Upcoming Artshow!

Hope to see you there!

Riverview Cafe

Elf me! Elf me!

Hey check this out, I just made a total elf of myself. Check me out by clicking the link below.

Yes, it is me, and yes, it is hilarious!

ELF.

I got bored... sorry.

My Celeb 'Twins'.

What kind of soul do I have???

You Are a Dreaming Soul

Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you away from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all... But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life. Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul, Prophet Soul, and Traveler Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

For lack of better things to say or time to say them...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

And She said Ouch!!!!

This is the event that awaited me 20 minutes after getting to work this morning. Stupid work, Stupid sign, Stupid razor blade!

Got to work started to peel vinyl off of a sign. I decided that it was too much to just peel so I went and got a razor blade to help with the process. As I was scraping the vinyl off I decided to go and get a new blade to see if it would help take the vinyl off easier. Well... the blade stuck and then gave way. I felt it hit my arm but didn't know how bad until I opened my eyes. There were huge drops of purple/red blood on the sign. I looked at my arm and thought "Sh**!" I ran to the bathroom and started to wash it out where even more blood came gushing out of the wound on my wrist. As I'm seeing the blood rush out of my wrist I'm hoping that I didn't cut anything vital like the 'suicide' vein(s) or any tendons. I grab paper towels and run to the owner's office (Brian) and tell him that I "think I need to go to the emergency room". Brian asked Jen to take me, and off we went. We stopped at a near by clinic and while the nurse said that the bleeding had been controlled by the pressure that I was putting on the wound, that they couldn't have anyone see me right then and to head to the ER in downtown St. Paul. Back in the car we went and headed down to the ER of United hospital. Matt met me there and stayed with me throughout the ordeal of getting stitches, cleaning and a tetnus shot! I was terrified. I am extremely afraid of needles and shots. So, the cut wasn't so bad when thinking about a needle and thread going in and out of my skin. Ick, ick, ick.

The PA (physician's assisstant) was really cool. We talked about the TV show LOST as she put numbing stuff on the wound along with the stitching up part.

I'm doing well. My arm is sore from the Tetus shot, along with the wrist that contains 8 stitches in beautiful black thread. :) It was quite a cut. As you can see from the pictures.

What a way to start a Wednesday!

Yikes!

In need of some tear jerking laughter!

Yes, I've seem to run into some dry ground lately. It's not cool being sick. Matt and I are both sick, and it sucks! Share your hilarious stories please! The big ones so far (and you might have to talk to the sharers to hear them properly... but still very very funny) Mark's escape from the dogs on the way to school (this is classic told by heather), The woman who didn't know how to drive involving Nick, Amy, and a school bus (told by Amy), The story of me locking myself and Caleb in a frozen shut car (told by me), Heather's recap of her trip alone through a car wash Under the title 'embarrassed all over again'. (which isn't really funny, seriously heather. ;) ), That one time at bible study when everything involved poo... there are a lot of funny things that have happened with my friends. I love them dearly for it.

But I do have to tell you about my wonderful husband to be. He's a very smart man, however, day to day things sometimes elude him. But this makes me fall in love with him even more, even if, at times, it is a little frustrating. Here are a few things: I put on a tank top and immediately Matt said that he loved the color on me, and that he's never seen me wear it before. I didn't say a word as I pulled up a picture of me on our Texas trip. Classic. The next one, I forgot to give Amy her birthday card. Matt said "she had a birthday?" I said "Yes, Nick gave her a birthday party." Matt said "Did we go?" (We hadn't because we were in the car on the way home from my parents after a weekend where we brought all the kids up to see my parents place and to meet a few of my relatives who live near by, so of course we couldn't have gone.) Yes, this is just one of the many reasons why I love this man.

When do kids get so old??

Yup, first day of kindergarten was today. Crazy. I have a kindergartner. I can't believe it! Caleb was so excited about today, months ago. I almost didn't get a hug goodbye!

