WV to MI to AZ..... and back again

So nobody freak out, we are only here in AZ temporarily. We are not moving back here. If I have to see my stuff in a U-haul again in the next two years, I may just lay down and die. I'm done moving. Done living out of a suitcase with my life in a constant state of chaotic flux. DONE. I have literally hit my limit, busted through it, and gone completely insane in the last eight weeks. I am emotionally spent and physically impaired. I cannot handle any more right now. I even balked at coming to AZ for a visit. I know, that sounds ludicrous. It isn't. I have to live out of a suitcase for another week and it rankles. But it is what it is and I am here. So I am trying to allow myself to enjoy it, though my home is still largely in boxes back in MI and I feel mentally scattered. However, there have been some really good times over the last few weeks as we started settling in, some pretty rough ones too, but such is life. I will have some indoor pics for you soon of the new place, it's still too unsettled to suit me. It is gloriously '80s in styling, but I love it. The cats and dogs are settling in too. I'm not sure if the cats love the basement, but they have caught and killed one mouse so far so it can't be that bad down there. The dogs, especially Roo, LOVE our new place. Nearly three fenced acres of winter wonderland for him to explore and play in. Petey is getting used to the snow, but his butt fur still stands on end when he gets cold, usually five seconds after getting outside, but the snow seems to be growing on him too.

Kay is obviously in heaven, here is her first snowman.

So what has happened since my last post? Well, we went back to WV and packed up all the items that managed to get unpacked. That Sunday, January 4, I stepped off the back porch and sprained my ankle. Badly. Here's a pic.

Naturally I sprained my right ankle. My driving ankle. Right before we were to drive home to MI. As I stepped off the porch, my ankle gave out and rolled all the way to the ground and I heard a pop like the sound of a gun going off. I fell over and started screaming, the pain was so intense, I thought I had broken it for sure. So off to the ER we went, after P picked me up off the ground, and a lovely little WV doctor told me it wasn't broken and sent me on my way. After five minutes. They only took two films and offered no suggestions for PT or follow up care. Real class A health care out there. Anyhow, the crutches hurt and were clumsy so I ditched them the next day and started walking on it. I know, I'm an idiot, but I had to drive a U-haul and needed to be able to walk on it.

So we went and picked up the U-haul(two days after the ankle sprain), we had to go an hour south to get it though because the one promised to us in Parkersburg was no longer available. Of course. The night we brought it home, we were trying to back it into our crazy driveway when the front right tire got stuck in the ditch and we couldn't get it out. It was dark and freezing out and we had to call a tow truck to pull us out. The next day, we had the same movers who moved us in come back and pack the U-haul truck we picked up. They sucked and were unable to fit everything into the truck even though we dumped a bunch of stuff so we had to run and get a trailer too last minute. We hitched it up to the Edge, loaded it ourselves with me gimping about, and off we went. We spent three days getting to MI due to the weather. Luckily, thanks to the U-haul debacle and my ankle, we missed being caught in the deadly crash on I-94. We have actually gone over our original time line and we would have likely been in it if not for a little divine intervention. :)

I drove the U-haul for all three days. They weren't long days and I really enjoyed it actually. Here's a pic of me freezing my buns off in the U-haul.

En route, our little girl lost, first one, then the other of her two front teeth. One came out in an apple, the other was swallowed as she slept. She says she hopes they never grow back as she feels cuter now. LOL.

Soooo, when we got to MI, P had a bit of trouble getting the Edge plus trailer up the street going to our house.

Luckily my brother in law came and snagged it with his big Dodge Ram and a few ice slicked hills later, we finally made it. Phew. More movers showed up and unloaded us. Then we threw the cats in the basement and loaded the dogs and our suitcases back into the Edge and headed for Chicago as P had to fly out the next morning. Yes, that's right, we were at our new home for a mere few hours and then left for our good buddy Flaco's house. We brought all of our dirty clothes and I did tons of laundry. We did drop K off at my sister in law's so she wouldn't have to travel any more, which was a huge relief for both of us. Poor kid has seen the inside of more hotels in the last month. P flew out at 5am on Sunday and I drove back up to MI to meet my new in laws at our house to start the process of unpacking. It was nice to finally start the process knowing that I was home at last for a good long while, but I was so tired, it didn't last long. I spent the night on the couch with K and the next day started to unpack some more and ran out to get some groceries. That night I put the bed together and tried to sleep. I woke up at 3am and ran for the bathroom. I threw up until there was nothing left. And again at 7am, 8:30 and 9:30. I shouldn't have had that Taco Bell the day before. The next two days were filled with all over body aches and a severe fever. I'm not going to lie, I thought I might die. But the only way I was getting to the Dr was in an ambulance so I figured I would just tough it out. Lucky for me, my lovely sister in law dropped off a care package with gatorade in it and saved my life.

When I was starting to feel a little better, I tried to eat real food at Panera. I had to stop, but K had her first broccoli cheddar soup and LOVED IT!!!

And so life has gone on. After getting over whatever the heck was wrong with me K and I went to pick up P from Chicago. Spent another night doing laundry at Flaco's and headed home for P's first night in the new house. We have been unpacking and settling in since then. Really we unpack with less fervor and spend lots of time exploring the big yard and playing in the snow. P spends his weekdays working in the office and K and I do school work and take nature walks.

