So this was not the IDEAL time for WordPress to do an update and make EVERYTHING LOOK COMPLETELY DIFFERENT back in this blog-post-writing area. As if I do not have enough new things to get used to right now, WORDPRESS!
Well. We soldier on. I will say that this morning is significantly less bleak than yesterday morning. There are many factors:
1. I temporarily ditched my keto diet. I was feeling physically terrible (queasy, awash in spent and fresh adrenaline, exhausted, sore) as well as emotionally terrible (overwhelmed, stressed, sad, angry, endlessly reliving the confrontation with the movers), and I took the advice I remember seeing about how in times of crisis you should EAT and not worry so much about WHAT. Almost immediately I felt much, much better. Plus, we could eat dinner without having to have the kitchen settled yet: we ordered pizza and fries and ate at the table and it was a NICE time instead of a huge stressful ordeal of trying to cook, or else ordering pizza for everyone except me, and then having me eating cheese sticks and hard-boiled eggs while everyone else had delicious hot food; and then I put out on the coffee table a selection of my day-off treats and we all sat in the living room and had treats and looked at the Christmas tree. And then the next morning when I was starting to panic about having not ordered a Christmas gift for Paul’s sister yet, I got out a pack of Entenmann’s Little Bites and a fresh cup of coffee, and Elizabeth and I went on the computer and got that done.
2. We got the kitchen mostly settled. It’s not DONE, but I took an assortment of advice from the comments section and we tried to just Make Decisions, with the idea that we can later switch around anything we find we keep going to the wrong drawer/cabinet for. Paul made dinner in the kitchen last night, and it was definitely a situation of “we have not formed these neural pathways yet”–but we were THINKING “we have not formed these neural pathways yet,” which helped.
3. I got a lot of my bathroom stuff put away. The cabinet is still scraping the lightbulbs, but my moisturizer and lip balm and deodorant are where I expect to find them.
4. I am taking my mild sedatives. I’m taking a half-dose during the day, when I need to be able to keep moving; I take a full dose a couple of hours before bed. This has also made an immediate difference in me being able to sleep all the way through the night, which has GOT to be a big improvement over waking up at 3:00 in the morning to hyperventilate about all the things that won’t seem so bad in the morning.
5. A new neighbor (already an acquaintance, but now we live near her) stopped by with a plate of banana muffins and a welcome to the neighborhood, and told us what a great neighborhood this was, especially for taking walks. She listed a bunch of other acquaintances of ours who live around here, too. I don’t know if it’s true of everyone, but I can say for myself that if you are ever thinking “Should I stop by the new neighbors’ house with a plate of muffins/cookies or is that weird?,” it was not only NOT WEIRD but also I have been getting damp-eyed every time I think of it, and also I have eaten two banana muffins and they have been extremely heartening.
6. We walked to the library, and it took six or seven minutes, which is how long it used to take us to drive there.
7. Just WRITING about it yesterday helped, and then the comments section helped even more. Right now I am typing fast while Paul works, feeling as if I need to stop sitting here and start helping, so I don’t feel like I can go look for the quotes and transfer them—but there were many, many comments that have been bolstering me at bad moments. And just hearing how other people have been through this same thing and are now fine/happy/settled has been very, very bolstering.
I am trying not to wear you out on this topic, but I believe it to be unavoidable: as with a life change such as a new baby, there is no way even a rapt audience is going to want to hear as much as the new parents want to say. But these things can be nice to have as resources, later, when trying to remember how messed-up things were for awhile after the baby/move/surgery/whatever.
We moved to a new city in a new state this past summer and have been in a rental house since the end of June. We are in the process of buying a house and will be moving again here in a couple of months, just a few miles away. I am here for every word, keep the moving posts coming! For me, they are very timely !
I’m so glad you are feeling a bit better. And I’m really happy that your neighbor dropped by with some goodies to welcome you. It is definitely not weird as we do it every time we get a new neighbor – but have noticed that it doesn’t seem to be “thing” anymore (i.e., no one welcomed us to our last couple of houses).
We’ve tried to but it’s hard as people seem to not be home a lot. Baked goods don’t keep forever…
Glad you are feeling better. I am all for quitting the diet right now. You deserve those banana muffins! We always bring a plate of cookies over to a new neighbor. My mom always did that – we usually lived in a new construction neighborhood, so there were lots of newbies moving in. I agree with Gigi – I don’t think people do it as much anymore. Sad. Our kitchen was new last Christmas, and I still have a few cabinets I need to re-purpose. There is no rule that says where you put stuff will be their final resting space. No you are not wearing me out on the topic. Most of us have been there and car relate. I have been writing a series of posts about the nutty lady that I was working for (I babysit in my house for teacher’s kids), and I fear the same thing. Will people wear out from hearing all of the nutty things she did? I just keep thinking though that I cannot make this stuff up! Enjoy getting more settled today!
Oh YAY! I am so glad things are already on an upswing!
And you can WALK to the library?!?! What an amazing life changing thing!!!
I have never moved anywhere that I did not initially hate and regret. Never. And I have never not eventually loved those place and mourned leaving them behind. Well, except for that one place during the Peace Corps that has iguanas in the ceiling. Shudder. But I’m fairly confident you don’t have iguanas in the ceiling so I have full confidence you are going to love the new place. So glad the move is over-ish.
I’m so glad things look better! And keep sharing.
Your moving posts are my own personal HGTV, to repeat myself. Keep’em coming!
I very much enjoy reading your posts about moving! And it is nice for your readers to get to give back encouragement and help to you. I have moved a lot of times as an adult, but only once in the same city, the others have all been to new states. I am also quite impressed with your speed at getting the kitchen in order. I have found that each move does change my cooking / eating style a little, and my go-to menus often change.
Muffins! Walk to the library! I think we have safely established that there is a ready and eager audience waiting for your every observation, because they are wise and witty observations. And moving is an endlessly fascinating process to me.
All these years and I never noticed that it’s EnteNmann’s.
See how you help your readers, Swistle? Tell us everything!
Also, I am so glad you have a muffin-delivering friend in the neighborhood. At least, I like to think you will be friends.
I remember my most recent move (15 years ago). We were fully moved in and it still felt “off”. As I padded around the apartment, my feet always hurt. I figured I was standing and walking more than usual as I had so much to do. It was winter and my feet were bare and the skin on the bottom of my feet was dry and crackly. Not a nice feeling. But I ignored it.
Then, following advice (as you wisely did), I decided to take two minutes to sit with some lotion and moisturize the bottoms of my feet. Lo and behold, both feet were plastered along the soles with scraps of packing tape!
The things we chalk up to pure misery when they are actually stupid, solvable problems is remarkable!
I don’t think you can wear this audience out. We’re pretty committed to the move by now, and I personally would feel a little miffed if you were to stop reporting.
I told the kids about your dim cat taking days to realize the house was different, and they found that hilarious. Not long after we adopted our current cat, my daughter said about him “It’s like another cat asked to borrow his brain, and then that other cat never came back.”