A really good day.....

As a child I only went away to camp 3 times, but I went to day camp several years for girl scouts.. I still faintly hear 100+ little girls singing on top of their lungs..... Girl scout camp, girl scout camp, the leaders that they give you they say are mighty fine, but when they take their makeup off they look like Frankenstein. Oh I don't wanna go to girl scout camp..... ~sigh~ those were the days....
Well, I relived a small piece of an old fashioned camp today........

Aaron and Chris's church (also where my Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Rick, and Chelsie goes) had their annual youth day today at a local camp that used to belong to the YMCA. I heard the church now owns the camp. The service was in the "mess hall" and afterwards there was a cookout/pitch in lunch.

After we ate, the older people left, but the younger ones stayed to play volleyball, kickball, baseball, archery or they went boating (was too far away to tell if they were rowboats or canoes) or hiking the trails. It felt like a lazy relaxed day at camp.

Aaron and my cousin Heath used to go to day camp there, and I saw the pond that they got "stuck" in when they were little (8 years old? 9?) They went boating, and panicked because they were in the middle of this pond and couldn't get to shore. They thought the shore was MILES away. In truth, you could swim one side to the other without any problems. I had a good laugh at that story. Aaron claims it has "shrunk" since then. Yeah, OK.I believe you... NOT...

After taking a long hike, we headed to Aunt Rebecca's house. My cousin Heath's daughter, Chelsie, and my cousin Tracey's daughter, Lauren, had spent the night with Rebecca. So, when we got back to Rebecca's house, Chelsie and Lauren put on swimsuits and was using the water hose as they jumped on the trampoline.
I laughed so hard tears were rolling when Chelsie asked Rebecca to bring her some shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.... Yes, you read that right. They took showers (with their suits on) outside on the trampoline.

Once they were dry, we headed in for homemade snow cones while Aunt Rebecca made a pizza (Not frozen). After supper the girls talked Rebecca and I into a game of badminton. We played and lost three games. The girls won all three, and they've NEVER played before. I kept thinking how fun it would be to get all the cousins out for a cookout and a badminton game.

With close to 5 acres of land and being WAY out in the country, their yard is HUGE and so peaceful. There is a woods on their property, and you can watch deer stroll across the yard from their kitchen window. I told my aunt that I could just come over just to sit on their front porch or their back deck. With or without them home. LOL...

I am now pleasantly exhausted, and think I'll turn in early tonight....

Know any camp lullabies???

CONGRATULATIONS ASHLEY AND ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris did an AWESOME job!!!
Relaxing afterwards with Philip's puppy, Rocky, at my feet

Ashley and Carrie
The happy couple

Wedding behind the scenes......

First thing I should say is Ashley and Adam, Congratulations and I love you guys.

After 6 months of keeping away from ice cream, junk food, and not eating out as much, I cringed as I tried on my maid of honor dress last week PRAYING I didn't gain too much weight.. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dress fit better now than it did when I first brought it home. Now that the wedding is over, I can "let myself go" somewhat.

We (Chris, Adam, Ashley, Sarah, Sara, Jo Beth, mom, dad, and I) arrived at 9:30 AM Friday to decorate. After decorating the "Wedding" church we headed to the "Reception" church to decorate there. After DAYS (okay maybe a couple hours) of picking out three crayons (making sure NO ONE got white or three similar colors) and tying them together, (You didn't think they bought the crayons that way did ya? LOL) we headed back to T. for the rehearsal.
The rehearsal dinner at Pizza King was fun, and it was nice to see people that I hadn't seen in a while. And I had getting acquainted with Adam's niece and nephew. After the rehearsal dinner wrapped up, we "girls" (guess I'm included as one of the girls) spent the night at Sarah's house.
First thing Ashley did was make me cry. She gave each girl a pair of earrings and a pin to wear in the wedding, 3 of us got Starbucks cards (the other girl works at Starbucks so she figured she'd prefer something else), and we each got a framed picture. Sarah and Sara both got pictures of the three of them together.... Ashley, Sara, and Sarah we're best friends in high school and she had pictures of the three of them together. So they both got the same picture, Jo Beth got a picture of her and Ashley during their college years, and I got a picture of her and I together at her college graduation.

After we dried tears we tried on our dresses and I practiced fixing Ashley's train. We eventually went to bed. Whether anyone actually slept I'll never know.

Sat morning we woke up at 7:00? Sarah's parents had gone to Panara Bread and brought back bagels for all of us. I found that very touching. After filling a cup with juice to take with me, I graciously thanked Sarah's parents for opening their home to us. And we were off to the church...