Here is my beautiful bewhiskered husband, looking like a record producer, enjoying some noise canceling wonderfulness from Bose.

Our life here on this hill feels idyllic and I am so very glad that we have chosen to make MI our home. It feels right to me in a way I can't really grasp yet. I thought I would feel displaced for a while, at least for a period of adjustment, but there hasn't been any of that. It just feels like a piece of our puzzle slid into place. I love it, the austere winter landscape and the bracing cold air have a cleansing affect on my mind. I look forward to learning more and seeing more and nesting like a small animal until everything is just so. As for my ankle, I finally saw a Dr at CORE today and they took real X-rays and determined there is no break, just really bad ligament damage that may or may not need surgery. PT will begin upon our return to MI and we will go from there. For now, we are happy and (relatively)healthy and very appreciative of everyone who has helped us to get here. Thank you for your patience in waiting for this post! I promise to post more frequently now!

Random thoughts from the road: Back to WV on New Years Day

I rummaged around in my computer bag and pulled out my iPad mini and my iPod, setting them both on the center console next to me. K looks right at me and says, I’m really aiming for the iPad. Then she tells us “The music sometimes carries me away.” Too cute. I am daily confronted by this child’s propensity for deep thoughts, her beautiful mind makes my heart smile. And so now she is happily distracted by technology and I can blog. Perfect. Now I can write. With a head as full as mine has been lately, I find I need to write often. I have at least 5 blog posts that I have already started and some even finished that I have not been able to post due to our current, nomadic situation.

I know everybody has been anxiously waiting to hear what has transpired between AZ, WV, and MI. So here it is. WV is dead to us, and while we may visit it someday in the future, we will not be living there. We will be running into the sheltering arms of family in MI.  

So we are moving!!!! Again. You may have seen several posts to that affect recently on our Facebook threads. But between holiday get togethers and being sick, also again, I haven’t had a chance to write. I’m sorry to keep you hanging! We are driving back to WV now and I hope to post this when I get home. (I didn’t as our internet was down when we got here. I mean, why wouldn’t it be? And then I sprained my ankle, and the Uhaul had to be picked up from a location 45 min away in the snow. And so on. More on that tomorrow maybe?)

As we drive, all sorts of things run across my mind; how much I wish I had my sketch pad because I feel inspired by the beautiful farmhouses and barns we have been driving past for the last three weeks; how much I love my daughter and want to have more children like her, and sooner rather than later; how blessed we are and how easily this all could have gone a different way and we could be moving to somewhere terrible instead of moving home. I think about what it will be like to be a full time mother, teacher, and duck wrangler. This line of thought leads me to the upcoming spring and makes me contemplate just what I envision for my newest animal escapade: The Duck.

So far I have narrowed down my breed choice to two breeds: Ancona ducks and Khaki Campbells. These are two very distinctly different breeds of duck that I will likely raise at the same time, though I will focus on breeding the Anconas and maybe crossing them with the Khakis. So let me give you some background on both to give you an idea of what they are like. The Ancona is a critically endangered duck that I chose off of a list of endangered animals because they match all of my criteria for what I want in a duck. Excellent egg layers, having between 210-280 eggs a year, big enough for meat at 6-6.5 lbs each, and beautiful with their white coats splashed with black spots. They appeal to me on all levels really; they are shaped like a duck, but pretty like a pinto pony. They are very adaptable and hardy animals, which is needed in MI, especially in the winter. Their meat is tasty and lean so when the occasion arises, as it will, we will enjoy eating them as well. Don’t be sad, we will be furthering the breed and keeping most of them alive! Not to mention the fact that these ducks are capable of eating large bugs, like banana slugs(I just threw up a little in my mouth, ugh) that might try to eat my vegetable garden! Their crowning attribute is their calm temperament. I want my ducks to enjoy my company and follow me around and these surely will if raised right.  

The second breed I want to raise is the Khaki Campbell duck. This is a significantly smaller duck, and at 4-4.5 lbs, not much good for eating. Their egg laying ability, however, is second to none with 250-350 eggs per year!!! On the high end, that’s the kind of egg production you would get from a chicken! These guys are still pretty enough to satisfy me aesthetically as well with their pretty brown feathers and the green heads the males wear. They are quite skittish and flighty(lol) ducks though, so I will have to make sure Rooster doesn’t get any ideas. He will be trained with them from the minute they are babies, so hopefully that will help them to not fear the dogs. They will start their lives in our home until old enough to go outside, so Roo and Peter will have plenty of time to see them, smell them, and be told “no” whenever they get that “I think I’d like to eat that” gleam in their eyes. I was really hoping Roo might end up being more of an outdoor livestock guardian, but I’m not sure his breeding will allow it, as he would likely spend all day herding the animals from one side of the yard to the other without rest.  Which would mean eventually getting a strictly outside guard dog like a Maremma Sheepdog. But for now, I have what I have and I shall be glad for it. 

I know you probably want pictures of the new place, but we didn’t take any! We will be there soon though and I will take some as we move in. And I’ll tell you all about how we found it and the amazing elderly couple we are renting it from. After this, I’m not moving for a few years at least! Happy New Year friends!!!