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!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Also Happy Albania Independence Day! November 28 commemorates when Albania raised the Albanian flag in 1912 declaring independence from the Ottoman Empire. 

We aren't doing anything. Hubby worked last night so he is asleep for now. Later I will put a chicken in the oven. It's just the two of us and we aren't fond of turkey. I don't have anything major to write about so, just a list of odds and ends.

It's cloudy again today. My petunias are still green but no longer blooming. It's been in the 20's but will be in the teens at night for the foreseeable future. I think I will pull them. Poor things. They really hung in there!

Thank you to my friend for the compliment on my string of hearts. I have killed it in the past. I discovered why. This plant develops large potato-like tubers that hold a good amount of water. If the potting mix doesn't dry out quickly enough the tubers will rot overnight. My solution was to pot them in a shallow pot that was actually a plastic bowl that I made a bazzillion holes in. It fits as an insert into this beautiful ceramic bowl my daughter gave me.

This was some sort of food bowl that came with a frozen dinner hubby bought once.

Fred Ives, I'm done with you! (I still have the main "head") I'm ditching this and planting something else in this pot. Fred insists on growing HUGE and pale from not enough light.

Burrow's tail needs repotting and water! You can see Fred Ive's "head" in the background.

Miscellaneous Adromischus pot, the long-leaved one in the back is going to bloom. It's fussy. It will drop its leaves if it gets too dry and also if it stays damp too long.

Next I'm working on windows. These are double-pane windows with the worst frames ever. I need to line the lower 4 or 5 inches with bubble wrap to keep them from freezing. You can see how the moisture builds up and black mildew forms on the frames. Ugh. Every winter.

East window

South window has some bubble wrap but not enough. I will move the plants back a bit and add more bubble wrap.

Results tomorrow.

Note----I couldn't find anything about cell phones. We got new phones in January because our old phones were 4G only. Apparently 4G will still be supported but 5G rolled out and is faster. If you need a new phone, buy one that is 5G so it can use the faster networks. 

Have a great day!

Winter is Here

 The petunias are looking sad but are still blooming. Our temperatures are taking a nose dive this weekend. The high today was 36.

I'm finally getting around to working with my plants. Some need transplanting. I'm trying to make my collection smaller because my plants keep getting bigger. I trimmed the dead leaves off my gold vein oxalis. They go to sleep once a year, sometimes in summer but maybe in fall. All the leaves fall into a dead heap. Many people think they have lost the plant at this point and throw it away, but actually it will grow all new leaves after it rests for a couple weeks or so.

One of my favorite oxalis and kind of hard to find. I bought mine from Glasshouse Works in Ohio. The owner passed away so they went out of business.

New leaves emerging in the rubble (they look like fuzzy white canes)

This is why I trim off the leaves instead of pulling them. The bulbs are very tiny and uproot easily. I think they reach the size of a pea.

String of Hearts. I'm so happy it's growing well for me.

I have trimmed it back a couple times now

Bulbs are forming on the stems

I zipped the babies off the leaves because they kept popping off. It was so satisfying!

I got this cute Christmas tree and stuck it here

My hoya are growing like crazy

Hoya Curtisii. I love the leaves

My mini white orchid is going to bloom again!

I fixed Burim's laptop. It's working well, could use more memory, but I would need to buy two 8Ghz chips. It has two 4Ghz now. I have most of the drivers upgraded. It won't upgrade to Windows 11, the processor isn't powerful enough. Microsoft is extending driver support until October 2025, meaning about 400 million PC's will be stuck in limbo. The good news is, they can still be used for some time. My desktop struggles. It's an all-in-one, and has a slow processor and slow harddrive. It does have a nice beautiful monitor. It will do for the time being. On the other hand, they are predicting next year will be a banner year for buying a new PC if that is something you are considering.

Getting sleepy. Happy Thanksgiving! We are cooking a chicken tomorrow.

My Broken Life

Some days I think I have it "together", other days I cry. Mostly it just sucks to be me and I put on a happy face for people who love me. At times I would like to think that my daughter is aware of me and other times I think it's better if she just sleeps until the Resurrection, because what daughter would want to know that their death broke their mother?

Last night my hubby went to visit his friends and stop by the store. I forgot I set my phone to vibrate and then I forgot it on the end table and didn't hear him call me SEVEN TIMES. He came home frantic, and angry because he was frantically worried. He forgave me, of course, and I felt really bad for putting him through that.

I had one good day this week so far. I happily cleaned and cooked. Friday and this weekend will be good. Hubby is off Friday and my older daughter and her hubby's kids are driving up for the weekend. My hubby and her hubby both have mandatory overtime on Saturday, so my daughter's hubby is driving up after work. We are having an early Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night, and leftovers on Sunday, before they need to return home.

It has been mentioned to me about getting counselling. I can find nothing in my Medicare benefits about that, except for Hospice, or for being hospitalized. There is a psychologist in town, a man. What is a man going to know about a mother loosing a child? Only a mother who has lost a child can understand a mother who has lost a child. Hold your breath. Unless you are a mother who has lost a child, you wouldn't understand. Period. Besides, I'm pretty sure my benefits won't cover it.

In spite of it all, yesterday I got a few things done, and I plan to get off the computer and get more done today. I have the rest of today plus 2 more days to get ready for company. They will be very welcome. I laugh a lot with them, me and hubby, both.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice. My neighbor across the hall and I hope to go for a walk.

Hubby's work is going well. Did I mention he got a raise? He's also training to be an Operator! The other day the big boss did a surprise safety check inspection, and my hubby got "caught" with a perfectly clean, safe and well-maintained work area. The boss gave him an "atta boy" and shook his had, wrote him up as GOOD. Everyone else in the room had stuff like pop cans and tools strewn around and out of place, so they all got written up as BAD. Sometimes it pays to be slightly OCD.

Ok, it's time for me to get some stuff done, and I'm feeling better.

Day 24: Happy Thanksgiving!

Hubby and I are both thankful he has tonight off, and we are thankful for my daughter's company. We are thankful my other daughter and her family visited last weekend.

We had a nice dinner, not as fancy as I normally would cook, but it's all I could do with my neck and shoulders, and this tiny kitchen. I am extremely grateful and thankful that my daughter washed the dishes for me while I dried and put them away. Otherwise I would have been hurting a lot more than I am by now. She also baked an awesome pumpkin pie, her signature dish.

No pictures tonight. I'm tired and sore. Hubby went to see his cousin for a little bit after dinner. We will probably watch movies when he comes back.

That's all for now. Need to relax.