Two trailer park girls go round the outside

I'm being tortured.

By my own brain.

For the last week (yes, the entire week), I've had a song stuck in my head. The same song, all. stinking. week. long.

Can you just hand me that soup spoon over there? I'm gonna gouge out my ears. Oh...wait. That won't help cuz the song will still be rolling around inside my brain. Hm. If I stick my finger in a power outlet, do you think that would ZAP the song out?

Anyway. Where was I? Oh yes. So to add insult to injury, the song in question isn't some respectable little ditty like "Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In". Noooo.

I'm stuck on Eminem's "Without Me."

Really? Would that be considered Gansta Rap? And why does using the word gansta make me feel like a big dorka?

So infecting my brain, I have lyrics like this:
"Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me."

That's just about all I can quote cuz the rest of the song is, well, not so family friendly. In fact, when I read through the lyrics, I'm mildly horrified and I make a mental note to skip over this song when I'm listening to my iPod with the kids in the van.

Am I trying to relive some hip youth (which I never really had in the first place. Me? Hip? AHAHAHA! That's a good one!) by having this little gem on my iPod? Uh...no. I'm painfully aware that a 35-year-old stay-at-home-mom is not exactly part of Eminem's targeted demographic.

Believe it or not, I have a sentimental attachment to this song. (Can you stop laughing long enough for me to explain?!)

Way back in June of 2002, I had a 3-week-old baby boy named Benjamin who liked to get up several times a night for his bottle. During these feedings, I used the tv for company. His early-morning feeding was normally around 5am-ish. So every morning, I brought him downstairs, warmed the bottle, and we settled into the recliner with the remote nearby.

At that time, VH1 ran a show in the morning called (I think) "Cardio-Video". I believe the idea was that people could use these songs to accompany their workouts (at this un-godly hour of the morning?! Who DOES that?).

So every morning, I turned on Cardio-Video and nearly every morning, "Without Me" was on. It grew on me. Plus, the video is funny. Make me laugh at 5am and I'm ALL YOURS.

Yeah. You can relax. I'm not going to suddenly shave my head and show up with my pants hanging off my behind, sporting a "Gansta 4 Life" tattoo on the back of my neck.

I just enjoy the memory of sitting in the recliner with my new little boy. Listening to him gulp down his bottle. Kissing his long, wrinkly fingers and toes. Running my hands over his whispy hair. Patting his back and cracking up over the giant burps that his tiny body produced.

That was over 7 years ago and my tiny, wrinkly boy is a 2nd grader. So if it takes Eminem to remind me of the early days, so be it. Thanks a million, Marshal Mathers!

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On an unrelated note:

I had to share these 2 photos with you. I took the girls with me last week to run some errands. Alexa said she was "huuuuungryyyyyyy", so I gave her a bag of goldfish to snack on. She fell asleep on the way home with her hand inside the bag.

Tired vs. hungry?

Apparently tired won.