Last weekend's home improvement project

Last month's gas bill was a big shock. It had jumped from $100 to $278. I know we had some cold spells, but that was about all I could take. I had already bought a fireplace insert a few weeks ago, but had not found the time to install it. After that bill came, I suddenly had plenty of time to install it. A fireplace insert is basically a large cast iron box that go into your existing fireplace. It has it's own metal chimney pipe that simply goes up the inside of the existing chimney. The fireplace insert has a door that seals and also a fan that turns on and blows the heat created from the fire in the insert out into the room. I bought this one from a guy in Atascadero. I sanded it down and re-painted it. Also polished the metal door. We fired it up and man the family room is nice and warm now. Hopefully our gas bill won't be so high next month!!