About Me



Karen Blessing | www.BakingInATornado.com

Hello:


Welcome to my blog.  I’m Karen, a Bostonian (former and at ), now living in the Midwest. I've been a Director of Social Service, a Retail Buyer, a Stay-At-Home-Mom to two boys and am now hanging on the precipice of being an empty-nester (more like a revolving door). 

I’ve been married for . . .  well . . .  many years.  Hubs is from New England as well.  My husband is a Financial Advisor. We moved to the Midwest 10 days after we got married due to a job offer.  I thought we were moving away for just a few years, but I now find myself with two sons who were born and raised here.

I am a Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, Purdue basketball and football, Sudoku, mysteries, ballet, and beach lover.


Since I spend so much time on this blog complaining speaking with love about, my kids it would help just to know the basics.   

My boys are opposites, for which I am eternally grateful, I’m barely surviving having one of each.

My older son (I call him College Boy on the blog) made it through high school with great grades, but kicking and screaming the whole way, and went off to college an hour away. He is currently taking time off trying to make a decision about a major. I ALMOST had an empty nest. Instead I have one boomeranger. He's smart and whitty and passionate, mostly about politics. I keep asking him to write a guest post so I can share him with you but after all these years I'm starting to think that's never going to happen.

My younger son (I call him PurDude on the blog) is just a year behind his brother and graduated having kicked high school's butt.  I've survived (barely) his going to college 700 miles away and he's now a Purdue graduate, achieving a 3.2 GPA with a major in Computer Science with a minor in Organizational Leadership Skills. He's secured a great job with a Fortune 500 company and after renting his first apartment in a trendy part of town for a year, which I completely outfitted it in 2 days, his company moved him over 500 miles away {{sob}}, to an apartment I've yet to see.

 
Unlike most food bloggers, I don't write about food. Unlike most humor or opinion writers, I add homemade graphics and  a recipe I've developed and photographed to all of my posts. They take a while to put together but not long to read. So I hope you'll allow me to bring you along as I attempt to bake and blog and laugh and cry through life's sunny days and the inevitable tornadoes. And I hope that you’ll come back  . . . often. 

 As well as writing this blog, I've developed and run 5 monthly multi-blogger writing challenges and another that we post 3 to 4 times a year. If you're a blogger and are interested in participating, contact me via email, PM me on FB or DM me on twitter and I'll get you the information on the challenges.

Find me on:
Facebook
Twitter 
Pinterest 
Instagram 

For blog inquiries, feel free to email me at BakingInATornado@gmail.com

For more about my blog history and where else I've been published, feel free to check out my Press Page. 

 
Baking In A Tornado logo | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

   










32 comments:

  1. Nice to *meet* you! I'm looking forward to the chaos stories in your house (I take comfort in knowing it's not just us!).
    -Angie @ GrowingTween

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    1. There IS comfort in knowing you're not alone, isn't there?

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  2. Replies
    1. The part with NO ocean or ski mountains, LOL!

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    2. Sounds like Michigan to me. I was born and raised there before moving to Washington 2 years ago :) I know the "land of the flat" when I hear about it.

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  3. Looking forward to reading more about your family and getting to know you. Was stuck looking through your recipes forever! Haha! :)

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    1. Thanks, all are welcome to laugh at us on a regular basis!

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  4. So nice to meet you Karen :) I also have two boys about the same age as yours.

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    1. Glad you found me. I guess you get the whole "trying to relieve stress" thing then.

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  5. Hi, I have a jason too, he lives in New Haven, teaches at Yale, owns a house in Providence, and we're from SoCal. As you can see, he is as far away from me as he can possibly get and still live in the United States. Enjoying your blog, check out mine when you have a chance.

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  6. Hi Karen
    So glad I discovered your blog, I love your recipes I will be coming abck for more!
    Hope you & your family have a great Christmas
    Pauline

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad you found me too, and that you plan to be back.

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  7. Hi Karen! I love your comment "My boys are opposites, for which I am eternally grateful, I’m barely surviving one of each."

    I myself have 2 young boys who are night and day different. I certainly love both dearly and celebrate their differences, but as you say I couldn't handle 2 of them for sure!