He loved it, can't wait to go back tomorrow, and now he's fast asleep.

Electronics that make our lives easier...

Okay, I'm not one to say that I'm 'good' with electronics, in fact, it would be somewhere as to 'they train me' as to how 'they' want to be treated. Seriously, it's insane. For as long as I can remember I've been a 'slave' to my electronics (in as non-slave sense as you can get). I had this stereo that was a hand me down. My friend said that CD player hadn't worked in months. I tried cleaning it. I put the disc in, but nothing would happen except this odd whirring sound and then nothing. One day I manually moved the cleaning disc around the playing tray and then tried. It worked. To my knowledge, the CD player still works, or has moved on to someone else.

Then I won a CD player at my high school prom and it worked through 3 moves, all with the original packaging. However, on the 4th move when I brought it back up from Tennessee it worked for a good couple of months and then after Caleb was born it stopped working completely. Not even my manual cleaning could get the CD player to work. The tape player worked/works beautifully.

Then there was a fiasco of getting a portable CD player for jogging and to listen in the house. The 'universal' adaptors that I bought didn't fit quite right so I cut off some of the plastic part and the adaptor fit perfectly. Except... now it wouldn't work without the adaptor in it. Not even with batteries and a headset. So I never took the adaptor out again. Until I moved to where I am now living and got a new car without a CD player in it. (Sad) I got the adaptor tape and hook up for the portable CD player in the car thing and tried it with my adaptor only CD player. It didn't work, and when I brought it back down into my basement studio, it had refused life from the adaptor it had only been seperated from for a matter of minutes. So I was Sans studio CD player for a bit.

So I went out and bought a new player. The correct adaptors for the player and it works beautifully in the car and out of the car. However the car stereo is another thing. As you could recall from a previous post about the grinding noise when the music is too quiet, or when it is too cold it'll grind as if complaining about being too cold and having to work. It's quite amusing and frustrating. Maybe someday I'll get a CD player for this car as well.

Next we move on to my computers.
The first computer given to me was from my first job down here at Budget Signs. I tried to install the software for my wireless mouse and keyboard (since this I haven't done it at all) and the computer stopped working. The software totally fried the processor. The computer is now used for parts and should be thrown away or recycled. Where does one do that? Recycle computers?

Offending Computer


The next computer was given to me by a good friend. It worked for the purposes of resume's of which it didn't get me any jobs, but it was there. It would turn on randomly. I would shut the computer down at night and during the night (and this became more noticable when it came to live in my room after the move) it would turn on. It was creepy. Since it has become Caleb's computer this has only happened once, and I think that he (Caleb) turned it on. Its missing a face plate because the computer was built for a burner, but the face plate wasn't. It's a sorry looking computer, but it did it's job the best it could.


I've also bought a portable CD player table top version for the kitchen. I now have a real stereo in the living room which belongs to Matt. I think I've only used 5 times for CD's and countless times for movies. It's great!

Offending TV

The old TV that I had (which now resides in Caleb's room for gillmore girl purposes) was/is a TV with VCR duo. Which was marvelous! For the first couple of months that I had it I couldn't figure out how to get the DVD player to work. It was all hooked up, ready to go and I couldn't for the life of me figure out that you had to press the 'input' button on the remote. Which, could've been tragic had I lost the remote. I didn't. Thank God! Throughout it's life it's aquired the distaste for VCR tapes. Having been fed crayons, peach pits, and other sorts of toys when mom wasn't looking or fast enough to get the tapes out of the VCR. It also has started to lose the audio capabilities somewhat. If the audio disappears one has to fool around in the back with the cables (this is the DVD function of the TV) and set them just so, so that the audio can be heard.

The TV that was brought over by Matt is great, except that it only gets a few channels and doesn't get Fox 29, WB 23, or PBS 17. Which are channels that Caleb and I have grown to love with Seasame street in the afternoons, Simpsons, and the gilmore girls. TV time at our house can be seen in two places depending on the night. Tuesdays I'm up in Caleb's room watching gilmore girls and he (caleb) enjoys the time we have together. Such a good little man. The TV rocks otherwise. And it does get the channel 5 which is most important, since it's the one that airs lost...

Why am I telling you these stories about my electronics? Because I'm not the only one out there who, even though they are frustrating things, loves the things that give us so much trouble. Here's what I'm talking about: 'My pwerbook g4'.

Aww!

Blue Moon, the summer drink.

That and a nice New Castle... Yum.

The art show went okay. Thanks to those who made an effort to get out to it and supported your local artist and musican. :) I'm sure there will be more joint shows so keep checking back for them!

As it is MPR's time of recruitment I've come to reflect the 'duties' of becoming an adult and what I think is important to me.

#1. Family. Cultivating a mixed family has been a challenge on both ends, but it is coming together beautifully.

#2. Supporting Friends in their dreams. I love supporting my friends (and my... wow... I almost said husband! soon enough, soon enough... Boyfriend) in their ventures.

#3. Experiencing life and finding the really, really good parts, people, food, etc. and embracing them. I couldn't think of a better place than sitting around at the lake playing music, eating, laughing and enjoying one another's company. That is where the true pearls of life are found.

#4. Supporting local music. That means, yes, I am a member of MPR. (and I got a t-shirt and a summer pack on the way... hey! gifts help). The current is awesome. I've listened to it from day one. Thanks to Joe to introduced me to it.

#5. The creation of nature. There is just something about summer that makes me want to not be indoors at all. I've aquired herbs and have a pretty good herb garden going. I believe I have at least 5 different kinds of basil. Yum! Fresh basil on Pizza is AWESOME!!!

I wanted to update you all on a couple of things before I disappear for another few weeks... ;)

My surgery was successful. I no longer have any part of the HPV virus in my body! Praise God! I'm now working at FastSigns in Invergrove Heights. It's a store that I've worked at before and was welcomed back with open and excited arms. I'm also getting better pay and more apprieciation for the work that I do. It's a huge difference from where I was at in Bloomington.

With that, I hope that you all are enjoying your summer!

I know I am.

Art show details!

Friday, June 9, Is a collaborative artshow 'opening' and music by Matthew Fox. The show is at the "720 Loft Space" at 718-720 Central Ave. in Minneapolis. Hennepin north to Central; left on Central; up on the right you'll see a sign for Twin Cities Office Supply and it's just upstairs. We'll have a few drinks and snacks but feel free to BYOB to consume or share. Doors will open about 7:15 and Matt will perform about 8. This is an all ages show. Cover is a freewill donation to cover expenses and pay a couple of starving artists' bills. ;-)

Here is a link for directions on mapquest:
Map to show

It should be a great time!

Hope to see some of you there.

~Melody

Artshow Announcement!

Yes! I'm back to showing my art. Well, at least I'm starting to get back into it with the help of my wonderful boyfriend Matt. My next show will be June 9th (Friday Night)at the 720 Loft Central. Or something like that. If you are out and about for Art-a-whirl I believe they are going to have the space open and my art will be displayed. Very cool! :) Here's a recent email from the loft:

Hello everyone, I'm mailing to let you know about the
show at the space on Saturday may 20th. It be our
unofficial art-a-whirl night, with the Pan
Metropolitan Trio, featuring Tuba, Stick, & drums.
And the 2/3 trio featuring double bass, drums, guitar,
& wurlitzer. A night of Jazz standards as well as
free compositions. Also we have a new featured
artist, Melody Sanders you can check out her work at
( look under
the studio link) We are very excited to have her work
on display. We will have wine for this show but feel
free to bring an extra bottle as we may run out.(food
as always) 21+ 5$ @ the door hope to see you there,
e-mail us if you have any questions. SPREAD THE
WORD!!!!! Thanks 720space.
For directions:
<
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=720+Central+Ave,+Minneapolis+MN>

Also, Matt will be playing a solo show that night. I think Wine and small snacks or something, will be served. Also a small cover ($5?) that is still to be determined.

A side note: My surgery yesterday went well. I however ache and am not up to full health, I am glad that it's over. I went back to work today, if that gives any indication of how things went. :) Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts!

Maybe I should keep this to myself... Then again, maybe not.

Has anyone heard of HPV? The virus that causes cervical cancer after many years of going untreated? Come on... Anyone? I believe they even have a public service announcement playing on some broadcasting stations. This being said... I found out after my last pap that it came back abnormal. The other testing that I go through came back negative, but finding that my normal routine check up showed something abnormal, it freaked me out a bit. I was briefed on the causes and possible results of further testing. They said that I was a 'mid-severe' case and that they wanted me in as soon as I could. Having no money and no health insurance at this time I was over joyed when I found out that they had a grant to pay for the procedure, and even more happy when I found out that I qualified for it. They performed a colposcopy which resulted in a biopsy which came back with the information that indeed I had HPV. I scheduled an appointment for a LEEP procedure, which is today at 2pm. Am I nervous? Yes. But I'm thankful that what they found was a small amount of the virus. Although severe, it hadn't gone into the cancerous stages yet. And they are able to remove the infected areas without much effort or concern of it coming back. Yay! Praise God!

Matt has been very supportive. I couldn't have asked for a better guy/boyfriend/potential husband.

Just thought you all should know. :-)

I'm jaded, I can never work for you again...

It is with great sadness that I leave Pete. Tomorrow is my last day at bloomington Fastsigns. It is one that will be filled with mostly great joy and relief. But also a slight sadness for the co-workers that I am leaving.

Here ends this chapter of my life.

Employees tire of boss exclaiming victories over cleaning their desk.

There's my shot at an onion title. Pretty good, eh? My co-workers thought it pretty amusing. 1 point for me.

Change is huge lately! Let me tell you! It's crazy with us 'were single' bluer folk. Heather and Mark got engaged and started a plethora of things... Amy and Nick are now engaged and Matt and I are moving in together with a tentative wedding date, August of 2007. Anyway, big changes. About a year ago Heather and Mark were dating, while Nick, Amy, me (all single) and said Mark were heading off to the boundary waters. Now, we're all coupled, happily I might add. Yay us! Thank you Father above for your blessings of friendship, kinship, and partnership.


The other day, on my way to work, I almost hit a turkey crossing/flying across the road. Yes, apparently at Randolph and Lexington intersection there is a high chance that you might catch a turkey on your windshield. At least this time I didn't think it was a flying reindeer...

The pain will only last a second

Well... It has been a long time since I've written. Sorry to all who make this a regular stop only to find that I've nothing witty to say, or anything new to say even. I've been rather busy. Life busy. Two weeks ago Matt's back started hurting, and a week ago it started getting really acute pain. So I've been helping him with things, trying to get my roommate out... Which after a heated argument spurned by his drunken fury. I called the cops last Thursday night and he's been out of the house ever since. Still needs to pick up most of his things, but he hasn't stayed here since Thursday. And yeah, I think that's it.

Back to Matt. Matt's surgery went beautifully. Well, the surgeon called me at work to say
that it was an 'uneventful' surgery. Which is good.

Matt is doing okay, extremely tired though. The past two nights he hasn't
been able to find a comfortable position to sleep in, I'm glad that the
surgery was today. I don't/didn't like seeing him in pain. Now we're
starting in on the recovery pains... Which, I'm hoping, aren't as acute as
the pre-surgery ones... :)

Thanks for all the prayers... And the ones that are still coming. The
pre-surgery stress was a little intense. Mostly for the following reasons:
#1. The staff at the surgeon's weren't very helpful in letting Matt
know what and how to go about getting labs and testing done before surgery,
or even a date for that matter! #2. Lab work had to be done in two places,
the clinic, and the hospital. #3. Today, they were going to have him take
x-rays (the same ones that he took on Monday) and blood testing (the same
that they did Monday) because no one was talking to anyone and couldn't find
the paperwork on them. I'm glad that Matt didn't tell me this before the
surgery started... I don't think I could've concentrated on anything. But
he is doing well. Despite all the misplaced paperwork.

And I'm exhausted. But happy. I know that I wouldn't want anything else going on in my life than taking care of someone who means as much to me as Matt. It hasn't been a burden, or an annoyance. He needs/ed me, and sometimes that's just the best feeling in the world. Especially when I know whole heartedly that he would reciprocate if the rolls were reversed.

I am blessed.

'Surprises'

This weekend has been a challenge. I'm almost excited about going back to work tomorrow... ALMOST. I decided to kick my roommate out. It hasn't been a good situation and questioning a recent hunch led me to the point of losing it, and telling him that he had to get out. Ever since then we've had heated conversations about why I want him to move out. I feel uncomfortable and unsafe with him living here. I'd rather error on the side of safety when it comes to Caleb. I think any parent would.

My parents were in town this Friday and Saturday. They just got back from Florida. After telling them about the roommate situation, and mom bringing up a good question about him, and the telling him to get out (by me), we heeded out to the conservatory at the Como Zoo. What a wonderful place. Amidst feeling heavy and drained this place lightened my mood, and calmed me. My Creator cares about my well being. Mom and dad offered to take Caleb for the week or until the roommate is gone. I thought, after a bit, that this would be the best for all involved. When it was time to go it was an awkward goodbye. Caleb could sense that something wasn't right about the situation and him leaving, I miss him terribly because of it, and my mom says that he feels the same. Your prayers in this situation would be most helpful and greatly appreciated.

So now I'm looking for a roommate once again. Maybe I'll make it into a studio for others to get away in... Something. Someone.

Other surprises that I've come to experience... Matt. My family. His kids (Matt's). Friday night we all got together and made pizzas. My parents, Caleb, Matt's kids, Matt and I. It was fun. Very fun. My parents greeted the kids with kindness and open arms. They laughed, played hide and seek. We watched movies and ate. Mom bought them cookies, cookies especially for them. :) I love my family. It was good to see how well they got along. And the hopes of Matt and I's relationship in the future was once again saved from 'deal breaker' status. Sometimes I wonder and marvel about how smooth this is going. I'm amazed at how well he and I seem to fit each other. It's crazy good. And after two and a half years of being single, being very picky, being let down, and on numerous one time dates it's great to finally feel that I've found someone who fits me as well as Matt does. What's great, is that he feels the same way about me.

Sorry if my lack of words is showing... I've been busy with life, not much to muss and mull over anymore. I feel kind of dry and boring as far as my thoughts and words go. Instead of being full of life I'm just giving details... that sucks. I have inspiration to write, but then I don't have time for it or by the time I've exhausted everything that I've needed to do that day I totally forget what I wanted to write about. Which makes it frustrating when I log in to blogger only to find myself drawing a blank as to why I actually signed in. It's been a vicious circle these past couple of weeks. Maybe with a little more free time now that Caleb is gone I'll have more of a chance to write and explain my feelings with better words than just events.

Please pray for the roommate/studio situation. I'm a loss for words as to what my next action should be here. Thank you for your time.

Chocolate and Penguins.

I'm not a robot... I'm real.

I'm going to place a passage of the book 'surprise me' by Terry Esau. The 30 day surprise me experiment thingy that my small group is doing.

Keep in mind that this is practically right on to my thoughts about my faith. And it's excited me to hear that there are others (or another at least) that believe this exact way...

Day 26: Stepford Christians: "... That's why it's so pathetically sad that we Christians have become robotic in this culture. I'm pointing the finger at me too. We act, we play roles a part we've read about, a part we've been told we're supposed to play. We're ceramic plaster-of-poser. We may look good to the casual observer, but what good is the casual observance when you're looking for ultimate substance? As long as we are just role-playing, the only participants we're going to bring on board are other role-playing, bitpart thespians who are looking for nonthinking parts. We've got enough nonthinkers in Christianity. We need genuine, questioning wrestlers of the faith. We need people who doubt their way to belief. People who question their way into ownership of their faith. People who earn the right to say, this is who I am, so far, because this is who I've discovered God to be, so far." "... We have too many Christian robots. We need Christians who fail and admit they fail. We need Christians who admit that they don't know everything. We need more human Christians. We need more Christian humans. Let's wrestle our beliefs to the ground. Then let's get up and do all over again. Let's be okay with the struggle, with not knowing everything. Do we really want a God that we can explain? Do we want a God that we can quantify? If we could, wouldn't we be him? I don't want that God. If I can figure him out, then I don't want him. He'd be too average, too regular, too human. That God is a poser. The robots can have that God. He's not worthy of my devotion. I want a big God that blows my mind into tiny bits when I even attempt to capture him. I want a God who's a surprise machine, a conundrum, a continual mystery. That's the God that has captured me. I know for a fact that He doesn't resolve, at least in the way that I understand resolution. And I'm becoming more and more okay with that. I'd better, because there are no other options."

Isn't that amazing? I got goose bumps and tears formed in my eyes. Which is hard to hide when you are sitting in the middle of a sign shop work area during your lunch. Nonetheless there I was being touched or surprised that another human Christian could explain what I've been thinking/feeling for a few years now. And have only begun to form my own opinion of my faith. Here is a blog post that I wrote that faintly hits upon depth about my faith. Not that it's a huge deal about what I think. But, there it is anyway.

Your Receiving line...

Upon my February hair cut my awesome stylist (although not as awesome as Jonathan my stylist back in Detroit Lakes), Stephanie used this cool product in my hair. 'Beach hair' if you will. Crushed and ground bamboo mixed in with this type of 'goo'/gel to make your hair feel and smell (Hawaiian tropics tanning oil) like you've spend the day at the beach. Only get this! You've just taken a shower and are squeaky clean. Quite cool if you ask me. Sadly, this is as close to any beach as I'm going to get in the middle of winter. But it's working. My small bit of summer fits in a jar and is applied daily, and smelled as often as my hair falls in my face. Yum.

Going through this 'Surprise me' God book has been interesting. I read the book and I wonder how my life could be as eventful as the author. I go to work, I pick up Caleb, and I come home. Save the few times that I have small group, game night, bluer, etc. It's pretty much the same. Being an author it seems like he has a lot more free time than one could hope for, therefore he has more time to put aside to talk to friends who pop into his life. Resulting in more 'surprises' aka grounding moments that lead back to God and His plans, His secrets, His inner workings weaving through our thoughts and actions in any given day.

My results so far? Nothing as interesting as he has placed in his book. And I can't decide if it's because I'm not seeing the opportunities to act and be surprised, or if I just can't bring myself to push further into the unknown, the 'non-comfort' zone to push my faith in a direction that would cause those 'ah ha' moments.

That being said... on to other things...

Friday (last Friday) Matt and I were able to find a last minute babysitter so we could head out to see my favorite band... 'Halloween, Alaska'. I love them, even though the new album is less than I expected from them. Their music has a certain awe about it for me. If I could encapsulate myself in an album it would be Halloween, Alaska's 'Halloween, Alaska' CD. I love it, know it, feel it, and for what it's worth live how the music feels and sounds. If that's even possible, even comprehensible.

I feel like there is so much to say... so much has gone on since I last wrote. I've made some changes on my artist website... the look is a little more... um, different. :)

This weekend I have plans to go vintage clothing shopping... I can't wait!