Electricity doesn't have to be scary if you know what you're doing. If power is knocked out because of a storm, remember to turn off the electric stove and sit tight. A more common occurrence is circuit overload, the result of too many appliances running at the same time in one area of the house. For this you'll need to run a check on the affected zone. Step-by-step instructions for this and other home fixes are included in Lyn Herrick's The Woman's Hands-On Home Repair Guide (Storey Books, $18, www.amazon.com. The first thing she'll tell you to do is to get to know your circuit breaker or fuse box, and which switches control which areas of the house. If you label them now, you'll save yourself a lot of fumbling in the dark later.