Welcome to my Krazy World!

Hi. My name is Karen and I'm a caterer.

"Hi Karen."

I've been a caterer, a professional caterer, for about 3 1/2 years now. How, you may ask, did I arrive at this rather delicate career choice? Yeah, it surprised the stew out of me too.

Stew... catering... get it?

Anyway, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly on the delicate side. Hearty, husky, corpulent, fluffy, big boned, pleasantly plump, bootius maximums, (ok, I made that last one up) - yes these are all good adjectives. Although I do enjoy eating and cooking, that is not what I had envisioned in my life.

Let's set the way back machine about 30ish (oh Lord has it really been that long?) years. My 8th grade math teacher, Mrs. Dobbs, had a student teacher who had the coolest thing in the world - a real honest computer! The magnificence of that TRS80 overwhelmed our young senses. We crowded around the desk as he plugged the console into the television, attached the cassette tape and put fingers to keys. In a few short moments, "Hello Students" flashed across the screen and I was hopelessly and totally hooked. He taught us things like "basic" and "interfaces". We were introduced to the concepts of "variables" and "plotting data". I can remember the feeling of elation when I had finished my first computer program that asked you your name then said "Hello, [name]!" He left our classroom in just a few months, but that desire to delve deeper into the mysteries of computers never left me. I was hooked!

When I signed up for college (GO MSU!!), the logical choice was of course, computer science. I greedily absorbed everything I could - well most everything. Some things like "calculus" and "Physics" completely bounced off my noggin. However I was determined to plod through and get that degree so I could spend the rest of my life working on my beloved computers.

In my second year, I had the opportunity to join the work study program and found myself hired by the Navel Air Station in Millington, TN. In the program, I would be able to work and go to school in alternating semesters... and best of all, I would get to work in my desired vocation - and for the government! Can we say cushy job?

I could go into details about working for the government but this blog is derailed enough. Perhaps I'll save that for another time.

By the time my third semester of work came about, I was getting burned out. There's nothing quite like bug hunting in 2,000 pages of COBOL program to convince you that maybe you aren't made to do this for the rest of your life. They say that the work study program is a strong education tool. Boy, is that an understatement! At the end of the next school semester, I decided to leave college for a while and oh.. get married while I was there. A couple of semesters out would do me good - then I could finish my last 3 semesters and escape with my degree.

Fast forward 10 YEARS. Married, working as a computer programmer and hating it, I decided it was time to go back and get my degree - which I completed in 2003. Hello BA in Business Information Systems!

Finally - to the meat of the matter..

Meat... catering... get it? I crack me up.

Anyway, a friend's daughter was getting married and asked me that since I was such a great cook, would I consider catering? Before I knew what I was doing, I said yes. I asked a friend who was also a great cook, if she would help me out and I'd split the fee with her. She said yes and we were set to go.

The wedding was held in a local bed and breakfast. We get there and find ourselves in the tiniest little kitchen. There was an island in the middle that we had to turn sideways to get between it and the cabinets. All day we played ring around the island, crab walking and hoping to get it all done. My husband walks in, sees us working in that tiny space and says "You two are a couple of crazy ladies to be doing this". Thus Krazy Ladies Catering was born.

AHA! There's that name!

So, here I sit with my lovely, coveted computer and business degree cooking for a living. I absolutely could not be happier!

Strange how life does that to you.....