My Real Life

The theme for this week was to share songs that tell a story.

My favorite kind.

So, without a lot of intro, here are some of my favorite songs that tell a story.

#1 Hurricane by Bob Dylan

I used to teach this song when I did a short unit on songs with meaning because a lot of music today doesn’t have much meaning beyond ‘let’s dance,’ ‘I love you,’ ‘I hate you,’ and ‘let’s dance a little more.”

The story of Reuben “Hurricane” Carter has always grabbed me, because I can’t fathom how completely corrupt the entire system was and how huge the helping of disservice that was done to this man.

Great, great song…awful, awful story.

2.  Copacabana by Barry Manilow

Need I say more?

3.  Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meat Loaf

I always feel like I need to take a shower after I see or hear Meat Loaf, but this song had to be included in this list.

This song drives me insane because I’ve seen grown adults turn into utter fools when this one comes on, acting it out, creeping me out beyond belief.

And yet…

I know every word.

4.  My Name is Luka by Suzanne Vega

Always made me sad when I heard it.

Still does.

5.  Hazard by Richard Marx

I always thought this song was strange.  Like, did Richard Marx kill someone and this is his confession?

Having just thought of it, I just looked it up and it turns out that he wrote  the song, hated it, but published it anyway, because he wanted to prove his wife wrong, who said it would be a hit.

It went to #1 in a bunch of countries and pissed Richard Marx off.

Whatever.

6.  Don’t Stand So Close to Me by the Police

I know you know this one.

Everyone does.

7.  The Devil Went Down to Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band

This one makes you move like no other.

You just can’t listen to this song and keep your foot still.

And, the story is captivating.

Love this.

8.  Brick by Ben Folds Five

Heartbreaking.

You feel for everyone in the story and want to go into the song and hold them close.

Hope you enjoyed story time!!!

On October 16th, I left home.

I got in my car and drove away from my house.

No kids.

No husband.

Just me and the open road.

And, five minutes later, I arrived at our local I Just Want to Pee Alone Ladies Night Out.

We met up at End of Elm and chatted the night away.

Representing the ladies of I Just Want to Pee Alone were myself, Kim from Let Me Start by Saying, and Anna from Random Handprints.

We met up with my friend, Jean, who I was so grateful to have there.

Then, in walked a lovely lady named Jennifer, who blogs at Outsmarted Mommy, which I now love.

We all just sat and chatted and had a lovely, lovely time.

I don’t know why I wait for special occasions to get out and hang with the ladies.

It’s always much needed and I always feel so relaxed afterward.

And I know I’m not alone in this.

Moms are notorious for forgetting to take care of ourselves.

It’s crazy, really, because when I finally do get around to doing something for me, I am reminded of the stewardesses on airplanes telling the adults to take the oxygen first so that they are then able to take care of the children in their care.

A mommy who is breathing easy makes for a family who is breathing easy.

Breathe deep, friends.

You deserve it.

I know what you are thinking.

She hasn’t written in forever, and now she is going to show us a picture of a razor and call it a post???

There is a method to my madness.

I promise.

In May of 2006, I went shopping.

In March of 2007, I submitted the story of that shopping trip to Refund Cents magazine.

If you can read PDF files, you can click below to see the whole story.

Refund Cents Article

In that shopping trip, I bought 24 razors.

I went back and bought 24 more.

This week, I used the last of those razors.

It is, my friends, the end of an era.

I can’t believe that when I go to the grocery store, next weekend, I will have to buy a razor.

I feel like a fish out of water.

Has razor technology changed in the past seven years?

Do they even make this razor that I have loved, anymore?

Will I ever get a deal like that again?

Wish me luck, good deals, and smooth legs, my friends!

So, my parents got a puppy.

Her name is Bea and she’s so sweet.

Bea has her biggest fan in Tiny.

BFF’s for sure.

Peas and carrots.

Peanut butter and jelly.

And the best part is that he gets to grow up with a dog without me having to take care of a dog.

Win-win, because, let’s be honest.

I think we’re all full.

He’s born.

And you hold him in your arms and you can’t believe how little he is or how sweet or how utterly, utterly yours.

He’s a baby, and even though he is growing, he is your baby.

He gets bigger, and does bigger boy things, but he still wants to snuggle you every second he gets and you love him up every chance you get.

Because babies are your babies no matter what, I convinced myself.

And then yesterday…

This…

…turned into this…

…and you began to see the man that he will become.

He was so proud, and I was, too.

I was.

But a little piece of my heart broke, as well.

So, the rules for today are:  I wouldn’t love these songs so much if they weren’t part of a Soundtrack. Your favorite songs from soundtracks, could be anywhere from pop music you love to original scores, you decide. 

So, I get the rules, I do…however, when I love a movie…really love a movie, I fall in love with the entire soundtrack.  The music makes the story, and I can remember every scene that was punctuated by music.  So, I think I may need to just do my favorite soundtracks.  Because I can.

(The links in each item on the list are to the Amazon page where you can sneak a listen to a bit of each song)

#1 St. Elmo’s Fire

http://www.amazon.com/St-Elmos-Fire-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B002GKRX6Q

I was in 7th grade when “St. Elmo’s Fire” came out and I bought the cassette tape and listened to it so many times, I had to replace it.  I loved the music.  I loved the movie.

There are certainly songs on there that I may not have loved as much if they weren’t part of this movie I loved, but it’s hard to pick out one, in particular.

Every song on there makes me remember how I felt when I watched the movie, a 7th grader, wanting to grow up and lead an adult life, like the characters on the screen.  They were bigger than life, to me…so sophisticated, so exciting, so beautiful.  And every song on that soundtrack makes me feel young again.

#2 Pitch Perfect

http://www.amazon.com/Pitch-Perfect-Soundtrack/dp/B0099G6Q5E/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381000687&sr=301-1

It’s okay…you can say it.

This is not the thinking girl’s choice.

However, I love vocal music, particularly creative vocal music, particularly creative vocal music that is performed well.

This is.

This soundtrack makes me happy.

I saw “Pitch Perfect” with Erin and Michaela, and I think they can tell you that I was completely into it.

Not the story, per se, although it did make me chuckle, but man, I just love watching people sing and perform.

It’s one of the few DVD’s that I actually own, and I watch it all the time.

While I do laundry, make dinner, etc.

I just fast forward to all of the performances and sing along.

Can’t help myself.

#3 Les Miserables

http://www.amazon.com/Original-1985-London-Cast-Recording/dp/B006UMBUUG/ref=sr_1_10?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1381002484&sr=1-10&keywords=les+miserables+soundtrack

Not the movie soundtrack, but the original London cast from 1985.

It’s the CD that I own and know every single word to every single song.

I’ve seen the show on Broadway six times and sobbed my way through each time.

This time, the story played a huge part, but oh my God, the music.

I’m getting goosebumps just typing this, and I’m not even listening to it right now.

The emotion in those voices.

The talent in those voices.

It’s beyond…It’s just beyond.

#4  Into the Wild

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Motion-Picture-Into-Wild/dp/B009H4WT9K/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381002705&sr=301-2

I almost feel like I don’t have to say anything other than “Eddie Vedder” to explain this choice because, OMG, Eddie Vedder.

However, for the uninitiated, I will elaborate.

Vedder’s voice is so…soulful and the lyrics paint pictures for me, despite the fact that I’ve never seen the movie.

Yep, I love the soundtrack for a movie I’ve never seen.

If that doesn’t sell this entry, I don’t know what will.

#5 Amadeus

Oh, how I loved this film, and oh, how I love this soundtrack.

I won’t bother leaving the link A) because I doubt many people who read this will click on it to listen to some Mozart, and B) Amazon doesn’t let you listen to the music from this one.  Just too good, I think.

The entire soundtrack is by Mozart, obviously, and classical music just feeds my soul.

If you haven’t ever seen the film, you should.

If you aren’t a classical music fan, you can still enjoy the movie.

However, you probably wouldn’t enjoy the soundtrack.

But, like most things, I don’t really mind if no one else agrees with me.

I think it’s amazing and that’s enough for me.

What’s goin’ on, what’s goin’ on…

A little Marvin Gaye, anyone?

Anywho…

It’s been busy around here, and it’s only getting busier.

I love October, but it always tends to be a very busy night.

Sports and dance and art classes are in full swing, Real Man and I celebrate an anniversary, we celebrate the birthdays of Real Man and my father, the school year is up and running which means that the monkeys are in full homework mode, and I’m in full Vice-Principal mode.

So, just like everyone else I know…we’re busy.

However, some exciting things are coming up that I’d love to share with you.

#1 My Walk to Stop Diabetes is coming up on October 19th and I am getting closer to my goal of raising $1000 to stop diabetes.

