Kids say the darndest things

So, I was gonna start this out completely differently but then my mind started wandering, as usual..... and since I know R is gonna read this, I also know that she'll totally get it.


First, I have to say that even though my kids drive me crazy, oh about 90% of the time, they are still really, really, really good kids. Over the last year, 3 of the kids that mine have grown up with have either gone to jail, or are about to go for some pretty serious stuff. 2 years ago 2 friends of my oldest died in a very ugly car crash due to them drinking and driving at the age of 14. And in February, one of the girls my 15 year old used to be close friends with had a baby. She was 14 when she got pregnant and 15 when she had her son. I say all this just to remind myself that my kids really aren't bad kids at all....just typical kids. As I was thinking about the above incidences as well as others, I realized that I could count on one hand (3 fingers actually) the times my kids have done something monumentally stupid....and even those things don't come close to the above.


My oldest will be 17 in a little over a month, so she's definitely in that whole "You're treating me like I'm 5", while rolling her eyes stage. And of course, I've now turned into my parents (argh!!!) with my whole "I don't care if everyone else's parents let them do it.....they're not my kids and it's my job to protect you 'cause no matter how old you think you are, you're still living in MY house with MY rules and I want to know where you're going, what you're gonna be doing, who else is gonna be there, what time you're coming home and I had BETTER get a phone call when you're there because, contrary to what YOU think, I don't pay for your cell phone just for you to talk to your friends! And don't you DARE CALL ME OVERLY-EMOTIONAL!!!!!!" rant.......of course, all said while I'm shaking my finger.Yeah, because clearly I wasn't overly-emotional. Anyway, the point is, we're pretty much normal.


*sigh* Whatever happened to the pledge I made when I was 16 that no matter what my kids did, I would NEVER, EVER treat them the way my parents did......because of course, my parents were total nerds, had no clue what they were talking about and well, I knew better???


So, since we're normal, of course my kids also have a problem with some of the music I listen to. Unfortunately for them, they know Hotel California by heart, even though they'd prefer not to (and one day I WILL be able to convince them that it's the greatest song ever). But what's worse than that is when they get stuck in the car with me (because I am the only person allowed to change the channels.....uhh, I don't know who could have made that rule up) and I can see them crossing their fingers, closing their eyes, saying their prayers and chanting "Please, no. Please, no. Please, no." and then when I hit the Country station, you hear "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW C'MONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN........GOD MOMMMMMMMMM...........NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!". I enjoy all kinds of music....country included but it's not my favorite. However, I will admit that more times than not, I hit that station just to annoy them because I'm such an adult that way *evil laugh*. Anyway, they don't like country, so if I'm home and they're not trapped in a car with me, I won't force them to listen to it. I just listen to it in my room if that's my preference at the moment. Sooooooo, the other day my 15 year old comes in my room and lays on the bed while I'm engrossed in various Youtube videos. I happened to run across one I hadn't heard in about a week and start playing it and Catalina says "Who is that?" and, knowing she won't care because it's country, I say "Ehh, just some country chick. She's only 17."....and we start discussing why she's singing about Tim McGraw. Now, I gotta say that Catalina (15 year old) is a bit more open-minded when it comes to music than Marina (16 year old) is....but, she's not a fan of country, unless it's Martina McBride. But I start to notice that Catalina hasn't bailed yet and she's actually watching the video and asking me "what'd she say there?" and I realize that, at the very least, she doesn't hate it. So, fast forward about 3 days to yesterday and while the girls are doing their normal morning routine, I hear that song playing and it wasn't on my computer...it was on theirs. Now, truthfully, I was stunned but I said nothing. I pretended I didn't even notice it. Sometimes teenagers are like some elusive, nocturnal creature that scares easily......and if you say what you want to, they'll run and then you missed your chance to watch something you thought you'd never see. Soooo,I look over at Marina because she's the one that should really be having a fit by that point in the song, but she wasn't. I thought she must be really tired because there is no way in hell she would normally listen to that of her own free will. But, again, I leave it be and walk away laughing (to myself, of course). Now, fast forward to this morning...................................


They were going with their friend and his family to have a BBQ for the kids uncle who just got back from Iraq this week. It's a couple hour drive north, so they had to be up and out early. So, I hear all the noises that they make every morning when getting ready....including the music blaring, because for some reason, they don't get that our house isn't a studio and my room isn't soundproofed, so, YES, I CAN hear your music even when my door is closed! But, it's their normal racket, so nothing out of the ordinary there. I hadn't turned my laptop on yet, and frankly, wasn't planning on getting online then, but I saw theirs on and I decided to check my email and myspace. Catalina's in the background straightening her hair....Marina's putting her makeup on and out of nowhere Marina says "Taylor Swift is coming to town". Now, knowing that she hates country music, I thought she was telling me 'cause she knows I like that girl's voice. So I say "Yeah, I saw that". And then it happens............She says "We should try to get some tickets". I thought I heard that wrong, so I said "huh?"....and again I hear "We should try to get some tickets to see her". And now I'm thoroughly confused. If there was some sort of soundtrack playing in my head at the moment, you would have been able to hear Scooby's voice saying "Rikes Raggy, did she really just say "we"??? What do we do now?????" And then Shaggy would throw me a Scooby Snack to calm me down, but that's another story.........Seriously, I was dumbfounded. That was on the inside, but on the outside I was all cool and non-chalant and said something like "yeah, I guess that'd be cool". And even though I'm chronologically an adult, sometimes I suddenly become a 3rd grader again and what I really wanted to say in a 'mocking/playing' tone was "But I thought you don't like country music..........You mean to tell me that you're ACTUALLY admitting to liking a country artist??". But I didn't......'cause I'm a 3rd grader who knows better!


That whole story probably isn't gonna mean much to anyone except R......so, sorry if you read it and it bored you. Deal with your boredom, while I try to figure out how to get Taylor Swift tickets for me AND my girls' *jumps up and down*.