Eight is not Enough

Sorry it has been many months since my last blog. I have been really busy with work and the family. I started a new job that is in Faribault. I am now a Accounts Payable clerk at a big corporation! It has been really exciting to see my career take off, while watching the kids grow up. Brandon will be 17 this month. I still remember him as a tiny baby. It makes me happy to see that he is growing up to be a great man!

The family has been busy trying to finish our boat. They have been putting many hours into it. When it is done, it will look really great. Ed has also been busy making things in his blacksmith shop. He made a beautiful security bars for the Discovery School, while also making me a clothes closet for my bedroom. He is really gifted!

All the kids have started school and are doing really well. They join after school activities and are getting good grades. I just have one kid left for school and that would be Mason. Then I will feel extremely old.

Things are going great for us. We always seem to get what we need, as Ed’s saying always goes. He seems to be right with most things!

In all we have 10 people living here and at times, 11. That is because Brandon’s girl comes over. We still seem to still grow in numbers and in strength. Everyone here helps each other, while also pursuing their goals in life. Brandon is looking at going into the service, while Briana is thinking about taking college classes while in high school. Raven is starting basket ball, which seeing his games will be fun. Russell is enjoying first grade, while Mason is learning some education at home til he gets to kindergarten. The older kids are all still working full-time and enjoying life as it happens. Joyce is volunteering at the Historical Center, while Ed does computer work and blacksmithing for people around town.  He has also taken the time to teach Raven about blacksmithing!

All in life is great here and I wouldn’t change a thing. I love my family and Edward very much! Have a wonderful day!

 

 

New Adventure

It is a start of a new year and it seems that everything is in order. The children are all doing well, Ed is back in the shop and doing more U-Tube videos! We even have a new addition to our family, a new puppy named Pepper. Brandy and her are finding there way, since Brandy has been the dominating dog here for almost a year. The kids really like having another dog, especially Mason since it is really his puppy to grow up with.In October of 2010, I was lucky enough to finally get a job as an accountant for a great hydraulic company, MJ Hydrostatics. I also help them in shipping their products as far as Australia. They are a great family company with a husband and wife team. They care about their customers and personnel. I love working their and they are a great company to be working for. I cannot believe that I finally am working at my dream after all these years! Juggling family and work though, is hard at times, but it is worth it to be able to feel fulfilled.We have had plenty of snow and cold. I cannot wait for warmth so I can work in my flower garden again, though Ed loves winter time. I do not wish for the humidity though and  I will not have to worry about my car not starting in the cold weather.

We had a great Christmas with my brother and his partner, Drew here at the house for the day, plus one of your children had a birthday on the same day. We were blessed with Jesus’s birthday and our son’s on the same day! It was a splendid day for our family!

I hope this finds everyone blessed and in good spirits! I wish everyone a blessed year with your family and friends.

 

 

 

Winter is Here

Well I can see it has been quite a few months since I have posted. No excuses, I was busy and lazy! A great deal has happened to me since I posted last. I finally got a job that I really do love. I now work for a hydraulics company as their accountant/shipping & receiving personnel! I have been their now for at least 2 months now. It is a small company and is just what I was looking for. The only drawback was, is that I had to put college on hold for now, because I had little time to spend on it and with my family. At least I have a job and that is plus with how this economy is right now and how long I have been looking for one!

We finally got our first snow yesterday! It looks beautiful, the only drawback is the idiots on the road! As Ed and I went for a drive, we saw at least 13 cars in the ditch. I guess some people never remember how to drive in the snow, which is funny living here in the northern part of the states? LOL!

My second youngest son Russell now has lost his bottom two teeth and since his top two teeth had to be pulled at the dentist, he looks really funny!

Ed’s sister, Anna from Alaska came down for a visit over the summer with her daughter Mara, which was a great visit. I also had a chance to meet with his mother, Donna who came up from Tennessee. She was moving back to Alaska to be with Anna. It was a fun filled summer with that visit and the boat that Ed and the boys had built. If you would like to see the boat, you can go to Ed’s blog at edwardkarn.com.

I know it took a great deal of time for me to get my life together. I could have made different choices sooner, but I guess I would not have ended up with the great people in my life that I have today, mainly Ed and my children. They are all a blessing to me everyday. We cannot live in the past, but be blessed with what have today and be thankful and grateful that we have those loved ones in our lives.

As Thanksgiving is approaching us this year, I am really truly thankful for the man and my children in my life that make my world so fulfilling. It makes everyday easier and the pain of the past the past and the future look so much brighter!

I appreciated that my family stuck by me while I was in college, help with the little ones and they were and still are there for me when I need them to be. My shining knight is always right there by my side guiding me and I love him for all the support, laughter, time that we share.

In all I feel very enriched with all that I have, more so than I have ever had before. I consider myself luck compared to the rest. It is all because of my family. I thank you and love you all!

The Heat is On

Howdy All, I am trying to stay on top of my blog for all my family and friends. Spring Quarter is over and I am not on my two-week break! I ended my quarter with a 3.95 GPA, that is because I ended up with two A’s and one A-. I did not make the Honor Roll, but did still manage to stay on the Dean’s List! I also received my books for my Summer Quarter classes, which are : Accounting Information Systems, Auditing and an geology course called “Sustaining the Earth. I am really excited about starting next quarter because I will actually have a class that I will enjoy, Auditing!

I also received a call a couple of days ago to work at a bank in Northfield for a couple of weeks! I am really excited to be able go out and use my education! It will be nice to also be out in the workforce again, even if it will be for a little while. Who knows, maybe it might turn out to be something more, or something else may come out of it? Anyways, it did perk me up a little bit!

The weather that we have been having here in Faribault, Minnesota has been really humid, stormy and a real pain! My family has been trying to a boat project and the weather is not helping at all! It has been raining four out seven days. The days it rains, is mostly on the weekends and that is when everyone is home and able to work on the boat. Pretty soon, they will be building it in the basement!

Well, I hope that everyone is doing great and enjoying the summer! One more thing, thank you all for taking the time to read my blog and for being part of my life. I think of you all every day and you are all special in my heart; you know who you all are!

Better Late Than Never I Always Say

Have you ever had a monkey on your back? Try a husband. Sorry, this is coming so late after the last post, with 9 children, college, Treasurer of a charter school and volunteering at the Nature Center in Faribault, time just seems to slip away sometimes. I hope with this post coming out, that it will please my readers and also make my main man Ed very happy that I am finally catching up on my list of things to accomplish.

Since my graduation I have had so many things going on that I am not sure where to start, I am sure that my husband would say that I should have posted more often and then that wouldn’t be a problem right now. For starters I enrolled back in college to get my bachelors degree in Accounting. So far it is great! I am at the end of my second quarter and carrying about an A average. My next quarter will be the one I am most interested in because I am actually taking an auditing course. I eventually want to get my CFE licensing. For those of you who do not know what that is, it is a Certified Fraud Investigator. They audit companies for fraud.

I am also updating you on my involvement with my board membership at the Discovery School here in Faribault, Minnesota. Here my role as a board member I am the Treasurer and also on the finance committee. I did some research and found that most charter schools were not involved with the Adopt-A-Highway Program. So I took it upon myself and had this program implemented into the Discovery School. The Discover School adopted Hwy 246 just outside of the city of Nerstrand, Minnesota. We pick up about 2 times a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. I had a good turn out with 11 school kids, four staff members and myself and Ed of course, who came and took pictures and for support.

Adopt a Highway

My son Brandon who is 15 years old and I, decided also this year to give back to the community by helping out the River Bend Nature Center here in Faribault as well. We are doing this by being Rangers for the Nature Center. We had to sign up and take a training course to learn how to drive the gator vehicle and certain machinery and how to care for some of the equipment. We go on specified Saturdays, because there was such a turn out of people who wanted to help preserve this area. They use to have paid Rangers, but due to budgetary cut backs, they had to lay off all the regular rangers, so Brandon and I decided this was a great way to help the community and we also love being outdoors. It also will look good on a resume!

I also added another family member to our family, no it is not another kid! I talked Ed into letting me get a dog. We went to our local animal shelter and I fell in love with a beautiful year and a half , boxer/retriever mix. Her name is Brandy. To be truthful, I fell in lover with her online a few days before we even got to the shelter, Ed didn’t even have a chance! Brandy knew the moment when I got there that I wanted her and that she was going to come home with me. She is a great dog and gets along well with the kids and mostly with Joyce’s cat. One thing is, she is always starving for attention and love! Brandy is also my shadow. She follows me everywhere I go and when I am doing my homework, sleeps underneath my desk, or is sleeping on our couch in our den. Since we have had her, I have fallen deeply in love with her and have even given her a middle name. Her full name is Brandy Lynn Karn, now isn’t that funny?

Brandy Lynn Karn

Ed is also going to build a small boat with some of the older boys so that they can go boating this summer. They are all really excited about this project. We have all the wood and tools that we need, due to Ed being a blacksmith, that it will be a grand boat when it is done. The boys sure will learn a great deal over the summer with math being used, how to use tools and also spending quality time with their dad! I will enjoy watching them, because I always love watching Ed making things with his hands out of nothing. He is quite good at what he does and it is fascinating to see the end results. I see all the materials Ed uses to start off with and wonder how the finished product can come from such materials, but when he is done, I am amazed! I know he doesn’t feel the same, but I treasure everything he makes, because they are one of a kind and a great deal of work, detail, time and care went into each of his projects. Ed is very creative and a very good blacksmith!

Ed and I also have been working in our gardens more this spring. Ed is making a Japanese flower garden in the back with a water fountain. We did find some amazing plants that will make his garden look amazing. I just got more rose plants, some perennials and add wood chips to brighten up the front gardens.

My front garden

This May was not a good month for my side of the family. I had two deaths in the family. My favorite aunt died on May 20th and then on the 23rd, my grandmother died. They both lived in Calumet, Michigan. Then on top of all that , my stepmother was lost for about a day and nobody could find her. She also lives in Michigan, but in Lake Linden. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My family is feeling like they have been plagued with a black spot all of a sudden. Hopefully soon, my family will recover and be able to come together and become whole again. It has been a hard road this month for us and we just need to remember that we need to rely on each other for support.

The funniest thing happened a few days ago, Ed bought our youngest a skateboard and helmet. Mason loves the helmet, but will not put the strap underneath his chin. He says it will choke him. He even does the choking noise when it is place underneath his chin! So he wears in on his chin! He is the funniest child ever! He will even go outside during the rain and try to kung fu the raindrops! It seems that no matter how bad life seems to be, you can always find something in life to sit back and watch that will make you feel that everything is worthwhile!

An angel

All in all, everything has been good, but busy. It should be with the household that I have, but I feel that I am blessed. I could not ask for anything more, why would I, I have the best of all men in my life. I am married to Ed Karn.

My Love of my life

Graduation

On Friday December 18th, I finally graduated with honors! I now have a degree in financial accounting! I cannot believe that I managed to make it! It was a hard walk, but with the encouragement and help of my family, I did make it.

The ceremony was really great. My mother came all the way from South Dakota to come, which was really great. I hadn’t seen her for quite some years. We had the ceremony at the Country Inn Suites at Mankato, MN. There were at least 70 students that graduated and only four of us were honor students. Matt Strum, who is one of the advisers at the school, even sang while presenting a video montage of all the students. I never even knew that he could sing! He had such a lovely voice. The college even gave each student a leather folder for graduating. It was quite an event.

I cannot believe  that this mile stone is done, but I am not quite finished yet. In January I have decided to start my bachelors degree in accounting of course! I am still looking for a job, which is quite hard. I am sure soon the right job will turn around when it is time.

I am so thankful for my families support during my time at college. I could not have managed it without them. They have helped me during my studies and my finals. Ed has been really good at helping me with my projects and knocking ideas with my assignments. It has been really great getting ideas and talking with him about what I am learning.

The kids are doing quite well in school. Russell is having fun in preschool. He just had his preschool screening. Now he will be ready for kindergarten for next year. It is hard to believe that he will be 5 on Christmas! They grow up so fast.

Mason is growing as well, he is almost as tall as Russell. He has quite an imagination, he sometimes believes he is spiderman and can crawl up walls and such. I am blessed that he is in my life. He loves to play with Godzilla and his older bother Sean. I love the fact that he has such a great imagination.

Brandon and Briana are doing well at the Discovery School. Their grades are A’s and B’s. I am proud that they are working hard. Briana is also doing some babysitting now. Both of them are active now in two church groups. It really is great that they are getting involved with outside activities. It is hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. I still remember them as babies.

Raven is still struggling in school, but he is improving. You can see his efforts everyday. He is now playing a recorder in music class so that he may soon be able to maybe take up an instrument later on. I hope that this will encourage him. He does love music alot.

Our family always has bends and curves like any other family, but we always manage to make it through. I am not sure how, but we do. It is nice to have such a great supportive family. I love them all! I also love Ed very dearly. He is always so supportive in helping everyone, not even necessarily family either. I cannot even express in words how I feel for him.

I hope this finds everyone well and in good spirits for the holidays. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

My Graduation

Winter is around the Bend!

Fall in now in the air and I have finished another quarter at Rasmussen. I will be entering my final quarter in October and graduating this December. It is quickly coming to a close for me in college. I have been really successful at staying close to my goal with my grades and staying with at least on the Dean’s list. I am starting to put my resume out there, but being told that I am not what the company is looking for, unqualified or over qualified. This frustrates me to no end! I know I need to be patient and keep trying, but I really want to get out there and work and I need to for myself and family. I would like to actually put what I learned to use and have some fun in accounting. I know, sounds funny, I find accounting fun and interesting along with challenging at times. I have been out of the workforce for so long, it will be nice to go back.

At the home front things have changed some, Russell is now in preschool and he is loving it. He goes three days a week. He loves it and comes back really tired. Mason is growing like a weed and is almost surpassing Russell in height. Brandon even bought himself his first computer, a laptop. Everyone seems to be doing great. Laura even has a girlfriend now, Amy is engaged, Joyce is volunteering, and even Ed has plenty to do with his blacksmithing and his shop. It is funny how we all find the time to get together or get everyone to where they need to go, but we do.

Ed and I took the telescope out about a week ago and look up into the sky. I observed one star brighter than the other, what we say was Jupiter and all its moons! It was amazing and really beautiful! I had astronomy this past quarter, so I am a little into the universe.

With my last quarter approaching, I will have four classes instead of the usual three so that I can finish in December. At my graduation, I probably will be the only one there with a gang members. It will be grand! I would not have it any other way, they have all helped me achieve my goal one way or another. Family helps family!  One member especially, my husband Ed! He was always supportive in helping me all my classes and getting me to go to college. He is my shining knight! Thank you my love!

I will be back when my next quarter is over as a graduate of Rasmussen College with an AAS degree in financial and investigative accounting.

Hot Summer Plash

I am happy to say that last quarter ended with a bang! I got all A’s! I managed to do all my classes on-line without a hitch and will proceed thru the summer quarter on-line as well. The summer quarter starts on Monday the 6th and I have great classes. I will have Astronomy, Intro to Literature and Criminal Law and Procedure. Thank goodness I do not have any classes with accounting and Excel like last quarter! That was confusing and frustrating.

I have only this quarter and the fall quarter left, then I will graduate in December. I can hardly wait! I am kind of scared, but excited at the same time. I will actually have a degree! Then, the biggest thing will be to find a job. But thanks to the support of my husband and family, my dream of graduating college will soon be done!

My husband Ed, has been busy making a Japanese garden in our backyard. It is starting to look really good. He has made a pond and is in the process of making a waterfall. It is looking beautiful. It is great to see how the area looked from the start and to see what it looks like now. What a difference all ready.

Everyone is enjoying the summer, though it has been really humid here. I just wish it was in the 70′s with no humidity. It also would be great to have it really cool and night with some rain. But we have got this sticky weather that sucks.

All in all, things are good for all of us. I am blessed to have such a supportive family and a husband that is who he is. There is not anyone else like him in the world. I was lucky to find him.

Wish me luck for this next quarter, and hopefully my report for next time will be as good as this one. Until next time, love your family and be true to one another.

Starting Something New

I had a rough last quarter, never made the dean’s list. My GPA was only 3.26, but that really isn’t so bad? This quarter I will start taking all my classes on-line. I am really looking forward to that! It will save on gas money and I can never say I will not be able to miss classes. Things are going quite well, Ed is looking good as usual! That will be one advantage to being home to do work. Looking at him helps me think, not sure why, but it does! Weird, I know. I can not wait til I hear him do his blacksmithing in the backyard. That helps alot also! He makes the coolest stuff! Our youngest son Mason loves hanging around Ed’s shop when he is out their. Mason even has his own small anvil and hammer.

I am finding myself changing in what I read and what I really want in a career. The more time I spend in college and see what is out there going in the business community, it pushes me even more to reach my goals. I am finding that I am bored of the soap opera drama. I cannot believe I was so into at one point and time in my life. I am so excited to buy financial books and learn about company fraud and deterrence. I guess to be more than what I am. When I look back at things my strength and encouragement foundation all comes from my husband Ed.

So, I am heading into this spring quarter with a positive attitude with my goals for my graduation in December in mind. Knowing that soon I will be the accounting executive that I see in my dreams, no longer a dream, but a reality!

Another long haul finished and spring is in the air!

Today ended the final stage of Winter Quarter! It seemed to me that this quarter would never end! They chose to put my favorite class ( Fraud Examination) and my least favorite; which is also my weakest ( Economics), in the same quarter. I have not received my grades, but I know at least I passed all the classes. I am just happy it is done!  Now I can enjoy two weeks off without studying? But yet I do have my Statistics for Dummies, yes I do. It is a course I will have to take when I go for my bachelors degree. My husband Ed always believed that this class was important for my accounting degree. So I do not know if studying is ever done!

Tomorrow I am attempting to quite smoking, look out family! I bought carrots to munch on to help me out. I have been building up in my mind for quitting. I thought I would wait until all my finals were over with.

With spring in the air I am getting the urge to go walking again. That is one reason besides the expense of cigarettes now, why I am quitting. I am not sure though if we will have much of a garden this year, not much of a yard. Maybe Ed and I can build boxes and make a garden? Joyce and I would love to have flower boxes sitting outside our windows of our offices. Spring also brought Mason’s second birthday! He has grown so much! I see so much of his father in him. He is a handful and full of spunk! You must always keep your eye on him-always full on energy and his mind is always going. Be careful, you never no which way either!

My adventures are still ongoing with college,  I am scheduled for graduation in December of this year for my associates degree. If all goes well, I will start will my bachelors degree in January 2010. I will post again when I get my final grades, I may need to vent!

Thanks for listening and my love to all!