Feel Good Friday - YouTube Videos

 

When I'm in a down mood, I have a few self-care ways to fix it.  I'll pick up an old favorite to read.  I'll stream an old favorite TV Show or movie.  I'll write in my journal or my BuJo.  I'll play video games.  But sometimes I'm in the middle of something else and just need an auditory pick me up.  So I'll grab one of my playlists and start listening.

"Real Fight" by HalaCG is one of the best pick-me-up listens for me.  It's a song created as if from the point of view of Toph from The Last Airbender.  I've never really watched the show (though it's on my list), but this song is just an ultimate in girl-power and a kick in the ass of anyone who thinks someone like Toph - young, female and blind - can't keep up or even surpass those who are older, male and sighted.  It just pulls me back to knowing my own strengths.

I don't remember if it was Rich or Tedd that introduced me to The Stupendium, but I've been eternally grateful that they did.  This song ("Why Did I Say Okie Dokie?") was, if I remember correctly, one of his first big ones.  And the original of the song is awesome, but this orchestral version just hits me in the feels every time.  

This is another of The Stupendium's songs that I love to listen to. It's very different than most of his others. Most of his music videos are game-related raps. But this one is a love letter to the Mars Rover Opportunity. It is so full of hope for the future, so thankful to what the little Rover has done for us. It lifts me up because of that hope.

   

 I'm fairly late to the geek rap scene and hadn't heard of rap cyphers.  There are a lot of great ones out there including many of my favorite geek rappers.  But this one being all the ladies is just fantastic!  There are so many great lady geek rappers out there and a bunch of them are pulled together.  Plus it gives me a lot of anime that I need to check out one of these days.

Who would win in a rap battle between various people? That's what Epic Rap Battles of History asks with every video they put out.  What I love about Alexander the Great vs Ivan the Terrible is the turn deftness of the rappers, as well as the pull-ins that they do (watch the video and you'll understand).  I listen to this one so much that I can almost rap along with them.

Natewantstobattle has long been a favorite of mine.  He's such a talented musician, not only with parody songs but also with many of his original pieces.  I started listening to his Pokemon parodies, like this one.  "Kanto" (a parody of Back Home) shows off just how many things he can do - singing, playing different instruments, mixing himself singing the different parts.  And this so just feels like I'm coming back home.

I'll end this one of my favorites from the now defunct (I think) Screen Team.  This is an original that showed me that I'm not alone in my geekiness and that I should never apologize for who I am.  It's a great way to bolster me out of whatever has gotten me down.

There are (and probably will continue to be) more songs on my playlist  if you're interested to see what else helps bring me out of the doldrums.

* Actually, I was wrong.  I am instead ending this on one that I shot 9 years ago, with my adorable Pete singing the Mayonnaise song.  This is one that never fails to cheer me up no matter how low I'm feeling.

Monday's Music Moves Me - Freebie Week!

This week is "Freebie Week" at Monday's Music Moves Me. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from my Geekery Mix. If you'd like to listen to the whole list on YouTube, you can find it here.


I'm a huge gamer. I've been gaming since a friend introduced me in college. And the words in this parody song are EXACTLY what it was like back in those days. I still game, but no more of the late nights.



This is another parody song. My husband is a scientist (though he's gotten out of laboratory science and is working in a related field) and I was with him through trying to get his doctorate and his post-doc years. Yeah, we had some days like this!



Another great bit of Old School Gaming Geekery. I will wander around my house, finding myself humming this.



As I've mentioned before, I'm a comics geek. And I have loved Neil Patrick Harris since his Doogie Howser days. (And does that man have a VOICE on him!) When I found out there was a musical episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold and that NPH was the villain, I had to have it. This is one of my favorite songs from the ep.



BabelColour is the best when it comes to putting the perfect Doctor Who moments to music. I had never heard the song "What About Everything" before I saw this video. I've come to love not only the video (with BabelColour's perfection once again), but the song as well. It's one I'll put on when I'm in a reflective mood.



Finally, this isn't a song. It's an episode. But it my absolute favorite Children in Need episode. Doctor Who fans will understand. Those who aren't as familiar with it might not.

