The Best Laid Plans...

This past weekend ended up being an exercise in futility. The plan was to buy new pavers for the front steps and boards for the board and batten wainscoting on Saturday, install the pavers, and get the boards planed down to size. Then on Sunday we'd prime and paint the boards and get the chair rail installed.

Did.Not.Happen. When we got back from buying the stones and boards, Tom pulled out the old stones, leveled that area of the sidewalk and put the new pavers in. It was then that we realized we didn't like them. So we rearranged them. Still not good. We tried a combination of the new ones and the old ones. No go. So we went back to the store to return the pavers and look for something else. We couldn't find anything else we liked so we went home defeated, with the plan to try some stone and landscaping retailers next weekend.

But what to do with the front steps that were now torn apart? We put the old stones back into place - and stole two from the garden retaining wall to replace the ones that were damaged over the winter. We're planning on removing that garden and planting something else anyway.

With the sidewalk leveled it made a huge difference. I can't believe how much better the steps look just with that little change. It's still not where we want to end up, but for now at least it's not a hazard. Though it's sad that we spent an entire day just to end up back where we started.

And it doesn't look as bad as it did last weekend...

Or the weekend before...

On the bright side, we did pick up some trees to plant along the side of the porch. The neighbours' house is so close - there's no privacy at all. Last year we installed the railing to separate us a little bit, and now we're putting in cedar trees to block the view. They're small right now, but eventually they'll provide some privacy - for us and for our neighbours.

And we brought out the hammock, because the weather was awesome. Of course, Little Dog is in love with the hammock and won't let anyone in it by themselves. Even when everyone else has given up, she's still in there swinging away.

Oh, we did get the boards planed, and a couple of coats of primer applied, but that was it. The time just whizzes by too fast and suddenly is 8pm on Sunday night. This week is month-end for me at work so I'm staying late and nothing is going to get done before Thursday. But once Thursday hits -it's game on. There's no time to waste because...we finally have a date for our master bath renovation to start!

Easy Homemade Dinner Rolls

My father-in-law was over for dinner on Sunday, and instead of just whipping up a one-pan stirfry meal that is our usual, I decided to do it up right - bbq pork loin fillets, rice, and a couple of different vegetables (including more fiddleheads!) Fancy. I also wanted to try out some dinner rolls instead of my regular go-to - Irish soda bread (which is awesome by the way, you should try it), so I got to experimenting.

I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to yeast-type breads, so if I can do it, you can do it too. All together it takes about 2 1/2 hours so give yourself plenty of time.

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup oil
1 1/3 cups warm water

Mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Add in the oil and water. Mix well and then knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. If you're using a stand mixer with a pastry hook, let it mix for about 5 minutes. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let it rise until it doubles in size (about an hour).

Lay the dough out on a lightly floured surface again and roll it into a tube shape. Cut the dough into equal-sized pieces (I cut the dough into 15 pieces but you could make them larger or smaller). Roll each piece into a ball and place on a greased cookie sheet. Cover the dough with the tea towel and let rise again for about an hour.

(Note: I'm wondering if this second rise time is necessary. They plumped up even more in the oven so it might not even matter.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

If you want to, brush the top of the rolls with a milk and sugar wash to add some sweetness, or an egg wash (egg and water mixture) to get a shiny crust. I went for the milk and sugar.

Bake the rolls for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned. Let them cool for a minute and then pull them apart.

I don't think I can accurately describe just how good these are. Well, there were only about 6 left over after dinner, so that might say it right there. They were soft and just slightly sweet. Next time I think I'll use a bigger pan so that the rolls aren't as close to each other and there'll be more crust on each one.

Broken-down Bricks

The crazy, cold winter we had did quite a number on our front steps this year. They started to crack around the end of February, and by the time we got back from Texas in April it looked like there'd been a shark attack.

On Sunday, Tom grabbed a couple of the largest pavers they had at Home Depot in the hopes that they would fit. This was just a quick fix until we can decide what we want to do permanently with the front walkway. The cold weather had also heaved the bricks of the sidewalk so it's a bit of a rollercoaster right now and will all have to be redone.

The top bricks are glued to the bottom ones, so he had to chip the broken ones out piece by piece. The bricks just crumbled away, so it was probably time to replace them anyway.

Unfortunately the new bricks were too thick. They were also a bit too short, but that wouldn't have been that much of a problem, we just wanted to reduce the tripping hazard of the missing bits. But with them too high, the chance of tripping is now increased. Especially for me, the clumsiest person on earth (I have an award and everything).

So now we had a big gap in the steps and no way to fill it. Yesterday was a holiday here in Ontario, so all of the stores were closed. I crawled under the back deck looking for spare bricks, but Tom - in a burst of efficiency - had taken them all up to his father's empty lot. Instead we had to use a deck board left over from when we rebuilt the back deck, some plywood, and then a 1 inch thick board to make up the depth.

Classy, isn't it? He screwed it all together so that nothing would shift, and we now have the most redneck front entrance in the neighbourhood. If only we had an old washing machine to put out on the porch. J