Went to the house as usual this morning. Spoke to Mick the foreman as usual. Mick's a lovely guy, big old lumbering bear with terrible front teeth; I think I've quite won him over with my breezy "hello"s and cheery "can do"s. But I fear that as a tiny child he was not a frequent player of the memory pairs game. Twice now he has asked about the configuration of the tiles in the bathroom, and twice have we clearly explained our wish. Today he asked if we want a third radiator in the living room, because Dom the plumber told him - the first time ten days ago, the second time today - that the two we have aren't sufficient to heat the room. And four times - the first time verbally over two weeks ago, the second verbally last week, the third and fourth in fully typed black and white - we have answered in the affirmative when he's asked "so you're avin wardrobes in the bedroom then are you?" in that airy voice that builders put on when they clearly do not understand why on earth you would want to do something as strange as to require clothes storage.

I came away from the house feeling decidedly less breezy and promptly wrote a REALLY good email to the architect and head builder. If you have ever written a REALLY good email you'll know what I mean - every word was perfectly chosen; action points for the architect were in red and bold; the whole thing was subdivided by category and numbered in order of priority. When I worked at the BBC I'd write one of those emails every couple of months, and for weeks afterwards unfamiliar Radio 4 producers would stop and press coins into my palm in the bustling corridors of Broadcasting House. That's how good those emails were.

Anyway, today was the first day I felt any kind of concern that the house might not actually be habitable by the time we move in in twelve days' time. To be fair to him, Antony "I think ahead" Cook has been having sleepless nights about this for several weeks now, while I'm only just cottoning on. Perhaps our doubts will be unfounded, but the state of the house today can be summed up by the fact our only bathroom consists of a solitary, rather sad looking shower tray plonked on the floorboards. Nothing is finished. Cables hang lazily and without apparent purpose from holes in the ceiling, floorboards grin gap-toothed. It's hard to imagine that anything like a habitable home can be achieved in only seven working days. But the removal van's booked for the 6th, and I'm thinking of keeping the tent and sleeping bags somewhere safe, just in case.

A Cat-5 Cabling learning curve

Three weeks in, three weeks to go, and the house renovation project continues.

Today I had a crash course in home hi-fi, because the electrician's already started rewiring the building but we hadn't even started thinking about installing AV cables for an as-yet-fictitious home network, which, if we do it now, will be a lot less hassle and cost than if we wait even just a few weeks. Cue panicked calls to local hi-fi shops early yesterday morning, coupled with several frustrating explanations to salesmen of why I want wired, not wireless, yes I do understand that everyone else has wireless, no I'm not a strange noughties throwback crazylady, I've done my research and I know what I want, thank you v much. (Maybe more on my anti-wi-fi stance in another post).

So Fred and I duly met Andrew (slightly patronising but knowledgeable chap from hi-fi shop, with the smell of fresh cash in his nostrils) and Tony (cheeky chappie electrician prone to the overuse of the phrase "at the end of the day") at the house this morning to talk cat-5s, coaxials, star-wiring - as opposed to daisy-chaining - and 35mm back boxes. And I'm happy to report that I held my own. I didn't let them blind me with science, I asked good questions, and I pointed out that the west wall of the master bedroom was a far better speaker location than the north wall. See, I *knew* my borderline pass in a Sound Technology and Recording module circa 1995 would come in useful one day. Though Professor Sackman might disagree.

So all we're doing at this stage is to feed our cat-5 speaker cables behind some of the walls from the place in the kitchen where the hub will be, to the points in the walls where the speakers will be. This is costing about £100 plus labour. When we can afford it, probably many moons after we actually move in, the next stage will be choosing the AV equipment that will then be hooked up at either end of said cables. Muuuuch less hassle than trying to feed cables in behind beautifully decorated and finished walls.

It's a minor achievement in the grand scheme of a project that could possibly see us homeless in a month, but I'm congratulating myself because it signifies a bigger breakthrough - my ability to not procrastinate and to get things done. I actually felt a bit like a project manager today. Although the house is still very much a building site, we're a step or two closer to having it just the way we want it. And when we move in (three weeks today, eek) I'll be proud to look at those cat-5s sticking out of the walls, say "Bloody glad we didn't go for cat-6s." and know what on earth I'm talking about.

First time's a charm

Right. After years of procrastination I'm starting my blog. I don't know what it'll be about. House renovation stuff, music stuff, some posts about things I'm making or doing. Parenting, and friends. and self-doubt and dithering and changing my mind. and apocalyptic dreams. Maybe a few references to How I Met Your Mother. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, follow me for something to read if you're sick of staring at a spreadsheet or spending hours getting your child to sleep or - heck! even if you just know me and like me.