The Kill Shot (July 15)

Well you guys it's Pump it up Thursday so put on your favorite teams jersey and get ready to act crazy. You best believe that I was repping the Saints all day. WHO DAT!

This morning chill out period was bazerk, as always however Mish mash was the craziest I've seen it all summer. Only 2 registers opened and a line of 20 plus kids waiting outside the door before we even opened. It wore me out like reeling in a 20 pound catfish.

Lunch was nice since camp version of mom and dad ate with us. ( Alana and T-Dog) and afternoon deliveries for me was a fail as always. I'm never doing Summit deliveries ever again cuz it takes me forever to get there just to find put the camper is sleeping, or at the lake.

Special event tonight was full of every single inflatable game a child could

Possibly ever want to play with. The entire field house, large baseball field, and tennis courts was packed dull of adventurous games. Luckily ozark was short a few workers so I was recruited to work a shift. It was a blast being able to experience a special event considering I'm always cooped in the store learning children’s names and breaking the news that they can't buy two twix bars.

Somehow God placed Hannah at the game right next to me so you best believe we were dancing and having a good time, while paying attention to every child...safety first...

Tonight was when the real fun began. I witnessed two murders and a well battled attempt but she ended up gettin neutrilized (which means you can't try to shoot your target for 24 hrs) from 12:15 a.m. When we met at vesper point to 1:57 we lurked around in the dark shadows of Ozark like we were Edward Cullin. It's hilarious to see people creeping around with head lights and water guns. Anyway, I'm pretty upset I didn’t get to take a shower but it was simply way to late. Morning showers aren't so bad I guess..

Till tomorrow.

Carol of the Assassinators (July 15)

This game has gotten out of control! People are being shot at 4:30 in the morning. Counslors are barricading their cabins with children’s trunks, and attached to this email you will find a picture of what was hanging in Cabin 22s window...

On a more happier note it's Christmas once again at ozark. I awoke with donuts and coffee this morning because dear Alana is so thoughtful. After sharing Christmas memories we got to our morning duties of checking sweaty and SMELLY!!!!!! Children out after their tribal competition. Here's something I have learned at camp this summer, I have seriously under estimated the terrible Stench that takes over a little boy when he's been playing in the blistering Arkansas morning sun for an hour. Sometimes I don't know how I go a whole 30 minutes through chill out without literally gagging.

Annnyyway lunch was a big hype for nothing because it ended up being hot dogs instead of corn dogs. Yuck. Plus walking back from lunch I got shot twice by the media team. Right in the neck with water guns! And I was assinated 2days ago, so I was attacked for nothing. Needless to say, lunch time was more disappointing than exciting.

Mish mash came and went and Christmas dinner was upon us. I met up with my adopted cabin and listened to the Christmas story and than had our Christmas Dinner complete with Turkey, gravy, stuffing, and green beans. Oh, and don't forget the cookie that can cause a heart attack and arteries to clog within seconds of digestion. Then walking back to the store I had an audience made up of Alana, Chris Ann, and T-Dog hooting and hollering for my arrival into their presence. It was nice to see 'Ol T-Dog cheering on another team member, since all he does is gripe and complain about the register area and EMAILS not being complete!! Haha

Special event wasn't so special since it was just an extended period of mish mash. Then staff time came which instead of fellowship and phone time, it now consist of stalking and sketch behavior while water guns are being squirted from every direction. Insanity I tell you!!!

But in the mood of Christmas spirit, a wise man once told me, "the perfect way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." so what if his name is Buddy the Elf, he gives great advice. What a role model. He also told me that in order to be healthy I need to stick with the four main food groups: candy, candy corn, candy cane, and syrup.

..and I say this as I type this email eating on a three muskateer that "Santa" left me on my bed....Chris Ann... Thanks :)

But it's time to go, I've said all I needed to say.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Techno Titanic (July 13)

Put on your floaties and your bathing suits guys, cuz it's Water World at Camp Ozark!

The store has been surprisingly peaceful, at least for now. I believe that here is the correct place to insert a "knock on wood."

Today for lunch was ham and cheese Stromboli so considering I hate ham and I'm not a fan of cheese I decided to go to the cook out in the small gym today. Luckily a lot of my new counselor, ex store sista, friends had lunch there as well so we caught up on all the hot gossip and made new friends.

The assassination game has gotten down and dirty. Someone was literally decked out in camo tonight waiting to make his kill. I went on a kill mission to the top staff girls house last night and witnessed first hand a water downed Murder! It was hilarious. Killed her right in her sleep, she never saw it coming.

That's pretty much all the rave at camp right now. The kids this session are great. Full of energy and excitement for each new day at camp, which makes it easier to wake up in the morning. I've adopted cabin 22 since I ate dinner with them the other night and am good friends with both their counselors. They are fun to get to know and I look forward to seeing their loud little faces everyday.

Dinner was gross as always. At least for first Tuesday. However I enjoyed great company while I harassed 'ol T-Dog and told Monetha stories that for some strange reason people like to hear. We mostly talked about my lack of teeth and how it makes it hard to chew chewy things. We also discussed the ability of my jaw to pop out of socket; the unfortunate birthmark that has been genetically passes down to me, and the strange and rare occassion of my elbow popping out of socket.

Tonight was water world so for the most part the store wasn't very busy considering the waterfront was open and a bunch of mini water games, that includes dunking booths, slip and slides, and a foam pit. Once evening falls upon Ozark the real party begins and a crazy beach party scene takes place on the all purpose courts. The end of the night is finished off in the most perfect way I could ever think of. If I completely hated Ozark, which I don't, but if I did, what happens at the end of Water World every first Tuesday of each session would make my entire summer no matter what. The very last song that is played is a techno remix version of My Heart Will Go On, which is, of course, the theme song to not only my Forbidden lover (Leonardo D.) but to also my favorite movie....Titanic!

Oh what I would give to watch that right now..

Anyway that was July 13th for me. Holy Whales!!! Can you believe that. I have lass than a month left here. 3 1/2 weeks really. Absurd!

Chit chat with you guys later.

Total Eclipse of the Heart (July 13)

Just to say, this title of my email has nothing to do with my emotional feelings, I just have that song stuck in my head.

So today, not much to talk about. I got to have a nice lunch with Raquel, the bestie, and visit with a lot of friends today. All my fellow store sistas came in with their cabins and so if was nice to see them. Plus I got a package from maw-maw (Thanks by the way!) and a letter from the Mexican bestie back home.

Im sure lurking around in the woods, Vampires were out today at Ozark since it was so rainy today. I swear a couple of times I thought I was in forks. (must be a twilight fan to understand). good thing I had my lucky Twilight Woods hands cream that Mrs. Cheryl and Casee sent me in a care package. It really made me play the part of a Cullen. Plus with Chris Piggot (a counselor) walking around camp it made it extra believable, since he is the identical twin of Robert pattinson. ( once again, must be a twilight fan) sorry, all you Harry Potter nerds.

Anyway tonight was western night and everyone was decked out in flannel, cowboy boots, bandanas, pig tails, and dont forget the 2 random kids that had black and green leotards on.....I'm still wondering what they were.

Tonight was stressful due to assassination starting at 8. I have decide to go all out an sent my assassin a creepy letter and tomorrow there will be signs posted around camp also creeping him out. Everything I write him is exerted out of the Bible so it's legit. The top staff in charge of this game says this is the most creative stalking she's seen and everyone says I'll be a legend when all is said and done. I guess all those episodes of Crimnal Minds that me and monie watch are finally paying off..in a non realistic/yet realistic way.

Sad news is I've already been killed. My luck to have been assigned to the girl sleeping right in front of me. So although she is now after my assigned assassin, the plan is still underway and I will have all credit for the creepy stalking that will take place tomorrow.

Annywwaayyy, sorry I blabbed. My eyes are beginning to glue shut and I feel like I'm typing gibberish.

Smell ya later.

The Assassination Game (June 11)

Opening day of session 4!!! I can not believe it. This summer is flying by quicker than a fueled up F-17! I have no clue what that is or if it even exist, but it sounds fast.

840 kids rolled into camp today and surprisingly not too many of them stopped by the store. It was a nice break. However, that meant that many children did not pick up all their pre-ordered goodies from the store, which resulted in us store sistas to deliver them tonight. The day saddened me because my good friends have left me to do bigger and better things but my day was made when Hannah busted through the doors screaming, "Take me Back! Take me back!" all hot and sweaty from standing on the hill and greeting all the cars with excited campers as I sat in one of the only AC buildings on campus.

We finally closed at 5 and I rushed to the chow hall and ate my FAVORITE dinner! Chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, green beans. Yuuummmy. You know how much I love chicken and tators!

Afterword I sized children for uniforms and then Headed to summit where I pulled all 840 uniforms along with the rest of the girls. We were surprisingly fast and got it done in 30 minutes.

I actually got to make it to the end of the campers lifeline (or ozark form of bible study/welcome) and caught the very first part of Tribal Initiation.

Like I said earlier we had to personally deliver all the packages that the children so conveniently didn't pick up, which was chaotic but I got it done in record timing so I treated myself to a cookies n cream ice cream bar....

Anyywwayy-your probably wondering why this blog is entitled "the assassination game" that's because for session 4 every Ozark staff member has been assigned a water gun and a specific top secret staff member that he/she is to assassin. Of course there are specic times of when combat can take place so each of us was placed with 4 pages of ozark original rules. Apparently this game has been played 2 years ago and people get down and dirty and scout on on roofs just to shoot the target. The point of the game is to shoot your target and identify who their target was and then Go after them. Basically like a huge circle it's going to be fun.

My assassin is actually a top staffer so I'm goin to have lots of fun and already have a 3 day plan. I plan on day 1 consisting of a note on his

Pillow with a Ozark version of Jeremiah 6:6-14. Next a creepy scavenger hunt leading him to clues saying I'm watching you. And eventually leading up to signs around camp saying to beware. Hopefully I actually pull all this off and protect myself from whoever Is out to kill me. Hmm-oh well.

Well just informing yall on another day of my life. Hope all is well, where yall are.

Piece ann Balessings.

The End is Near (June 11)

Welcome all you new email readers!! The word has gotten around that my daily blogs are quite "witty" so I've added some excited people to the list.

Today was closing day of session 3 and it was somewhat of a bittersweet day. Although it's exciting for all my close friends to become counselors, I will truly miss my store sistas that I have grown so close to over the past 7 weeks. Today, the store was very calm which was a nice break. However, I know that tomorrow's opening day is going to be rough, Alana may never admit it but I can see it in her eyes. She's not one to freak out but I know deep in her heart she's screaming bloody murder.

After the session ended I helped moved Brooke and Hannah in to their new cabins. Conveniently, their cabins were located on opposite sides of the camp....sweat is the new make up.

Hours passed and I though that I was never going to get my day off but we finally got things together and hit the road to hot springs.

Made it to the Wash N Go with all the other 200 staff members of Ozark and mingled and joked around for a good 10 minutes before I realized I was there to do laundry. Then a scene was created when i had to ask how to work the washer machines..of course. By now, most people who have Been here since 1 are used to my obliviousness of the world around me. After getting clothes rinsed, talking to friends, getting awkwardly macked on by awkward Justin, and clothes dried, I headed to hibachi. Like always, everyone couldn't resist and followed me there..ok ok, maybe I'm a little conceited.. Haha

But dinner was nice and then me and brooke took a what was suppose to be a quick trip to Wally world that ended up being an hour an a half. But on the upside I got some cool rings for only a dollar, an don't forget the animal silly bands!

Anyway it's been a long and tiring day but I'm finally in my comfortable bed getting cooled down by Katrina and Rita (my two fans)...oh and by comfortable, I mean by ozark standards.

