It's already January 14th and I'm just now writing my first real post of 2021.
At the end of last week, I was finally able to grab another file for work. It was about 49 minutes long and luckily the audio quality was pretty good. I got it finished and uploaded Tuesday night before I went to bed. Then the queue was pretty dead yesterday, but today I was able to grab a 41 minute file and 46 minute file...both for the same case, which I always like. Hopefully now that the holidays are over, we'll start to see a more steady stream of files coming in...especially now that the Covid19 vaccine is rolling out. It'll be nice to return to some sense of normalcy.
One thing I hope doesn't return to normal anytime soon is Johnny's ability to work from home! They've been approved to work from home through March 2021, but we're hoping it'll last even longer than that.
I did some post-Christmas shopping this past weekend!
My grandparents gave us cash for Christmas and I used part of that to purchase the PowerXL Grill Air Fryer 12-in-1 Combo. I am SO excited to try it out! It just arrived Tuesday and I haven't actually used it yet. It does have a pretty strong plastic smell (which I've seen is typical for air fryers). So I've run it a few times without food in it to try and burn off that smell using apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. I just put it in a dish, set it to 400 degrees for 5 minutes, let cool, repeat as needed...then a final time with just lemon juice to get rid of the vinegar smell (I hate that smell!). I'm really impressed with how quiet it is while running! I think I'm really going to get a LOT of use out of it!
I also got a gift card from my other grandpa and decided to get an Instant Pot. I currently have the CooksEssentials 8qt oval pressure cooker that my grandma bought almost 15 years ago. It still works great and I've used it A LOT! However, I don't always have a need for a pressure cooker that big...especially now that we're just down to one teenager who is a picky eater anyway. The inner pot is also REALLY heavy. So, I decided to get a smaller pressure cooker to use regularly and then I'll still have the oval pot when I need a larger one. I found the Instant Pot Viva 6qt on sale for $50 so that's what I used my $50 gift card on. I'm glad I got it while I could, because it isn't available at that price anymore.
I've gotten to the point where our oven/stove could go out...but I could still make almost anything without it. :P Especially since we also have a toaster oven (with a rotisserie that I haven't actually used in the 2 years we've had it).
I also had a credit on Amazon, so I picked up another spice rack to add to the bottom of our white cabinet. I'm really pleased with how everything is coming together in the kitchen. :)
Our new TV was also delivered today! :) The TV we've had in the living room has been having some major issues. It started out that every once in awhile when we'd turn it on, it would have "solarized" colors. I tried all the troubleshooting online and the only thing that worked was turning the TV off, holding the power button down for about 10 seconds, and then turning it back on. Then it got to the point that I would have to turn it off and on multiple times before it would go back to normal. Then shortly after that it started turning itself off right after we turned it on. I'd have to turn it on several times to get it to stay on...and quite often the colors would be off and I'd have to go through the process all over again. We got to the point where we had to leave the TV on all the time and rely on the Fire Stick to put the screen in sleep mode without actually turning off the TV. It lasted almost 10 years though...so we got a lot of use out of it. But since it was Christmastime, I asked Johnny if my/our Christmas present this year could be a new TV for the living room. We went from a 47" 1080p to a 65" 4k TV...and it cost less than the old TV did back in 2011! And fun fact...Bozley watches the new TV even more than the old one. ;)
Well...gotta get back to work!