Posts Tagged ‘Works for Me’

How to Write a Letter to an Elected Official

Posted in Politics on 11/12/2008 06:17 am by Ronnica

Last week I talked about how I’m going to get more involved in politics. My first step was to write congratulatory letters to the 4 top officials that were elected from here: president, governor, senator, and representative. Several of you asked to see these letters, so here they are! I’d love it if you would join me in writing letters or emails to these men and women (or those that are represent you). In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t vote for any of these 4 individuals. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever voted a more losing ballot.

I addressed each letter to the office that they are currently in. The address for mailing a letter to a US senator is:

Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

So that’s where I sent Barack Obama’s letter. Here is what I wrote:

Click the picture to see it bigger. Sorry these are a bit blurry, but I don’t have a scanner. As you can see, I hand wrote the letter. I didn’t use their appropriate titles in the letter (though I did on the envelope) since I felt weird since none of these people have officially taken their new offices yet. If I were to do this again, I would use their titles out of respect.

I also included my last name and address, though I took the picture before I wrote them in. I wouldn’t want my mailbox would be stuffed with fan mail from you all!

The next letter I wrote was to our newly elected US senator. Her current address is:

Senator Kay Hagan
NC Senate
300 N. Salisbury St, Room 411
Raleigh, NC 27603-5925

Here’s what I wrote:


Next up was our newly elected governor, Bev Perdue. She’s North Carolina’s first female governor, but strangely, she’s my 3rd (I lived in Kansas under governors Joan Finney and Kathleen Sebelius). Anyway, this is her address:

Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue
20401 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0401

I just realized I spelled her last name wrong. Whoops. Don’t do that if you decide to write her. Anyway, this is what I wrote:


Finally, I wrote a letter to my representative, Brad Miller. He’s the only candidate here that was actually reelected, so I was able to send the letter directly to his congressional office. His address was the hardest to find; I guess they think that you just need to email your representative. It took me several tries, but finally Google helped me out:

The Honorable Brad Miller
United States House of Representatives
1722 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3313

Here’s what I wrote him:

I hope you find these letters helpful as you seek to be an encouragement for your elected officials. Feel free to use any/all of my letters you find useful. Let me know if you decide to this!

This post is a part of Works-for-Me Wednesday. For more great ideas, stop by Rocks in My Dryer.

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I’m thankful for all those that work for the public good. It’s such a blessing to have reliable emergency services!

Organizing Emails Works for Me

Posted in Mixed Bag on 03/19/2008 05:06 am by Ronnica

What does your email inbox look like right now? Can you tell which emails need replying? How can you tell if an email is worth keeping?
My solution: keep everything. Of course I don’t keep spam or other solicititations, but I’m talking about all the real email. I keep it all.
This means that I have a lot of email sitting out there on a server somewhere. But that’s okay. I might need it someday, and I’m not willing to get rid of it.
However, keeping the tens of email I get each day (and you might get more) would become cumbersome fast. Without an organization system, I would have to sift through them all to find the one announcing when next week’s fellowship is or what time my flight is.
That’s why I have an email filing system. When an email comes in and I read it, I immediately file it in one of several categories (school, family, friends, church, etc.) if it requires no further attention. Most email providers allow you to use folders, and if yours doesn’t, get one that does (I like Yahoo). The only emails that remain in my inbox are those that I have to respond to. Once I have responded (or recorded an event, or registered for a website, etc) and am done with it, I file that email away as well.
This system allows me not only to find old emails that I need again, but to find the emails that still need attention very quickly without having to keep track in my head what I still have to take care of.
Sorting emails…works for me!

Avoiding Stress at the DMV Works for Me

Posted in Mixed Bag on 02/27/2008 06:08 am by Ronnica

Yesterday I went to the DMV, where I officially replaced my Kansas driver’s license with one from North Carolina. Since in most states you only have to visit there every 8 years or so, I thought I could pass along a few tips that I picked up from visiting there yesterday and last week. These specifically apply to North Carolina but are relevant to most other states!

1. Visit mid-morning if possible. I stopped by Friday on my way to work to ask a question and saw that it was very busy. I was nervous about going later in the day because I thought that it would be busier, but guess what, it wasn’t! I think a lot of people assume it will be busier later on so they go as soon as they open, plus there are surely people who had to stop by before they went to work.

2. Find out what you will need ahead of time and have back-up documents where necessary. I stopped by last week to find out what they needed from me to prove that I had insurance. I was surprised to find out that I didn’t have exactly what the website dictated. If you can’t make an extra trip, check out the website, driver’s handbook, or phone them to find out more. If you are not sure that something will work, bring something else as well. I brought both a cable bill and my tax form as verification of residency, in case one wouldn’t work.

3. Be prepared to pay by cash or check. Maybe other states are more advanced, but I had to pay yesterday with a NC check or cash. I had neither when I walked in the door, so I had to hit a nearby pharmacy for cash (No, I don’t mean stealing, but that pharamacies are like free ATM’s for small amounts of cash. Okay, that doesn’t sound better. I promise you they charged my account for it).

4. Don’t wait until the last minute. I did this (this was my last opportunity to go before the 60-day window closed Friday), and it just added extra stress.

5. Read the driver’s book (or at least give it a good skim). Even if you have taken the test in this state before, refreshing your memory doesn’t hurt, and it will allow you to be more confident in your answers on the test. I read most of the book, but I skipped a few parts that didn’t apply to me. Just because they didn’t apply didn’t mean I wasn’t tested on them! I’m not sure how good it looked that I didn’t know the penalty for a DWI conviction, especially when I picked the lightest penalty.

6. This is a big one…don’t have your heart set on getting it all taken care of the first time. We all know stories of people who have been turned down over something silly, or its unexpectedly closed, or the system’s down, or you weren’t informed about the latest policy change. You can act with grace in these situations if your heart is in the right place.

Hopefully these tips will help you to have a pleasant DMV trip! Avoiding DMV stress certainly works for me!

5-Minute Clean-Up Works for Me!

Posted in Mixed Bag on 02/20/2008 12:01 am by Ronnica

When I’m going through busy times with school, work, and other responsibilities, my room starts to go a little wild. I’m a neat person usually, but I tend to get a stack of papers to be dealt with and a pile of clothes that are somewhere between clean and dirty (how long do you wear something before it gets dirty, anyway? Do I really need to rewash something I only wore for a couple of hours?).
My solution: spend 5 minutes working on cleaning up before going to bed. It helps to whittle down those piles to keep them managable, while taking no more time than it takes to check email or go to the bathroom. I make sure to time myself too, because I’m shocked at how much I can do in 5 minutes.
I’m sure this can be adapted to other areas of the house, as well as for children!
Spending five minutes cleaning up, it works for me!
Other Works-for-Me Wednesday ideas:

Works for Me: Custom-Made Bookmarks

Posted in Mixed Bag on 02/06/2008 12:04 am by Ronnica

This week Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer asked that we share our online shopping treasures. Online shopping is something that I love: browsing for hours without wearing out the feet! This Christmas I decided to buy everything online, and I would have succeeded except for a couple last minute gift cards.
For my mom, I got her a book with a bookmark. Not just any bookmark, however, I had one especially made for her! I wish I could show a picture to you, but I didn’t take one before I gave it to her. It was a special gift as one thing I share with my mother is our love for books.
Kim at Bookworm Bookmarks made the bookmark for me. It was done at a reasonable rate, to my specifications, and was super fast. She was super kind to me and it was a great pleasure doing business with her. I didn’t have to pay up front, and she even threw in a bookmark for me with my favorite verse.
Check out all the beautiful designs she has at her website. The new Valentine’s one is super cute! If you need a cheap but personal gift, I recommend you check her out!
If you are a book-lover, I would also suggest you check out Sovereign Grace’s February sale. I just bought a book that I’ve been wanting to read and a CD I have been wanting for $15 total, no shipping!
Other Works-for-Me Wednesday ideas:

