A Working Halloween

Sorry for the lack of posts lately -- I started working again and suddenly all my free time has vanished. If I could please get that back that would be great....

Some of you know a little about my new job, but I'll fill you all in anyways. I got a job as a copy writer/editor at a local publishing house through a temp agency. It's an 8-5 kind of job that pays barely above minimum wage, but hey, it's a job! Not everyone can say that these days so I'm thankful. It's apparently supposed to be a 6-month gig until they can hire me on full time with their company -- right now I'm technically an employee of the temp agency. We'll see how it all goes down in the next few months.

I've worked for four days now and am still not really sure what to think about all of it. The company is fairly large (around 300 employees), but for me coming from a two person office where I had a huge office with a door (!) all to myself, that many other people sharing my space is overwhelming. It's awkward because I sit in a larger cubicle with two other women, but you can hear everything that goes on around you in the other cubicles. Other people's conversations, their sneezes, their ringing phones -- all of it. Zero privacy basically.

The first day I showed up they sat me at a table (not even a desk with drawers) with a computer and said, here you go, edit this. Seriously, it's a good thing I brought my own pen because they weren't supplying those! I'm still using my co-workers trash can and doubt I will ever have one of my own. Oh the glorious days of working at the Growth Council....if I only I would have recognized the small luxuries like trash cans!

So yea, it's been a very humbling experience overall because I'm basically lower than a paid intern and am definitely under-utilized in my skill set. To go from the place I was at the Growth Council, and all that I got to see and do there to this is very humbling indeed. I pray every morning the Lord would give me a good attitude about working and that this season would be a good lesson in being faithful in the small things, the lowest tasks, in order that I might be given more responsibility in the future.

Not that I want to overspiritualize this experience, but I do think the Lord probably has some good lessons for me here.

Anyways, I really got on here to blog about my adventures in corporate Halloween today, but apparently I digressed because there's so much to say in just setting up the context!

Probably on my second day there I noticed flyers talking about the Halloween party the company was hosting this afternoon. I panicked thinking that perhaps it was mandatory and frankly the thought of picking out a costume, pumpkin bowling and a mummy wrapping contest made me want to throw up. I've never really liked Halloween and all the hype around today's events only confirmed that dislike even more.

I showed up this morning sans costume (although I was tempted to write "book" on my face in tribute to Jim on the Office last night, but chickened out -- he was being "facebook" for those of you who missed the episode -- quite clever really) but not to worry, plenty of people made up for my lack of costume. Some of my favorites throughout the day included the woman who dressed up like a male co-worker complete with an eye-liner created beard, the man who dressed up in the costume from the kid on Where the Wild Things Are, and everyone's favorite - the woman who literally dressed like the pond and fountain in front of our office. Don't ask me how she sat all day long - she had an enormous piece of cardboard around her waist (the pond) and then her upper body was the fountain, complete with, I kid you not, a pointed silver cone on her head with tinsel coming out for the "fountain" part. She also put reflective material on her cardboard so she literally reflected off the ceiling when the lights hit her. Creative I do say.

The crowning moment of the day though was the parade. Yes, a costume parade. Imagine this - about 50 adults in full costume weaving their way in and out of the rows of cubicles throwing candy at their co-workers. Absurd was really the only word I could think of. It was so unbelievably absurd to me that not only are these people throwing candy at us, they are willingly dressed in costume and doing this while getting paid on their work time. Frankly the fact that Halloween is so popular in the first place, not just with children, but with adults too is rather scary to me. (Ha - no pun intended!) I think it really is a time for people to let loose a little and be absurd (and wear things they would never wear in real life) and I'm sure that my company thinks people need some lightheartedness every once in awhile. Personally, that's not really my thing and I think Halloween should just go the way of the dinosaur. Of course it never would, but really it should.

I will be very interested to know how they handle Christmas (most likely a "holiday" party, hopefully without the parade). I'm sure I'll give you the full scoop when that rolls around......

An Ohio Weekend

This past weekend we were all over the great state of Ohio. Months ago we were invited to a wedding on the east side of Columbus for a sweet Taylor friend, Megumi. Since we knew we would be in Ohio this weekend we planned to visit some high school friends of mine, Kyle & Suzie Yoder, in Athens, Ohio Friday night and Saturday. Kyle just started at Ohio University (not to be confused with THE Ohio State University) in their med school and Suzie is also getting her masters there in special education.

Friday we set out for our first stop in Columbus to visit Rob's cousin Maria and her husband Isaac. They took us to this really yummy Mediterranean restaurant called Lavash and then to a vegan bakery for cookies. Delicious! We had a great time with them talking and laughing. They also gave us a driving tour of THE Ohio State University which was cool for us to see. They got married a few months after us and unfortunately we haven't spent very much time together as couples so this was a great time to connect with them.

Hanging out with Maria & Isaac

After lunch we headed off to Athens to literally the middle of nowhere where Kyle and Suzie live. I had never been to southern Ohio before, but it is really lovely with the changing leaves and rolling hills.

A view from the car

Only in small town America do you see people like Jim Pancake running for public office. We thought his name was absolutely hilarious and well worth the photo stop. We wondered if his main campaign strategy was lots of pancake breakfasts?

Kyle and Suzie have a great living situation about 15 minutes from campus. They found a place to rent on a horse farm that converted old out buildings and houses for horse trainers into rental properties. It is very secluded and quiet. For Kyle and Suzie it is quite a change though because they used to live in downtown Philadelphia. I think they miss the city, but this season is providing rest and connection to nature again for them. We spent Friday evening eating soup and homemade bread, talking, laughing, and playing Settlers. Saturday Suzie and I walked through the woods on horse trails with their dog Ella and their landlord's dog Hank. We also had a driving tour of OU and learned some history of the town.

Suzie with a horse with a creepy blue eye. Apparently these are really famous and beautiful types of horses

A view of the horse barns

The four of us on their "front lawn" which is basically a huge field.

After our great visit with them we headed back up to Columbus for Ben & Megumi's wedding. We didn't expect to know anyone at the wedding, but we sat at a table with two other Taylor grad couples so that was great. The wedding was supposed to be outside on a patio at this mansion, but the forecast was calling for snow so they moved the ceremony into the same room the reception was in. It was a really beautiful wedding (minus the dj with his techno music) and a true celebration of Ben & Megumi. A small tidbit about them by the way -- after they set their wedding date on October 17th they traced back and figured out that that was the first day they met eight years ago! How cool is that? They've been together since then too so I think this day was extra special for them!

Megumi coming down the "aisle". I loved her 1940s style veil.

Rob and I with the happy couple

Cupcakes!

After the wedding we drove to Cincinnati and slept at Rob's parents house instead of driving all the way home that night. We left there at 7:30 Sunday morning to be back in time for church at 11:00. Whew! What a weekend! Needless to say I took a nap on Sunday afternoon. :) All in all a great time with people we love.

A Curry Dinner and Other Interesting Things from the Kitchen

Tonight I made my first curry dish -- at least I think that's what it was. I don't think Americans really understand exactly what makes a "curry" dish (although if the recipe calls for curry that's probably a good indication) so please friends who are Indian (or living in India, ahem, Amanda Lehman) please correct me if I am incorrectly labeling my dish.

Anyways, I went on a quest this week to find some new recipes, so I whipped out my trusty Simply in Season cookbook and flipped to Autumn because it clearly is that season now. (If you're living in Indiana right now it feels like Seattle with all this dreariness). Last night I tried Pumpkin Sausage Pasta and tonight was Red Lentil Coconut Curry. Neither one I was a fan of, but of course, my husband with a sweet tooth adored. He loves anything with curry I've been informed. The Pumpkin Sausage was pretty much what it sounds like - a thick sauce with pumpkin and sausage (and a bunch of other stuff) poured over pasta. I thought it would be more a contrast of sweet and salty from the sausage, but it wasn't. It was a little too sweet for me. The Red Lentil Curry had tons of spices - the usual suspects in Indian type dishes - red lentils, sweet potatoes, peas, onions, and I substituted broccoli for the called for cauliflower. Again, a bit on the sweet side for me. I think this is a good time to admit my addiction to salty foods, or maybe another less severe way of saying it is, I prefer my dinners to be more salty than sweet. I'm just saying -- if a hamburger and a lentil curry were staring me in the face...well, the choice is obvious for me.

The joys of cooking in the Bedinghaus home. Who knows what next week will bring? Stay tuned....

Rob says, "Yum!"

Clearly there will be leftovers....

A Pennsylvania Visit

There are not many perks to being unemployed, but I have discovered some. One of those perks is having a flexible schedule that allowed me to fly to Pennsylvania this past weekend and spend some time with my family. Rob had to stay in Indiana and be our breadwinner (ie. he went to class), but I flew to PA on Friday morning and stayed until Wednesday morning.

Part of the reason I went was because it was Sister's Beach Weekend. As some of you know, my mom is the youngest of five children - three sisters and a brother - so years ago the sisters started a tradition of going to the beach in New Jersey together for a weekend every fall. As their children grew up they expanded the weekend to allow any of my female cousins to come along as soon as they turned 40. Since there is such an age range among the siblings I have a handful of cousins who fit those requirements. Clearly, I am not one of them.

Considering that I am only 25 and also considering that my aunts will potentially be "ancient" by the time I'm 40 my mom asked if the 40 rule could be renegotiated. They decided that it could be, allowed me to come this year, and then next year the sisters will open it up to the rest of my female cousins who aren't 40 yet. Sweet! This rule also includes all the in-laws from my guy cousins so we're talking about 14 or 15 people here. This year there were nine of us and boy, did we have fun! My aunts and my mom are great people all around, but when we get everyone together it is hilarious. Particularly when the Loaded Questions game comes out... :)

On Friday mom took a half day off school and picked me up from the Philadelphia airport and we drove down to Cape May where everyone else was already together. The rest of the weekend was spent laughing, reading, sitting by the pool (when the sun shone!), shopping, playing games, talking, and going out to dinner. It was so fun for me to be included into the Sisters Beach Weekend "club" and I felt so welcomed and loved.

Mom and I outside the restaurant on Friday evening

Everyone sitting by the pool on Saturday afternoon. For October, it was a nice day. This is a very typical scene from when my family gets together - everyone reading by the pool or the ocean!

We ate dinner Saturday night at a restaurant where someone my Aunt Millie knows knows the owner. (That's how we got the wine Aunt Mill is holding - we're a little too Mennonite to buy it ourselves!)

Pictured from left to right: Carol Jean (married to my mom's brother Bud), Joan (my mom's next oldest sister), Tut (that's her nickname, my mom's oldest sister), my mom, Kristal (Tut's oldest daughter), Heather (married to Tut's youngest son Kendall), me, Mill (my mom's middle sister), and Lynda (married to Tut's oldest son Kyle). What a great looking group!

Sunset over Cape May, located at the very end of New Jersey

Mom, Mill, Heather, and I walked the beach Sunday morning. It was so foggy you can barely see the fishermen on the point behind us

By lunchtime the fog was gone so we sat by the pool again until it was time to go

Mom planned the trip so after we left the beach on Sunday I could still spend some time at their house in PA until Wednesday. Even though I missed Rob terribly, it was good to be in my childhood home. There is something so special about going back to the place that holds the most memories from my life. It is such a peaceful place for me to be and I really love it there. I spent some time with my dad running errands (hooray for Wawa coffee!) and talking with him, making dinner one evening, and shopping with my mom. Mom also asked if I could come into her 4th grade classroom on Tuesday and teach a writing lesson. She said since I was a "real" writer her kids would really like to hear from me. Thankfully she told me what to teach - how to vary the way sentences start when writing a personal narrative so they don't all start with "I" - and gave me the material. I had a great time being in her classroom with her and meeting all her sweet kids. I don't think teaching 4th grade is in my future, but it was fun to visit and do one lesson.

Me with two of the boys from mom's class. They were working hard on an assignment I gave them :)

Mom helping out some of the kiddos with the assignment. She is such a great teacher -- it was so neat to see her in action

It was really wonderful to fly into Indy this morning and have Rob there waiting for me, but it was also wonderful to be in my other home for a few days and be spoiled by my family. My cousin Heather wrote us all an email after the beach weekend saying how she mentioned to the woman next to her on the plane that she had just spent the weekend with her in-laws at the beach. The woman was incredulous that a family could do that and actually enjoy themselves. To us it's normal, but when I hear something like that I'm reminded that a family who gets along, respects each other, and loves so deeply is more of an abnormality in this day and age. Sadly so. I am truly thankful for my family near and far!