About Me

Hello, I’m Karen. Welcome to my blog.
I have lived in Indianapolis my entire life. The first 20 years on the near south side and the last 37 on the north side. If you are even half-way decent at math you have figured out I recently joined the half-century club. That’s right, I admit my real age. I may as well tell you now I have been married to my hubby, Craig, for almost 37 years. We have lived the last 23 years in the house where hubby spent most of his growing up years.

A little background:
Having grown up poor and working from an early age, I have always been frugal-minded and known how to save money. I used to enter contests and sweepstakes and send away for little things when I was just a kid because I really liked getting mail.

Education:
I have a college degree in Elementary Education that would allow me to teach all subjects to grades 1-5, with endorsements that would allow me to also teach Reading, Social Studies, and Computers to grades 6-8. By the time I got those credentials, the kids were in school themselves and I realized I didn’t want to teach in the traditional ways, so never bothered to get licensed.

Work Experience:
One of my first jobs was delivering The Indianapolis News, which was an afternoon newspaper. I used to clean a bar when it was closed on Sunday mornings while I was in high school. I once worked in the office of a sign shop, a job I got by cold calling businesses in the Yellow Pages and asking if they were hiring. At one point my two sisters and I all worked for the same small company doing all of their office work between us. I spent many years working at a fabric store where I was excited to be able to put my high school geometry to work figuring out how much lace someone would need to buy to go around their circular tablecloth. I used to be in charge of stocking and ordering all of the notions too. I was a school lunch lady for many years before going full-time to push and finish the degree I had been working on only part-time while working and raising the kids. I spent almost 12 years in the printing industry. Most recently I am in the not-for-profit world of Donor Advised Funds, and love my current job.

I guess this means I learned early on how to juggle time, but not always well. This is where FlyLady came in. Her system helped me do a much better job of keeping up with the house and she taught me that I could do almost anything if I set the timer for 15 minutes.

So, I am almost 57 years old, have had a few experiences along the way and figured I might be able to help others learn from my mistakes by sharing some of them. I enjoy writing, reading, bullet journaling, crocheting hats for charity, genealogy research, creating forms in Excel, (ok doing almost anything in Excel), I don’t do it much anymore, but I used to sew all of the kids’ clothes and even made my wedding dress. I am a decent cook and housekeeper. I thought a blog might be a good creative outlet a few years back and started one on a free site which I have recently migrated to this site so I could share with more people and maybe turn blogging into an early retirement plan of sorts. Some accuse me of being blunt and to the point, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. I will be honest and upfront with you and I will tell it like it is, unless doing so will hurt someone else. I have so many interests and experiences to share, you are likely to find a little bit of everything on here. I may share some of the fiction writing I do along the way too. One of my biggest accomplishments was winning the NaNoWriMo challenge by writing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November from 2013 to 2019 (7 years straight) and have been writing since then.

The Family:
Now Hubby, he is a keeper! There isn’t much the man can’t do. He can do car repairs, plumbing, drywall, electrical and is a hobby woodworker. He currently has a fascination with steam engines. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree and programs CNC Mills for a living. He is also wicked smart and most of the reason we have such smart kids.

Kids? Well, they are our children, but they are full-grown adults. We raised them through four-year college degrees without either of them causing too much trouble, so we must have done something right. The oldest is 31 and used teaches high school physics (he gets that from Hubby) for 8.5 years before moving to his current job doing physics demos for his former university. The youngest is 29 and she currently works at a local oil company doing some science lab thing. She dual majored in Forensics and Biology and dual minored in Chemistry and Criminal Justice. (There is that science and math influence from Hubby again!) I am by no means dumb, but hubby and the kids are the brain trust in the family, I assure you. I am more the wordy type. I loved playing Boggle and those party games where you have to make lots of words out of a big word or phrase, those are my jam! The only time I don’t win those is if I am competing against one of my sisters! They are good at them too. I blame it on the constant reading.

Travel:
Hubby and I like to travel. This means you may from time to time get to see some of the places we go. I love to take photos with my cell and share them here for friends and family to enjoy. We visit a lot of lighthouses, historic sites and science museums.

Did I mention that once I get started, I tend to go on and on? I am working on that. In the meantime, grab a cup of your beverage of choice and settle in to read a little about our adventures in parenting, working, traveling and living life. The ride isn’t always smooth but the view is terrific most of the time. God paints a pretty picture if you take the time to appreciate it.

25 Things You May Not Know About Me