Pandemic sheltering - Yo Adriene and other coping methods

There have been three constants that provide me with stress release and relief throughout the last 2 months:

1)  exercise of all kinds, but especially yoga
2)  gardening
3)  sitting in the sun - or what I like to call Vitamin D explosion

As a family, we have never been as consistent with exercising as we have been since this thing started.  Because we are usually too busy to do it.  The boys were expected to get at least 45 minutes a day of some type of exercise to log for their PE grade, which I think is wonderful.  It's so easy to be distracted with all the other stress that we don't notice how much time they spend playing video games and/or being lumps on the couch watching one horrible Netflix movie after another.  (alright, sometimes they are good).

We've been walking the dogs while G rides his bike and J his scooter just about every night.  Sometime these walks are pretty long.  We were worried that Tucker's arthritis might be a factor in going longer distances, but the vet tuned us in to what to watch for if he is struggling (sitting down during a walk, having to pull him to get him to keep going),  and he has not shown ANY of those signs.  That made us very happy.  Blitzen was very overweight when we adopted her, and I would venture a guess that she has lost over 20 pounds since January.  They are both in such good shape it's ridiculous!

We humans also try to supplement with strength building circuit training 3x a week.  When I discovered how inflexible the boys are, and how weak Joel's core seems to be I started working with them on all I've learned in yoga to strengthen core, and increase balance and flexibility.  Jav wanted in on this because his back has been stiffening up on him lately.  Everyone likes it, which totally blows me away.  Although Joel always ends up yelling - "Is it time for rest (corpse) pose now?"

All of this has definitely toned me up, although I can't say that I've lost much weight because we are eating like we never have before - baked quick breads for breakfast, mini ice creams every night for dessert, garlic bread with pasta and on and on.  So many habits I had stopped have now crept back into my regular eating.

But one great habit that I started was my sister-in-law's recommendation to try Yoga with Adriene.  She lives in Austin and has become a Youtube phenom in the yoga world.  Millions of followers all over the world.  I gave her a try and I can see why.  I've been doing yoga on my own at home for almost 25 years.  It took me a good 10 years to realize it's not really about the physical benefits, but about improving your overall fitness, strength, flexibility and maintaining balance as you get older (which is a big deal to me now). It took me another 5-10 years to try to realize it's also about peace of mind, learning mindfulness and to get the breathing right, but no one has ever explained it to me as simply as Adriene.  I decided to try her challenge of 30 days of yoga, and although I've had some days where I skipped I have kept at it better than ever before and the results have helped me stay somewhat sane on these crazy days.  She has such a calming manner.  Slow and steady, but very challenging some days - I've been trying poses I have never had the nerve to try before.  I look forward to my half hour a day with her like nothing else right now.

I'll skip the gardening bit for now because I want to post some pics of what my de-stressing has produced.

Joel and I enjoying the vitamin D explosion.

The last coping method came about merely because I needed a little space/quiet/outside time with the birds and dogs to get away from the stress in the house.  I used to walk the dog for my quiet, away time.  But with Blitzen added I cannot hold both dogs by myself right now, and we are all trying to go together every night.  So every afternoon between 2 and 3 or so I would find myself outside, sitting in a lawn chair in the sun.  I also had a severely stopped up ear that I couldn't hear out of and my mom suggested this method to help clear it out.  I guess vitamin D really is like a miracle to we humans, because it worked.  And there is something about having the warm sun move over you and slowly warm you from the outside in that is SO anciently human and comforting, but I've never enjoyed it like now with the exception of vacations at the beach when the water was chilly.  Of course, now that the weather is getting much more hot and humid I will have to go out early to get the comfort, which means weekends only since I'll be at work.

My view of the back porch during vitamin D sessions.

All in all my mental state has not been very steady, but when it has run well it was due to these three activities.  I have definitely noticed a mental difference on days when I don't make time for at least one of these things.  So these are things I need to keep up for myself even after things go back to normal (even though I don't think that will happen for some time).

Pandemic sheltering - random thoughts

There are so many ups and downs during this thing.  It's hard to track your emotions they change so much from minute to minute.

We survived our fridge slowly dying and are enjoying our new one.  Very impressed with Lowes' customer service for hearing our sob story and delivering the fridge within 3 days of ordering, 13 days sooner than the original delivery date.  It's not like we can run over to the neighbor and stock our groceries in their fridge right about now.

We are all sad that Jav has to go back to SMU Monday.  Especially Jav.  He has enjoyed this extra time with the boys more than he can say.  But we're thankful for his job and that for now it seems safe.  My job and how things are going are worth an entire other post.

