Karen H. Whiting the Person

In November, my younger daughter surprised me (after surprising herself) by discovering that she was 20 weeks pregnant and hadn’t even known! She already has a son and a daughter and now Lydia is on her way. I laughed because it is such a family thing.

As a child I loved to have my great-grandma tell me how doctors kept treating her for a stomach tumor until she waltzed in to say, “I’m sorry, but tumors don’t kick.” She had an unexpected 7th daughter. I couldn’t imagine how she didn’t know until it happened to me. Yup, I woke up one night to feel internal kicks and saw my doctor who confirmed I was about 20 weeks along with my 4th child and guess who. Drum roll, yes, it was the daughter who is now pregnant.

I love family and grew up around extended family in the Connecticut countryside (dairy farm country). About one-forth of the townspeople were my relatives when I was a child, so I felt very secure. My grandmothers had attended each other’s bridal showers and my grandfathers had worked together cutting ice for ice boxes at teens, so our families all knew one another well. My extended family had many gatherings and fun together. So, marrying a Coast Guard officer and moving around the country gave me a whole new perspective. He had no first cousins and never lived near relatives. To my surprise, I enjoyed moving around and he enjoyed visiting a family community.

Karen with grandsons Ethan and Joseph

Since I always loved children, I wanted a big family. I have 5 children and Lydia is my 5th grandchild. I always love to laugh and my husband always sees the humor in life and makes comments that bring a smile to my face. We’ve been married 33 years (WOW).

As to hobbies, I love being creative and enjoyed creating our own family traditions. Growing up in the country I learned several types of needlework , crafts, and sewing. Currently I’ve been enjoying scrap booking and sometimes knitting. I also enjoy riding our tandem bicycle with my husband.


At our son's June wedding, we wanted to have a photograph of everyone, but our older son's wife was too close to having a baby and couldn't come. So, we had a life size replica of her made to use in the photos.

Youngest granddaughter, Lily

From Karen's 101 Time Saving Tips

Storage:

Make a master list of storage containers in attics/basements.
Tape a plastic envelope on storage containers. Slide paper inside listing contents.
Rotate nick knacks to save time dusting. Store extras. Consider tossing out anything stored and not used more than one year.
Store loose items in dip bags and then into containers.
Fold and store sheet sets in matching pillowcase for fast retrieval.
Convert to plastic containers to keep out dust and bugs. It saves cleaning time and replacing ruined items.
Keep a plastic storage bucket with lid for outdoor outings. It can hold toys, towels, and snacks, serves as a table, and keeps sand and dirt out of car.

Catalogues:

Throw out catalogues same day received.
If you must look save only the page with items you plan to order.
Place catalogue pages into files, according to date received. Discard after 6 months.
Instead of saving a catalogue, save the web site address on your computer.
If catalogue companies send email ads, ask to be removed from the list.

Karen with teacher Rebecca White (who also happens to be her daughter) recently gave the COES third graders a writing seminar tailor made for their grade level.

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