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

 

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!!

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.

The New Place

We completed our move on the 6th. The morning started out sunny but with a biting cold wind. By the time we were done, snow was swirling and the weather had deteriorated into icy rain and snow. We went back to the old apartment to clean but couldn't finish, so we went back on Saturday. It was not easy but we did it.

The new apartment is spacious, and all new. I have 2 sunny windows for my plants, all new electric appliances and a great view. I'm really blessed with the view. It is helping to heal my heart from the loss of the family cottage all those years ago, and is providing a distraction from the loss of my daughter. My blood sugar has improved. I'm walking on average a mile and more just walking back and forth in the apartment, and that's when I remember to carry my phone to record my steps.

The main issue now is getting settled in. In our former apartment there was no room for my hubby to have a computer desk, so he is still using the kitchen table, which means there is nothing but a storage bin under the chandelier where the table should be. We sold our glass coffee table and end tables. We were tired of bumping into the corners. So now, until we find new tables, we have a bin in the middle of the living room floor. Honestly we didn't want to buy all new stuff because, well have you seen the prices? It's just going to take some time, and a friend with a truck. Also, since the old apartment was very small we never completely unpacked. Now I have a second bedroom but other than the closet and one shelf, no place to put stuff. It's a work in progress.

Here are some various pictures I've taken before and after we moved.

Before the appliances:

Master bedroom with bathroom and walk-in closet

Dryer in unit 

Washer and water heater in unit 

Kitchen 

Patio 

Drinking tea on the patio

We had a lot of cold and snow in April 

I love the view

Tree line between farm fields, view to the south

Goose flying by. We also have Sandhill Cranes, and we have seen wild turkeys and deer in the distance

This is actually a breakfast nook but I get to use it for my plants, and the chest freezer

I can relax and look out at this

Yesterday I was putting in screens. The maintenance man was going to do it but hubby was asleep, so I told him I would. Here is the master bedroom, with awesome view

The rocky area adjacent to the patio. They said we can set flower pots on the rocks. The grass is just beginning to grow where all the straw is

The weather is looking like it will stay warm now. Maybe we can get some flowers soon :)

Small Things Bring Joy

Sometimes I have the greatest gratitude just watching the sunlight soften into a sunset. I feel it even more so after a run of gloomy, cloudy days that finally break into sun late in the day. What a gift that is, one I do not want to miss at all.

Another small joy is my hair is growing back. I have odd tufts of hair sticking up all over. They are finally growing long enough to lay down. I was not kidding when I assumed I had lost about half my hair (maybe 40%...?) after the surgery.

August 2016

January 2017

My blood sugar is returning to more normal (for me) levels. I think I will be back in the 6.5 A1C range again soon. That has been my normal for years. The best part is I don't need any new or different medications. I'm not sure to what I can attribute this success.

Multi-vitamins - I threw out the old and bought new, and I began taking them on a regular basis. My food tracking program told me I wasn't getting enough vitamins.

Tracking my food (not just calories but nutrition as well) - My daughter in Indiana recommended My Fitness Pal, now that I have a smartphone. Since I don't need to loose weight I use it to track nutrition. I am learning to eat more protein and less sugar.

Getting rid of stress - I don't know where that curve ball came from, but I am wondering if it was from my thyroid medicine being too high. It was increased after my doctor discovered it was too low. Now I am at the proper dose and am feeling relaxed and normal again. FYI---the only way to tell if the dose it too high or too low is by a blood test, unless one were having oddball symptoms.

I had another surprise. My strength has returned. Maybe I finally built up after carrying bags of clothes up and down the stairs to be washed. I can now carry a gallon of milk AND bags of groceries at the same time, almost like normal people. Woot!

I'm in the Mood for Hearts

Those of some natural hearts that turned up in my life. Spud Heart, from a bag of potatoes, Strawberry heart, from a box of strawberries, and Stone Heart, in the desert in southern California.

I have other hearts, earrings, a necklace, more heart shaped rocks, and my best heart, the one beating inside my hubby's chest.

Today my hubby and I drove to Brookfield to do some shopping for winter clothes. Hubby bought a thick, warm jacket for $15, perfect for work, warm and not expensive. He also needed warm boots. He bought nice ones rated to -25 degrees for only $25.

On the way there we were talking. I told hubby that bird woman upstairs was coming home as I was heading down to the basement to wash clothes. In case you didn't know, this apartment building has a locked entry door. I noticed she was standing there in the frigid cold fumbling for her keys. This woman has never answered when I say hello. I opened the door to let her in. She looked surprised, frightened, and stepped back. "Come in", I said gently. "Thank you", she answered in a tiny voice. We each went our own way, but I was happy that maybe I made a difference in her life. I told my hubby I don't think she is bad, I think she is afraid of people, autistic, maybe.

