More Overanalyzing Song Lyrics

I've got two songs to gripe about for today: "Drive By" and "Give Your Heart a Break." 

Yes, I know they are both completely passe by now.  They were flash-in-the-pan songs at best and now they're gone from the airwaves.  But for that flash-in-the-pan moment, it was like you couldn't turn the radio on without hearing them.  And I have to admit that I listened to them and sang along and all that, because otherwise it wouldn't make sense that I can pick apart the lyrics as well as I can, so yes, I am guilty of listening to these songs.  And if you actually pay attention, they are all kinds of horrible.

Let's shoot down ahem, pick apart Train's "Drive By" first, shall we?  It begins with a guy thinking he's seen some girl he had a one-night stand with.  And then the chorus kicks in wherein he explains that the "reason" he left her after their one-night stand was because he fell in love with her so hard and deeply that he was scared, so he split.  Because that makes perfect sense, right?  Okay, not really.  But even if it did, the rest of the song continues to kill me.  Because he immediately just wants to sleep with her again!


So let's skip the"how you been"
And get down to the "more than friends" at last


This would be bad enough, but then he reassures this poor girl:



Please believe that when I leave
There's nothing up my sleeve but love for you
And a little time to get my head together, too


So in other words, let's sleep together and THIS time when I completely abandon you (AGAIN), don't worry-- it's just because I love you so much.  And if you think I'm just being cynical here, let me point out that the name of the song is "Drive By."  It is not-- for example-- "This Is Not a Drive By" or anything that might indicate that this guy has actually changed.

So even though I find myself singing along with this song, usually by the end I'm screaming, "Run away, girl!  Run away!!!  He's a jerk and he hasn't changed at all!!!!!!  Go back to west LA or New York or Santa Fe or wherever it was you went!!  JUST GO!!!!!"

My nerves can't handle this song at all.  Delusional girls in bad relationships stress me out.



The next one, Demi Lovato's "Give Your Heart a Break" has a similar problem, except this time it's the delusional girl doing the singing.  She is urging this boy she's in love with to trust her because, unlike all those other girls, she is not going to break his heart.  And it's all fine and dandy until we get to the bridge:


When your lips are on my lips
Then our hearts beat as one
But you slip out of my fingertips
Every time you run


So wait a second-- you're kissing and letting those old hearts beat as one, but he's the one afraid of getting hurt????  Girlfriend, he's playing you!  Big time!  And you've fallen for it hook, line, and sinker!  He's getting the action without any commitment because he's led you to believe he's been hurt so much!  Trust me, you're the one getting hurt.  My advice is the same as for the last song:  RUN.  RUN LIKE MAD.

Oh, these poor girls.  And these horrible boys leading them on like this!

And these horrible songs that I memorize...

Parenting Fails and a Win: Snow Day Edition

Monday was a difficult day for me.

It was a teacher workday, which means the kids stayed home (and not for snow, like all of last week and like today!), but Craig had to work.  And, Craig had a bunch of projects to work on plus teacher training and meetings, so he had warned me that he would probably be home after the kids were already in bed.

So I had the kids all to myself all day long.* And man, I had Bentley screaming at me for the most ridiculous things.  At one point, he wanted to play with his new multi-tool he'd gotten as a reward for his popcorn sales with cub scouts.  There was a block of wood sitting outside on the picnic table, so I told him he could play with that, but he had to dress warmly (Monday was surprisingly NOT frighteningly cold; then the temperature dropped about thirty degree the next day).  So he pulled on some pants over his pajamas and threw on his coat and boots.  And then thirty seconds later he's back inside, but now with the block of wood!  I told him he had to play OUTSIDE with his stuff, and he begins screaming at me that I had never told him that and that he'd already taken off his shoes!!!!  I pointed out that he just needed to put his shoes back on, but if he continued yelling at me, he'd just get in big trouble.  Five minutes after that, Craig (via text) told me to remind him that he couldn't use the blade without Daddy around, and we were back to him screaming at me.  Good times.  It makes me think of this awesome blog post.  A lot.


Earlier, we'd had the following conversation:

Bentley: I'm bored!  There's nothing to do!

Me: Okay, but I want you to understand something.  If you complain that you're bored, I'm going to find chores for you to do.  I'll let that one pass, but from now on, whining that you're bored will just mean chores.

