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I had a great birthday weekend! I got to see friends and family, sleep in, have a delicious birthday dinner, and sing some karaoke at a gas station. It doesn't get any better than that!

Yesterday, my friend, Katie, and her boyfriend, Gary, came down from St. Louis. We had planned to go sing karaoke at a local restaurant, but found out midweek that they no longer have karaoke due to some management changes. We made some calls and the only place we could find that was having karaoke Saturday night was The Lil Country Store at Neely's Landing. We decided to give it a try. Katie is from this area, but Gary is most definitely not a country boy and he was a little reserved at first. It ended up being a hilarious evening. My sister, Juli, met us there since she is karaoke junkie. The store is literally a gas station/bait shop/diner with about 4 little tables next to the potato chip display. The food was awesome. At first it was a little strange to be singing karaoke with the liquor cooler behind us and the beef jerky display in front of us, but we rolled with it. We ended up being the only ones that showed up! It was mainly me, Juli, and the karaoke guy, with Katie offering up her version of the song "Tequila", complete with the PeeWee Herman dance. I will venture to say that very few people have had the honor of celebrating their 32nd birthday by singing karaoke in a gas station. Such is life in rural America.

Today I slept in then Greg and I went to see The Bucket List.l I enjoyed the movie. Greg didn't care one way or the other. We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Juli, Ashley, Rachel, Jeremy, Riley, Mom, Dad, Grandma Pat, Greg, Carson, and I well there. I got some lovely gifts, including ITunes gift cards, new flip flops, a beach bag, a rice cooker, a new purse, the movie Enchanted, a flower from Carson, and some cash. Mom cooked my favorite dinner of kettle beef, funeral corn (corn with cream cheese and sugar), mashed potatoes, rolls, and cousin Patsy's salad. Yummm-o! The best part was the fresh strawberry pie that I chose rather than cake. It was delicious!

After dinner, we stopped by Greg's Mom and Dad's where I got some cute cherry dishtowels for my kitchen and some money to put toward getting our new ceramic tile in the kitchen and bath. I think I got enough money to almost pay for the flooring. Now to find enough down time to have Greg's dad install the tile. That may take awhile. When I got home, I found a beautiful hanging basket of flowers from Becky. They are so pretty that I hung them outside our front door so we can see them from the living room.

This week is packed. I work tomorrow, although I need to try to get to the doctor in the afternoon. I am having severe allergy issues this year. I think I need a shot. Tuesday is my class filed trip to St. Louis Children's Hospital. Wednesday and Thursday are full of appointments and Friday I'll have to pack for our trip to see Carson's eye doctor in Springfield. I work in Kennett all day Saturday, then we're leaving from Kennett to drive the 5 hours it takes to get to Springfield. We're going to take it easy and see a few sights on Sunday, then head home on Monday after the appointment. I'm tired already. Have a fabulous week!