Saturday, March 03, 2012

Getting Out of a Rut

I really hate the term "thinking outside the box". It's so freaking cliche. But I don't know what other phrase to use.

As you guys know, my stress levels have been high for months. Mostly it surrounds Big Kid and his care, as well as his appeal for his original claim for Social Security (will get into that after we hear the ruling). He's pretty much recovered as much as he's going to recover from his bout with the swine flu. Now it's just aftermath and trying to gather the pieces together to help him have a life that is meaningful for him.

The latest? He still has good insurance, but now that he has medicaid in addition, he can't see his neuropsych (of 5 years) any more. In fact, there isn't a psych (neuro or otherwise) doc in 100 miles that is taking medicaid patients. We can't just ignore the medicaid part of it and pay the co-pay (or just pay cash), because there is a law in our state that makes it a felony for providers to accept this. The county, which accepts medicaid through their mental health program, has psychiatrists, but not neuropsychs (in fact, they referred us back to his original neuropsych, believe it or not), who deal with brain injuries as well as mental illnesses. :::sigh::: Right now it seems we're up shit creek without a paddle.

So with the medical crap and the constant drama (he and/or Kitty call me 5 times a day to deal with all kinds of "crises"), I had to think of something to get me out of this rut somehow. This CAN'T be what the rest of my life is going to be like!

I love to cook. It's therapeutic for me. I'm not a natural cooking genius, like Rootietoot, nor am I a culinary marvel like Warner. I just like to cook, and I'm really good at a few things.

Last summer, when Mom and Poppa G were visiting, we were able to have a family party and I got to cook for everybody. We had gotten around to talking about the senior centers (they belong to several---LOL) and the food programs available. While balanced and nourishing, the meals served are usually bland and tasteless. I guess when you get older, you lose a lot of taste buds, so there needs to be some extra zing! to make food flavorful (at least according to my mom).

Anyhoo, early in January, in the midst of my funk, I was trying to think of a project or activity we could do as a family. Something out of the ordinary---that didn't involve doctors, or lawyers, or advocates, or angry feelings.

Well, we did it! Last week we cooked and served a Chinese food feast at our local senior center as a family! It was sort of a dim-summy kind of meal---sesame chicken wings, pearl balls, crab rangoon, cantonese egg rolls and more.

All the family got in on the prep work----rolling egg rolls and pearl balls, etc. All we had to do was fry, steam and bake at the site. The guys and Kitty created festive baskets for the tables, full of condiments and fortune cookies.

Everything went smashingly well. Except that Big Kid started to have a panic attack in the middle (even friendly crowds frighten him after a point) and Kitty had to zip him home. That was ok---there were plenty of volunteer servers on hand.

They had reservations for about 75, but we cooked enough for 100. Good thing we did---all that was left was a couple of egg rolls and wings!

Little Guy had a blast, and went around volunteering for us to do this again. LOL Next time I think we're going to do lasagna.

So that was my idea of getting us out of a rut. Of course, I had to sleep for two days afterwards! Snarf.

Hope you're having a great week!

xo

11 comments:

Joe said...

That's a hell of an idea. I used to cook in a Catholic convent and I appreciate what OT takes to cook for a hundred.

Beth said...

For you, it’s not so much a case of “thinking outside of the box” as trying to get out of it!! Kudos to you for doing such a lovely thing – and for making it a family affair.

Kirby Carespodi said...

What a great idea!

Formerly known as Frau said...

Wow good for you what a nice thing to do for others....that is a lot of mouths to feed!

Rootietoot said...

What FUN!! I bet the seniors really appreciated it. And mmmm crab rangoon...

Joanna Jenkins said...

A HUNDRED PEOPLE!!!! Wow, you guys are good, what a fantastic thing for you all to do. I bet it was delicious and they'll be begging you to come back soon.

I am so sorry about the medicaid fiasco. It's really shameful to put you and Big Kid through all of that.

Hang in there. xo jj

Anonymous said...

What a splendid idea! I'm glad it turned out well, despite the panic attack. I like how Kitty's hanging in this for the long haul.

Brenda said...

I hope things settle down for you. Your did a fine thing for a lotta grateful people, I'm sure!

Warner said...

I do enjoy cooking but it is my wife who is the culinary marvel, mostly I do prep work, do the grilling, take photos and sometimes write up recipes. There will be a sauerbraten recipe coming up early next week on the site our hostess pointed to.

Warner said...

We've done parties for 75, that is work.

Valerie Marie said...

YOU'RE THE BEST - EVER! KISSES FROM GERMANY!