I Feel Better

 I clearly was very upset yesterday. I talked to my daughter today. She says they are fine. It takes a long time to go anywhere because so many stoplights are still out. Some of my friends got their power restored. My daughter worked at the main branch in Gary today, all run by generators. She said there were only 4 customers. Her hubby is still home, no power at his work. His son is at college downstate and he is ok, not affected by the flooding.

I am still going through my stuff in the spare bedroom. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff and re-pack what I'm keeping.

I found a picture I did in high school. It's a print from a wood block I carved. I don't have the wood block anymore. I think it got damaged in storage or something. I'm going to give it to my daughter.

I've been trying to figure out the layout of the new apartments they are building in town. As far as I can tell, there are four 3 bedroom apartments on each end with one or two bedroom apartments crammed in the middle. Not sure about that. What we know for sure is we do not want to sit out on a patio or balcony in full view of everyone else.

I was hoping to have a set up like we had in Hartford, but I don't think it will happen. I will forever miss my view.

I want to end on a good note. The weather cooled off and the humidity lowered enough I was able to turn off the air conditioner and open windows! Yay!

Updates

 The dental work went well. Both my front upper teeth are repaired and reinforced. Good thing I got in because the edge of one tooth was shattered.

Exciting news. Ripon is finally getting some new apartments, similar to what we had in Hartford. We drove past the site today. We also called and got put on a list to be updated and notified of future "hard hat tours" (before completion tour---sounds fun!) and info on when they will be completed sometime next year. We are really hoping to have a view of the morning sky. And look at those trees! That is an adjacent park. 

The power lines will be relocated

Sunset tonight

Sandhill cranes

 

That's all. It's after 1AM and I'm tired!

Catching Up

I am writing from Indiana. My hubby is in Kosovo for a couple weeks. It will be nice to spend the holidays with my daughter. Her and her hubby are on vacation this week, so we will be busy having fun.

Today we went shopping. My daughter and her hubby always cook dozens of cookies and pans of fudge as gifts for family members. This year I get to help out with this monumental task of baking and packing. 

Afterwards we stopped by Anderson's Winery. We listened live music, had some wine and cheese.

I started to write this post several days ago, so I am behind with the news.

I found this metal and glass table for $8 at a second hand store. It was covered in dust, dirt and some cobwebs, but I wanted it. It cleaned up pretty well. 

For now it's going there, because I need to put a couple plants on it. The window sills have been wet from condensation so I don't want plants on the sills. Besides, if it gets down to minus 10 again there will be ice on the windows. 

Speaking of minus 10, I woke up cold Saturday morning and discovered the apartment was only 67°. That feels cold to me. I checked the baseboard heat with my digital thermometer and they were barely warm. I turned the thermostat to 80 but no improvement. I texted maintenance. He asked if I thought the thermostat was not responding and I told him I thought it was ok. He said turn it all the way, which is 90°. After some time the heat responded. The baseboards were 95° to 98° and the rooms were 70°, so that was ok. Thankfully that super cold weather is done for now.

The side effect of the apartment being so chilly is now my orchids are growing bloom spikes.

This one is always in bloom

That's all the news for now.

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!

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

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.