Family Hair Cut Night

We have a favorite salon, Lee and I.... Yes, you read right. My HUSBAND has a favorite salon. He also has a favorite massage spa. :) I don't mind the massage spa too much myself. Anyway, we love to go to Head To Toe as often as the pocket book allows. They are a wonderful staff of Chinese who are all very proficient in English. They offer western style services, complete with great top 40's music piped in and Diet Coke and Doritos while you get your pedicure or hair cut. The kids LOVE to go to Head To Toe too. Eve and Ally get their nails painted and Cooper always suckers some cute little Chinese girl into giving him a sucker and painting his thumbnails with cool skulls and cross bones or most recently, the Shanghai Expo mascot:

I was really impressed with the nail tech's ability to fit this guy on Cooper's thumbnail.

Anyway, last night we decided impromptu to get family haircuts. Here are a few before shots:

In China, they do something a little different when you get a shampoo and haircut. First, they wash your hair (of course). But instead of taking you to the sink and having you lay back, they use a bottle of water to add shampoo and water to your hair while you are sitting right there in the haircutting chair. Check it out:

 Ally and Eve both got matching haircuts. We are taking a vote to see if they looked better before or after the haircuts, so Please leave us a comment with your vote on the girls' end product. Here's a picture of the family after the haircuts:

Sorry, I took this one with my iPhone, so it's not so great.

This cute girl has chosen Dani as her Western name. She gave the girls their shampoo. She learned English just by working at the salon. I am very impressed because her English is great! 

We got 4 haircuts, 3 shampoos, and I got eyebrow waxing  all for the grand total of $30! I don't know how we are ever going to come back to the States! 

Don't forget to give us your vote on the girls' hair - there is no wrong answer!

Why????

We've lived in China for almost 2 years now. And for 2 years I've been wondering why. Not why do we live in China, just WHY? For example, why, when I am cruising down the road at 60 kph, does a huge construction truck deem it acceptable to pull out in front of me, causing me to slam on my brakes, skid, to a stop and then WAIT while he pulls out at about 5 kph? 5 mph is pretty darn slow, but 5 kph is even slower! You may think I am exaggerating, but I'm not. Why oh why, is it ok for dump trucks to be filled so far above capacity that as they are driving, huge (I mean Cooper sized) chunks of clay are falling off left and right? Why is that ok and why don't they get pulled over and fined? Why do the student drivers (all student drivers are in specially marked cars with black and white checkered siding) drive on 6 lane highways where the speed limit is 80 kph when they are so bad at driving that the instructor is actually leaning across the car steering for them? Why, why, why? Why is it equally acceptable to run into me with your grocery cart, cut me off as I'm reaching for a carton of milk, push me out of line to have my produce weighed? Why is it not a problem to spit on the floor of the grocery store, or to have 3 grocery store employees gossipping so fervently that I actually have to run over their toes with my cart to get them to move out of the aisle they are blocking? For that matter, why is it ok for a grocery store employee to refuse to answer my inquiry because she doesn't work on the chips aisle, she works on the dried fish aisle? Why, I ask, why....

Why is it not a health code violation to sell and transport meat in the below displayed fashion?

Gross, right? I live in a country where you may both wear pajamas and slippers and spit anywhere you please.

To continue on my why ranting, why do I have to endure an absolute torrent of "Aren't you cold, aren't your children cold? You're not wearing enough clothing!!!" ie, "You're a bad mom!" from the very same  people whose 6 month olds are out in 30 degree weather wearing a million layers of clothing and split bottom pants with their bare tushies exposed to the elements! Who is the bad parent here?

Why did I pass a man who stood on a sidewalk, which was bordered on one side by the street and the other side bordered with grass and a river, and he chose to urinate on the sidewalk rather than on the grass. Why? Why didn't he go home to urinate, and if that was too much trouble, why didn't he turn a mere 90 degrees and urinate on the grass where no one would have to walk in it or risk their split bottom pant wearing babies walking through it?

Why did our neighborhood guards (to begin with, why do I even need neighborhood guards to guard my oh so not secure front gate, since they are sleeping on duty about 50% of the time) think that it would be better to have me read a notice written in chinese characters than to tell me what it says? They know I speak Chinese because I talk to them all the time! I DO NOT read characters. You have to know  some insane amount, like 2000+ characters to be able to read a newspaper.

Why is my 4 year old having nightmares about getting his toes run over by an electric scooter? He's now afraid to cross the street for fear that some idiot scooter driver will not pay attention and will run over his feet. I would chalk it up to a small child's vivid imagination, except for the fact that it's a very real possibility!

Why did the lawn mowing men even bother to come mow my lawn? I watched them systematically mow around the toys and garden hose, rather then pick them up and move them. I'm not kidding, they mowed AROUND the toy trucks in the yard. WHAT THE HECK? My friend watched the apartment complex hired cleaning lady dust around his laptop, which was sitting on the table.

Why is it ok for police to sleep in their cars or watch people run red lights, while they are sitting at the very same red light? No tickets, no nothing. Of course, they are the worst ones about running red lights. Why is it common to find workers sleeping on the sidewalk at various times of the day? Littered about, three or four of them asleep making it difficult to navigate the sidewalk?

Speaking of littering, why is it normal to see someone throw their trash out of their windows as they are driving? Cigarette packages, coke cans, empty juice boxes.... why?

Why did I watch a woman run to catch the bus, to successfully reach the bus and just as she stepped forward to the door, the bus driver actually closed the doors in her face and drove off? She stood there, open mouthed and then shrugged her shoulders and walked back to the bus stop to wait for the next bus. Why? Wouldn't you be yelling and mad as all get out? Wouldn't you write down the bus # and call and report it?

Why do they not enforce any sort of transportation safety codes in China? Here's a truck, whose owner has used all sorts of random parts to build tall sides to enable a larger cargo capacity:

It's a little difficult to tell, but all those multi colored panels are different pieces of metal, or grating or whatever he could find.

This is a close up of the random pieces of scrap metal he used as braces for the random sheets of metal he used to increase the height of his truck siding.

Why do I have to pay for parking at my friend's apartment complex? If I want to drop by for a visit, I have to pay to park my car! Why??? The same goes for restaurants, some grocery stores, and all malls.

Why, when I paid $125 for my iPhone screen to be fixed (I dropped it!) didn't they also replace the $.25 black cover on the bottom that was cracked in two? 

Why, when it's 30 degrees outside do they not only NOT turn on the heat in restaurants and grocery stores and fitness clubs, but then open ALL the doors to the outside, and welcome in the cold... then walk around all day in floor length snow suite type coats? If you're cold, SHUT THE DOOR!!!!

Why, in a city of 18 million, and growing, do they clean the sewers by hand? (Yes, that pole is hand made from bamboo and fish net).

I guess I could go on forever and ever with whys. I live in a crazy country! I really love many, many things about China, but somedays I wonder if the positive outweighs the negative. I mean really, did you really just URINATE on the sidewalk next to me? Really, really???

I keep waiting to fall in love with the Chinese people, and it just hasn't happened yet. What's that John Mayer song "Waiting on the World to Change"? In the words of Dory the fish, I'm gonna "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." 

I think I'm going to have a diet coke now. Whew, I'm stressed! :)

Disclaimer... Follow at Your Own Risk

Just a quick blurb, following yesterday's energetic post. I have never enjoyed writing in a journal. It's somehow tedious to me. When we moved to China I started blogging to help my friends and family keep up with us. I discovered that I really like blogging. I don't know why it is so much more enjoyable than writing in my journal. Maybe it's because I put more effort into it, knowing that someone else may choose to read it. I like posting pictures of our life, I like thinking out loud as I write. I recently saw an ad that offers printing and binding services for your blog and I really liked the idea of this being a form of our family history - like journalling and scrapbooking simplified into one easy and fun task. As I've continued to blog, it's gotten a lot more personal for me than it was at the beginning. What began as a way to help family members peek in at our lives has become more of an outlet for me and has become so much more personal and intimate. That said, I love that my friends and family can read and follow us on our blog. So, as I write and share......just remember - read at your own risk.

I'm a RockStar!!!

I've found it. I've finally found my talent. You know - the one I was born to do. The one that makes me skip my after-the-kids-get-on-the-bus nap in the morning. That talent that makes me feel like a rock star... I know you are all dying of anticipation but I'm going to make you wait for it. You have to meander through my hazy thought process to get to the really juicy stuff. Not to worry, it's worth it.

I'm really a jack of all trades. I'm good at a lot of things, but really could never say I was excellent at any one thing in particular. I guess if I had to choose, it is better to be pretty decent at lots of things than to suck at most things and excel in only one. I should be thankful - only for half my life all I could see was that I wasn't 'the best' at anything.

For example, in high school I was runner up for "Most Talented" in my senior year. We even had a run off vote to break the tie, not that I won... I should have been thrilled that I made it that far, but instead was mad that I didn't win. I applied for a nationwide scholarship with my employer, El Chico Mexican Restaurant, that same year. I should have been over the moon when I found out I came in second. Yeah, I know, it was a nationwide competition and I came in second. That's gotta count for something, right? Again, disappointed. I always got supporting or chorus roles in the musicals in high school, but never the lead. In college my voice instructor 'guided' me towards a new major. Again, disappointing. During my horse training/showing days, I came home with lots and lots of lovely 2nd and 3rd place ribbons. I should not fail to mention that I was 15 years old and competing against professional horse trainers who spent every waking ADULT minute living their profession. But again, I was disappointed.

Now I'm 34. I have graduated from college (where I really was happier as a business major than a music major). I've had the chance to work a few office jobs and then have felt pretty successful running my own business managing properties and rentals. And, I'm finally feeling pretty on top of this whole wife and mom thing (I know, just give me a minute to blink and my kids will be pre teens and I'll be moaning in agony). So, still I feel that I'm a jack of all trades until recently.

So here it is, here's the earth shattering announcement about Kitty Cannon and what's she's really good at and can't stop talking about. It's yoga! I absolutely love yoga! Last year my friend told me that she had started doing yoga and that she thought I would love it. Without saying it so bluntly, she basically said that I'm pretty high strung and that she thought yoga would help bring balance to my life. Again, put ever so gently and delicately as to not upset the in reality EXTREMELY high strung Kitty Cannon. So, I didn't really give it a second thought for about 6 months. Then my friend told me she got her certification to teach yoga and invited me to join her class. Wow! Can I say that from my very first class with Elizabeth (friend, not sister) I knew that she was absolutely, without a doubt, fantastically right about my needing yoga to balance my life.

I love it. I love the focus that it forces me to cultivate. I love the individual challenge that it brings to me personally. There is no competition when you walk into that studio. It's just me, my mat and my mind. It doesn't matter what the woman next to me is doing, but matters what I am doing. It doesn't matter if I can't achieve a particular pose that day, but more importantly what matters is where I am today compared with where I was yesterday, or a week ago or even a month ago. I love the feel of my legs as they shake to support my body as it is challenged to rise above what I thought I couldn't do. I love the feeling of achievement that comes when I learn a new pose or improve on one I have already learned. Somehow, in some crazy way that I don't understand, yoga clears my mind. It calms the 'voices in my head'. I can leave my day-to-day worries or aggravations (in China I have a lot of aggravations) at the door of the studio and walk in ready to be a total rock star.

I'm really good at yoga. My thick body, the one that I've always wanted to trade in for a slimmer and more 'petite' body - my muscular body, complete with a waist that will never, ever have that teeny tiny bikini look to it - that same body that I've never been able to love is awesome at yoga. How did it take me 34 years to find this out? Why did I never know that I am just inches away from a split, or that I can fold in ways that most people wouldn't even dream of? Why did it take me this long to find this one little thing that makes me feel amazing? I feel a tiny bit like Ammon from the Book of Mormon, who says:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things...".

I'm not good at yoga because I am some superior being with super human powers. I'm good at yoga because God gave me a strong and healthy body. He gave me a body that He expects me to use for all kinds of service to others, but also to use for my own happiness and joy. Really, you'd never think that an exercise class would bring about a spiritual connection. But for me, yoga has answered a long sought after plight to love my body and to love myself. I may not be the best singer out there, I'm certainly not the most patient mom or the 'coolest mom ever'. I'm not the smartest or most successful business woman that ever walked the earth and I'm most definitely not an award winning blog author. BUT, when I walk in that yoga studio the entire world outside of yoga stops for an hour and a half and I am                                                            A ROCK STAR!!!!

Family Home Evening - A Miracle in and of Itself

As a child, we didn't have Family Home Evening, aka FHE, on a regular basis. My mom did her best to get FHE going, but with my dad not being active in church at the time, she had her hands full contending with 4 kids. So, having FHE on a regular basis in my own home has been a challenge for us. Lee is really supportive, but so tired from working hard everyday that the responsibility falls mostly on my shoulders. For a long time I was upset that he didn't get more actively involved with planning and presentation. I just thought "Well, if he's not going to be in charge, we just won't do it!"

In church a month or two ago, one of our counselors in the branch presidency gave a great talk on families and on Family Home Evening. He said that his wife had taken FHE as a personal calling. This particular brother works many, many hours of long hard work in addition to his time consuming church calling.  It was so easy for me to sit and listen and to understand why his wife took over the FHE responsibilities. I was really humbled to realize how unfair I had been to Lee all this time, expecting so much from my tired husband yet completely understanding another husband's role as non-coordinator in respect to FHE. What Brother Wilde said that day really hit home for me and helped me understand and support my husband, who does so much to support me and our family. So I've decided that I really do want to follow the counsel of my church leaders, and to do that effectively I need to adopt Alison Wilde's philosophy - I'm taking Family Home Evening on as my own personal calling.

So, I printed out two calendars at the beginning of March and we taped them to the wall next to the table in the kitchen. I gathered a stack of stickers and our Book of Mormon. I then instructed Ying (our housekeeper) that the scriptures are not to be "fan hao'ed" which is my Chingrish adaptation of 'put away'. In our house, we speak in a rather confusing mixture of Spanish, Mandarin and English. 'Fan Hao' (pronounced fawn how) means to put away and I am always yakking at the kids to 'fan hao' all their 'dongxi' (dohng shee).... meaning stuff. I also tell the kids 'Chi famos'(churfahmos) almost daily. 'Chifan' (pronounced chur fawn) means 'to eat', but I love adding the spanish verb conjugation for we, which is '-amos' (think Vamos!) to call the kids in to eat dinner. Anyway, I digress.... Back to the subject of my post - we have a calendar for daily scripture study and a calendar for FHE.

I am so please to announce that for the month of March we had 100% FHE and 93% scripture reading!!! Wohooo! We celebrated our success by eating at Papa John's Pizza for dinner this past Saturday night. The kids love Papa John's and it's probably daddy's least favorite pizza joint in Shanghai, so we did dad a favor celebrating while he was away in Rhode Island. We have printed a new calendar for April and are well on our way to great habits. It would be so easy to try and weasel out of my commitment, if it weren't for my dedicated children, who are there to keep my on my toes. If I ever lack motivation, that calendar is right there, staring at me and my kids are there to remind me and help me stay on track.

 My sister in law has titled her blog "Brilliant in the Basics" and I love her quote from Sister Julie Beck:

"Live in your home so that you're brilliant in the basics, so that you're intentional about your roles and responsibilities in the family. ... think in terms of precision, not perfection."


Many thanks go out to all the amazing people that I am privileged to know here in Shanghai. Our branch is absolutely filled to the brim with wonderful and devoted members who inspire me to try harder and to be better and to be brilliant in the basics.