Headed East, Almost Home.

Well, after 4 long, long months in our new house we've had enough and we're moving out. Kidding. Sort of.

We moved into our new home back in November. A house twice the size of our old house with a walkout basement and a big, if not particularly beautiful, kitchen. It sits on a golf course with lots of windows and great views. Not a beautiful home by any means, but lots of room and a pretty setting. We were pretty happy, if not a little house poor.

Then on January 31st, DH was laid off from his job. All that budgeting I've been talking about? That's the reason why. We had a good chunk of money in the bank, but not knowing how long unemployment would last and wanting to have something left when it was all over, we really clamped down on spending.

Anyway, DH has been interviewing furiously for the last 2 months and just accepted a position for a job in Central PA. On the positive side, Central PA is much closer to what we call home which is basically almost anywhere between NY and VA. I was born and grew up in NY, but also lived in MD for about 8 years inbetween. DH was born in VA and later moved to NJ. We both went to college at Lehigh University in PA, where we met and married. It's been 13 years since we left home and I think we're ready to go back, even if it's not all the way back.

I'm both anxious and excited. It's going to be a long few months as we try to sell our house and buy yet another house. The boys will finish out the school year here, so we'll be here at least until the end of May, if not a little longer. The cost of living in central PA is pretty similar to the cost of living here, so I hope we can find something nice and not have to give up too much. The company offers a very extensive relocation package, so at least we know we'll be rid of our current home within 5 months or so. And heck, I haven't even seen the area yet and don't know if I'll like it.

Then again, I didn't see this place before we moved here either and I didn't much care for it when we got here. But I adjusted and became pretty attached to it. Maybe not attached enough to stay here forever and pass up an opportunity to be 3-5 hours from most of our friends and family instead of a long and grueling 12 hours. We'll miss the friends we've made here, but we'll be closer to friends that we've been cut off from for a long time now.

Sadly, there are no Trader Joe's or Whole Foods within reasonable driving distance in PA, but we will have a Wegman's. I've never been to one, but I hear lots of folks rave about them. Not to worry though, we have friends and family who do live near all the great foodie places, so we'll just stock up on our visits and put in orders when they come to see us!

The top 10 things we miss about living near the east coast:

1. Seafood, especially blue crab. DH's parents now live in DE and we'll be about 3 hours from Baltimore, so bring on the crabs!

2. Being within easy driving distance of everything. Like NYC, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, etc. You can live on the east coast be within 2-3 hours of so many wonderful things.

3. The beach. We won't exactly be close, but it won't be a grueling 14 hour trip, either.

4. The mountains. Before we moved to IN, we lived in TX for 3 years. IN looks heavily wooded and hilly compared to TX, but nothing like home. Every time we would drive to my parent's home in VA, I'd start to long for the terrain of the east coast.

5. Friends and Family.

6. Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA. And Bethlehem/Lehigh in general. You know where we'll be sometimes during the first two weeks of August this summer.

7. Broadway. Love to see Spamalot.

8. Watching the Phillies on TV or going to a game. Okay, I put that on in there for DH. I could take 'em or leave 'em. Especially after Darren Dalton left.

9. Washington, D.C. I sort of already mentioned this, but it deserves its own number. DH and I were fortunate enough to take advantage of D.C. a lot during our childhoods and we'd love for the boys to have the same opportunity.

10. No, or far less, tornadoes. I look forward to being able to sit through a thunder storm without wondering of there will be a tornado watch or warning.

Just a random, not necessarily comprehensive or even accurate list, but it makes me feel better about moving to write it down.

Oh, one more thing. Remember all that meat and seafood we were trying to cook through to save money and use things up? Well, the list got a lot shorter the other night when the freezer was very slightly ajar (most likely by yours truly) and many things thawed completely. Goodbye deer meat. (Just between you and me, I'm not shedding any tears over that one.) Bye bye to most of the fish. We kept a few things that remained mostly frozen, and even though I'm confident they will be safe to eat, they will likely suffer in quality a bit. Fortunately the one pound of shrimp we had left was in our upstairs freezer. That darned door gets left open way too often. I'm thinking we need a chest instead of an upright. No leaving the door open on a chest!

Nothing going on in the kitchen here this week, but hope to get back in the kitchen this weekend. Stay tuned....