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.