Thank you so much to all of you that have already supported me, whether through a monetary donation or encouraging words.

I will ask, once again, that if you have a minute, please take some time to visit my fundraising page, read my story, and hopefully donate, if you are able.

It would mean the world to me to be able to raise $1000 toward the fight against diabetes.

#2  I am currently involved in…

There is so much that we are giving away, and it is so easy to enter, that it would almost be criminal to not enter.

So, please follow this link, to my friend and co-author, Kim’s blog to see everything we are giving away and learn how to enter.

#3  October 16th is:

That’s right!

Nationwide, the ladies of I Just Want to Pee Alone (myself, included) are holding a National Night Out for women everywhere!

Again, you can visit Let Me Start By Saying to find out where the events are being held across the country and see if there is one happening near you!

Locally, I look forward to meeting everyone who shows up at our local event!

So, October is a busy month for us, but a good one, full of good friends, good works, and good times.

Here’s hoping we can share some of these activities together!

It’s been awhile since I’ve participated in Twisted Mix Tape, but I wanted to try to make a concentrated effort to come back.

So, imagine my pleasure when I found that the theme is the five seminal songs that made you who you are.  Songs that opened your eyes, changed your plans, made you better.

I take that to mean, the score of your life.

So, lets begin:

1.  Tubthumping by Chumbawumba

Overplayed on the radio more than almost any other song in the history of radio, this song originally caught my attention for the British guy listing the types of drinks he was drinking, which was ever so catchy.

But then I started listening to it and it just felt appropriate for my life.

I get knocked down.

A lot.

Not literally, but metaphorically, for sure.

However, as I told you in my Six Word Memoir, I believe that we all make choices.  So, when I get knocked down, I get back up again, brush myself off, figure out what I can learn from my mistake and move on.

2.  Ooh Child by the Five StairSteps

Sometimes, though…sometimes, I can wallow in my bad choices or my indecision or in the general tough time that I’m having.

Because, dude, I am tired.

I am tired all the time, and I honestly sometimes feel like this stage of exhaustion is never going to end, and then I hear this song and by the time it builds to the end, I am ready to take on the world again.

Because someday, we’ll get it together and we’ll get it all done.

3.  American Tune by Paul Simon

The lyrics just speak to me, and not just the part about being weary to the bone.

It’s always just made me say “Yep…Yep…I get it,” and I was able to relate at multiple times in my life.

4.  The Other Side of Me by Michael W. Smith

Not the story of my life, per se, but definitely the story of Real Man and I.

We’ve been in and out of each others lives since we were 16 years old.

He definitely is the other side of me.

5.  And So It Goes by Billy Joel

If I had gone with a single singer, instead of a band in my last Twisted MixTape post, I would have gone with Billy Joel.

You want to talk about the soundtrack of my life?

Soundtrack provided by Billy Joel.

In 1990, Billy Joel released And So It Goes.

In 1990, I graduated from high school and embarked on a completely new chapter in my life.

Whenever I hear this song, I think of the summer of 1990 and beginnings and endings.

So, there you have it.  Five songs that could make up the score to my life.  Hope you enjoyed it!

So, you ever have a great idea?

An idea so epic that you know everyone will love it and it will be a huge success and your idea will go down in history as one of the greatest ideas ever to have been imagined?

I had two of those ideas, this summer.

Example 1:

It was called Field Station Dinosaurs.

All over Facebook, I had seen people post pictures of their children at this cool place where they had animatronic dinosaurs as you walked through paths in, what was supposed to be, a prehistoric jungle.

There were learning stations throughout so you could meet with “paleontologists” and learn about the age of the dinosaurs.

A little boys dream.

Right?

So, Real Man and I packed the kids in the car and said we had a surprise.

We got there and immediately, their guard was up.

“What is this place?”

“This looks boring.”

“I just wanted to stay home and play outside.”

But I was sure that as soon as we got inside, they would love it.

To say they didn’t would be an egregious understatement.

At one point, Monkey in the Middle actually said, “Did you bring us here to punish us?”

Yes, dear.  We spent $100 to teach you all a lesson.

Real Man, Monkey Girl, Tiny and I thought it was pretty neat.

The facts that they had posted at each dinosaur were interesting.

For example, Spielberg got it wrong, in Jurassic Park, when he made the Velociraptor human sized.  The truth is that they were about the size of a turkey vulture.  I did not know that.

So, there certainly was a lot to be learned…IF you were open to learning it.

It wasn’t until the very last “station,” where they were trying to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the dinosaurs and a T-Rex came out and interacted with the audience and a man with a baby dinosaur puppet scared the bejesus out of Tiny, that the boys began to come around.

On the way to the car, Monkey in the Middle said “I guess that was kinda cool.”

We only have one picture of the day because none of the boys were willing to stand in front of a dinosaur.

Example 2:

On the way to Field Station Dinosaurs, you could see New York City in the distance.

Monkey Girl has been to NYC, but the boys have not, and Baby Monkey just kept talking about the city and how cool it must be and how much he wanted to go.

So, Real Man and I planned a day trip into the city.

It was to be simple.

Train into Penn Station, then walk to the NYC Toys R Us (Monkey Girl had told the boys all about it when she had been there and they were so curious about the ferris wheel INSIDE a building), then maybe head to the Empire State Building, back to Penn Station and home.

In and out, and home for Monkey in the Middle’s hockey game that afternoon.

The train ride was great.  Everyone was excited and happy and raring to go.

Check out the eyelashes on this kid.  Wish he got them from me!

However, when we stepped out of Penn Station, onto the street, immediately Monkey in the Middle was upset by the noise.

As we started walking, Baby Monkey began to complain that his feet hurt and he was hungry.

Realizing it had been awhile since we had eaten, we decided to stop into a shop and pick up a quick snack.

Everyone picked a snack except for…you guessed it…Baby Monkey.

After 15 minutes, he finally picked something (everyone else’s had been paid for and and almost eaten by this time) and we headed out to eat.

We got to the store and immediately headed to the ferris wheel, as there were no lines.

I got to ride with Baby who kept up a sweet, constant stream of chatter the entire time.

We checked out the entire store and told the kids we’d be happy to buy them each a little something, but they’d be responsible for carrying it.

You can imagine what that bit of information was met with.

So, we headed out and began the trek to the Empire State Building.

Taking several breaks along the way.

By the time we got there, no one was even the slightest bit interested in going inside, except for Monkey Girl, so she and I checked out the lobby and off we went, again.

For the kids, the highlight of the entire trip was eating at a Wendy’s in the city.

You know, because it’s not like we eat at Wendy’s at least once a week anyway.

Lessons Learned

1.  Sometimes, summer is too long.

I think that by this point in the summer (very end of August/beginning of September) we could have taken the kids to Disney and they would have complained.

2.  Know your kids.

I know my boys aren’t into dinosaurs the way other kids are, but I figured the coolness of the whole thing would make it more exciting.

But, my kids are my kids and they know what they like and don’t like.

It’s as if someone took me to Fashion Week and made me sit through a million fashion shows.

It would be cool because of the celebrities who might be there, but otherwise, I’d be bored out of my skull.

I’m not a fashion girl and my boys aren’t dinosaur boys.

3.  Home is almost always better.

On both occasions, when we got home, the kids were back to playing in just a few minutes and having much more fun than they had on our adventures.

4.  We’re instituting a bit of a moratorium on the day trips around here.

Don’t get me wrong.  Lest they sound like spoiled, entitled brats, I should say that at the end of the day, they all said “thank you for taking us,” and did talk about their favorite parts (who knew they had any?) of the trips, but we’ll probably stick with the tried and true for awhile.

So, what about you?

Ever take a trip that you thought would be fantastic and it turned out to be barely mediocre or met with much less enthusiasm than you had hoped?

My friend and co-author, Jessica, wrote this post on her blog back in 2011.

I just came across it today.

It made me think, if I could sum up my life/my motto in six words, what would I write?

——

“We all make choices in life.”

I’ve made good choices in my life.

I’ve made bad choices in my life.

I am very aware, however, that they are all my choices and no one is responsible for my actions except for me.

It would be so easy to blame other people for poor choices I may have made along the way, as I see so many other people doing, but if I don’t take that responsibility myself, what do I learn?

“We all make choices in life” is what I tell my children and my students try to blame bad decisions on someone else.

As my life continues to unfold and I look back, I can see that I have, fortunately, made more good choices than bad, but again, I can’t help but wonder if it’s because I have always held myself accountable for those choices.

I don’t let myself off the hook, and so it forces me to think a little more before I act.

So, when I look back and see the good and the bad, “We all make choices in life” is what resonates in my head.

What would your six word memoir be?