a day of labor

Well, you know how Tim the Toolman always manages to run into all sorts of inconveniences with any home improvement project he takes on? Now meet Bob the Builder! Bob is really pretty good at the many varied repair and fixit jobs that go along with keeping a roof over our heads. But what started out as a simple little paint job turned into a whole different beast! You see, our 2 exterior doors needed repainting, they have been looking like this for about 20 years--

Not so bad, but needing a fresh coat of paint in some up-to-date colors. So we picked out some paint in colors we liked but it turned out to be the wrong paint for this purpose so had to take 2 steps back and start over again. The screen door is painted and things are going along pretty well until Sunday afternoon. In order to hopefully save himself some putzy taping and detail painting on the window section of the back door, Bob removed the inside and outside window framing. Not realizing that nothing else was holding the window glass in place. Window glass falls out and breaks into many, many pieces. Woops. Back to the hardware store to find out that this size of window is not a stock item but could be ordered. Bought a new door (without any glass!) and we manage to install that without any more serious mishaps. Still needs to be painted!

Here's Bob in action, working on that lovely new door into our garage.

I'm all in favor of the new door without the window, but now that corner of the garage is really dark. Do you think he would mind installing a new light?!

Amidst the fun of home repair projects, I also got 2 coats of primer in the closet and most of the previous artistic paint job is masked. I would sure like to know where Brita and Beth are when it comes time to have some more fun with painting that closet! I think that 2 more coats of regular paint should take care of it.

We also did a little cooking during our long weekend, and I want to share a simple little dipping oil with you. This is my own concoction, but it is derived from a package of dry seasoning we once had, which was mixed with olive oil. That product has been discontinued, but I decided to try to recreate it. Here's what I use:

1 scant teaspoon of McCormick Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper Seasoning Blend

1/2 teaspoon of dry Italian salad dressing mix

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons water

Mix together and let it stand for at least 5 minutes before eating with sliced italian bread. We just make this small batch because it's enough for the 2 of us. Give it a try!