Fireplace costs

I finally got a chance to look into getting an electric fireplace (see Done Deal - basement tenant). I found out that a fireplace insert would cost $900 to $1000 depending on the size. There's no installation required - just slide the box into the opening. The price range is higher than I thought it would be. For that amount of money, I might as well get the brick wall fixed and use the existing gas fireplace. I'll get some quotes for the repair work and then decide which avenue to take.

Trilliums on the Bruce Trail

Last week was crappy, frustrating, upsetting, crazy, stinky, for various reasons, of which I won't go into in this blog. However, there were some positives - I did get some much needed time to myself on Saturday, in which I did some reading and some sketching. I made sketches of Arjay and Morgan, from Mission: Dawn, and I designed an insignia for the ship.

I also got out for some hiking with J and her mom on the Bruce Trail, out in the Beaver Valley section. I've missed being on the Bruce - it felt so good to get out there and stretch my legs on the trail! The weather was cool - great weather for hiking. White trilliums covered the ground in one of the areas we hiked through. I had my digital camera with me and took some pictures.

Done deal - basement tenant

It didn't take very long this time - I got a new tenant for the basement apartment. I got a call from my rental agent this morning. She's done a showing, the guy was interested, he signed up and she has collected the deposit. They should all be this easy.

I've learned that the fireplace in this unit is actually a key selling feature. That was useful for me to learn, because the fireplace doesn't actually work. I had it inspected last year, and the contractor told me it should not be used because there are holes in the brick wall that could allow carbon monoxide to enter the house. He recommended I have it looked at by a fireplace guy, but he thought it would be expensive to repair.

My rental agent has urged me to replace the existing gas fireplace with an electric fireplace. She thinks it may be cheaper than fixing the existing problem. I'll have to get a fireplace guy to look at it and give me an estimate before I decide which approach to take.

Baby shower, kittens, and karaoke

J's brother held a surprise baby shower for his wife yesterday. They're going to have another baby soon. That means another niece or nephew coming, maybe even a god-child! They had a barbecue celebration in their backyard.

Some of the kids that were present discovered that a cat had recently had kittens in a shed behind their garage. There were three or four little kitties, about a few weeks old. The mother cat, she had only one eye, was a little skittish, but a couple of the little ones came out to explore. They were so tiny, and furry, and excuse my masculinity for saying so but they were cute.

J, her mom and I were ready to leave her brother's place around ten o'clock. We made our rounds and said our goodbyes but her brother told us we had to make a stop in the basement. The three of us went downstairs and found a group of people doing karaoke. I took a turn with my favourite karaoke song, Let It Be. I encouraged J and her mom to take a turn at the mic but they wouldn't. Not at first. Later, after most of the other karaokers had left, they grew bolder and started singing one song after another. By 2:30 in the morning, I could barely pull those two away so we could go home!

From baby shower for a new baby, to new kittens in the shed, to J doing karaoke with her mom - the theme of motherhood was well represented and celebrated on this Mother's Day weekend.

Self-care, creative writing, and Mars-centricity

I did take a short break today and spent it on my creative writing. I took about twenty to thirty minutes, by myself, in an empty seating area near the lobby of the building I am working in.

I made some small revision to one of the scenes in Mission: Dawn, called Boy meets girl. This is the scene where I introduce the relationship between Arjay and Linda. I like the interplay between these two characters, that just came out when I wrote the scene. Now, when I wrote the original draft, I ended it with Arjay offering to send a shuttle to pick up Linda from Mars and bring her to Dawn. In my revision, I changed that slightly, to have Linda take a commercial passenger shuttle, called The Mars Runner, instead. This slight change allows me to add a bit to Linda's character - since she lives on Mars, she calls it The Earth Runner. I figured this addition would add a little bit of colour to Linda's character.

As I wrote the new dialog, I got to thinking that I could have fun with this in future scenes, by having Linda's "Mars-centricity" come up in humorous ways.

Self-care

One of the newsletters I subscribe to had an article about self-care. The article was titled Taking Care of Your Best Asset - here is an excerpt:

My first breakthrough in self-care was to get my front tooth fixed. I figured this was a highly irresponsible thing to do, given my credit card debts. Shortly thereafter I got a raise that more than covered the extra expense. Then I hired a personal trainer and a few months later got a bonus at work. Do I detect a pattern emerging? As I started taking better care of myself, so did the people around me. While I was regularly saving 10 percent of my earnings, paying off my debts, and doing things to perfect the present, more money started coming in from unexpected places. In three years I went from being in debt to having over a year’s living expenses in savings, and I didn’t suffer in the process.

This topic feels really pertinent to me right now, especially given the level of stress under which I am operating these days. So, I am going to undertake two self-care issues tomorrow.

One, I am going to park in a different parking lot when I go to work tomorrow than where I usually park. This has to do with an ongoing issue I have with this parking lot that I have not been able to resolve yet. I have several reasons why I prefer to park there, but I also get really frustrated and angry about this unresolved issue. Then I get hard on myself for getting so worked up about it.

One of the reasons I use this particular lot is because they accept payment by credit card through an automated system - no cash out of my pocket. I'm not familiar with the other parking lots in the area so I don't know if they would accept payment by credit card. However, as an act of self-compassion, I am going to try out one of the other lots, even if it means paying cash out of my own pocket. I need to give myself a break here and stop bringing myself into this environment where I am experiencing so much emotional distress - at least until I can get my anger under perspective.

As my second act of self-care, I am going to take a break during the work day tomorrow, go to an empty meeting room and just do some of my own writing.

Missed the stairs today

After three months of doing the stairs at work on a daily basis, I missed a day today. I usually do them near the end of the day. Today I left early though - if you call leaving at 5pm leaving early! I left early because I had an appointment with my accountant to go over my 2004 tax return. I had finally prepared all my documentation and delivered it to my accountant last week - one thing I can check off my list. He is going to e-file it for me and I need to go see him again next week to pick up my file.

Test execution continues at work. I have been operating at a high level of stress for about a month now, and it is getting to me. Now the client is asking us to work Saturdays as well.

On a positive note, a friend of mine recently "discovered" my blog and commended me for its attractive format, and wrote that I am an example to her for forever going after my conscious goals.