Monday, November 30, 2009

A lot of Thanksgiving and a little bit of Christmas

Well, happy belated Thanksgiving everyone. I made Turkey Barley soup for dinner tonight and it's supposed to be a great way to use leftover turkey, but with it being Monday now, leftovers are long gone in this house. (Actually the leftovers were actually at my in-laws house and I think they were gone the day after...)

Anyways, no matter the status of your leftovers and if you're over Thanksgiving already, well, sorry, I'm going to revisit ours for a moment.

We went Wednesday evening to Cincinnati to Rob's parent's house and stayed there until Saturday. The weekend was great - a good mix of doing stuff and staying home and playing games. Thursday we all pitched in and helped dinner come off as a great success with lots of family gathered around and great food. Friday morning we went and cut down our Christmas tree and then the womenfolk went to see Sandra Bullock's new movie Blindside which was a good movie and Sandra Bullock is great in it. I had some thoughts about it, but perhaps those will come up on another post. Rob and his dad went to a University of Cincinnati football game that afternoon and then we all were home in the evening playing games. Saturday we hung around doing various things and then went out to dinner to celebrate Bob's birthday. Here are some fun photos of the weekend.

A little family rivalry? Yes, I think so. Colts rule, Bengals drool. (Although the Colt in the background of this photo - look closely, yes, it's Kayla - is getting pummeled by a Bengal...)

Settlers is always a good time

Rob taking our tree out at it's neck

I saved it, although cutting it is a certain death for the tree. Sorry tree.

Family time at the Christmas tree farm

We did not intend to match....Rob was on his way to the UC game

The birthday cake Lori, Lauren and I made for Bob for his birthday.

But now, it's on to Christmas. Ah, the joyous season. I love this time of year - I really do. It always goes too fast though so I'm attempting to savor all parts of it. We started off our Christmas season with decorating our tree on Sunday during halftime of the Colts game. (Of course not during the game - how could we?! We were glued to the screen during that insanely strange and amazing game).

Later Sunday evening I put up some other decorations around the house. This is a side note, but for those of you who don't know, every year my mom changes her Christmas decorations decorating with gold and another color all throughout their house. Examples from past years: red and gold, blue and gold, black and gold, purple and gold, green and gold, etc. She's amazing at decorating - seriously their house looks like it came out of a magazine at Christmas. I'm attempting to take on her tradition starting last year decorating with pink and gold (super easy because it was our wedding colors) and this year with red and gold. Thankfully she sent me some pretty red dishes and balls so that helped in my decorating. I think it's a great idea because it makes every year different and yet similar and so beautiful. So here are my red and gold attempts...

First, our tree. We had to rearrange some furniture, but it fit! Thank goodness. It's looks much prettier in real life than in this photo and it still needs a topper but all the ones I've found I think are tacky.

This is a little far away, but you can see some of my decorations on our white bookshelf. I like the contrast and balance of everything.



Bring it on Christmas - I'm ready and waiting. :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thoughts on Twilight

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This morning, like most of our mornings, Rob and I had the Today Show on while we were eating breakfast. One of their feature stories was about the release of the latest Twilight series movies, ‘New Moon’ that comes out tonight at midnight. Now, I must make a disclaimer that I did read all Twilight books in a row this summer, (thanks to my teenage sister-in-law Kayla for lending those to me) and yes, I did enjoy them. I also did rent the first Twilight film, but didn’t see it in the theatres (side note: the book was way better than the movie in my opinion). I say that to tell you I am not against Twilight as a whole – I think good themes of love, self-control, friendship and courage come through in the books. Here’s what really gave me pause this morning watching the segment on TV – a poster a woman on Rockefeller Plaza was holding that said, “Yes, I’m in love with a fictional character!” I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that she means Edward – I could be wrong, but for the sake of my post, I will say that.

Hold the phone please – that is disturbing. To say that you are “in love” with someone implies that you have a reason to love that person. What reason has Edward given her to “love” him? (And I’m using love in quotes here because I do not think this woman is really “in love” with Edward – she is “in love” with the idea of him – obvious point considering he’s a fictional character!) To love someone first should probably mean he/she is a real person and secondly true love is very different than infatuation which I would pose is actually what this woman has.

No matter if it’s “true” love or infatuation, her sign and what it implies should make us think. If you’re familiar with the Twilight series you will know that Edward is a very strong, mysterious, dedicated, committed, self-controlled man. Some critics have even called him controlling and chauvinistic. Hmmm…perhaps women actually like men who have those characteristics? (Ok minus the controlling, chauvinism ones, especially if they are unhealthy things in a relationship). Is that what that woman with the sign is wishing for when she says she’s “in love” with Edward? But seriously, in the hearts of women, when they are so honest with themselves, what do they really want out of a relationship with a man? They want security. They want commitment. They want to be loved, cherished and respected. All things Edward offers to Bella. (Even when Edward decides to leave Bella in New Moon he does it for her sake and eventually he comes back and is so committed to her). How does Bella respond to him? She longs to marry him. She wants nothing else than to be with him. She goes into deep depression when he leaves her, even though she knows it is for her good. She decides not to go to college so she can marry him and eventually become a vampire. She refuses to give up their baby, even though she knows it might kill her. How many women have you met lately who would say their deepest desire is to be a wife and a mother? Many women in our culture are saying instead they don’t need a man to fulfill them. They don’t need children. They must succeed in their careers and climb the corporate ladder. And yet, millions of women around this country are screaming and freaking out over a story that portrays a man who is not weak, a story that says a woman can be a wife and mother and obtain her heart’s desire. I would opinion that there is more to the freaking out and the signs and the obsession over these books/movies than actually meets the eye. (Seriously – Edward (Robert Pattison is not even that hot!) Could it be that in the heart of all women they desire to have a relationship that is marked by security and commitment? That they are actually calling out for men to step up and be men and give that to them?

Perhaps you think I’ve overreacting and overanalyzing a story. Perhaps you think I’m saying women shouldn’t go to college and should be barefoot and pregnant all the time. No – that’s not what I’m saying. I want to make that clear. I’m saying that culturally, women of my generation and a few previous generations have been taught to believe that we will never be satisfied unless we attempt in some way to be like men. That we should not embrace the wonderful things about being a woman – specifically the ability to give birth and raise a family. Does giving up our bodies and our dreams to have children require sacrifice? Yes – tremendous sacrifice. Does the end result produce immense joy, perhaps, in my opinion, more joy than climbing the corporate ladder? I think so. There’s lots of arguments for both sides and I’m just trying to figure this all out for myself right now. I felt like I needed to say something about the amazing amount of freaking out women/girls are doing over this movie and what I think it says about the culture we live in and the underlying issues that are there.

What do you think? I welcome your thoughts and comments.

P.S. I forgot to mention that Indiana University is offering a class this coming spring called “From Titanic to Twilight” “which will examine the culture of girls and young women as consumers and producers within pop culture.” I would hope that this class would go beyond just the role of women in media and actually dig deeper into the role of women in our culture. Here’s a link to the full article if you’re interested: http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=72034&search=twilight&section=search

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Surprise Party!

This past summer when the Bedinghaus family went to Hawaii for Rob's parents' 25th wedding anniversary we (meaning the four of us kids) had dinner together and decided we needed to do a little extra something for them when their real anniversary came around this month. We also decided the most meaningful gift we could give them would for all of us to be together. They admit themselves that they don't need more stuff!

It's amazing how fast November came from July! We worked over the past few months to plan a surprise party for Bob and Lori and it finally came Saturday night. Here's how it went down:

We decided all of us (including Nan) would show up for dinner and treat them at a nice restaurant. Then, we worked with one of their good friends, Cindy, to host a party at her home with a group of their closest friends. I talked with Bob and arranged with him to bring Lori to the restaurant so he knew about the dinner surprise, but he didn't know about the party.

So they came to the restaurant and we were all waiting for them hiding behind our menus. The look on Lori's face was so priceless. She was really happy to see all of us there and we had a great dinner all together.

All of us at dinner

As it came around time for dessert we mentioned that we were all having dessert somewhere else. They were even more surprised when we told them that they were going to be blindfolded the whole drive to the dessert. In the parking lot I gave them their blindfolds and Lori gave me a look that said, "You've got to be kidding me right now." But no, I was definitely not kidding! Rob drove their car and our caravan started off toward Cindy's.

We were definitely early to the party so we had to drive around their neighborhood for a while which was hilarious and awful at the same time. It was hilarious (at least to me) because we had four cars in our caravan and here we were weaving around their neighborhood and people kept staring at us. It was awful because poor Lori got really carsick in the backseat of her car, especially being blindfolded and going around in circles did not help! So I felt really bad about that because we didn't think about that happening at all.

But we all made it and all their friends yelled "Surprise!" when we came in and it was great. Bob & Lori were really surprised and it was a fun evening hanging out drinking wine, eating cake, watching football and enjoying Cindy's lovely home and decorations.

Showing up at the Weavers' house after everyone yelled "Surprise!"

The cake

Before they cut the cake....looking so innocent....

....and since they didn't smash cake at their wedding, they took advantage this time!

And after they cleaned up -- good thing they still love each other so much

Maybe this will be the family Christmas card? We're still looking for that elusive picture....

All of the fun and surprises aside it really was a special evening to tell Bob & Lori how much we love them and how proud of them we are for their 25 years of marriage. We appreciate their example in our own marriage and hope we get to celebrate their 50th anniversary someday!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Happy Birthday Rob!

Rob's birthday was yesterday, which happened to be his longest day of the week. It was a hard day, but he made it through knowing what was on the other side of long day Tuesday. The other side meant things Rob really loves -- pizza, presents and cake.

For me, much of Tuesday was spent thinking how I was going to produce a fondant covered cake Rob wanted. You see, Rob loves fondant. If you're not familiar with what fondant is, think about the last wedding you were at and chances are you had a cake covered in fondant. Also, if you're familiar with most cake shows (Ace of Cakes happens to be our favorite) you will recognize fondant as the stuff they basically make everything out of. It's that thick, sugary substance that is basically fat and sugar and gives cake that smooth look. And yes, Rob can't get enough of it. All he really wanted for his birthday was a cake covered in fondant.

We found a recipe online that promised to be fairly easy and had simple ingredients. I came home from work and started whipping up the fondant. It's made of corn syrup, shortening, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. I thought my Kitchen Aid was going to die running its dough hook through the thick ball of fondant, but it made it and I received a smooth ball of fondant. I decided an easy decoration would be to make a Colts cake since we are fans you know. (We have jerseys - that makes us legit fans!) Anyways, I ran out of blue food coloring and my Kitchen Aid was making even more sad noises. So my fondant ended up looking more like the Smurfs came to visit rather than the deep Colts blue. Use your imagination.

Here's the final ball.

Unfortunately, Rob and I were to busy actually rolling out the fondant and figuring out how to lift it onto the cake to take a picture. It was quite large and hard to maneuver. It actually ended up tearing into two pieces, but we made it onto the cake. It wasn't as firm as it should have been, but it worked. I decorated it with Colts horseshoes and basically ran out of room to write "Happy Birthday Rob" and I didn't want to write "Go Colts!" on Rob's birthday cake so I ended up with....

I'm laughing even now as I write this - who makes a birthday cake like this?! I do obviously. Rob laughed out loud when he saw it too

A closer view

Rob didn't want to mess up the cake by putting 24 candles on it so we just put four. No, we are not celebrating Rob's fourth birthday. The four is part of 24...

Oh, and we had pizza from Mother Bears (a Bloomington favorite). Rob was a happy man!

It was a good birthday and we had a lot of fun. After cake (which was very good and SWEET!) and pizza we watched Biggest Loser. Ironic? Yes, I think so. :) Good birthday? Yes I think so.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Fun Fall

I've been saving up some photos to do a "fall" post and I guess with today being the first day of November, this is the day! We spent a beautiful afternoon in the local "wilderness" with our good friends Bethany and Andrew so I thought I'd put some pictures up from that and some other things we've done this fall in and around Bloomington.

We've only been to one IU men's soccer game this season, but we hope to go to at least one more. At this game they gave out free IU hats!

The gorgeous sunset over the soccer field

Bethany & Andrew

We went with Bethany & Andrew again to an apple orchard. There, we ran into this goofy kid who apparently loves carmel apples

Oh wait, I love that goofy kid & carmel apples too

Apparently we were to late in the season to actually go out in the orchard so we had a fun time finding a way to set up the timer on our camera and catch this picture

Sunglass girls!

It was windy and sunny - not good picture taking weather

Rob and Andrew were very sad the orchard was roped off

Ok, this isn't Bloomington, but we spent a fun weekend in Cincinnati at Rob's high school homecoming weekend. Here we are at the football game

Kayla all dressed up for the Homecoming dance. The theme was the Wizard of Oz so all the senior girls were supposed to wear red shoes....

I've honestly never seen so many different pairs of red shoes in one place! Also, all these girls rode on the party bus behind them....oh the joys of high school.... :)

Me and one of my favorite sisters

Sunday morning we had a Bedinghaus family tradition of going to Irons Fruit Farm. I don't think this photo is in the running for the family Christmas card picture, but it's still cute

The winning pumpkin and gourd

I accidentally sat in a mushy pumpkin and Kayla put her shoe in one too. We're matching. Unfortunately my butt looked more like I pooped myself. And yes, it did eventually come out in the wash!

Today we went to the Charles Deam Wilderness (Rob initially thought it was called the Deep Wilderness) which is part of the Hoosier National Forest. Bethany and Andrew knew of an old fire tower there that we could climb and see pretty far. We missed all the beautiful leaves by about a week, but it was still pretty. This is a shot from the top.

The day was so clear and perfect for being there.

The cars down below.


Starbucks makes it even to the deep wilderness. This was on our hike after we came down from the tower. On our way back the cup was gone so thankfully someone else properly disposed of the Starbucks trash

The fearless hikers in the gathering dusk. We could definitely find Andrew anywhere in that vest!

So there's some of our fall adventures. I just noticed that I'm wearing the same sweatshirt in most of these pictures...maybe it's a favorite? Yes, I think so. More photos to come I'm sure! And now it's starting to be more winter we can only have even more winter adventures....