Last night was faintly productive.
lio came over to look at the porch and decided that it wasn't fatal, so he's gonna be doing the prime carpentry work while I pick up the slack in the remaining masonry and shill work that needs to be done. Still haven't heard from the roofer guy. I think it may be time to go back and re-bid, since I'm a little concerned that he's not even returning phone calls.
Also managed to get a load of dish-laundry done, cleaned a part of the kitchen, and cooked a sort of fajita substitute (grilled chicken, peppers, onions, olives, jalapenos, and a mix of teriyaki and hot taco sauce with olive oil). The onions caramelized beautifully, the jalapenos disappeared into the sauce, and everything else maintained its shape. I added the sliced bell peppers late so they wouldn't lose their color, and I took a few minutes to strain and reduce the sauce (while I was cleaning the kitchen). The chicken is a little dry: I probably shouldn't have added it as early as I did since it was already cooked, but otherwise it's damnfinetasty.
Yeah, I used prepared sauces from the bottle. I know some of y'all food snobs frown on that, like using pre-minced garlic instead of fresh cloves, but we're talking something that only I am gonna eat, and it was more something that I could leave cook unattended with minimal preparation. Think of it as a much healthier alternative to grabbing a TV dinner from the convenience store.