JUST LIKE THE DUCKIES

We bought a new 5th wheel trailer this weekend after many months of looking and negotiating. The reason we've been looking at 5th wheels is a pretty long story, that I will tell in parts.

PART ONE: anyone who knows me well at all knows that I have ALWAYS had a hard time in the cold months. Some years are better than others depending upon how well I am managing my Fibromyalgia. But, for as long as I can remember, I have been a human popsicle for about four months out of each year. *Side bar: when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia about 16 years ago, I had never heard of it, and I thought my doctor just made something up because he couldn't figure out what was really wrong with me! The name probably makes sense medically, but it sounds like a made-up disease to me. For years I never talked about my health issues much because I was embarrassed to say I had this made-up disorder. Okay, moving on... so I don't do the cold very well, but I just deal with it because this is where we live.

PART TWO: Last winter we started talking about putting our house up for sale. We had several reasons for wanting to sell and these are those in order. 1) This place consumes too much of our "fun" time, and we wanted to have the freedom to "play" on the weekends while our kids are still around. 2) We have 4500 square feet, 6 bedrooms, and four people. Now that we don't have any of my family living with us, we don't even use half the house. 3) Last winter was so cold, and so long, and from a health standpoint, I barely made it work with all the outside chores we have on our little farm. At the time, I didn't really acknowledge that I wasn't doing well because I love living here with all the animals. I really don't want to have to give that up. But, my most important job is to be a good mom and wife, and to manage my health accordingly. 4) We have been taking little steps towards living more simply, or leaving a lighter footprint, as some would call it. I am more into that kind of thing than Jeff is, but he has come around a bit. We think a lot about how we can conserve, and living in a smaller house, with fewer utilities is just one of the ways we felt we could do that.

PART THREE: we all know that all eco and no play makes anyone a dull boy (or girl), so in March of this year we took a fabulous Caribbean cruise. It was, among other things, just the break from the cold I needed. About a week after we got back from the cruise I started to have some weird things happening to my hands and feet. Whenever I would go outside, or wash my hands, or even just get my adrenaline pumping, my hands and feet would sting and turn white. If I would bump them on something they would hurt way worse than was normal for simply bumping them. I thought it was strange, but I've had all kinds of weird issues that I've felt must have been a product of having Fibromyalgia. If you think Fibromyalgia sounds like a made-up disease... try Erythema Nodosum, or Costochondritis. So I just kind of "went" with it, thinking my body was angry at the joke I'd played by taking it to a warm tropical paradise, and then bringing it back home to the cold. Weeks went by and instead of getting better, the symptoms were getting worse. Even though the weather was warming up, I was still losing feeling in my fingers and toes whenever I put them in water that was not at least 100 degrees, or when I was at Home Depot with their industrial air conditioning, or at the grocery store in the meat and dairy depts. Anywhere, really, where the air was below 75 or so. And by that time my fingers and toes would go from white to blue. The worst part wasn't the freezing... it was the thawing out that really hurt. You know how it feels when you've been out too long in the snow or freezing temps. and your fingers and toes freeze? That's what mine were doing! So when they would decide to thaw out, they hurt like crazy, and then started to itch like crazy. Before we knew it, I was going crazy! Long story short, I have something called Raynaud's Syndrome. At least this time the disorder has a halfway believable name. On the upside, I've dealt with so many strange health issues for so many years, that I feel like we will find ways to cope with it, and it will be okay. The biggest concern with Raynaud's is to keep the flare-ups or "attacks" to a minimum. How do I do that? Apparently attacks are precipitated by prolonged exposure to cold, and by lots of stress, so attacks are limited by eliminating cold and stress as much as possible. It was easy to eliminate cold during the summer, but we've had to start formulating a plan for winter. I've been nearly attack free since the beginning of August and I'd like to keep it that way! Raynaud's is not life-threatening unless attacks cannot be controlled.

PART FOUR: we began talking about a plan to help me stay warm this winter. We talked over so many different options from selling our house and buying a small place here and a small place in Phoenix, to renting an apartment in Phoenix for the winter months, to staying with relatives (since I have an open invitation to stay with the Woodards whenever I need to). In the end, fall was coming and our house has not sold, and probably won't sell anytime soon, so we decided to go with our best plan B. We bought a bigger truck, a 5th wheel trailer, and the kids and I will be migrating south for the winter. The reasons for why we chose this plan are a little more involved than all that, but I've decided this post is long enough already, so I'll save them for another time.

I have to admit, I've been like a kid since we got it home. The kids wanted to sleep in it Friday night, and then we all slept in it last night! We've been hanging out in it, playing games and watching movies. It's like taking a vacation at your own house! Kaylee took a few pictures.