The Road or The Gym

I don't like gyms; I don't think I ever have.

You know, health clubs, fitness centers and the like. It always seemed so pointless to me, driving to a place to torture yourself on machines in order to get/stay in shape.

And then I joined one.

A few years ago, I joined a women's-only gym back in Austin. I was still intimidated by the machines, but I absolutely loved the classes. It was there, in fact, that I discovered the wonders of the yoga class. I even got my butt kicked (enjoyably) a couple of times at a hip-hop dance class.

I finally cancelled my membership because the classes were always at inopportune times and I never went.

A few years later, we moved down the street from a community center with a pretty nice gym. It was cheap and close to the house. We went semi-regularly, and there I fell in love with the elliptical machine.

What would be perfect, I thought, was if I could afford to *buy* an elliptical machine and never have to go to the gym again!

Fast forward a few years. I've had a baby. I live in the desert. Though I had a pretty good walking regemin going when we lived in the community of a thousand trails, once we bought our house I let it slide. There weren't many places within walking distance that I wanted to go to, and the neighborhood in general isn't exactly walking friendly.

I put on (quite) a few pounds (*after* losing all my baby weight, sadly enough) and finally decided it was time to join a gym. Maybe I could take some classes again.

Of course, If I'd have known that I was pregnant at the time, I never would have joined. The prenatal fitness classes are practically non-existant, and I don't really plan on putting a six-week-old in the gym daycare, so I probably won't use it much for the next year or so. Plus, I've started walking again.

And, you know what? I'd really much rather walk outside and get some fresh air and sunshine instead of being cooped up in a gym, even if it is on my beloved elliptical.

Since I'm stuck paying for this for the next two years (yay, contracts!) I'll have to make the most of it. My goal is to go to the gym at least once a week, and keep walking the rest of the time.

Does it really need to be this hard to be healthy?

Kids are Funny

When LZ was a toddler, I could never get her to keep a blanket on at bed time. It used to really bug me. No matter how cold I thought it was in the room, she would never let me put any covers on.

I used to sneak into her room after she fell asleep and put the blanket on by stealth.

Nowadays, I can't get her to take the blanket *off*. No matter how hot it is in the room, she wants the blanket. She'll wake up soaking wet from sweat after nap time, but I can't convince her to give it up.

I've considered sneaking into her room to remove the blanket, but I've resisted the urge so far.

Still, I Subscribe

I am a magazine junkie. I admit it.

 A couple of days ago, I received two magazines in my mailbox: Real Simple and Parents. A few days before that, the Oprah magazine arrived. A few days before *that,* Fresh Home showed up. I also subscribe to Whole Living. Apparently I also subscribe to something called Natural Solutions. It came in the mail the other day, but I have absolutely no memory of ordering it.

And still I want more. I'd like to resubscribe to Parenting, and maybe Health. I recently subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens, but I haven't started receiving it yet.

If an envelope comes in the mail that asks me to be a charter subscriber to a brand-new magazine, odds are I will.

It's an addiction, I know. It leads to an ever-growing shelf of magazines. Every few months, I'll go through my old magazines page by page and rip out any articles of interest, for later. I have accordion folders full of articles of interest.


But I just love them. I love the big glossy pages, the gorgeous photographs, the promise of achieving perfection, if not this month, then next month, definitely. It's all achievable: the perfect meal, the perfect room, the perfect outfit, the perfect outlook, the perfect life -- and in only 5 easy steps.

Sigh.

My apologies for the BS post yesterday. I was literally crawling into bed at 11:30 (I really need to start getting to bed earlier), when I realized I hadn't posted yet. Oh, the things I do for NaBloPoMo.

Yeah, well

I didn't want to miss blogging today, but, yeah

Updated

Update #1
The pick-your-own-veggie experiment was, ultimately, less than successful.

Chalk it up to my city-girl existence, bad luck, bad produce or all three, but I ended up throwing the corn away. We went out Saturday to do our pickin'. To be honest, the dinner I had planned for Saturday didn't go well with corn, so I decided to cook it up on Sunday. Of course, come Sunday, even though the corn was sitting in a bag on the counter, I totally forgot about making it.

Come Monday, I figure, we'll have some (mostly) fresh corn for dinner.

I don't know if I was supposed to inspect the corn as soon as I got home or what, but at least half of our crop had worms. They might have been salvageable, but because I left the corn in a plastic bag in an 80+ degree kitchen for 3 days, the corn that the worms didn't get, the mold did. 

Oh, well. At least the apple cider was good.

Update #2
The rash that LZ had on her back from my off-price foray into bath products was completely gone the next morning. Thank God! I didn't relish telling the doctor that I risked my daughter's well-being by being a super cheapo.

Uh, that's it. Along with millions of others, I've discovered The Black Keys. I've spent the better part of the evening listening to their station on my Pandora and really digging it.