Back At It! Hello 2010!

My first day back at work in 2010. It was almost as though I'd never left. I didn't have a single email on my work email when I arrived. (and I had just begun to feel guilty for not checking it...)

Fall semester, although busy was successful. I was able to get rolling on my classes and even managed to pick up a few extra credits by sponsoring a student teacher. I'm certain this semester will not be as easy adding a couple competitive track seasons and recruiting into the mix.

I would say the highlight of my Christmas break was hanging out with my niece Tessa, although I was pretty pumped about spending a day at my house with a shop-vac! Lunch with Brett and Diana and finally hitting the mountains were great as well!

Have you noticed how my life has become increasingly more and more mellow? I'm still loving hanging out in my house. I'd say I finally have settled in and have a nice little nightly routine going on. (recently I've seen a lot of movies and have been knitting up a storm)I haven't exactly WORKED on anything in my house but I am looking forward to finishing the wainscoting I started in the summer. UGH!

This year was one of the first that I didn't make any resolutions per say. I still have my weekly goals I'm trying to stick with thanks to my trusty accountability comrade Traci!

I suppose I will put together some sort of 2009 recap, but not really sure I need to with the blog and all. There is nothing in particular about 2010 I'm looking forward to but I'm hope to keep making progress on my house and on my studies, work at being a good coach and teacher to those under my guidance and a good friend to those who are brave enough to call me such!

Trying Times

It has been awhile since I've posted a blog. As I sit in the hospital, together with my family during a very stressful and trying time I am reminded how lucky I am to have what I have.

My brother Gus is sick. My dad has been sick. This has been the story for the last two (plus) weeks. My dad goes to the Emergency Room.... Gus goes to the Emergency Room. My dad got released Thursday, Gus was admitted Friday. Unfortunately, my brother has not followed my dad's lead of a quick trip.

Without going into a lot of details, (I'm sure I would if you called me) Gus is battling a substantial mass of bacteria under one of his heart valves. It doesn't sound good because it's not. BUT it's treatable and we are treating it, as best we and our doctors (the cardiologist, the infectious disease specialist, the cardio surgeon, the neurologist and many nurses) know how.

The doctor I get the best vibe from said, "in medical there is no black and white, only different shades of gray." I agree completely. In this week there has been no black or white. Good seems to be aiding the bad and vice versa.

I don't have much to share, as uncommon as that is I find this poem to be fitting.

A Strange Wind
by Shel Silverstein

What a strange wind it was today
Whistlin and whirlin and scurlin away
Like a worried old woman with so much to say.
What a strange wind it was today.

What a strange wind it was today.
Cool and clear from a sky so grey
And my hat stayed on but my head blew away
What a strange wind it was today



Many families have been in the shoes we are wearing now. These shoes are ugly and uncomfortable, but I'll wear them as long as we get to our destination of Gus walking out of here a healthy 22 year old boy like he was 3 weeks ago.

Back to the lucky part. I know I am. Here is what else I know...In my possession, I have

A wonderful family.
Caring and giving friends.
Strangers sending prayers and positive words.
Support from my employer.
Capable and knowledgeable medical staff.
Hope and sincere gratitude.


I can give you one heck of a tour of the cardiac if you like.

My Purchase

The following is a picture of my new neti pot. For those of you who don't know what a "neti" pot is, another title on the label was NASAL CLEANSING POT. It seems that over the past 48 hours my nose has turned into a mucus production device (and a very efficient one at that) Coach Karim (sprints coach with me at UNC) swears by the thing so I found one that was an acceptable price and rushed home to POUR SALT WATER THROUGH ONE NOSTIL AND WATCH THE WATER AND MUCUS FLOW OUT THE OTHER. Then as if that wasn't gross enough (granted I COULD breath) I did it again to the other side.

So one hour later, here I sit with my new best buddy, Neti. I did purposely leave the cup of tea in the picture so that you could see my OTHER buddy, my tea cup, that at the present time is keeping the mucus fueled and me off my death bed.

I'm confident I'll feel fine in a few days, but I am wondering if it would be rude to bring Neti to work with me. (Consider yourself lucky you didn't get a picture of the mucus.

Rhubarb Week

I'm about to have a bunch of rhubarb ready for consumption. This is a problem because I have never cooked/baked with rhubarb! My dad said he's not a fan so I guess I won't be pawning it off on him but I personally have had some pretty tasty dishes.

In honor of Virginia, the old lady who used to live in my house, whose plants I will be reaping the harvest, I am going to post a new recipe everyday of this week. It is officially Mel's Week-o-Rhubarb! So if you have some great rhubarb recipes that I most definitely should not live without, send them my way. Grandma Renzelman is ahead of all of you.

Oh, and don't confuse my Week-o-Rhubarb for me baking something everyday. I'm simply gathering and sharing information that I plan on using. Don't show up on my doorstep expecting to get fed, you'll be disappointed. ;)

Welcome Back Mel!

I have to apologize for my lack of blogging. OF COURSE it would take a little procrastination to get me back. Its past midnight, I'm sitting in a pile of papers, trying to get caught up on grading so I don't have to worry about grading when I get back from California Sunday. (I've actually been working quite hard, I just need a break)

The school year is already a month in! I can't believe it. I reported August 8th and I've had approximately zero time to do anything else but school stuff and softball. (yes, I'm coaching softball) While its been insanely busy, its been a great start so far. I really feel at home at Roosevelt High School. I can't complain much about going to work with fellow staff member that I consider more my friends than my coworkers.

Besides school, I haven't really been doing a whole lot. I'm still on the house search with Brian Trainor, my former teammate and loyal real estate agent. I've mostly settled on Loveland as my city of choice but it still may not happen for a bit. Let me add its a scary scary thing to think about that MUCH MONEY, not to mention the 30-year loan which would put me at the age of RETIREMENT. (Will ramen noodles at 57 still taste the same? Yes.)

I'm playing on a few (three) volleyball leagues and my beloved WisCoTech softball team. This has taken a lot of luck with scheduling and begging organizers for the 9 o'clock games. I know it is crazy but I needed to get back into shape, especially after the thyroid thing.

And while I'm thinking about doctors, I should add I'm super pumped to go to Santa Cruz this weekend for two of my favorite doctors' wedding. I promise to post pictures.

I'm off to tackle the rest of the paper mountain! Again, thanks for the patience on my blog, I hope I didn't lose the two readers I had. (Christie and... ok Christie I hope you are still with me.)

Harvest Time = Summer Reading Time

I'm about to venture off to the farm to do my yearly duty of "Grain Cart Driving Master"  I love my family and it is the most important time of year for Harms Sunny Acres.  I should be there already but health issues demand a delay.  

I am lucky enough to get probably the best job of it all.  How I landed that job is simply because the chances of me REAAAAALLLYY screwing something up are fairly minimal.  Its unfair, I know.  The farm idiot gets the air conditioner, cd player, and down time in between combine rounds.  BUT!  We ALL work very long and hard hours sometimes 15+ hours and if you think I'm crazy now you should here me talking out loud to myself in the tractor cab.  (I also sing, write my eclectic thoughts in my diary, play sunflower seed spitting games with myself etc etc.  SCARY!)  

To get to the point one of the better parts of the job is getting to read some.  Tonight I made my pilgrimage to Barnes and Noble to find this year's harvest reading.  I opted for three books which may be a lofty goal, but better to be safe than have to try to entertain yourself in the middle of no where, in a tractor cab, when chances are you've already consumed your lunch in the first hour.  (To digress... I used to play the if I was in a concentration camp and had to ration my food... how much could I eat per hour and still make it to next meal. Just to make my food last longer. I'm sick I know. I had to, otherwise my bologna sandwich, chips, and oatmeal cookies would be gone in no time.)  Yes, yes... get to the point... I chose Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.  Pretty safe page turners I'm guessing.  The only thing that would make my job better is an IPOD.   Oh, woe is me, my Ipod, my last one crapped out and I have not yet bit the bullet for the next.  Perhaps working harvest will land me into a new ipod. For now its CDs and Books. (Not to be confused with books on CD  I do not have that kind of attention span, my mind wanders, obviously, and I forget to listen.)  Wow, I'm living in the dark ages.  Yes, I'm sure my great grandfather worried about his entertainment.  I'm such a jerk, but still as long as the harvest goes smoothly, I'm ok with that.  Just call me Farmer Harms.

Ten Things I Love And Two Things I Loathe....part one

Ten Things I Love:

1.) Homemade Cooking
I rarely do this for myself so I love going home for something real.

2.) When you wake up to the birds singing outside your window.

3.) Watching the Office:
The Office is one of the only shows that makes me laugh out loud to myself. I love to watch episodes back to back to back to back....

4.) Reading a really good book:
The most recent book I rather enjoyed was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I'd love to hear suggestions as its finally time for some summer reading.

5.) Sweet Tea:
Sure it may rot my teeth, but its soooo good.

6.) Greenhouses and Gardening:
I have created a slight Sunday tradition of going to visit green houses and I love working with my Grandma Harms in her garden. For some reason I'm especially fond of trimming trees. Don't ask me why.

7.) Fireflies:
Growing up in Colorado we don't have many of these bugs-o-wonder, but I think they are frickin rad.

8.) June 21:
Since its the longest day of sunshine, it is my favorite, and the sunsets are usually nothing short of spectacular either.

9.) Getting up in the mornings when you are excited about the day.
These are usually mornings when I'm camping or going skiing or leaving for a trip, etc. These mornings usually involve a good cup of coffee a great conversation and getting to share the excitement with someone else.

10.) Good dreams that I remember.
In one I dunked a basketball. That was a good dream.


Two Things I Loathe:

1.) Finding a new place to live:
If anyone has any grand ideas let me know.

2.) Thinking about finding a new place to live:
If anyone has any grand ideas let me know.