How To Talk To Little Girls

My BFF sent this to me a few days ago and I had to share.  Take a look.

And, what's a blog post without a picture?  You know me, it's a peeve.

It's a picture from last summer.  She is so tiny!  What a
difference a year makes.

On Repeat

It's no secret that Adam Levine is my absolute celeb crush (okay, one of the many) but he probably takes the top spot.  I watch The Voice for him.  The talent is great too....but he's dreamy.  But even if he wasn't so de-lish to look at, I'd still listen to him.  And the song "Never Gonna Leave This Bed" is what I have on repeat this week.  Love, love, love.  Take a listen.

Stop drooling over my man.  :)

So, what are you playing on repeat this week?

So What Wednesday

Head on over to L.A.I.D. and link up with Shannon!

This week, I'm saying So What if:

• I'm getting a zit on the tip of my nose and it hurts so freakin' bad.  Ugh.  See what I get for skipping my face washing before bed.  Grrr.
• My goal for today is to soak in the sun.  With the Kage-ster.  Her dad got the baby pool out of storage last night, and I finally found a lounger at Ace Hardware.  She's going to splash, mommy is going to tan.  Sweetness!
• I have my first paper due in my summer class on Tuesday.  I need to actually get started on it.... 
• My family is coming in to town tomorrow through Tuesday.  Lord help me.
• We are so freakin' broke.....actually, what's the level below broke?  Cause that's where we are.  Dave Ramsey needs to come and do an intervention on our butts cause we failed his classes with a big fat F. 
• Maybe instead of playing in the sun today, I should try to make a budget.  Even though I have tried that 6,798 times and it never works for us.
• I skipped the gym last night.  And today I feel like a tubbo.
• I have worked out an average of 5 days a week for the past month....and I still weigh the exact same.  WTF.  I wish I had measured instead of weighed.
• I smelled a great cologne on a random guy and asked him what it was so that I could buy it for my husband.  Whatever.  It was his anniversary gift.  :)
• For my anniversary gift, I finally got this. (forgive the bad picture, apparently the iPhone doesn't have flash?  Or maybe I don't know how to use the flash if it does.)  And a box of chocolate.  Cause my butt isn't big enough yet.  But for sure will be when I polish off this box in a few days.
• I still have not been placed for student teaching.  Yes, it starts in August and the university has NOT YET PLACED ME.  And yes, I am freaking out.  Majorly freaking out.  I harass the placement guy at least once a week and always get the "we're working on it" line.  I want to kick him in the shin.  Grrrrr.  Let me work on it!  Let me find my own placement.  But noooooo, that's against university policy.  THEN---he tells me that because of the teaching market that there is no guarantee that I will even get placed.  Ummmmm, excuse me?!  I believe that GSU will be refunding every.freakin.dime of tuition that I have paid if they drop the ball at graduation.  /end rant.  Needless to say, I'm freaking out a tad about this whole student teaching thing.

Three Years

Today is our third anniversary.  Three years. 

Wow, back then I had no clue that where I am today is where I would be three years later.  Back in Chicago-land.  Back in school (and almost to graduation).  Back to a healthier weight (I was at my heaviest on my wedding day).  A mom.  That's the biggest one.  Never thought I would be a mom. 

In marriage counseling.  Maybe that is the biggest one.  You don't get married and envision the day when it all falls apart. 

We've both grown and changed in so many ways....and unfortunately we didn't grow and change together.  So now we see this therapist every week who attempts to help us mend what we broke.  Ugh, it's tough.  It's really tough.  But I can't help but think ahead to our 4th anniversary....  what will I say on that blog?

It's crazy how life throws things at you that you normally wouldn't even consider as a possibility.  I guess that's why it's so good that we aren't in control.  Well, completely.

Aaanyway.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we found a new childcare arrangement for Kage.  I put in her very first "two weeks notice" and committed to the new day care lady.  There were many reasons for my decision to move her....but overwhelmingly the reason was the commute.  It was at least a 30 minute drive from our door to hers.  And that just isn't cool.  The new place, is maybe 5 minutes.  And the lady is amazing.  Super friendly.  Super clean.  A great mom.  And has a 15 year old daughter that loves night and weekend babysitting.  Can't beat that!  So mid July, Kage will be making the transition.  I hope that she's as happy with our decision as we are.

Lucy and Kinley have started wanting to take naps together.  Or....Lucy naps all day in the glider and Kage wants her to stay in there when she goes down for her nap.  But you can see why this is not a good idea.  Instead of going to sleep, Kin "shares" all of her sleeping pals with Lucy.  Even the paci gets tossed to Lucy.  And then Kage cries because Lucy won't give it back. 

It's just not a good idea for them to share a nap time.

Festival Festivities

How is it that my days are *so busy* but then I can't seem to figure out why or how they are so busy?  Must be the life with a toddler.  Just constantly moving and going but really, going no where.

Last Friday, my bestie and I spent the day together.  We went to the gym, ate at Chipotle, watched When In Rome and napped a little.  Then after Kage woke up, we went shopping for some fun things.  Finally, at about 10:00 we headed out for our girls night.  Almost missed the band!  But we had a good time anyway.  Those monthly girls nights are so worth the wait.

The shirts and bracelet (you can see mine, but not hers) were some of our finds while out shopping earlier that afternoon.  We also got matching blingy watches.

Saturday, R and I celebrated our anniversary (even though it isn't until Tuesday).  We went to eat at a really swank restaurant in the downtown area of our town.  Then we did a little shopping and ended up going to see Bad Teacher.  That was awesome.  Laughed through the whole movie.  Oh, and you can see my date outfit to the left.  Shirt is from Old Navy and the skirt is stolen from my BFF about three years ago.  Shoes....had them for like 5 years.  No joke.

We also received our new iPhones in the mail on Saturday morning.  We're moving away from my beloved Verizon and going to AT&T.  I've been with Verizon since like.....forever?  So this move is big.  Huge.  And I know that I'll eventually love my new phone, but right now I'm in that whole new phone transition phase and I feel all disoriented.  Hate that feeling.

On Sunday, I got in my workout early so that we could have the rest of our day as a family.  We were taking Kage to see the parade in town.  This weekend was a big annual festival and it ends with the "grand parade."  This parade was no joke.  It was about an hour and 40 minutes long.  Kage lasted an hour.  Had they been throwing candy....she may have tolerated it a bit longer.  But this is the first parade that I have watched where they weren't belting the crowd with tasty snacks.  They handed out American flags instead.  I thought it was fun though. 

We then walked through the carnival area to be harassed by the carnie rats get cotton candy and a corn dog.
And then walked home.  I thank God that Kage isn't old enough to bug us to ride the rides and play the games.  I am appreciating these years until that whole fit starts.  I know that I'll be amongst the other poor parents out there forking over a whole paycheck so that the kids can ride every rickety ride offered.  Ugh.

After the festivities, we came back and had lunch and then I went to the pool while Kage napped and R played with his new phone.  I think that I slept through the whole pool time though....or most of it.  Oops.  And now, I'm slightly burned.  Ever so slightly.  Oh well.

So What Wednesday

Join Shannon at L.A.I.D. and say So What!

This week, I'm saying So What if...

• I can't wait for Friday night.  It's my monthly girls night out with my BFF.  We're going to the downtown festival and watching an 80s hair band.  It will be awesome.  If it doesn't rain.
• Summer Shandy is my new love.  I think about it all day.  Friday, it will be mine.
• I totally have a "Joy Live" concert in my car every Tuesday and Thursday during my commute to school.  I rock out to my iPod and I don't care who sees it.  I sing louder when you look. 
• I need a part-time job in the worst way....and can't find one!  I've applied everywhere.  WTH?  Why am I not hire-able?  I have been told by a few employers that I'm over-qualified.  Seriously?  How can you be over-qualified for a serving job in a bar? 
• I wish I had a sitter for two hours each afternoon so that I could work on my tan. 
• I bought a new lipstick color for 49 cents yesterday.  Talk about a bargain!
• I stood on the patio holding Kinley last night as the tornado sirens were blowing.  Haha....  Mom of the year right here!  I just don't want her to be scared of storms.
• I nearly had a panic attack when my laptop keyboard quit working this morning.  I'm obviously a bit addicted to this computer.  I was freaking out because I hadn't done my SWW yet.  Lord help me.

