Surgery Round Two

After having his right hand done in December Hubby had his left hand operated on today for carpel tunnel syndrome.
He was going to have the left hand done earlier in the year but the surgeon had to reschedule.  He has not been able to go back to work between hands because of the conditions of his personal injury insurance that is paying him while he is off work.  
This has become very handy over the past few months with me being pregnant and not having much energy.  He has been great doing all the housework and really doing everything except the cooking.
He made sure all the floors were vacuumed and mopped and the lawns mowed before today so I do not have to worry about them.

The first hand done in December

We now have some experience with keeping him amused so this round will hopefully be a bit easier.
But we will see, he might run out of patience a bit sooner so I will have to come up with some jobs for him.  I am sure he will love that : ) 

Surgery Round One

This week Hubby had the first of his 2 carple tunnel operations.  For a number of years the pain and numbness in his hands has gotten worse and worse.

As an Aborist he spends a lot of time holding on to chainsaws with a tight grip often dangling from up in a tree.  So as you can imagine having no feeling in your hand while you work is more than just annoying it is very dangerous.

He will spend 2 weeks unable to drive and a week unable to use his fingers much at all so needs help with a lots of things including getting dried after a shower and opening things.  
We will wait and see how he goes after this surgery before he has the next one done in early 2016.  We have no idea how quickly it will heal and how long it will be until he gets the strength back in his hands.  We have to have faith that he will get the strength back in his hands and can go back to his old job but there is a chance that he will not be able to go back to his old job and will have to look at a new career.
This is not an entirely bad thing as he has wanted a change for a while but only time will tell what happens next.

In the meantime I have him at home with me every day as I work from home, yay (not).  I have taken him down to the local library and got him his own library card.  He is not a reader but they have heaps of DVD's, CD's and great magazines and have can have 20 items out at a time so that is holding the boredom at bay for now.

Any tips for keeping injured husbands amused?

New Zealand Mornings

While in New Zealand Hubby and I had the opportunity to go on early morning walks together something we do not get to do at home due to our conflicting work hours.

It was pretty cold most mornings, cold enough that I need a hat, gloves and jacket.

Everywhere we went we attracted attention from the locals.

Some of them even thought we might have been bringing their breakfast.

I love morning walks and normally do them by myself here in Australia so having Hubby instead of Jessie was a bit of a novelty, and he was a better conversationalist.

Do you take morning walks?  Do you attract attention?

Back From New Zealand

Wow long time to post!

Sorry folks life got really busy.  I had intended to post more over the past month but life just got in the way.  There was friends, family and life to experience, university work to do plus a computer crash or 2 (grrrrrr).

But all is now well and we are cracking on with life.

I am hoping to catch up on some blog reading this week but with an exam looming I am not sure it will actually happen - oh well I can dream.

How about you what's new in your world?

The Life Of A Adult University Student

If you asked me to describe how I have felt since starting university at the start of this month I would use words like overwhelmed, nervous, stressed, time poor and brain strain.  However I would also use word like engaged, determined, excited, enthusiastic and challenged.  There are both positives and negatives to working 30 hours a week, studying 30 hours a week as well as trying to keep momentum behind our plans to move to NZ next year.

All in all I am really loving studying and it feels so good to be really stretching my brain and learning new information and skills.  I am so glad that I decided to start working towards a new career even though I am in my late 30's and have not studied for over 15 years.

I have set myself up on the dinning table  and Jessie is my little study buddy and loves to lie on the floor beside me when I study. 

I have found that getting to sleep at night is more difficult than it should be and when I close my eyes I have a thousand things running through my head and it is difficult to put them aside.  I think I am going to have to put into practice some new sleep strategies.

I am making full use of our 10 seater dinning table

I am so glad I have a good stockpile of meals in the freezer because not having to cook every day of the week is a real blessing.  I have also been making meals that we are happy to eat for a few days in a row.  This week it was chicken pie using left over roast chicken peas and corn and it was so tasty.

Apologies for the lack of post lately but I am just trying to get my time management skills more finely tuned to create more free time for all the "Fun Stuff".

Do you have any good tips for getting to sleep with a busy brain?

Lots Going On Around Here

My blogging schedule has been under a bit of pressure this month but that is not to say there has not been a lot going on.

We have been having a lot of house inspections so we hope that this will shortly lead to a contract but are not getting our hopes up too much.  Because we have had to be out of the house most weekends for these inspections we have had a couple of weekends away camping.  On the June long weekend we spent 3 days camping and had friends join us for one night which was a lovely catch up.  Then last weekend we went camping again by ourselves just to relax.

I have also started my University study and needless to say that having not studied since 2001 it is challenging my brain to get back into that mode of operation.  I am currently undertaking a 2 week prep course that focuses on academic writing which I am so glad I signed up for as the rules around academic writing are very specific and being able to write well will ensure I do well in my studies.

Although we are really just keeping the house and gardens tidy and not adding to them we have had to spend a bit of time out in the garden.  We have had a very mild and wet winter so far which is not at all normal for us at this time of the year.  This has resulted in the weeds taking over every little space they can find.  Today we pulled out half a wheelbarrow of weeds and all the rain meant they were easy to get out.  With the shortest day of the year now behind us we are on our way back towards summer but I still expect that we will have some cooler weather ahead of us.

With the couple of weekends away camping I have read some great books and have picked up my crochet hook again too.  I am working on a large blanket and so far I have a knee rug so it is progressing nicely.

I have not had a lot of time to read your blogs and leave comments but please know I am reading when I can even if I am not leaving comments.