Work in Process

It's starting to feel more real! After signing our contract to publish our book with Black Rose Writing, we started researching professional editors. Black Rose does some editing, but very minor, and the recommend you consider this. We decided it was worth it to put the best product possible out there. I contacted several editors for quotes and we settled on an editor who was really excited about our story. He's working on the book now and should have his edits to us this coming week!  We're setting up a call with him to discuss his suggestions--although we made it clear we were looking for grammar, punctuation, spelling, continuity, etc, not plot or character changes.  He mentioned that he felt we didn't need a lot of editing compared to what he usually sees and also that he was impressed by our synergy--being able to blend our writing styles together seamlessly. I'm excited to see what he thinks!

We also had some photos taken of use last week for our bio. A friend of Kelly's (my friend and co-author) did the photos and I really love how they are turning out so far (she took a ton and is still editing). Kelly and I both hate getting our pictures taken, but I think we got the best shots possible. Some of the shots were from a park right across the street from where I grew up. The rest were done at a business nearby that is covered with professional graffiti.

So by the end of the week we should have the edited manuscript back, then I need to start going over the changes. We also decided to change the setting from a fictional town in Ohio to a fictional town here in Indiana. We've been hearing so much about the issues from our book here where we live that we decided it was important to "bring it home" so to speak. I'm guessing the editing process will take me a couple of weeks. I'm hoping to get the final draft to the publisher by mid April or the first of May at the latest. That time line might have gotten more important (and difficult) as of this week, because we have an offer pending on our house. I don't want to say much yet, but things might get crazy very very soon so wish me luck to juggle all of this!

Once our publisher gets the draft back, they'll put it through their editing process and then we'll start talking cover art, publicity, marketing, etc. Wow, this is for real!

Here are a few of the best shots from our photo shoot.

Besties and co-authors.

Kelly - The creative mind that came up with our novel.

What a cool background!

Us in black and white

This is probably my favorite single shot

Just me

Happy Fall Y'all!

As I mentioned, Adam and I took off three days at the beginning of Tyler's Fall Break to have some family fun!  And boy, did we!  Saturday was spent on party prep, and AJ's birthday party was Sunday.  Monday, we went to Eagle Creek Park, a state park close to where we live.  I hadn't been there since I was a kid, which is crazy because it's so close, and it's gorgeous, and it only costs $5 to get in. 

Again, the weather was perfection, cooler in the morning and warming up in the afternoon, and beautifully sunny.  The trees were beyond gorgeous, which just the right touch of fall colors.  We visited the park center and the ornithology building (Birds galore!) and spent a few minutes marveling at how gorgeous Eagle Creek reservoir is, particularly this time of year.  Mom and I decided we want to live on a lake someday, or at least have a vacation house near one! 

So pretty!

My loves

Birdwatching

After that, we found a picnic area near a playground where we ate peanut butter (and jelly for everyone but Tyler and some cheese for AJ, who refuses to try PB&J) sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies.  After that, we let the kids play on the playground for a little while.  Then we visited Lilly Lake and walked a bit of the hiking trail around it.  The kids climbed around on a fallen log and even found a tree with a huge hole in it that they could climb into!  I stuck my hand inside to help Tyler out and it amazed me that it was at least 15 degrees cooler inside there!

With Gaga, hanging at the playground

AJ on the merry-go-round

Nature Boys

Tuesday we drove to Trafalgar, IN to visit Apple Works, an orchard there.  It was actually the same one that Tyler and I had visited on his class field trip the week before.  The field trip was a total blast, Tyler loved having me along and the kids were all so fun. I had a group of 5 that I was responsible for and they were all very well behaved, thankfully! 

Goofy Boy

Apple picking!

So anyway, we went out there and got some apples (a peck of apples!) and some other goodies (fudge!).  They'd been making apple dumplings the week before and I was dying for one (an apple, cored and stuffed with butter and brown sugar, then wrapped in dough and baked) but unfortunately they were sold out, so I "settled" for an apple pie instead.  Then we went out to the pumpkin patch and wandered for ages looking for the right ones! We ended up with a medium sized one for Tyler, a smaller one for AJ, and a little mini one I couldn't resist.  We made a quick lap through the petting zoo and then went to Steak N Shake for lunch.

The perfect pumpkins!

He put this sticker on his face and then made this face. And then I died from cute.

In the afternoon, Adam took Tyler to the Children's Museum where they were having a special exhibit of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Tyler had a blast and I think Daddy secretly did too!

