November 30th, 2008 by Kateastrophe

It’s hard when family trauma gets in the way of the Holidays.

Thanksgiving was seriously great, but there was a cloud hanging over the day because it appears that my Dad and his wife of 13 years, the woman who is not my Mother but who I love and call Mom, are getting divorced.

I knew it was happening . . . it’s not like they broke the news ON Thanksgiving, but I don’t think it really hit me until that day when I got a call from Lisa/Mom and I realized my Dad wasn’t there.  He was in Ohio along with my sister.  Lisa/Mom was in Pennsylvania with my two brothers.  My Mom was in Utah with her husband and I was here with my husband and his family.  We were already all over the place with lots of splits and families to visit and now we’re adding yet another.

I know I’ve shared how hard my parent’s divorce was, but, as horrible as it sounds, I think this one might be worse.  We’re only a few weeks into it, and they’re still talking about trying to work it out, but it’s already getting ugly.  Us kids are already feeling stuck in the middle.

Quite frankly, it sucks.

My brother is calling us the 0-fers.  Dad and Mom didn’t make it.  Our amazing Step-father Mike passed away after only five years with us, my Mom’s marriage is currently OK but has been rocky at best, and now the relationship we thought was the most stable, is crumbling.

Now, I’m not saying my belief in happy marriages is dead, because it’s FAR from that, but it’s just been hard to watch my parents struggle so much, and really hard to watch my siblings try to make sense out of it all.  They don’t really bounce back quite as easily as I do and I know this is hard for them.

I feel like I’m living that movie Four Christmases . . . except with me it’s up to like twelve or something.

Bah.

November 26th, 2008 by Kateastrophe

WOAH.  It’s like, the 26th.  I’m not really sure where the month went but it’s definitely GONE.

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I’ve pulled out my Thanksgiving pants (what’s it from??) and I’m ready to gorge myself.  I’m in charge of creamed corn and mashed potatoes for Matt’s family’s feast tomorrow and I’m glad I have those two because I rule at making both.  Gravy I cannot do.  Killer mashed potatoes and my Grandma’s famous creamed corn?  Yes please.  I feel a little weight gain on the horizon, oh yes I do.

We got some of our Christmas lights up on the house on Monday (thanks in-laws!  Love you!) and as soon as the baby shower decorations come down on Saturday, the rest of Christmas will go up.  I’m so excited.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love Christmas?  I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO MUCH!  I mean, I sort of feel bad for Thanksgiving because it’s not getting a lot of recognition this year but HELLO CHRISTMAS!  You are only three weeks away!  And this year ALL my siblings and I will be at Club Lynsky (aka Grandma’s house) in California.  And we’ve got mucho fun planned.  Family pictures barefoot on the beach, tickets to Wicked, secret surprises, delicious food . . . I am so excited I can barely stand it.

Then?  Guess what happens then?

Kate’s. Birthday. Week.

That’s right.  I decided a few years ago that having a birthday six days after Christmas wasn’t really ideal, so I’ve imposed a rule on everyone around me.  The second Christmas is over?  Celebration “Kate is Awesome” begins.  Selfish?  Absolutely.  Worth it?  You betcha.

And with that, I get back to celebrating Thanksgiving for just a minute.  I have many, many things to be grateful for, but here are my top ten:

1. My husband.  I swear I married the kindest man alive  and I am so lucky to have him.

2. My family.  I don’t know what I’d do without them and all of their craziness.  Not a day goes by I don’t talk to at least one of them and I’m so glad we’re all so close.

3.  My friends.  I’m not sure what I did to deserve girlfriends like I have but the older I get, the luckier I feel to have friends like I do.

4.  My job.  This is a crappy economy and I’m so blessed to not only have a steady income, but a career and a boss I love!

5.   My home.  It’s raining outside today and I can’t help but think that there are people out there with no place to keep warm and I am so grateful to not only have a house, but to have a house I love so much.

6.  My faith.  I know who I am and what my purpose on Earth is and I’m grateful every day for a loving Father in Heaven and for our Saviour Jesus Christ.

7.  Sunshine.  On a cloudy day I realize how much I love living in a place where the sun shines 300 days a year or so.

8.  Pedicures.  Trivial, but true.  I love having clean, well kept feet and heaven knows I couldn’t do it myself!

9.  Music.  I seriously don’t know how I could live without it in my life.

10. Diet Coke.  Shut up, I love it.

November 20th, 2008 by Kateastrophe

I would pretend to be embarrassed about this, but I refuse.

IN LESS THAN ELEVEN HOURS I WILL BE SITTING IN A THEATRE FULL OF SCREAMING WOMEN WATCHING TWILIGHT.

That’s right, I’m going to the 12:01 showing of Twilight and I COULD.NOT.BE.MORE.EXCITED. I was struggling to find someone to go with me, because my bestest here in AZ hasn’t read the book and has this little issue involving pregnancy, pre-term labor, a two year old and a husband working in Germany at the moment. The midnight showing is just out of the question for us, though I’m sure we’ll make time on Saturday (twice in 48 hours? Fine by me!) I was seriously considering going alone, no lie. And I hate going to movies alone.

Then, the magical phone call from a girl I go to church with happened last night and VOILA I have a date with eight girls, a ton of pasta, and one hot, steamy, vampire movie at midnight.

Work tomorrow is going to S-U-C-K but that’s what caffeine and sugar are for, right? Also, I’m working from home so the need to get ready or leave the comfort of my pajamas does not exist. Excellent.

November 17th, 2008 by Kateastrophe

I finally have some pictures from China for you! I stuck to the ones that had both people and cool touristy scenery for today. I’ve done a little ’splaining about each part of our trip, but obviously had to leave out lots and lots.

We started out our trip in Shanghai.  Shanghai isn’t much of a “touristy” city, but it does feature the fabulous Yu Yuan Gardens (which are surrounded by CHEAP SHOPPING!  Woot!).  The gardens are near the Yangtze River and therefore have a cool taste of old meets new.  In the picture below you can see the brand new Shanghai World Financial Center, the tallest building in China (and VERY cool inside) between the Yu Yuan Gardens Tea House and some other . . . old . . . building.  Yeah.  This is actually right outside the walls of the actual gardens, which were once some guys house and private gardens.  They are very large and he must have been very rich.  The hat was GREAT for pictures that don’t include Matt’s eyes.  Awesome.

Another shot of us inside the gardens . . . awww so cute

Next we were off to Beijing.  We stayed at this AWESOME hotel called the Home Inn.  Think Best Western, minus insulation, mattresses made of anything but wood and add cement block walls and loud Chinese tourists.  All for $12 a night!  I sort of forgot to take a picture, but it was down this tiny alley that most cars couldn’t fit through, and right across from a “Men’s and Women’s Togetherness Health Shop.”  That translates in American-speak to SEX TOY SHOP.  Awesome.  The bonus was that we were just a few blocks from Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City, which mean fun shopping and cool restaurants.  My Dad frequents a bar/hostel in the area and below you see Matt and I posing in front of my Dad’s painted masterpiece.  He painted this when he was at this bar a few years ago with my brother and cousins.  It’s a wizard, riding a panda, carrying hot cocoa to the freezing mountains.  Drunk much???

During our two days in Beijing we did all the cool touristy stuff.  Lucky for us, the government wanted to clean up the air for a huge diplomatic meeting, so after a night of pouring rain INDUCED BY ROCKETS we had perfect weather and no pollution.

We saw the Great Wall (which is seriously so amazing)

Tienanmen Square was closed because of all the meetings, so we missed seeing Crazy Mao’s creepily preserved corpse, but we did see the picture his craziness and then headed into the Forbidden City

We saw the Summer Palace (this picture doesn’t even begin to do it justice.  It’s amazing!) and I got to dress like an Empress for a WHOLE DOLLAR

Then we saw the Olympic Park which may have been my favorite part of the trip.  What the Chinese did for these Olympics was unbelievable.  We got to see the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, inside and out.

After Beijing, we traveled down to Shangri La.  It snowed or rained the whole time we were there, but we did get some sweet Chinese Military winter hats.  My Dad showed his true colors in the cold.

I’ll show more of the Shangri La trip later.  It was very gray . . . but fun!  Especially the part where we got ditched by our tour guide.  Wheeee!

Back in Shanghai, I did what I do best.  SHOPPING.  We shopped and shopped and shopped.  We found designer jeans for $20, knock-off designer bags, authentic football jersey, paintings, coats . . . you name it, we found it.  We had stuff tailored just for us and ate lots of good food.  This picture is one of the better purse stores.  Two rooms full of bags, PLUS a secret room in the back.  I love the secret rooms.

That’s all I’ve got for today, but join me next time for “foods that make you go hmmmm.” And “did that lady just shoot a snot rocket onto the sidewalk of the Forbidden City?!  Yes.  Yes she sure did.”

November 10th, 2008 by Kateastrophe

Um, don’t be mad.  I still haven’t uploaded pictures.  I’m too freaking tired!  Jet lag freaking sucks, let me just tell you what!  Matt uploaded some on Facebook, so if you’re my friend (and ps, if you’re not, por que?) you can see some of the good ones there.  Especially of note is the one of my Dad and I on a bus, wearing Chinese Army winter hats . . . and my Dad is flipping off the camera.  Best.  Picture.  Ever.

