I ended up getting out this weekend after all. It was kind of unexpected. The hubby and I were invited to a bar that a guy he works with owns. It was his 50th birthday. A local band was playing that I hadn't heard of. They didn't sound too bad. Then I looked at the singer. It was the hubby's best friend's brother. See what I mean by small towns? Only can something like this happen in a series of a bunch of small towns all smooshed together. We headed about 20 miles from home so we didn't expect that. He was good though.

I got a little bored after awhile because frankly they were all the hubby's friends and so I didn't have many people to directly socialize with. I love hanging out with my girls. They know who they are. Anyway we headed back into our town around 11. There is a guy who does karaoke in our town every weekend. He knows me by name. Ha! Anyway we walked in the door, he smiles HUGE and said hi to us on the mic. I submitted a couple of songs off the bat. Then I noticed an old friend about halfway up the bar. We ended up hanging out with him and his mom! haha She's a sweet lady and I got her dancing with me too. I sang Whiskey Lullaby with the hubs. Then I sang a little Alanis Morisette. I cranked out You Oughta Know, which is my signature tune. I always do that one. Then later on in the evening I sang Say it Right by Nelly Furtado and I finished the evening off, last song of the night with Before He Cheats, by Carried Underwood. It was a whole lot of fun and Dennis (the karaoke dude) asked us to come back SOON. We don't get up there enough and it's only a few blocks away. I love nothing more than enjoying some music with friends. Just prop the guitar up on your knee and belt out a few tunes. The only problem is, it's hard to get me to stop!

I kind of want to get out tonight. It's been a heck of a week. Sometimes I need a stress reducing evening which involves basically me and a margarita. Or even a Captain and Coke. It's all good. I just want a break. I think it's deserved now and again. I'll be starting summer classes soon so I need to get out while I can. Unfortunately it doesn't look like this will be happening. I think I am stuck in tonight with nothing to do. Maybe I'll just pop in a movie and relax. That's not so bad either. I do miss my sister though! I haven't gotten out in awhile. It's sad really.

This afternoon though I did head uptown with the family and we saw a local band playing up at the park. They had some good tunes and there was good food. It was a fundraising deal for the local amublance. Then I got some ice cream. A caramel sundae topped with whip cream, a cherry and in a waffle cone shell. Yes. It was good.

Looks like I am settling in for the night. Maybe I should get out my pencils and work on that drawing.

You have annual Corn Boils and Mushroom Festivals. Seriously! Ok, this is my hometown that has these festivals, but it's 10 miles from me and it still feels like home. The town I am in now is not any bigger though.

I attended the corn boil one time and it was awesome. The corn is really good. They get some music up on stage and it's not a bad time. I haven't been to the Mushroom Festival. That is something new as far as I know. I had never heard of it before. Those Morel Mushrooms were going for $50 per half pound though. I need to find TONS of these and sell them every year.

You also know you live in a small town when there is only one beauty salon in town and the owner and hairdresser is also the town mayor. Not even making that up folks. Couldn't if I tried.

Everyone knows my business in a small town before I do. Or at least they think they do. I can't even begin to tell you the things I have heard about myself. Not that any of the things I've heard had any ounce of truth, good OR bad.

Living in a tiny town it's something you must get used to. Everyone knows you and your last name. Sometimes you are just judged because of whatever your last name might be. I was glad to take on my husband's name. My family name is way too known and common. Everyone thinks they know you.

Still it has it's benefits. I went into my hometown a few weeks ago with my oldest daughter. We walked in the door and the cashier says "Hi Sandi! How are you? How have you been?" I answered and we continued walking. A few people in the isles then said hello and talked to me a bit. I got back up to the register then was asked about my family and health by some patrons and then the other cashier. My daughter walked out of there thinking I was some sort of celebrity, but really, you grow up in a town of 1500, people tend to remember you. It's really not all that hard. I do enjoy the friendliness of a small town. I enjoy the homey feeling along with the family feeling, but it has it's downside too as mentioned above.

I moved into a bigger town for a short time and I have to admit I really liked it. I decided to stay in a small town more for schools than anything. I think I'd be a city girl or at least a big town girl if I didn't have kids.

I really do enjoy going through old pictures. Each one is a part of who I am and how my life has evolved into what it is now. That's one of the reasons I do those posts. I see a picture and remember everything I was doing at the time. After that wedding the hubby and I were dancing at? I morphed into Harley Chick and we went riding at night. It was so much fun.

Now onto the whole ticket thing. Well, I personally feel it was unjustified and stupid but hey, who doesn't right? Seriously though. It was around 8:30 p.m. last summer. I live in a very small town and our only grocery store closes at 9 p.m. I suddenly realized I was out of baby formula! Or close to it anyway so I needed to make a quick trip to the store. The hubby was working nights and had taken the car so I had to take the giant Suburban that we owned. This thing is huge and compared to my small body I feel like an ant driving it.

Anyway I had all four kids and we had to pile into the vehicle. I buckled in the baby into her car seat. The oldest got into the front with me and the younger two who at the time were 8 and 6 climbed into the very back. I as always instructed them to each buckle in. Normally my 6 year old would be in a car seat. Due to Illinois law I had always been told under 8 are supposed to be in a car seat. The hubby had the car though, which had the car seat. I had no choice but to make this trip to the store. The other option would be to starve my baby. Seriously...no baby sitters. I had no choice. We packed into the vehicle and saw this double rainbow in the sky over our house. It was beautiful! So the girls are all ooohing and ahhhhing over it and I pull into the store. I put the car into park and then I noticed the flashing lights. Seriously my house is like a few blocks from the grocery store. I thought CRAP. I knew I wasn't speeding? Everyone was buckled? Well the cop comes up and starts talking. It's really hot. The baby is crying. The grocery store is closing in minutes. =/ He looks at my older daughter whom he had thought was not wearing a seat belt. She was...she just pushes it off her shoulder which I always get on to her about.

Then he looks way into the back and asks how old my 6 year old is. I honestly tell him she is 6. He then informs me he has to give me a ticket for not having her in a car seat. Later I was reading up on this law and it seems that it's under 8 unless they are over 40 lbs. I could be wrong but if this is the case she is well over that. I never fought it though because this ticket required me to go to court!!! My husband had to miss work, drive around in the city nearest us with FOUR kids including my infant child while me, the hardened criminal sat in a court room for about 3 hours. I saw people getting arrested. The judge kept getting up and leaving the room. The people started to get mad and complain. The court attendant or whatever he is starting threatening people with cops. I wanted to cry. I was smooshed up against the side of these long pew type benches. People were sitting head to head. This girl next to me kept laughing and saying things out loud and wanting to leave. I was waiting for a riot to happen. The cops DID come in there and I just wanted to leave.

Finally my name was called and they said I could plead guilty or request a bench trial by jury or judge. WTF? Sorry. I didn't have the 3 to 4 hours to spare for this much less MORE time. I didn't understand the law really well anyway so I just went with it. I finally got out of there, paid $75 PLUS court costs. All of this because a mother of four desperately needed formula and her near 7 year old wasn't in a freaking car seat. We put her in it all the time and the ONE time my hubby had it. I hated even driving that suburban.

And yes that was my very first and ONLY ticket. Everyone was buckled in except my 6 year old but I never knew if she unbuckled herself at the store or not. She claimed she did but she's so far in the back there is no way I could know for sure. But let me tell you, my girls KNOW that they are to buckle up. I am strict about it and not just because the law says so but because I love my kids and want them to be safe.

I felt like a common criminal. So there...that is my only run in with the law. LOL I did manage to get the formula...as every worker and patron stared me down. I knew they were all talking about the chick who got pulled over in the parking lot. Though I was already parked...so whatever. I guess the cop had a slow night.

Sometimes when I can't think of anything exciting to say, I reminisce. So here I am reminiscing again. Taking us back to 2005, my brother in law's wedding. This picture you can see me dancing and to the right is my wacky hubby doing a dance for our niece whom is in his brother's arms. It was a lot of fun! We had a great time at that wedding. I danced to Bohemian Rhapsody with all the guys and did pretty well with the head banging if I do say so myself.

It's what I think. First of all, let me say I have seen this show a couple of times out of pure curiosity. But for the most part when this show comes on I turn the channel as fast as I can. Why? Well why would I want to listen to someone else's 8 kids crying, whining, fighting, screaming or whatever when all I have to do is turn off the tv and hear it in my own home with four of my own children? Or if by some miracle by God all my kids are being quiet why would I want to then watch someones child cry, whine, fight, or yell on TV?

Sometimes when someone else is flipping through the channels and one of those kids is crying I DO think it's one of mine and I start looking around until I calmly realize that yet again, it's John and Kate on TV. My oldest daughter has been known to watch it on occasion.

Now, getting back to my point. This whole thing with John having an affair? Why is this timed perfectly with their new season? I can't look at a magazine, a newspaper (or blog) without reading about this couple and their terrible problems. Everyone is getting involved and has their own opinion (sort of like me here).

The thing is I saw a preview on TV the other day. It sounded like it was promoting some new drama. Slow music, quiet male voice full of emotion, saying something along the lines of tune in while they work through this or whatever. I didn't pay close enough attention. Regardless. I am seriously thinking this is all a publicity stunt. The show was running out of a reason to stay on the air. How many seasons can you watch a family with a ton of kids? It's being done OVER and OVER. By the way, I come from a large family. My grandparents had 16 kids so this is not new to me. The whole multiples fine, that's nice and all but I think they are running out of ideas on this show.

So this is perfect. Everyone wants to tune in to see if they stay together or not. Will they? Won't they? I am sorry to fans of this show. But I truly don't care. I think that if their problems are real? They need to deal with this in private. They need to be GOOD parents and realize all of this information is going to be forever available to their children and grandchildren one day. All of this awful stuff should not be aired out on TV for their poor children to endure. It's humiliating and wrong. You can't repair a marriage in front of a TV camera and crew. It won't happen. NO way. Anyway. This is my two cents. And I found a hilarious video!! I was browsing today. Kate seems to think everyone is dying to have her haircut. Now I think that it suits her fine but thinking everyone wants your hair is a tiiiiiny bit conceited. This woman seems so controlling. I see John cowering in this clip..

I have two of them. Two separate yet almost equally crazy motorcycle stories. The hubby and I like to ride. We always have. Back in around 2003 the hubby had a bike that he had bought used. It wasn't anything too fancy but it got the job done. He was at work one Sunday morning and I was in bed sleeping. I had to get up to get ready for the day and I was still pretty groggy. I sat up, swung my legs over the side of the bed and promptly heard some screeching, grinding sounds and a hard loud crash. I panicked not knowing what had happened. I realized there must have been an accident outside of my house so I quickly looked out the window. There was a mini van in my front yard with a young girl climbing out shaking and crying. I ran downstairs and burst out the front door and saw it. She had hit the hubbies motorcycle. It was parked up against our fence in the front yard. It wasn't by the road. She had to drive into our yard to hit it. It was a little wet outside that day so she must have come around the corner too fast or something and lost control. She had just gotten her license that week, I found out later. She first hit the bike, but didn't stop there. She continued on into my neighbor's yard (who is my uncle) and kept hitting the gas. Since it was wet, it was muddy. She threw mud all over his house, all the way up to the truck parked up along the back side of his house. It was all covered in thick mud. Then she turned around, came back to my yard and parked the opposite direction.

The hubby's motorcycle was pretty firmly stuck in the ground. It was destroyed. The girl was very shaken and crying so I just comforted her and told her it was OK. I knew she felt nervous and crappy and I understood why! She was fine. So I just let her use the phone and the police did arrive and wrote it all up. She did get a ticket for driving too fast for the conditions. That was the cops choice. Hubby and I weren't upset. Just glad she was OK. The cop said he wanted to teach her a lesson over this before she killed someone......still poor girl must be so embarrassed!

Second crazy story? Well my husband, myself, my sister and brother in law were almost killed by a driver that I still cannot figure out what they were doing. After the bike we had before got hit, we got a new one. This time it was a bike we were in love with. We got our Harley. FINALLY. We (OK fine hubby) got a 2005 Super Glide. It was awesome. We went riding a lot. One of our favorite things was to take this 6 mile drive to the town next to us. There are several large curves on the way.

We hopped on our bikes and headed out. Things were going great until we hit the 2nd curve. My sister and her hubby were in front of us and it suddenly hit me that the car in the left lane was not in the left lane at all but in OUR lane and they were headed straight for my sister!! I thought to myself that I was about to see my sister get hit by a car. Why was the car in the wrong lane??? They were going around the curve fine, not going off the road...just driving in the wrong lane. It almost seemed like they were TRYING to kill us. So my brother in law veered off to the left and missed the car. I was relieved and breathed a sigh of relief. Until I realized the car was now headed straight for us and NOT moving. I was so scared. I didn't see how on the sharpest part of this curve that we could avoid being hit head on. I didn't know if there were any cars behind us, or in the other lane. I glanced over to the left and saw no cars. Hubby swung the bike to the left and I felt the back tire skipping or sort of jumping to the left and the car skimmed past us on our right. The bike felt like it was going down on the left and I could literally feel the wind off the car on the right it was so close. I closed my eyes and screamed "Oh my God!" I remember like it was yesterday. Normally over the roar of the bike you can't hear each other talk much...but for some reason when I said that, in the midst of my hubby trying to keep this bike up off the ground, I heard him clearly tell me that it was OK. Specifically "It's ok hunny." Not that it was OK at all. He just wanted to comfort me. It's weird how I heard him. It was almost like all other noise had disappeared. I thought for sure I was dead. I was ready for the ground to meet my face at any moment. Then hubby got the bike back up and we road the curve out. We pulled off on the shoulder gasping and screaming at the car who almost ended all our lives as they sped away. They never stopped to see if we were OK. Never explained themselves or came back around. No, we never saw them again. We were OK, but pretty shaken up. We stopped to get a drink after we got to our destination to calm our nerves and sit there and talk about it. I'll never forget it and I always had unanswered questions on the situation. I still want to know what in the world that person was doing! Here is a pic (I have shared before) of the hubby and I on the bike. I can morph into a Harley Chick pretty much at will. haha