i'm home...and then i'm gone again...

well i’m home from camp, got home saturday. it was wonderful as usual. Heidi and i had a blast and made some new friends, and made some old ones better. many of the workers from past years didn’t return, so we were the experienced ones (Joel and i were the oldest workers) and that made it fun. i just love it there. it’s a lot of work, but it’s so worth it. i worked the counter in the kitchen again this year, passing out the food, refilling dishes, putting away all the food and cleaning the kitchen. the kitchen was my domain and since this was my 3rd year working counter, i was the authority, under Bob of course since he’s the cook. but to any of the workers…the kitchen was mine. it’s gets a little stressful during the meals when you’ve got dishes coming at you from everywhere and everybody wants more food to take out to the tables, but i managed and i know what i’m doing, so Bob appreciates that. he’s quite a character. i like working in there because of Bob and Annie, the baker. they love me...it’s great fun. Annie saved brownies for me and gave me one, one day and Joel gave me a funny look like, ‘how’d you get that’ and i was just like, ‘hey…she loves me!’ so he decided to ask her who she loved more…and she promptly said Melanie (but she gave him a brownie anyways). poor kid, he just couldn’t win. but he kept me entertained with his singing while he washed pots. he and Jamie were the pot boys, washing pots and pans in the kitchen with me, and they were great fun, kept me going, but they were always untying my apron. hmm, what else is there to talk about. oh yeah, Hans and Paul took Heidi and i fishing one day. neither of us were going to fish, but Hans handed Heidi a pole so she held onto it as we were paddling out into the lake. well…with her luck, she caught a 28 inch northern. that thing was huge and it’s about the biggest thing the camp leaders had every seen taken out of that lake. it was quite the news around camp, but she was a bit grossed out by it, and in the one picture that they forced her to actually hold the fish, not the stringer, she looks like she’s going to cry. that made me and Paul laugh. it tasted really good though, and she was quite proud of herself. after that, Paul and Hans decided we were good luck charms so we went out the next day, but didn’t catch anything. then Heidi and i went out with Paul at 5:30am. we woke up at about 5, Heidi came over to my bed, ripped my sleeping bag off of me (it was freezing in the cabin so i didn't appreciate that), said ‘i hate you!’ and stormed out. sounds bad i know, but it was because she told Paul she’d go if i said yes, and she expected me to say no. so when i told him that i’d go, she was stuck. she didn’t really hate me, but it made for quite the way to wake up…silly girl. well that morning, Paul and i just picked on her to no end, so she gave up fishing and talking (quite an unheard of thing), but i caught a 15 inch largemouth bass, so i had great fun. i don’t know what else there is to tell. we had fun playing volleyball and ultimate frisbee and swimming and boating and all sorts of things. bible hour and the evening meetings were very good with good messages. i almost ended up playing piano for some special music friday night. Steve and Christy gave me some music thursday afternoon to look at, and i could handle it, but knew that in order for me to be comfortably ready, i’d need a little bit more time than i had. And i’m super out of practice, so i decided to pass on it rather than get up there and freak out. maybe next year. i just love that camp though. i wish it was longer. i have such awesome friends there, but i wish so badly that they lived near me cause i come home and end up missing everyone! this year i don’t have much time to miss people though. i leave for europe for 2 weeks on wednesday and have yet to really start organizing my thought and packing. i also am dealing with a cold that appeared the last day of camp; stupid head cold that is going to end up being aggravated by my flight to scotland…grrrr…not what i wanted to deal with. well, i am very much exhausted by this cold and still not recovered from sleep loss from camp...so bubye till July when I get back!
~melanie

and my summer begins...

ok, so technically my summer began on may 19th when i was walking out of my last final...but now the fun starts. since i know you all hang on my every word...i thought i should inform you that i will be gone for a week. yes, that's right...you must survive a week without my boring posts. i'm headed up to camp to spend another week in the kitchen, feeding a huge mob of kids and doing an incredible number of dishes. but...with that comes an unbelievable amount of fun, lots of awesome worship and fellowship with other believers and the chance to see friends that i get to see the week of camp only. there is no way to convey my excitment into words and still maintain the little bit of sanity that i've pointlessly clung to, so i'm not even going to try. i'm excited...we'll leave it at that. anywho...camp goes from this saturday till next saturday and then i leave for europe for 2 weeks the wednesday after i get home from camp. so i'm going to be a bit busy for the next 3 weeks or so. wow...so much to do still to be ready for europe...agh...too much. i finally sent out my letter to my host family in belgium...hopefully it gets there. oh, and just because i'm evil...i thought i would share with you all that my host family makes their own ice cream...mhmm...the heavenly dessert, only better cause it's homemade. somehow my lack of luck turned around for that cause not only was i assigned to the only place that produces their own ice cream...but my good friend shelly and i were placed together...could it get any better? ok...i really need to pack or i'll never get out of here tomorrow...bubye till, umm, sometime!
~melanie

oh happy day...

oh i do love going to get my hair cut…it’s such an ego boost! every time i go in, without fail, Emilie (friend of the family and the lady who cuts my hair) tells me that i have beautiful hair. then, sometime while i’m in there, someone else will come in and comment on how i have pretty hair, to which Emilie replies, “yes she does, gorgeous, thick, perfect hair…and a beautiful face to go with it, with a great smile and perfect teeth!’ So i just smile and say, yeah, i can’t complain and Emilie says that i better not or she’ll be forced to nock some sense into me…and we don’t want that. apparently i have happy looking hair…healthy was used with that somehow too, so happy healthy hair? i’m not quite sure. i’d sure like to know how my hair can look happy though. anyway, i came home on this lovely ego boost today, and since i found it all quite humorous, i told my mom, and then she went off on how lovely my hair is and how thick and wonderful it is. oh, and gramma called me beautiful as i was leaving her house this morning too…what a day! i’m on a roll! hahaha… but yeah, i got a good 3+ inches cut off my hair today and it’s a bit more layered along the bottom now. looks good though…shorter than it’s been in a while, but that’s fine. now that’s it’s a bit shorter we’ll see if the curls that are underneath will show up elsewhere…could be interesting. goodness…i do write about dumb things in this blog! oh well, it’s your choice to read it i suppose. well…that’s all i’ve got for now…bubye!
~melanie

i wish i was exciting...

i have nothing of excitement to write about, as usual, but this is my blog…so i’ll write anyways.

i had quite a productive day today, starting out at 7:30am with the ever so lovely phone call from my dad saying the heifers were out. so…the day began with a mile or so hike through knee to waist high marsh grass still wet with dew chasing after the 6 delinquent animals that ventured beyond their fence. great fun indeed. i almost planted myself face first in the mud on the river bank after tripping over something concealed in the grass, which would have been rather amusing, but i’m glad i caught myself. that’s the problem with chasing heifers in tall grass…there is no way of knowing what the ground you’re traversing actually looks like, you basically just hope that it’s semi level and you’re not going to hit a rut or find a hole and break your ankle. escaping animals is one of the aspects of farm life that i don’t enjoy all that much. hmm, what else. well, i did a lot of chores around the house all morning. my mom was at the hospital with my gramma who had a pace maker put in today, so i took on cleaning the house-vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, laundry, making lunch, folding clothes, putting stuff away, cleaning out the birds’ cage, doing dishes-that stuff and more. then after lunch, dad and i headed out to bale some hay. that marks my first tractor driving of the season. i don’t particularly think i’m all that wonderful at driving tractor for baling, but i don’t mind it. it’s slow and long and often quite warm, but it gives me lots of time to think since there’s nothing to hear but the roar of the tractor and it gives me a chance to soak up some sunshine.

in other, also boring, news, the ring that i ordered while up at school finally came in the mail today. It’s quite pretty…though a bit big, which is a tad annoying since i ordered it and ordered the correct size and i don’t believe my fingers have gotten smaller since May 1st. i ordered this one to replace the one i was wearing that got smashed onto my finger, after getting my hand pinched between the head of a cow and a water pipe (yep…i’m a farm girl). it ended up quite flat and i had to use the wall to attempt to get it to open a little to get it off, which didn’t work this time (this isn’t a first for me), so i had to run my hand under cold water and very painfully twist it off, which left bruises on my finger. needless to say, that ring got a little mangled; the center stone was loose, and i lost one of the ones on the side. so i had a moment of weakness and we’ll call this new ring a rare gift to myself, for a job well done in college this year perhaps. in my defense, it was on sale, 70% off. i wouldn’t dream of paying the original price. it is quite beautiful though.

