Camp Food here I come!

Holy Moley was I tired!  Vacation Bible School was totally awesome - so awesome I wish more kids had come to experience it with us.  We learned all about Noah, the flood and the Ark, the kids got to make all kinds of awesome crafts - including a 6 foot long replica of the actual ark, they learned lots of new songs, and I got to hear my own name called out, on average, 30 times a second.  Now I know why Girl Scout Camp Counselors get nicknames for the summer - Anyone who has to hear their name called out that many times for that long will certainly file for a name change as soon as the summer is over.  Seriously, how annoying is this: "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!""Laura!""Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!" "Laura!"

If I weren't so tired it would have been hilarious!  Okay... it was still hilarious.

Anyway, as VBS week is my busiest week of the year (counting out the weeks when I'm out of town for things like camp, mission trip and General Assembly) and I survived it WITH weight loss success to boot!  Considering the fact that I ate pizza, cake, cookies and so forth this week, I count that as a HUGE success.  My "fitnesspal" app is really helping.  I was able to keep track of every calorie I ingested, even if it was Domino's pizza and cake.  That way I could make sure that, though I was eating junk food, I was still staying within my calorie limit for the day.  Super fun. 

So, now that I've survived a difficult diet week, I am now staring down the barrel of another difficult week.  I'm going to church camp.  Now, I have eaten a LOT of camp food over the years.  I've been going to camp since I was 8 and I know how bad camp food can be.  But I have to say that the food at this particular camp is the worst I have ever eaten.  Seriously, there is, at least, one fried food option at every meal - if not more - and I did not realize that you could actually over batter and over fry anything.  But these camp "chefs" have managed to do just that.  It really is unbelievable.  I'm tempted to call Guinness and let them know they should come check out these camp chicken fingers.  There is so much fried batter on them that it's debatable there's even any chicken in them at all.

I've talked to our camp director and have come up with a game plan to, you know, face this challenge head on.  I've decided to go to the grocery store near the camp grounds and buy all my own food for the week.  I've already made my shopping list because I have to be careful not to buy anything that has to be prepared and cooked in any way.  So, that means lots of sandwiches, Lean Cuisine dinners, low fat hot dogs, raw veggies, fresh fruit, and so on.  I will, I think, have access to a microwave while I'm there.  Regardless of what I consume, it will be WAY better and probably tastier than what I would be eating if I depended on the whims of the grease crazy lunch ladies from church camp hell.

There are two other things I've decided to do differently this year.  One is, I am going to take my bathing suit and actually swim in it instead of pretending that I forgot my suit and then just swim in my clothes.  I figure that if I'm putting myself out there on the Internet like this then I should probably just put myself out there with people who know me and love me too.  It stinks being fat and having to put on a bathing suit, but I think it's just one more step I can take to being realistic about who I am and what I look like today.  No more trying to ignore it and pretend the problem isn't there. 

The other thing I'm going to do differently this year is I will not make up an excuse not to hike to the cross.  It's an Alabama camping tradition that I have never done in the 4 years I've been here.  It's time and I'm looking forward to it.  I have no idea how difficult the hike is - heck, it might not be that big of a deal at all.  But I've built it up in my head as being something I can't do and I'm tired of being afraid.  So, I will huff and I'll puff and I'll drag my big butt up to that landmark and I'll finally be able to say that I've been to the cross!  But, I might go it alone so no one else has to see me turn all red in the face and stop every 3 steps to catch my breath ;-).

It's time for me to sign off for now.  Keep me in your thoughts and prayers this next week and check in to see if I've posted.  I've been told that there are computers I can use after hours and I will do my best to sneak away from the festivities long enough to let you all know how I'm doing.

So, for now, I'm gonna make like a tree and leave!

Laura