I was trying to add a super cute picture of Kage here, but Blogger is being a reject and won't put it in.  Whatever.  Now I'm mad.  :) Way to go, Blogger.

Feeding the Piggy

I know that I'm going to have my hands full with this one!  Every day it's something new and I can't decide if I should be laughing along with her or terrified of how much harder it will be when she hits the teen years.  The things that she comes up with..... 

She helped herself to my purse and wallet tonight.  Then ran to get me with a dollar bill in her hand so that I would get her piggy bank down.  I gave her the bank and she proceeded to empty my change onto the floor and one by one was dropping them in.  She took all of the cash I had..... and then came to find me and signed "more" for more money.

Only 18 months old and already stealing money out of my purse. 

I guess I should be proud that she likes to fill her piggy bank.  Maybe she's learning to be a saver and not a thief.

Wrapped Around My Finger

I have a jewelry box on my dresser.  It's a pretty nice one.  My mom ordered it for me from QVC.  But it's actually relatively full, considering I don't own a lot of jewelry.  But I do have a few family pieces that I keep, not expensive or fancy things, but family pieces, nonetheless.

One of the rings that I have belonged to my dad.  It's his birthstone ring.  I guess it was the "thing" back then to have a birthstone ring?  I'm not sure.  But he was born in October and his birthstone is Tourmaline.  I had no idea what it was called, I had to google it.  But it's the pinkish/purple stone. 

I've had this ring in my jewelry box for years and never thought much about it.  It was tarnished beyond recognition and until recently, I had no idea how to "fix" it.

I have a few pieces from Tiffany that I love, love, love but always hated the polishing that is required weekly.  Hello, Joy!  Meet silver cleaner!  Call me stupid, but I had never seen such a thing!  One quick dunk in this nasty-smelling stuff and ta-da!  Beautiful.

Today, I was going through my jewelry to get rid of the stuff that I know I won't wear anymore and looked at dad's ring again.  Then it dawned on me that I could try the miracle silver cleaner to see if it would come clean.  And, it did.

It took a little bit of elbow grease and Q-tips but the tarnish came off.  And then I polished it with my Tiffany polishing cloth and it's restored shine!

Unfortunately, I never did see it in it's "like new" condition, but I can imagine that it looks pretty similar to the way it does today.  I'm pretty proud of myself!  I brought it back to life!

I called mom to see if there was some super cool story behind this ring, but she couldn't remember.  She does know that it was a gift to him pre-high school years and that he never would wear it because it was "girly" with the pink-ish stone.  Understandably so.  Good call, dad.

But I'm so very thrilled that I have it now and have restored the silver back to wearable condition.

I may not wear it everyday, but wearing it today makes me so proud.  I'm so proud to be wearing something of his.  Wish he was here to see it!

Ugh.  I hate my fat fingers.

Father's Day

I rocked the Father's Day thing this year. 

He got exactly what he wanted without having any clue that I had gotten it (a paintball gun and a fishing pole).  He had breakfast at Ihop.  Grilled-out for lunch.  An amazing dinner at this great new place that we found (and will be going back to).  He had lot of family time and then some alone time too.  He was able to escape to go "play" with his paintball gun.  Tonight before the sun went down, he was able to go fish for a bit.

He claims that it was the best Father's Day, ever.  But I reminded him that there has only been one other.  He vows to never blow off Mother's Day again.  Even though that's not why I went above and beyond for him today.

So, here it is in pictures.

Music to my ears

I was asked by a Facebook friend about my playlist for the gym, or what I listen to while working out.  So rather than type it all up on Facebook (what a pain that would be), I decided to just do it here.  And it was just as much of a pain.  But hey, I just got home from rocking out on the elliptical for 97 minutes and I'm pumped.  Or, I was pumped, until I typed all of this out.  But it was good....cause now I can just wash my face and pass out.  Check it out: 

Joy's Gym Playlist

(as of 6/19/11--new stuff added weekly)

