Today is our eighteenth wedding anniversary. Looking it up, I found that this makes it the porcelain anniversary. Who knew? It definitely gets a lot less press than the silver anniversary, or the gold.
Sadly, Erin isn’t here to celebrate the anniversary with me. She’s with her mother in Trail, British Columbia, doing some excellent work as a writer in residence for the local school. The week before, she was in Vancouver for their writers’ festival and, before that, in Calgary for their Word Fest. All of it is to help promote The Swan Riders. Though it’s exhausting, and it’s a shame to be away on this day, it’s still a great experience for her, and I’m glad she’s having it. We can celebrate after she comes home this Saturday.
I’ve been keeping busy too, though. I have my work cut out for me getting this place clean in time for her arrival. I have, however, knocked some items off the renovation todo list. Thanks to Eric, I now have an unsoftened water tap and a water filtration system filtering it. I built two more spice racks, which I’m ridiculously proud of, because I copied the way Erin put them together, cutting down Ikea shelves and adding trim and painting them, and they look just lie hers. I also added another pull-out drawer for our waste receptacles (just finished that this evening, in fact), which now puts these bins out of sight until we need them. And I was there when the electrical work was finished.
Home Pro Electric put the finishing touches on our new fuse panel, and all the outlets we needed to meet current building codes. Not surprisingly, this was the most expensive portion of the renovation, and it did expand beyond the initial plan as we uncovered some interesting wiring as we took down the cabinets. It’s all dealt with now, and with the professional work that’s been done, we can sleep easier. You don’t skimp when it comes to electrical work, that’s for sure.
In terms of my own writing, I’ve had two non-fiction kids book assignments this month, finishing one in seven days, and the other in fourteen. I’ve now been assigned a third after another author backed out. It has a due date of “as soon as possible”. I’m aiming for next week. This Wednesday, I’ll be heading into Mississauga for an author event where teachers meet authors who are advertising their school visits. Now that Icarus Down is out, I’m hoping to get back onto the school visit scene. Another thing on my to-do list, but I am looking forward to meeting with these teachers and talking about my books.
So, a busy month. It’s strange how, working from home, we can still be so busy that we have to scramble to keep up with family events (Halloween and Vivian’s birthday are coming up), but that’s the way of things. And, honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way, or with any other person than Erin.
I miss you, dear, but I know you’re coming home. See you on Saturday.