Wanna know what else sucks?  Going back to work after two weeks of being served breakfast on the balcony, shopping for amazing, cheap finds, and seeing some of the world’s most amazingest sights.  Yup, totally sucks.  I have no motivation and require lots of cookies and Diet Coke to function.

Cleaning the house after two weeks away and four suitcases worth of crap also sucks.  Like, a lot.  There was a lot of dust and mucho laundry.  Ugh.  Also, toilets.  When I’m rich, I’m never cleaning another toilet again.  Mark my words.

Also, pre-term labor sucks.  My bestest gal in Arizona, JoAnne,  is about 31 weeks preg and has been having contractions on and off for like a week.  The doctor told her if she doesn’t cook that baby girl for at least three more weeks, she’ll be riding the short bus.  I died laughing when JoAnne told me the doctor actually said that, but it’s not really a funny situation, so now I’m making Jo my service project and making her stay down by feeding her and playing with Alli, the two year old wonder-gal.  It’s keeping me very busy but it’s also tons of fun.  I’m also planning JoAnne’s baby shower which I’m LOVING.  It’s going to be SO FUN.  Invitations go out tomorrow morning and I’m mucho proud of myself, if I am allowed to pat meself on the back (which I am).  I’ll upload the pictures whenever I get around to . . . you know, uploading stuff.

There are some other things happening that suck, like the economy.  And the housing market.  And the size of my thighs.  Sigh.  This too shall pass, no?  Well, maybe not the size of my thighs (stupid hereditary thunder thighs), but the other stuff.  Luckily (knock on wood) Matt’s job is very stable and mine seems to be as well.  Good thing because I have a brand spankin’ new washer and dryer that need paying for!  Sheesh!  (Remind me at some point I’ll tell you the story of the exploding washing machine and how Matt and I thought we could fix it ourselves.  THAT was a fun day.)

I guess I should leave this post on a positive note and mention something that DOESN’T suck.  Brandon Flowers.  That’s who doesn’t suck . . . and neither does The Killers two new singles.  Those things don’t suck one teensy tinsey little bit. 

PS - This is my 501st post!  HOLY CRAP!  Seriously!  That’s a lot of written crap!  I’m surprised I have any readers left!!  Kisses to those of you who stuck around this long!  Mwah!

November 2nd, 2008 by Kateastrophe

Where am I and what language do you speak here??

I’m not sure there’s a better feeling than climbing in your own clean, soft bed after two weeks of sleeping on hard (extraordinarily hard), foreign mattresses.  However, in stark contrast to this, I’m not sure there’s a worse feeling than being so overcome with jet-lag that you cannot SLEEP in your own glorious, soft bed after two weeks of hard, foreign mattresses.  That’s right, after 27 hours of no sleep, horrid plane seats and several long layovers, I climbed into bed expecting to sleep like a baby and was awake and wired less than four hours later. And awake I remain.

Our trip was beyond amazing.  I’ll be working on summarizing and posting pictures and all of that in the next week or so.  Don’t even worry, we took over 1200 pictures.  We had the best food ever.  We had amazing weather the first week, including what my Dad said was the best day at the Great Wall he’d ever seen, and then a full week of rain the second week, but we didn’t let that get us down.  I shopped like a crazy person and am seriously considering making an annual trip just for the designer jeans.  And custom-made cashmere coats.  And purses.  And, and and . . . yeah.  Like I said, pictures and details WILL be coming this week.

Among the more notable achievements of the trip . . . I went TWO WEEKS without LOOKING at a blog or checking my email or talking on the phone.  I seriously didn’t think it was humanly possible, but I did it.  And now I’m using jet-lag to catch up.  I’m going on like fifteen hours.  Not really.  Sort of.  Ahem.

SO, I sort of left things hanging with my little shoe contest.  Sorry about that.  Those who know me best will not be shocked to hear that it was literally a last minute decision.  It was of course, verging on a Kateastrophe which involved many traumas, including a postal worker having to drive to my community mail box AFTER he got off work to let me in to the correct large mail box after our regularly scheduled postal show gave me a key to the wrong box.  (P.S. Those of you who still have individual mail boxes should fall to your knees and thank the gods of mail.)  I FINALLy ended up with a sassy pair of Privo’s, so Torre is the winner of one of the iTunes gift certificate!!  I’m sorry to say I’m giving the other one to myself because I made THREE trips to the Nordstrom thirty miles away in an attempt to find sneakers and most people suggested one brand.  Torre, I’ll email you the certificate sometime in the next few days!

Well, with that, I’m off.  The sun is rising and we have no food, so I might need to go look through our neighbor’s garbage.  Ahh the joy.