Digging for bones!

WHOA, big Mikey! And Tyler's making his classic picture face :-P

Wednesday we mostly relaxed, with Adam and Mom getting a couple of auctions to sort through, but all in all, it was a great couple of days!  So much fun, but not completely exhausting!  I could get used to a two day work week, too!

The State of the Fair

Shew, we are feeling the heat in the midwest!  Or maybe it's just because I'm coming off a weekend of yard sale and State Fair?  Well, it's hot, regardless.  We did a 3 day yard sale and then the very next day we spent the entire day at the State Fair.  I learned my lesson, we were almost too tired to enjoy the fair this time around.  My feet hurt after about an hour.  Still, we had a good time, especially the kids, at least until AJ's naptime came around, then he MELTED DOWN big time, so we called it quits.

I'm feeling short on words today, so I will default to pictures! :)

Pony Rides! (I want to crop myself right out of these pics)

AJ is excited for his turn.  Daddy is excited watching Tyler ride, I think.

Ach, he's so big!

He LOVED it!  Grinned and chattered the whole time!

AJ running, free of the stroller for a moment

Farmer Tyler--This tractor had a TV screen inside that simulated the view from a real tractor, so cool!

Goofing around at lunchtime

This was a remote controlled robot-thing.  AJ was terrified of it.

Another type of horse!

Tyler and Daddy take on the Ferris Wheel

AJ loved the train! Until it was over, anyway.

World Traveller!

I'm a terrible blogger.  Blah blah excuses, busy, etc.  But I have A) a little free time and B) interesting things to blog about, so here I am!  I've actually got several posts in the works!  First of all, my trip to Canada!  Okay, so maybe I haven't traveled the world, but I did go out of the country for the first time last week!  Technically, I have been to the Bahamas, but since I didn't need a passport at the time, I don't really count that as outside the USA.  Anyway, I think I've mentioned that I have been covering the billing duties for our Canadian division for about the last 6 months or so.  Well, they had hired a permanent replacement, so they asked me to travel to Toronto, Ontario to train her for a few days.

First step, obtain passport!  I went to the local post office with my form filled out and got a passport photo and all that and sent it all in. Less than two weeks later, my passport arrived!

Unfortunately, they misspelled my name.  Too bad Melissa is spelled with 2 "s" instead of 3.  Back it went, and luckily it only took about a week to receive the corrected passport.  My bosses-boss, Anne, had decided to coordinate her own planned trip with mine so I wouldn't have to travel alone.  She would fly from St. Louis to Chicago and I would meet her there and we'd fly to Toronto together.  I booked my flights and hotel and prayed for good weather!

Well, as I'm sure anyone in the US can attest, we haven't really had that great of weather.  The east coast was getting pretty battered by snow on the Monday I was leaving.  It was snowing in Indy (not a ton, but still, snow) but the main problem was the my plane was coming from the east coast and it was delayed.  My planned layover in Chicago was only 43 minutes, which is tight not even considering weather.  I let Anne know I might not make the connection and I sat at the gate (freezing, by the way, breezeway doors opening all the time) watching the flight get later and later.  Finally, the flight that was supposed to arrive AFTER my flight left got bumped up on the screen. I went to the desk to make sure they hadn't moved us to another gate and the attendant told me there was another flight two gates over leaving for Chicago sooner than my flight, and she noticed that one seat had just opened up.

By this point, the flight from Chicago to Toronto had been delayed a little bit, giving me hope that I might make it.  We boarded the plane and were quickly de-iced and took off.  The plane landed in Chicago and I rushed off and to the nearest screen to see what gate I needed to get to. In a absolutely MIRACLE, my departure gate was just a few gates down from the arrival gate! They were already boarding, so I got right in line and within 5 minutes of exiting my flight from Indy, I got on the plane to Canada.  I passed Anne when I got on, who was surprised but relieved that I'd made it.  As I settled into my seat, I watched crews unloading baggage on a plane nearby and I thought to myself, "There is no way my suitcase is going to make this flight."

Spoiler alert: It didn't.

We got to Canada without incident and confirmed that my suitcase had in fact, NOT made the flight.  The airline assured me it would arrive around 6:30 pm and would be delivered to the hotel.  Anne and I went through interrogation customs and checked into our hotel, then had dinner. We even tried a Canadian staple called poutine--french fries with cheese curds and brown gravy.

Poutine--Not a big fan of gravy, but interesting!

 

When we got back to the hotel, I skyped with the family (on my phone, since my webcam was in my luggage), and then contacted the airline to check on my bag.  The plane it was on was delayed.  I checked again in an hour and the suitcase had arrived and was waiting for customs.  By the time I finally went to bed around 11:30, they still hadn't run it through customs.

I got up several times in the night to check the status.  I was half convinced I was going to have to wear my grimy airplane jeans and sweater and sneakers to work the next day.  Finally, at 5:00 am I called the front desk and HUZZAH my suitcase had arrived! I collected it and returned to my room, unpacked, ironed everything, showered (with MY shampoo!), and got dressed for the day (clean clothes!), and got ready (realizing I had left my full size hair brush at home, but hey, I had a flat iron at least! And makeup!), Skyped Adam and the kids and off I went to breakfast and work.

The new hire is VERY Nice and the training went really well. After work, she and the rest of the department joined Anne and I for dinner.  I ordered a drink called a Miles Davis (all the drinks were named after jazz singers), which the waiter apologized for having spilled the mix all over himself while he made it.  Then minutes later, I put the cup down on the table--sidenote, the place was VERY dimly lit--right on the seam of two tables.  Well you guessed it, the seam of the two tables were VERY different and my drink tipped onto the table, sloshing a good portion of the contents in one of my Canadian coworker's Vodka Cranberry.  We all had a good laugh--and a replacement drink!  

The restaurant was a little fancy for my usual taste, but the appetizers were great (although i did abstain from the escargot) and I chose a pesto Alfredo dish, which usually came with shrimp and chicken. I asked the waiter if I could get it without the proteins.  When he brought it out, the bowl had ONLY the chicken and shrimp in it.  Apparently he thought I'd said no CARBS.  Another great laugh from all before he brought me the pasta instead, which was EXCELLENT! Then he brought out one too many creme brulees, so I decided to try it.  Where had creme brulee been all my life? Seriously, YUM!!!

Found a warm spot at the hotel!  If you didn't know, it's a little cold in Canada!

We went back to the hotel for what I hoped was a good nights sleep.  That did not happen.  I went to sleep about 10:30, only to be ripped from my sleep at just before midnight.

By the FIRE ALARM.

Yeah, not kidding.  And I totally had about a full minute where I'd bolted out of bed but really had NO idea what was happening.  I'd grabbed my glasses and even my phone, but I was looking around trying to make sense of what was happening.  I kept smacking the alarm clock (I've had alarm clocks randomly go off in hotel rooms in the middle of the night before).  Finally, I went toward the door where I could tell the fire alarm was going off everywhere.  I threw on some clothes and shoes, grabbed my coat, phone, and room key (but not my PURSE!  With ID and passport!) and headed downstairs. I was on the top floor (5th) so I went down the back step. I thought I smelled smoke, but I didn't see anything obvious.  Once outside (in the COLD), we headed around to the front of the hotel and I looked back at the front entrance.  And saw a huge wall of water.  In a few minutes, the fire department arrived and I found Anne, so we took shelter in our rental car (thank goodness she'd thought to bring the keys).  After about an hour, people seemed to be going back inside, so we followed them.  Anne went back to her room, but I admit, I was SCARED!  Not knowing for sure what had happened, I knew I was NOT going to be able to go right back to bed.  I went back to my room and decided I didn't care that I'd be charged $.89 per minute, I called Adam.  He reminded me that we wouldn't have been allowed back inside if they weren't sure everything was fine.  When we hung up, I called the front desk, just for piece of mind, and was told that there was no fire, just a burst pipe in the lobby (which explains the wall of water).  Apparently the sprinkler system (and therefore the fire alarm system) sensed the drop in water pressure and triggered the alarms.  Fire might scare me, but a broken pipe doesn't, so I finally headed to bed around 1:30-2:00 am.

Wednesday was much more uneventful, just work and then a quieter dinner with Anne at an Italian place with amazing lasagna and sangria that had little gel bubble things in it (sort of like what's in bubble tea, I think?  Weird!).  Thursday we put in another full day and then checked into a hotel near the airport for the night.  Luckily Wednesday I slept pretty good, but I woke up early on Friday morning, excited to head home!  At the airport, I got some cool souveniers for the family (a solar moose bobble head for my mom, a big wheel bus for AJ, pens for Adam and Chell, rocks and a stuffed beaver for Tyler, a magnet for my travel collection, and a beaver keychain with a moving head for Angie) and then we were off.

