K is for Karen

I am continuing my blog through the alphabet with Marcy from Ben and Me with this post about me!   it's not that easy to come up with K words and since my name starts with K thought that might be fun.  So here goes.

I am 44 years old. (How did that happen?)

On June 8th, my husband and I will celebrate our 21st anniversary.

My husband and I met when we were in high school when we both got jobs at a new Papa Gino's.  I wasn't really looking for a job but a friend of mine was.  The lady that did my interview and later called me to offer me a job intimidated me and I was afraid to say I wasn't interested.  LOL  (My friend didn't take the job.)

My husband and I have 10 children (we've also lost 2 to miscarriage).  We have 8 daughters and 2 sons.  The boys are in the middle.  Our oldest is 19 and the youngest is 2.

We  have always homeschooled.

I love Jesus for all he has done for me.

I was raised a Baptist and continue in the faith.

I am a musician.  I sing and play the guitar.  I used to play the oboe, flute and alto sax.  (I miss the oboe.)  I also have experience as a choir director.  I traveled to Sweden and Canada with a singing group when I was in my early 20s.

I went to college for early childhood education, changed my mind and was accepted into the music program for voice and classical guitar but ultimately ended up majoring in math.  I dropped out when I got married with about a year left to go.  I do not regret that.

My younger son has Down syndrome.  We didn't know he had Down syndrome until he was born.  He also had a congenital heart defect and had open heart surgery when he was 4 months old.

I love knitting.  It's a new hobby for me. I am addicted. I also like other crafts such as crocheting and sewing.  I really enjoy making things.

I love to read.  I especially love reading on my Kindle (and now my iPod touch too.)

I've lost just over 66 lbs in the last 19 months....and am still working at it.

I have one sister. She is a year younger than I am but she was moved up to 1st grade after 7 weeks of Kindergarten so we were always in the same grade.  Many people thought we were twins or that I was the younger one...she is taller than I am.

I may add to this if I think of more things. :)

Join us by linking up at Blogging Through the Alphabet.

I is for Apple

What? How can "i" be for Apple?  I guess we all know that products made by Apple start with "i".  I am late joining in but have decided to blog through the alphabet with Marcy from Ben and Me.

Late last year, my husband's friend gave him his used 2nd generation iPod touch.   My husband already had a 4th generation iPod touch so I was fortunate enough to get the used one.  As soon as I started using it, I was hooked, but since it was a 2nd generation I couldn't get all the apps I wanted.  For my 44th birthday last month, my husband got me a 4th generation iPod Touch.  I just love it!

I thought I would share some of my favorite apps with you:

Bible Apps:

YouVersion: free  I love this Bible app that is loaded with multiple Bible versions including audio and loads of reading plans and devotionals.  I used it to read the Bible in 90 days and I'm currently reading the Essential Jesus plan as well as the Chronological Bible.

Touch Bible: free  Another Bible app that I like to use especially when I am not at home with wi-fi.

Bible.is: free  I only just recently downloaded this one.  It has Bible, audio and video as well.

Pocket Sword: free  This Bible app has Bible, commentary, dictionary and devotionals.

Granny's Bible Dojo: $1.99  This app is sort of for kids but I like it too.  It teaches the Bible books in order. you can try a demo here. (This is one of the apps that I couldn't get for my 2nd gen.)


Calendars and Social Media:

CalenGoo $6.99 This one is a little expensive but I LOVE it.  I can use it offline and I have switched over from a paper calendar in my pocketbook to just using my iPod touch.  I was already dependent on my Google calendar so this just made sense for me.  It took me a long time to decide to get this but I'm very happy with it.

G-Whizz $2.99 This is my main app for G-mail, Facebook, Twitter, News and reading blogs through my RSS feed.  There is a free version available as well that I used for a while before buying it.  This one did not work very good with my 2nd generation iPod but works great on the new one.  I really love this app.

Other handy apps I love


iBooks free This one is great for reading your pdf documents.  I haven't used it for downloading e-books yet but I know you can do that too.

Evernote free If you don't know about Evernote you can read about it here.  I have used this for taking notes at meetings and even sermon notes. It's a very handy app for saving all kinds of information.

TOS magazine free When I first heard that The Old Schoolhouse Magazine was going digital I think I probably groaned.  I disliked reading on my computer.  I still dislike reading on my computer but I love reading TOS on my iPod.  I have read more in the digital magazine than I ever made time for when I was getting the paper version.

My FitnessPal free This app keeps track of calories, water, exercise and just helps you if you're tracking any of that.  Very handy.

Games for the Kids (and Mom)

Stack the States $.99 Fun game for learning about the states.  There is a free "lite" version too. (Also look for Stack the Countries.)

Presidents Vs. Aliens $.99 Fun game for learning about the presidents.  (Also available in a free "lite" version.)

Word Bingo $.99 and Math Bingo $.99 are fun, educational games for younger kids.  My kids like these.

Scramble with Friends $.99 My current favorite word game.  I LOVE to play this.  It's a fast paced word game like Boggle.  (A free version is available.)  I also like Words with Friends.

Chicktionary free Another fun word game where you make as many words as you can with the letters provided.

I have other apps that I like too but I think I've shared enough for now.  Do you have something you love that you want to share?  Please do.  I love to try new apps.