Jen's Odds and Ends

New beginnings are exciting, stressful, chaotic, challenging, and so much more.  We plan for them to make them less stressful.  If you are like me and have a little OCD, you plan for every conceivable thing that can go wrong so that you can come up with a million different backup plans.  We did all of this as we planned our move from New Jersey to Shawnee, KS, but some things are just too crazy and horrible to be conceivable. One of my treasured friends from New Jersey our last night in town.  So many came to say goodbye to us that last week.  We still miss them all!  We thoroughly enjoyed our time in New Jersey.  We loved almost everything about it except for the cost of living and the distance from our family in Kansas.  Jared's job had taken us up there.  He took a sales job that gave us the chance to move close to family.  It took us 10 months to sell our house and another 2 to close.  For a year, Jared had been traveling...

Anyone else tired of Karens??? Can I talk to the manager?  I am!  I struggle with Karens.  I struggle with knowing how to respond to Karens.  I have spent most of my life feeling inadequate.  I have never seemed to measure up.  I think more people feel this way than are willing to admit.  Karens are a reminder of this inadequacy.  They are the mean girls that told us we weren't good enough while we were growing up and are here to remind us we still aren't.   The house with an over grown yard.  We closed on the 10th and moved in on the 27th.  Our mower didn't  arrive until several days later. Ugh! Neighborhood Karens like to tell you that your bushes need to be trimmed or that your grass is being cut 1/4" too short (sometimes the Mr. Karens have to deliver the message) or maybe you have weeds growing in the lines of your driveway.  Make peace with the Mr. Karens.  They need you!  They...

This can't be!!!  The Jesus freak, Bible thumper, rightwing wacko, anti-feminist (these are just a few of the names people have called me over the years - I wear the labels with absolute pride) cannot be ProChoice!  Oh, but I am!  I believe that a woman should have the complete control over body! I just think that that choice takes place long before conception occurs which I believe is when life begins (don't bother telling me when the ProChoice doctors say when life begins - I listen to God on this one - a proud Jesus freak, remember?)!  Somewhere along the way, our society has confused needs and wants.  Sexual gratification is not a need.  It is a want.  If you do want to have sex, there are a multitude of ways of doing it so that a life is not conceived (of course, as your resident Bible thumper, I would prefer that it occurs in a marriage)!  Women have the control to abstain or use birth control!  Choice! By the time we have got...

Aren't the beginnings of new years great?  It is like restarting your computer or iPhone - all of the information is still there but refreshed, and we are full of hope as we begin working that things will run more smoothly. We make resolutions based on this notion. On January 1, we feel like we can conquer the world. We are full of hope. Somewhere around February or March, we lose our hope. We toast our New Year and celebrate it's arrival! This past year, 2016, was a terrible year for my family. Nothing particularly bad happened. It was just little things, but they were unrelenting. For the first time ever, I questioned my faith, questioned whether or not I was worthy of God's love. My husband was in the same boat. After months of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, we decided to change churches. It was amazing!  We have a pastor who preaches about no matter how broken we are or how much despair we are in, we are always worthy of God's love (he preaches...

First off, let me begin by saying that I know Christmas begins and ends with Jesus.  We are a good Lutheran family, so I get it.  The title of this post is meant in jest!  All right, now let's get to it! Our year without Christmas started on August 27, 2016 (yes, it is this year).  We went to the wedding of some good family friends an hour and a half from our home.  At the time, we had a one year and one day old Old English Sheepdog named Franklin Bigglesworth.  We knew we would be there most of the day.  Franklin was normally kenneled when we left but thought it would be nicer to leave him in the master bathroom so he could have a little more room.  Oh yes!  You can guess what happened next!  The puppy who had never jumped on the counters did just that, knocking the marble soap dispenser into the sink plugging the drain and turning on the faucet!  WE WERE GONE FOR 10 HOURS!!!   The damage: Bathroom floor = destr...

Life is a little bit...ok, a lot...crazy!  In this blog, you will find the odds and ends of our lives through my eyes. A little about us... My husband, Jared, is a senior account representative for a global company. He is basically a weekend visitor in our home. Jared is full of life and over the top in every way possible. Our home is much too quiet and a little boring when he is away!!!  I am a stay-at-home mom, a position that feels quite antiquated in today's society. I tend to volunteer way too much at the cost of my family. I am working on that!  This year is all about them!  I love good books, cooking, sewing, crafting, and photography! Jake, the awkward teenager, is a sophomore in high school. He is just a great kid, a little lazy, but a great kid nonetheless!  He is a Life Scout working toward his Eagle!   He loves cars. Jake knows everything about them. The rest of us can't keep up. He always has a joke and kind word for every...