After 4 hours of styling hair, doing makeup, and TONS of laughing it was time for pictures...
After pictures..... Well... You know the rest. ;)

Special note: Chris, you are AWESOME and deserve so much credit!!!! I'm still shaking my head in wonder on how you were able to be at the church all day Friday to decorate, sit through rehearsal, attend the dinner, be up all night to care for a crying baby, be at the church at 7:30 AM, do hair for 4 hours STRAIGHT, sit through a wedding, and STILL tear stuff down afterwards.... you really are AMAZING!!!!! Superman and Spiderman can't hold a candle to you. You are my hero!!!!

So, now I'm off to fix and eat a HUGE bowl of strawberry and chocolate ice cream. Man, I missed ice cream.

Starting a new blog....

I have started a new blog. There's not much to it right now, but as time goes on, there will be.... You can find it here: http://auntangelasbragblog.blogspot.com/

Losing my best friend.......

As most of my readers know, Lois and I have been pretty much inseparable for the past 2 years or so. Well.... Not so much anymore. She has a new boyfriend, moved into an apartment (shared by above boyfriend who is also married, and filing for divorce.), filed for divorce, LEAVING her 10 year old son with his dad, and pretty much kicked me out of her life.

Standing back and watching her mess her and her son's life up tears my heart out. Seeing how she's abandoning her son hurts worse than her never having time to hang out with me. It does seem odd never hanging out at Ihop or starbucks (Which we haven't been to since before Christmas).

I've had MANY sleepless nights praying and crying that she will open her eyes and see the damage she is doing to her poor son. I've given her over to God, but I'm NOT giving up on her.

Something to think about.

So today I was reading Matthew chapter 12 and came across these verses.... 36-37 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.(NIV)
So it really made me think. How many times have I said something carelessly? In teasing? In frustration? In *gulp* anger? How many people have I hurt, and they never told me? How many loved ones are carrying that hurt with them? I think it's time to let that go. So...........

This is turning out to be the hardest post I've ever written, but I NEED to do this....

This is for all family and friends.......... If I have EVER said or done ANYTHING to hurt you, past or recent, I apologize, and please forgive me. I need to know there aren't ANY hurt feeling between us. If there is, let's talk about it, and let's build a stronger relationship..

Whew...A public apology, isn't easy to do....

A favor......

Ashley made the suggestion I think around Christmas, about joining an online dating service. I just laughed it off as being completely crazy, and forgot all about it.. I forgot about it until Lois suggested the same thing a couple weeks ago.

Well, I started thinking, and maybe it's not so crazy after all, or maybe just MAYBE I could use some spontaneous, off the wall craziness in my life. Maybe my boring life needs a little excitement.

So, I found a FREE Christian site, and put up a profile. However, I've already been asked for a pic. Well, OBVIOUSLY I don't have any pictures of MYSELF.
So this is where you, my dear blog readers come in. If you have one or two good pictures could you email them to me?? I would really appreciate it.
Now back to my boring unexciting life.

Alien Invasion

I know I've been gone for a while. Life has thrown me a curveball. I bought a new computer and yes it's hooked up. Only problem is I have to rewire my phone line from the box into the house. Fun fun.

I knew I was going to have a week off this past week and though "GREAT I can rewire my phone lines." UH......... WRONG..... Got some HORRIBLE news last wed....

Most people that know me know that's I'm a really private person. I never invite people over, and I keep to myself. I have a "phobia" about people coming into my house. Mainly cause I feel my house isn't "clean" enough. So you can't imagine how I felt when my mom called me up Wed night and read a newspaper article to me. The town board of where I live has ok'd the water company guys to inspect the INSIDE of EVERY HOUSE in town for sump pumps. If you refuse to let them in, you're fined. So, I'm thinking isn't this against the law? Are they ALLOWED to just force their way into people's homes and search?? Can they really fine you for refusing??? At this point I'm more angry than anything.

What's your take on strangers forcing their way into your home??

Walk A Mile In My Shoes

Yes, it's that time of year again. The Annual walk a mile in my shoes walkathon for Open Arms is set for Feb 14...
Most of my readers know what's its about, but if you don't here's the rundown...
WAMIMS is a walk a thon that raises money for Open Arms which is a homeless shelter for women and children, and it's affiliated with the Rescue mission. This walk a thon is always in Feb, and goes on rain, shine, snow, and subzero temps. They NEVER cancel.

Open Arms and WAMIMS has impacted me in a big way. I've been a substitute preschool teacher there for 5 years now, and those little ones really tug at your heartstrings. You don't see many 3-5 year olds that get excited when you give them a sticker, but they are genuinely GRATEFUL for anything you give them which isn't common with other children.
This is the third time I've walked in this. The last time I walked was right after a huge snowstorm. It was so cold I brought blankets to wrap around me. Even now on cold nights when I'm curled up in my warm bed, or in my warm house I always find myself thinking about the homeless and praying that they can find a warm place to sleep. It's heart wrenching sometimes. There have been times I have left Open Arms and sat in my Jeep and cried. Not necessarily for the ones at Open Arms but the ones waiting to get in. For the first time since it opened they are turning women away from the waiting list which is two years long.

If you wish to donate, need more information, or if you'd like to walk feel free to contact me.

Bridal shower excitement

I never realized how much work is into putting together a bridal shower. Since I've never done this before I'm GRATEFUL to my Aunt Rebecca for WILLINGLY volunteering to help me. (She's put together SEVERAL baby showers and open houses, and she's SUPER creative.) I'm also grateful that Ashley doesn't have a lot of demands on how she wants it. Actually she has said whatever I want to do is fine.
We went shopping Thursday for bridal stuff... Was supposed to have gone Friday, but she had tests Friday. So on Thurs. I went to Open Arms and helped at the preschool before shopping.
We started shopping at noon and at 5:30 STILL wasn't finished. We have majority of the stuff, but we didn't have numbers. Without numbers we didn't know where to have it. And center pieces and decorations determined where we had it. Well, now I have numbers, and a place reserved, so hopefully soon we can finish up the shopping.
With Rebecca's help we came up with several ideas that had us laughing so hard we were doubled over and our sides were aching. Even the clerk was laughing when she saw one of the ideas. I KNOW Ashley is going to hate us for a while, and will be rethinking the "whatever you want to do is fine". But it's all in good fun, and will bring smiles and chuckles out of everyone attending.. And that's all I can say about that.

Now to wait for addresses so I can mail out invitations. I'M READY!!!!!

A busy week......

I was SUPPOSED to have went back to work yesterday, Tues. However, a letter arrived in the mail Friday stating I don't go back till 1/26. So what have I done with my extra week???? Well, So far I've............

Friday -I went to Aunt Rebecca's and brainstormed bridal shower ideas, made on top of the stove cookies, and watched a movie with her.
Sat- went to see Hotel For Dogs with Lois and Philip (MUCH better than the previews by the way. Found myself laughing.) and went to the Golden Trough (Ok ok ok Corral) for dinner.
Sunday night- Spent the night with Lois and Philip, mainly cause he has been BEGGING me to for weeks and ate some AMAZING pork chops that Lois made.
Monday- went to the Children's museum (Note: DON'T EVER go for the free days. Was WAY too crowded. Did manage to buy 3 Holocaust books, and found tons of other Holocaust stuff I wanted, but didn't buy.)
Monday Evening- went to Philip's swim class.
Monday night- spent another night with Lois and Philip but only cause Philip started crying when I was trying to leave. Yes, it was a school night, but Lois was ok with it.
Tues- went to Amish country up North with mom and dad.
Wed- Took my mom up to Lois's to meet Philip (she's going to be babysitting starting next week), went to Philip's Wed swim class, and went out to eat afterwards.
Thurs- going to Open Arms and help in the preschool in the AM, then Aunt Rebecca and I are going Bridal shower shopping, and out for lunch. WHOOHOOO.
And FINALLY
Friday- spend Friday night with Lois and Philip, because he asked me too tonight before we left and Lois said "Friday would be best since you can stay up late."

This has been the busiest week. Wonder if I'll get another letter Friday postponing my go back to work date.... Heard rumors we will be working every other week for now on.Who knows....

Oh and Aaron got called back. He starts back in my plant next week. Yes, he now has to drive a few miles to work but at least he has a job. I'm happy for him.

I'm all shook up

And no I'm not talking about the Elvis pelvis moving type either. I'm talking the hands shaking, heart thumping, and about to pee my pants type. It all started..........

Last Monday when I had some running to do. I had to run to K to file unemployment, and then run to T to the bank. I turned off 31 onto D road eastward and I was following a semi. The semi, I figured forgot where his turn was, turned his signal on and started to slide. I put my brakes on and was doing all right UNTIL..... I saw that semi cab SIDEWAYS across the road, I put my brake on all the way and started sliding toward the semi. My only thought was "GET INTO THE CORNFIELD", which is what I did. I managed to slide between a speed limit sign and a light pole. I came to rest about 5 rows into the cornfield and just sat for a min. I then eased onto a road intersecting D rd, threw my flashers on and got out to check my Jeep. THANKFULLY my tires were intact and I didn't see any damage.

The semi driver, who was still sitting on the road, yelled and asked if I was ok. "I said yeah, just really shook up." He said "I am too. I KNEW you were behind me and I thought for sure you were going to run into the trailer. That was quick thinking to head for the field. Probably saved your life".
The fact that 1 I managed to not hit the semi. 2. I missed the pole 3. missed the sign and 4 no damage tells me that God really was watching out for me.

I made a quick stop to an empty parking lot and just sat there to collect myself and calm down. Took me 20 mins to get calmed down to continue my trip to the bank.
Going to have to remember when I get to Heaven to apologize to my guardian angel for this. LOL.

Prayer request....

On Dec 27th, Brian (Lois's husband) is heading to Guam till March.

Lois said that they will be spending Christmas Eve with his family. On Christmas Day instead of spending it with her family, they decided to spend it alone just the three of them. She said on Dec 26th Brian and Philip will be spending the whole day together just the two of them.
This is going to be hard for all of them, but ESPECIALLY for Philip. Can't imagine how hard it will be for a 10 year old to be apart from his dad that long.

Cabin fever.....

As most of you know my last day of work was Dec 12. We WERE scheduled to return Jan 5, then it got moved to Jan 12, and NOW they are saying Jan 19. HOWEVER Jan 19th is a scheduled holiday, and since I can't see them paying all of us TRIPLE time I have a feeling we will be going back Jan 20th. (It's times like this that I'm glad my supervisor don't mind texting.) ;) Anyway that's 38/39 total DAYS off from work. This is only 25 mins into day 8, and already I'm going nuts.
I haven't left the house this week except church on Sunday, eat out at Red Lobster on Monday for my dad's birthday, and catch Lois's son's, Philip's, Christmas program and then grab lunch afterwards on Wed.
Church Wed night was cancelled due to the slick roads.

So, when my mom said on Sat. "we're going to F. to work on the house. Wanna go?" I JUMPED at the chance. Just to GO somewhere was enough.

However my dad had another idea as we were heading home. Instead of going straight across 31 towards home we went to Indy instead. At first I thought this is strange, and then when we merged onto 465 I thought ok my curiousity is perked. My dad laughed when I said "So..... are we driving around 465 to see how long it takes us?" We ended up at Washington Square mall, which I haven't been to in YEARS. I didn't care about where we went or what we did, just to get out of the house was MORE than enough. ;)

This coming week shouldn't be as bad... After all got church in the morning, heading to F afterwards, got a dress fitting (gag gag. Just kidding Ashley. I can't WAIT to try on my dress. Blah.Can't you just SEE my excitement?? LOL) Monday afternoon, a Jr church/kids club Christmas party Tues evening, and Grandma's for Christmas Day. Only thing is we don't have anything planned for Christmas Eve which just seems wrong somehow.

I know in another couple weeks from now I'll be counting down the days to go back to work. Only thing is when I do go back to work it's going to be a MESS. We lost 47 people in our dept on my shift ALONE. Can't run with whole lines missing.

A Captainless Poppet....

I've NEVER been one to accept change easily. It's always been hard for me when things change. It actually took me YEARS to accept a new pastor when Grandpa and Grandma T moved to F. It wasn't till our current pastor that I was FINALLY able to accept a different pastor. So with that said...........
Last Thursday at work they laid off 300 some people at our factory and not sure how many from Aaron's.. Aaron was one that got laid off indefinitely. He and Chris are taking it better than I expected. Her mom is more upset about it than they are.

With all the layoffs, some people got moved around. Lois is going to a different department on day shift when we come back from Christmas break (which started Dec 13 and ends Jan 12) Which means I won't see her.
No more after work Ihop, Steak N Shake, and Walmart nights. Which also means no going out for lunch either. Also our hours are changing. Instead of 3PM-11, when we go back it will be 3:30PM-12AM. This really STINKS, and it's going to be a HUGE adjustment. Truth is, I'm not up for this kind of adjustment, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Giving the bride a bath????

It's funny how when you're little you completely misunderstand things. I remember my mom mentioning baby showers and I HONESTLY thought "what's the big deal about watching someone give a baby a bath?"

Well, I'm older and wiser and ATTEMPTING to host and put together my first bridal and POSSIBLY baby shower. Yes, you heard me right your's truely is putting together Ashley's bridal shower and Chris's baby shower (IF no one else puts one together for her.)

I know as maid of honor this is my "duty." I guess duty isn't the right word because I'm actually looking a little forward to this challenge. I just have no idea what I'm doing. So of course Google is becoming a REALLY good friend.

Hmmmm. Anyone want to bring the soap??

Bah Humbug!!!!!!!!

Yeah, yeah yeah, two posts in one day. Go figure......



Okay, so this year I'm having a HORRIBLE time getting into the Christmas spirit. I THOUGHT wrapping gifts, putting up lights, buying Christmas for the less fortunate, listening to Christmas cds, watching Christmas movies, and looking at lights would put me in the mood for Christmas, but alas it hasn't.



I just CANT get into it this year. Maybe it's because everything seems so bleak? I don't know. Anyway, anyone have any ideas how to shake this depression I've found myself in??????

Very interesting site I found!!!!!

I was looking for a VERY short lived tv series on dvd. There are no release dates for it on dvd, so I went to a hard to find movies website thing and mentioned I was looking for this series. They referred me to ioffer.com.

This site is AMAZING. You can find and buy just about anything on dvd. They have old made for tv movies from the 80s on it.(They even have the OLD Wonderful World of Disney movies. Remember those?)

HOWEVER the most AMAZING thing I found were the Broadway shows taped and sold for 8-10 bucks per dvd. I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited bout this. They have not only shows NOW but shows that's already closed, with NO WAY of seeing them. All the quality of the shows are A+s-Bs. They even tell you things like "Head in the way in the first 10 mins, or no visual but audio the first 2o mins".

And it works somewhat like Ebay. You make your offer,(Buy, negotiate or trade) and the seller decides to accept or deny it. There's no auctions, only offers. you leave feedback JUST like on Ebay, and they have non paying bidder alerts. Speaking of Ebay you can even grab your feedback rating and move it to ioffer.
It's AMAZING. Oh, and it's not just movies and dvds, also have TONS of other stuff.

Sad day

This morning I walked into the bathroom to get ready for church, and I found my cat, Tabby, curled up in a ball. I thought at first she was sleeping, but when I petted her, I realized she was gone.
This was Ida's youngest cat, and to say I was sad would be grossly underestimated. It will be hard getting used to the quiet, and not hearing her moving around the house or see her running to greet me when I walk into the house after work.
Since the ground is frozen, my dad took her out into the woods and dropped her off.
If anyone needs any cat things like food, carriers, or anything else I may have feel free to ask. I do have a brand new bag of dry cat food I just opened up. Rather give to someone that needs it than to throw it all away.

My terrible, awful,no good, horrible, painful week

As my title explains this has been the WORST week I've had in a LONG time.
My bad week started Monday when I burned my thumb on my right hand and my middle finger on my left hand on a stupid glue gun. I was making turkeys, will get to that later....

I was off work Nov 15-23 due to a down week. I had filed unemployment that Sunday night THINKING I would get paid a day or two before Thanksgiving. WRONG. Didn't show up till today. (Dec 1) That just made me annoyed.

Then the worst of the worst I got sick Wed night. Not sure whether it was a bug or something I ate, so not wanting to sicken anyone I stayed home Thanksgiving day.
WHICH brings me to the turkeys I burned myself on. My pastor's wife made these ADORABLE turkeys using two (Fabric) fall leaves, a couple nuts, pipe cleaners,a piece of yarn, and a marker for the face. I made 2o some of these turkeys, only to FORGET to give them to my mom to take to Carrie's.
So on Thanksgiving Day while eating my WONDERFUL (yes, I'm being sarcastic) Thanksgiving peanut butter sandwich, I was feeling EXTREMELY sorry for myself.. I eventually decided I HAD to do SOMETHING, or I'll be laying in bed feeling even worse for myself. So, I decided to hang up my Christmas lights.
After looking for a while for the lights I finally found them and hung them up AFTER checking to make sure they worked. After I hung them up, I plugged them in only to discover that on one strand only the middle lights worked. It was WEIRD. The ends wont work but the middle few do. So I left them, and will replace them as money allows.
I HOPE my Christmas break is alot better than my Thanksgiving break was.