Kingfisher Cove

I’m Ready For Some Normal

Would we even recognize “normal?” I do realize that what we might look back and perceive was normal, wasn’t necessarily “great,” but I’ll take mundane, content, meh, and not feeling every morning when I wake up (as I have these past 4+ solid years) the dread and foreboding in my gut. While the light at the end of the tunnel of this plague is still a bit dim, at least it’s solidly there and will continue to brighten. And while the republicans continue their insane efforts to upend democracy, I’m ever so relieved that we won’t have to endure the atrocity of trump for a second term. (God. The thought. Shudder.) January 20th just can’t get here fast enough.

And then drilling down to what else “normal” is, I have to say HAVING WORKING EMAIL WOULD FIT THAT BILL. What hell these past weeks have been since I’ve gotten my new laptop and Outlook wouldn’t even open. I felt that I tried everything, and absolutely nothing would make it work. Shortly before Christmas, I was completely up against a brick wall and figured I was going to have to take it in somewhere after the holidays to have it sorted out (which pissed me off because I really shouldn’t have to pay to have it fixed, right?) It has made me exquisitely grumpy. 

But then getting ready for Christmas was suddenly the priority and THEN—it was here! It was truly lovely. I feel so fortunate that the kids were able to come and spend it with us and we had such a great time. It was special! We ate, we drank, we enjoyed the antics of Quinn, we had a ball. Crab for Christmas Eve, tenderloin for Christmas Day. Quinn is still young enough that opening a gift meant he wanted to EXPERIENCE the toy and PLAY with the toy, forgetting that there were other gifts to open. (I’ll bet that changes soon, heh).

(Click to embiggen the panoramic of the Christmas Eve post-gift-opening mess!)

Nate reading Polar Express to Quinn.

Above: Quinn with his Polar Express bell. He carried it with him everywhere! (Thankfully it had a very pleasant tone to its ring!)

Crab! (Didn’t get a photo of Christmas Day’s tenderloin, which was delectable!)

And then, below, we set out cookies and milk for Santa:

Ahhh, it was wonderful! All of it! We watched Polar Express (I hadn’t seen it before and it was so good!), and we also watched Soul, a new film out on Netflix (I think?) and it was excellent, too.

OK, so it’s taken a few days to recover! I think tomorrow (er, today…) I will start putting away the gifts and then on New Year’s Day I’ll start taking down Christmas. (Didn’t I just put it all up?) I’ve been escaping into books, I suppose mostly because I’ve been so frustrated with my computer issues reading makes for excellent avoidance.

This afternoon John was napping and I once again attacked Outlook, trying to figure out what was wrong. I started out doing a “chat” with some guy in India via Best Buy’s Geek Squad and I painstakingly laid out the 8 steps I’d taken that led up to Outlook not opening. The guy asked me a few questions and then suddenly: THE AGENT HAS ENDED THE CHAT SESSION. He ghosted me! He hadn’t offered a whit of advice! I sat and stared at my screen and blinked a few times and then thought, “But of course!”

So then I hunkered down and got busy on my own. I checked out online forums, I experimented with “under the hood” tweaks and settings, I compared my settings and file locations with the settings and file locations on my old computer. I finally got to the point where Outlook actually opened (I was so excited!), but I couldn’t send or receive email. For two hours I messed with MORE settings and MORE forums and MORE tweaks and comparisons and I was so incredibly frustrated, I was near tears. I wanted to throw something! And then I noticed one tiny difference between a setup screen on the new computer compared to the old one and I made that change and voilà! IT WORKED!!! I sat there and watched as over 500 emails from the past 2 weeks downloaded to my computer and populated my inbox. (The vast majority were junk, of course). I am so happy! I did it! And no, I honestly couldn’t explain to anybody step-by-step what I did. Much of it was a stab in the dark.

I’m just so thankful to have that aspect of normal back again! 

Hello, New Computer (grrrrr…)

I procrastinated for quite some time before pulling the plug and ordering myself a new laptop, for good reason. The waiting for the file download from the cloud backup took ten days. And now, I’m dealing with multiple applications/programs that (of course) didn’t transfer over so there’s licensing and passwords and key codes and I’m exhausted. There are likely some programs that I won’t be able to use again, unless I spend HUGE bucks for newer versions. (Have you PRICED Photoshop? Uhm, no). I thought the “new” Facebook was uber-frustrating—but THIS makes stupid new FB pretty much a nothing-burger. I am somewhat computer savvy (or at least “user savvy”), and I can’t imagine how somebody without some understanding of this crap would be able to manage all of this. What is especially infuriating is that I can’t get Outlook to work—I keep getting an error message that it can’t load because of some corrupt data file. I’ve tried “repair” kits, reinstalling, everything I can think of, plus I’ve taken advice from people online and nothing works. So, I can’t send or receive email. I’M SO EFFING MAD. 

At least I was able to reinstall Open Live Writer (where I compose these blog posts), and I’m thankful for that. I know of others who have had issues, and I was really hoping that wouldn’t be the case. Alas, relief! Also, it’s awfully nice to not have to pound my “K” key, even though I keep doing that! I’m sure I’ll unlearn it soon.

It seems like all of a sudden, things aren’t working! Besides Outlook, the can opener broke, the ice maker broke, the internet has been so slow lately that it’s close to unusable at times, and I’m just about out of scotch tape! Oh, and then there’s those lights out at the top part of our Christmas tree. Sigh.

In the meantime, between fretting about all of this, I’ve been wrapping presents and planning food items. I figured I’d start doing some cooking today (quiche for Christmas breakfast, plus some banana nut bread), BUT, I oughtn’t make the quiche this far in advance unless I plan to freeze it, which I don’t; AND the bananas haven’t ripened enough yet. I guess I’ll be cramming a bunch of stuff within these next upcoming days, including cleaning. Lots of mess from wrapping, and the kitchen is NOT sparkly. (And then there’s the floors…)

I’m excited to see the kids, but I am feeling some guilt because I know of so many people who aren’t going to be able to get together with extended family. It’s Covid Soup just about everywhere, and while the vaccines are now starting to be distributed and administered, it’ll be a long while before the general population gets our turn. No, we won’t be wearing masks in the house and we certainly won’t be spending time outside in this firehose drenching weather. But otherwise, we’ve all been sensible, leading up to this. And it’ll just be five of us. I hope it’s enough.

The Mad King Wannabe in the White House continues to attempt sedition, insurrection, chaos, and a coup to try to get his presidency back. Maybe it’s because so many of the characters involved—trump himself, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Michael Flynn—are such cartoon-level villains that we all wonder if we should really take it all seriously. But it’s disturbing, and becoming ever more so. Unprecedented. There is nothing more of an antithesis of what “American” means and stands for than what these boneheads are doing. Martial law? Seize the voting machines in those swing states and have an election “do-over?” I am so sick of the insanity.

In the meantime, we have just 30 days to go before Biden-Harris are sworn in! It’s gonna be a very long 30 days.

Updated to add THIS! You're welcome! 

 

Blasting Toward Christmas

So, it’s been what—a week since my last post? This is where my new laptop is with the file download from my cloud backup:

Ugh. Slow going. And I’m very weary of pounding the g**d** “K” key on my old computer. The rate it’s going, it’ll probably be another two days before it’s done. Maybe three. (I am thankful, though, that my old laptop isn’t DEAD or unusable. So there’s that).

I decked the halls a little bit. There are actually a few more things I need to find in storage, but overall it’s gently festive. It’s so 2020 that my pre-lit tree has a dead spot of lights at the top for the first time in years and it couldn’t be remedied. So, I had John place several white ornaments up there to try to brighten it up. It still looks weird, but hey. 2020.

And the Santas!

And the little “zen” area. This feels calming to me.

Probably the most important item I need to unearth is Quinn’s stocking! Because…YES! They are coming! We’re on! (I’m so happy!) I have much to do between now and then—wrapping gifts, cleaning, plan meals, grocery shopping, make banana nut bread (probably the only baking I’ll do). Seems daunting at the moment, but it’ll get done. It always does. (I did have a moment of panic when I realized that Christmas Eve is only a week from tomorrow!) The kids will be here for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I ordered a tenderloin roast from Butcher Box for Christmas dinner. (Yikes! But I do have a fool-proof method of cooking it). I’m still thinking of what to do for Christmas Eve. I’m favoring Dungeness crab again! I’m so glad we’ll get to watch Christmas through Quinn’s eyes! (We’ll hold out presents for him for Christmas morning from “Santa.”)

THIS is another possibility for Christmas Eve—Texas Chili. Boy is there a story about that! Long ago I’d obtained the recipe for beanless, authentic Texas Chili from an architect who worked in the office next door to a small engineering firm where I worked. He and I became good buddies, and he was from Lubbock, Texas. He was always giving me recipes (and I got the impression he was quite a cook), and I was excited when he gave me this one because while I like the flavor of chili, I do not like beans. (Unless they’re green). Nate’s dad cooked it up a few times, I’m thinking for Christmas Eves and other semi-special occasions, and it was sooooooo goooooood. I actually never prepared it myself! When Nate was 14 and his dad and I had been divorced for many years, his dad asked for the recipe. I remember that I dug it out and gave it to Nate who then typed it into an email to his dad. And that was the last time I ever saw the recipe! Either I didn’t get it returned to me, or I misplaced it when it was, but I have looked everywhere for the past 20 years and could not find it. Nor could I find a recipe like it online or in any cookbooks. Nate has asked me about the recipe now and then over the years since then and I’ve actually gone back to my recipe file and searched again (several times), and it’s el-gone-o. Nada. A couple of days ago Nate texted the question again, “Did you ever find that Texas Chili recipe?” and again I replied, “I haven’t had it for 20 years.” I suggested he ask his dad for it. (And then share it with me!) I’m not sure what transpired after that, but a couple of hours later I received a text from Nate with a .jpg “picture” of the email he had sent to his dad when he was 14—in 2000. (We have since chuckled at his poor spelling back then…) We now BOTH have the recipe! And I thought I would share it with you. It takes a bit of planning because you refrigerate it after you’ve cooked to heat up the following day to meld those flavors! (Did we do that? I can’t remember! Probably?) Anyway, here it is:

Authentic Texas Chili

3-1/2 lbs. chuck steak or stewing meat, cut into cubes
5 T. oil, divided
2 C. coarse cut onion [not sure what that means—chunks?)
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. chili powder
1-1/2 tsp. oregano
1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1-2 tsp. crushed red peppers (to taste)
2 C. beef broth
1 can (13 oz.) whole tomatoes
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 tsp. sugar
1 T. garlic salt
1-1/2 T. corn meal

Pat meat dry with paper towels.

Heat 3 T. oil over medium-high heat in large pot. Add meat. Sear, turning frequently with large spoon until lightly browned, 3-4 minutes. Transfer meat to bowl.

Add 2 T. oil to pot and sauté onions and garlic until onions are limp but not brown.

Stir in chili powder, oregano, cumin, and red pepper. Mix well until onions are coated.

Add beef broth, can of tomatoes (including juice), tomato paste, garlic salt, and sugar. Mix well. Break up tomatoes with back of spoon.

Add meat back to pot, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Uncover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Cool, cover in refrigerator overnight. To serve, bring slowly to boil uncovered. Thicken with corn meal.

I’m thinking this could be modified for the Instant Pot, which I may try, but I think the first time I make it, I’ll go by this recipe. I’m so excited!

Decembering

Doing some Christmas decorating. The tree is up (not yet decorated as we troubleshoot a swath of malfunctioning lights, ugh), and the Santa collection is out. I plan to set out a few other favorite things, but I won’t go whole-hog this year. In fact, I figured I wouldn’t be decorating at all, assuming that we wouldn’t be able to see the kids (like Thanksgiving). The way things stand right now, we ARE planning on getting together, just the five of us. So far, the Navy is OK about in-state travel with small groups (and 5 people is pretty small). I just hope the Navy sticks with that. I fear, especially with skyrocketing cases statewide, that they’ll put the kibosh on it. Even though our sparsely populated county now has a lot of cases (relatively speaking), we only have TWO hospitalizations. And I’m viewing that as the go-by. I believe we will be A-OK—we have all been careful and sensible—but I do have a sense of dread churning in my gut that this may not come to be.

Britain has begun their vaccinations. Here we go! (Of course, with effing trump declining to order additional vaccine supplies last summer and other countries therefore snatching them up, we’ll be majorly lagging…) But it will be interesting to observe how things go with the Brits, seeing if the priority of vaccinating their nursing homes/aging folks seriously puts a halt to that deadly trend. Also, today was the 2nd day in a row that over 3,000 people died from the virus. Not a single word from the vile asshat-in-chief, except we learned that Rudy G. got the trump medical treatment for his case of Covid.

“In autocracies, the friends and family of the dictator often get the best medical care.” -Michael Beschloss

It’s a done deal. Biden won. He’s filling out his Cabinet. His top-shelf Covid team members are going public with their strategy. The electorates have certified the votes. And yet said asshat is still claiming he won. He is pathetic. He is embarrassing. He is traitorous. Judges continue to laugh the idiot (and his clown car legal team) out of court. It’s a persistent farce to over-throw a fair and secure election, with republicans all on board, inciting violence.

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I am now the proud owner of a brand spanking new laptop! I’ve had it with my uber-sticky “K” key (that I have to POUND every damned time) and it’s also been difficult and scary to not be able to wake it from “sleep” on frequent occasions. For a few years now, I’ve had a subscription with “Carbonite” which automatically and constantly backs up my computer to the cloud. Now, it’s simple to download all my files from that cloud to my new computer, although it is slow-going. I suspect it will take several DAYS. (I’m not sure WHY it has to take that long…) In the meantime I can still use my old laptop, albeit pounding the “K” key. I got me a Dell Inspiron, with a 17” screen. It’s a pretty hefty machine!

Here (below) you can see I have a l-o-n-g way to go. (And it’s been running for about 18 hours).

And hey! Just looked (many hours later) and it’s up to a whopping 10%!

Woohoo!

More to come when I’ve taken some pictures.