Month: June 2012 (Page 5 of 5)

she’s a good girl…

June 12, 2012 / Michele Minehart

I’ve spent most of my life fulfilling the requisite good girl shoes. I aimed to please, be it in performance (athletics, academics) or character (a good mom, good wife, good friend). It’s been a constant striving for Right or Best, whichever standard might be higher.

Which means that as I grew in the faith, I placed a high value on believing the right things and falling into line with correct standards of thought and behavior. I accepted beliefs and understandings about the world because I heard sound arguments, but also because believing else would put me on the outskirts of Correct. Note: not orthodoxy. (If I’ve learned nothing else in the past 4 years, it’s that in both child development and theology, the Range of Normal is larger than you think.)

I systematically swallowed the beliefs. I set standards for my life that fit like an uncomfortable pair of shoes and now I have blisters. It’s rubbed me the wrong way for much too long. And I’ve met a few people running barefoot that have freed me to bare my soles. And my soul.

It wasn’t a sudden shift. No major life event began to sway me. But the steady progression and observations of the world changed my understanding of, well, everything. People, God, how we’re all in this together but yet how badly we sometimes fail. I’ve fallen in love with good people who don’t name Jesus and I can’t help but believe that it’s Jesus is in there somewhere, nameless, but doing His work. And the goodness they’re living sometimes surpasses what we see from the people wearing the Jesus t-shirts.

I’m finding “core” beliefs that don’t mesh well with my center, largely around how we (the Jesus group) treat people. Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I hear a message that says, “If you’re not like us, there’s no room for you here.” And I’m just not sure I believe the ways that we ask people to be like us are fair. Or right. Or good.

These barefoot people, they’re unapologetic about believing something other than what they’ve been taught. Most recently it’s been Sarah Bessey and how she feels women can be valued in ministry. And Tony Jones wonders if redemption is more than Get Out Of Hell Free. I’m finding so much freedom in the stories of Jen & Brandon Hatmaker, Shane Hipps, and NT Wright because not only do large pieces of my heart agree and have been validated, but I’m finding inspiration to vocalize my own uncertainty in previously established positions.

I find comfort in their humble yet secure attitudes; they offer explanation but not defense. And they make no attempts to evangelize their positions, only an offer to join. I appreciate their willingness to blaze trails, because those of us new to a barefoot perspective often have sensitive feet.

we were on a break…

June 6, 2012 / Michele Minehart

Yesterday my employer sent me 2 letters: one to congratulate me on my 5 years of service, the other to approve my nearing 8 week leave of absence (well, officially it’s 2 weeks PTO and 6 weeks unpaid personal leave). I appreciated both letters and didn’t realize, until 6am this morning, the significance of either.

The fact that I’ve been with the company 5 years surprises me on so many levels. It’s kind of like the time when I realized I’d been out of college longer than I’d been in (but mind you, still caught in the same fashion era). Time moves quicker than you think. Also notable:

I’ve been in this job longer than I was a youth director, though my tendencies to align myself with the youth directors as opposed to the HR or recruiters probably tells me something I’m not willing to hear.
This is the longest I’ve been with any job, position or company.
This is the first time I’ve stuck with something longer than a 4 year span since 1996. We seem to operate in 4 year increments in the young adult world, so there was high school, college and first job, all 4 years each. I broke the 4 year barrier. I’m officially an adult. (Probably related: : my last 4 year stint involved having kids.)
I never felt “called” into HR. Recruiting is not my lifelong aspiration or passion. I fell into it. I do a good job at it (I think). So 5 years moving quickly is proof of two things: complacency on my part and that my employer is very, very good to me and makes it hard to leave for anything remotely subpar.

But enough about how time flies when you’re reading bad resumes. On to the exciting stuff.

I’m taking a break from my 20-hour-a-week job (for which I create my schedule and self-direct my priorities and tasks). I know, I’m a lightweight. In my defense: I was carrying the workload of an overworked fulltime employee. I think that fact counts for something. But the decision to take some time for myself came from a perfect storm of situations:

Our sitter spree was stressing me out
We found a renter for The House That Won’t Sell
JJ has the summer off and we have 2 families with lakehouses. Things like conference calls just don’t bode well with that lifestyle.
I’d went back to work relatively quickly after Baby C was born, which if we all remember correctly, was the exact same time I moved to a new town. My general pace of life needs some slowing.
I read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (again) and recognized for the 14th time I’m not writing the story I want to be (both figuratively – with my life – and literally – with my computer). And until I take a breather, I will never get started.
Related: until I created space to try writing things other than a blog that 12 people (Hi KLR! And Family!) read, I simply won’t. I’ll never find time, I can only make time.

At the end of September you’ll probably see me putting in my availability, hoping for some resume rating or admin support. I’ll likely pick up where I left off, putting in a few days a week. But hopefully when I return, I’ll have established patterns and routines that include more of the things I love. Like running. And baking. And swimming (okay, floating is more my speed. I don’t like to get my hair wet).