The locked entry doors, frosty from cold

Hubby told me his mom had her surgery and she's fine. She had fibroids. Then we were talking about health. Hubby recalled how we were turned away from a clinic in Indiana. It was a clinic I had visited many times in the past. We were turned away for "only" having the "Bronze" level of Obamacare. He told me that made him very sad. It wasn't the first time health care in Indiana kicked me to the curb. I could write stories for pages. Hubby knows the stories, the denial care, the never care, the "go away you have no insurance" non-care.

Then we laughed about how easy California is. Before we moved I applied for coverage in California. After we moved we received a letter stating that we didn't qualify because our income was too low (hubby hadn't started working yet, we only had my social security), so they enrolled us in MediCAL, California medicaid. I was shocked! 

In the state of Indiana this was a big NO-NO! Immigrants can NOT have any kind of Medicaid services unless it is to save a life, in which case the state of Indiana will then sue for repayment.

We drove to the local office. The lady told us, "Oh, you're fine, we even cover undocumented immigrants in California.

Again we laughed about when we tried to cancel it. The lady sat there with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Why would you want to cancel it?" she asked. "Because we no longer qualify," I explained. She told me no one "gets off" MediCAL, it just expires by itself. Ok, awesome! Free health care. Wisconsin also has expanded medicaid, although hubby has insurance through work and I have Medicare.

Hubby said to me, "We've both had a hard life, I think we are really blessed now. Life is easy here." "Yes," I answered, "but you work so hard." "I like to work," hubby answered. He seemed so at peace, so at home, finally.

Day 18: Did We Fight?

Today's blog prompt is "What is the dumbest thing you and your partner ever fought about?"

I'm listening to the wind. The windows rattle occasionally. I can hear leaves blowing around outside. My husband is napping an hour before he needs to get up for the night shift. I'm listening to his soft breathing. He is the love of my life. I'm thinking about my blog. Did we fight about dumb stuff? Did we fight at all?

My hubby and I walking last June, a month after my neck surgery

Why, yes. Yes we did. When he was a new immigrant, he came face to face with all the laws and regulations we have here in America. "America is not free" he once told me. "In my country if you want to hunt you just pick up a rifle and go to the mountains." I restrained from the common American knee-jerk reaction of "why don't you go back, then" and explained that we have too many people here to just go off in the woods to hunt like that.

We argued over street lights. Apparently in the parts of Europe he drove in, when your light is green, all the on-coming traffic is stopped, so you just pop a left turn, or even a U-turn, with no danger.

"Stop!!! They won't stop, they will hit us!" I don't know how many times I yelled that at my husband as he cursed the drivers that nearly hit us when he pulled his daring left turns.

"Stop!! There is a stop sign!" is another one. Kosovo is devoid of stop signs. I think I saw two in the whole city of Prishtina. Most smaller intersecting streets have nothing, no light, no stop sign, nothing. Cars just drive at the intersection from all four directions. When they get there, they slow slightly and instantly figure out which way is busier. The busier street gets the right of way, so the others stop. But then, you must nose your car into the intersection to stop the other cars, or you will be sitting there All Freakin Day.

The first time my husband tried to nose my car into traffic to stop it, I freaked! STOP!!! They won't stop for you.

In Kosovo you need to drive like you are King of the Road, because there are no signs. Thankfully my hubby has learned to navigate the stop lights, street signs, arrows on the pavement and stop signs that are literally plastered everywhere. He is relaxed when driving, and a safer driver now. I'm pretty much over the fear of being T-boned.

Day 6: Sunday Short

It's another beautiful sunny (but short) day here in Wisconsin. The good thing about the time change is that now the sun is up by the time my hubby comes home, so we sat outside on the porch, in the sun, and talked, before he went to sleep. I have strict instructions to wake him at 1 pm so we can do stuff together. Then he works tonight (Sunday - Monday), then he's off Tuesday.

Here are a couple pictures from the porch:

"Million" leaves in the early morning sun

Misty morning with squirrel

Because of the time change last night he actually worked 13 hours. He currently works 7 pm to 7 am, but with the time change, in reality he came home at 8 am, which is what some of my clocks said before I changed them. I hope they pay him the extra hour.

From Pain to Blessings

Six years ago, when my first husband could no longer hold on and passed away from colo-rectal cancer, I was told by a grief therapist from Hospice that I would be blessed. I didn't know what she meant. I had cared for my husband 24/7 except when he was in the hospital. I remember he used to ask the doctors to admit him just so I could get some rest. I washed his wounds, fed him and slept in the same bed, the best I could, with a man who needed to sleep on a bedpan. Yes, it was that bad.

