June 20, 2019

The First Week of Summer Break

Joey and Phoebe staring at me

Happy Summer Solstice! It is officially the first day of summer, can you believe it? (Edit: Apparently, I'm ahead of myself, hahaha. It's actually tomorrow, the 21st!)

My kids have been out of school for a week, so we've been adjusting to a new routine. For me, this means SO MUCH LESS driving! I am so thrilled that I am not spending 2.5-3 hours per day shuttling the kids around. Now that school is over, they just have baseball games twice a week (and a practice) and Noah has driver's training (his last drive with the instructor is tomorrow).

For the first few days of break, I was excited to work on some things around the house (nothing big--I just wanted to replace the seals around the exterior doors and fix some window screens, etc.) Summer time around here brings with it lots of spiders, and we've had a very wet spring--I have a feeling that the spiders are going to be horrible this year. I want to seal up the house the best that I can!

Unfortunately, it's not going so well. My carpal tunnel pain has been HORRIBLE. After a day I spent in the garage sorting through clothes to donate, as well as sweeping and vacuuming a huge section in there, I was in agony. The next day, I couldn't even open cans of tomatoes to cook dinner and I had to have Noah open them for me. Folding clothes and scooping the litter box are two chores that are very difficult, too. Anything that causes repetitive movement of my hand aggravates the carpal tunnel.

I've been waking up with my hands, mainly my right hand, very swollen and numb/painful. I realize that sounds like an oxymoron (how can something be numb and painful at the same time?) but somehow that's what it feels like.

To top it off, I couldn't even wear my wrist brace for a couple of days because I burned myself really badly while cooking dinner one night. I reached over the pan on the stove to pick up a stray piece of onion, and my wrist rested on the edge of the pan for a millisecond. I pulled my hand back almost instantly, but the damage had been done. It's the worst burn I've ever gotten while cooking! It blistered up almost instantly.

Two days later, the whole thing was a long blister. Noah and I picked up a couch in the garage to move it, and I'd forgotten about the burn; after moving the couch, I looked down and noticed that the couch had rubbed against it and torn off the blister from half of it. I'm going to have a pretty nasty scar there, I'm sure. It still hurts to put my carpal tunnel wrist brace over it.

wrist burn from cooking

I want to find another doctor to ask about the carpal tunnel surgery. The first doctor said that this was "mild" carpal tunnel syndrome, so he wouldn't recommend surgery. How am I supposed to take care of the house when I can't even open a can of tomatoes or do laundry? I was really hoping to work on some fun projects this summer, too--painting the cabinets in my bathroom and making some things out of wood (just for fun).

So, the carpal tunnel and the burn have forced me to take it easy for the last several days. I have been completely absent from my blog and any sort of social media all week because I have been 100% absorbed in a book, of all things ;) I just finished re-reading my very favorite book, "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett.

Joey and Phoebe staring at me intently

(I was trying to have a relaxing morning with my book, but Joey and Phoebe were both vying for my attention, haha.)

I read this book back in 2009 and I loved it SO much. I've mentioned before that I am a slow reader and I have a hard time finishing books unless they keep me completely engrossed. The Pillars of the Earth is very long (over 700 pages), but I've read it twice now--that's saying a lot. And I've also read the sequel, "World Without End", at over a thousand pages!

I just finished The Pillars last night, and after catching up on some stuff I've been neglecting, I'll start on World Without End. I had completely forgotten most of the details and storyline of the books, so it was like reading The Pillars of the Earth for the first time.

For Father's Day, the kids and I gave Jerry a Kindle Paperwhite like the one I got recently and LOVE, and he's able to download the books that I buy because we share an Amazon Prime account. So, he started reading The Pillars, too. So far, he really likes it!

With today tomorrow being the first day of summer, I've set some goals for the summer months that I'm excited to work on. I'll write a whole post about it tomorrow. Today also marks the start of the Runs for Cookies Summer Run/Walk Challenge! I'm excited to see the social media posts from those that are doing it :)

There is a private group on Facebook for those of you who are participating in the challenge. You can request to join here: Runs for Cookies Summer Run/Walk Challenge. It's a closed group which means that only the people in the group can see your posts (it won't show up on your FB newsfeed). There, you can share photos and tidbits about your runs/walks with everyone else who is doing the challenge.

I'm going to cut this short today, because I'll write tomorrow about my summer goals/plans, but I wanted to check in. I hope this is the start of a great summer for everyone!



Oh! And I didn't post a Transformation Tuesday this week because I only got a couple of submissions... so please send me some more! When I get a couple more then I'll post them. You can see how to submit them on this post. Thanks, guys!


12 comments:

  1. I asked for "The Pillars of the Earth" for Christmas mostly based on your recommendation, and the description looked interesting. As it turns out, my mother recently got it for herself, too, through a friend and said it was good. I have been saving it to read on an upcoming trip, since I'll be on an airplane for awhile. Hope I like it as much as you do. I read a lot and generally like long books, so I am looking forward to that aspect of it!

    Hope you get some relief from your carpal tunnel soon!

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  2. Have you tried physical therapy and soft tissue work for the carpal tunnel? A good chiropractor or physical therapist could potentially help you avoid surgery. Just a thought.

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  3. I cannot recommend carpal tunnel surgery enough! Find an ortho who will listen to you. I was miserable, crying, missing work, sleeping sitting up, getting zero sleep for nights on end, I was a zombie; useless around the house. It was awful. Surgery was an absolute necessity. I did both hands in one summer and should have begged for it years earlier. I had tried so many things to hold it off. I was getting as many shots as I could. They didnt even do the nerve test, my symptoms were so obvious (yours are, too). At your/our age, someone should agree to surgery. It wont get better. It will only get worse. Good luck!

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  4. Those books are my favorites too. You should read his new book "A column of Fire", it's the sequel of "World without end" and it's very good too.

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  5. I can imagine how painful your burn is! I hope it heals fast. It's good you're taking some time to rest with your carpal tunnel too.

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  6. I waited too long for carpal tunnel surgery and never got my full function back because the nerve was too damaged. Don't wait too long to be retested.

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  7. My favorite book is World Without End.... and Pillars of the Earth my second favorite. I read them about 10 years ago too! I may have to read them again as the books I have been reading are the type where you don't even remember who the characters are the next day. Your burn looks painful. I have a similar one on my arm in almost the same spot. Got it from an iron of all things :-(

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  8. it looks like you're reading to Joey and Phoebe. Look how nice they are pay attention!!!!

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  9. I cleaned out my pantry last night and I am kicking myself for not taking a "before" picture to submit!

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  10. I needed carpal tunnel surgery, my hands were so bad and someone suggested a chiropractor. That was over 20 years ago and I still haven't had the surgery. For the burn, tea tree essential oils has worked for me in the past and barely a scar. I hope you get to feeling better soon. I know what it's like to be in so much pain that it's all you can do to just get your daily chores done.

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  11. I just had carpal tunnel surgery about two weeks ago ago and can already tell a huge difference. I'm going to have the left hand done in a couple of months. I highly recommend it!

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  12. do you guys know of bookbub.com? You sign up, put inthe types of books you like and each day you get an email with discounted and free books you can download on amazon. :)

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