2009 Update: Wrapping Up Another Year

NEWSLETTER: For those inquiring minds who want to know if I chose to do my Christmas newsletter (aka “Mel’s Monologue”) this season or not, I am pleased to report that I did write it up. I haven’t gotten around to mailing or emailing it out completely to the gang. So, if you haven’t received it yet, don’t panic. I’m sure YOU made the cut.

NEW DIGS: I moved into my new office last week, and I am nearly all settled in. I need to get my pictures re-hung on the walls, but other than that, I am pretty much set to go. I can see daylight. WOOHOO! And I was excited to discover that I have a white board in my office. I don’t know why that thrilled me, but it did. It's the little things in life, you know...

In other office news, there is a rumor that my office might be relocated to another area in the near future. Hmmmm??? Oh well, I am staying positive! I’m sure it will all work out for the best.

KEEPING YOUNG: For the past 5 years, I have worked with the high school co-op students who work part-time through the school year in the legal department. Today was my last day in my old job, and so it was time to say my goodbyes. I’m going to miss a lot of the faces in legal, and among those cheerful souls, I am really going to miss our two co-ops, Hallie and Nikia. They keep me young and make me laugh. Although after today, I learned that I am a comic source to them as well. They were trying to fill me in on texting acronyms because, quite frankly, I think there should be a textbook (HA! Get it? TEXTbook!) with instructions on using im acronyms and texting. They were asking me if I knew what a couple of the acronyms meant, but I failed miserably. I am rather hopelessly unhip.

ikr = i know right (my guess = i concur)
Hmmmmm….someone has been working with lawyers for too long!

smh = shaking my head (my guess = save my hat)
No clue! It kinda makes you want to shake your head, doesn't it? HA! Not sure why I have a sudden concern for hats since I don’t wear hats, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

The “girls” thought it was pretty hilarious! I live to amuse, you know. Hee hee!

CELEBRATION: I've had several holiday parties to go to, and I have enjoyed them all. Last weekend, I went to a Sara Groves' Christmas concert with 3 girlfriends, and it was just amazing! I came away respecting Sara and her music even more.

On Christmas Eve, I will be heading up to Kokomo for the weekend to celebrate the holidays with my sister and her family. I'm looking forward to playing games with Jacob, doing another "cooking show" with Grace, coloring with Harrison, playing with Thorn and his new rope (OOPS! Please don't tell Thorn what he is getting for Christmas! It will spoil the surprise.), catching up with my sister and her husband, watching some movies, and just enjoying being together.

I am planning to join my sister and her family on their trek North to my parents in Michigan over New Years, and so more fun and family time is ahead next week.

It's been a crazy year, full of ups and downs, but GOD has been faithful through it all. I'm looking forward to what HE has in store next...

I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas season and a joyous New Year!

Watch Out, Martha!

I had a great weekend, but it was a working weekend. For two and a half days, I slaved away in the kitchen. STOP LAUGHING! I know you are just trying to picture the scene, but for once I’m being serious. I really worked hard. I made like a dozen varieties of cookies and candies so that I could make give away Christmas treats to my work colleagues.

On Saturday, I spent the day baking at with Jessica and Becky in Becky’s new home. I liked the experience of using new appliances. Very fun! But on Friday evening and again Sunday after church, I worked at my place on my own. Baking at my house can be stressful.

1. I don’t have much room to work with. I have a small one-person kitchen, and there is no pantry to speak of. So I was using my dining room table for rolling and cooling cookies as well as holding all of my supplies, too.

2. Speaking of supplies, I may or may not have gotten a bit carried away with purchasing said baking items this season. I currently have 2 bags of brown sugar, 2 bags of confectioner’s sugar, 7 bags of chocolate chips – all unopened, and I think I’m nearly done with my baking experiments for the present. AHEM!

3. As for the experimentation aspect, I learned that making fudge is an art form that I have NOT yet acquired. I wound up making a peanut butter/chocolate taffy-like substance that was supposed to be chocolate-peanut butter fudge. It smelled odd and tasted awful. Truly, it did. I'm not sure what new chemical compound I discovered, but I chose to dispose of it quickly rather than send it to a lab for further testing. HA!

4. I’m such a perfectionist. I was taking my baking far too seriously for a few minutes last night. It reminded me of my younger days when I would freak out if my cookies didn’t look right. Can we say anal retentive? It’s just cookies, Mel-Belle. Let it go. HA!

5. I finished up at 9 PM last night completely exhausted. My feet hurt, I had a paper cut, I had peanut butter in my ear (don't ask) and a smudge of chocolate on my chin, and I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck. But on the up side, I slept like a baby last night. So it's all good.

Today my cohorts have enjoyed the treats, and so far, no one has gotten sick or been rushed to the ER. It's always a plus when people survive your cooking. HA! You better watch out, Martha Stewart! There is a new cook rising in the ranks...

