? Hmmmm

Didn't really think of that. I don't know really. All I know is that I feel really alone. The friends I thought I had here I don't know if we are really friends or not. I just feel alone and about to cry. I know sometimes I make things out of a molehill that really isn't there. It just feels weird right now! I am praying and hoping that I am making nothing out of a molehill. I guess I will see what happens. Hopefully everything is right with the world out there. I know in Ellie's World it just could be better. Oh well tomorrow is another day. Hopefully a better one! Talk to you all later.

Always,
Ellie

Saturday, May 23, 2009

First week of Campers

Tomorrow officially starts the first day of summer campers. I am so excited! I'm a little nervous but in a good way. I also think if you are not nervous then you are bored of the job. I'm not bored so that means I can be nervous!! LOL Anyways my group looks great. I can't give you really any details but I can tell you that it is adult week so I will be working with adults all next week and the week after it.

I am now officially trained in CPR/First Aid/AED, so if anyone gets hurt, has an heart attack, or is chocking I can officially save your life! Last week at training was pretty good. I met a lot of new friends. We now have about 42 summer staff. Some are from Iowa, Colorado, California, Michigan, and Nebraska! I am so excited that my state is represented with excellent people. My goal is that next year we have more campers from Nebraska! Next week is going to be busy I start work Sunday about 2:15 and work until Friday at 2:00. I then have about a 4 hour break until I help with respite. The respite is the weekend so I will be working over the weekend and start work again on Sunday. June 5-6 I am doing Med-Manager Class so I can pass out medicine to the campers. Oh before I forget I can now drive a bus. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not. I went and got my Chaffeour's License. I can drive a bus with 16 people or less. Also the bus can not have a lift in it. That way I can go on trips and help out driving the bus. There are two trips that I really, really want to go on. The first one is to Wisconsin Dells. It is an amusement park. I just really want to go due that I have never really went to Wisconsin before. The next trip that I really want to go on is the Cheyenne Trip. The trip is to go see the Cheyenne Frontier Days. One reason why I want to go is because I want to see the rodeo. I would also like to see my parents since the trip will be kind of close to my birthday. I guess if I get to go on any trip that would be awesome!

This weekend I really didn't do that much. Last night I went to the movies and out to eat with some friends. It was pretty cool. The movie we went to was The terminator. It had Christian Bale in it and some other actors and actresses. The terminator was basically a prequel to the other teminators that had Arnold Schwanger. (However you spell his last name. The governor of California now.) The movie was good. I wouldn't go out and buy it but it was pretty good. Today I really didn't do anything except dishes and read a book. I also saw the finale of One Tree Hill. It was good, sad but good. I'm really hoping that Hillarie Burton and Chad Michael Murray do not leave the show! It would be really weird without them! Well I think that is all for now. So I will be signing off and figuring out what to do with the rest of my night! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves and having a wonderful day!!

God Bless Everyone!

Ellie