Music Moves Me Meme

This is one of those memes that I keep looking at through various other blogs and think, "I'm going to start this meme today!" and then blank completely on what to link up.  But everyone's got to start somewhere.  And, with my love of music, it's something I should have jumped into earlier.

But I'm here now and that's what counts!  This week, we're linking up songs that get you moving - ones that you put on when you're exercising or cleaning to get you into the groove.  Wayne at Touristic linked up one of my favorites - "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan.  If you'd like to see it, just click on the link above.

So... exercise and cleaning music.  I've got a mix on Pandora that I listen to when I'm in the mood to clean or work-out.  Some really high energy songs show up there that help me zone out and get done what I need to.


This is one of my favorite songs by Heather Dale. It's such a great, bouncy song that gets me moving whenever I hear it.


I'm a huge fan of Dropkick Murphys. While there are other songs that I enjoy more (like "Wild Rover"), there are few that get me moving like "The Spicy McHaggis Jig".


I grew up country, so I've got to have a good country song involved when I'm moving. "Sin Wagon" by the Dixie Chicks just rocks!


I'm closing out today with another of my favorites - Barenaked Ladies' "One Week". I always find myself bopping while I'm working whenever this comes on.

Best Friends Don't Have to be Human

When I was pregnant with Teddy, my step-mom took me shopping for fabric so she could make pillows and blankets for the baby.  One of the pieces of fabric we picked out was a soft blue flannel with pale yellow moons and stars on it.  From that piece of material, she made a small body pillow, a small pillow and a blanket.  There were other things as well, but none of them have been as important in our lives as these three items.

At various times when he was old enough to move around well on his own, we'd put different pillows and blankets in his bed for him to sleep with.  And it wasn't long before he had a favorite - the body pillow.  Every night, he'd snuggle up with it, holding it tight.  We didn't think much of even that until one night, when the pillow was on the floor, he started crying "Bodie!  Bodie!"  We had no idea what he was talking about until we realized where he was pointing - right at the pillow.  As soon as we handed it to him, he calmed down and fell asleep.

From that point forward, Bodie was Teddy's constant companion.  He came to the store with us, to the park, walking over to get the mail.... it didn't matter.  If Teddy was coming somewhere, so was Bodie.  Only once did we make the mistake of leaving Bodie behind - on a long-weekend trip to visit our family in the Northeast.  About an hour into our drive, Teddy told us he'd forgotten Bodie.  We didn't want to turn around and go back because we were half way to Knoxville by then, so we told him that Bodie would be ok at home and he'd be ok without Bodie.  Um... wrong.  The trip wasn't bad, but stopping for the night and trying to get him to sleep.... miserable.  From that point forward, we always double checked on Bodie.

As he got older, he'd tell us little things about Bodie.  Bodie was afraid of the dark.  He didn't like to lie a certain way.  He got really lonely if he needed to be left in the car for any reason.  Bodie was as real to Teddy as any flesh and blood friend.  Actually, I shouldn't say "was", because he is still that real to Teddy.  While he doesn't bring him to school, he needs to have him to sleep with every night and between a quarter and half the time we go somewhere, Teddy asks if he can bring Bodie.  Because he's still Teddy's best friend.

You can see Bodie, clutched in Teddy's hand while he sleeps with his other friends, LadyBug and Piplup.

A few months before my step-mom passed away, she noticed how worn Teddy's best friend was getting.  We'd had to repair him a couple times, the stuffing was bunching at the two ends from Teddy holding Bodie in the middle.  She asked me to bring the blanket to her and she'd make a second Bodie.  This way, if anything happened to the first one, he could have another nearby.  It turned out there wasn't enough fabric in the blanket to make a new body pillow, so she made two larger sized head pillows instead.  I don't know if she had a sense that these pillows would be as important as Bodie or not, but on the corner of one of the pillows she left a tag that reads, "Made with Love by Grandma".

Teddy was never interested in the two larger pillows, though I made sure to keep them safe, especially after Mom Sue passed away.  It was something that she'd made with love for her grandson.  Maybe Teddy would want that some day, maybe for his own kids.  But Pete had other plans.