Bentley: But there's nothing to do!!!!!

Me: Okay, so that means you can put away your clean clothes.

Bentley: But- but- I'm bored!!!

Me: Yes, so now you won't be bored while you put away your clothes.

Bentley: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  THIS IS SO UNFAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



So that was frustrating.

Later on, the conversation started all over again, but ended very differently.  This time, I made him help me clean up the downstairs because he was bored.  He whined for a few minutes about it.

And then.  Then...  He caught the vision.  He began running around actually helping me put stuff away!  And he was loving it!  He would exclaim, "Our house is so clean now!  It's like a reward for tidying up!  I love having a clean house!  We should do this EVERY DAY!!!!"

He spent at least a half hour helping me out and was ecstatic over the whole thing.  I will never understand my son.

Ever.

But my house is sure a lot cleaner now...!

And today, with a snow day and Craig having class tonight so I'm back in the same boat I was in on Monday, I feel like I'm handling my kids much better. 

So I guess I'm learning from my mistakes.  Or figuring out what works.  Or something...




*Except for about a half hour when I totally ditched them with my friend Vangie so I could sneak out and visit Tracy in the hospital and meet her new baby!  Thanks for being awesome about that, Vangie!!!!!

Things I Think About When I Ought to Be Doing Something Else

Back at the end of last May, there was a flurry of people freaking out about some hippie couple-- Heather and Adam Hana (or possibly Barringer-- accounts vary)-- who had decided to move to Hawaii so they could have a dolphin-assisted water birth.  Pretty much every news source-- from Jezebel to marine biologists to MSNBC-- agreed that it was a terrible idea.  The marine biologists, usually the champion of dolphins, pointed out that giving birth amongst highly intelligent carnivorous predators, (and in a habitat to which they are uniquely adapted and you are NOT) was just asking for problems.

Even me, lover of whales and natural birth, figured these guys were certifiable.  And while I'd give them decent odds that things would turn out just fine (just because birth does tend to go fine more often than not), my stomach still turned when I considered the very real danger they were blithely putting their baby in just because dolphins are "cool."

So what I'm wondering now is, WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?  She was due in early July, so she definitely had the baby by now.

I did about ten minutes of internet research and found absolutely no follow-up about these guys at all.  Even their facebook page had nothing, except a couple people asking how it went (and a spot where you could donate money.  Of course).  Those queries had been left unanswered.

How totally rude is that???  If you're going to announce to the world that you've come up with the stupidest plan ever, I think the least you can do is get back to us and tell us how it actually went.

A House Divided

During this time where I think the highest temperature we've experienced all week was approximately 10, I've been dismayed at the number of times I've found ways for the cold air to sneak into the house: windows left unlatched, doors to the outside only halfway closed, and the (only) vent to Kendra and Ryder's room completely shut.  Who is doing this???  No one-- not even Craig-- will fess up to any of it.  And it's driving me bonkers.  Here we are blasting the heat day and night for what exactly?

Parenting is about fighting a losing battle on so many fronts: laundry, dishes, and just keeping the house clean at all.  And for the most part, I've made peace with this fact.  But I thought on at least this one thing-- trying to stay warm-- my children and I could all agree to work together?

Informal Pictures from Christmas

I told you the Smiths would keep us busy all during the Christmas break, and I wasn't lying.  In addition to Christmas Day and all that means, we also hit the Air and Space Museum in DC (which is a lot harder to drive to than the close-by Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum, but had a lot of cool stuff to see), went snow tubing at Massanutten (sadly, it was snowing too hard there for anyone to be willing to pull out their camera; this is a shame because with no sleep, no shower, and wearing a huge warm ski hat on my head, I was a real picture of beauty, let me tell you!), saw Frozen, tried to see the temple lights (but after realizing that 495 wasn't moving AT ALL, settled for seeing the Lights at Bull Run instead), prepared and ate a heck of a lot of food, and played endless rounds of Settlers of Catan (regular, kicked up, and Space versions).  And in addition to that, I spent a lot of time feeding Colton and not sleeping, since he decided he didn't like sleeping in a pack-n-play any more.

And here are pictures from most of those adventures!

Kendra giving a talk (or the scripture?) at church.  We loved how all the girls had similar Christmas dresses!