Peace and blessings

Forever Young..Yeah Right (July 10)

I would like to start this blog mail off with a formal apology for the lack of blogs that I have sent over the past couple of days. When I say that I've been busy like a waitress on Valentines Day, I mean it!

It seems to be that the last time I updated yall was on Tuesday following the Mena, Ar trip so I shall do my best to pick up where I left off. But the days have been long, and the nights have been short so I can't promise you I'm going to remember everything.

Wednesdy was wacky tacky and man was it Wacky! Not only do they serve dinner for breakfast, which I don't know about you, but I prefer Breakfast for breakfast, but the whole day is backwards so we don't end up opening till 7:30 p.m.! Then of course it had to be raining all day long. Plus there was an extreme serve party that night that I had to attend and half work for. Drinks were all there and ready to be drank/drunk/drinked?..nope that's defiantly not it.  But you get the picture. It was all because of me and dear old courtney's hard work of placing drinks in iced coolers and lugging them around camp nearly killing ourselves....

Anyway the party was fun. As unexpected.

Thursday was disco daze so I was saddened that I chose not to bring back to camp with me my perfectly tie dyed shirt that I made in NOLA on my break. The store was a little lonely so we had the pleasure of restocking and playing in the special event. I was really excited but the whole time we were at the special event all 827 kids were playing the worlds largest game of Bingo sooo.. It wasn't that interesting.

Today has Been crazy as always since it's Final Friday. Camps energy was full of excitement that tomorrow means the Day OFF, but also sadness that this means separation for most of us store sistas. Ultimate solution( Tribal comp.) was this morning and I made it in time to watch the last 3 relay race where Osage took 3rd Session of Camp Ozark. This would have normally made me very excited if I wasn't soaking wet from the torrential downpour that was happening the entire time I was watching. After that build a mountain was for lunch but I should call it.. Build an ant hill. I tend to only get the fritos, beans, meat, and cheese so when I sit down for lunch I never feel like I'm eating a mountain. Mish mash came an went as did the last special event which was CRAZINESS. It was as if the children had never seen the store before. It was like wild monkeys tasting Africa for the first time. It was like Megan hearing that free food was being handed out in the chow hall...haha

A stampede of non stop flowing of children happened for 2 hours getting the last minute buys and draining their camp account. Once we closed the party got started. Me and Hannah did our weekly "it's a hard knock life for us" routine, complete with brooms and dance, then pumped it Up with the best songs to restock too. After waiting for pizza that never arrived and finishing emails that 'ol T-Dog dropped by (alanas husband) I finally decided to call it a night and head back to the staff house. Of course though, I was sidetracked and ended up walking backwards and up a hill to the loft to visit a friend that just got back, talked to another friend on the way back up another hill, jumped in a car to bring me up the next hill, just to get out and talk to another friend. So..needless to say...30 minutes and 4 conversations later I finally made it to the staff house. It's been a quick 2 weeks and I'm saddened to know that summer is going to be done before I know it. This summer has been a great experience and God has shown me so much and I'm excited for the next 4 weeks.

So for those of you who are wondering, yes, I am alive...just real busy!

Day OFF (July 7)

Sorry that I didn't write last night, but yesterday was just way too uneventful! So it simply wasn't worth blabbing about to you guys and having yall waste 5 minutes of your life. But considering it's been 48 hours I'm sure there is something interesting I can come up with that's worth blogging about.

Yesterday was escape to neverland so camp was full of Disney fantasies, songs, and characters. Special event was crazy fun as always and of course I look fabulous as Cinderella.

Today's theme is a little less interesting which is sad because it's Red, White, Blue day. To the campers it means presidential elections and Ozark Idol but for us store girls it meant NIGHT OFF!!! We partied like it was the last 5 hours of 1999...Mena, Arkansas style. After driving through 45 minutes of trailer homes and fields we came across a small town complete with a Wendy’s full of scabies, a off brand version of sonic, 1 Mexican resturant, and the main attraction..The 1 story wearhouse with two screens that showed 2 movies. We were warned upon entering the theatre that sometimes the movies don't exactly run smoothly, and I thought it was Chris Ann, just one of my lovely top staff managers, small town humor, but once again, I was wrong. Into the movie-which was Eclipse by the way- about thirty minutes the screen started to blur then slowly the sound went out then the screen went black. Ozark quote of the night, " Apparently it melted!" it was hilarious an heartbreaking that people consider this place a legit form of entertainment but..hey, you take what the Lord gives ya. After the movie experience we took a trip to the off brand sonic, other wise known as Cruizers where I enjoyed the fresh sound of my sweet Nola friends and family. Following that we took a nice and needed trip to Wally world where I bought a storage bin, toy story band aids, spongebob stickers, and smelled every deodorant on the aisle. Clearly we see that I have matured this summer...

Anyway, we had a safe trip back to camp and I've showered and now laying in the dark wishing that the idea of wearing my contacts had never popped into my head today. My eyes just aren't use to this kind of change!

It's been a pleasure talking with you and till tomorrow!

Planet Pizza (July 5)

Opening day of session 3D was today and it was stressful and long as always. Luckily I got to sleep in till 11 today which would have been nice if we didn't go to bed so late from slaving in the store all day long. Plus my breakfast consisted of a starwberry nutri grain bar that I instantly regretted getting after my first bite.

We opened our doors at 12:30 and pack by pack parents walked in with excited new campers ready to get their week started. I had to work pre-order station so I dealt with most parents who incredibly ask every single question in the book...ozark wise. That's always fun to answer..over and over again.

We closed for literaly 5 minutes to do a quick restock and open up for Mish Mash which was just 2 hours full of children, all smelly and wet from the ropes course or water front, in search of a cold drink and ice cream. 5 o clock showed up and I took it upon myself, once again, to place fear within children of not picking up their trash when they are done with it.

Afterwards dinner came which was delicious as all second Sunday meals are. The most delicious, perfectly cooked, small round, peporoni deep dish pizzas you can ever eat and a nice glass of coke. Delicioso!! Or however those mexicans spell it.

