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.
I am so pleased that The Porch Guy has again given you great service - doing the jobs you asked for efficiently and well at a price you think is reasonable. As for those postcards, how about:-
ReplyDeleteHi (Voter's first name)
On November 5th please vote for Kamala Harris and not the Republican candidate whose name evades me... Plump, Chump, Dump - something like that.
-- (first name).
I would certainly like to ask them to Dump Trump but since they're registered Democrats, it's probably not necessary.
DeleteI'm sure everything does seem like a jumble right now but oh, won't it be fine when the kitchen's done, the post cards are all sent out, and you can sit down and breathe?
ReplyDeleteIt will. I'm ready for life to settle down a little.
DeleteI sure it will look terrific and I can't wait to see it. Thanks for working on the postcards!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ellen!
DeleteThank you for keeping us updated on the repair & renovation work!
ReplyDeleteWriting so many postcards will hopefully really make a difference. It is good of you and your friends to do that, and I know how much work it is - when we wrote the cards to let people know of my Dad's death and the funeral arrangements, there were nowhere near as many to do, and there were three of us to write them, but it still took us an entire afternoon/evening.
It's a lot of work, for sure. I was pretty ambitious to commit to 400 postcards, but I've had plenty of time to work on them.
DeleteI'm glad the work is moving ahead and you're so close to being done. That must be a huge relief! And yes, good to know you can move your postcard event elsewhere if need be. Dave and I each got direct outreach letters/postcards from Democrats in the states and though we would have voted no matter what, it was good to know people care enough to take the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you get them, Steve, since Florida isn't a swing state. Maybe this year it will be?
DeleteThank you for be so politically active!! And I'm sure Greg will tell you, mostly retired is a very good thing!
ReplyDeleteIt helps me to have something concrete to do to help the cause. Sitting around worrying doesn't do a thing but increase my stress levels!
DeleteI could write the postcards in my sleep at this point, I think.
ReplyDeleteGreat that you're prepared to send so many postcards to help get the right outcome on November 5. We don't send postcards in the UK but we have other ways of reminding people to vote. It's so important that people use their vote after all the struggles to get universal suffrage.
ReplyDelete