Small Town Noir Overview

I decided to look at a site called Small Town Noir. It has mug shots and the stories related to these mug shots.  They are from a town called New Castle, Pennsylvania in the time between 1930 and 1960. They are rescued mugshots that were headed to the trash and they got the stories that relate to them from the newspaper. I think the tone of the page is kind of ironic. An example of this would be this named Glen who was on suspension for driving drunk and ended up dying at the hands of a drunk driver. When I first started reading it I thought that it was just a mug shot of a guy that was driving drunk. He ended up drunk in the passenger seat with a guy named Virgil who was also intoxicated. Virgil wrecked the car and Glenn died because of the injuries he sustained. In that same post the man Virgil that killed Glen killed again 42 years later this time a 7 year old boy when again he was driving drunk. Ironically Virgil died on the first anniversary of the little boys death. Another instance of irony is a man named Fioravante Pisano, whose first encounter with the police was when his wife called them because he fired a gun in his basement and she thought he was going to try and kill himself. Years later while with his second wife he did end up killing himself by shooting himself in the head. His new wife buried him next to his first wife and went on to lead a long life. It is a very interesting blog with a lot of ironic twists and turns. 

Blended Life

Four years ago I thought I was almost done raising kids because my only child was 14. I now have three step children who call me mom ranging in age from 5 to 14. I also now have a four month old infant who has joined our blended family. Its crazy the things that have changed since my son was an infant. I have found that being older and having a newborn in the house is a lot easier than when you are 21. I thought when I became a mother the first time that the newborn stage was the hardest but this time around I didn't want it to end. Grayson is the name of our new child, he is such a happy baby and always has a smile for me. My kids range in age from 4 months to 17 so there is always something happening in my house. My 17 year old son has just realized that being social and going out might be fun. I am really happy about this because he used to just always sit in his room and play on his Xbox. I like that he is getting out and making friends and having experiences. I was so afraid that he would never make friends or want to go out with them. It took a lot to get him there he has a bit of social anxiety but has seem to finally overcome it. I think a lot of my experiences raising my first child are going to help me raising the other four but, I've also learned that every kid is different.  Some things and lessons that my son learned easily are harder for the other ones so I have to learn as well and adapt. Taking care of and supporting 5 growing children is not easy and at times I think I will never make it to the last one graduating and going off to college but I know deep down that I will. One thing I can say about my blended family is that although its hard and seems never ending, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. My step children have become my children and depend on me just as much as my other two.