Comedown- Bush 

Bad Day- Daniel Powter 

Firecracker- Josh Turner
Bleeding Love -Leona Lewis 

In The End - Linkin Park 

Push- Matchbox Twenty 

Sex Type Thing- Stone Temple Pilots 

Plush-  Stone Temple Pilots 

Boom Boom Pow-  Black Eyed Peas 

Don't Tell Me- Avril Lavigne 

Bad Romance- Lady GaGa 

For Your Entertainment- Adam Lambert 

Hillbilly Bone- Blake Shelton 

That's How Country Boys Roll -Billy Currington

Hey, Soul Sister -Train
To Be With You- Mr. Big  

Can't Stop This Thing We Started -Bryan Adams

Crawling - Linkin Park 

High Enough- Damn Yankees 

Crazy Town - Jason Aldean 

Still - Tim McGraw 

Smile - Uncle Kracker

Giddy On Up - Laura Bell Bundy 

Drops Of Jupiter - Train 

Insensitive - Jann Arden

Hard- Rihanna f./Young Jeezy 

I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas

Use Somebody -Kings Of Leon
LoveGame-  Lady GaGa 

Poker Face - Lady GaGa 

3 - Britney Spears 

Whatcha Say - Jason Derulo 

Never Gonna Be Alone- Nickelback 

Tik Tok - Ke$ha 

Paparazzi - Lady GaGa 

Gel- Collective Soul 

Shine -Collective Soul

Spiderwebs - No Doubt 

This Afternoon - Nickelback 

I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic At the Disco

Paralyzer - Finger Eleven

Hate Me  - Blue October 

The Kill (Bury Me) - 30 Seconds To Mars

Face Down - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

3 AM - Matchbox 20

Keep On Lovin' You - Steel Magnolia

Blow - Ke$ha

E.T.-Katy Perry E.T. (feat. Kanye West)

Just a Dream- Nelly Just a Dream

Till the World Ends- Britney Spears

F**kin' Perfect- P!nk 

Born Free- Kid Rock 

It Happens - Sugarland 

Empire State of Mind (Part II)- Alicia Keys 

Little Razorblade-  Pink Spiders 

Here Comes Goodbye- Rascal Flatts

As She's Walking Away - Zac Brown Band 

The Truth - Jason Aldean 

Only Prettier - Miranda Lambert 

Semi-Charmed Life -Third Eye Blind

Sally Green - Ultra Sonic Edukators

Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead 

Bright Lights Bigger City - Cee Lo Green 

Price Tag (feat. B.o.B)- Jessie J 

Bulletproof- La Roux 

Never Gonna Leave This Bed- Maroon 5

Rolling In the Deep - ADELE 
S&M - Rihanna  
Only Girl (In the World) - Rihanna   

My First "Saturday Morning Scene"

This is my first time participating in the Saturday Morning Scene, so here it goes!

This morning, I got up and decided to shower and get ready before the Kage-Monster awoke.  It worked out perfectly!  So when she got up, I dressed her and out the door we went.  I took her back to the park that we visited a week or so ago and we brought the left-over loaf of bread to feed the kak-kaks.

Have I mentioned how much I love our town? 

It was a beautiful morning and beautiful mommy and baby time. 

I wanna talk about me!

You know, I'm really bad about getting hooked to things (not literally and not like on drugs or anything).  I start doing something or watching something and BAM! I'm doing it all.the.time.  But it'll go in spurts.  Some call them obsessions or addictions or trends...whatever.  Call it what you will.  Right now, I'm getting so hooked to the beauty community on YouTube.  OMG.  I watch these videos for like an hour a day.  It's late at night when everyone else is in bed....so I'm not taking away from my time with Kage.  I get home from the gym between 10:30 and 11:00 (or sometimes after midnight--depending on how late I get there) and then feel wired from my workout.  So my unwind time is spent on these videos. 

I've always considered myself a girly-girl but I was a girly-girl on hiatus there for a while.  A few years, actually.  Slowly, I feel my girly-girl ways resurfacing.  I find myself wandering the cosmetics aisles and trying new products that before I would shrug off as unnecessary.  Luckily, the beauty community really looks for bargains! 

I think that it has a whole lot to do with going to the gym and getting in shape.  The scale is the most stubborn thing, even more than me, and isn't budging on that number.  But I think I'm starting to see some definition.  I surprise myself with my ability in the gym.  I am doing exercises that I always deemed to be "too hard" or whatever.  For example, I am doing planks.  Planks always used to make me whine, cry, moan, give up.  Now?  I ask for more.  I think that my abs have really beefed up!  Too bad they have that layer of pudge over them hiding my hard work. 

