Sometimes life gives you lemons.  I think we got oranges.  Really, I do.

Oranges have a fairly thick outer skin.  There are bumps all over the outside.  You have to sometimes dig through the peel and pith to get to the good stuff inside.  Once you get there you are happy you went through all the work of peeling the orange but there are times you realize just wouldn’t have peeled that orange unless someone asked you to do it because it is hard work.  With lemons there is bitterness on the inside, with oranges there is sweetness.

That has been our life over the last year.

We were married, for the second time, last May.  One week before the wedding and the 100 person reception we decided to move half way across the country to Michigan for a job.  So what was to be our wedding reception suddenly became our going away party.  Five weeks later my other half left for work and I was left with the job of keeping the kids lives as normal as possible for the next six weeks and cleaning and packing our home of 15 years.

Though the company paid for movers and packers I still needed to kind of clean and sort things because we were moving from our 1,300 sq ft. house to a three bedroom house that was less than 1,000 sq.ft.  Most of our stuff would stay boxed in storage and only be moved out when we finally found some place more permanent, but there were things I had to put together so we could live comfortably for six to eight months.

After great tears and gnashing of teeth, we made it to Michigan.  It was wonderful.  We still feel like we live in Mayberry, NC (the Andy Griffith version of course).  Our kids fell in love with the schools right away, they both made friends and we found a great dance school (1 hours drive, each way – UGH!).

So life has definitely changed, for the better.  During the first move and yes, the subsequent second move, to a much larger house, I was unable to keep up the game in its entirety.  I probably had 5-6 weeks during the first move and 4 during the second that I just could not do it.  We ate out.  Too much.   We snacked instead of eating dinner.  Too much, but we survived.  There are times you just have to do what you can to stay sane and survive.

So we ate too many hot dogs and hamburgers.  If I see another chicken sandwich I may scream.  But, we are back on track.  My kids actually after a week or so started asking when I was going to start cooking again.  That made me smile.  For their birthdays this past month they both were allowed to choose their birthday dinner.  My daughter chose steak (Best Steak Marinade in Existence) with homemade macaroni and cheese and my son choose Pollo Penne Formaggio (basically chicken Parmigiano with penne pasta).  My little future chef.

Now that I am back to planning out at least two to four weeks worth of menus ahead of time, our pantry is getting restocked and I am mostly shopping mostly the sales ad we are getting our budget back under control.  When we eat at home we definitely save money and we eat healthier.  The food tastes better, we eat more vegetables and salads and just overall feel better.

So, I will keep posting regularly and see how far I can go without repeating a meal.  I will continue to try new things for my family but not worry about repeating a meal we may have had last year if it comes down to my sanity and my family over the game.   Maybe, I can even try to improve on some of the meals I made last year.