Oh, tonite i went to my little brothers baseball game. it was a beautiful evening for baseball, but 2 hours sitting on those hard wooden bleachers was about all i could take, especially since the coach was being a jerk and hardly even let Ethan play. oh well…i still enjoyed watching the game.

well…now that this has taken boring to an entirely new level…i’ll quit. Congrats if you made it this far. bubye for now…
~melanie

humidity makes my hair curl...

random subject, i know, but i am consistently random…go figure. and it's true...my hair does curl when it's humid. anyway, i had a marvelously pleasant day today. my friend Shelly is leaving for Germany for 2 weeks on wednesday, and then she’s meeting us in Scotland for another 2 weeks, so she’s frantically trying to figure out how she’s going to pack for a month in Europe. at her graduation party she looked at me, with these puppy dog eyes, and asked me what i would be doing on friday, so when i said i had nothing planned, she said, ‘well…do you think you’d be willing to come shopping with me? I have so much to get and i NEED help Melanie…please?!’ like i could say no to that! not that i would want to anyways, Shelly and i have a blast no matter what we’re doing. we’re finding that we’re more and more alike each time we’re together…and (gasp) she’s starting to talk like me!!! Hahahaha…i knew i was influential! we were talking today about how we’ve never been together and not had fun, we make everything fun, and that’s saying something considering i spend a lot of time with her at the fairs…cleaning up after cows!!! yeah, that’s right, we even make that fun! but anyways, i picked her up this morning at like 10:30, in the truck since i know she loves it when i drive her around in my nice red truck. oh get this…she and i drove to prom in the truck a few years back, she begged me to take that vehicle. we got the weirdest looks…but we laughed so insanely hard, and it was SO worth it! going back to today, we spent most of the day shopping…and stretch for both of us cause neither of us are really interested in shopping, but she was greatly in need and i was her moral support and opinion giver, since i’m ‘sophisticated’ according to her. we were very productive and got the greatest amount of amusement from a stupid toothbrush. it had the toothpaste in the handle and a little dial to turn it up, so i told her she should get it to ‘conserve space’ in her suitcase. she thought it was funny, but didn’t want to pay for it, so i asked her if she’d use it if i bought it for her, knowing full well that she would, and she gave me this sheepish grin and confirmed my guess…so i got it and we seriously laughed for about 15 minutes straight about this ridiculous toothbrush that she’s going to take with her! basically everything we did today we found amusing and we spent an enormous amount of the afternoon laughing about anything and everything…so fun and so refreshing. we just have entirely too much fun with everything. we pick on each other all the time…I get her for everything, and she decided to attack my driving today, and my parking and my stopping…though, with that came complements about how i’m able to successfully drive that way. Like how i stop quickly, and take off fast, and pull into parking spots in a way that makes her think i won’t make it, but i manage perfectly fine. she attempted to drive like me once cause she thinks it’s rather cool…but her mom yelled at her. i found that highly amusing. Shelly and i have never really had a chance to do stuff together before this year, so getting to know her better and spend time with together has been a blast. i only wish we’d done this more in years past. so that was today…then tonite i didn’t really do much. had a lovely brother/sister moment with Brendon. he was working on the computer, he hates computers and of course it wasn’t working right, so being the resident computer genius in my house (that’s bad cause i’m not a computer genius at all) i was sitting beside him helping him. he was getting annoyed and said something obviously aimed at the screen up on computer like, ‘where’d you go?’ well being me…i couldn’t let that go, so i simply said ‘me? i’m right here...the lovely blond sitting beside you.’ then i glanced at him and gave him this horribly ridiculous laugh that wouldn’t match a ‘lovely blond’ at all and watched with pleasure as he tried with every fiber of his being not to crack and smile and break out laughing. well he failed…i won and got the smile and laugh i was waiting for. great fun indeed...i'm easily amused! but i think that about sums it up...or at least that's what i found entertaining. until next time...bubye!
~melanie