I had to give up on logging my food intake on MyFitnessPal because even though it was helpful to count my calories, the OCD/Crazy in me kept seeing it as a goal to beat.  I was starting to see it as a way to see how I could eat fewer and fewer calories each day.  And while starvation worked as a great "diet" tool in my 20s, it does nothing for me in my 30s.  So I've kind of been winging it lately with the food.  I watch what I eat and try to be smart about what goes into my mouth without counting the actual calories.  We'll see if that works for me.  And I go to the gym about five times a week.  I rotate my schedule, strength training one day and cardio the next.  We now have Netflix on our Wii (Thanks, Denise!) and using a review (from the beauty community) I will try to do the Pilates video a few times a week (Kage allowing, that is).

But back to my beauty community on YouTube....  I am learning so much and finding out so many tricks and secrets to getting great looking make-up.  And tips on sales for clothes!  I *love* it.  And I'm loving this new hobby of mine of getting new girly stuff to try and get all dolled up...even if I really only go to the grocery.  It's fun to be girly!

So I wanted to pass on the three of my favorite "channels" that I watch on YouTube just in case you have the urge to nurture your inner glitter girl (and no, I don't mean stripper) too!

My favorite, favorite, favorite is abbysmom88.  She is so stinkin' cute and I just love her style.  As a bonus, her and I have the same skin type (hello oil slick!) so her ideas and reviews are totally relevant. 

Next, I love watching BargainPrincess.  She cracks me up.  I love her great deals and reviews and her personality just makes me laugh.
And finally, I love to watch emilynoel83.  I found her first in the beauty community because she's a news anchor where we used to live.  I got hooked on her first and she's got great ideas and reviews and tips. 
So there you have it....my top 3 (well, today it's my top 3). I seem to stumble onto new channels that I find that I really like so it could change.  But if you love girly-girl stuff or want to love girly-girl stuff...check them out.

Oooh, and because I feel that a blog post is just blah without a picture.....check out this polish color!  I saw on abbysmom88 that she got the Essie polish in a beautiful beige color but when I went to pick it up, I gasped at the $7.75 price tag.  Now, that's not a lot for polish, but it was more than I wanted to spend.  So I grabbed the bottle and compared it to every other bottle until I found a pretty close match.
What do you think? 

It's like a nude color and I am so in love with it.  So if you're looking for a cheap(er) nude colored polish, look for Revlon's Gray Suede.  I also picked up a great dark clay color that I have planned for my toes (I just painted them a pink color so the slate will be next) and it's the Sally Insta-Dri called Slick Slate.  Gorgeous color.  I highly recommend it if you're looking for a fun toe color.  It's a little too dark for my fingernails.

On these beauty channels, the girls talk about their "hauls" which is stuff that they've gone out to purchase and it's fun to see what they buy and try.  So I take their ideas and do my own hauls.  I may start blogging about them....but we'll see.  I'm not one for anyone to take advice from....I still have my cosmetic training wheels!

Pool Date!

Yesterday was one of those "good for the soul" type days.  Chicago finally warmed up and resembled summer.  The sun was shining.  Birds were singing.  Okay, so I really don't know if the birds were singing.  I just assume that they were.

So I sent my BFF a text:  Great day for the pool!

She responded that she'd be over by 1:00.

I texted both of my babysitting options and got a big fat no from both.  Okay, no biggie.  It was late notice.  BFF suggested that it'll be a nice "distraction" to have Kage there with us.  Haha  Oh boy, she just doesn't even know!

She actually didn't do too bad.  She "swam" for a bit and even allowed me to lay out for a few minutes.  Then she swam again.  Then it was obviously nap time.  So our "pool date" lasted all of about an hour?  Tops. 

Long enough for Miss Pocahontas to show up and make me feel like Shamu.  There is always one chick at every pool that never fails to make every other chick, feel like a jerk.  Ugh.  She has been there twice now when I show up with my wild toddler, dressed as a bee, with our bee floatie and bag filled with sippy cups, a floppy hat and towels.  I feel like such a mom sometimes.

I'm just jealous....not hateful.  It's all jealousy.  I just can't figure out how some girls can lose every bit of evidence that they gave birth.  I mean, she has a son.  And she has the flattest stomach, ever.  Ugh.  Here I go, throwing rocks at myself again.

We walked back home and put Kage to bed and planted our butts on the patio.  Finally.  I have my patio beer friend!  Well, I've had her all along but now I have my friend on my patio.  We drank beers, grilled food, ate food, got buzzed.  Kage woke up and we brought her outside to play.  Her dad came home and he joined us for food and a beer.  Her and I did a couple of cartwheels in the backyard to prove that we still "had it" even though we're old.  Kage loved it and kept signing for "more" cartwheels.  She doesn't realize how old we are and how hard those cartwheels are these days.

For dessert, she and I ran over to the DQ and got ice cream for everyone.

It was a genuinely good summer day.  A good day that I'll pay for at the gym later.  :)

After Kage went to sleep, BFF and I decided to go make-up shopping and had so much fun.  We both filled our cart with random stuff to try and colors to experiment with.  And walked out each spending $50 on less than ten items.  How does that happen so easily?

Shopping and Texting

I'm prepared for her wanting to kill me for posting that picture.  When she saw it, she specifically said not to Facebook it.  So I won't.  But I will blog it.  :)  Hey, at least I didn't take one of us in our bikinis, right?



I love warm days.  I love my BFF.

A day in the life with a toddler

At the pediatrician earlier this week, our doc said that God made toddlers cute for a reason.  Boy, isn't that the truth!  She has her moments when I just shake my head and have to remind myself that she's pushing me for a reaction and because she's 18 months old.....it's not personal.  But yesterday....oh.my.gosh.  I swear that she woke up with the agenda of adding 22 more gray hairs and another ulcer to the mix.

We had errands to run that afternoon.  And knowing this, I started getting ready around 10:30....cause it takes that long to get out of the house.  I shower and get ready during her morning nap.  Normally, she sleeps from 10-12.  Perfect time for me to check email and then get ready for the day.  Today, she was up by 11.  So she was able to "help" me get ready.  No biggie.  I actually enjoy her "helping" me get ready.  I think that it teaches her the importance of taking care of yourself.  I want her to grow up watching me "get ready."

While I was flat ironing my hair, she came running to the bathroom door holding this little black thing.  She was yelling, "Gow Gow."  She was speaking Chinese again and I had no clue what she was talking about.  So I smiled and praised her and she ran along.  Then she comes back, "Gow Gow" and hands me the little black thing and then starts to freak out because it left a little mark on her hand.  What the?  It's a piece of crayon?

I walk out into the living room to find her black crayon in a million pieces.  She's standing next to me and says, "Gow Gow, Wooce".  I get it now.  "Bad Girl, Luc."  The dog ate the crayon.  Or more appropriately, Kinley gave her black crayon to Lucy and Lucy ate it.  So all day long, Lucy was referred to by Kinley as "Gow Gow."

We had lunch and then she was bathed (remember the ketchup?).  It was approaching 1:00 and I knew that we had to get moving on the errands or they'd just never happen.  I get her ready: her pig tails in, jogging outfit on (she wasn't going jogging), her shoes.  The normal routine.  Then I start to get my shoes on. 

Then I look and her hoodie is off.  Where is the hoodie? 

I'll deal with that in a minute.  Gotta get her backpack packed.

Filling her sippy and my water bottle (with the Crystal Light Mojito--to die for!).

Her shoes are gone.  Where are her shoes?

Get my purse, her backpack, her sippy, my water, the shopping list, my coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond.  It's all in the chair, ready to go.

Her ponytails are now gone.

Seriously?

She's all but naked in the span of 5 minutes and I'm ready to go. Ugh.

Redress the baby.  Find her shoes.  Re-do her ponytails and then don't put her down so that she can't un-do my re-do. 

Try to get out the door holding a purse, backpack, sippy, water bottle and child.

And it's pouring down rain.  So glad I spent 20 minutes ironing my hair.

We got to CVS for the whole 99 cent 12 pack of diet pepsi.  That wasn't true.  Ugh.  So much for believing all of the coupon sites.  Oh well, grabbed some witch hazel (going to try that for my oil control on my face) and body wash and K got some new sunglasses.

Back to the car, still pouring down rain.  I throw the bag in the front seat while trying to buckle her in her seat.  She starts bucking in her seat so that I can't strap her in.  This is her new game and she thinks it's the funniest thing, ever.  Not so funny when momma is getting D.R.E.N.C.H.E.D.   She wouldn't stop. 

And now she's tall enough to reach her little leg out and touch the DVD player with her toes, so she pushes all of the buttons and restarts that dang "moo show" over and over and over and over. 

So now I'm soaking wet and she's having the time of her life.

I was stopped at a stop light waiting to turn into the post office.  There must have been construction or something going on, cause the normal 10 minute ride from CVS to the post office was about a 30 minute ride.  And with the toddler that I was dealing with, 30 minutes is much too long to be sitting in traffic...watching the light go from green, to yellow, to red and you've still not moved.  Yeah, it was like that.  Ugh.

So I'm turned around dealing with her and obviously the light turned green and this idiot behind me lays on his horn.  I'm not talking a tap like "hey, the light is green, please go," it was a constant honk that kept going until I had completed my turn. 

Word to the wise, never, NEVER do that to someone. For all that you know, it may be me in front of you, soaking wet, dealing with the crazy toddler and I just may get out and kick you in the shin.  Cause if there hadn't been a line of cars behind him, I sure as heck would have done just that. 

We head in to the post office to mail father's day cards.  She had her shoes off before leaving the CVS parking lot.  So she went inside like a Hoosier baby without shoes.  Whatever.  I choose my battles.  So I'm holding her, the few cards (they had her 18 month pictures in them, so they weighed too much for me to guesstimate how many stamps) and a package.  She squirming and doing her best to get down and make me look like a fool for trying to hold on to her.  Hello, no shoes?!  Remember?  You took them off?

Still raining as we walk out.  Luckily, I distracted her while strapping her in and she didn't buck.

Off to Bed Bath and Beyond.  I put the shoes back on....  She takes them off the second her bottom sits in the cart.  Okay.  That was worth standing in the rain to put them on.  I thought that her and I could have some fun looking at all of the neat gadgets and whatever.  Not so much.

She thought that she needed to be all creative with sitting in the cart.  And wouldn't you know it that the cart we had didn't have a safety belt?  Or one that was long enough to go around her.  I should have switched carts, but at this point, I wanted in and out.

She thought she was hilarious.  And then she started to pass gas.  OMG.  And it was loud.  And she laughed at herself.  Really?!  What happened to my sweet, precious, girly-girl, baby?  I tried to ignore it but you KNOW how hard it is to not laugh.  She was contorting herself into all of these crazy positions in the seat and her butt almost came out of the leg hole. 
We walked past the mirrors, and by now she was standing in the cart, and I was sprinting to the check-out line.  She caught sight of herself in one of the mirrors and decided that she needed to flirt with that adorable baby.  And it was so cute that I had to let her. 

Notice that the pig tails are gone?  She ripped them out. Again.  I gave up.
She can be pig tail-less.

We got to the check-out and she proceeds to try and rip everything down that she can reach.

Ugh.

Nap time came as soon as we walked in the door.

There *is* a reason that God made toddlers so darned cute.  And I learned that reason yesterday as I was so close to losing my mind.

She's cutting two teeth and that morning nap was just too short.  She was acting appropriately for the circumstances given.  I just couldn't see it then. 

I almost called my mom to apologize for all of my toddler/twos years.  It was that bad.  I almost cried.  I was so frustrated.

There is also a reason that God made naps for these cute toddlers.  It gives us mommas time to chillax and get over it.  No one would survive otherwise.

The evening progressed much the same as the afternoon.  She was miserable from her teeth and the orajel and tylenol didn't seem to phase her.

I stayed home until she was soundly asleep, tucked in for the night and then I slipped off to the gym at 9:30.

I got my one hour of cardio in and tanned.  It was my time.  MY time.  And I reflected on the day that I didn't think I'd survive.  But I did.

And when I got home, I opened her door and tucked her in.

And that's when I realized how perfect she really is...  and her quirky ways just make her even more perfect.