This week’s song, “Deathbed”, has absolutely nothing to do with money. At all. Not even one remote iota. But that doesn’t mean it’s not relevant. And it’s probably a song you’ve never heard.

There is so much I love about this song. It’s upbeat, it’s kick ass and it’s performed by a band that almost no one outside the Philadelphia area has heard of (the band? Ike). It’s this last point that I need to focus on. I have been feeling really…down lately, specifically about my blogging efforts. I have been feeling like my sites will never measure up to the bigger kids out there and that what I have to say isn’t significant or meaningful or even important. It’s pretty awful to think about and many days, I feel like quitting. But then I think about bands like Ike.

Ike freaking rocks. They have a loyal, if small, fan base. They keep evolving and putting out good, quality music. They work hard, don’t quit, and do whatever they need to do to promote themselves when no one else will do it for them. They don’t give up just because another band is more successful. And that’s exactly the kind of inspiration I need.

This is the first Ike song I heard and after the first listen, I was hooked. My favorite lyric? I can’t even pick a favorite because I love them all. And if the song isn’t for you, just fast forward to around minute 3 and look for the dancing snowman. It’s totally worth it.

I love The Muppets. Like really, really love The Muppets. It’s been a lifelong obsession, going back as far as I can remember. In fact, when I was potty trained, I got a Scooter doll (TMI?). For those of you who don’t know who Scooter is, here you go:

My love of The Muppets has caused me to spend varying amounts of money on things like DVDs, stickers, Band-Aids, nail polish, and for Christmas, I got Muppets Monopoly (which I have not opened. It sits, pristine as can be, in its wrapped box). When the new movie came out last fall (and I totally had not been counting down to it at all), I took the day off so I could go to the first showing possible. I wouldn’t say that I’ve spent a small fortune on Muppets paraphernalia but suffice it to say, I’ve spent enough.

(I’m starting to think that a line item in my personal budget needs to be “Muppets stuff” because Muppet items are too hard for me to resist. Everyone has her weakness. Is it wrong that mine is puppets? Anyway…)

I suppose, now that you know all of that, it’s not a surprise that my favorite video of all time is Weezer’s “Keep Fishing”. Not because the song is that amazing but because…well, watch and see:

If you’ve been a regular reader around here for any length of time, you know that I’m a rock chick. I prefer rock music to pretty much anything. In fact, if I’m being honest, most other music annoys the crap out of me. Sure, I’ll listen to a good song here or there but overall, I’m picking rock. Every. Single. Time. So why the long explanation? Because today I’m going far, far away from rock music. So far away in fact, we’re landing in country. Before you run away screaming, let me explain.

I say all the time that the next time I get married, I’m marrying for money (I’ll admit this was funnier before I had all my marital problems but still). Having been in my marriage for almost 8 years, we’ve had our share of broke times. Very broke times. I think I’ve talked about how broke we were a bit but I’ll have to share a lot more. Anyway, if you’ve ever been broke, you know how much easier it is when you have money. And, when you marry into a tremendous amount of debt only to incur more, you really appreciate when you stop living paycheck to paycheck.

But when you’re in love, money doesn’t matter (well, most of the time it doesn’t matter). While you can’t eat love, it does make getting through those broke times a lot easier. However, during those times, you can’t help but think of what you’d do differently the next time. Trace Adkins does too in his song “Marry for Money”: