Oh Nature Center

This Past weekend I had to spend a little time in our Nature Center helping kids hold snakes, birds, guinea pigs, bunnies etc... Not really my favorite job at camp, but it's always an adventure.

There was 10 minutes until the Nature Center would be open for business. We generally keep it locked so people cant just go in there on their own. Unfortunately one of our staff neglected to lock the door this particular day. I walked by and a crew of screaming kids ran up to tell me that there were dead baby guinea pigs all over the floor. I quickly got everyone out of the Nature Center to assess the situation, hoping it was not as bad as it sounded.

I walked in looked around and sure enough there are 6 new born babies crawling around on the floor. I picked them up and put them in a container, I looked around and tried to figure out where they came from. One of the guinea pig cages was empty so I thought perhaps the mom got out and might be around somewhere. Jenn and I searched and searched and found nothing. Jenn and I are from larger cities and we don't have a ton of experience with new born animals, it didn't occur to us that guinea pigs rarely have litters larger than 3. One of our other staff members came in and informed us they were actually baby bunnies, that was the point where everything made sense. First time bunny moms aren't always the best parents, she just threw them out of her nest right on the floor. We put them back in the cage with her and put some of her hair around them to make them smell a little more rabbit like, and she eventually decided to take care and feed them.

Here is a picture from their first photo shoot. They are 2 days old here and they do look more like bunnies. I thought I would share some of my other nature center friends with you. All of these pics are taken with my phone so forgive the blurriness. This is Gizmo the sweetest little bird in the world who only likes you if no one else is around.The nice old bearded Dragon

This is Mia, she's adorable except when she eats your hair.
Here is one of the baby snapping turtles we had over 50 hatch and we kept a couple in the Nature Center
Here are some we set free!

One of the many reasons why I love Donald Miller

http://donmilleris.com/2011/04/01/my-review-of-love-wins/

I totally work here/oh yeah about the couch

I'm really bad at this blogging thing but here is the couch finished a pic of my house and and look at my pretty camp, super random. :) I'll try to get inside house pics up soon

Dear Everyone,
I would like to move into my house today.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
RSK1

break time

SO I woke up at 5:00 this morning and decided I needed to go into work, my plan was to be incredibly productive and get tons done. SO not the case and now here I am updating my rarely updated blog. I move in less than a week and I am so excited, i have been stalking my house and pricing out things I know I'll need at Menards and Fleet Farm. Today I have an exciting day of garage sailing ahead of me and tonight i am having some girls from youth group over for a pride and Prejudice party, 6 hours of food and fun. I need to post pictures but last week my friend Jodi and I re-upholstered my couch, it looks awesome, we're basically professionals. well that's it short post and back to work.

I bought a house!!!!

Janet I am doing this for you and I also found pictures online :)
I bought a house in Brainerd and I am super excited, I don't close until the end of May but I have lots of plans and ideas for it running through my mind. I also finally got to meet Charles Gabriel Weaver and I love him, so cute and such a good baby.
Here are the listing pictures:

Time to Back Track

So even though things seem to be going really wrong lately God is reminding me that he is in control. I am feeling much better, I gave in and went to the Doctor yesterday and she gave me some awesome drugs and I feel much better, what 25 year old gets an ear infection? I also had her look at me knee and I got the pity look that I know all too well, I guess my knee is destined to be the thorn in my flesh. The one good thing is that if what's wrong is what I think is wrong it may not be surgical.
Stephen seems to be in good spirits, He is alive which is a blessing in an of itself. He turns the big 30 on Friday. He has food, money, a job and a roof over his head he just has the hassle of finding a new place and of starting over.
My Dad starts his new Job in a week, praise the Lord for such a quick hire.
Wyatt has been helping with the dogs while I have been sick, he is wonderful and he even likes them. I was so impressed when he petted the little dog, it is such a gross little thing.
I am catching up at work and the reason I am behind is because we have had so many new Rental Groups. God is really looking out for us in this slow economy.
God has really taken control of the situation at our local church and he is using a lot of our staff to help out. Our director joined the deacon board a month ago, our office manager and her husband are placed in a unique ministerial and counseling position. and the rest of our staff is always willing and ready to help out when they can. We have an awesome staff right now, it is so much fun to see how God is working through our staff. we have bonded so much this year, this is the first year that I would rather be at camp then anywhere else. I love my job and the people I work with.
And finally I had my car looked at and I was able to make an appointment to get it fixed along with my windshield and I only have to pay a $250 deductible.

I need to vent

So i haven't blogged in a long time but this one is going to be a doozy. I have had this awful recurring cold for the whole month of February and now it is still in full swing at the beginning of march. I played broom ball on Sunday and I snapped something in my knee and I am so sick of the hurt knee road, also from that game I have this nasty green bruise that looks like it is dripping down my hand. Right now I am taking care of a couple dogs, i have already had to clean up vomit and yesterday one of the dogs ripped apart the family heirloom bible. I am not a pet person, i like dogs when they are someone else's and when they are outside. My Dad lost his job but praise the Lord we think he has another one lined up. My brothers apartment building burned down on Saturday, he lost everything. He is staying in a hotel trying to figure out what to do next, he has to quit this semester of school which is a huge bummer cause he is almost done. I am behind with everything at camp. I hit a deer last week had my car appraised yesterday and then last night I was driving and I noticed that there is a hole in my windshield. Things are falling apart at our local church and camp is doing what they can to help. and yeah that is pretty much life right now, i think I need a nap.

Pickles!!!!!!!

So Sandy I are in charge of planning our staff Christmas party. We do it every year and this year we decided to have a suprise theme, PICKLES!!!!!!. In our shopping we noticed a lot of pickle ornaments and we wondered why, after some research we found this story:
A decedent of a soldier who fought in the American Civil War, John Lower (Hans Lauer?), born in Bavaria in 1842, wrote to tell about a family story that had to do with a Christmas pickle. According to family lore, “John Lower was captured and sent to prison in Andersonville, Georgia. ...In poor health and starving, he begged a guard for just one pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and found a pickle for John Lower. According to family legend, John said that the pickle—by the grace of God—gave him the mental and physical strength to live on. Once he was reunited with his family he began a tradition of hiding a pickle on the Christmas tree. The first person who found the pickle on Christmas morning would be blessed with a year of good fortune.”

This story was by far my favorite of the pickle stories out there, I mean, how can you ignore the fact the "By the grace of God" this man was able to survive. Needless to say Sandy and I feel that it is important to share this Christmas tradition with our fellow staff members. Sandy picked up some pickle Christmas ornaments to send home with everyone, I found (pictured above) a yodeling pickle and little pickle catapults, I also found some pickle band-aids but for some reason couldn't purchase them. The yodeling pickle will likely be a prize for a coloring contest of this pickle http://www.gedneypickle.com/index.cfm/go/palooza.COLOR. And the catapults will be given away with our white elephant exchange.

I plan to make a few pickle dishes surgery dip (of course), and pickle wheels with cream cheese and ham, I also plan to have a few varities of pickles for sampling. If you know of any more pickle recipes you can let me know. After reading this i hope you all incorporate the Christmas pickle into your holiday traditions.

I'm Famous

See Here or on the lundboats.com website
Last May Lund Boats came and shot their 2009 catalog here at camp and on Lake Shamineau. It got down to the last day and they had one more shot they need and no models. So mike and I found ourselves being whisked away to our Island on the lake for a photo shoot and this picture is the result. All of you will now be able to say that you knew me when.

It's a wonderful life

So I definitely grew up a city girl, that is no longer who I am. I was talking with my friend Kelsey the other day and we decided that we just don't fit anywhere. I spent this last weekend hunting. It turned out to be a pretty easy weekend for me, I went out with my friend Dale we sat in the stand for 30 min I shot a deer and that was pretty much it. I got a little button buck, I have only shot a rifle 3 times in my life and I got a deer with each shot. Dale and I think I might have shot 2 deer with one bullet but we searched and searched and couldn't find the other one. Here is a picture of bambi.

So I also have a pretty interesting job sometimes. Today I had to figure out how to send a woman a case of breast milk that she pumped through out the weekend. I have decided that I don't want to deal with or even think about breast milk until I am a mother someday. Those phone conversations were a little bit awkward.

One month and counting

I haven't done laundry in a month or maybe even more. In the past when I have run out of clothes I have just bought more socks, underwear, etc... I can probably still last a week but this is getting ridiculous.

Motherhood

I really don’t feel like my life is all that blog worthy right now so you get to hear about the mundane. Yesterday I watched our Adventure Director’s kid during the day while I worked. It apparently was my responsibility to watch him because I had the audacity to schedule a group of 45 people for the ropes course on a Monday. It made me really glad that I don’t have kids yet, someday hopefully, but not yet. I gagged a lot, there were lots of boogers, smelly pea baby food, one really nasty diaper, very little nap time and very little work done. The kid is the cutest thing ever I just don’t think my stomach is ready for motherhood.

because I love you

I am not big on the blog games but I love my girls and they did it so I will follow suit. I was tagged by my friend Janet which means that I have to share 6 random facts about myself with you. At the end of the post I will not be tagging 6 other people who also have to post about their own randomness.. beware, it wont be YOU!
So here goes..
First, the rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write six random things about yourself.
3. Tag six people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, just do it, and pass the tag along! (I wont do it, I know I’m a loser)



1. Most things make me gag and people go to incredible lengths to see this happen about a month ago I received a letter in the mail with toe nail clippings GROSS!!!

2. I have had my belly button pierced since I was 18, I went with our youth pastor’s Wife.

3. I have an annoying ability to find answers and solutions to really strange questions and problems, the more people find out about this ability the more random things I have to figure out.

4. In most pictures I take with people I am usually to the other person’s right. I don’t even do it on purpose.

5. I love pickles and I eat them all the time.

6. I play Sudoku all the time, this boy taught me on a random date while we sat in caribou, afterward we wandered around Target, 3 months later after he dated a friend of mine he ended up engaged to a new girl. They are now married living in her brother’s basement, weird guy.

Sad Day

It happens so fast. Life happens so fast, you don't realize how every decision you make will change you even something as simple as washing your hair. This week has been tough and sad and just plain hard. I am distracted and I am doing poorly at all of the jobs I have. When there is too much I just shut down, I'm tired. The one thing I have to cling to is that God is in control, He knows what he is doing and the end result can only be sweet.

Rodney is a Sweet Dog!

I found a dog for Rudy on craigslist and he is the best dog in the whole world (maybe not the best but he is pretty amazing). We went for a bike and that Dog kept up with us running full barrel the whole time. After the ride we practiced holding the tailgate of Rudy's truck up so Rodney can high jump into the bed, he clears it everytime. We haven't gotten Rodney to jump in with the tailgate closed yet but he can do it he just has it in his head that he cant. What a wonderful dog.

This is a Squishy Bowl

What could be

I have very sad news...Bob's trailer was hit by a tree he woke up with just enough room for his body, if he were sleeping in any other position his body would have been impaled by a log. Luckily he made it out with only a few scrapes and bruises.

I didn't get to eat out of my squishy bowls this morning, I forgot that I planned to go to breakfast with Callie.

I told Janet that I would show her how fun it would be for Her and Christ to get a blog so here it goes:

[Fade into a 3rd floor Brooklyn Apartment]

Chris: I woke up this morning to the stupid cat playing with a ping pong ball, I decided that that was it and I gave it to the family across the street. It is safe to say that I will never see that cat again.

Janet: Dubs is missing and I am sad.

Chris: I wish Rachel lived in New York she does a mean Turtle Face.

Janet: I wish Rachel were here I miss her and I am sad.

Chris: I drank a bottle of XXX Vitamin water and I bought new shoes today.

Janet: My Shoes broke and I am sad.

Chris: Blogging is way better that I thought, I am going to do this every day.

Janet: Chris and I have a blog and I am happy!!

I got Squishy Bowls

Sandy made the comment today that most girls get excited about new clothes, a new haircut, or new jewelery, I get excited about Squishy Bowls. They're amazing everyone should buy some, I plan to eat my cereal in one tomorrow.

Craziness

This weekend turned out to be pure craziness. 4 different groups, some who have not been on site before, lots of activity requests, lots of activity cancellations, tons of snacks, and an annoying amount of snow, mud, slush, and ice. To add to the weekend festivities I found out that we have a computer virus which I am still working on, I need find and remove the virus from our sever as well as all of our individual computers and then run a few scans on our entire system. I am at the point where I think I need another vacation.
After the weekend craziness subsided and the groups left, a bunch of us went to the large metropolis of Brainerd for a night of pizza and bowling. It amazes me how terrible I am at bowling. In High school I bowled for 3 months with 3 practices a week while having tournaments on weekends, now I am lucky if I break 100. Either way it turned out to be a really good time and it made me realize that I just really like my friends. Which brings me to tonight, we were all sitting there hanging out when Charlie announced we were going to have a birthday party for Jordan and I on Monday night(strange because my b-day was a month ago). So tonight is my birthday, lisa made a cake and there will be bunches of snacks and lots of people which will add up to an all around good time.