I don't even remember how it happened.  Maybe I gave them to Pete.  Maybe he found them.  But just like Teddy with Bodie, he quickly became attached to these two larger pillows.  From the time he got his toddler bed, they needed to be with him every night.  And when he found the little pillow, that needed to be there as well.  And, like with Bodie in the beginning, we thought it was just a pillow preference.  Until he started carrying them around everywhere.  Soon, he told us their names.  One was Mommy Plo, one was Daddy Plo and the little one was Baby Plo.  He could always tell the difference between Mommy and Daddy Plo and was very upset if he asked for one and you brought him the other.  It took me a little while to figure out how to tell the difference - Mommy Plo has the tag on her.

And like Teddy with Bodie, Pete needs his best friends with him.  When he's feeling uncomfortable or shy, nervous or tired, you will often see him with one Plo in his left hand, Baby Plo under his arm, his right thumb in his mouth and the fingers of that hand clutching tightly to the last Plo.  Plo comes out with us to restaurants, to the library, to visit friends - much like Bodie.  And every night, when he goes to sleep, he needs his friends in their places on his bed, right where he can snuggle them.  And if even one is missing, he'll run downstairs to get it.  Because you never leave a friend behind.

Peter, snuggled on the couch with his Spongebob Blanket and his best friend giving him a place to rest.

I often wonder when the boys will leave Bodie and Plo behind.  I'm sure it will happen.  It does with all children.  But I plan on keeping them, even when their friends have gotten to big for such things.  And when their older, I hope they remember them, maybe ask for them back for their own kids.

There is a song on the CD that the boys' listen to at night as their falling asleep that brings a smile to my face every time I heard it.  It's called, "I'm Your Pillow" and it's on Bill Harley's Town Around the Bend.  The song is the pillow, talking about how the child needs to sleep and settle down, maybe turn him over for the cooler underside.  I could imagine my boys' friends having this conversation with them.  But there's once verse that really brings it home, that I am thinking of writing out, framing and putting on their wall because it fits them all perfectly.  Here are the lyrics:

Yeah it's silly
Don't believe it
But I promise you it's true
Lots of people really love you
But your pillow loves you too

One day you'll be all grown up
I'll be nothing, skin and bones
But I helped you to get bigger
Don't forget me when you're grown
     - "I'm Your Pillow" by Bill Harley, (The Town Around the Bend)

And as I hear it,  I know that Bill is singing to them on behalf of Bodie, Mommy Plo, Daddy Plo and Baby Plo.  And it makes me smile.

Memory Music

"Almost every one of these albums takes me back to a specific moment in my life so whenever I play one, I'm flooded with all sorts of memories.  I guess you could say I'm reliving my personal history."

                                                         -- Dr Lee Rosen, "When Push Comes to Shove", Alphas (2x04)


Thanks to Netflix, I've been catching up on a bunch of shows that I was told I'd love, yet hadn't had the chance to check out before.  Right now, I'm catching up with Alphas.  And one of the episodes I watched today (on SyFy, since Netflix only has season 1 right now) was "When Push Comes to Shove".  The quote above was near the beginning of the show and not really part of the main story line.  In it, Dr. Rosen is talking with Kat, a young woman with muscle memory that lets her copy whatever she sees (very much like Monica Dawson on Heroes), but Kat's comes with the negative effect of wiping out any memory older than about a month old.  Rosen wants to try to help her remember more of her past, including something like her favorite song.  When she chuckles at it, he says the above quote.

It impacted me strongly.  Music has always been an important part of my life, and songs or snippits of song will hurl me back in time to those moments and I feel just like I did back then.  And it amazes me the things that I remember from those times.

Today, I was driving the boys back from picking up Teddy's glasses when Train's "Drops of Jupiter" came on the radio.  I was brought back to my early days of living in New York, hearing the song on the radio when I was taking the train in to work, or having it play on darts nights.  For all that the song continued to be popular, the memories for me stop on September 11th.  It is a reminder of my happier times in New York.

I sang along, remembering every word, being a carefree twenty-something starting a new life.

I just have to think about "Counting Flowers on the Wall" by the Statler Brothers to be brought back to my childhood.  I remember sitting at my aunt's table one day, listening to it and loving it because it mentioned Captain Kangaroo.  Things were simpler then.  I need that sometimes.

