Because of you, Judge Susan Crawford will become the next Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, standing up for the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Wisconsinites, standing up for truth and justice, and applying the law fairly and impartially.

The impact of this win cannot be overstated. Today, Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections, and our Supreme Court.

We all stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price – our Courts are not for sale.

We could not have done it without the strength of this grassroots team. Hundreds of thousands of people chipped in to fight back against the billionaires and right-wing special interest groups who sought to buy this election. And we succeeded.

We are in an unprecedented moment in this country, and this is not the end of the work we must do to safeguard our rights, our democracy, and our future.

But together, we will face and overcome the challenges ahead of us. As Wisconsin’s motto says, “Forward!”

Thank you for being in this fight. It made all the difference.

– Team Crawford

 This makes me incredibly happy, because elon musk poured millions into the state and tried to buy votes, even going to the point of paying a million dollars to two people in Green Bay and hundreds of dollars to many others in an attempt to gain a win for Schimel. I'm happy to report that Crawford won in Green Bay!

Sunday Update

 Moved the lights to the white shelves on the south wall, moved the plants. The big gray shelf is now empty and I can use it for storage. This is a short post, it's late.

West window. Several cars parked out there, plants on window sill, doing ok.

Moved the lights and plants.

Next project, finish putting stuff away.

That's all for tonight. Stuff to do tomorrow. Hope there isn't too much ice on the roads.

Shuffling Plants AGAIN

 The privacy issues and vertical blinds caused me to rethink shelf placement and plant placement over and over and over again. My Haworthia and Haworthiopsis are relatively easy, as long as you don't put them in full sun. They are fine under lights, and forgiving about most anything except overwatering.

My Adromischus are a whole new story. Some of them are fussy, meaning they need certain conditions. They need sunny days (or partial shade and protection from the heat of the day) and cool nights. They were not getting that. The shelf was right above the heat. This was happening:

The insert on the lower right is how my favorite Adromischus Little Spheroid is supposed to look. 

I decided that the west window was a poor location for a plant stand, especially since there is a privacy issue. I am going to try to put plants right on the window sill and move the stand so I can reach the whole width of the sill for watering.

I also figured out how to place a whole shelf in the south window. Aside from some re-potting I need to do, I would say placement is ok for now. I need to watch the plants on the west window sill this summer to make sure they aren't getting too hot.

This how things are looking now:

West window, the one with the least privacy, you just don't see it in my pictures. I needed to move the shelves because the plants were staying too warm at night (baseboard heat below) and not getting enough light because of the blinds needing to stay mostly closed.

Same west window. I keep the blinds partially closed. Yes, that's a State Police car out there. He lives in the complex somewhere.

South window, with shelf in window. The round planted bowls will be redone. I want to put all the Adromischus in pots that fit on the window sill and the Haworthia in pots that fit on another shelf.

From outside the shelf is not too evident. I haven't checked at night. 

Two of the hoya. The third is on the window shelf for now.

For now this is the Haworthia and others shelf. I might need to hang more lights, but before I do that, I just realized it's on a wall right in line with the air conditioner, so it will need to move...again. Can you understand why I'm so frustrated?

That's all with the plants today. We shopped today in the pouring rain, Hubby is working Sunday, too, and then Monday we need to see about the windshield.

The rain is supposed to change to sleet/snow. 

Till next time, stay dry and warm.

The Move

Was this move good for us? 

It depends who you ask. My hubby seems to be happy. He likes his job. He's kind of a city person. I tell him I'm a country girl and he's a city boy.

Do I hate it here? No. Am I happy? I can't answer that. The sting of losses are still upon me. The view, the quiet little town that was so easy to drive around in, my doctor, the close proximity of beautiful State Parks with HILLS. Great windows for my plants. Hartford Utilities which was FAR more affordable than WE Energies. I am making a great deal of adjustments to make this new life fit into my comfort zone.

This apartment..."spacious" 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 970 sq. feet, not enough closet space, vertical blinds which make the windows nearly unusable for plants, no view, is only $45 cheaper than the 1110 sq. foot roomy apartment we left in Hartford, with a view. What do I like better about this one? The water is softened and the windows aren't drafty.

The utilities. The highest bill I had in Hartford was $144 in July of last year. Hartford Utilities combines water, sewer and electric all on one bill. Only people who use gas need WE Energies.

Here the city water and sewer was $58 and next month the WE Energies electric bill will be $105. So that is $165 for wintertime utilities. I dread summer, add two window airs to that bill. I'm sure utilities will be close to $200 per month. 

This apartment is old. It's ok, but not like what we had in Hartford. Rent is highway robbery in most places, even Hartford is getting that way. Our rent was reasonable because we were the first tenants in that building and stayed there 7 years. I wanted to live there for the rest of my life. Here, anything newer and nicer than where we are now is going to be in the $1200 to $1400 range at the lowest.

Maintenance. The maintenance at the apartment in Hartford was Awesome. Here it is mediocre to non-existent. We have resorted to doing some of it ourselves...gluing wood strips back that were loose, washing things that were dirty (and we didn't notice when we moved in), etc.

I guess the two main things in all this mess is (1) hubby's job has a fair wage and lots of overtime, meaning bigger checks, and (2) the airport is only blocks away, meaning he can fly home more easily. Note...I will be flying down to visit my daughter. Around $300 round trip to South Bend. She will pick me up!

My plants? Some have suffered. I am still working on moving them around AGAIN. Some might not make the cut. In fact, I need to get back to that project. I promise I will share pictures when I'm done.

The future? We are still waiting for spring, for things to green up. There are lots of awesome photos on the Internet of autumn colors along the river and in the parks. Fall colors are the best. Now if this apartment only had a real bathtub and a view...

What Now? Burn The Truck? Oh....Thank God We Have a Service Plan

That's what was going through my mind when our service advisor called us over to his computer so he could show us the pictures on his screen and the two page printout of all the codes the diagnostic spit out. I think it was the PCM (Powertrain Control Module), but don't quote me on that. It's a box under the hood and it has an electrical harness attached to it. The plug inside it, a complicated plug with lots of connectors, is corroded. The only way it can be corroded is by water leaking in. The box and the electrical harness needs to be replaced.

Cost: $4,000.00

Plus car rental at $40 per day, time needed, two days.

We have a Ford maintenance plan. Can you run it through the insurance? 

Oh, great news! It's covered!

But it doesn't end there. We need to address the leak. 

"The windshield has been replaced," he said. 

Yes, but that was before we bought it (it's listed in the CARFAX records). 

"I would like you to take it somewhere to have it re-sealed. Call around, try a local place, not a chain."

In the meantime, we were told it's safe to drive like we have been doing, disconnect the battery to turn off the lights. So we came home and started making phone calls.

Safelight and other national chains will not re-seal a windshield, only replace it. We finally found a local company that will carefully remove it (hopefully it doesn't break) and re-seal it. Price, just under $150. However, if it breaks during the removal process, they are not liable for that and we will need to have a new one installed, for $658. Having a new windshield installed is close to the same price. We are scheduled for that service on Monday, March 31st. 

The parts for the $4,000 repair are on backorder, so maybe that will be done during the first half of April.

Our Ford Protect Service Plan is active until the end of this year. We bought 3 years and paid it off in two at the rate of $156 per month. We have used it several times. Two wheel bearing replacements ($100 co-pay on each), other stuff I can't remember right now, and this, so it paid for itself and then some.

That's all for today. I have been working on my plant shelves. Will update soon.

Oh Blinkin' Lights and Blaring Horns

Our truck's electrical system must have gone haywire. Friday hubby called me from work. He was on break and notice the blinkers were on. Then he noticed the horn was honking. He rushed over to the truck to find that the doors were locking and unlocking by themselves, ALL the warning signals were flashing on and off and the ear-splitting horn wouldn't shut the f up. He was kind of freaked out, and going deaf from the horn. By now I was freaked too. He disconnected the battery and all the noise shut off. Of course he had to leave the truck unlocked, because now the key fob had no effect. 

He was able to drive home without the horn going off again. He disconnected the battery and left it as is for the rest of the night. Saturday morning I called Service. I called Ford Service everywhere and NOTHING was open until Monday. 

Hubby watched YouTube videos, consulted the manual, and decided to pull the fuse for the horn, because who wants a horn loud enough to wake the dead honking continuously. We decided to stop at Auto Zone so they could diagnose it. Battery was ok. No codes were picked up by the handheld tester they use. The Alternator seemed to be questionable.

We have a service plan with excellent coverage, but service must be performed at a Ford Dealership. I was able to make an early appointment for Wednesday.

In the meantime, hubby figured out that it was fine to drive, but when parked, he had to disconnect the battery in order to shut off the lights. If we were only going to be walking around for a few minutes, we figured it was fine. For any extended time the battery would need to be disconnected and the truck would be unlocked. That was ok for work (parking is fenced in) or here at the apartment (nothing so far has happened).

We did drive around over the weekend and checked out some parks. They will be pretty once they start the green up.

We got as far as Kaukauna before the rain and sleet started. What an interesting town. They have preserved many old buildings and factories and converted them. We want to go back when the library is open. It used to be a paper mill. Here is a picture.

The Ahlstrom-Munksjo Thilmany paper mill is down river, in this picture. 

The river is wide and swift in Kaukauna. I looked it up. There is a 50 foot drop as the water races toward Green Bay. So the water runs north out of Lake Winnebago and into the Fox River. For some reason I thought it flowed the other way. Kaukauna generates electricity from the river.

On the way home I started to smell something. It smelled like dog poo. Just then hubby asked, what's that smell? Just then I noticed he had opened his window slightly. I also noticed we were downwind of the paper mill. 

It's the Paper Mill!!!! Your window is open. He promptly closed it. After we were down the road more, hubby opened his window again to let in some fresh air. Honestly, it was like sticking your nose into a bag of dog sh*t.

I always heard people say, don't live downwind of a paper mill. Sometimes the wind shifts and there's nothing you can do.

I looked up the paper mill's page, out of curiosity. Headquarters are in Finland, the mill has Swedish owners. They have quite an operation. The smell is explained, and they try to vent it out away from town, but sometimes the wind shifts. 

We got home just as it started to snow furiously.

I will update Wednesday, after we find out what's wrong with the truck.

When A Company Cares

 

Hubby was hired as a metal finisher, but the acid wash department (not sure of the actual name) was short handed and needed help for a couple weeks or so. Basically the job requires suiting up in special boots, pants, jacket, gloves and hood with an air line. The job is acid washing the black marks left behind by the welding of the metals. After the acid comes a water rinse, and then a quality check to make sure the acid is washed away. After the first day, hubby got the hang of it. He liked the guy he was working with. The quality of his work was excellent. And then he got a little rash on his upper arm. He talked to his leader. Thinking he got acid in his sleeve, they got him a jacket with longer arms. I put cortisone ointment on the rash. Things seemed ok, for a couple days. Then he came home with rashes all over. They appeared at work, so he showed them to his boss before coming home.

We were alarmed. I was especially so, and told him, you can't get more rashes on top of these rashes, it will be like burns going deeper. He was thinking he needed longer gloves, that perhaps acid was still getting in his sleeves. His co-workers were trying to help. One guy doesn't even wear PPE (personal protection equipment), he says nothing bothers him. The other guy, who does wear PPE and has been working in that department for years, has never had a problem. One girl who used to work in that department broke out in rashes so bad she ended up in the hospital.

The next day hubby arrived at work and began putting on his PPE. Immediately the big boss came over and told him to put the equipment away. "We can't let you work in acid washing anymore, your health is more important." He called him in the office to talk.

"Where would you like to work? Pick anything, we can train you", the boss asked. 

"I like metal finishing, I was hired as a metal finisher", hubby answered.

I don't know the full conversation, but they talked about the jobs and praised him for learning fast and doing good work. His work in the acid washing department was excellent, but because of the rashes he would not return to that job. The policy was made after the employee mentioned above ended up in the hospital. It is some type of allergic reaction that could only worsen.

So hubby is back in metal finishing, and quite happy about it. More people have been hired to fill needed positions. Someone else is helping in the acid washing department. All is well.

Below is one of several pictures I took of his rashes. They are clearing up nicely since he returned to metal finishing.

Door County and Random Stuff

We took a trip to Door County, our first time there. Sturgeon Bay was fun. We drove more north just to take a look. Most everything is still closed and the bays are iced up. We had coffee in Sturgeon Bay, visited a resale shop, and I bought another rock from a gem shop. We ate a very expensive pizza in Fish Creek. Well, hubby had pizza, I had cheese curds. Here I am in Sturgeon Bay. It was a fun drive, would be more fun if it wasn't so cold, but by then I'm sure it's chock full of tourists.

 

My bread machine fell apart back in Harford and I didn't buy a new one. Last week I decided to try making it by hand, kneading for 10 minutes...the whole nine yards. It was ok but didn't rise very well. Hubby said it tasted good (I don't eat bread). Saturday we bought new jar of yeast and bread flour. Hubby worked half a day on Sunday (double-time...yay!) so I set about trying to make another loaf. This one was better, but still needed something to make it better, maybe more flour. It seemed to slump down a little even though it rose great at first. 

Unfortunately my wrist is swollen now and I can't be kneading any more dough.

I'm finally doing a little painting, just practice to get back into it. I'm going to try to stay with it now that my plants are fairly settled in. I say fairly because I have to keep the blinds half closed for privacy reasons, so most are not getting enough light, even though I bought supplemental lighting.

I tried to clean the walk in whirlpool tub. It was stressful and not something I will try again. In fact, I do not ever plan to turn that damn thing on again. I followed the instructions, fill with hot water to a few inches above the top jets, add two or three tablespoons dishwasher liquid and turn on the jets for 10 minutes.

Ten minutes later I come back to turn off the jets. 

NOTHING

I press the button again, harder, firmly, all the way down, in case I didn't do it right the first time. I wait a few minutes and try again. Am I turning it on or off? I try again, just in case.

FREAKIN NOTHING THEY ARE STILL RUNNING.

So I'm looking at this mess, large dirty flakes of dried crap that blew out the jets is swirling around in a tub I can't empty because you can't run the jets dry, and I can't turn it off. See picture below (most of the water is drained out). It's obvious it hasn't been cleaned in ages!

I called maintenance. They don't know diddly about this thing because this is the only apartment with one of these things. By now an hour has gone by and I try again. Finally the piece of sh!t turned off.

To me, the terrifying scenario would be getting stuck in there. You can only fill it with the door shut, meaning you need to lock yourself in there. You can't get out until the water is out. Nope, not doing that.

 I'm so thankful hubby loves to go places to shop or walk on his days off. The towns of Greenville and Hortonville are pretty and remind me of what used to be home, rolling hills and trees. Even though I didn't say anything, hubby has apologized for putting us where I have nothing to look at except a garage. I told him it wasn't his fault, that was the only apartment available in January in our price range. It's going to be very difficult to find an apartment with a view, on our budget. The place in Hartford was probably a one time deal. I miss it. I miss Hartford. It was easy to drive around there. I never cared for Appleton. Hubby loves his job. It's a good company. The airport is 10 minutes down the road. My plants are not happy. I have nothing to look at. Life is a mix of good and things that suck.

  

Mixed Bag

An acquaintance of  mine in another state lost her son. He was 44, and on life support for nearly a month. He finally said he was done and begged to be taken off support. He died a few hours later. She was beside him the whole time he was in the hospital, save for a total of 10 hours. I feel so sad for her because I know the pain.

My hubby is still training with his job. He enjoys metal finishing, but another department is severely short-handed, so they asked him to fill in. The job requires wearing complete protection equipment, like a hazmat suit, complete with a hood and oxygen. He is power washing parts after welding, involving an acid wash and then a hose down with water. He doesn't like it at all. I guess everyone gets rotated to different jobs. He will be asking to rotate back to metal finishing.

We are registered to vote with our new address. There are elections April 1st.

Hubby is planning to fly back to Kosovo this summer because of needing to set his father's head stone. I'm planning to fly down to visit my daughter at about the same time. The Appleton airport is only a few blocks away. I talked to my daughter about it. She could pick me up at the South Bend airport. For about $300 for a round-trip ticket, she is even thinking about flying here!

Last Saturday we drove back to the Kimberly area to check out some resale shops. There are some neat ones in the Kimberly and Little Chute areas. They are closed on Sunday, so we missed them the last time. I noticed a little gift shop we had not seen before and stopped in. She sells crystals, so naturally we started talking about rocks. She knows where Blythe is and where Midland used to be. I bought two little crescent moons, one is rose quartz and the other is something dyed to look like turquoise. I also bought a piece of Fluorite because I love the green hues at one end (not showing up so well in this light). Picture below.

On Sunday we drove out to Kimberly Point Lighthouse, then downtown Neenah and also downtown Menasha. Neenah has sculptures all over town. Menasha has a few, and Appleton does as well. Sometime I will gather pictures together and post them.

The Wisconsin State Parks facebook group was posting their favorite parks. I made a list so I can look up what is close to us. I kind of cried a bit with the mentions of our favorite spots that are now so far away, Lapham Peak, Lion's Den and others. I still think Baraboo is the most wonderful place, but hubby couldn't find a well-paying job there.

I am still having a hard time unpacking. I don't want to hang all the pictures. This apartment is ok, it's warm, the windows aren't drafty, the kitchen is big, the living room is fine, no mantle for my little things, so they have to stay packed. We both do not like the bathroom AT ALL. Generally the bathroom has a dirty feel about it. The toilet is tiny and short, like sitting on the floor (or so it seems), the walls are horrid, textured and painted sh!t brown. There are spaces along the floorboards. The tub is a whole 'nother animal. It's a walk in whirlpool thing and it feels like taking a shower in a little box. I have been putting off running it because the jets are LOUD, but I need to do that because it needs to be cleaned (stains around the jets). 

There are all kinds of warnings for using it, like don't fall down. The door opens inward. If a person were to fall down, how would the door be opened? I was washing a plastic drawer in there and I dropped it. I couldn't open the door. Luckily I have a grabber so I could reach in and grab it and pull it up. And don't even mention the time I accidently pressed my arm on the "Jets" button. Scared the bajeebers outta' me. I didn't know what I did so I was pushing buttons not knowing what to do. Finally it shut off. 

Then 20 minutes later it roared back to life! Thankfully I had grabbed the manual and it said it will come on 20 minutes later to clear the lines. Damn it's LOUD. I seriously thought about throwing the breaker switch on the darn thing to cut it off.

I told my daughter about it. She has a jacuzzi tub but not a walk in, so she gave me some tips on cleaning.

So yeah, we are contemplating moving after our lease is up, and hopefully we can pay month by month because there is nothing to rent in January. We shall see. It all depends on if we can find something affordable, and if the USA still exists, and all that stuff. 

Random Stuff

 The shelf I ordered was a good deal and I have put it to good use. 

The dishwasher is behaving. 

I got all my plants under lights.

I found some little bowls I've been missing. The one on the lower left is from Japan. Just a resale shop find, but I love it.

I never found my pans.

I'm missing an ingredient for my keto bread (got tossed by accident) so I need to order more. My bread collapsed because of a substitute I made.

There were some neat clouds today. I feel boxed in by the garage. 

There is a more open view when I walk down to get the mail.

I miss my view.

22 Days

 It's hard for me to believe we have been here 22 days. I'm still not completely unpacked. I have gotten past the point of waking up and telling myself, "I live here now, we don't need to drive 80 miles from Hartford anymore." I'm aware of a quiet acceptance, not full depression but maybe, sort of, a little bit. I realize it's because it's just cold and snowy right now. All the fun stuff starts after the snow melts off the trails. I realize after the weather is not so cold I will be able to sit out on the patio and listen to the birds and watch spring storms roll in. We have had lots of snow.

Following the plow

I might cut some boxes down into trays so I can fill them and slide them back into all that unreachable space in the kitchen cabinets. That way I will be able to pull stuff forward as if they were in a drawer. 

I might start hanging pictures. I unpacked my favorite vases. I have the clock hung up. We found a friendly Ford dealership. Since we bought a maintenance package that is in effect, it makes sense to go there. The dealership in Hartford was great. The one in Appleton was a dud. We drove through Greenville to nearby Hortonville and found friendly people and great service. We have an appointment to replace a wheel bearing on Friday.

Greenville was like being "home" again, rolling hills, trees, open spaces. 

I cannot find my saucepans. I ended up buying one the other day. How can three saucepans hide so well?

The landlady fired the guy who was supposed to be plowing the parking lot. He was doing the worst job, leaving piles of snow for everyone to dig through. The new guy is awesome.

My new (from January 1st) health insurance seems good. My medications have cost between $5 and $0, much better than $145 per month. I found a clinic in Greenville. There are clinics in Appleton and Grand Chute as well.

Hubby likes his job. That's the reason we moved here. 

I ordered a shelf. I have been typing "shelving on sale Appleton" every day and finally something came up. It will be delivered Friday and fit in this spot.

I'm running the dishwasher empty with some vinegar and baking soda. It is now leaking all over the floor. I cannot find a filter. It's old. Apparently no removable filter. Internet says clean with vinegar and baking soda. This was not the way I wanted to wash the floor.

That's all for tonight. I'm off to clean the floor.

New Paints & A Brush

 I bought these before we moved, so tonight I decided to unpack them and take a look. The brush is a fine liner, although I prefer the name Rigger. The paints were a bit expensive, but I really wanted to try them. I have been inspired by some water color artists.

The rigger gets it's name from its use to paint the rigging on a ship because long thin lines were needed. I'm not painting with it tonight.

The paints

Six different shades of gold

These are from Japan

Here are the samples of the paints. First the golds. Sorry for the shadow of my phone near the bottom.

And now the colors

I probably didn't need the Vandyke brown or the Perlyne Green but I absolutely love the Quinacridone colors. Also, the Potters Pink granulates (separates), which is a desired quality for certain applications. And finally I can paint stormy clouds.

That's all for tonight. It's getting late.

I don't Know Where to Put Anything

 This apartment is warm and quiet. I don't hear traffic like when we lived in Hartford. I hear an occasional jet or plane in the distance. The windows aren't icy with freezing drafts like the apartment in Hartford. Wind doesn't blow in around the air conditioners like the one in Hartford. The carpet isn't an ocean of waves like the one in Hartford (it needed to be stretched). It's not dusty because the one in Hartford was "painted" with tinted plaster that has been shedding dust particles since day one seven years ago.

I still miss the view. I miss the hills. I miss the places we walked. I miss how easy Hartford was to drive around in. I miss West Bend and Grafton and Delafield, so many familiar places.

I'm not sure how much I will be able to drive here, although I have Walmart figured out. It's easy, only 3 miles and no highways. I am hoping the clinic is not far. I like to be able to drive myself to the doctor or for labs. I asked on the Appleton group for recommendations but that one is across town by expressway. I have never felt comfortable on major highways. Hartford was easy. Appleton, Grand Chute, and all the others that make up the Fox Valley cities are sort of the same type of mayhem as Indianapolis and Madison.

My hubby loves the area. He grew up in a city. He feels comfortable here because he is surrounded by dozens of jobs. Thankfully they aren't stinky. Green Bay stinks. Hartford had a few jobs but the one that paid well died.

Back to the apartment. I have a decent view of sunsets now. There are birds singing! I heard a chickadee this morning. Did I mention it's quite? I can't even hear people running their appliances. In Hartford we could only run them between 8 am and 8 pm because we could hear each other's washer, dryer, dishwasher and disposal. To think that place was advertised and being sound proof! Here the water is soft and I have the cleanest dishes ever! In Hartford the water was so hard everything was encrusted in white, no matter how often it was cleaned. I have more counter space, and more cabinets, but less usable space. For some reason the cabinets have a poorly placed shelf that makes me practically stand on my head to see what's in there.

That middle shelf means I can't reach more than what I can see. I can bend over just fine, but because of my neck surgery I have to tilt my head sideways and try to reach in. It seems to be a mechanical difficulty.

Normal cabinet. I can see and reach everything

The bathroom has no storage and is butt fuggly. It has a walk in tub with jets. Haven't used it yet, just the shower. Taking a shower in there is like standing in a box.

WHY are the bathroom walls textured like this and WHY are they Sh-t color??

The entry way is narrow. I put a chair in there so we can sit to remove our shoes/boots, but I want it one place and hubby wants it in another. There is hardly room to do anything in there.

We can't decide on the placement of stuff in the living room. I have to consider that the A/C will blow down the hall from the front door, and the sun shines in from the southwest, and we are only comfortable sitting certain directions in relation to the TV.

Our bedroom has a fairly normal closet. The second bedroom has no closet, but it has a large laundry room with a full size washer and dryer. The hallway has a dinky "linen" closet. We are missing at least 100 sq. ft of storage compared to the old apartment. When I say I can't unpack anymore it's because I need to re-evaluate and re-organize EVERYTHING.

That's enough complaining for one day.

Getting Settled

 It's been a hard journey, all the packing and unpacking. The apartment is decent but the storage SUCKS. I have gone from roomy, walk-in closets to dinky little useless things. I guess cabinets and or shelving will be in order. Today I gave up unpacking and admitted defeat, for the time being. This was literally the only apartment available in January at our price point. Then some special watercolor paint I ordered (and gave the seller my new address) was still delivered to Hartford. Some of my friends are sad, depressed, etc. I shed some tears. It's just been so much to deal with.

On a better note, hubby's been in training all week and things are going well. 

Once the weather gets better we will take some walks, somewhere. I'm not familiar with the area.

Appleton has everything and people are nice. One of my friends always told me this area is the headquarters of the John Birch society and stay away. We have instead found a college town with people from everywhere. 

Now that I have vented a bit, here are some pictures.

Morning view, sunrise over Amazon fulfillment center 

Patio, facing south and west. I can see sunsets now, and hear lots of birds

Kitchen

Bedroom

Plants, south window

Plants, west window

That's all I'm willing to show right now. The second bedroom where my plants are has no closet, but a large, walk-in laundry room with a full-size washer and dryer, which is nice.

It's very quiet here. We can just barely hear the airport and hubby is only minutes from his work.

Take care everyone.

Finally We Are Moved!

Moving during a polar vortex is no fun, but we are done! Actually the weather turned quite nice, with today being in the 50's. Our new place is cozy, with no cold, drafty windows. The storage space is quite a bit smaller, which made for a more difficult move, sort of like trying to pack 10 pounds of potatoes into a 5 pound bag. We got rid of mountains of stuff. Our old apartment was bigger than my house in Indiana, so after 7 years of living there, quite a bit of stuff had accumulated in those big, deep closets.

Here is our new place. I'm not showing you the inside until we finish unpacking. We are on the 1st floor.

We are so tired, and sore! I can't wait to get unpacked. Will show you more later. Hubby starts his new job on Monday.

Outagamie County

 What a cute county name. It's also neat that we will be living on Technical Drive. Yes, we got an apartment, in Greenville! It has the middle-of-nowhere, in the county feel that I like and is only minutes from the amazing Appleton airport, hubby's work, and the city of Appleton.

Natural areas around Greenville

Appleton airport

The apartment is first floor and has a patio, slightly smaller than the one I have now, but we have one, and management is great, and says I can put flower pots anywhere. The kitchen is twice as big as the one here, the living room a bit smaller, and only one bathroom. However I will have a giant laundry room with a full size washer and dryer! We will have two bedrooms with bigger windows that I have now. The second bedroom with two windows will be my plant and craft room. It has two sunny windows that my succulents are going to love.

There has been a boatload of work to do, packing, hiring movers, finding cleaning help, signing the new lease, breaking our current lease, but things are coming together. We are driving up next week to pick up the key and set up my plants in the second bedroom. I just want them out of the way before the movers come on the following Monday. Then before the end of January we come back here to clean. I hired a cleaning service to help with the difficult things, cleaning the stove, fridge and bathroom.

Ok, back to work! Will share pictures later.

A Cup of Coffee Before the Work Begins

 It's nice to sit here and reflect a bit before I need to get busy again with packing, sorting, donating and more packing.

As much as I'm going to miss my view, I do have dozens of pictures, some quite beautiful, to remember it by. Truthfully, I have been quite lonely here. People move in and out like changing underwear. This apartment has a dust problem, from day one, because the walls are spray painted with tinted plaster, a problem which will probably be fixed once it's properly painted, for the next tenants. We have been here since 2018.

My thoughts on Appleton. It's more city that I'm accustomed to but we would be living on the edges. There is ample green space, lots of trees, fall colors, and nice people everywhere. There are companies and jobs in abundance, and unlike Green Bay, it's clean! Green Bay smells like Norhtwest Indiana. It's gritty with industries that stink. And, honestly, unless you are a Packer's fan, you will be overwhelmed with Packer stuff EVERYWHERE. If hubby's job would have been in Green Bay, we would make sure to live outside of town. 

Finding an apartment has been more difficult than I hoped, but Monday I am calling a property management company that was recommended to me by someone on the Appleton facebook page. They manage quite a few apartment complexes in the area, and we are hoping for a first floor, two bedroom apartment, Appleton or Neenah. The problem is, not many places are available this month, and since the company is paying hubby to move, we don't want to wait until February or March.

People are NICE. I was surprised at how nice and welcoming they are. We did look at an apartment in Greenville, just north of the amazing Appleton airport. The location was great, but the apartment needs so much work. They said they could have it ready in a week, but it involves paint, and I cannot handle paint fumes AT ALL. I asked about low VOC paint but they use the same paint and painter for all the apartments. She admitted it would smell like paint for at least a week. I can't, I just can't. On top of that, the apartment needed repair, which they said they would do, but it was just too much. The manager and her friend (manager from another complex) tried to help by calling their business friend to see if he had an apartment move in ready now. He did, but the rent was $1,300, too steep for us.

As I mentioned before, hubby had a successful interview, They told him they would let him know in a week. We were afraid to be hopeful (thinking back to the company in Jefferson), so we both took a deep breath and put it in God's hands. We stopped for coffee downtown and went home. The drive is slightly more than an hour, and we were 5 minutes from home when hubby's phone rang. He pulled over in a parking lot so he could talk. They were calling with an offer!

I can't tell you how happy hubby is to get back to working with metal. Two plus years with the company here in town introduced him to a new career. He and his coworkers became a team, friends as well. It was a sad day when all this was broken by the sale of the company. An exhaustive search turned up nothing suitable around here. That's how Appleton came into focus.

Did I mention people are nice? We already feel quite welcome there. There are so many things to do and places to see, nature to explore, etc, etc.

I just finished my 3rd cup of coffee. Time to get to work.

Fire Trucks

 Hubby got the job! He will be working for Pierce who builds fire trucks in their Appleton facility. So excited, and exhausted from searching for an apartment.

So Far, Looking Promising

 Hubby had a good phone interview and is scheduled to have an in-person interview tomorrow, including a plant tour. I will go with him and wait in the truck.

I am tired. The apartment search long distance is exhausting. I have most of my little things packed, going through some bins and creating donation piles. 

Short post today. Don't want to count the chickens before the eggs hatch (remember what happened with Nestle).

Later.

A New Direction

We have been searching far and wide......as far south as Kenosha (closer to Indiana), up the coast to Sheboygan (love Kohler-Andrae State Park), northwest to Baraboo (breathtakingly beautiful), but one area keeps holding the promise of good paying jobs....Appleton. We have been to Appleton 3 times, counting today. We wanted to drive by two of the companies hubby has applied to for work. He has a phone interview Thursday with one company. 

Appleton is on the north end of Lake Winnebago and the Fox River runs through town. Appleton has every available shopping one might need, and parks everywhere, and excellent healthcare. Between Appleton and the lake is a cute community that we have gravitated to each time we have visited, Neenah, Wisconsin. We wanted to move there before, but a steady job here in Hartford prevented that. Now......??

I will certainly update here if something is promising. I am actually looking forward to packing. So many adventures up there, and Door County is about an hour northeast. SO much more nature to explore that we haven't explored yet. More north...more cold? Cold is cold. Throw on warmer clothes. It's more north, more of a chance to see the northern lights. And there are a few apartments for rent, reasonable.

Here are some pictures of Doty park. It's beautiful in the snow or frost (none of which we had today, only bitter cold)

I have Hope again