What first

Well here we are and there is another week gone and a super crazy busy week ahead of us. We have to go shopping and get a fridge and stove that will be delivered for the 3rd of April along with all of our furniture and belongings from the apartment and Vancouver. We also have to go and sign all the papers with the Lawyer, fill out the insurance forms and finish packing a few last things here in the apartment. Going to be so different for the 2 of us and the kids to be back in a house and have some space for all of us. The best thing will be when one of us gets up early or stays up late the other one can still get some sleep, not an easy task at the moment.
Yesterday I had to deal with Rogers again, god I really hate that company, the evil ways they do business just makes me sick. We have decided to go with no home phone and no cable tv, we are going to use our cell phones which are not with Rogers, and then a HDTV antenna which can supposedly get up to 60 channels for a one time purchase of 60 dollars, will let you know how that works. Anyhow Rogers was going to charge me a 400 penalty for disconnecting my services, stupid, offer me a discount to hook things up and then want that discount back when I disconnect, well I got all that straightened up now!
Am going to walk over to the store later and have a look around, just to get out of the house and do something different and maybe find some more small things for the house, Will also try and get some more clothes packed and stuff like that, these are things easier done when Matthew is out with the girls. Just such a small space and he hates packing as well.
I have been designing new floor plans for the house and trying to get that all done, next step after that is to get some proper plans drawn up for the city for our building permits, we just have to decide and keep to our decisions on where in the house to start and what will be the most important to both of us to do. Love doing the plans on the computer for the house and decorating it that way. Anyhow I have to go now and help Matt. Have a great day from your gay neighbor.

Busy Week and another ahead

Well it has been a really busy couple weeks and many more to come! We now have one more week in the apartment and the to the hotel for 3 days and then into the new house. All week has been spent running around and making sure all is in place for the big move, booking the elevator, confirming movers, filling out insurance forms, and packing. Then the everyday stuff like walking the dogs , tending to the cats and appointments and of course stopping off at the local bar patio for a drink in the heat wave we had this week.
Next Friday we go and sign all the papers on the house and then a week from Monday it is all ours. We have both been drawing up plans for the reno and getting ready, still have to go and buy the appliances that we need and make sure it is a one time purchase so also need to get the ones we really want and totally agree on. We need to find a security system, and get that in place, also install cameras and this will help to lower our insurance.
We are also sourcing a plumber, electrician and other trades for estimates on the work that we need to do, we have decided to put up a new fence as soon as possible and work a bit on the landscape as well when the weather is really good. I am sure we will get all of this done and finished in a timely manner and once we do it will look great, can't wait to show pictures.
Today was my doctors appointment again and they have set up more specialist appointment for me so they can work on figuring what is causing the Horners Syndrome and then treat it appropriately so I can get off the Tylenol 3 and hopefully get rid of all the headaches.They are arranging an appointment for a lung specialist and I will hear from him soon.I am just hoping all this gets settled soon and I can just live without a headache for a day, or chest problems and shortness of breathe. Anyhow I take it day by day and soon it will be over and I am sure all will be fine.
So I have to say the weather this week was amazing and it was great in the mid twenties here all week and so great to be running around in a t-shirt. Thursday Matt was out in shorts and we went to the Firken and had a drink and some lunch on the patio. Hoping the weather sticks and we have a great summer. Great news for all the Village rainbow haters here in Toronto, Andi and her three sons are finally broke and apparently bankrupt. Maybe now we can get something nice on that corner with great food and decent service. I only say this because I actually use to work for her and have never been treated so badly by anyone in my life, so it is true that what goes around comes around. Karma my dear, you and your sons finally got yours.
Can't wait to see what goes in there next, who knows maybe we will open a nice little pub of our own. You never know what the future will be and what will go on the best corner of Church Street. Anyhow I hope you all have a great weekend. Talk to you soon, your gay neighbors.

Packing, Packing and more Packing

I have realized that I have a lot of stuff, glasses galore and bowls and dishes like you would not believe. I have now gone through and packed most of it up, and now just a few more things left to pack up. The balcony is fairly full of containers and boxes and the movers are all booked to pick everything up on the 31st and then to deliver it all on April 3rd. Matt and I and the kids are staying in a hotel for 2 nights and not totally looking forward to it. On the second we will have to sleep on the floor at the house. Wish us luck with the move.
We have also been looking at different options for TV and internet and thinking of cancelling our home phone and just using the cell phones which I think is a better idea. We found a really cool idea for HDTV and it is an antenna and says it receives up to 69 HD channels which I do believe would be great and it is only a one time purchase of an antenna for about 20 dollars, which will save us a whopping 75 dollars per month. Enough to plan a trip every year if we took that money and put it away. Also with cancelling home phone we will save another 29 to 40 dollars a month. It truly all adds up and a lot, crazy how much these companies can charge you for this crap.  Internet is expensive enough!
Matt has been hard at work on line doing kitchen plans and looking at appliances for our new home and the ideal set up of our cabinets and storage for the kitchen. So far what he has come up with is gorgeous and I am sure we  can do this within a budget again, we have before. Just takes some smart shopping and a lot of luck.
The dogs and cats know something is up as all of our stuff is now in boxes. Sparky has been enjoying playing amongst all the boxes and containers on the balcony. Lots of hiding places and sleeping on the empty suitcases, well empty for now. Matthew is making a shopping list right now so I guess we are heading out to get groceries soon and pick up some cleaning supplies and food for the week. After all it is Friday. Have a great weekend and your gay neighbor will be back soon.

TGIT

Yes, thank god it is Tuesday! Last night was a fairly sleepless night and both Matthew and I were awake until after 5am. Not a great sleep and then up when the dogs woke me at 10:30am, yuck. We spent the day on the phone yesterday and let me tell you it is a good thing we have three phones because we used all of them all day, phoning movers, storage inquiries for three days, lawyers about the house and back and forth between the selling agent and our agent to try and change the closing date by one day. then also on the phone with Matt's parents and the current tenants in our new house. My god, what a day from hell. The movers are now arranged and things are falling into place, We got storage for the three days and all of our stuff from Vancouver and here in the apartment will all arrive to the house on April 3rd. Now to figure out a hotel and rent a car for those three days so we can move the tvs and the dogs and cats and our clothes that we will need. I am sure everything will work out the way it is suppose to and all will fall into place and we will survive as we always do.
Last night we went out for a drink later in the evening and ran into Derek who is an old customer from WAYLA and a great young man. He use to be roomies with Heather and Noah. Like running into Derek, he has always been nice to me and was talking to us about my replacement at WAYLA. As for WAYLA I have now disassociated myself on facebook with most everyone left on there from my What Are You Looking At Bar days. I just needed to get rid of them because I was no longer getting any contact or any thing positive from anyone there at all. Do not need the negativity in my life that I have now figured out they brought to me. Much happier without them all. As for Paul and him always saying Never forget you, well that would be the biggest lie ever and he is one hell of a good actor. He should get a job acting and quit the bartending because he sure as hell had me fooled in every way.
Well it is time to get back to packing and get things done up and ready for us to get the hell out of here. I will not miss the building and the non working elevators and all the idiots here in the building, although we do have a great Super Enis and fabulous parks here in the area for the girls to go for lovely walks when it is nice out. Also moving this far away from Wayne and also from Church Street will be very different for me here in Toronto at least. I have not ever lived in Toronto and been more than a 10 minute walk to the bar. I am looking so forward to the house though and being in a great neighborhood like the Danforth Village. Well going to get some newspapers and finish packing up the apartment. Have a great day, talk soon and have a great day from your gay neighbors.

19 days and counting

Well we are on the final countdown and only 19 days left till we move out of the apartment and take possession of our new house. I have been packing everyday and getting stuff ready for us to move. Matthew has been phoning around and looking for a new internet plan and checking out insurance prices and all of those things that also have to be done before we take possession of our new home.
We have one more visit to the house before the old people move out and then we can check on a few more things , get some more measurements and check some final things before we move in and talk to them about moving our stuff from the apartment into the garage so we don't have to store it anywhere until we actually move in on the 2nd of April, as we actually have to move out here on the 31st of March. Everything always has a way of working out as we have seen in the past.
I am really starting to get excited about moving and doing renos to the house. We have to dig out the basement by at least 6 to 12 inches and thenn put in plumbing down there for a bathroom and a kitchen. Then we need to do a proper floor plan for the basement and make it into a livable suite for rent. After that we need to move the furnace and water heater and run all new electrical as well and get the house up to date. I am going to try and redo the current hard wood floors and the kitchen cabinets that are in there now and then move them downstairs to the basement suite. Lots of work to do , but when we are done it is going to be gorgeous and all our own. 
Our weekend here was great and we had the most amazing weather. It was 17 above here yesterday and so nice. I spent most of the day on the balcony packing and cleaning and preparing stuff for the big move. We went out for a couple drinks on Friday and Saturday and had a nice visit with our favorite bartender Isac who just got back a week ago from a month of holidays. I was really sick all day Saturday but am feeling a lot better today and getting better everyday I think and am hoping. I hate being sick and can't wait to just be done with all of this, especially the headaches.