"The Rose" brings me to so many places.  When I was in high school, it was my signature song.  Every solo concert, I would sing it at least once.  My boyfriend, Paul, went out to buy me a rose during one concert so he could give it to me when I came off stage.  I recorded it for my parents and grandparents on a cassette tape for Christmas one year.  I tried to sing it at my Pappaw's funeral, but forgot all the words.  And during my wedding, I had it played for my father and my sister to dance to (since my dad missed her wedding and they couldn't do a father/daughter dance).  I wanted to sing it that time, but I didn't trust that I could.

When I was in the hospital, giving birth to my oldest son, I had made up a whole list of songs to play during the whole waiting time before hand (and there was a lot of that).  I called it, "Songs to Give Birth By" and it had nurses stopping in constantly to see what song was coming up next.  I can't remember what most of the songs were now, and the list is long gone.  But one song, one moment, stuck with me above all others.  Lorrie Morgan's "Something in Red".  The epidural was on the edge of not working and I was hurting quite a bit.  Rich was sitting beside me, holding my hand while I tried to block out the pain.  And then I heard the first words of the song, "I'm looking for something in red," and my eyes locked with my husband's through the whole song.  I sang along with Lorrie, and when the fourth verse came along, I smiled at Rich with tears in my eyes.

"I'm looking for something in blue,
Something real tiny, the baby's brand new.
He has his father's nose and his chin.
We once were hot lovers, now we're more like friends.
Don't tell me that's just what old married folk do.
I'm looking for something in blue.

It reminded me why I was enduring the pain, what was going to come out at the end of it.  And somehow, the song, being able to sing it to Rich and share with him at that moment, I didn't remember the pain anymore.


These aren't the only songs that bring me back.  "When I Said I Do" by Clint Black and Lisa Hartman was our first dance song and I stared into Rich's eyes, singing it to him as we danced for the first time as husband and wife.  I can't hear, "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" by Meatloaf without being pulled back to college, singing it with Kat, Tammy, Tina, Carm... just about everyone.  Or "I'm Alright by Jo Dee Messina reminding me of hard concrete as I sat at a gas station, reconnecting with an old friend.  Or many nights of tears, remembering a friendship and love affair that I'd cause to implode, sure that I'd never love again, whenever I heard, "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt.
Songs pull at my heart strings.  They make me laugh and make me cry, reminds me of joys and mistakes, love and pain.  It makes me a child, a teenager, a young woman making mistakes and making the most of life.  Music is my life.

M is for.... Music, A to Z Challenge (Bonus Post)

As I was posting my Monday post previously, it dawned on me that there's a better M post.  Well, a sort of post.  Because I love music as much as I love books.  I've been singing most of my life - my family tells stories of how I used to sing "Baby Face" when I was a kid.  My aunt wanted me to sing "Here Comes the Bride" at her wedding when I was 5.  I was in chorus for as long as I could do so.  I sang solos.  I sang duets. I love to sing.  I keep wishing that I could join a chorus now, but there's too much going on for me to do so.
Since I don't have any video of me singing (though it's something I hope to do someday soon, if I can ever figure out the built in webcam on the netbook), I'm going to post a few of my favorites to, hopefully, give you a taste of the music I love.

This fits me so well. I love it because of that.

One of my favorite quotes comes from this song - First let's just unzip your religion down.

This is one of the songs I listen to when I'm having a really, really, REALLY bad day.

When I was in High School, my friend Becky and I used to see each other across the quad and yell out, "You're WHAT? Tin Roof... Rusted". Memories.

I love Capitol Steps. They help me laugh when I need it.

Phineas and Ferb has some of the best music on television today.  Teddy and I sing this together in the car all the time.

Music.  It helps soothe the soul.

M is for... Mondays, A to Z Challenge

Mondays and I have a rough relationship.  You'd think that, being a stay at home mom, that wouldn't be the case.  That Mondays would be just like any other day for me.  But it's not.  And I don't quite know why.
Or rather, I don't completely know why.  Some of it, of course, is because Rich has to go back to work on Mondays.  I've had two wonderfully glorious days with my husband, and now it'll be just me and the kids.  I want him around because I love it when we can have family time together.  Mondays bring an end to that.
And I'm sure that some of it is left over from my working days.  Mondays were the days I had to go back to work - back to the grind and the frustration that my job caused.  No more sleeping in until 8 or 9.  No more spending a bunch of time online or going out to the park to read a book.  Nope.  Work.  Work, work and more work.  And I wouldn't get my time off until the following Saturday.
But some of it... I just can't explain.  Mondays always seem to catch me unaware.  I'm up around 7 with the kids, and still, I can't seem to get everything together to bring them to story time.  And I love bringing my kids to story time.  It's a day that I want to spend in bed with my head under the covers.  Mondays depress me.

Whenever Monday arrives, this song plays in my head.  Yep, the Tori version rather than the Boomtown Rats version.

A Quick Update for a Swap

I started a swap of YouTube playlists over on Swap-Bot.  I just sent my playlist out to my partners, so now I want to share it with my readers.  It's an interesting mix.  Below are the songs in the playlist with a little description why I chose them.




"Winter" by Tori Amos - Tori is one of my all time favorite artists. "Winter" was the first song of hers I ever heard.

"God Thinks" by Voltaire - I adore this song!  It's one that generally offends someone in every crowd because Voltaire takes all different things that groups of people have said that "God thinks" over the years and puts them together to see how ridiculous they  can sound when put together.

"I'm Alright" by Jo Dee Messina - This song always reminds me of my high school and college friends.  I've had a few conversations like  the one in this song before.

"When I Said I Do" by Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black - This was my first dance song with my husband. 

"Down in the Backpack" by Bill Harley - I heard this on Pandora and thought it was one of the funniest songs ever.  It fit every backpack I ever owned.

"Suite Sister Mary" by Queensryche - This comes from Queensryche's Operation:MindCrime album.  I love the whole album but this song, with the call and answer just rocks the most.

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band - I remember hearing this song the first time when I was younger and it stuck with me.  It's long been one of my favorites.

"When I Fall" by Barenaked Ladies - BNL is another group that I love anything they put out.  I wanted to put "Crazy ABC" because it's so much fun but I couldn't find the video for it. "When I Fall"is a quieter song that I listen to when I'm being introspective.

"Never Go to Work" by They Might Be Giants - This is an all over fun song. And it makes me think of my band director uncle who specializes in the trumpet.

"S-E-X-X-Y" by They Might Be Giants - This is one of their older songs that I played a lot while I was dating one of my exes.

"Something in Red" by Lorrie Morgan - I had this song playing when I was in labor with my oldest son. It's become our family song.

"Love Shack" by The B52's - This song came out when I was in HS. One of my friends and I used to yell across campus to each other, "You're WHAT? Tin roof... rusted."

"Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" by Alan Jackson - I was living and working in NYC on 09/11/01. Though I doubt I'll ever be able to do so, this song assures me that I'll never forget.

"La Vie Bohem" from Rent - Live life to its fullest, no matter what.

"I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" by Bette Midler - I love singing this song. Beaches is one of my favorite movies.

"We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel - In my AP American History class, my teacher started the year with this song.  She told us that it was more interesting to start with what we knew - and a lot of the things in this song were from our lifetime.

"What It's Like" by Everlast - I love songs that tell a story.  And the stories in this one are just heart wrenching.

"Say Good-Bye to Marlon Brando" by Elton John - I had Reg Strikes Back, the tape that this song was on and I played it until it wore out.  This was one of my favorites on the album.

"Jolene" by the White Stripes - I got to hear this one in concert.  I love the Dolly Parton version, but there's something about this one that speaks to me as well.

"Brick" by Ben Folds - I got to hear this one in concert as well. It's another story song that just hits me every time I hear it.

Song Lyrics E-mail Survey

One of the swaps that I recently joined was an e-mail survey swap.  We needed to name songs that made me think of certain things and enter lyrics that made me think of others.  Coming up with the list brought lots of tears to my eyes, and just as many smiles.  I'm pretty proud of the list, so I want to share it.  As I started listening to the various songs, I realized that I really should make a mixed CD of these songs.

What song makes you think of...

Someone you love: Something in Red by Lorrie Morgan

The whole song makes me think of my husband and my boys, because it’s about meeting the man that you love, marrying, having a little boy, and the strength of the love.  I actually had this song playing when I was in the hospital with my oldest.

Someone from your past: I Can’t See New York by Tori Amos

In 2004, one of my best friends, Cristi, died by drowning due to an epileptic seizure.  New York was her favorite place in the world to be.  And this song always makes me think of her because of that.

School: Love Shack by The B-52’s

This song came out when I was in High School.  Several of my friends and I would yell across campus to each other “Tin roof…. RUSTED!”  It always brings back the good times for me.

A good memory: When I Said I Do by Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black

This was my husband and my first dance song.  Whenever I hear it, I can still feel myself in his arms, singing along with it to him, taking Lisa’s harmony.  It’s one of my happiest memories.

A bad memory: Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning by Alan Jackson

I was in New York on 9/11.  It was the scariest day of my life.  I can still remember standing in the sun outside of Penn Station and, even more disturbing, walking through Penn Station over the next several months and seeing flyers from people looking for the missing hanging everywhere.  (And just listening to the song again has me in tears.)

The future: Letting Go by Suzy Bogguss

I don’t have daughters, but I do have sons that will be leaving my house someday.  And I know that the bittersweet tone of this song will describe that day.

An overwhelming event in your life: There Is No Arizona by Jamie O’Neal

This could probably go under A Bad Memory and Where Were You… here, but I think of them more the opposite.  For seven years, I dated a man that was all wrong for me.  Two years into our relationship, he got married to someone else and I stuck around because he told me he loved me, not her, and the marriage was for their son.  He made promises or half-promises that never came true.  The song always reminds me of what I went through while I was with him and how I felt when I realized there was no Arizona.

A sunny day: Daydream Believer by The Monkees

I love the Monkees.  They’re one of my all-time favorite groups.  And Daydream Believer just has that happy, sunny vibe to it.

A rainy day: Here Comes the Rain Again by the Eurythmics

The title tells it all.  Plus the Eurythmics are just awesome.

The summer: Summertime by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

This song actually feels like summer to me.  The way it feels so lazy and sultry… it just brings me back to my own summers.  It’s also one of my favorites to sing.

The winter: Winter by Tori Amos

I just love the imagery of the song.  It reminds me of the cold, and it reminds me of who I once was in the winter of myself.

The loss of someone close: The Rose by Bette Midler

This was the song that I sang regularly in High School.  It was one of my step-mom’s favorites, particularly when I sang it.  She passed away almost 2 years ago, so I can’t hear it without thinking of her.

Your family: Heirlooms by Amy Grant

This is another song that I regularly sang while I was in High School.  I made a two sided tape with The Rose on one side and Heirlooms on the other for my grandparents one Christmas.  And the words are how I feel about my family – they ARE more than an heirloom to me.

Your friends: You May Be Right by Billy Joel

My friends and I are a bunch of lunatics when we’re together.  And my best friend, Carm, is a HUGE Billy Joel fan so it makes me think of her as well.

...Dirty things: Vanilla Sex  by NOFX

(link warning: foul language in the song, in case you don’t care for that kind of language or in a situation where listening to it is not appropriate)  This is an AWESOME song.  And it’s a way that I live my life.  Because I don’t think anyone should control how consenting adults enjoy sex.

Use lyrics to describe....

Yourself:

I'm a bitch, I'm a lover 
I'm a child, I'm a mother 
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint 
I do not feel ashamed 
I'm your health, I'm your dream 
I'm nothing in between 
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

I'm a bitch, I'm a tease 
I'm a goddess on my knees 
when you hurt, when you suffer 
I'm your angel undercover 
I've been numbed, I'm revived 
can't say I'm not alive 
You know I wouldn't want it any other way

Bitch by Meredith Brooks

These words describe me perfectly.  I’m a little bit of everything.

One of your friends:

Go go go go now
Out of the nest
It's time
Go go go now
Circus girl without a safety net
Here here now
Don't cry

Mother by Tori Amos

My best friend lost her mom a week ago Tuesday.  For a long time, she and her mom were all each other had.  Even when my friend got married, though, her mom still lived with them.  She’s always used Mom as a sounding board and always considered her with everything.  So now that Mom is gone, it’s like she’s out of the next for the first time.  It’s really tough for her.  So these words really fit her now.

