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   

Sleep? Yes, please.

I am so tired, I'm not even sure I can blog properly today.  Not that there is a proper way to blog...right?  But my thoughts are swarming everywhere today.

I was up late.  Really, really late.

I didn't leave for the gym until a little after 9, so by the time I tanned and got to my machine, it was probably close to ten.  And then I had my strength training last night, so it's the late night.  I got home a little after midnight.  And then you can't go right to sleep because your body is all hopped up from the workout.  So I sat up till about 1:00.  Kage actually woke up around 12:30 and cried for a second.  She never does that....but I loved the opportunity for a late night cuddle with her.  She unfortunately only wanted a paci and put back to bed.  Ah well....I tried.

She had her 18 month appointment yesterday.

They stripped her down and did her height/weight and head measurements.  For those wondering:  Head:  18.5, Weight:  21 lbs 7 oz (10th%) and Height:  30.5" (20th%).  She keeps going lower and lower in the percentiles, but the doctor just said that she's petite and not to worry.  She got a great report and everything is going well!  I haven't messed up too bad, I guess.

After the measurements, the nurse asks that I leave her in her diaper until the doctor comes in to do her exam.  OH boy....  you can't just leave my child in her diaper.  She sees it as the perfect opportunity to sharpen her streaking skills.  And she did, and she peed on the floor about seven times.  I put the diaper back on about 5 times before I said screw it and just grabbed paper towels to clean up her pee. 

The doctor walked in saying, "I hear we have a streaker in this room."  Yep, that would  be mine!  Gosh I hope she outgrows this stage soon!

My mom said that she thinks the ripped off of the diaper means that she's getting ready to be potty trained.  I say no way.  She does it because she's not supposed to.  Simple as that.  She is rotten.  But she has started this new thing where she'll just go lay down in her room if she's pooped.  She lays there and waits patiently to be changed.  It's so cute!

And don't you love how her horsey has accessories too, just like my little Diva? 

She got one shot at her 18 month appointment and her doctor presented me with the option of doing the Chicken Pox vaccine.  I turned it down for now while I research it more.  I'm a freak about vaccines and don't just give her "what they suggest" because who are they.  Anyone have any info about the chicken pox vaccine that you can pass on?  Did you do it/not do it?  She claims that the "natural" chicken pox that she could catch is much more aggressive than it was when we were kids.  And she wants me to give it to her....but I'm not sure.  When we first chose her as our pediatrician, it was because she was pro-choice when it came to vaccinations.  Now, she seems to really push them.  I'm not sure that I really like that.  But, I'm not sure that it's a deal breaker to find a new dr either.  Finding a good pediatrician is like finding a good bathing suit.  It's nearly impossible.

She had no reaction for this vaccine yesterday, but she's had it before, so I didn't really expect one.  She took it like a champ. 

And before leaving the appointment, I had to schedule her TWO YEAR appointment.  OMG.  My baby is actually going to turn two.  And soon.  I'm not ready.  I'm so not ready.  Where did my tiny baby go?

I miss her tiny body.  I miss her wrinkley skin.  I miss her soft, silky, dark hair.  I miss her cuddling!  Ugh.  But I still don't have the desire to have another.  I miss her as a baby.  I don't miss "a baby."  And this may seem totally weird, and I know that it's kind of selfish, but I want my only memories of pregnancy and childbirth to be for her and of her.  I want to remember HER in my belly.  I want to remember giving birth to HER.  I want to only have memories of HER as an infant.  Is that crazy?  Our families are not happy with our decision and honestly, I don't think my husband is either.  He wants another.  He wants a boy.  But right now, I'm not.  And that's my right.  Kinley makes me feel whole.  I don't need more.

And why the blog took that direction, I have no idea.

I need to sleep.

Oh, and P.S.  Yesterday, she slept in until 9:45.  That is a world record for her.  No joke.  
Oh, and P.P.S.  Groupon's deal today is 20 bucks at Old Navy for only 10 dollars.  Yea.  Go get one.

Muscle Monkey

She has taken her love of necklaces to the next level.  And I like to call her Mrs. T.

Do you see similarities?  No?  Me neither, really.  She's much, MUCH, cuter.  But I love the multiple beads. She's going to be a fashion girl, I do believe.  And I love Lucy in mid-bark outside the door.  Too funny.

So I went to the gym yesterday for my "health assessment" and I think that this warrants a letter to the big guys.  The corporate office.  I know that this is a "big box" gym, but do they really have to be so dang pushy when it comes to all of the extra services that they offer?  They have my monthly membership.  I signed up for the monthly childcare.  I signed up for the monthly tanning.  Isn't that enough?  I guess it's not.  Cause I swear, I get asked to buy something or upgrade something every single time I go there!  Don't get me wrong, I love the gym.  I just hate their sales approach.  Makes me crazy.  And I know that it's the way of the world....even McDonald's does it....you want fries or a drink with that?!  If I wanted fries or a drink, I would have asked for it.  Same thing with the gym, if I wanted to buy a $600 personal training package, I would have asked for it.  Or, if I wanted the $80 bottle of lotion for tanning, I would have asked for it.  You do not need to ask me every.freakin.time I tan or come in.  Okay, so they don't harass nearly as much about the trainer as they do the tanning lotion.

But back to my "health assessment" yesterday....

It was with the personal trainer coordinator.  Ooooh, big title there muscle man.  It is "required" when you join to do this assessment.  Which I now know means that it's a required sales pitch that you are to deal with to try and force you to sign up with their personal trainers.  A TWO HOUR SALES PITCH.  WTF.  Not only did this meat-head tell me that everything that I do during my usual work out is wrong, but he also told me that I'd never reach my goals (or it would take me at least twice as long), I wasn't working out the "right way" and that I was confusing my body and would end up losing some weight but then putting it all back on rapidly if I changed anything about my routine.  AND, he had the nerve to tell me that I would probably get skinny but look like a marshmallow.  Because I wouldn't have the right muscle tone.

Yeah, I'm still upset.

Not only did I feel extremely pressured by this "health assessment" but now I feel completely intimidated about going back to the gym.  I feel like every effort I've made is a waste.  I feel like, "why bother" if it's not even going to work.  I know that he was pulling off every sales trick he could think of but that's not the point.

The point is that I am a PAYING member.  I PAY to go here.  I should not have to feel like this just because I didn't sign up for his training program. 

I felt so uncomfortable during this "health assessment" and he wasn't taking no for an answer, so I told him that I would "think about it" and go tan and would let him know.  I figured that it was the best way to get out of that situation and catch him after the tense "stare at her until she breaks" approach that he was using. 

I walk out of tanning and there he sits.  Ummmm, excuse me?!  You are waiting for me?  I told him no.  Not doing it.  Can't afford it.  He says that I only have to put 20% down and that was only $67.  He says, "who can't afford $67!?"   At this point I wanted to punch him in his big fat muscle.  Okay, it wasn't fat, just muscle.  And it would probably hurt my hand really bad....but I wanted to punch him anyway.

I just kept walking and said, "I'll think about it later when finances would allow it."  That was the nicest way I could think of to say, "no."  And I know that I'm a push over.  Big time pushover.  I hate to say no.  I hate to disappoint people.  But taking that 10 minutes to tan helped me get my courage up and realize that he was just being a pushy sales person.  It wasn't about the training at this point, it was about the sale. 

As I was walking out, he says, "I'll look for you in here tomorrow!" 

UGH!  I swear, if he even thinks that it will be okay to harass me about this I will report his ass.

And on another note, today is the state exam for my teaching certification (as I mentioned on twitter)....I'm freaking out.  To say the least.  I did the online study guide and while I did okay on that...I don't have much confidence in myself at all.  I hate these things and am so thankful that this is my last one.  But I'll be a nervous wreck until July 1 when the scores are posted.  Ugh.  I'm getting an ulcer just thinking about it.

Bloody good time!

There is about two inches of standing water on our patio.  It is pouring.  So much for that beautiful day that I ordered!

Today is a Kinley and mommy day.  Sort of.  It's just us and I love it!  We had breakfast together.  Or, I fed her a donut.  And then we went to the gym.  She played in the day care, I busted my butt working out. 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't much of a mommy and Kinley day.  Sounds like more of a mommy day.  Yikes.  I feel guilty.  She's napping now....but when she gets up....it's on.  Mommy and Kinley day.  Not sure what we'll do in this rain, but we're doing something!

Despite my back and forth with the whole tanning decision.....I decided to do it.  The mega gym that I'm now a member of (popping my collar--okay, not really) has a tanning salon inside, and the day care.  So how easy is that....work out and tan and Kage is being watched and having fun.  Win/win no?    The more I talk about this day care thing at the gym, the more guilt I feel.  Ugh.  So my bad-mom self worked out for an hour and tanned today.  And I enjoyed it.  While my baby was in day care.  Such a bad mommy.

I am proud of myself for accomplishing a work out though...despite the guilt.  I did 30 minutes of level 1 on the elliptical and then 30 minutes of strength training (is that what you call it?).  If I can do this 4-5 times a week, I think I'll lose those nagging 15-20 pounds that I'm carrying in my gut and face.

Enough about that.... Kage got her new backpack.  That thing came quick!  They must have embroidered her name like that second that I ordered it....  and she looks so freakin' cute wearing it.

I know it.....she's way too cute.  And so is that backpack!  It fits everything that we need in it but is still a smaller size.  Love it! 

Last night was my girls night out with the bestie.  We normally do the whole dress-up in heels and try to look totally hot and then hit the town....but last night was just one of those nights where the gym shoes were calling our names.  So we opted to hit Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the pay-per-view UFC fight and eat wings.  Yep....we were acting like men for our girls night out.  And it was so relaxing...and so fun!  We did jeans and t-shirts, gym shoes and just hung out.  The wings were eh....okay, the atmosphere was super casual and fun and the beer was good.  Beer is always good though....so that's a sure thing.

Normally, I'm *so not* a UFC fighter type.  I hate fighting, really.  But for whatever reason, I enjoyed the evening.  So much so, that we joked that it's going to be our "thing."  She loves the fighting.  But she's not a girlie girl....well, most of the time she's not.  I, on the other hand, feel sad for the boy that loses.  We even each other out.  So we chose a guy to become fans of and we'll make plans to attend these fights to root him on.  Or so that's our plan.  Silly girls.

While bestie was getting ready for our date, she ripped her toenail off.  I mean O.F.F-off.  Gives me the weebie-jeebies just thinking about it.  She's such a trooper that she just wrapped it up and came out anyway...but not before posting the bloody gore picture on facebook.  Haha

So I'm getting a kick out of talking about her "bloody toe" as if I'm British or something. 

And the point of this blog....?  Yeah, I don't even know.

Choppity, Cut, Cut

Today is my hair day!  I'm so excited.  It desperately needs cut.  I never thought I would get to the point of looking forward to a haircut after the great hair catastrophe of my life.  But, somehow, I do again.  I was introduced to a new stylist by my bestie and she crafted my ruined hair into something not so ruined. 

And I'm going back again to get one step closer to kissing that catastrophe good-bye.  You see, the whack job at Ulta (in Wheaton, IL) that ruined my hair did such a fine job at ruining my hair, that I'm now two cuts post-catastrophe and it's still not fully repaired.  If the new stylist wanted to repair it fully, I probably would have had a pixie.  Which my bestie can pull off....but I can not.

And let's not even mention the fact that I was a lard-o on my wedding day.  Obviously, I did not care that I looked like the Michelin man that day.  Whatever.  I still don't care.  I lost it all after the wedding and still keep it off today.  That's what counts.

So back to the story, if my hair would have been fixed in one appointment, it would have been chopped to that length.  I probably would have had a heart attack and died to have to go from my super long hair to that in one week, so we opted to do it slowly.  And today, should be the end of repairs and the beginning of growing out evenly again.  I doubt that my hair will ever be as long as it once was.  My patience isn't what it used to be for things like hair.  But I'm okay with that.

The new stylist is great with color and gave me a super subtle blonde highlight in the front and this time, I think I want more blonde.  But we'll see.  I'm one of those girls that sits in the chair and says "do what you want."  (And go figure that the one time I brought pictures of exactly what I wanted, I got butchered.)

So this is my hair now:

Later, I'll take one and post it of the new style.  Wish me luck!

And can you believe that I woke up this morning to find that I am out -OUT- of K cups and have zero coffee.  Ugh.  Yeah...I know.  Kage can't get up soon enough today so that we can go to Dunkin'.  Today is her day care day, so I get to drop her off en route to the salon. 

We went to the gym last night.  Together.  We put K in the day care there.  She did great.  I felt like a fish out of water.  I did like 20 minutes on the elliptical. But on the quick start mode...so it was pretty easy with little resistance.  But it was my first time back.....so I was being easy on myself.  And then we went and wandered around and tried some different machines.  I'm guessing that I didn't do enough because I'm not sore.  At all. 

We were upstairs doing some weight machines when one of the day care workers came to find us to tell us that Kage was poopy.  So, I call that workout "saved by the poopy."  I was tired and ready to go home but didn't want to admit it.  Thank you, Kinley.  I got an hour in.  And will go back again today.  Slowly but surely.  I think I may have to just hire a trainer for one or two sessions just to get a program started because that place is so big that I just feel overwhelmed by all of the options.

Helping vacuum

For some reason, Blogger hates me and won't accept my
rotated pictures.  So just turn your head accordingly. She was
trying on her new panties.  And two seconds later, she peed
in her panties in that very spot.  Nice.  The panties were washed
and put in the drawer for a much later date.

Happy Friday and have a safe Memorial Day!

Workin' overtime, work out

Does it make me a bad mom that I do just about anything in my power to not wake Kinley up in the morning?   What I mean is, I will tip-toe, whisper, turn off the TV (he has it on while he's getting ready for work), not turn on the bathroom light because it also turns on the fan, not breathe too loudly.... all for the sake of her sleeping a little later.  We have a relatively small apartment and her bedroom is centrally located to everything.  I just want my morning time to last a little bit longer!  And BTW, the bathroom door creaks when you open/close it.  WD-40 needed.  And if my silence attempts succeed and she sleeps just a little bit longer....the elephant upstairs just may wake her.  What *are* they doing up there?

She was wound up last night from our busy day and stayed up until 10:00.  Way past her bedtime.  So I think that she needs to sleep just a little longer today.  Okay, so the truth is that I started blogging a little later than I should have and I just want to finish.....  So selfish.

Her dad came home from work early because of the weather.  Hard to cut down trees in the rain, I guess.  So having him home to accompany us, I planned an action packed day.  We started out by taking her to Learning Express (a pretty cool toy store).  She had a blast.  And they had these Melissa & Doug shopping carts for sale.....she was crazy with this cart.  Flying through the store, cornering the cart like it was on rails (yes, Pretty Woman reference).  If the little thing hadn't been $70, she would have come home with it.  I later found it on Amazon for under $50, so maybe I'll  put  a bug in her Nonie's ear.  Hehe

Then we took her to a puppy store.  Let me preface by saying that I do not support these stores, nor do I buy from them.  However, when it is a rainy, yuck day and you have an animal loving toddler.....it's kind of like a free zoo.  So we went.  And we lied and said we were considering buying a dog for the baby.  She played with one in their little corrals. She was scared of the yappy little thing.  Good thing because that was our excuse to say thanks but no thanks and walk out.

After the puppy store, we took her to this indoor playplace.  I've been wanting to take her for some time but didn't want to go for the first time by myself.  I'm socially introverted like that. 

This place was awesome.  Talk about an awesome set-up for the little ones!  Kage went nuts!  She ran and went from one play thing to the next.  They had a bounce house, a climbing maze, several climbing play sets and lots of slides.  She wasn't too keen on the maze....but the slides....she had those down.  Check her out! 

I apologize for the annoying mommy voice.

This place was very reasonably priced and not crowded at all.  I was worried that it would be, considering the crummy weather we were having.  Now that I have that "first visit" under my belt, I'm going to take her often.  Even though her sliding scares the bejeezes outta me.

Vanilla-Vanilla for him, Strawberry Shortcake for her and
Raspberry Truffle for me.

To end our day of Kinley fun, we made one last stop at the little cupcake shop.  I'm in love with the cuteness of this place.  It is just adorable.  Oh, and the cupcakes are pretty darned tasty too.  Unfortunately, we were big meanies and made Kage take her nap before she could have hers.  (No, we didn't eat ours in front of her.  We waited until she was asleep before we devoured them.)  And then after nap, we decided to go out to dinner for some pizza and her cupcake is still in the fridge waiting for her.  Poor kid.  I do feel guilty.  Not that she even remembers.

Like I said, we decided to go out for a pizza last night.  There is this place (in the downtown area that I am in love with) that looks so fun.  And well, I rarely want pizza so we went for it.  So glad that we did because that pizza was to die for.  Ohmagosh.  The best deep dish.  And Kage ordered (well, I ordered it for her) the mac-n-cheese.  Normally, when you order a child's meal of mac-n-cheese, it's a $5 box of mac-n-cheese, the blue box kind.  Such a waste of $$.  Not this time, it was the real thing.  And so good.  I almost wanted to trade her.  (Not trade HER for the mac-n-cheese, but trade the to-die-for pizza for a bowl of mac.)  She was being such a ham at dinner.  Trying to show off for anyone that would pay attention.

And I know that some of you are freaking out because her food is directly on the table, but we have those disposable placemats and she rips them off.  So we wipe down the table and just let her go for it.  Think poorly of us if you will.  I won't lose sleep.  She was showing us "how the piggies eat," okay, not really. She was just doing this to aggravate us.  She knows how embarrassed we get when she eats like this.  Silly girl.

It was a good time.

And fortunately, we didn't argue as much as we normally do!  Maybe the key is to keep us busy with other things.

On our way home, I asked if he wanted to go and tour the monster gym that I fell in love with months ago (was it months ago?) but didn't join.  I just wanted to show him how cool it was, and how different it is from the shoebox gym we belonged to in southern IL.  I guess he loved it just as much because he ended up signing on the dotted line and shelling out more money than we should have to sign up.  And he got a family membership too.  He's not sure that he'll actually go (we have bets on this one) but if he cancels his within 30 days he gets a full refund....and my monthly rate stays at the family discount.  Score!  But I wasn't expecting that expense, really.  We don't do credit cards....so that was a huge blow to the checking account.  Good thing he worked tons of OT the past two weeks!

I just pray that he didn't sign up "to make me happy."  Cause if he did, I'll have it thrown in my face a zillion times if things get tight later.  Ugh.  The stress. 

But until then, I'm going to bask in the glory of belonging to a sweet-ass gym.  That has a daycare inside for $1 an hour.  And it's open 24/7.  And has tanning/nails/waxing and massage services.  Told you.  Sweet-ass.  It's just too bad that you have to work-out when you're there.  KIDDING!

The gym sales dude did a body fat scan and I'm at 28%!  Are you bleepin' kidding me?!  How embarrassing.  If that doesn't make you work out, I don't know what will.  Did I mention that I'll be going to the gym here shortly?