While the Houston crowd was making the trek across the country, we managed to slip in our annual Messiah Sing-along with my friends, Sarah, Nate (in the background), and Angela!  One of my favorite holiday traditions!

Matching pajamas for Christmas Eve-- can I just point out how hard it is to find matching things for mixed genders, and ranging in size from 7 to 12mo???  This was the best I could do.  And I think they turned out pretty cute!

The only thing harder than finding those pj's was getting a decent picture of all four of the kids wearing them.  Never quite succeeded there, actually...

But I sure tried hard!

That short lull after Santa comes but before the kids wake up...

Excited Bentley

Excited Kendra

Excited Ryder

Slightly sick, but still excited Colton (poor thing!)

Ryder slips away to actually play with one of his presents

Craig and his Dad test the range of his new Ollo Clip camera lens

An extreme close-up of Craig's pajama pants, courtesy of that new lens...

Nothing like a slinky skirt on a 3-year-old boy!

Branching out with our Bay Hay & Feed clothing...  We also got mugs this year!

Bentley and Eli became best of friends (to the point that Bentley was willing to let Eli hold his hand!!!!  And that he's been asking why Eli doesn't live closer by ever since...)

A valiant effort by Maya to welcome in the New Year...

Colton knows he's cool

Happy Bentley

Enjoying riding in the Houston Smiths motor home, dubbed "Mo"

Also enjoying playing with cousins, who graciously gave piggyback rides whenever called upon!

At the Air and Space Museum (in case you hadn't already figured that out!)

Walking back to our car and VERY thankful for my new warm winter coat!

Kendra really enjoys having girl cousins to play with!

Kamryn was always super helpful with the little kids

Colton spent some quality time working on standing up

What can I say-- it was a fabulous Christmas!

A Quick Video for Another Snow Day!

It's frightening how many things I can relate to in this video of comedian Jim Gaffigan.  He touches on how people react to you when you say you have four kids and that you had them at home...  Not only is he hilarious, he NAILS it.

This pretty much sums up my life!

Santa & Snow Days

I love snow days.  I don't like snow very much, but I am more than happy to let a measly half inch of snow force my husband and kids to stay home and give me an excuse to not step foot outside and stay in my pajamas all day.

But I'm not so much a fan of Craig doing his projects inside during these snow days.  And that seems to be his favorite thing to do on a snowy January day.  Right now he's busy power-sanding something or other for Bentley's upcoming pinewood derby.  It's loud and messy and I can barely think.  And there's not really anywhere I can go to escape the noise.  (I could try to hide in my bedroom, but I know the little 'uns will just come in and leave the door gaping open, making more frustrated than I was in the first place.  If I lock the door, they'll just pound on it until I open up.  There is no escape...)  I've been trying to drown out the noise with music, but I think all I'm really accomplishing is giving myself a headache.

So as much as I love having everyone home, I kind of wish they'd all go away right now.

This isn't nearly as bad as the time Craig decided to stain our mantel in the kitchen, making the entire house reek.  I was worried the fumes would damage Ryder's brain (he was a few weeks old at the time).  So at least this doesn't smell bad and hurt my brain.  But I can't imagine that letting Colton crawl through the sawdust is helping anyone's health either.

One of these days we really need to get a garage for Craig...

On a happier note, here are some pictures from Christmas.  Since our ward Christmas party didn't include Santa (grr) and I didn't get any good shots of the kids with Santa at the Cub Scout Christmas party (grrr again), I invited Santa to come to our house.  He brought candy canes and read to the kids and was so perfectly jolly and nice!  It was a lovely evening, especially since I suspect our time with Bentley believing in Santa is extremely limited.  So I had to treasure it up while I still could!

We invited a few other kids over under the pretense of decorating cookies.  So when they heard the sound of sleigh bells jingling from the fireplace, it took them a moment to realize what was happening-- then they began bouncing around in excitement!

Kendra loves Santa!

My favorite

Look up, Colton!  Look up!  But I love Bentley's smile here...

I didn't want to bother going all out matchy matchy on the kids (especially since we'd be doing those portraits a week later!), so I just made them all wear stripes.  It made me smile to myself...

Story time with Santa

Snow and Christmas.  Makes all the noise worth it, I guess!

Smith Family Portrait, Part II

Here's what we got from the battlefield!