We're Moving to Ripon!

We got the apartment! Now all the legal stuff needs to be completed and then we can pick up the keys.

7 minutes from my hubby's work, a quarter mile from walking trails, cute town, union job, and a pretty good view.

View from the balcony

Big area for my plants in the living area

Kitchen

Mini blinds! Not the vertical murder blinds!

Brand new water heater

New washer and dryer

 

It's Nice!

 We saw the apartment today, 2 bedroom upper, clean, washer and dryer are new, A/C is new, water heater is new, and there is a view. I am trying to be level headed and controlled because we still need to submit our applications. Our credit scores are good, background checks spotless, but still, until that lease is in hand, we are waiting to celebrate.

I have been dreaming of a place like this. There are a couple of trees that block little bits of the view, but it seems good. Two windows face west (for my plants) and one bedroom window faces north. Storage is a little tight but I'm going through stuff again. Papers can go, stuff I don't use anymore and don't need to keep can go, and some of my rocks can go. I mean, how many rocks do I really need 🤭. 

It's also in a quiet area (although we can watch college soccer ⚽️ 😅 from the balcony), and it's 7 minutes from hubby's work. The maintenance guy said two other people from the same company also live there.

Fingers crossed and prayers we are accepted 🙏 

No pictures until we are approved. 

Apartment Hunting

 We are going to look at an apartment on Saturday. The location is good, facing the road and looking out over the fields with a clear view of the sky. The area is quiet. However, it's in the same building that we looked at before. The apartment we saw was dirty, and the refrigerator was old and very small. There is no way we can be sure if the apartment we will see Saturday is just as bad, or worse. If so, slum lord comes to mind. If this one is ok, it will be available the end of September, and since it's not listed in the paper or on any apps, we would be certain to get it, pending approval, of course.

If it's not good, things will be more difficult. We might be able to get into this place, if we are lucky.

Stanton Street Estates are in high demand. They are across the street from my hubby's work. They are also busy. Families with kids and pets gather on the lawn around the pond. I would be fine with the other side, even though those apartments face the garages. I am hoping it is possible to see over them well enough from the second floor. One came up as available but before I had enough of hubby's employment history, so I was unable to apply.

 

Hubby's work on the left and to the right, the 5 buildings that make up the apartment complex.

Hubby's 40 mile drive is easy when he leaves at 3 am but absolutely terrible when coming home. There is construction everywhere on the expressways, with congestion and sometimes accidents.

I have begun to pack. Not so hard this time, because I hardly unpacked.

My husband hasn't stopped talking about his new job. He has a great teacher, and is learning a skill he never thought he could do, and he enjoys the job. The company is big, with a large variety of jobs, and they are union. People are friendly.

Below, a picture of the Patina Vie building in downtown Ripon. Looking forward to moving there.

My blood sugar is normal, finally. I'm pretty sure it was stress. 

TRIGGER WARNING. If medical stuff grosses you out....just to let you know, the post gets weird.

Speaking of blood sugar, my insurance sent me a home test kit for kidney health and A1C. I was a bit surprised. The urine part was easy. The sample ended up in a self-filling test tube.

How the sample gets into the test tube

The A1C part was a "whole nother ballgame". I was nervous. I've been testing my glucose for years with lancets that only need to draw a dot of blood. This thing needed to make 5 or 6 drops pour out. 

The whole time I was talking myself into doing this I kept thinking, they really expect me to jam this thing into my finger? I was really nervous.

Finally I anchored my finger on the coffee table and pressed that darn lancet into it. Nothing. Press harder. Harder. *CLICK* It was over. Didn't hurt as much as I thought. I had trouble getting the drops into the cassette. Finally I completed the dastardly deed and packed everything up and dropped the package off at UPS. My finger has a slit in it. I just removed a band-aid, which makes my finger look irritated. Was a bit sore, later a faint bruise. It's all good now, just a little tender.

I'm still weirded out by the fact that my insurance sent me this, given the stress I experienced building up the courage to stab my finger with a knife-shaped lancet. They have partnered with Everlywell. You can check out their website here Everlywell

It's been hot and humid, everywhere in the Midwest. Today we had some rain. Green Bay had a tornado warning. I didn't hear any more, so maybe it was just stormy with wind.

Nope. Don't Need These. Yay!

The Boswellia gave me nosebleeds!

I haven't needed the Omeprazole for months. It took over a month to wean myself off of it. My doctor had prescribed it a few years ago for Gerd, and I just kept taking it. Any time I tried to stop, the heartburn came raging back.

Eventually, after giving up most carbs, the heartburn lessened enough for me to try getting off of it. I used Famotidine as my crutch, and was finally able to eliminate that. The only time I need to take one is after I eat butter late in the day.

 

I just happen to have a lot of them. Oh well....

We Spent The Day In Ripon

The drive isn't difficult, but it's 40 miles from where we are now, that's 80 miles round trip for hubby when he starts work next month. We decided to make a fact-finding mission to check out apartments, the grocery store, etc. 

The downtown area is very walkable and has tons of local businesses. It is charming. It has not fallen into decay like some other cities we have visited, such as Stevens Point and Sheboygan, where the downtown businesses left and the storefronts are filled with tattoo shops and arcades. 

Ripon is charming, friendly and happy. It's easy to drive around in, no crazy expressways. They have hills! That makes me extremely happy. There is a hospital in town, plus every other service we might need. The grocery store is Hy-Vee. It's pretty good. The prices are almost the same as Walmart. There is no Walmart, which I imagine is part of the reason the town is so vibrant. The Walmart and Aldi stores in Fond Du Lac are only about 20 miles to the east, making them an easy once a month stock-up trip.

What we need is an apartment. Our fact-finding mission came up short. There are apartments there, but with a wait list, or nothing available, or just for seniors, or income restricted, or too cheap (dumpy), and one "maybe". We hope to be able to find something by October. We will be paying for two apartments until the end of the year. We could break the lease, but we would still need to pay the rent here until it had a new tenant. Because of the stupid walk-in whirlpool tub in the bathroom, this place stood vacant for a year until we came along. We took it because we couldn't find anything else in January.

This is the only picture I took, maybe because I was too busy taking notes.

Very similar to where we live now. The only available apartment was downstairs, like we have now. It had not been cleaned. There was dust everywhere. The older gentleman who showed us around is also the maintenance man. What I noticed is that the upper apartments have that extra big window in the living room. The apartment building we are in now also has the extra window upstairs. 

For some reason only some new apartments have the extra window, many are built with a big storage area there instead. In any case, none of the new apartments have any vacancies. One has a wait list into next year. Another doesn't use a wait list, after applying and getting approved, one must call, text or email and ask if there is a vacancy coming up. It's first come, first serve, and there are over 100 applicants waiting to jump in.

Anyway, back to the apartment above. It has mini blinds (that open upward instead of murder blinds like here.) The area seems quiet, although there is a soccer field across the street. Other than the soccer field, there are just fields and tree-covered hills in the distance. Might be peaceful, except when they have a soccer game. The school year could be a mess of lights, noise and traffic. Below is a screen shot of the street side.

There are a few apartments downtown, upstairs in those ornate, historical buildings. I only found one listing, and all of the apartments are studio or one bedroom, nice but tiny, and no balcony.

We really need to find something by October.

Job Offer Accepted!!

 We are moving to Ripon as soon as we can, maybe not till fall because of our lease! Hubby got a good paying job there!!

The Cute Town of Ripon

We found a cute town, friendly people and really great coffee. Not sure how to pronounce Ripon.

Flowers everywhere!

The tin ceiling in the coffee shop. They also have great coffee! 

Drug store, Radio Shack and Ben Franklin signs. 

Actual Radio Shack items! I thought they were out of business

We stopped by Wild Rose to fill up jugs of spring water.  Although many people drink it, I only use it for my plants. We got 9 gallons this time.

Writing From My Phone

I didn't know I could. I've been quiet lately. Alot going on. The floods in Texas saddened me. We have financial troubles. Not ready to elaborate. Random thoughts.....we are impressed by the abundant roadside native flowers blooming all over the Fox Cities. De Pere....blooming butterfly gardens on the riverfront. Appleton.....roadside ditches overflowing with native flowers. Neenah....even more flowers. I will end with some pictures, since I'm on my phone it will be easy to add them. These are from a nature retention pond in Neenah.

 

Odds and Ends

 It's been awhile, so I'll try to catch up.

I'm feeling fine, no more problems. I finished the antibiotics today, no bad effects.

We are having lovely weather, since the oppressive heat moved out. We had three days of tortuous heat and humidity. Streets were buckling and cars blowing tires. Insane! We stayed home. My annuals did not like the heat. My Johnny-Jump-Ups have gone to seed.

We have 5 months to decide where to move. Our lease ends the last day of December, so we will need to have a new apartment rented before then.

We have a new favorite place, Waupaca Chain O' Lakes, about an hour west of us. It was a sunny, breezy day when we arrived at Hartman Creek State Park. The pines were fragrant in the warm sunshine. The water sparkled, and I wanted to deep breathe all of it in and never leave. We took a walk around the lake and thankfully did not catch any ticks.

I am not going to write about the complete idiotic orange moron in the White House whose stupidity is putting our nation in harm's way.

Hubby bought me an African Violet. The flowers are deep red. I had to remove them because I found signs of thrips on the flowers. No damage to the leaves. I treated with a systemic. It's a no-name. It will grow more flowers.

We took a drive to Wild Rose and filled up 7 gallon jugs of spring water. Since it's not tested we have decided not to drink it, but it's wonderful for my plants!

I need to repot my orchids. One has bloomed continuously for nearly a year. The others have not bloomed at all. They need to do something other than occupy my limited space.

I think this is about all the news for now.

 

Well That Was Weird

 I woke up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous. I got up to pee and thought, should I go back to bed? I felt weak. No, I should go to the living room and tell hubby, who was up watching TV. I grabbed my meters, glucose and ketone, and sat down at the table, or rather collapsed. Numbers were fine. 

"Get my blood pressure cuff," I told hubby, who was already hovering over me with concern.

By now my head was on the table. 

48 over 35, pulse 57.

"I'm calling an ambulance," hubby said. He lifted me to couch and got me dressed (a shirt and loose pants over my jammies, and socks. 

The ambulance guys came. Hubby said the police came, too. Gotta call the whole gang!

They took my vitals, and by then my blood pressure was high. Go figure.

They transported me to the hospital, through town, on bumpy roads. Well, the highway is closed at night for construction. Hubby followed.

IV, blood tests, EKG, Cat scan of lower abdomen, urine sample. 

I have a UTI infection. The hospital concocted a mix of antibiotics to shoot into my IV and called in a script of antibiotics to my pharmacy. After the doctor checked in with us I was discharged and we went home. I think we were there about 3 hours.

My tests at the hospital were in range. Cat scan showed all is good in there, yay! I'm not sure if I was dehydrated, but they gave me two IV bags of saline.

I don't know why my blood pressure drops so low, but it's rare, only maybe once a year. It happened in Hartford, but I waited for hubby to come home from work. I was told not to do that, just call an ambulance. That time I was dehydrated and had a UTI.

I have a follow-up on June 30th at the clinic. I plan to discuss all this with my provider.

Anyway, I'm feeling good, antibiotics are working, and surprisingly easy to take.

Some Better News

 My SIL got a better cast for his wrist/arm. The one he had went up over his elbow and caused pain and stress in his shoulder and neck. They took that cast off. My daughter said he had a nasty looking sore on his wrist where the break is, maybe because it was swollen under the cast. Now he has a shorter removable cast, which I suppose is better and more comfortable.

I searched for some other way to find cabins for rent. I found an app that shows locations and prices plus pictures and info. Campgrounds that also have cabins seem to have better prices.

I did some potting today.

Lithops

Philodendron Brasil all in one pot

 

Updates

Catching up.

Hubby took a mini vacation. He was hoping to go to Kosovo this summer and asked for extra time (unpaid). His request was never approved, so he took half his vacation to de-stress a little.

We drove down to Indiana Saturday the 17th and stayed until Tuesday morning, the 20th. It was nice to see my daughter and her hubby (with the broken wrist). We wished him to get well soon. We also had the chance to say hi and congratulations to his son who had his high school graduation this last Sunday. 

While we were there we went to a Fur-Trade Era reenactment.

That was fun. We also went to dinner and enjoyed time with family.

The construction delays through Illinois have been horrible, both directions, no matter what time of day.  Miles and miles of stop and go. How many more years? Ugh.

We took some of hubby's time off to drive around after we came home. 

Friday, May 23rd we drove to Shawano. Nice little town with some tourist shops, but with nicer stuff than the Dells.

Saturday, May 24th, Wausau. Big difference from when we last visited. This time, we saw several vacant store fronts, not like the vibrant city center we saw the first time.

Sunday May 25th, Kohler-Andrea (Sheboygan) and Plymouth. Took a nice, but windy walk, then headed to Plymouth, which seemed to be closed for the day.

Monday, May 26th, Shamba Safari and Wild Rose. This was the best day. Shamba Safari was fun. We opted not to buy a bucket of food and feed the animals, so we kept the windows rolled up. The animals are all looking for food, and I'm glad the window was rolled up when a big, flightless bird pecked the glass looking for a handout. It was amusing.

After the Safari, hubby asked which was should we go on Eagle Road. We came from the right, so I said, "left".

It was an interesting drive. We entered a large, forested wildlife area. We think there might be places to camp in there but I haven't searched yet. There was no internet, but the GPS on our phones provided offline maps, so I wasn't worried. We drove for miles. The forests were "posted" as state wildlife area. Ever so often there was a small clearing, where one could park. We aren't sure why. We drove through a shambled town with rundown houses called Germania. Finally Eagle Road ended at highway 22, so we turned north. A few miles up the road, hubby saw a pretty park, so we stopped. We were in Wild Rose. 

A lady told us to try the water from the artesian well. I filled a water bottle. Town's people stopped by to fill jugs. Next time I will bring jugs. The internet says the water in the area is pure and known for class A trout streams. We noticed the creek running through the park was sparkling clean.

After Wild Rose we continued driving. The pines were tall. There were a few rolling hills. Suddenly I felt at home, which was sad because none of that could be my home, we were only driving through. From highway 22 we turned east and took some smaller roads to Fremont, which looked wonderful, with a lake and camping and cabins to rent. We were only a half hour from home. Suddenly I felt like there was hope for us to truly get out in nature, rent a cabin, fun stuff like that.

But we were a half hour from home.

"Fremont is near Chicago, Maddison, Appleton! Come stay, it's only $400 to $800 per night!" The ads say.

Crap. We were a day late and a dollar short, or rather, 10 years late and a million short. I haven't checked out camping yet, but we aren't set up for camping.

Hubby has been tired. He said he didn't know why. I told him he's depressed. He doesn't like the people he works with. He feels the company tells him one thing and then changes it. If he leaves he has to pay back the money they gave him to move here.

I was sad this morning. Knowing hubby is sad makes it worse. I had trouble getting one of my medications. My new provider did not write a script for it so Walmart got it filled from Britta, my PCP from Hartford. I sent her a message, apologizing for the trouble, and told her I missed her and Hartford, and was sorry we had to move. She wrote back that she missed me too.

Later my new provider's office called and said the script wasn't filled because it was for low dose estrogen (that is inserted vaginally, I have vaginal atrophy) and I have a history of breast cancer. She wanted to know if I had clearance from my oncologist to take it. What? My oncologist?? I haven't seen an oncologist since probably 2002 which was 5 years after I finished treatment. I get my mammograms. They told me if there was any change, let them know. There has never been a change.

I really hope my hubby can figure it out at work. All I can say is that mostly I feel moving here was an expensive mistake. But we are here. 

Anyway, the last update....hubby is taking a vacation day so he can drive me to my mammogram. Simply put, because of my hubby's work schedule, I don't have the truck long enough in the morning to go anywhere much past Walmart. I told him I could check out Uber but he wants to take me.

I hope I have a happier post next time. I guess today was a rant, to get it off my chest.