As I enter week 3 of self isolation I now see eating as viable form of entertainment as we all drop to the Internet speeds of 1982.
A new router might help those download speeds.
Netflix has put the brakes on their streaming speed. That mean we’re all sitting at home in front of our high tech, flatscreen, smart tvs watching shows that look like they might actually be in the form of a flipbook.
They stop, they start, they herk, they jerk – you finally give up to scroll through Instagram but realize you only have 2 hours before you should go to bed and that definitely isn’t going to be enough time for a photo to load.
So? You eat.
Welcome to the new normal. It’s super fattening.
I have now officially accepted eating as a viable form of entertainment. Cooking too. When this whole situation degenerates to the point that I’m doing laundry on a regular basis you’ll know we’re all doomed.
This week I’m giving you a video recap of basically how my week went.
A brief synopsis; this week I made garlic powder and onion powder – you can learn to grow your own garlic in this post and how to grow onions in this post. I made chocolate chip cookies, went for morning walks, whipped up an absurdly large pot of macaroni and cheese for one person and helped my mother fix her television. I did this over the phone.
Betty’s Samsung Frame tv was suddenly talking to her. It wasn’t closed captioning, it was the voice guide that she accidentally turned on in one of her jabbing at all the buttons fit. This is what she, and many of us do when anything computerized won’t do what we want. Just repeatedly jab at buttons until the device either resolves itself or breaks down entirely in a puff of smoke.
I also talked with people from a reasonable distance. Like my niece who surprised me in a Say Anything kind of way at the side of my house on Friday morning.
What I've Been Doing This Week
6 shockingly easy ways to speed up your Internet connection.
The Internet really is MUCH slower since everyone has been home binge watching Netflix and surfing the Internet for whether you can use a meat thermometer to check your temperature.
There's a few simple tips in this post on how to speed up your Internet a bit. If you have an old router, upgrading that could help you out a lot.
How to Make Homemade Hamburgers!
Tonight I'm BBQing!! Homemade hamburgers. Plus I'm adding cheese so technically a cheeseburger. and I haven't decided on onion rings, regular fries or sweet potato fries. Since download speeds are so slow maybe I'll opt for the MOST entertaining option which is all of them.
How to Darn a Sock in 3 Minutes.
I darned a sock! Like a mennonite! Or a Karen! I call this darning, but technically it's only mending. Feel free to make me aware of this in the comments as others have. 😂Seriously if you have sweaters or socks that have a small hole, now's a good time to fix them. What the hell else are you going to do? Watch more flipbook shows?
Perfect Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
THIS is the macaroni & cheese recipe I made. I made the wholeeee recipe. It's Martha Stewart's macaroni and cheese and it's GREAT.
Grow a Grass Easter Basket - in 5 Days!
If you have some grass seed hanging around (rye works great) this is a fun, crafty little thing that only takes 5 days to grow. Good for adults and kids. The genuine grass Easter basket.
Vegetable Gardening as Therapy.
Most of the seed companies I use for ordering seeds are SHUT DOWN. Not the actual companies, but the websites because demand has been so high they've had to shut down just to get caught up.
This as people look for things to do and decide that now is probably the perfect time to grow their own food.
There will be more Victory Gardens this year than since the inception of Victory Gardens in the first World War. (that's just just a notion of mine, not an actual fact)
This post will help you with some gardening tips and tricks. But more than that, it explains how, in times of stress, gardening is a viable and extremely effective form of therapy.
Back to that Internet speed problem. If you KNOW that you need a new router here are two options. A TP- Link, which is a very good moderately priced router and the more expensive Nighthawk router from Netgear (which I own).
Have a good remainder of your weekend and if you have any problems with your smart tv, check with Betty. She knows how to fix something like that now.
BEST video of the 2nd week of covid quarantine!!! Just perfect.
You. Rock.
Thanks!
This is the best video you’ve EVER made.
Thank you!!!
Best ever video. 😊 Highs and lows.
Stay healthy!
It’s amazing how much is happening throughout the week even when nothing is happening, lol. ~ karen!
“Just click it!” LOL
I was feeling quite done with the whole thing, lol! ~ karen
Here in northern MN, I am without power from a big dumping of heavy, tho beautiful, snow this morning. I keep thinking, “oh, I can use this” or “I can do that” and of course, I try it, wonder why in the heck it isn’t working, then realize I must be even stupider than I think, since….HELLO…the POWER is off. My husband who is a social butterfly, is like a dog trying to find a place to poop….going around and around in circles…he has no one to visit with since we are under a “stay at home” mandate. And his phone is dead. I better hide mine cause he will eventually ask me if I have any battery left and I will innocently say, “Gosh, I don’t even see it around”….oh mercy…he know wants me to come out to the garage and help him bleed the brakes on an old car….I am afraid there may be bleeding in our future but it won’t be the brakes……
Oh, goodness.
LOL! I think every married/cohabitating couple in the world is going to end up monkey punching the other at least once in the next week. ~ karen!
Me too! I’ve spent an alarmingly great deal of time with my magnifying mirror. I have also squeezed all the things do my face looks like a minefield that detonated.
Betty is the best….’nuff said
Here in Chicago, one of the radio stations is talking about the “Quarantine Fifteen,” similar to the Freshman Fifteen. I just finished binge watching the first season of The French Chef on Amazon Prime (all 25 episodes) so now I think I need to order Julia Child’s cookbook. We are passing jigsaw puzzles among family and friends. Today I am making Alton Brown’s mac & cheese recipe from his Good Eats show on the Food Network. If you need a no-calorie pick-me-up, a UPS driver created a Facebook page called UPS Dogs that has great photos of dogs and other critters (a fawn, a goat, a lamb, a raccoon) that the UPS drivers see. Everybody stay healthy!
It was CRUEL to show us that absolutely perfect Mac & Cheese… all crunchy and cheesy. I guess I know what I’m having for breakfast!
You’re right. I’m sorry! Did I mention it was delicioussssss. ~ karen
In this time of uncertainty I cant tell you how VERY VERY happy I am to see your chickens!!!!!!!!!!
A huge thank for that video! Smiling and laughing is such good “at home” therapy when it is most needed. Make sure you do a video again the next time Betty calls for help! Stay well.
Betty is the covid cure. She is seriously funny. I’m afraid to make the Mac and cheese because I clearly do t have your metabolism or your will power.
My metabolism is slowing! And I do not like it one bit. And thanks for continuing to work in the grocery store! I hope you’re all doing O.K. in there and people are behaving. ~ karen!
I wonder if there’s gonna big baby boom starting in about 8-9 months. ;) lol
People really should remember, “children are living proof that sex is dangerous.”
lmao!!! ;’)
Still too cold for any gardening in Minnesota so I’ll be painting the basement and hopefully decluttering. I also gave the boy a haircut. Which I will now have to completely buzz off because it came out a crooked bowl cut with ridiculously long sideburns. At least no one will see him for a few weeks!
I haven’t showered or even brushed my hair for days, but by God, I’ve tweezed every stray hair on my face!
We must have been separated at birth!!
Me too! I’ve spent an alarmingly great deal of time with my magnifying mirror. I have also squeezed all the things do my face looks like a minefield that detonated.
Oh.My.Gosh. This is my like with my mother!!! I had tears rolling down my face! Thanks for the humor this morning!!
I checked out your{Martha’s} recipe for Mac n cheese. It is similar to my favourite which is Ina Garten”s. Both call for Gruyere cheese which is my fav in almost any baked cheese recipe. You should look up Ina’s it has the addition of sliced tomatoes on top and I know your always looking for ways to use up your tomatoes.
I am! But I’m not sure I can get on board with sliced tomatoes on my macaroni and cheese. :/ My mother however would love it I think. She loves macaroni and tomatoes. ~ karen!
Karen, we’re living the same life when it comes to mothers and technology. You’ve given me hope that I actually am NOT destined for hell for getting a little frustrated. “CLICK ON IT!” I’m dying.
I love the video showing glimpses of your week esp. the chat helping someone w computer assistance.
I eat, nap, eat, watch virus task force, repeat
I started a 1/24 scale dolls house a while ago, so have been working on that. Years ago, when i was younger, and fitter (actually, when iwas 30, and pregnant with no. 2), we bought a large georgian house in Cornwall as a guest house, to do b & b. I am working on a scale model of that, as l can best remember it. I have just stuck on bedroom floor, and am now busy wall papering, and working out electric wires running under flooring. Very therape8, but my arthritic fingers don’t always want to co-operate! Also knitting.
I’ve been binge watching Netflex…Father Brown, etc and reading and cooking a lot. Desserts sound so good and look so tempting in the cookbook picts. Shameful to say I also keep ordering books on Amazon even though by bedside table (and floor) are loaded. Sad, sad case.
Love Father Brown!
All I know is that when this is over there will be a run on hairdressers and nail salons. I’ll be first in line!
Me too, I’m on speed dial with mine,,,,really “Just checking to see how you are doing” My daughter has e-mailed her’s to see how to cover her roots….LL
God I hope so. I am a hairstylist and had to lay off all my staff and am now doing “Takehome” colour kits so my poor clients can at least do their roots.
So after being in my pajamas for 3 days, I decided to take a shower AND…get back into my pajamas. My life revolves around “what am I going to eat?” and “I guess I’ll take a nap”.
Thank you,Addie. I now know I’m not the only one!