Updates

Just a few short updates on everything going on this month:

We did it! My friends helped me complete 400 Postcards to Swing States this past Sunday afternoon! We had a little postcard party over at Barbara's house. Out of the 400 postcards I committed to, I had already finished 275 (!!) ahead of time, so I only brought the remaining 125. Karen H. brought an additional 100 postcards she needed help completing (for down ballot races in the non-swing state of Ohio). We made short work of those 225 postcards, and had a little time left over for talking and eating the potluck snacks we'd brought. 

It's a relief to have it done.

Left to right, clockwise: Maggi, Marian, Barbara, Paulette, Karen, and Yours Truly, struggling to get a selfie that included everyone.

I may or may not have mentioned that I'd planned to have the Postcard Party at my house. Obviously, that didn't happen. Barbara was kind enough to offer to host because our small renovation project is still not done. Yep. Still not done! Our house remains in disarray with one room emptied out and being worked on.

This is what happened. The guy took longer than he expected, and at the end of the week he'd allotted for us, he was only about 70% done. He had other job commitments starting that Monday that he couldn't get out of. It's meant some delay in the finishing work, and he's been coming over for an hour or two here and there when he can. It's been dragging on a lot longer than I expected, though.

To be fair, Rick's doing really good, careful work. He's taking his time and every part that he finishes looks great. He pays attention to detail. We're also getting an absolute steal on the price of his labor. Since he'd never tried coffered ceilings before, he wanted to get some experience with them, and I think he lowballed the price a little bit because he was unsure of how it would go. Well, it looks terrific! So, if it takes him a little bit longer than we expected, so be it....

but DAMN I'm tired of all the furniture from that room being crammed into the rest of the house! We can barely move! It's okay for a week, but when it's stretching into the third week, it gets old, fast.

Then to add insult to injury, day before yesterday we discovered an ant infestation in our pantry and kitchen shelves. We had to move all the food out, and everything stored in the kitchen cabinets where we saw ants, because the exterminator guy is coming later today...my house is a shambles. Seriously.

The only other thing I wanted to mention is that my skin is almost healed (and much, much better). Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement on my last post! Once I got started on antibiotics and prednisone I started to feel better, fast. That's a relief, at least.

I'll sign off with a picture of the front porch that I've been getting ready for Halloween. Several of our neighbors have been decorating, too, which is fun. As soon as I buy some candy, we'll be ready for trick or treaters. 

Feeling sorry for myself

I went back to work today. I had a lot to catch up on after being off for a week, and I was glad of it because the hours passed quickly. I wasn't feeling well and it's a relief to be back at home. 

Last week I had a really bad eczema flare on the tops and ankles of both my feet. It's nearly impossible not to scratch or at least rub the intensely itchy skin, and I've used steroid ointments for so many years that said itchy skin is paper thin. It tears easily, bleeds easily, and of course it gets infected easily.

 That's what's going on right now. My skin is angry red, painful, and weeping clear fluid. Even more alarming, last night I developed small red streaks climbing up my right leg...it's a little bit scary. Not to mention disgusting looking.

Of course I called my doctor first thing this morning and he immediately called in prescriptions for antibiotics (oral and topical) and a round of prednisone.  And he didn't make me come in for it, bless him. He knows how much I've struggled with this skin problem and he does his best to help. The last time I saw him he told me I have the most stubborn case of treatment-resistant eczema/dermatitis that he's ever seen. 

Anyway, I feel bad. I hate the way this feels and I REALLY hate the way it looks. It's disappointing that with all the changes I've made this year to take better care of my health, this keeps happening. I get mad at myself when I can't stop scratching. It's my own fault that things have gotten this bad.

At least I've started on antibiotics now. I picked them up on my way home from work. Maybe by tomorrow I'll start feeling a little better. 

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.

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:

Demolished wall!!!