Your significant other or crush (If you have one):

And he is good, so good
He treats your little girl like a real man should
He is good, so good

He makes promises he keeps
No he's never gonna leave
So don't you worry about me
Don't you worry about me

Mama’s Song by Carrie Underwood

There was a long time that my parents didn’t think I’d find a good man to treat me right.  But I found him in my husband.  He’s there for me through the good and the bad – and he’s seen some pretty bad bads.  Yet he’s still with me.  I’m a very lucky woman.

Your life:

So when I make big mistake
When I fall flat on my face
I know I'll be alright
Should my tender heart be broken
I will cry those teardrops knowin'
I will be just fine
'Cause nothin' changes who I am

Who I Am by Jessica Andrews

I had a hard time choosing which lyrics from this song to post, because they all fit me so well.  My family and friends are there for me, no matter what.  And that means the world to me.

The place where you live:

But there is nothing wrong with Nashville
These rolling hills of Nashville, Tennessee
There isn't nothing wrong, nothing wrong with Nashville
Were making country music history

Nashville by Todd Snider

I moved to Nashville five years ago and I love living here.  The people are friendly, the food is great, the weather is beautiful and there’s so much to do.  It’s a great place to raise my kids and soothe my soul.

Love:

There's a tree out in the backyard
That never has been broken by the wind
And the reason its still standing
It was strong enough to bend

For years, we have stayed together
As lovers and as friends
What we have will last forever
If we're strong enough to bend

Strong Enough to Bend by Tanya Tucker

For any love, you need to be strong enough to bend with the changes that life hands you.  Without the bending, you may feel superior temporarily, but your love will eventually break and you’ll be without something great.

Hate:

Self-righteous, judgmental, first to throw a stone
and using His name for your own protection

God Thinks by Voltaire

This is one is one of my all time favorite songs.  So many people use God as a reason to hate their fellow man because of race, sex, religion or sexual identity.  And this song puts each thing that God supposedly thinks into its own line.  It really makes one think when they listen to it.  (At least it did for me.)

Pain:

Grief, melancholy
Sources divine to creativity
This life is just a fragment of a dream
What would drive us if we were complete?
The desire anchored inside
Is haunting, but makes you tick and move

The Need for Pain by Neaera

Pain is one of those necessary things in life.  Because if you don’t feel the depths of pain, you won’t know the highs of joy.

Someone you used to love:

Goodbye, love
Goodbye, love
Came to say goodbye love, goodbye.
Just came to say goodbye love,
Goodbye love, goodbye love, goodbye love

Good-bye Love from Rent

Rent is one of my all time favorite musicals.  And the song is so bittersweet.  And these lines in particular, they remind me of having to say good-bye, even when the love may have still been there a bit.  But it was the for the best.

An ex:

I'm gonna tell you something you don't wanna hear
You never listen when I talk
Maybe you'll listen when I walk
So I made my mind up and made a sandwich
And I didn't shed a tear
I gave you one last minute of my time
In this mess I left behind
When you come home tonite
And turn on the light
Don't you be surprised to find my little good-byes

Little Good-Byes by SheDaisy

This was my relationship for most of seven years.  Never being listened to, being ignored… and when I got ready to go, this was how it felt.  It was great to leave.

Something you regret:

I was feeling insecure
You might not love me anymore
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside

I Didn’t Mean to Hurt You by John Lennon

I try not to regret anything because everything happens for a reason.  But the one thing that I do regret was how I acted in a relationship I was in.  He’d been one of my best friends and I got really insecure.  When he broke up with me, I didn’t some really crazy things.  He broke off all contact.  Even 15 years later, he won’t speak to me.  And I regret that because I would have liked to have him as a friend in my life in that time.

Your childhood:

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by

The End of the Innocence by Don Henley

My childhood was a combination of innocence and loss of innocence.  When I was 12, my parents separated.  And for all that I knew that they loved me, I still remember the fights and my fears that it was my fault.  I try to remember the blue skies rather than the fighting.

Your current mood:

Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind
Memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine
Memories, memories, sweet memories, memories...

Memories by Elvis Presley

As I’ve been trying to find lyrics and songs for the survey, I’ve relived a lot of old memories.  Some were happy, some sad, some bittersweet.  But I’m dwelling in the past for the moment.  And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.