After three months of… Let’s be generous and call it “planning,” rather than the more accurate “completely ignorant bungling” – anyway, after three or four months, today we actually started breaking ground (or, in our case, carpet) on the new fireplace project.

This is a day fraught with much anxiety for me, since I did all the research and design. I started from a place of complete and total ignorance, and did the entire thing based on advice from architect friends, City of Bothell code requirements, and the fireplace installation manual. On paper, it looks like it might be decent, and once we got the permit, I stopped worrying about it.

Going over the numbers today with Jim, who’s doing the framing, made me horribly anxious all over again: He always asks me questions that I don’t know the answer to, and if I don’t know now, I’m in real trouble. Thus far I did have answers, but in giving them I lost all confidence in my research and design, and then lost even more confidence (if that possible) in my ability to communicate that design correctly. But it’s going forward now, as the banging and air compressor sounds attest, so we’re fairly committed.

I keep reminding myself: There are two kinds of things you don’t need to worry about: things you can control, and things you can’t. But what about things you did wrong, but don’t know about?! Anyway, I also keep reminding myself that it’s not life and death here; at worst it’s a lot of extra money. Not ideal, but nobody’s going to die because I designed wrong.

Hmm, saying all that may give some insight into why I only slept three hours last night, after tossing and turning for five hours. I didn’t feel anxious, but I bet I was.

Edit to add: Day 1 is a wrap. Now we wait until Monday for the fireplace to be installed.