Gabriel has had his Reading and Writing finals this week.  He has math Monday, a religion assignment due Tuesday, then his Ted Talk presentation for writing Wednesday and that's it.  Official last day of school is a week from today.  Joel doesn't have finals yet and I know he's hoping next week will just be a fun, NO-WORK week.  It's so surreal to think that we haven't walked into the building since March 6th.  Unlike most public schools, our kids are not getting Pass/Fail grades but regular old numbers that correspond to a letter grade.

Today was a hard, hard day.  It should have been the Candle Mass, where the 8th graders hand their candles over to the 7th graders for next year.  It would have been the first Candle Mass I've ever been to, with Gabriel receiving his candle.  I am very sad it didn't happen.  We'll never get that back.  I understand a little more about high school seniors and the things they will NEVER get to experience. And of course, there is still so much unknown about how things are going to proceed next year.

The grocery orders are still coming, and I've backed off the disinfecting of everything.  Still no bags in the house, setting non perishables aside in the laundry room for three days, and either emptying perishables into our own baggies or washing off the sturdier items with soap and water.  It's pretty exhausting but not as hard as it was at first.  If I hear someone say "Welcome to the new normal" one more time I'm gonna sock them.

We had a great Mother's Day weekend - pics to come.

We are still enjoying mostly nightly walks with the dogs and the boys.  It is truly amazing how many people are outside getting exercise and working in their yards.  Kind of ironic that we are all keeping up with each other and saying hello more than ever but we can't have any close contact with any to our neighbors.  We are supplementing these walks with short exercise sessions-either flexibility/core work or circuit training.  I started teaching the boys some kickboxing moves.  We only worked on punches for about 20-25 minutes.  Gabriel is fine, because he learned to use his core for things like this from Running Club last year.  Joel doesn't know how to use his core so was throwing the punches using only his shoulder.  He is so sore he can barely move his arms today.  😢Bad mama.

I heard yesterday that the FW Symphony Orchestra is canceling the entire Concerts in the Garden season.  We have been two years in a row now (Led Zeppelin and Queen) and it's become a summer tradition.  But I respect and agree with their decision.  People are packed in that space like sardines.

Then today we got the email from the Boy Scouts that all resident camps are canceled this summer, which we expected.  But it's still all so sad.  Gabriel had already decided he did not want to go this year.  He didn't enjoy his first week long campout at Worth Ranch and they were to return there.

I'm typing this as a thunderstorm moves through at midnight.  It's kind of comforting and we needed some rain.

I have been planting the new plants I got for mother's day and still had a few things to get in the ground that I had bought the week before.  I hit a wall yesterday and I'm not sure I'm going to get a few things done.  Normally I am stubborn and bullheaded about giving up, and won't throw any plants away.  But I wouldn't be opposed to giving up this year.  I literally COULD NOT make myself go outside and do anything.  Very unlike me and I would imagine these bad days qualify as depression.

We haven't been able to figure out why the majority of folks in FW refuse to wear protective masks.  It is SHOCKING how many people are gathering places with no distancing or mask-wearing.  That's just good ole independent-thinking, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, no one's-gonna-tell-me-what-to-do kind of Texas mentality we deal with here.  Sigh.

TV Watching Update:

Jav and finished all 4 gloriously fun and sexy seasons of Mozart in the Jungle last weekend.  We have SO enjoyed that show - the music, the whimsy, the writing.  We're not sure what to watch next.

Wednesday nights we watch the Masked Singer.  We all LOVE it and look forward to each new episode with glee, even though about half the time we have no idea who the person is ever after they take the mask off.  #weareold

Friday nights we've been all watching Stranger Things.  Jav and Gabriel had already watched all three seasons.  I only watched 2 episodes in for season 2 and quit just because I was too busy.  We told Joel he could start watching when he turned 10, so I started over in December so I could watch with him.  Then Jav and G decided during this crazy We Are Stuck Together time to join us to rewatch from midway though season 2 and all of season 3.  I think the 3rd season is a little clunky and unrealistic (even for this show), but I gotta tell you there are very few TV shows out there that can compete in suspense and intensity with those first two seasons.  Plus it is a microcosm of our high school years.

I am loving watching Top Chef for the first time in years.  The bloodthirsty competition where everyone turns cutthroat really turned me off and I had no desire to watch.  But that tone seems to be gone, and they are back to just creating amazing food.  Plus Last Chance Kitchen adds that backstory to the main one.

You would think I have had more time and have been enjoying some reading and good books.  Nope. Too tired when I get to bed.  So I'm now addicted to the NY Times Crossword Puzzles.  I do the Mini every night, then attempt archives of Monday or Tuesday puzzles, which are the easiest.  The Saturday puzzle is the most challenging.  Trying to work up to that.  (Goals are good to have.)  Time to start another puzzle to help me drift off to dreamland.  I've been having lots of trouble sleeping lately (chalk it up to hormones and maybe worrying about, well, EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE).