Blurgh

Remember how I mentioned the heating pad on my aching knee? Well, it's still killing me. I really think I hurt it a bit on Monday. :( Not horribly, but I skipped Turbo Kick tonight because it really just isn't well. I'm really frustrated!! I tend to get injured a lot. Well, that's not exactly right. I had a car accident about 6 years ago and still have some problems with my neck & shoulder from that. Any sort of regular exercise I've tried has caused it to flare up. I had a great round of PT last summer, though, & really learned some skills for managing it. So, for the first time in SIX YEARS, I've been able to start working out without messing up my neck. And then? I gank up my knee. Grrrrr. I really, really want to be able to commit to this new lifestyle and follow through on my lovely plans for once. A month ago, I never would have guessed that today I'd be so sad not to be able to go to the gym. But I am. Sigh. So, I'm going to try taking it easy on the knee this week and - hopefully! - start again next week. BOO. :(

-- A Mobile Post

My Top 5

My sweet, inspiring friend, Mandy, recently did this post on her top 5 items she can't lose weight without. Now that I've gone to Turbo Kick at the Y 3 times and I am, therefore, an exercise and weight loss expert, I thought I'd share my top 5 with you.

(A small disclaimer... please don't take anything I may say here too, too seriously. Sarcastic humor is kinda my style of thinking about things. And I'm a whiner. Really.) :)

The Top Five Things I Couldn't Turbo Kick Butt Without...

1. Clinical Strength Secret - Believe me, an hour of jumping, kicking, punching & whatever else it is we do is not conducive to using regular deodorant.
2. Super Extra-Strength Pain Reliever - Apparently, I'm getting old. After my first week of Turbo Kick, my back was so sore! Well, along with every other part of my body. A quick dose of some pain killer is a vital component of my post-workout routine!
3. Heating Pad - As I mentioned in #2, I'm old. After a solid week of an aching back (and a stomach virus & a sick kid), I was doing better and went back for more. Now, I'm currently sitting on the sofa with a heating pad on my knee. The weird thing is that I'm really, really hoping it's fine - just sore - so I can go back to Turbo Kick on Wednesday. Nuts.
4. Daddy KG - Since my little Kumquat's PBR (personal best record) in the Y's Kid Zone is a whopping 16 minutes, it would be impossible to be working out at all if not for an awesome hubby who is very supportive of me doing this... and who is willing to fetch a screaming child from the Kid Zone in the middle of his workout and teach the kid some important life skills.
5. Awesome Girlfriends - So, I'm great at developing elaborate plans to get in shape. Unfortunately, I'm not so great at following through on my fabulous plans. I've really needed some kind of kick in the pants to get me started. Thankfully, I have some amazing, inspiring friends who have given me the kick start I needed to actually get going on this. I never really gave the group exercise classes much thought before, since I do like my alone time. BUT, it truly is making such a difference to know there are people (besides DKG) who know if I skip a class. It doesn't even matter if they understand why I missed or not. It's just the fact that I don't want to have to tell anyone I quit, or didn't feel like it that day or whatever the case may be. I've been so thankful to these ladies for all of the support they've given me as a new mama. Now, I'm so thankful for how they're helping me to become a new me!

Not Me! Monday

Haven't done one of these for a while, but I thought I'd join in on MckMama's blog carnival today. It's been one of those weeks! But let's keep it limited to this weekend, eh?

First, we had some fun plans for Saturday night, so I absolutely did not completely forget to ask our babysitter if she was available. Especially not since I'd given up scrambling around at the last minute for Lent. DKG & I then did not try a couple other options, but end up deciding we couldn't make it to the party. We then did not start out on a crazy West-side adventure that caused my sweet Kumquat not to get a nap all day and ended with us driving home on local roads with a mattress strapped to the roof of the car. In the middle of this, our sweet neighbors also did not find a sitter for us because they were sad we wouldn't be able to go!

So, as I was getting ready, DKG did NOT make arrangements to exchange is sad iPhone at our nearest* Apple store the following day... which certainly would not happen to be in Tulsa. That's a quick little 182-mile jaunt each way.

*By "nearest" I mean the nearest store where he would be able to exchange his phone for a working one that day. Unfortunately, that did not include the stores in KC or OKC.

I absolutely did not agree to go with him on the trip with our little Kumquat. Six hours in a car with a 16-month-old for a there-and-back trip? That would be crazy!

While we were there, we did not stop for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory...especially not since I've really been trying hard to watch my calories. I also did not even take one tiny little bite of a super-yummylicious "slice" of wild blueberry white chocolate cheesecake. I mean, I'm guessing it would have been super-yummylicious if I had totally eaten half of it taken a teensy bite. I also would not have given the Kumquat some of the cheesecake or pounds of whipped cream with it. Certainly not when she would follow that massive dose of sugar by being strapped into her carseat for 3 hours. Surely that wouldn't be a good idea! Good thing I didn't do it.

Oh, and I am also not the luckiest mama ever whose sweet girl was a silly, giggly angel for the entire trip!

Nope, not me!!

Humbling

I went to my first ever Turbo Kick class tonight. O.M.G. My dear, sweet friends kept telling me it's lots of fun and not that bad. Silly me. I listened to friends who are weight loss rock stars and/or basically live at the Y. Genius, Mama. Especially since this is the first workout I've done in about a thousand years. It was basically awesome. Besides Turbo Kicking my butt, it taught me a few things.

1. I need more slacker friends. :)
2. You really can't hide your chub when you're jumping up and down in workout clothes in a room full of mirrors.
3. I'm way more out of shape than I thought... and I'd have guessed the Pillsbury Dough Boy and I were pretty even in that category.
4. I really need a pedicure. And a tan. I think that if I had a tan, my embarrassingly beet-red face wouldn't be quite as noticeable. Seriously, I looked like Mario Batali after an extra-intense episode of Iron Chef where the secret ingredient is habanero peppers.

So, now after a lot of water, a long hot shower, a handful of Tylenol and some quality time with my BFF, the massaging Tempur-Pedic bed, I'm off to sleep. DKG has an early start tomorrow and I'm betting he'll need to roll me out of bed before he leaves. I'm sure not going to be getting out on my own. And after that? I'll have the great fun of donning a swimsuit for the first time in nearly a year to take my little Fish Kumquat to her very first swimming lesson! And I thought today was humbling...

Oh, and I'm going back for more torture Turbo Kicking on Wednesday. Hey, I never said I was smart!