The Grace and Mel Cooking Show

Over Thanksgiving, my 4-year-old niece Grace and I did some serious “cooking” together. The truth is that she called it cooking, but it was mostly baking goodies and creating side dishes. She loved stirring everything together for me, and I enjoyed every minute with my little helper. She's just adorable.

When we finished up in the kitchen, Grace wanted to keep on “cooking.” So, she borrowed her Mom's mixing bowls from the kitchen and raided her toys for all the food related items and brought them to the dining room table, where we promptly began The Grace and Mel Cooking Show. I went with it. I've never lacked an imagination (I confess the cooking show with an audience was my idea...I may have been watching to much of the Food Network lately). I acted as Grace's assistant, and I called her “Chef” and kept our imagined “live” audience informed of all of the ingredients as she added them. It was a blast!

We made pumpkin blueberry soup, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it since the ingredients were a bit sketchy and included what my little chef called “lion food” (hmmmm...what that was exactly I was afraid to ask) and a bit too much salt and marshmallows for my taste.

To further complicate our busy filming schedule, another chef joined our show already in progress. Twenty-two-month-old Harrison opted to join in the fun. We had to stop “filming” and get him his own big bowl and plastic spoon, and then he kept stealing all of our ingredients like the plastic fruit and the measuring cups, which really upset my little chef. She was not amused by her brother's antics, and kept threatening to kick him off of our show. I thought it all was a hoot and struggled to keep from laughing.

Well, skip ahead a few weeks to earlier this evening when I decided to start doing some holiday baking on my own...I confess that I really missed my little chef. I was such a klutz working on my own tonight. I dropped baking soda on the kitchen floor and had to sweep my kitchen midway through my adventure. And then I accidentally hit the power button on the mixer instead of the eject button for the beaters, which created a nice spray of chocolatety goo all over my counter top and yours truly.

Hmmmm...maybe I should leave my “cooking” adventures for my time with Grace only? I had better luck working with a 4-year-old than on my own. HA!

I do like working in the kitchen. I just don't do it much. Cooking for one isn't all that fun really, but I do like preparing food for other people. OK, I'm so not Rachel Ray or Paula Deen here, but I can manage salads, appetizers and side dishes well on my own, and desserts are definitely my strong point in the kitchen. Yes, I do still panic just a wee bit on main dishes. I mean, you just don't want to screw up the main course. I guess I just need to experiment some more and build up my confidence. Maybe my little chef can come join me and give me some pointers. Hee hee!

Moving On Up...

The boxes arrived in my cubicle this morning. It’s official. My move date is a week from today, and so it is really time to pack up and move, take on new responsibilities, spread my wings, meet new people, and do some writing for a living. I’m rather excited about that last part. Elated, in fact. OK, so writing and editing will only be a portion of my job (maybe 40-50%), but I’m still psyched. It’s a start in the right direction, a new beginning and a welcome challenge allowing me to utilize my college degree. I’m in. ALL in.

I think I have always had a writer’s heart and soul, and so whether I get paid to write or not, I AM A WRITER. Just a fact.

Random Question: What do you do for a living?
Answer: Who me? I’m Melanie, and I’m a writer.

But I will miss my current colleagues in the legal department. These past 5 years have been good ones. I’ve gotten to know some incredible people. Attorneys are quite different from my previous misconceptions. I’ve had a lot of fun in my current job. There has been a lot of hard work, some long hours and plenty of stress as well, but there never seemed to be a shortage of laughs either. While realizing the knowledge that I’ve gained is only the tip of the iceberg, I still have learned a great deal about the world of patents and legal processes. I’ve developed relationships with internal colleagues and outside counsel and made a few friends in the process.

I feel blessed to be where I am now, and as I will soon step away into another role, I feel my current role has been a great preparation for the next phase of my career. I will miss my patent co-horts, but I will only be one floor away from them, and so I’m quite confident that we’ll keep in touch. I’ll need their expertise, their advice and their friendship, too.

Retreating Away!

My second LDM SonRise Retreat was fabulous, although it got off to a rocky start when the camper I was assigned to canceled out on the weekend. I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to be Nikki's camp companion, but because I had extra time on my hands, I got to know lots of other companions and campers this weekend.

COMPANIONS: I am amazed at the hearts of the teenagers I met this weekend. A great many of the volunteers/companions that participated this weekend were junior high and high schoolers. They definitely outnumbered the adults. Yes, again, I was one of the "old ones." Hee hee!

Honestly, I've never considered myself very good with teens. I feel like I can't relate to them. My sister can but not me. Teens scare me personally. Put me in a room with babies and little kids, and I'm totally cool with that. I have that twinkle in my eye, and it's easy for me. I love little ones, but put me in a room with teenagers, and I revert back a couple of decades. I'm back in middle school and high school, and I'm the strange chubby girl running around in culottes and skirts all the time. I'm desperately wanting to just be like everybody else, but I'm different, and I know it. I'm as uncool as you can get.

