This is of course where you get to read all about moi' : ) I was born Carmella Mae Johannpeter, on November 5th, 1962, at 2:03 a.m. in Granite City Illinois. Granite City is just outside of St. Louis Missouri. My parents were Theodore Joseph Johannpeter and Betty Jean (Richardson) Johannpeter. My parents divorced when I was a little more than a year old, and I was raised by my Dad and my Grandma, (and a wicked step mother for a few years). Granite City, was home until my Dad moved us to California in 1970. We lived there for about 18 months before we moved back home to Illinois. Then in 1976 we once again packed up and moved back to California. This time I remained in California until after the birth of my 4th child in 1984. This time I moved to Missouri to be closer to my Mother. That is a very long story. Remember my Mother and Father divorced when I was very little? I never saw my Mother again until I was 20 years old! I had an ok childhood. Of course I did not understand at all why my mom was never there and wanted absolutely nothing to do with me, and the step mother, oh boy was she a dewsey! I've never met anyone so mean in all my life and Pray I never do again. Most of the 5 years my Dad and I spent with her I have blocked out. The times I do remember are not pretty at all. Thanks to a wonderful loving God, I made it through that time and through all the rough times I had growing up, and I am sure I am a much stronger person because of those times.
I had many trying times growing up. By "Growing up" I don't mean growing from a child to an adult. I mean growing from an adult "Physically and mentally" to an adult "Spiritually". I was born and raised Catholic. I had the Catholic Religion crammed down my throat, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I attended a Catholic School from 1st through 8th grade. By the time I graduated the 8th grade I really didn't want to see the inside of a Church any more. I was bitter and angry that I had been forced to go through all the rituals and rosary, and everything else pertaining to the Catholic Religion. Please don't get me wrong, Catholics are good people, but the religion was forced on me in a bad way that made me bitter towards the religion itself, but not the people. In fact one of the greatest women I have ever known was a Nun that taught my 7th & 8th grade class. You don't find a lot of people like this lady in the world anymore. She was a great Blessing to myself as well as all the other kids in St Joseph school back in the mid 70's. I would love to be able to see and talk with her again. She is probably the only teacher I ever had that I think of often and miss dearly.
I strayed from the Church, but I kept God close to my heart all the time. I talked to him often throughout the day, and Prayed each night before bed. However that was it. I did not read the Bible, I was never taught that.
As I had children I became concerned with what to teach them about Religion. I did not want them to have the type of experience I did, so I decided that I would not push any Religion on them, thus I did nothing at all to teach them anything either. I was so afraid I would do or say the wrong thing, I felt it better to allow them to grow up and choose their own faith, rather than push my beliefs on them. Especially seeing how my beliefs were all confused within my own head. I knew one thing for sure, I believed in one God, and I believe that Christ died on the cross to save me from my sins, and that is what I taught my children.
As I said I had many trying times "Growing up". I had a few bad marriages. Now I am not saying that I married a bunch of creeps, I'm saying that for one reason or other the marriage was not healthy. One thing that I will never regret though is the beautiful children that came from each of those marriages. Finally in 1994, towards the end of my third "Unhealthy" marriage, I found the greatest man in the world for me... My now Husband Dan Dunkin.
When I met Dan, I was delving a bit into things I should not have. I still never lost site of God and Christ, but I was a bit confused to say the least. Anyway, Dan helped pull me to reality of what Religion and the Bible is all about, and I thank God that he did, as I was on a really bad road Spiritually, and mentally too. I met Dan on April 21st, 1994 on an on-line service called Prodigy. This was a couple of years before the "Web" really got going. Back when most things were just BB's and everything was text, no graphics. I was living near Youngstown, Ohio, and he lived in Indianapolis. We hit it off right away. We thought the same thoughts, which at times was a bit scary, but eventually I became used to it and now I enjoy it. We had the same likes, dislikes, views on life, etc. We got along very well, all the time. My children, (All 6 of them) liked Dan a lot Oh did I leave out that we eventually met face to face? We had our first date after we met and I was back in Ohio and Dan in Indiana. You say how is this possible? We each chose a secluded spot outside under the moon to go and sit. We did this at the same time, so we were in essence "together under the moon". We were both looking at the same object, at the same time, even though we were more than 300 miles apart. Romantic huh? we had a few of those dates, and I still cherish each one of them, (as does Dan).
Dan and I married on July 14th, 1995, in a small Chapel in Riley Park, in Greenfield, Indiana. It was very hot that day, 106 at 6:00 p.m. And of course I had to pick this cute little Chapel with NO A/C!!! I'm sure all of our Brides maids and Grooms men will never forget that day. I had these poor guys in Victorian style tuxedos, you know the kind with those tail things that go down almost to the floor! The girls had it a little easier. Their dresses were a light cotton with short sleeves. My dress on the other hand, was a victorian style, full length, full bodied, wedding gown made from bridal satin. It was so hot, but once I walked down the isle, (dripping all the way, LOL), and was standing next to Dan, I forgot all about the heat. I'm sure no one else did. In fact our Minister hurried the service along so we could all get outside, were it was a little bit cooler than inside the Chapel.
Our reception was held at the Holiday Inn here in Shelbyville, Indiana. Something I remember from the reception that was really funny, was my oldest daughter and my third daughter going for a swim in their dresses! I'm not sure what they were thinking.
We spent the night at the Holiday Inn, then headed for Brown County State Park the next day. Brown County was awesome! We started out in a small one room cabin. Then we looked into getting a family cabin for a few days and going home and picking up the kids. We got lucky, they had a cancellation and a cabin we could get into that very afternoon. So we headed home, grabbed the kids and headed back to our family cabin nestled in the woods of Brown County State Park. We all had a blast! We saw so many Eagles, they are such wonderful birds. After our "Family honeymoon", we settled down in Shelbyville, and we remain here still today.
Me and my Wonderful Husband and the best friend a woman could ask for, Dan
Ever since I can remember I have loved to sing. I never thought I was very good, but I loved to sing out loud and proud anyway. Then one day in my music class at school my teacher had me come to the front of the room to help her show the other students how to sing out loud and proud, (she said I was the only one she could hear singing). Well that did my loud and proud in! Instead of seeing it for the compliment it was, I instead became very shy and lost my desire to sing loud and proud all together, at least where others could hear me. My dream was shattered by... STAGE FRIGHT!!!
My stage fright stayed a long time, too long really, but one day in 2003 that all changed...
We first attended Beacon Baptist on July 13, 2003, we became members in August of 2003. I was asked to joined the Church choir, (after some arm twisting from the choir Director), in August of 2003. I was convinced that I sounded horrible when I sang, but our choir director, Arthur Spriggs new differently and told me so. I owe that man a lot, because had he not been so persistent that I had a good voice, I would not be where I am today with my music.
UPDATE: 08-07-06
Since 2005 we have placed our focus on jewelry design, web design and affiliate sales. Dan has been diagnosed with degenerative disk disease, osteoarthritist, asthma, and emphasema, and I myself have been having a great deal of trouble with my back and crunchy knees, (they sound like potatoe chips when I walk, LOL), we now have to look for every avenue we can find to generate an income to support our family.
The affiliate sales have been real good and we now hope to be able to purchase an RV and see some of the country with our youngest before Dan's illnesses get to a point that he can no longer travel. Dan and I have been married for 11 wonderful years and have only had a vaccation one year when we went to King's Island amusement park for the day when are two youngest were 2 and 3. Over the last 6 1/2 years since Dan injured his back, Dan and I have delivered newspapers 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year with no time off at all. Our only days off are Sundays, and the only holiday we get off is Christmas. However we do what we must to provide for our family in a world were the disabled are swept under a rug and forgotten about. Even the programs that you pay so much into so there is help for you if ever you need it, (Social Security), will not help you, so you learn ways to help yourself, and that is what we have done with all of our web sites. They are slow growing, but they keep us above water enough to get by.
So if you are an internet shopper you can help us out simply by starting your shopping trip through one of our sites. You get a large varriety of shops at your fingertips, and at the same time you help out a family strugling to survive in a world that would rather forget about them. You also will be helping us to buy that RV sooner so we can travel a little while Dan still has time. We need to leave the midwest anyway because there are way too many allergens and too much mold and it makes it hard for Dan to breath on a daily basis. So once we get an RV we are also going to look for a state where Dan can breath easier.
