Things That Helped Me Beat The Boredom In May

Chalk up another month at home! While I am so fortunate to have a beautiful roof over my head and too much food on my table, I’m ready for real life now. That being said, I’m still not going anywhere. Even though the stay at home orders have been lifted and restaurants and retail are opening up, I’m not comfortable going out. So I’ll continue to stay home and find things to do to keep from being bored.

Here’s what helped me beat the boredom in May:

Playing Cards: Having my daughter home has been a blessing as she is always willing to play a game with me. We had so much fun playing gin rummy, spit, a game I played with the kids when they were little, and a great new card game she taught me, golf. I remember playing gin with my mom when I was growing up and so playing cards always brings back fond memories for me.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell: I’ve done a lot of reading in the time I’ve been home. I just finished this book and if you like a story with a lot of twists and turns, The Family Upstairs is for you. On her 25th birthday Libby received a letter stating that she has inherited an abandoned mansion. Longing to find out more about her roots, knowing she was adopted, Libby soon finds out more than she could ever imagine.

Compression Gloves: Having Rheumatoid Arthritis, which I normally control through diet, but tbh I’m not doing the best job of the past few months, these compression gloves are so helpful. The fingerless version that I have, they are available in full glove style also, makes it easy to wear them and still be able to do things when my hands start to hurt. 

DIY Bleach Tie Dye: Tie Dye is all the rage lately so of course I had to make my own! It was so easy and they came out great. My daughter and I had so much fun we actually did a second round, making sweatshirts for my other daughters and I bleached a pair of sweatpants. My daughter also used a sponge paintbrush and bleached stars onto a sweatshirt and it came out adorable!

All American: This Netflix show had me hooked from the first episode. Loosely based on the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger, this series tells the story of a young man dealing with the difficulties of growing up in South LA. I was taken in by the story and the acting, and was so sad when I finished binge watching the two seasons of this series. 

Instacart: This service has been a lifesaver during the stay at home order. We’ve placed so many orders and had some delivered as early as two hours later. It’s been great as I have also placed orders for my 86 year old mom who lives in Florida and helps me feel comfortable knowing she’s got food and whatever else she needs. On one of my first orders I had the cutest experience. The delivery person texted me as my address wasn’t showing up on her GPS. I tried giving her directions but it was confusing so she called me. We ended up talking the whole drive to my house and when I wasn’t giving her directions we were chatting about life and our families. She was great and it was just a nice experience. We did have one mishap on another order. They said they were on their way to make the delivery, but we never got anything. We called the company and they immediately gave us a refund and a credit for the inconvenience. Not a big deal as we placed the order again the next day and all was good. I do miss going to the grocery store and choosing my own produce and other foods, but in these times Instacart has been a life saver!

Celebrating My Kids’ Birthdays Virtually: Three of my four children have birthdays in May. I should be used to not celebrating with them as they’re all adults and haven’t lived home in years. But given that I haven’t been able to visit them and haven’t seen two of them since December/January, I’m missing them extra and wishing I could be with them on their birthdays. All six of us zoom for about an hour on each of their birthdays so we can pretend we’re all together for a little. These calls are so important to me and I really look forward to spending this time with my family.

Hope you’re finding lots of fun things to do to keep you entertained while sheltering at home and hope you’re continuing to stay safe!