We finally got him a hospital bed in the living room, making it easier for me to care for him, and to sleep, and to have the ambulance guys come get him when needed. I also told my younger daughter and her husband in Australia to "come now". They wanted to come in January. "No!! That's Too Late. Come Now." They did. It was September 22. He died October 3, one day before our 41st Anniversary. On our anniversary I was sitting in the office at the funeral home making arrangements.

I will never forget the panic I felt when the funeral home people came to the house to take him away the morning he died. The evening before Hospice helped me understand how to make him comfortable and gave me two medicines to administer under his tongue, by drops....morphine and something else. They told me to call any time if it got too tough for me to handle. By 5 am, with my younger daughter by my side, I was so exhausted I could no longer stand. Her dad was breathing loudly and we could not help him to breath easier. My daughter and I decided to go to bed. I figured I would wake up if there was a change.

My daughter woke me up. The sun was shining. It was 8 am. "Dad is gone." Later I wrote a poem.

You never wanted to see me cry,
You didn't want a sad good-bye.

Quietly you saw us sleeping,
So you left before the weeping.

by Candy

Three years earlier my mom passed away in a nursing home, also under Hospice care. I didn't want to put her in a nursing home, but I couldn't care for her any longer. She was living with us, and it was straining my marriage to the breaking point.

I first learned about loosing a close loved one in 1987 when my dad passed away. My mom and dad had moved to a small 2 acre farm in Arkansas, the first land they ever owned, bought with my dad's $10,000 early retirement from Norris Industries in California. They had lived there more than 10 years when my dad go sick. He had some rare lymphoma. My mom had been camping out in my dad's hospital room in Little Rock, 150 miles south of the farm for nearly a month when she called and told me to come there now.

I flew in from Indiana on a Wednesday. My dad passed on Saturday. I had a nervous breakdown prior to his passing. I saw the hospital therapist. I told her I was having dreams where I would find band-aids with clocks on them all over my dad's bed and I had to keep picking them up to shake them to keep them running, because if they all stopped he would die. By the time I was done talking we were both crying. She told me I had to let him go.

Three months before my husband died, my older daughter's husband died from liver cancer. She was devastated. She and her dad had been close. Four months after her husband died she was dating. "Mom, I don't want to spend the rest of my life sad like our neighbor did because her husband had died and thirty years later she was still sad and lonely."

I had no intentions of marrying again. I thought I might move out west somewhere.

Then love found me, all the way from Europe. I had joined a chatroom that played music. I enjoyed chatting with everyone. Once in awhile someone with an unusual name would log in and start talking about things, things I understood but no one else seemed to notice. He was talking about a war in the Balkans. I started talking with him. A month later he PM'd me. We started talking about everything. We had a million things in common. I saw his pictures. Every nerve in my body wanted to meet him. He wanted to meet me.

"Don't trust him, find someone in your own community."
"There must be some American man you could have a relationship with."
"He's going to use you, don't trust a foreign man."

My friends and family were worried.

I wasn't looking for a husband. I wasn't looking to get married. Forty-one years married to a closet alcoholic left me lonely for a soulmate. I married my first husband in 1969 and raised a family. I have lots of good memories. We had lots of adventures before his health declined and he found comfort in bottles of beer.

In the summer of 2011 I flew to Europe. It was a fairy-tail romance. We were married in his country. I stayed there 6 weeks. I had a new life and I loved it. We talked about me moving there, but I couldn't handle the heat in summer. I was also concerned with winter because of the choking coal smog, plus he wanted to have better job opportunities (there are still next to no jobs in his country). So I flew home to start the immigration process.

The process is long. A year after filing for him I flew back to visit for 10 days, which was all I could manage that time. I made him promise not to be so sad this time, for surely we will be together soon. Finally in the spring of 2013 he got his visa and immigrated, home to me at last.

We are inseparable, though we have our own space as well. My husband is a hard-working man, and he takes good care of me. On his days off we go places together, for coffee or shopping or walking nature trails in nice weather. We respect each other, worry for each other, care for each other, love each other.

So, last night I was thinking about all of this, and thinking about all the self-help books and teachers. I had tried to watch some videos and read a bit, but I kept thinking, "why go somewhere to find myself when I wasn't feeling like I needed to?" "There is no place I would rather be than by my husband's side."

Then I realized....I know who I am. I am the Mrs. to my Mr. I am the soul to my mate. My husband doesn't subtract from me, he amplifies me. He encourages my hobbies. My place, my ah-ha moment, my happiness, is my life adventure with my best friend, my husband.

Ten on Tuesday

Well, I'm not sure if anyone is still doing Ten on Tuesday, but here we go. I'm not going to consciously aim for ten...will see what happens.

1. We decided to sleep in on Thursday, which is hubby's day off this week. Last Sunday we got up early and drove to the Wisconsin Dells. It was fun, but hubby is tired.

2. We want to visit Madison one of these days. We want to visit an Albanian restaurant in the area named Sofra. Drive time about an hour and a half.

3. Another destination still on the list is Sheboygan, drive time about the same.

5. I see frost on the roof and grass but still my flowers on the window sill are ok. My Sedum 'Coral Reef" is doing well and turning a nice bronze color.

Summer color, a cutting I brought inside, in case I loose the outside one.

Fall color. These are all sedums, and should all be good through winter outside

Still hanging in there

Frosty morning but still not real cold

Still some color across highway 60 along the Rubicon river

6. March 4th will be our 1 year anniversary living here. Our lease will then go from a yearly lease to monthly....Wisconsin law.

7. Maybe we will stay, maybe we will move.

8. Hubby's wish list....great job with better pay, a charming downtown with shopping, places to walk.

9. My wish list....darker location so I can see the stars at night, a view of the sunset and places to walk where I don't need to cross such a busy highway, because I usually don't have the car, so I can't drive to a place to walk.

10. My hubby falls in love with every place we visit. So far....Port Washington, Oconcmowoc and Portage. I'm sure we will be adding Madison (ew...no way am I moving to a city, but an outlaying area, maybe) and Sheboygan to the list after we visit.

I managed 10 after all!

Feeling Better!

My thyroid was getting low, so my doc upped the dosage. I'm back on the Tradjenta. My blood sugar is better. I'm not feeling like I want to sleep all day. It's a beautiful, sunny day today and I feel like I can enjoy it. I think the low thyroid was the root of a lot of my issues.

The Aveeno Baby sunscreen lotion I bought seems to be working. I've not had any breakouts. I've figured out the burning sensation I get is from the retinol I use. It's a new tube, so maybe it's a little stronger. I've dialed it back a bit. This sunscreen has "soothing oatmeal" and I think that helps as well.

Yesterday hubby and I went to Grafton to shop (Target) and then to West Bend (Menard's). Between the two, along a country road (we always take country roads when possible) we stopped at a farm selling vegetables. It was an excellent choice! Here is what we bought. Have you ever seen yellow carrots?

After we told them we have been exploring Wisconsin by country roads, they gave us a copy of this guide. 

We were going to drive up to Sheboygan, but the tetanus shot I had the day before was making me feel crummy, so we went home.

Next adventure...we want to explore Grafton. The Milwaukee River runs through town and there are a couple of establishments with a river view. One has a big balcony where you can sit outside. When we lived in Indiana we used to visit a restaurant/coffee bar in Highland that had a deck facing the park. It was enjoyable to sit there and drink coffee. We miss that experience.

I've been thinking a lot about where we are and where we would like to be. We both have tumbled around the idea of buying a home. I would like more windows. Apartment living basically gives you a one-direction view. You will have sunrises or sunsets, but probably not both. Hubby would like to own a dog. I would like to be closer to nature.

Right now hubby and I are enjoying driving around to other communities. The country roads are lovely, and seeing new places is fun. We like Oconomowoc's quaint downtown and close proximity to the lakes in the area. Port Washington was fun as well, and right on Lake Michigan. Grafton has an inviting downtown along the river that we have yet to explore.

So...that leads us to where and what we want. Hubby wants a better paying job. I want a better view. At this point we don't know if that will happen here in Hartford or somewhere else. Our one-year lease is up in March. After that it becomes a monthly thing, which seems to be the norm everywhere in Wisconsin.

We are still trying to "find ourselves".  A cute town with a coffee bar with a view from a balcony, a good job, and some place to live with a view. Are we asking too much? Some things might need a little tweaking....like where we live. Lake front and river view properties are hugely expensive. Anybody with a lot of money has already bought them up. We are sort of "close" to Milwaukee, which has something to do with it. We don't want to live "in the boonies" because, well, hubby needs a job, and I can't live in the middle of farmlands because of the smells and allergies I have to fields that are being sprayed, plowed, you name it. Another thing is food....it's easier to find Albanian type food in the Milwaukee area. A nearby Aldi store is a must.

Some things I'm contemplating.....camping....in a camper, not a tent. That would help with the nature view. However....we would need a place to park the camper when we are not using it. Not crazy about the idea of tent camping, although if we tent camped we wouldn't need to haul a camper. I was looking at land...it would be possible and within budget to buy a small parcel in the woods near or even on the water....but....there is upkeep, and the fact that it would probably be about 2 hours drive away. It needs to be maintained, or it will become overgrown and full of weeds and deer ticks. Taxes need to be paid, whether it is used or not. Or...maybe there is an apartment complex or condo with a view...affordable? Just some ideas I'm tossing around in my head before I discuss with hubby. My hubby is very open to all my ideas. He wants me to be happy.