Anyywwayy afterwards I put on my 90s outfit which was moms track suit and headed off to the HOT Summit to work.  It wasn't miserable for long because I got to spend the last 30 minutes at the special event dancing my frustration away to Miley cyrus and techno N*Sync! Luckily I found every camera boy so I'm going to be writing that media team an angry letter if I don't even make a clip on the session DVD from tonight. After I sweated 10 pounds off I went back to the store to restock and call my wonderful parentals and my sister who continues to conveniently never be by her phone to pick up the call. Haha

..anyway, thats the life of a store girl

Long Time NO Blog (July 3)

Hey yall sorry for not blogging in a while! You couldn't believe the Business that I have been experiencing. It's worse than the elves on Christmas Eve!! No joke!

Let me start with yesterday. Considering it was the last day for most campers who were one week, the day was so entirely hectic and just weird. First thing first, I went to the post office to do the mail. Let me tell you about these spoiled children. 149 packages were delivered to campers yesterday. You know how many I've gotten....exactly! Katie lee grace gets 5 packages a day and I wallow in my pain knowing that I got nothing, once again. Afterwards I went to the store and restocked and cleaned and then opened and then closed and then Restocked again and then closed just to do a major restock for closing day parents. I LOATHE RESTOCKING! unless if you are my boss and find yourself to be reading this then I just love it!

Today was less eventful while being the most crazy day by far. Contradictory? I think so.

Closing day is always a busy time because children make last

Minute buys while the parents are chatting their heads off about why their children spent al their money. Meanwhile 12:00 peaked it's ugly head around the corner and said Boo! Which meant that I head to go to the post office with all the craziness of hundreds of parents lined up on the street to load busses back to their cars. It was insane. Literally the most stressful 30 minutes I've had in a little while, but I just had to keep reminding myself "the Saints won the superbowl" and it pushed me through the day.

After that we ......restocked. And then I took a much needed nap which of course did not last long enough.

Later on was Louisiana night so we headed to the football fields and had Cajun chicken and rice and their forms of beignets, which was most definitely a failed attemp. It was just the cinnamon sticks with powder sugar on top. Nice try ozark...

The store THANK GOD wasn't busy tonight so I got to catch up on my reading. Oh wait, that was everyone else. I just doodled the whole time. Then I did my normal routine of yelling at the children who decide to throw their trash on the ground instead of putting it in the trash can 5 feet away. Harrasing children is just one if my many talents. I just kept screaming CONN which stands for Camp Ozark No No!

Speaking of No Nos! We found a dead mouse in the boys uniforms shorts box. I was sure that the girl who found it, sweet Megan Adams, was literally going to barf. When she said "I can't do this anymore, I'm leaving". I thought she was kidding up until I walked out behind her and saw her literally running away towards main camp. Funny stuff right there ladies an gentledudes.

Ahh finally the night ended with staff time which was fun and relaxing even though we were working. It's nice to be with people your own age when you've been harrased by children for the majority of your day.

Now I find myself enjoying, oh who am I kidding, sitting miserably in the humid night of Mt. Ida, As writing this email to you guys. Luckily I get to sleep in extra late tomorrow which I just might pee on myself because I'm so excited!

Till tomorrow you shall here from me again. It's been a pleasure blogging, as always.

Just A Taste Of Store Girl Heaven (June 30)

...a continuation of today's earlier e-mail.

With it being Christmas and all we were assigned secret sistas, which was a delight. Encouragement was a theme throughout the day, although it got a little too much too handle at some times. Pretty notes and free gifts of candy were passed around sporadically, you could say the Christmas cheer was alive in the Main Store at Ozark.

Since I have no life, I spent my day off at the store but really all I did was chit chat and enjoy the use of my cellular device. I also drank another slushie-it's like store girl crack!

Attached to this email you will see a picture of just the tiniest (spelling of that is questionable) part of the waterfront but it just gives you a taste of Ozark for those of you who have no clue.

So I know how yall must feel about me not updating yall about Ozark Gossip, so here I go.

'ol girl (as dear old Hannah likes to call people)...'ol girl who fell off the horse yesterday has Been rumored to be ok, however, it's been on the hush hush which has led to accusations of the situation to be much more serious.

During ChrisMash a little girl who's stomach obviously couldn't handle the excitement of Christmas Dinner literally exploded the remnant all over the store porch...and I'm not talking about vomit. For those of you with a weak stomach, or those of you who just have a genuine affection for children, please skip the next couple of sentences. This girl pooped on the steps of the porch and conveniently right in front of the toilet in the bathroom. It was described as a pile of horse poop and I took that as an exageration all the way up to the point that I went in and took a look for myself. Definitely not an exageration cuz that's exactly what it looked like. That really started to spark some doubt in my mind about being a preschool teacher....

Other than that, ozark has been pretty light.

New Moon was a pleasure to watch, as always, and I am incredibly excited (I lied, I'm not that excited) to go see Eclispe next Tuesday, but hey I get to leave this place.

Well it's officially 2:05 a.m. So I guess my grandma phase of going to bed at 11 every night has finally ended. It was fun while it lasted.

Till tomorrow, goodnight. Or goodnorning. Whatever floats your rubber ducky. (I bet you thought I was going to say boat)... Always expect the unexpected with me. I'll surprise ya everytime.

Merry Christmas (June 30)

Put on your red and green, it's Christmas at ozark. I started off this morning with frantic wake up because the entire room of store girls just so happen forgot to set their alarms. Maybe it was because deep in our hearts we knew it was Christmas so we wanted to sleep in. We got together and walked to the main store for devotion and we sat in a circle snacking on donuts and recalling favorite Christmas memories. Afterwards I spent the next three hours enjoying the AC of the main store, listening to music, and restocking and getting a million pre-orders ready for the afternoon. Now it's my day off so I'm going to spend the remainder of the day enjoying not having a responsibility and just hanging out at the store visiting and all. Tonight for dinner is Christmas dinner and ozark goes all out. Turkey, stuffing, and all the Christmas dinner items. It's a ton of fun. The camp is full of Christmas cheer and Christmas trees are scattered throughout the camp. Tonight is the perfect Christmas present though. Alana, our head boss, has invited all of us to watch New Moon in preparations of them brining us to hot springs to see Eclispe. (for those of you who don't know that twilight stuff)

Yesterday, I failed to send an email so i will catch you up on all the interesting stuff that happened.