A New Week, A New Month

Monday is here, March is here and so far everything is going well for us. Matthew is over his cold and I was fine until yesterday, now I have this horrible head cold and am doing nothing but sneezing a hell of a lot. Yuck! I went on Friday for another appointment at the hospital, I can not wait until all of these are done and over with. I am so tired of the not knowing and not being able to deal with it and have things treated properly. Even if things come back to us and the news is not good, i am a lucky man for I have the support of my husband beside me to get me through what ever I need to get through. i also have my family and some great friends whom I know are always there. I have one or 2 more tests I have to go to in the next little while, part of the trouble here is waiting for the hospital to be able to book them because of cut backs with the government. Not a great scenario for most people , though it is life and I am thinking it happens all over Canada at the moment and it is a hell of a lot better than when I was in BC. At least here I have a doctor that looks into things and investigates instead of prescribing a pill or 2. So far since November I have had a lot of procedures and seen a few specialists. I have had 3 MRIs now, 2 CT scans, 2 Spinal taps, and am still waiting for the cause of what they have now diagnosed as Horners syndrome which is affecting my one eye and causing headaches like no other. Now they have to figure out the cause of the Horners Syndrome and go from there. My eye is getting worse and so are the headaches. I take Tylenol 3 daily now and more than once a day.
Well that is all I know about my health at the moment so now on to better things happening in our lives.
We now have 4 weeks till we move into the new house and we have been doing a lot of investigating as to what we need to renovate the whole thing, we are looking at options for heating and thinking of going more green for our house. We have been looking at radiant heating and more efficient appliances and stuff, plus sound proofing and everything. Wish us a lot of luck. Any ways back to bed for now, I am sick and sore today, have a great day you all from your gay neighbor.

Just a Note

So it is the day after Anti-Bullying Day and I have a thought to share. Having been bullied so much through out my life, even having beer bottles thrown at me and gay bashed twice , teased my entire life by people I knew and didn't, it is not the faces of the people who were attacking me that I remember but the people who stood by and did nothing and allowed the bullying to happen. We need to remember, if we stand by and let others be attacked and do nothing we are as guilty as the attackers themselves!

 

Bitterness Gone

Finally I got it all out and am over my past employer, didn't actually think it would take that long. I must say like no other job I have had in the last 10 years I honestly thought it was an good place to work and people there were true and good, my mistake.
So been doing plans for the house and things we need to buy immediately before we even move in, appliances would be at the top of that list. The appliances currently in the house belong to the tenants that occupy the space presently. So Matt and I need to buy a fridge and stove and washer , dryer as soon as possible. I have been checking out Craigs List for a good deal and possibly a scratch and dent sale somewhere here in the city. Be nice to find everything want in the price range we want.
So what we want is a wall oven or double wall, a french door fridge with a bottom freezer, a six burner stove top in gas with a flat top or broiler in the middle, and a nice dish washer with a stainless steel tub, all in stainless steel of course and then a nice front load washer and dryer, small wish list I know! Now for the rest of the house , well that will all come in time, looking forward to all the work and everything we are going to do with the space.
Anyhow only 31 more days until we move and get the hell out of the apartment, right at the moment , the fire alarms are going off again and man are they ever loud, talk a bout a lovely way to start the day, not! It isn't bad enough the elevators in this building rarely work and the stairwells are littered with garbage, but now I have to listen to the fire alarm for a straight 10 minutes, my god really!!!
Now we are down to 4 elevators only in the building because they are supposedly finally replacing the motors, not that I will ever see that or get to enjoy it at all. This place sucks, if looking for an apartment in Toronto, stay away from the Parliment Wellesley Square buildings. This owner is just a total cheap idiot. just my opinion. A good thing Enis and his wife are here, at least they know how to deal with people and are really nice. Enis a great Super, knows everyone by name and what floor you live on, pretty good for a building with over 500 apartment in it.
You all have a great day, talk soon, love from your gay neighbor!