The ceiling in there had developed a crack that started to leak during the last storm that rolled through. It was a bad leak, and the crack got bigger and bigger. Then, it quickly became obvious that water was running down behind the wall, too, because the boards by the window started to warp. Not good.

 Here's a picture I took this morning before work commenced:

There's a place where the roof of this room joins the main house (the room was an addition to the original floor plan) and some sort of flaw there was letting the water in. That will be fixed first, then the wall with the warped boards will be repaired. And we decided instead of just patching up the damaged part of the ceiling, we're going to go ahead and redo the whole thing.

Something like this is what we're going for:

                        

Coffered ceilings

We're getting those same recessed lights in the "coffered" ceiling, and the old, clunky ceiling fan will be replaced with a smaller, simpler one. We've hired the same guy who remodeled our porch last summer to do the work. He seems to do solid work, and his prices aren't unreasonable. 

As soon as he's finished, we plan to paint the room a fresh new color. I'm hoping we can do that next weekend and have everything done when I go back to work on Monday. That may or may not be possible, though.

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!!

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.

Happy Birthday Mr. President!

 Happy 100th Birthday President Jimmy Carter!

Navy nuclear physicist. Peanut farmer. Governor. President. Habitat builder. Devoted husband (for 77 years!). Sunday school teacher.

A beautiful soul and an amazing American.

September book club selection: North Woods

This month it was my turn to host book club, and since we've begun letting the hostess pick the book, I had to choose something. Lately we've read a lot of what I consider "fluff" fiction, light and mildly entertaining but not all that literary. I decided that this time, I wanted something with a little more meat to it. I did an internet search for the best books of the past couple of years and came up with three titles that I thought sounded promising. Last month I told the group a little about the three books I was considering and put it to a vote. North Woods by Daniel Mason was the winner. 

What a joy this book was to me! It's the best thing I've read in ages. I think it's going to join my list of all-time favorite books, and that's a short list. 

From Goodreads:

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.

When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, only to succumb to envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave, but finds the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle; as each one confronts the mysteries of the north woods, they come to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Traversing cycles of history, nature, and even literature, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment and to one another, across time, language and space. Written along with the seasons and divided into the twelve months of the year, it is an unforgettable novel about secrets and fates that asks the timeless how do we live on, even after we’re gone?

North Woods was so beautifully written that I found myself reading and rereading passages and wanting to take my time and savor them. Since I'd bought a copy and offered to let my friend Marian borrow it before book club, I had to read it much faster than I wanted to. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, when she brought it back to me the night of book club, I immediately started to re-read it. I'm taking my time and finding so many wonderful things I missed the first time.

Spanning centuries from the perspective of one small piece of land in northwestern Massachusetts, it's the history of a place, with the human characters coming and going across the years alongside the changing flora and fauna of the area. From NPR's review:

North Woods manages, impressively, to balance both the narrow and the long view, intimately focusing on the lives of each of the house's inhabitants, yet expansively encompassing American history, natural history, and the relentless march of time and the cycle of the seasons.

And from the Washington Post book review:

Indeed, to read “North Woods” is to suffer the sweet sorrow of falling in love with fresh residents only to see them swept away by the passing seasons. Persist. The silent spaces between these stories articulate what the residents can’t. Their errant lives begin locking together in a winding chain of unlikely history. And when the moonlight strikes just right, you may even see some past homeowner flit across the corner of a page once again.

As you may have guessed, North Woods made for a really nice discussion. I even printed out a "book club guide" from the publisher's website.

As usual, I made a lot of food! We had a crudité platter, deviled eggs, ham and Swiss cheese sliders (pictured here before going in the oven and toasted!) hot spinach and artichoke dip, tortilla chips and plain potato chips. 

I bought ready-made desserts from Sam's. Large, fancy cupcakes and apple pie.

I also had several bottles of wine, as well as a cooler filled with ice and hard apple cider, assorted sodas, and bottled water.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it, and I'm happy to say my hosting responsibilities are fulfilled for another year!