Shot in the Arm

Well yes, I did get the COVID vaccine. We finally got the Walgreen’s website to let the spousal unit in and he got his shots, too. In theory we’re going to celebrate G’s birthday this week by going out to a dine-in restaurant, for the first time in nearly two years.

But yesterday’s shot in the arm was getting other stuff done at the house. Specifically, we tackled organizing our pantry.

The empty space on the next-to-the-bottom shelf of that pantry is waiting for the new spice rack (left). As part of the organization process, I went through my spice collection and threw out everything that was expired – roughly 75% of it, in other words. Some will definitely need to be replenished before long, because I use them frequently. Some were duplicates/triplicates. Others – eh, I’ll get them if/when I need them. The fact I had so many multiples tells you why the spice rack was so badly needed.

During the Great Pantry Makeover(TM), I discovered I’m out of a few basics, and need to make a note to buy them on the next grocery run. I’d planned to make garlic-ginger chicken this week except… there is no ginger.

(I’ll skip the Doctor Who joke here about still not ginger, because I suspect my few remaining readers wouldn’t get it anyway.)

A few of the spices expired circa 2017. (Oops.)  I started moving what wasn’t expired to the spice rack, and ordered new labels from Amazon. Pre-labeled spice racks like this one include stuff I never use, but never include a few things I can’t do without. (You’re seeing right. A few of the jars were full when we bought this. They were emptied into the garbage and everything was sterilized before I put anything into it that we’d be consuming. I might be crazy but I’m not that crazy.)

We tossed several things out during the pantry cleanout and will be donating a few items that are unexpired but we’ll never use.

Tell me this isn’t only at my house:

My spousal unit goes through spells where he absolutely loves something – then doesn’t want it ever again. He’ll expressly request it every other week – then, Nope, don’t like that. I don’t repeat meals often, either, so it’s not that he’s tired of it. He just decides he doesn’t want it any more, and that’s that. Eh – luckily it isn’t a lot of foods and it’s not an everyday thing. Still annoying, because he usually tells me as I’m unloading the groceries, which includes a purchase of the thing told me to get then says he doesn’t like any more.

---

The b&w photo at the top of the page (yes, it’s mine, Dangerspouse) was taken on one of my precious vacation days. I have more time available, and would dearly love to take it, BUTTTTT….

I’m saving up paid time off. My older son’s getting married, theoretically before the end of the 2021. His move to the Midwest four years ago was a good one for him, even though he unfortunately parted ways a couple of years ago with his wife of over 20 years. I’m glad to report he’s genuinely happy with how things turned out, just sorry it went down the way it did. He’s turned his life around in all the best ways, including three new furbabies, a new fiancé, and buying a new home, not necessarily in that order. His oldest son lives with him and the youngest visits regularly.

The tentative plan is for the spousal unit and I to drive to Des Moines for his wedding, if we can. The wedding date is still to be determined, for example. I’m not driving to snow country in January or February, but not opposed to going in October or November, depending on which next chapter of the Apocalypse unfurls between now and then.

It would be wonderful not to spend a week driving, and both G and I like to fly. But between the airlines’ abysmal record of destroying passenger wheelchairs and a few other issues (health concerns, furbaby accommodations, etc), flying isn’t doable for us.

We discussed Amtrack. We crossed it off the list, too, for a lot of the same reasons.

So, it’s drive or stay home. Crossing my fingers we can do the cross-country drive.

---

The next project at the house – hopefully to begin this week – is to finally unpack the boxes still stacked in the bedroom. We moved in October, y’all, and yes, there are still boxes unopened and sitting in our bedroom, shoved against the wall. I’m over it. There have been several system changes at work which have changed how my job works, which means some days I may have some spare time between my core projects, and I’ve earmarked that time to for the unboxing.

It’s too miserably hot for G to work outdoors this time of year, so this stuff makes him feel like he’s accomplishing something. I kept hoping he’d also do some of the honey-do list too, but guess that’s too much to ask. Some of the projects I’d do myself if I could. Unfortunately his M.O. is to put stuff away he doesn’t want to do – and I have no clue where he stashes it.

---

See this 15-inch laptop (at right)? It’s one we bought at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago – for $5.

We took a chance because it was immaculate, and everything else we bought there worked perfectly. The price tag was still on the back, with a date in 2016 – making it 5 years old. Besides, it cost us five dollahs. We could part it out and make more than that.

We did splash out $14.99 for a no-name power cord, which was missing. The computer booted up – requiring a password we didn’t have.

Now you know me. I don’t give up that easily. I found a way to restore it back to factory specs without having to login, and voilá! Brand-spanking-new-five-year-old computer!

I was hoping for Win 10, which it wasn’t. It was Win 8, though, and after 146 upgrades it let me upgrade to Win 10, so the end result was the same. I wish I’d taken a screen shot. It was 146 updates. Not 145, nor 147. Nay, not 140, but 146 was the number of updates required.

Once we saw it was functional, we also ordered a battery from eBay, since the battery was well and truly dead. So for less than $35, we’ve got an operable laptop.

It’s not going to be a gaming rig, but it’s good enough to putter around online as a backup machine.

We were hoping to replace the HDD with an SSD, since we already had a small one. (For those not computer literate, an SSD makes the machine work much, much faster.) Alas, it looks like the SSD we had on hand is a dud. We’ve tried it with two computers now, both to the computer equivalent of a giant raspberry.

I can’t justify dropping another $50-75 to buy another SSD which may or may not work, but this is only a backup machine, so still happy to have it.

Sooner or later there’s gonna be a kid who needs a computer, even if only to watch YouTube.