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    1. At first I thought that having 2 boys so different was a huge challenge, as they can't really be parented the same. Now I see what a blessing that actually is.

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  8. Great job on the blog site, love your blogs, but I was looking for a recipe. I got side tracked. My kids are now grown, my baby boy is 18, and still needs work. He is living with his Uncle now though. He comes over to "aggravate" me, although, it doesn't work. I end up aggravating him instead with my music that he doesn't like. I like it, he comes in and says, "Is this Christian music?" I say, "Yep!" He says, "Can I change it?" I say, "Nope!" I was cooking up a storm, and that music is my inspiration.

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    1. You're better at it than I am. My teenagers put more effort into aggravating me than they do into their school work, and they often succeed. I hope we both get through these teenage years with as few scars as possible.

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  9. hi Karen, found you today on face book, i think through a recipe, you sound intresting, think i ll check back to read on, also, i love recipes, huggs, Deb

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    1. Glad you found me and hope you'll come back often, Deb.

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  10. Hi Karen, found you today on a Facebook page -- loved the recipe for S'mores and Strawberry Skewers and can't wait to try it! It's funny that you have two sons -- I have two sons and I can relate when you wrote that they are so different! My two sons are different, too! And I've also been blessed with a lovely daughter too. So my oldest son, Joey, is in the Navy and is 31, Brian is 21 (Had to wait 10 years after my divorce to remarry and have more children!)-- he was in the Navy but has left the Navy now and my daughter Kayla, 20 yr. old is also in the Navy and is stationed in Norfolk, VA. Joey is in Jacksonville, Fl (where I live) and Brian is in Wisconsin near his dad. Brian is working for Harley Davidson in Wisconsin. Sorry, did not want to tell you my whole life story -- I'm very proud of my 3 children! But just make sure you spend every moment that you can with your kids because it seems that after they graduate high school, they move away. It's so important for children to make their lives the way they want it to be. And to be successful. But I do know that I raised 3 fine young adults and living in the midwest (I lived in Wisconsin for 13 years while I was married to my second husband)my 2 younger children where born there, they had a great childhood being raised in the midwest! So enjoy! May you have many good memories there and have mild winters! Have A Nice Day and I look forward to more recipes!

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    1. I'm so glad you shared your story. It's uplifting to hear of parents who have sent their kids out into the world to be the successful adults we all hope they'll be. Mine are just on the brink of all that.

      And thank you so much for supporting both me and this blog. I can't tell you how much it means to me.

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  11. Did you really stop at 69 posts last year to give us something to laugh about, or was it purely a coincidence? I totally don't expect this to pass moderation, I was just curious though. Yes, there is a small part of me that is a teenage girl, and whenever I see the number 69, I think of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. "69 Dude!"

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    1. Purely a coincidence, I swear. Maybe I should have eked out one more. Or one less.

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  12. Howdy Karen! Becca from 'It's Yummilicious' mentioned that we reminded her of one another, so I had to come see for myself. The recipes are fine indeed. Your essays are also dandy!

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    1. I'm grateful to Becca for mentioning me, so happy to have you stop by. I'll be over to visit you too.

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  13. Hi Karen,
    I have a 2yo son and someday I'm sure I'll be in the kitchen baking for him and his friends. Only problem is, I'm 42 now. They'll probably have to jack me up in my wheelchair to reach the timer on the oven.
    I'm so glad I found your blog! You. Are. A. Riot.
    Merry Christmas!

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    1. Welcome Jennifer, so glad you found my blog. And if you're anything like me, the baking will come in handy. It's a great stress reliever and if you've got a 2 year old, this might be a good time to start.

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  14. I had so much fun with 1-10-14 Secret Subject Swap, can you count me in for the next one? Thanks.

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    1. I need prompts from you to get you signed up. I'll send you an email.

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  15. Found your blog via The Regular Guy, NYC. We have two boys too but a little bit older!!

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    1. Love Phil, so glad you found me through his blog. Sounds like you're a step ahead of me with your boys.

      Looking forward to checking out your blog too.

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