Works for Me: Middle Name Game

Posted in Little Historians on 01/30/2008 12:01 am by Ronnica
Here’s a simple game that I came up with to work with children who are starting to learn to read and can be played anytime anywhere. No materials are required.
The easiest way to teach it is to give you an example. Assume your name is Norma Jean and the child’s name is Billy Ray. Every time you say a word that starts with J (because your middle name starts with J), that becomes your new middle name.
If you say, “I saw a kangaroo jump outside our window,” your new “name” is Norma Jump. If Billy says, “I hope it rains today!” his new “name” is Billy Rains. Every time you say a word that starts with the letter J or Billy says a word that starts with the letter R, your middle name changes respectively.
Anyone can point out the new middle names, and it will work with several children. As they start to think about what they and others are saying, they will pick up on more and more name changes. The kids I played this with got a real kick out of it, and the 1st grader would intentionally use words in a sentence that she wanted her name to be.
Sounds simple, but this silly game works for me!
For past Works-for-Me Wednesday ideas:
Free Tax Preparation
Managing To-Do Lists
Eating Leftovers
Getting a Good Night’s Rest
Avoiding Walmart Stress
Easy Chicken Soup Casserole
Removing Ink Stains
Encouraging Others – your ideas

Works for Me: Managing To-Do Lists

Posted in Dusting the Historian's Library on 01/23/2008 12:01 am by Ronnica

I’m a list maker. Though I don’t always enjoy the activities on my to-do list, I love the look of the list and the thrill of crossing items off.

In high school we were required to use agendas that had a two-page spread for a week. It was perfect for keeping track of activities and homework. When I entered college, I got a similar book (though in a more mature faux-leather cover) that worked great for several years.
One Christmas a few years ago, my mom bought me a PDA. I was able to convert quite successfully to this little thing that holds everything I could ever need.
Unfortunately, I’m a bit of an abuser, I guess. Slowly, it started to wear down: the touchpad, the power button, etc. It was no longer as convenient to use to keep track of tasks. My adult life requires more and more of me, at school, church, work, and home.
A little over a year ago, I switched back to paper for my to-do lists. I still use the PDA for everything else, but I find joy in making actual to-do lists and can keep better track of what I need to do.
The key for me to use to-do lists is to review them every week. I take a look at my calendar for the next couple of weeks, my syllabi, and any other relevant schedules to help me keep my to-do list relevant and clean. I prioritize and categorize items by date, putting the most immediate tasks on the top of the page. After all the dated to-do lists (usually for reading and papers), I have an “other” category that contains all the things that I would like done eventually. These tasks rarely get tackled, but if I get ambitious, I know where to look!
Reviewing my to-do list weekly, that’s what works for me!
For past Works-for-Me Wednesday ideas:

Works for Me: Eating Leftovers

Posted in Mixed Bag on 01/16/2008 12:00 am by Ronnica

Growing up, I hated eating leftovers. It’s still not my favorite thing, but I have learned what I dislike about eating leftovers: seeing them cold. I can’t stand to see my food all gloppy and unappetizing before I am about to eat it. Nothing says um-um-goodness like plopping spoonfuls of unidentifible globs of varying colors on a plate.
Now that I’m on my own and paying for my own food, I know that I have to eat leftovers. My first rule is never to have more leftovers than I can eat. I generally eat leftovers for lunch at work, so that’s my limit.
Secondly, I always store leftovers in serving-sized containers. This helps me easily assess how much leftovers I have and shields my eyes from having to see my food before it appears edible. I get the small bowl Ziploc containers (last I checked Walmart had them for about $2.50 for a 4 pack), and they fit my appetite perfectly. They stack easily, and I can also store any leftover vegetables in those containers as well. If I send leftovers home with someone else, I don’t have to worry about getting them back.
Maybe this technique won’t work for anyone else, but it works for me!
For more of my brilliant (don’t laugh!) ideas: