Settling In

 I would say the biggest benefit to living upstairs is stronger legs, besides the extra privacy and awesome view. Our utilities are lower than they were in Greenville. We have Alliance Energy from Fond du Lac, more affordable than WE energies.

I had my first doctor appointment with my new doctor. She is a short pleasant Polish lady. Nobody can pronounce her last name so she goes by Dr. Ewa. The clinic is upstairs in our very nice hospital that is literally 3 minutes away. She ordered labs, and since I was fasting, I was able to do them that day. Everyone is pleasant and efficient. I had my results online that evening. I had my refill ready the next day. No more calling the clinic in Greenville because they forgot to put the order in.

Hubby and I feel very much at home in this area. Hubby is happy with his job and enjoys the people he works with. He is still in training and doing well. He is in the Union now.

We have found ourselves to be fairly equidistant from all the places we enjoy and visited when we lived in Hartford. We are much more comfortable with hills. The Fox Valley bummed me out from the first time I saw it. It's ---Flat--- Appleton does have a nice area of parks and older homes near the college. I didn't like Grand Chute, it's all parking lots and congested roads. Kimberly and Kaukauna had their charm in spite of the stinky paper mills. We drove up to Green Bay a few times. Shopping is good there. The town is literally Green . Bay . Packers....everywhere. We drove up to Door county 2 or 3 times. It's neat but to really enjoy it you need to pick a town and stay there a couple days. My friend told me we can see the Niagara Escarpment next to Fish Harbor, so that will be a destination at some point. 

I have rearranged my plants several times (and again since taking these pictures.) I also unpacked my turtle collection and placed them around my plants. I added some rocks and other random stuff. I don't have a fireplace mantle so I placed some stuff on the shelves under the TV

Gift from my daughter!

I love this plant. Common name "Lavender Steps"

The blue one in the middle is one of my favorites. It's so blue!

Lithops have been blooming

My health insurance is ending the plan I am currently on, so I have been shopping for a new one. I have not had any issues with Medicare Advantage plans. I started out with traditional Medicare with medigap plus a drug plan in 2015. At first it was doable, but as the years passed, it became more and more expensive. I was paying hundreds of dollars per month and only seeing my doctor 3 or 4 times per year. Eventually the yearly deductible with an advantage plan was less than my premiums, so I decided to switch. Everyone is different, so if you are shopping or switching, I hope you find the plan that works best for you.

I eventually chose a Wisconsin program, Network Health. The plan I chose has a $24 part B reduction, which means my part B will be $178.90 instead of $202.90. That's important because my medications are higher this year. I checked all the plans available to me and I'm confident this plan will work well.

I noticed all Wisconsin Medicare plans (at least the ones I looked at) have ground and air ambulance coverage. My deductible for both is $300. ER $130, worldwide emergency $130, max $100,000 (on the worldwide ER). It's a PPO with in and out of area coverage. Monthly premium $0, primary doc $0, specialist $50, drug deductible $300, basic vision and dental, telehealth, bunch of other stuff. Hubby added me to his dental plan because Silver Creek Dental is awesome but not accepting Medicare next year. I'm seeing them again this year because I have a loose, broken tooth that needs to come out, and my current plan pays 100%, so better to do it while I still have it.

In other news, I've been baking bread for my hubby quite often. Here is my latest loaf:

Speaking of bread, I finally bought a Keto bread. It's ok, toasts up nicely, and doesn't spike my blood sugar, as long as I remember to eat eggs in the morning. Yes, the bag is half empty lol

And lastly, my ONE blooming orchid is blooming again. The other four...nothing. 

I've been writing this post for a few weeks now, so I think it's time I finish it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Wonderful Weekend

 Downtown Ripon from their website ~ not my picture

My daughter and her hubby came to visit. They got here about mid-day Friday. They fell in love with Ripon's lovely downtown. The gorgeous architecture, the lights, the shops, all of it!

Inside the Patina Vie

A very old butcher's block from Europe.

Walking around down town Ripon

The Mapes Hotel

I think this is a patio for the hotel

Family

  On Saturday we took them to Green Lake and stopped by the Conservancy for a short walk. Then we headed to Princeton to the antique stores. We also stopped by an art studio where they teach glass blowing and pottery making! It's too far away for me plus I can't drive at night even if I had transportation at that time. 

 After that we went to Montello, took some pictures by the old quarry (now a lake) and went downtown for a while. Then we went back to Ripon for dinner and then spent some time playing pool. I tried to play, even though I never knew how. My daughter wins almost all the games. It was a glorious day, sunny and in the 70's!  Sunday it turned cold and windy. We sat around and talked because they had to leave early. We had an absolutely wonderful time!

Green Lake Conservancy

Downtown Green Lake

Montello

My beautiful daughter winning at pool

That's all for now.

A Drum, Of All Things, and More

 We were both mesmerized by the sound of the panda drum. Hubby said I should buy one. I told him they were on sale. I thought about it, and some time later I decided to order one. So this is what we got:

15 inch tongue drum, D Major, 432 Hz (meditative)

Rubber tipped mallets come with little crochet covers for a softer sound

Hand tuned (see extra cuts)

Hubby was pleasantly surprised but hasn't played it much. Me...I play (tap around) every day, several times a day. It has a play by number song book but I have not tried to play any songs yet. I really love how it sounds. Maybe some day I will get another, different one, for variety.

So, what else is going on? Well, we have been wanting an SUV for some time, and with the high mileage on the truck, we finally decided it was time.

My daughter and her hubby are coming for a visit next month! Looking forward to that.

That's about all for tonight.

Things Are Looking Up, Except For Unpacking

The old apartment has been rented, starting November 1st. That's a big deal because that gets us off the hook for the rent and the utilities (because we broke the lease). 

We took our first good walk since moving. It was very enjoyable. We climbed a hill and followed a path to the 5G tower. From there we could look across town. Next time we will walk in the other direction. The area is quite large, all property of Ripon College. 

Then we stopped by Green Lake to watch the sun set. 

Green Lake is Wisconsin's deepest natural inland lake. It has two temperature layers, supporting both warm water and cold water species of fish. Lately it has been struggling with fertilizer runoff which causes mucky algae in shallow areas. They are trying to remedy that. In contrast, Lake Winnebago, which is bordered by the Fox Cities (Neenah, Menasha, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac), is shallow and brackish, covered in green all summer, and is unsafe to swim in.

Typical summertime Lake Winnebago

  I have a doctor appointment next month, an eye exam next month, and a dental appointment next week all in town and easy to drive to. No more Appleton nightmare traffic!

The local grocery stores are a bit expensive but we shop them when needed. On weekends (when needed) we drive to either Berlin or Fond du Lac to stock up.

I have unpacked kitchen stuff. I have hung up clothes. I have unpacked the bathroom stuff. I cannot unpack anything else. There is no linen closet. There is no utility closet. I have no extra shelves because I'm using them for my plants. Because the windows are a different height, I cannot use any previous configurations. Until I get shelves I cannot unpack the bins. Because everything is in bins I can't find anything half the time. Then I just get sad and frustrated and give up.

I wanted to hang pictures. The lease says I can't put nails in the walls. I asked for clarification. They don't want nail holes because "then they need to patch and paint". Ridiculous. Never had to paint after filling a tiny nail hole. Besides, the walls in this place are full of patches and even a few nail holes that were just painted over without filling.

There were some other issues the new maintenance man fixed. The old maintenance man mostly fixed nothing. We replaced the toilet seat ourselves (before the new maintenance man was hired). They reimbursed us.

Two of my plants have died. One was on its way out for a long time. The other was probably my fault.

Hubby is flying to Europe in December and I will be staying with my daughter in Indiana. Looking forward to that.

I never found my pan lids. 

That's all for now.

Unpacking

 We took possession of the apartment August 30 and completed our move September 13th. We went back last Sunday to clean. I hired a young couple to clean. My back couldn't take anymore. They only wanted $100. We brought soda and tips. They were super happy and did a good job.

Our backs are sore. Hubby hauled all my plants upstairs. I tucked most of the rocks into the bins so the movers hauled them up. They were little rocks.

Unpacking in this new apartment is a challenge. There is No Storage. Literally. I am becoming more creative at figuring out where to put things. 

I have lost my pan lids. Not the pans, I have the ones I didn't loose in the last move (the ones I lost never turned up). I have two lids that I use to cover my frying pans. I cannot find them. What is it about moving and my darn pans?

In spite of the challenges with the apartment, both of us feel at home here. There are rolling hills and woods that are not swamps. The traffic is light and easy to drive in, unlike the total chaotic mess in Appleton. We are closer to the things we left behind when we moved in January. 

There are Black Walnut trees all over town. There is one next to our apartment. It drops nuts on the driveway. When cars drive over them they crack. We had rain and some wind the other day and the driveway sounded like popcorn. With all the hardwood trees around, the chance of me seeing a Luna Moth next spring might be good.

Hubby's job is going well. He won a vacuum at the employee appreciation day picnic.

I'll write more later. I'm getting tired. Here are some pictures:

Ripon at night

Plants on the balcony

Lithops bloom

College football practice just across the road

The vacuum hubby won