I’m also going to do a few scary things, like pitch an idea and query a story. I need to. I have to. The failure rate at the start of any writing effort is exceptionally high at the start, so I need to get these rejections rolling so I can get to the good stuff. I need to write some crappy first drafts so I can get better. I need to get my butt in the chair so that when I’m 65 and sitting at the lakehouse with my 900 grandchildren, JJ won’t say, “your grandma could’ve done something else. I tried to get her to, but the money was nice and the company was good to her.”

It’s time to start writing a good story. It includes a character who wants something and has to overcome an obstacle to get it. There is an inciting event. It has memorable scenes. Her character grows. She may not make a million dollars, write a bestseller or even quit her day job. But the goal is not just to write a story worth reading, but to do something worth writing about.

several successes of a Saturday

June 2, 2012 / Michele Minehart

In terms of the 940 Saturdays we’re alotted, today ranks a high success rate. Not just because we had some epic adventure to a new place or activity, but because it was glorious to just be normal again. After several consecutive weekends of being gone for this and that, it was settling to be home.

We made a trip downtown for the local Strawberry Festival. It’s kind of a big deal. We tasted on the notorious doughnuts, tried some strawberry salsa (I recommend) and ate a bite from local vendors, wrapping up with a strawberry pizza.

Come noon o’clock we took a nap. Every single one of us. And not just a quick 10-minute power nap; I woke up with drool on the pillow, a sure sign of success.

I started preparations for an attempt to recreate a dish I had at the Greek restaurant in Findlay (I can’t recall the name. It’s downtown. The only one. Go there. Delicious.) while JJ put together Miss M’s new-to-her big girl bed and we did some musical cribs so that Baby C can’t crawl out of hers (I know. Parents of the year right here).

After dinner our credit card saw Meijer for the third time in 3 days as I wasn’t made aware that dog food should be on the list. So Miss M and I made the bed and sorted clothes for the attic (someday I’ll do a photo gallery of our attic storage and the tubs upon tubs of clothing. It’s sad, really). We jammied up, watched a brief stint of Puss in Boots (but not the funny one) and off to bed.

Successful day.

But not nearly as successful as my “greek nachos”. This dish was originally called something like “Hal’s special” at the Findlay place (sorry, kind sir, for completely forgetting your name. But your special sure is special). And because My Pal Hal (or whatever his name might be) didn’t provide a recipe, I retained rights to name it what I’d like: Greek Nachos.

Here we go, my first ever recipe post. WITH PICTURES. I told you, uber-successful day. Don’t get too impressed. You won’t see my whisk – only the final result. Which may or may not be an open can in at least one example.

First, the tzatziki sauce. If you ask me, the star of the dish. I used a food.com recipe and selected based upon the number of cucumbers required. (I didn’t have fresh dill but saw on another recipe that 1/4 tsp dried was used and I thought it came out about right). I even followed the steps to “salt” the cuke – it was a no-shortcuts kind of day. I let it chill for several hours. Creamy and refreshing.

Next, the chicken. I went with a basic souvlaki recipe, knownst only to me thanks to my days at the Pita Pit. By “days at the Pita Pit” I mean, every Friday in college when I would treat myself to a souvlaki (complete with tzatziki sauce) before PGIF. Confession: I chose souvlaki on those Fridays because it was a quarter cheaper than the other kind of chicken.

This time I went with a Taste of Home recipe. Why? I have no idea. But it worked. And because the tzatziki is already in the fridge with a recipe requiring only one cucumber, you only need to pay attention to the first 5 ingredients and the first step. I used chicken breast that were “cut thin” from Meijer because they were the ones 20% off and I didn’t have time to run to the meat shop. But the thin cutting turned out to be a good thing.

When I returned to the kitchen to actually put the meal together, I started with the potatoes. The potatoes are actually the genius of the dish. You pile high the toppings on potatoes. You know what potatoes are? GRAIN FREE. Winner winner… So I simply cut them thin and put them on a cookie sheet with olive oil and baked them at 400 until they browned and crisped up. HINT: parchment paper. It solves every sticky-oven problem you’ll ever have, including when potatoes stick to the pan, no matter how much oil you soak them in. I only had enough for one pan with parchment paper, so I considered it an experience. Parchment won. In any case, the tates turned out beautiful. JJ’s only suggestion: 4 potatoes aren’t quite enough for our crew.

Now the busy work. Get the chicken out of the fridge and toss everything (including marinate) in a large frying pan. I use stainless steal and this type of sauteeing is one place I don’t go to my cast iron.

Admission: the reason I’m sharing this recipe lies in my chicken success this evening. Previous to this, my “sauteed” chicken turned out white and bland. Blah. I couldn’t figure out how the professionals got it browned and not gross textured.

So after the juices ran clear, I poured out all the liquid and cranked the heat. OK, it was at “7”, but that’s high for this girl. I fiiiiiiinally got a nice browning on the outsides without it drying out. Also, as soon as I cranked the heat, I used the spatula to chop up the pieces even smaller. I’m not sure why – call it instinct – but I liked the results.