Somehow even now, I think being with teenagers reminds me of the fact that I was never popular back in the day. Cool kids make me nervous, which is completely hilarious. I'm twice their age, and I'm intimidated by them? I laughed at myself more than once for even contemplating the cool factor. How silly is that! I was driving before they were born, I was in college while they were in diapers, I've been living on my own for half my life now, and I'm suddenly concerned that these kids will think I am a freak? HA! YEAH! So I laughed at my momentary lapse of insanity and decided I was going to throw cool out the window and just be me regardless.

And guess what? I found these pre-adults to be incredible human beings. They are full of hopes and dreams, looking ahead to high school or college, wrestling with purity, struggling with their desires, contemplating future ministry, determining a course of study or vocation, making plans for their future, etc. We had a lot more in common than I could have imagined.

And this weekend, I was especially touched by their generous spirits, unfailing patience, overwhelming kindness and warmth, and their Godly character. Volunteering at a SonRise Retreat can be a lot of work, and these "kids" jumped right in and tackled each task with calm courage and quiet grace. I'm not sure I could have managed it as well as they did when I was their age, and in some cases, I'm not sure I could handle it as well even now. It was a convicting and exhilarating experience. I was proud to be serving along side them and grateful for the opportunity to knock down a "prejudice" of my own. These teens rocked!

CAMPERS: Like at Camp Spearhead, I find that I just have to immerse myself in the weekend and BE MY SELF. The goofier I am, the more involved I am with the campers, the more face-to-face interaction – the better. If that means that I am belting out tunes at the top of my lungs, dancing when I don't have any rhythm and don't know what the heck I'm doing, asking Ellie to skip with me on our walk just to make her laugh, making funny faces to cheer someone up, playing games and ignoring the rules, coloring outside the lines, taking photographs again and again, answering questions about why I am not married yet – SO BE IT! I am there for the campers. This is their weekend, and I am just blessed to be a part of it.

I was again struck with the sheer honesty of the prayers and hearts of those I worshiped with. I think prayer time was my favorite part of each day. We prayed before each meal or following our Bible study time, and any camper or companion that wished to pray would go forward and have their turn at the microphone. I loved the campers' candor...prayers for pets, roommates, disagreeable family members, Michael Jackson's soul, Christmas wish lists, that so and so would be nicer to them, etc. It was beautiful. I was convicted by their directness and honesty with GOD. No pretense. No form or particular style. No lofty adjectives or fluff. Just a conversation with the ALMIGHTY and the confidence to speak their hearts with their FATHER. I love that.

There is so much I am learning from these weekends...

Missing Authoress Makes a Public Statement

Rumor: The author of this blog appears to be missing in action.
AHEM! Let me address this matter before a mass panic starts. The facts are these:

1. She is alive. DUH! She is typing this. Yes, she is alive (or was at the time of posting at least), and she is physically well (with the exception of a cold coming on). Not sure why this is all in the third person, but so be it. She is on a roll now.

2. She has been extremely busy with work (transitioning into a new role come January, training replacement, covering for a sick co-worker), holiday travels (Kokomo and Peru count as holiday travel, right?), Christmas shopping and planning (New Year's Resolution: do ALL shopping for 2010 online), packing and preparing for second LDM Retreat this weekend (WOOHOO!!), etc.

3. She has been reading the first 2 books of the Twilight series again. Hey, she had to be ready for the 2nd movie (New Moon), which unfortunately totally bombed in her humble opinion, but that is another story. Books are always better anyway!

4. She is pondering what the heck to put into her Christmas letter. Hey, this was a wild and wacky year! There is great debate as to whether or not she will write a letter at all. And if she does compose a stanza or two, what will she share and what will she choose to keep to herself? So many possibilities...

5. She has been caught talking to herself several times in recent days. And while, truth be told, this is nothing new or out of the ordinary, her co-workers are starting to observe her more closely. Thus, her mental health may be in question.

6. She is reclusing just a wee bit perhaps. Once she finished re-reading the Twilight books, she moved on to the million or so other books on her shelves waiting to be read. Who needs a man anyway? If you have a good book, all is right with the world! [Mental Note: schedule more counseling sessions immediately! HA!]

7. She is NOT barricaded in her flat, and she is interacting with others, even outside of work. She has spent lots of time playing with Thorn (her sister's dog), coloring pictures with her youngest niece and 2 youngest nephews, baking or preparing holiday treats with her sister, playing games and going Black Friday shopping with family, etc.

8. However, she is NOT fine. She was told by a male colleague to stop telling people that she is fine because apparently women never mean it when they say that. Point Taken: She is NOT fine. She is not sure what she is, but fine she is NOT.

9. She still has her sense of humor, warped though it may be.

10. She begs your patience as she attempts to go into the holiday blitz without too many ill side effects: such as obsessively eating chocolate, avoiding people completely, incessantly humming "All By Myself," buying Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches by the crate, cheering on the Grinch, etc. She will survive, and she hopes to return to her regularly scheduled blog shortly. Thank you!