When life gets too complicated, you need something simple.

I gave in and cast on for the yet-another-multidirectional-diagonal-scarf out of the Patons "Mosaic."

This is actually a rather nice yarn, if you aren't vehemently opposed to all-synthetics, and if you don't mind having the odd little spongy flags coming off it. I'm not sure I'd want a sweater of the stuff, but it should make a nice scarf.

still no word from the electrician. One of my colleagues suggested that it sounded like he had gone hunting. (One cardinal rule when you live in a mostly rural, high-hunting area: don't plan on getting anyone to do anything on the weekends (plus or minus two days).

I'm trying to see bright spots in this: perhaps the cold in my house will jack my metabolism up a few points, so I burn slightly more calories than a piece of floor tile does. And my gas bill will be lower this month than it would be. And I'm getting to wear my Sideshow Bob sweater (the hoody made of "Circus" in the color called "Sideshow") around the house.

Still, I wonder: how did the early pioneers in places like Minnesota and the Dakotas manage to make it through a winter without putting a bullet through their skulls? I mean, I'm managing in a house that's a good 20 to 30 degrees warmer than what they had, and I'm cold all the time, I hurt all over from my muscles contracting, I'm sort of depressed, it took a major act of will to want to take a shower and wash my hair yesterday, I don't have the energy to cook very much or clean very much, all I want to do is huddle in front of my space heater. How did they manage, living in rooms where "a bottle of ink might freeze," as the Little House on the Prairie Cookbook says about the Ingallses during the Long Winter.

I'm sorry to be so whiny about this, but it seems like the dung is hitting the fan from all angles - I've got other, work-related stuff I'm worrying about, and other, personal-related stuff too. It would be nice to just come home to a warm snug house for a change.