Simply South Dakota ~ From My Little Apartment on the Prairie

 

Life is full of changes. After spending most of my life in the Midwest, and then spending six months in the Spokane area with my son and his family, I spent the last year and a half living across the bay from South Padre Island, Texas. I moved there hoping the warm climate would help my health - and it did - but I eventually decided to go back to the Midwest to be closer to family.

So, here I am, living in my little apartment on the prairie. I'm in Lake Preston, SD, close to my oldest daughter. I have more family living about five hours away in Nebraska, and still more family living in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. I miss Texas a lot, but it's kind of nice to be back among the agricultural communities, like those I was raised around. 

Whenever I move some distance, which I have only done during the last decade. I generally just take a van full of my things with me and buy "new" secondhand furniture in my new place. Coming from a family of antique dealers, I have always been a secondhand kind of person. I always prefer used - especially vintage - secondhand stuff.

This time around, I had quite the ordeal getting here. Due to my own bad judgment in purchasing a van from a dishonest  seller - and had to leave most of my belongings at a dumpster in Oklahoma that I was assured is visited daily by homeless people. It gave me some consolation to drive by the next morning, after one of daughters came to help me load up her car with my scaled-down possessions, and find that nearly every item had been picked up. 

Among the things I took with me in the car, my vintage Champion juicer, a set of ceramic bowls, and a few wall pictures. So here is my kitchen. Rather minimalistic, isn't it? But it's like a blank canvas, ready to "paint" to my liking. That's what I like about moving this way. 

I was very surprised to find that I was getting a brand new oven and range. I don't think I've ever had a brand new one in my life. This is pretty exciting for me!

The living room is even more "minimalistic." Cardboard boxes for a desk - no couch or chair, but everything will come in its own good time. 

So, I'm ready to hit the thrift stores, Goodwills, and garage sales to fill up my apartment. Until then, there is something about living in a near empty apartment that is actually rather freeing. I am a little torn between wanting to get the things I need as soon as possible and kind of wanting to keep it like this. Cuts down on cleaning. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just FYI, I have health issues that keep me from being able to add to my blogs daily, so I tend to play catch up when I'm feeling well. I date my posts according to when the photos were taken, so if you see that I'm neglecting my blog for a while and then a whole bunch of posts showing up all at once, that's why.