Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Music Monday – ABBA

January 30, 2017

Every time I think I’ve talked about a song – I haven’t. I think I’ve just got a lot of posts in my head that never actually get written down. I’ve often said I need a portable recorder and a microphone attached to my collar and that way I’d remember what I was thinking. :-P

Anywho, today is a throwback if ever there was one – ABBA’s “When I Kissed The Teacher”. It is a fabulous song about a girl’s crush on a teacher and the day she decided to act on that crush. The music is so positive and you can’t help but sing along. Okay, I sing along to all of my ABBA favorites. God help the person who’s in the car with me when that happens.

This song takes me way back to when we lived in London and I was about 13 or 14 and yes, I did have a major crush on a teacher back then. I also had a crush on a really cute guy as well – all the girls crushed on him. Who hasn’t had a crush at one time or another – no matter what your age! Now, the video for this song I don’t like – I prefer the video in my head because it’s more real. A classroom of teens, a cute teacher, and the class laughing and screaming when the kiss happens. Yeah – that’s real. Anyway, I don’t think this needs any commentary so I’ll let it be. But do give it a listen and let it take you back. In my case waaaaay back. :-P

When I Kissed The Teacher – ABBA

Everybody screamed when I kissed the teacher
And they must have thought they dreamed when I kissed the teacher
All my friends at school
They had never seen the teacher blush, he looked like a fool
Nearly petrified ’cause he was taken by surprise
When I kissed the teacher
Couldn’t quite believe his eyes, when I kissed the teacher
My whole class went wild
As I held my breath, the world stood still, but then he just smiled
I was in the seventh heaven when I kissed the teacher

One of these days
Gonna tell him I dream of him every night
One of these days
Gonna show him I care, gonna teach him a lesson alright

I was in a trance when I kissed the teacher
Suddenly I took the chance when I kissed the teacher
Leaning over me, he was trying to explain the laws of geometry
And I couldn’t help it, I just had to kiss the teacher

One of these days
Gonna tell him I dream of him every night
One of these days
Gonna show him I care, gonna teach him a lesson alright

What a crazy day, when I kissed the teacher
All my sense had flown away when I kissed the teacher
My whole class went wild
As I held my breath, the world stood still, but then he just smiled
I was in the seventh heaven when I kissed the teacher

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A Morning in Winter

January 17, 2017

Well, okay, I’m not actually going to talk about a morning in winter – too depressing. It’s cold and dreary for the fourth or fifth day in a row. So cold and dreary I’m losing track of what day it is. What I am going to do is a post on what’s going on here. I just needed a title. Heh.

Last week was a shock to the system with the deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman. Then, this last Monday, Glenn Frey of the Eagles died. WTF?? So I cried a lot. I kind of needed to cry anyway – it had been building up again without me realizing it. They’ve documented we do need to cry for emotional release so if you need to cry do it.

*Sound of needle scratching across record*

I wrote those opening lines a year ago (a post that ended in a folder) and I’m still reeling from the deaths of those beloved people. Unfortunately, Prince, George Michael and Carrie Fisher’s deaths rounded out a dismal year. And a year later, we are again on the fifth or sixth day of no sun and I’m just barely trudging along. Winter and I are not friends. I like parts of it, but not all of it.

I had also written a bunch of crap about resolutions so I deleted all that since I’m not going to do any of that this year. I’m going to do something called living instead. Growth and change will come over time whether intentional or not. I can’t keep living in regrets.

The last few days I’ve watched a few movies: “Wuthering Heights” – the good one with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche; “The Sound of Music” (including most of the extras that go with it); and “Into Great Silence”. That last one is a documentary on the monks who live in the Carthusian Monastery in the French Alps. It is an incredibly quiet and relaxing video. I want more quiet/solitude in my life and have no clue how to get it. I’m a weird type – wanting downtime when I’m busy and when I’ve got downtime I don’t have a clue what to do with it. *sigh*

I’ve been reading a book on emotional sobriety which is very overdue reading. But you know what they say, when you’re ready the teacher shows up. Guess I’m ready.

I’ve been obsessing way too much about skin care and the state of my skin. I think I need to just do what I can, cover up the rest of the mess, and end the obsessing. I see other women my age doing the same thing so I think it’s a menopause thing. Bah!

I have figured out that sugar and caffeine are not my friends either. I have noticed that they both throw off my moods and my skin. Oh, wait a minute – what was I just saying? So, maybe it’s time to really cut down on both. I did the no caffeine thing for about a month and it made a difference so I know what I have to do. I had way too much Starbucks last year too and I’ve already cut way back on that.

I went grocery shopping for the week this morning and need to get a new menu plan in place for the rest of winter. Tonight it’s going to be a pork roast that I can just slip in the oven and let cook all afternoon. Add vegetables and maybe a peach cobbler and dinner is done. Well, in my mind it is anyway. Hmm, maybe I should read “The I Hate to Cook Book” by Peg Bracken – that would cheer me up a little.

And that’s all I have on this cold and dreary January morning. Time to eat lunch and then get that roast cooking. After that we’ll finish school and I have a couple of errands to run.

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Music Monday – I Go Crazy

January 16, 2017

And I feel like I’m just about ready to go crazy between a husband who broke a collarbone and a winter storm that luckily did not dump the ice they were forecasting. So, I had plenty of time to be bored (wow – what a concept!) and I decided to take up the idea of my 1970’s song list again. What song did I thing of for whatever reason? I Go Crazy by Paul Davis from 1977 – oh shit – 40 years ago! The sad part is that Paul Davis is no longer with us – he died in 2008 one day before his 60th birthday from a heart attack. :-( I remember crying the day I first heard that – such a sweet voice and words that resonate down through the years to all of us who’ve been in love. And this is one of those songs.

This is a bittersweet song about a man who sees his old lover and his realization that he still loves her and should not have let her go. Paul Davis had originally wanted the song to be recorded by Lou Rawls who I agree would have done justice to it. But, the studio decided that Paul himself would be the best one to record it and so he did. Good call studio! Let’s talk about the music – so sad and mesmerizing. There are parts that almost sound like a music box – like he singer is lifting the lid on one and it’s taking him back to that time. It draws you in right away and then the words – oh – you feel so much for the singer. And yourself, because we’ve all had someone we let go and we’ll never get them back. And on You Tube – millions of views of this song is a testament to it’s power over the last 40 years. So, let’s get listening.

I Go Crazy by Paul Davis

Hello girl it’s been awhile
Guess you’ll be glad to know
That I’ve learned how to laugh and smile
Getting over you was slow
They say old lovers can be good friends
But I never thought I’d really see you again
I’d really see you again

The singer ran into his old girlfriend, and I imagine these are his thoughts upon seeing her yet, not saying them. She seems to be the one who broke up with him and it hit him hard – harder than he figured on. He never thought he’d run into her again and this is that moment he wasn’t prepared for.

I go crazy
When I look in your eyes I still go crazy
That old flame comes alive
No my heart just can’t hide
That old feeling inside, way deep down inside
Oh, baby, when I look in your eyes I go crazy

Seeing those old girlfriends/boyfriends/lovers can sometimes dredge us right back into that time and it’s hard to realize that it’s gone. Those old feelings really derail us.

You say he satisfies your mind – tells you all of his dreams
I know how much that means to you
I realize that I was blind
Just when I thought I was over you
I see your face and it just ain’t true
No, it just ain’t true

This stanza is key – most women want romance and emotional intimacy. They want to talk and share plans and dreams and really get personal. Not all women do, but most do. And it’s difficult when you don’t get that intimacy in a relationship – it stunts the growth of the people in it. Our singer realizes too late that he didn’t see that before, but understands now. While she has had closure, he has not.

I go crazy
When I look in your eyes I still go crazy
That old flame comes alive
It starts burning inside – way deep down inside
Oh, baby, when I look in your eyes I go crazy

(musical bridge)

I go crazy
When I look in your eyes I go crazy
No my heart just can’t hide that old feeling inside
Way deep down inside
I go crazy

And that’s the sad ending to this beautiful song. In my daydreaming I see him walking away from her in the ending music and shaking his head – he’s lost so much. Oh, and don’t bother with any other version of this song – the original of this is the best and always will be. So, take a listen and see what you think. I was 14 when this song came out and I’ve listened to it many, many times over the course of my life. RIP Paul Davis and thank you for your tender voice and the 3 great songs you left us: I Go Crazy, Sweet Life, and Come on Over. You live on in your music.

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Resolve

January 3, 2017

I was thinking about the word resolve the other night and what it means so I looked it up:
- settle or find a solution to
- decide firmly on a course of action
- firm determination to do something
That last one reminds me of the Baltimore Catechism telling me to make a firm purpose of amendment to not sin. :-) So, to resolve means to decide firmly on a course of action and a resolution is acting upon that resolve. I don’t see the word try in any of these definitions either – you make up your mind and do it. Remember Yoda? There is no try – do or do not. Applies here.

So, I’m still not going to make any resolutions – i.e. grand statements about doing 5,000 things this year to change up my life. Nope, I’m just going to resolve to do the things I need to do – and to decide on a course of action on how to change the things I need to change. And then act on those decisions. A simpler way to make changes.

Peg Bracken in the “I Hate to Housekeep Book” says, “Act immediately on whatever housewifely impulses come your way” and I think that is a good way to get things done. If you see something that needs to be done – do it. I’ve actually been doing that lately and it works. So, here’s to a new year of living and making changes where needed. Martinis anyone?

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Music Monday – Praying For Time

January 2, 2017

It has been a week since the news of George Michael’s death shook the world and I’m still not quite over it. I remember his beginnings on MTV and listened to his music through the years so it’s very personal to me. I pray that he will find the peace that had eluded him for so long.

Luckily for us all, his beautiful voice lives on through his music and so I’ve chosen his song “Praying For Time” as this year’s first Music Monday. It is a good time for this one as so much has changed in the landscape since it was first released in 1990. I think it speaks for itself so I won’t comment. Listen without prejudice. RIP George Michael. :-(

These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses

The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we’ll take our chances
’cause God’s stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all God’s children
Crept out the back door

And it’s hard to love, there’s so much to hate
Hanging on to hope When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it’s much too late
Well maybe we should all be praying for time

These are the days of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year

This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here

So you scream from behind your door
Say “what’s mine is mine and not yours”
I may have too much but I’ll take my chances
Because God’s stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That He can’t come back
Beacuse He has no children to come back for

It’s hard to love there’s so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it’s much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time

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It’s A New Year

January 1, 2017

I think we all feel a little wobbly since the passing of 2016 and not knowing what this new year will bring. I try not to think about the crap that could happen and to just keep focused on what I need to do for me, my family, and my community every day. It is enough.

Am I making resolutions? Nope. Do I need to make changes? Yep. So, this year I’ll just keep on moving forward and making the changes I need to make while living my life in the normal lane. How did I do last year? Not great – so this year it’s just making changes as I go. No more I’m going to do this, that, or the other. I know what I need to do and I need to just do it and make those things a part of my life. No grandiose statements – just live the life I have. Again, it’s enough.

So, Happy New Year to all of you and let’s just keep on keeping on with the wisdom of St. Padre Pio – “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” Amen.

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