Oh, what a long, strange trip it's been...
I can't remember the last time I was on the CAH forum, but it has been many, many months. Amazingly enough, I stopped all but the most basic cooking, and no entertaining, so I just kind of faded away from the cooking forums that I frequented. Until now.
Building a new house 6 hours away was, in hindsight, biting off quite a bit more than I (well, we), could chew. We took possession in February, and the past several months have been hectic since we're doing this first part of the moving process ourselves. Around the 4th of July, it seemed that our friends and relatives remembered that we now had a house at the beach so each trip since then has consisted of packing and hauling a trailer, then unloading, prepping for guests, cleaning up after guests, and driving back to PA.
Yes, a bit exhausting, but I realized how much I missed cooking for my friends over the year that the house was being built. So I'll be popping in here a lot more often, looking for inspiration. DH is also looking for somewhat more creative meals, and although that won't be happening every night for the foreseeable future, I want to get out of the "quick dinner" rut that I have found myself in.
We are now finishing up some projects on our farm house, in preparation for putting that "for sale" sign on the front yard. I had hoped that this would happen this past summer, but there were tradespeople to find and hire, plus a lot of projects that DH and I needed to finally get done. Maybe in a couple of weeks, it will be official.
So, after all of this, I guess that I should say that I am glad to be back here, and ready to be inspired! And it's good to see all of the familiar names, as well!
Oh, and thanks to all of you who chimed in when I asked about appliances those many months ago-- I have to say that the convection microwave has been my favorite new "toy" in my new kitchen!
I can't remember the last time I was on the CAH forum, but it has been many, many months. Amazingly enough, I stopped all but the most basic cooking, and no entertaining, so I just kind of faded away from the cooking forums that I frequented. Until now.
Building a new house 6 hours away was, in hindsight, biting off quite a bit more than I (well, we), could chew. We took possession in February, and the past several months have been hectic since we're doing this first part of the moving process ourselves. Around the 4th of July, it seemed that our friends and relatives remembered that we now had a house at the beach so each trip since then has consisted of packing and hauling a trailer, then unloading, prepping for guests, cleaning up after guests, and driving back to PA.
Yes, a bit exhausting, but I realized how much I missed cooking for my friends over the year that the house was being built. So I'll be popping in here a lot more often, looking for inspiration. DH is also looking for somewhat more creative meals, and although that won't be happening every night for the foreseeable future, I want to get out of the "quick dinner" rut that I have found myself in.
We are now finishing up some projects on our farm house, in preparation for putting that "for sale" sign on the front yard. I had hoped that this would happen this past summer, but there were tradespeople to find and hire, plus a lot of projects that DH and I needed to finally get done. Maybe in a couple of weeks, it will be official.
So, after all of this, I guess that I should say that I am glad to be back here, and ready to be inspired! And it's good to see all of the familiar names, as well!
Oh, and thanks to all of you who chimed in when I asked about appliances those many months ago-- I have to say that the convection microwave has been my favorite new "toy" in my new kitchen!