Anne and I made it to Chicago and said our goodbyes. It was really nice to spend time with her one on one. We had some great conversations.  I told Adam it could have easily been awkward, traveling with a boss, but it really wasn't at all.  I grabbed a sandwich and hung out at my gate until my flight.  

#airportart

We boarded pretty much on time, but it was snowing so we had to wait to be de-iced.  At first, they said it would be at least 30 minutes, but right after that, they said we'd been bumped up and would be departing soon!  About 30 minutes passed when I looked out my window and saw this:

To clarify, that is NOT our plane.

Yeah. That happened.  They de-iced the wrong plane.  I don't think that one was scheduled to go anywhere.  The pilot came on the speaker and admitted that there had been a mistake.  Awhile later, the trucks pulled up beside us....and then left again.  The pilot really seemed at a loss at that point.  I think his exact words were "I don't know what to tell you folks..."  About an hour and a half after we boarded the plane, we were finally de-iced and took off safely.

Home at last!!!  Home to these faces!

 

Another suitcase in another hotel

Points for recognizing the Evita reference (however lose a reference it was, lol).  Last week was another work trip, this time to Chattanooga, TN.  We don't have a location there, so we stayed in a hotel with a conference center.  I hadn't been to Tennessee since I was little (I've been twice, I think. Once to meet my great-grandmother when I was maybe 5, and again a few years later for her funeral) so it was nice to go back. 

I decided that instead of flying this time, I'd drive to Elizabethtown, KY and pick up the two invoicers who work there and then we'd continue on to Chattanooga together.  I rented a car in town and drove the 2.5 hours to "E-town".  The drive down was fairly uneventful, aside from one nasty stretch of construction where the pavement made my car make a noise.  I didn't realize what it was and thought maybe I had a flat!  That wasn't too much fun!  Neither was the nasty cold I brought with me. I sounded funny, my ears wouldn't stop popping and over the course of the week I probably went through 500 tissues.

Ford Fusion--not a bad ride.

Louisville

Welcome to Kentucky!

I picked up Nova and Mari Lynn and let Nova take over driving.  I was happy to relinquish that duty, as I really don't enjoy driving in unfamiliar areas.  We had lunch at IHop and the drive passed quickly.

Dinos!  Wish my boys were here!

Pretty landscape

We got into Chattanooga and checked into our rooms. Nova and I had adjoining rooms that shared the crummy feature of an air conditioner that failed to keep our rooms cool.  Seriously, the entire trip my thermostat never read lower than 70 degrees and that was in the middle of the night.  They sent an engineer up and he just said the unit was blowing at 65 degrees so it was running fine.  Whatever.  After we got settled, we went down to the bar and grill and had dinner and drinks and hung out with other coworkers as they arrived.  After dinner, Nova and Amberly (from Missouri) and I took a shuttle downtown in search of ice cream.  We wandered for hours trying to find a place with milkshakes for Amberly.  Finally we found an amazing little shop where they mix your favorite toppings with vanilla or chocolate. I had chocolate ice cream with M&Ms and marshmallows.  It was DIVINE and worth the walk, even when we got back to the shuttle stop and realized it was right next door to Ben and Jerry's!

Thank you sir, may I have another?

The next day, I woke up early (4:45 am) and couldn't sleep, so I worked on my laptop for awhile.  After breakfast we started the conference with our group, the Invoicing Associates.  It went well, but I was a little distracted part of the morning, because I'd gotten a call from my mom saying that Tyler had cried most of the morning about going to school.  You guys, I had no idea it would be such an adjustment for all of us!  I sent an email to his teacher to check in and did my best to focus.  Luckily, she emailed me back and said he'd cried when he arrived, but had been much better since then, so that made me feel better.

After the meetings, we were joined by some of the Business Team, who would be joining us for meetings on Wednesday and the group caught a couple of shuttles into town to a great little brewery.  I had sangria and a Bacon Cheeseburger with BBQ sauce and it was really great.  When we got back to the hotel and I had a quick Skype session with the family before going back down to the bar to hang out with some of the group.  Then Nova and I hung out for a bit before bed.

My Invoicing Sista, Nova

Wednesday was our joint meeting day, so we met in a larger room after skyping and breakfast.  I presented two topics by myself and another with a partner and I felt like it went pretty well.  We wrapped up around 3pm and rushed upstairs to change for our "TeamBuilding" event.  We went to the Tennessee Aquarium, which is really nice and boy, did I wish the kids were there. Tyler would have loved seeing it and AJ would have lost his mind over all the "FISHIES!", he's sort of obsessed with them right now.  If he even hears someone say they are going to Walmart, he starts yelling about fishies!

PICTURE OVERLOAD

Outside the Aquarium

Seahorses!

Great view of the Tennessee River

See the boat by the bridge?  We took a ride on that later!

Piggyback Turtles!

A whole family?  Or are they the TMNTs?

This guy was FREAKY, swimming with his mouth open. He's a Paddlefish

Pet the Stingrays!

Bad pic of the butterfly garden

Nova kissing up

Jellyfish!

Some MAJOR crab action

After the aquarium we walked down to the river and took a ride on the Southern Belle.  We ate dinner on board and mingled a little bit.  As we approached the dam at the end of the river (no pics, my phone was almost dead), they waited until the very last moment possible to turn the boat, shutting of the engine and basically spinning it out until we faced the way we came, it was wild.  Once we'd turned, the breeze kicked up and it was really nice.  We had a great conversation with one of the sales reps from North Carolina too.  Once we got back to the hotel, I packed most of my stuff and Nova and I hung out before bed.  At this point the only way I could be cool enough to sleep was with a wet washcloth over my face.

The Southern Belle

 The next morning, I actually slept to my alarm (5:30 am) and I really didn't want to get up.  My alarm is the same as my text message sound, so when it went off I actually said, "Please be a text...ugh not a text." I drug myself out of bed and Nova and I stumbled downstairs.  She smokes, so we went outside first and then our keycards wouldn't work to let us back in the backdoor.  We had to walk all the way around the hotel and go in the front.  We stopped at the desk to tell them that either BOTH of our cards weren't working, or their card swiper wasn't.  They reprogrammed both keys to my door (not sure why) and we stopped at the Starbucks for coffee and headed back upstairs.

Had to snap a pic of the chandelier for my mom

When we got there, my stupid door wouldn't open.  Both lights were flashing and when we went BACK down to the desk, they said the batteries were probably dead.  *facepalm*.  They gave us a new card for Nova's door and we were able to get back in, finally.  We finished packing and got dressed and I skyped with Adam and the kids and then we headed out.  The drive back to Etown was fine, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast (and I got a few souvenirs at their shop) and Pizza Hut for a quick lunch and then I dropped them off back at their office and headed for HOME!

Unfortunately, there is a lot of construction in Southern Indiana right now, so the drive home was not as uneventful as I would have liked.  By then I just wanted to GO HOME, so dead-stop traffic was not fun.  I'd got a few miles and then there'd be more construction.  This went on for quite awhile and put me about 45 minutes later than I'd thought.

One of my least favorite views.

 Finally I did get back to the car rental and Adam was waiting for me and I could go home and see my BABIES!

And added bonus, Nova and I did a clothing swap and she has AWESOME taste!  New clothes for free!

Over the weekend, we made our yearly trip to the State Fair, tired as I was!  It was fun, a little rainy at times, and somehow we ran out of time (and energy) and I didn't get to sample all of my favorite foods this time.  I toyed with the idea of going back, but really didn't have the funds for it.  Ah well, next year.

Tyler in his little poncho!

AJ riding in style

My boys!

Checking out the campsite

Every picture I took of them (about 5) was blurry!

It was Purdue day!  Checking out the Boilermaker Train!

With Daddy on the slide!

WHEW!  I'm tired just remembering all that!  It was a great, very busy week!  Tyler's doing much better at school, getting more excited about things and more confident.  I think he's even made his first little friend, a little girl who's been helping him across the "shake shake" bridge on the playground!  Thursday is school picture day and I can't wait to see his sweet smile!  Next week is back to school night and he's excited to show us around and talk more about what he's been doing.  He's already doing better with a pencil and working on letters and writing his name.  We read every night and he's recognizing more and more words!  And last nights homework was about volumes and he had a great time in the bath, pouring water to and from different containers!  :)  So proud!

AJ's doing well too, starting to talk more, though it's very hard sometimes to know what he's saying. We have our evaluation with the speech therapist next week that I'm keeping since it's already on the calendar.  We'll see what they say.  Right now, he YELLS everything!  Not mad, but just yelling each word like he thinks he won't be heard otherwise!  He's such a character!