Coping with the Move Part II: Less Solitaire

Two weeks ago I blogged about how I cope with the move, most of it in the form of counterproductive coping mechanisms. I was playing Solitaire and Jeopardy all day, in between chores and meal serving. The kids are still home all day for the summer, so obviously I was also doing my share of microwaving corndogs and settling petty disputes.

I vowed to do better. More healthy coping strategies! I will talk it out, blog, and not hide away in my sadness!!! For the most part, I feel like I’ve done much better this past week.

The box of books that was sitting against the wall of the office for over a month? Well, no I did not unpack that box yet. HOWEVER, I did move that box down to the basement. Haha!! So dust me off, let’s call that complete!

This was a fun, happy week.

We went swimming at a free pool on the nearby military base. For three hours, we lived it up at the splash pad and pool, complete with water slide. Literally 50 times I stood at the bottom of that slide, in the 5 foot deep water, caught John David (who isn’t a good swimmer yet), and swam him over to the side. He happily jumped out each time, ran back to the slide, and we repeated that cycle. The amazing part is that I did not wake up with a destroyed back the next morning. I guess water exercise truly is better for arthritis.

The only sad thing is we did not make it back to that pool yet, and it has now gone to “weekends only.” Ugh. School doesn’t start for another week, so I wish they had kept the pool open one more week.

I also had a surprisingly successful week in my test kitchen.

Sometimes I refer to my cooking new recipes as “April’s test kitchen.” A good number of these new recipes are flops, but this week I had two smashing successes that felt like happiness. I’ve always wanted to make those delicious yeast rolls, like the frozen Sister Shubert ones or the ones you get at O’Charley’s, and this week I DID IT!!! Whoo-hooo!

The rolls were so good, I left them on the counter, and the batch of 12 was all gone fairly quickly. Only one family member wouldn’t eat them, and he has a mild wheat allergy, so he gets a pass.

I got the recipe from one of those church cookbooks from Alan’s home town, and I’ll be sharing the recipe here soon.

The other new dish that turned out splendidly was French Toast Casserole. I’ve made french toast casserole before, but this was the easiest and yummiest one. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it was “refrigerate overnight, cook in the morning” until I was halfway through it, so while I was all prepared for the next day, I had nothing to serve everyone for dinner. Oh well, live and learn.

I’ll share that recipe soon too. It came from the same church cookbook.

Meeting New People

I met more neighbors this week, plus Alan and I ended up porch sitting and talking with our next-door neighbors. That was a blessing. I definitely learn the most about my new community by talking to the people who’ve lived here a while. It reminds me of playing Oregon Trail. Do you remember how it was an option at town stops to “talk to a local?” I’m telling you, it’s an important thing to do. Also, how awesome was Oregon Trail? That was definitely the best Apple IIe computer game of the ’80s.

Library Adventures

I’ve now used the library 3 times, and I’ve only lost one item, a Spongebob DVD which I renewed and am hoping to find before I owe fees. I am SO EXCITED about this library. They have this self-checkout, which everyone does these days, but this one has magic x-ray powers. Totally serious. You can put a stack of 3 books on the pad, and the pad reads the UPC code for all 3 of them, even if the code is on the bottom of the book that is sitting on top of another book. Amazing.

How is it that we can invent such things and yet there are still no hover boards, flying cars, or jet packs? I would really like to fly independently before I die. Can we get the smart tech people off of cars that drive themselves and onto looking at making individual flight affordable??? They can watch Back to the Future 2 for inspiration.

But back to the library, I found the newest Bad Guys book, 3 Spongebob books, an easy Batman book, and all sorts of good things. You can check out all the books you want and keep them for 3 weeks. This library is the bomb.

Evil Back Arthritis

On a less happy note, my evil arthritis of the lower back came back with a vengeance this week, so I’m back to walking everyday to try and relieve it. It may sound weird, but walking is good for back problems like mine. I was up until 3 am one night because it hurts so bad to lie down, but sitting and standing hurt too, so there’s no way to win. The next night I used every item in my arsenal (which contains every thing from essential oils to muscle relaxers and Lidocaine patches) to make sure I got some sleep, and that worked. Lidocaine 5% patches are an impressive thing. You are only supposed to wear 3 at once, so one must choose the placement carefully, but I slept like an old man in church!

Gym Orientation

Did I mention I joined a gym? I promise this is not what upset my back. There were a couple of days between my last gym visit and the arthritis flare-up.

They have an orientation for new members where they teach you to use the machines on the circuit, and I went to that and feel much more confident about using the weight stuff now.

Everyone else

Alan and the boys are doing well too. Alan took the week off from work, and we’re attending Open Houses. Then on Friday we are all going to New York City!!! It’s only 3.5 hours from our new house, via the Megabus. We chose NYC because it’s the one thing the boys want to see the most, even more than going to a theme park, they want to go to New York.

Alan is also coaching Daniel’s baseball team. Dan got hit by the ball recently and is now dealing with being afraid of the ball, but we’ll help him work past it. This is Daniel’s first year in a league where they let the kids do the pitching.

Mission Accomplished

So hey, I’d say things are going swimmingly. Did I still play Solitaire and Jeopardy this week? Yes, of course, I did, but I did many other new things too. I definitely wasn’t wallowing in misery, even when I was hurt.

³ “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. ²⁴ No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

1 Corinthians 10:23

Are you going through a challenge right now? What do you do to cope? We’d love to hear your input in the comment section below.