Trying to get myself talked down a bit so anxiety doesn't keep me awake tonight. This home renovation stuff is really causing a lot of household stress, and that's the calmer one of the two of us saying that.

I haven't had the energy to write down the full Saga So Far here but suffice to say that it is mid-September and none of the real work has begun, and I once hoped, naively, that the whole thing could be finished by the end of August.

Tomorrow the electrician is coming to pull obsolete knob-and-tube wiring out of the attic and replace it with wiring from this century. When is he coming? We don't know. Are we even sure he's coming? Not really. Do we know if he's finally coordinated with the HVAC guy, since for this project they both need an absolutely clear idea of what the other one wants and needs, and so far there has been a profound lack of communication? Your guess is as good as mine.

On Saturday we did a little bit of circuit mapping and determined that he won't be able to turn off the things he needs to turn off without also turning off the office outlets. Which means no router. NO INTERNET. We both work at home and we both need that connection to do our job. So tomorrow might be cancelled. Will it be cancelled some of the day? Will it be cancelled all of the day? Will he show up, do the job in an hour, and ride off into the sunset, or will it be the kind of aggravation where at the end of the day he comes down from the attic covered in black dust and sweat and says there's no way he can finish today? No idea.

And, less importantly, but more annoyingly, is he going to get here in the morning at a time which is going to mess with my usual morning routine? (SIGNS POINT TO YES.) Am I going to possibly have to take a shower in the dark because he's already cut the upstairs lighting circuit? Very possibly. Should I be finding a way to get up at the crack of dawn to avoid this, while at the same time trying not to step on the toes of my spouse, who already gets up at the crack of dawn? Yes, but I'm not going to do it.

Of course, it might be moot, because I might have so much anxiety about all this that I don't sleep and then just resignedly drag my ass out of bed at seven anyway. That happened last week. It will probably happen again as this project continues. Several more times.