Monday, October 14, 2024
Feeling sorry for myself
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Busy October
This week has been filled with the sounds of sawing, drilling, nail guns, and hammering. All of the furniture from the room being worked on is crowded together in the rest of the house, which makes me feel a little stir crazy. Other than that, the renovation is going really well and will be done either this afternoon or tomorrow. * There's no way we'll be able to paint before I go back to work. We plan to pick a couple of paint colors we're interested in and buy small samples to try on a wall before we commit to one. Then there's the pre painting prep work, then the actual painting, etc. If we're lucky we may be able to finish by the end of next weekend.
The timing of all this isn't the best, because my sister-in-law and niece will be visiting for a few hours on Thursday afternoon. Our niece Melissa will be flying in from across the country to visit family next week, and Thursday is the only day that works for them to drive down from North Carolina to see us. The house will still be in some disarray, but it can't be helped. They of course understand, and I don't feel too bad about it, but it isn't ideal.
Then on the Sunday after that (the 20th) I'm having a postcard writing party. (It's been planned for over a month now, since before I knew about the room remodel). Luckily, one of the friends who's coming offered to move it to her house when she heard about all this work we're having done. We should be finished painting by then, but if not it's good to know I have that option.
Speaking of postcards! I ordered 400 total, 200 to the swing state of Michigan and 200 to the swing state of Georgia. That's a lot of postcards. Especially since the three suggested scripts are somewhat lengthy to print out (they recommend printing everything so it's easily readable). Here are the three scripts they recommend as being the most effective in getting out the vote:
1. Hi (voter's first name),
Thank you for being a voter! Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record. Please vote in the Tues, Nov 5th election!
-- (first name)
2. Hi (voter's first name),
Thank you for being a voter! Your friends and family may need your reminder to vote. Please ask them to vote in the Tues, Nov 5th election!
-- (first name)
3. Hi (voter's first name),
Thank you for being a voter! When will you vote in the Tues, Nov 5th election? Please plan ahead!
--(first name)
As you can see, any of these is a lot to print out on 400 postcards! To make it so that my friends don't have a mountain of work in front of them, I've been chipping away at the lists a little bit each day. So far, I've managed to complete over 250! My goal is to get to 300 by the time we meet up. With four friends and me, that will only leave 20 for each of us. I'm grateful that they're willing to help me write them, and also that they're chipping in for half the postage costs. I bought the first 200 postcard stamps, and it came to well over $100.
October is turning out to be really busy with all this going on. When I get back to work on Monday it's going to be really busy there, too. It's just one of those times in the school year. The great thing this year is that since Gregg's (mostly) retired now, he'll be home a lot and can continue with painting while I'm at work.
Maybe November will be a little more relaxing!
* The work so far looks really good. I thought about sharing a picture of the progress, but decided to wait until it's done. We're really pleased.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
More home improvement
I'm on fall break this week. It's nice to be off work, especially now that it's getting cool outside. Lots of pleasant dog walks are happening at the moment.
Speaking of lots of things happening.....this is my den right now:
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Randy does it again!
Randy Rainbow's newest parody video--using Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space"--is another gem!! I just had to share it. Enjoy!!
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Double jab, hoarders, and Halloween lights
Every year about this time our school district offers employees a free flu shot. I always take it, and usually have no aftereffects other than a sore arm. Monday was the day. This year was a bit different than usual, because the pharmacist giving the shot had brought along Covid boosters to offer as well. I was super happy to get both at once and have it all done. I also read somewhere that getting a flu shot and Covid shot at the same time is thought to boost the effectiveness of both. It was something about a more vigorous antibody response. I think that's probably accurate, because for the first time ever I felt like crap after a vaccination. I developed a low-grade headache, muscle aches, and a feverish sort of feeling that lasted from late Monday afternoon until this morning. That never happened to me with either of those vaccines alone before!
I'm feeling a bit better this afternoon. That's a good thing, because I had to go all over town trying to find toilet paper! Yes, toilet paper. Since yesterday afternoon everyone around here has been suddenly buying up and hoarding toilet paper along with other supplies. I had to ask around to find out what the hell was going on.... apparently, the port strike has people in a panic about supply drying up and they're rushing out to grab everything they can get their hands on, with toilet paper being the number 1 (ha!) thing they're desperate for. It's crazy! I don't know if that's mostly around here or all along the east coast. Gregg and I were literally on our last roll of toilet paper (!!), and I had to go to three places to find any after work today. People are being the same jerks they were in the pandemic...buying up far more than they need and stockpiling it. The girl ringing me up at the dollar store (where I eventually found some) said that one woman had just been in and spent $140 on toilet paper!! People are ridiculous! Not to mention selfish and thoughtless. I bought enough to get my house through a week or so and left the rest for others. Hopefully someone didn't swoop in after me and empty the last of the shelves, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out they did. People just tend to suck sometimes, don't they?
Since this week has been a bit...bleh...I decided to order myself something cheap and cheerful on Amazon so I'd have something small to look forward to. It got here today: a string of bright purple and orange Halloween lights!
The original plan was to string them up around our little front porch area to welcome the trick or treaters, but I like them so much on the mantle (along with some of the other Halloween junk I had Gregg drag down from the attic) that I might end up keeping them there and ordering some more for the porch. They were only $10, and they're making me smile.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Happy Birthday Mr. President!
Happy 100th Birthday President Jimmy Carter!