........

That's pretty much it. Hahha ok ok, my life is a little more interesting than that but really not much happened. I pigged out all day long on the most amazing ice cream snacks you can ever imagine. Don't forget the tropical punch and mountain blast slushies. They are too sing for. Die is a little over-dramatic.

So my sister has told me that I tend to ramble on during these emails, so sorry if you feel that way, but everyone else says that they are great and funny, so it's probably just another instance of her being jealous of my good looks.

Till tomorrow

Boot Scootin Boogy (june 29)

Get ready for the rootin tootin neatest cowboy blog in the Arkansas wild wild west, it's western night here at Ozark. The day started off crazy, which is always fun for me, and I had to do uniforms. This basically entitles me to sit in the blazing, humid morning sun for 30 minutes screaming at cabin counselor who can never remember to pick up their uniforms. Luckily it was French toast for breakfast, which is always a crowd pleaser, at least for me. Afterwards I headed off to devotional where I attended literally the last 3 minutes of it. Prayer ended and off to the post office I went.

Let me tell you about the post office. It's not easy sailing being a post man here at ozark and I have officially taken back anything I ever said bad about any postman of the U.S. I mean granted the U.S. PO has some sort of computer technology to track down where mail is sent but for us post girls for Ozark it's so much more complicated. Here's the thing, when a package arrives we have to record it's arrival in a binder, find the child and his cabin number, lable it and put it in a designated spot, then write the child a package slip and place It in his mailbox so he knows be has a package to pick up. It's gets easy but when you have 827 campers, the mail delivery isn’t exactly light...

Like all ozark days and counselor, we are never on the same schedule so I had the privilege to drive to the summit three times within an hour. I know it doest sound that bad, but the thing is the golf cart goes at the same speed a snail does his morning walk. But I wear my smile and cool shades and face the Arkansas sun like it's no big deal.

Afterwards I had a burger for lunch which was all right but the sprite made it for me. There's something about the carbonated taste of lemon-lime soda that just soothes my soul.

Rain came today so mish mash started A hour late, so whenever it was cleared, a mad rush of kids came into the store seeking powerade and the coolest tribal shirt. Dinner time came and it was adorable to see all the children dressed in their best cowboy and western outfits. This leads to the Ozark Fun Fact: in the main chow hall it's a custom to cheer throughout the entire dinner. Today for instance the counselor from baylor did their school cheer, then it was followed by an overwhelmly excited chant of "Oh it's great to be in the SEC" fun for kids to watch and fun for the counselors. Win win!!

Special event was surprisingly not as busy as always and we took shifts checking our zones and organizing stock rooms. I guess the Miley Cyrus Hodown Throwdown was too much of a distraction to send children to the store.

Luckily I got to escape early and head to the main store and do orders to deliver to cabins upon returning back from special event. That took a while because I have the special talent of getting to the cabins just as soon as the camper gets into the shower. So I get to wait, and wait, and wait, until they are out. Then of course I headed back to the store where I finally talked myself into buying a fan so that I no longer sweated through the night. Is sweated a word? Oh well, it is now. Anyway that's where I sit now. Freshly bathed, Pringles can opened, fans-a-blowin, and writing this blog mail. Hope all of your days are going great and you find my days to be somewhat entertaining in case yours just wasn't enough.

827 (June 27)

827. That is the number of children that is attending session 3 of camp. Man oh man was today busy, but I was so glad it has started!! Got to sleep in this morning which meant we got to wake up at 8:30, and it was great. Unfortunately since I am on a top bunk my fan is no longer in the perfect spot and it failed to blow on me so I sweated all night long and was very uncomfortable. So 9:30 rolled around and we had our worship time and staff talk by Sam Torn (owner of camp) about the Armor of God. Afterwards us Store Sistas reported to the store to do some last minute organization and cleaning. 1:00 finally showed it's ugly face and car after car after car rolled into camp honking their horns with kids hanging out the window pumped up about starting camp. And that's when the crazy 4 hour of work became known. Every parent and child came in searching For pre-orders which I was working, Unloading every powerade and water we had in our coolers, and buying shirts and accessories. Ozark Fun Fact: some parents send their child to camp with just underwear because they ordered their camper an enchilida, Which includes a sleeping back, sheets, towles, shower stuff, postcards, stamps, shirts, shorts, and other camp necessities. It cost over $600. Some of these parents are unbelievable. Once it was time to say bye to the parents and get camp officially started I walked over to the main chow hall and had my favorite dinner. Chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and green beens. Mmmmmmm good! When kids started to line up on the chow hall steps I had to go to every guy counselor and make sure all of the uniform sizes their campers ordered were correct. That took a while, and shuffling through hundreds of sweaty boys is never a fun job. When that was done I took a nice 10 minute break in the main store and talked and laughed with all of my sweet friends i've made in the store. Afterwards we went to the summit store to pull what felt like a never ending amount of uniforms for all of the cabins that are assigned to take cabin pictures tomorrow. This session is another session that is both a one week session along with two week session. This means that some of the campers that showed up today are only here for one week whereas the others are here for two. This will make this weekend so hectic since half of the campers or staying trough the weekend an doing a crazy camp schedule while the other half is leaving and doing all of their closing day tribal games and ceremonies. And to top the confusing and hectic weekend off we have to start Sunday with adding a whole new group of one week campers to the schedule. YIKES!!!

When I was walking back to the store after pulling uniforms I passed a literally "unhappy camper" she was in the stage of hysteria where she was no longer crying but just full out moaning and yelling at the camp mom and counselor that was trying to talk her Into having an open mind Bout camp. She was screaming something about how she's not with her friends and she hates camp and wants to go home. It was a hilarious sight. Last I saw of her the camp mom was sitting about 10 feet in front of her talking to her counselor while the child was throwing rocks and screaming no longer in a crying state of upset. It was like seeing a cop car on the side of the road: I couldn't help but slow down and stare.

But now I find myself sitting in my bed writing my day out to you before children have there Tribal Initiation. I have no clue what we are doing then but I'm sure it has something to do with delivering the 50 pre-orders that people decided to not pick up, leaving us store girls to work extra long through the night so that we can specially deliver them. Joy.

I hope that everyones days are going great and please feel free to write me. I would love to write a letter but would LOVE to receive one in the mail.

Back To Ozark (June 26)

Hey guys, I know it's been a while but I have returned to the incomparable camp ozark for my six week working session. I left Friday morning for the NOLA airport at 4:30 in the morning. Yes can you believe it? Well once I landed in Dallas it was delay after delay until I finally took off 4 hours behind schedule. Talk about convenient...

However, I was blessed to be picked up by an understanding staff member and she waited for me and picked me up and brought me back to camp.

Once returning back to camp it was all hugs and smiles, greeting everyone I became friends with during my time working first session. I had a couple of meetings to attend being that I was placed on the SWAT (servants working all together) team. They are basically the core janitor/behind the scenes people of camp and the team is made new with counselor every two weeks.

Well today, Saturday, was closing day of session two and I was assigned to work the satellite lot. And this leads to Ozark fun fact of the day: the satellite lot is basically a large field cut out in between the trees a few hundred yards down and across the street from the main entrance of camp. Parents are loaded in and checked in through different tables and then placed in a shuttle to head to camp. For today, all 750 childrens luggage were at the satellite lot and we had to organize each bag by cabin. Once the parents arrived, they found their kids cabins and we had the joyous job of bringing all their children’s over packed and smelly luggage to their car that was most likely parked in the very back of the open field.. This lasted for 5 hours. Eventually every parent and camper was gone and we had our staff meeting and then it was time to have OFF!!!

Me and Raquel wondered around searching for a ride and eventually found a nice guy from Miss. State to drive us to the Dairyette (local ice cream and snack place) where we were treated to a free large milkshake by camp ozark. From there we watched, -Dad, don't read the next sentence-, the final over time period of the World cup USA game. Afterwards I hooked up with a sweet friend and we drove into Hot Springs, Ar ab partied it up with the rest of the Staff at the Wash and Go. It's literally a fun time to be social and talk while making yourself completely at home at the Laundry mat. Once all the clothes were dry we met some nice girls ranging from TexasA&M to University of Alabama and had Salsa's Mexican food. Gross as always. When that was done with me and Jen went to chick fil A to have some real food and then decided to head back into camp. So here I am now, in the car, enjoying a ride and listening to NeedtoBreethe. Till tomorrow-

In the words of Michael O'Connor, "Have a blessed day"

Rain Rain Go Away (June 10)

Well it's Thursday over here at Camp Ozark and that leaves just ONE more day of the first session of camp left. Sadly, however, it has been raining all day so campers haven't been able to enjoy their activities, at least to my knowledge. Also it is my day off so I'm stuck inside the staff house alone with no company and my boss won't Let me work. :( so for now I sit here on the porch of the staff house and watch the rain fall, the dew drip of the leaves, and the water flow into the creek that flows in front of me.

Wacky Tacky (june 9)

Ok so be ready for a confusing day, because its Wacky Tacky day at Ozark and everything is backwards. Starting the day off with spaghetti and country fried steak just is not the way i want to start off my day. So i didn’t. instead i headed to the store for our Beth Moore devotional and had an oatmeal to go bar. Afterwards it was off to do cabin inspection but ironically, everyone forgot to clean their cabins so i had to give out a lot of blue flags. (which means really dirty)

since it was Wacky Tacky and everything was backwards they had devotionals in the mornings and then their bible studies or time of worship, then their special event which i had no clue what it was. meanwhile us store girls weren’t open until 7:30 p.m. so we spent all day organizing and cleaning the 2 stores on camp. lunch came around and we went into Mt. Ida and had the dairyette. in case you were wondering, i had the chicken tenders and fries with a large milkshake!!!! so good. once returning to the camp we were met with an ambulance in the parking lot and an 18 wheeler pulled over and all the camp officials at the front gate and cops. come to find out an 18 wheeler came from behind and hit 2  counselors turning right into the park to have a picnic and threw them into the ditch. luckily everyone was ok. after that fiasco ended and calmed down we headed back to the store to do deliveries for those parents that keep sending children stuff. At 5 we headed to breakfast for dinner and then took a much needed 2 hour nap! ahhh it was amazing. 7:30 rolled around and i headed to the summit to work night mish mash. IT WAS CRAZY. since the summit is also the craft store and mish mash is a crazy time for crafts i literally had a line of AT LEAST 8 people for an hour straight. one of the children was Jordan Aikman. mhmm i got her autograph hahah. anyway, anyway that ended i restocked the summit store and had serious GAS! my stomach hurt so bad but Raquel was there so we laughed about...like always...well i just found out that a meeting has been called for ALL STAFF at 10:30 so i need to go since its approaching that time. hope everything is doing fine and sorry this email isnt as interesting as they use to

June 8

WIPE those tears from your eyes, Your daily blog mail has arrived! So im using the computer in the Store because cell phones were discovered and so now mine is safely hidden and turned off. but no worries i find ways-legal ways-to send your emails. so to start, i will begin at yesterday! which by the way, feels like forever ago.

lets see hahahh i dont even remember what happened yesterday. OK ive literally been here pondering what i did yesterday and i have literally gone blank. so besides it being Escape to Neverland so that i had my chance to dress up in my Cinderella outfit and had MANY compliments, thats all i can really tell you about yesterday. also by the time Staff time came around which is from 10-12 me and 2 other girls ran to the staff house so that we could decorate the room for our friend and fellow store sista's birthday which was today June 8th.

