Interesting times – a curse or not?

Interesting times

May you live in interesting times, is thought to be a Chinese curse, however, there is no proof of this. The first time this sentence appears to have been used was in 1936 by the British Ambassador to China, Mr. Hughe knatch-Hugessen.

In recent months this has been our home life. I like to think of those words as a challenge, a hidden blessing, in a way.

Yes, sometimes a nice quiet life is what I dream of but I have 4 teenagers in high school so interesting times are all I will get for a while.

Health and financial challenges have been leading the pack and I have had to learn a lot from my own course on meal planning.

Without meal planning, I do think that I would have changed the word interesting to nightmarish.

My two youngest children have developed a social circle and have designated my home as the ‘club house’. I love the fact that they have friends and feel that our home is a place where everyone is welcome.    It does often mean though, that I can have up to 15 teenagers between the age of 13 and 16!  They come home for Sabbath lunch and then stay for movie nights.

Sabbath afternoon involves old fashioned board games, where everyone is talking to each other (okay, yelling at each other.  Who knew that Trivial Pursuit could get so loud). No cellphones in sight.

We go through a lot of popcorn these days. Movie nights involve putting up a white tablecloth across the wall unit and setting up my overhead project to play the movie through a computer. What I love about these nights is that I know the kids are having fun, are safe and are not wandering around shopping malls.

Meal planning for weekends now also involves having snacks on hand and enough cans in the cupboard for instant salads to bulk up the meals when the 4 you were expecting becomes 6 or 8.

I am loving living in interesting times. It keeps me on my toes and reminds me that meal planning makes life so much easier. 3 things you must know about meal planning