so i began today getting up early for devo just to find how our wonderful bosses bought us chocolate milk and donuts for megs birthday! it was amazing, i was so chocolate milk deprived. i then went and did cabin inspections and decided to spice things up and check out the boys cabins. THOSE ARE SOME FUNNY THINGS. in order to get star cabin boys not only clean their cabin but also try to win us over by poems, candy, and interesting shapes made with shoes and other objects. so after that and sweating my butt off i headed to the store just to go back outside and walk to the summit store to pull care packages, and restock over there.

i had to rush though because i had to get the golf cart back over to the post office for 12 so that the girls could deliver the mail. AHH i miss that job. so at 12:25, after being outside non stop today, i had to sit outside for 2 and a half hours to wait for cabins to show up to take pictures and my job was to exchange uniforms that did not fit correctly. to my wonderful surprise a couple of cabins never even received their uniforms so that was chaos in itself, trying to get them their uniforms in a hurry. After that and not eating for hours i headed to the chow hall to find out they put all the food up but i pulled some strings and got 2 burn corndogs from the back. i collapsed once i reached the store because i was so beat, but i didn’t get to rest long because i had to go BACK outside to do deliveries. WHEN THAT WAS OVER, i finally got to eat my lunch which by then (2:00) i was over it lol. 3 o clock rolled around and it was time for mish mash which was suprinrgly not as busy at it usually was. i think it was so hot today that children jsut wanted to go to Wacky World, as we know it the waterfront. then Good news hit when our bosses said that they are taking us in town to have pizza for megs birthday. IT WAS SUCH A NICE BREAK. once returning me and some store girls skipped out on the Red White and Blue special event and fireworks and detangled the door beads so now we have a decorative piece hanging in front of our door. its so 6th grade! but now i came back to the store where i sit now to type up emails, do last minute deliveries, and work staff time. but now its time to go, and i am sorry this email isn’t as entertaining, but that was a snippet of my life. i have off Thursday and will have full control of my cell phone so a better and more interesting update is in the making!

miss yall

Planet Ozark (June 7)

Hello fellow blog mail listeners! Thanks for all the encouraging e-mails! This is my way of journaling my experience at Ozark by taking advantage of the 21st Century.

Well today was Second Sunday or what we staffers were all wanting to call it Sunday From Hell! This morning all the two week campers were doing their confusing half time schedule meanwhile everyone else around the camp was preparing for 1 o clock to roll around and greet the 400 new campers that were going to arrive. The energy at camp when those kids enter the gates of Camp ozark is absolutely wonderful! From the moment their car is seen and their name is blared through every speaker on camp to where they reach the hill and drive past 30 counselor hooting and hollering, the smiles on those campers and parents faces makes the little homesickness and sacrifice of summer completely worthwhile.

Ozark fun fact/story: as I was walking up to the Main store this morning Scott Torn (youngest son of the owner of camp) and his sister in law were driving past me giving a tour to a family on the Mules. I thought to myself how odd it was for them to be giving camp tours so close to the new campers arrival, but I looked content and waved back to the nice man that waved to me from the back of the mule. Once I walked in to the store my 2 bosses were freaking out because Troy Aikman (famous cowboy football player?) just drove past. Coincidently, it was the sane person who waved at me. So...I'm practically famous... We tried to keep our cool but completely lost it when we saw him and Scott walking directly towards the store doors. Alana, head boss, turned to us store sistas an said "BATTLE STATIONS!" we took our places behind the register and acted Like it was no big deal that Troy aikman was In our presence with his 2 daughters and Prada wife.

After that excitement ended, I was assigned to head to the satellite lot ( where campers park before allowed on camp grounds) to sell concessions. That was an hour of sitting in the heat and not selling anything.

1 o clock rolled around and campers and parents were extremely excited, as were we. Today I worked pre-orders which is completely chaotic. Parents usually pre-order tshirts or tribal packages and so they pick them up first day of camp. It was tough but me and Courtney (my co-store sista) managed through it and got all the kids their orders successfully. For 2 hours it was non stop business and we shut down for a total of 5 minutes just to reopen for another 2 hours for Mish Mash. Needless to say we were very low on drinks and snacks! By then it was time for dinner but before I could eat my pizza and coke I had to check 10 boys cabins and make sure the uniform sizes they ordered were sized correctly. Dinner was good and loud with excited campers, but it ended quickly. I then headed Over to the staff house to get changed for TOTALLY OZARK. This was the night I had Been waiting for. It was throwback Ozark tonight and we basked in the jersey wearing, knee shorts, side ways hats, and wind suits, while listening to Backstreet Boys, Nsync, and having re-runs of Saved By the Bell on the big screen. Numerous karaoke and wii stations were set up as well as the Velcro wall and inflatables in the large field house. Campers flowed in through the store as always but eventually died down by 8. so we took advantage of the  break and knowing that we had a lot to restock, decided to one by one check our stations and restock before the special event ended so that when it did all we had left to do was restock the coke coolers. However, I was assigned to go to the basement And pull 30 bags of uniforms for all the cabins that are assigned to take pictures tomorrow. It was a lot of 3 YM shorts, 2 SM shorts, 4 YL shirts...etc bagging and then tagging each bag so to make sure each cabin recieved the right sizes. Finally we finished and just in time to run to the summit and deliver packages that weren't picked up upon arrival this afternoon. It has been a long and TIRING day. Everyone on campus hates how they split this session to be for one week campers and two week campers, because it makes opening day such like this one, so much more crazy and busy than it needs to be! But we all survived and I guarantee all 200 staff members that are working right now are glad the night is over and is taking a much needed break! As for me, I sit in bed with the cool breeze of Katrina and write this blog. Hope all is well wherever you may be and that your day is a little bit brighter now that you've heard from me. :)

June 6

Put on your Mardi Gras beads and your Drew Brees jersey, it's Louisina Night at Ozark! Oh, it was good to be home. We had Cajun fried chicken, scalloped potatoes, Cajun rice and corn on the cob. Don't forget the Drew Brees football throwing, picture station with Drew, or the Reggie Bush down hill race. The putt putt course was open as well as the blobs. But before I get too ahead of myself (which I think I already have) let me start at the beginning of the day.

I woke up this morning and felt like P. Diddy, knowing that the day ahead of me was going to be crazy busy...and it was. I decided to skip breakfast in the Chow Hall and just grab a special K bar and head to the main store to prepare for the closing day rush of parents making last minute purchases for their campers. The lines were crazy and Alana, head boss, says it's the craziest she's ever seen on a closing day. Afterwards we Restocked for an hour just so that we could re-open the store again to more parents. After that craziness ended we, yup you guessed it, restocked. Time for lunch I was a little overly excited and chowed all my cheesburger, fries, and cheesecake brownie faster than a bolt of lightning! I even turned down sharing a French fry to a friend because , well, I don't share potatoes. And yes, that's exactly what I told her haha.

After lunch I realized the post office probably needed someone to bring the summit their mail so I jumped in Darla, our golf cart, and Floored it to the summit. (and by floored I literally mean floored it, I only went about 2 miles an hour. I see snails passing me on this thing) once I arrived to the summit post office I was sad to see I missed the mail rush and felt bad for all the campers who were hoping to look in their cabins box to see mail only to find emptiness and cobwebs. Afterwards I went to the staff house and took a much needed nap in front of Katrina (my fan) and cooled down. Then I enjoyed an hour of sitting on the porch talking to the family and catching up on letter writing. 5 o clock rolled around and it was time to eat my Cajun dinner and listen to louisinan music and watch all the LSU fans surface. We had a huge Saints Sign in the all purpose basketball courts and a life size cut out of Drew to take pictures with. It was fun! After scarfing down dinner I headed to the summit store where I was assigned to work the special event. Being that we weren't busy at all I took my time to eat my Twix ice cream bar and make 2 ribbon bows in the craft center. (which is the downstairs lobby of the summit store) they are as KJ Marbry would say "KaYooooooot!" anyway when Louisina Night was over we store sistas restocked and cleaned like it was nobody business. We need to the store to be perfect for opening day of the next batch of one week campers. I'm getting excited to get a new wave of kids in an also to have this week fly bye and be in a well needed break with the family and friends of NOLA! But for now I find comfort in my Pringles and freshly washed hair and write this Blog Mail to you guys. So farewell to my friends and I will write tomorrow when something a little more interesting rolls around.

P.s. Can someone send me a new can of Pringles, I accidently ate all mine.

Masquerade (June 4)

Hello again,

Put on your costumes and prepare to sing the Adams Family song because it's Masquerade at Camp Ozark tonight. Camp was full of costumes and outfits, including me as a hotdog. Pictures were taken. Today was what we call Final Friday. This takes place at the end of every session, in this case, the one week campers session and includes the final Tribal Competition, otherwise known as Ultimate Solution. This I was able to take part in during Orientation. This leads to the Ozark fun fact: Campers are assigned to either the Osage or Caddo tribe and once initiated are in it for life, including their siblings, family members, or children. I myself is officially an Osage. Initiating takes place every Opening night an consists of Indians, drums, Torch lighting, fireworks, and the ancient story of the Osage and Caddo Indian tribe. For the rest of the campers session (whether it be for two or one week) campers join in every morning for Tribal competition. Team up with the opposing tribe, campers play Ozark original games and compete towards the Final Friday...Ultimate solution. This is basically a huge relay course from younger kids to older kids. It's a lot of fun.

Back to camp. So Final Fiday was today and the Caddo tribe to the first part of the first session of camp or as us staffers know it as Session 1A. Being that half of the camp is staying for another week and the other half is leaving tomorrow camp was pretty hectic and I did a lot of running around. I made many trips to the summit (older

Kids section) dropping off forms, last minute awards, and packages.

My day started off not so great when I realized I was a bit late to drop off uniforms to cabins who were assigned to take pictures, but once that was settled I went to breakfast where my day was made right. The Ozark famous Cinnamon rolls and Chocolate milk. There's a song and shirt for it! That's how infamous it is!

Like always I headed to the post office and did the usual. Received a post card so that was exciting! Mish Mash (free time) in the store today was pretty slow. I assume most campers realize they are running out of money quickly so less and less kids stop by to visit us store girls. We manage to keep busy and entertained and have a blast doing so. Lunch cane around and was almost as great as breakfast! Left overs galore!!! Macaroni, French fires, corn fritters, ozarks Build A Mountain( includes fritos, meat, beans, cheese, salsa) and many other goodies. Other than what I mentioned the day was great. Eventually evening rolled around and it was time for us to dress up in our costumes and head to the masquerade. The special event took place in the Large field house which is across from the tennis courts and skate park and directly beside the Large baseball diamond. Kids played in mini games and competed for timers in which were traded for clues for a cabin scavenger hunt. I usually don't get to see how the special event works because usually I'm locked inside the store checking out kids in search of a refreshing drink and snack, but tonight we were incredibly slow so our amazing bosses let us have shifts so we could check out the scene outside. I walked around but quickly felt out of place and returned to the store. When the event was over, we restocked and then super restocked since tomorrow is closing day for the one week campers. This means while the two week campers are doing their "Half time" camp schedule, the one week campers are having their closing day ceremony and awaiting the arrival of their parents or busses to bring them home. As you cam imagine the schedule is going to be hectic and I can only imagine how exhausting the day will be. Then comes Sunday which is not only A normal Sunday for 2 week campers but Opening day and the arrival of the new batch of one week campers! Crazy cazy! Luckily camp is always like this and for the next 3 sessions camp is only open to two week campers. So for now we will bare with this schedule and learn how to operate. Well ladies and gentleman, it has been a pleasure blogging to you and I hope you enjoy these updates and I don't bore you. Oh

I just want to send you a snippet of my day and new life that I have found at Camp Ozark.