It’s been a busy past 24 hours and a busy morning before I could get to today’s post. Finally, I’m able to sit down and get to it. I may be interrupted when the housekeeping staff comes to do a complete cleaning, which was supposed to occur yesterday, but “they were too busy” to do it.
Today, they tried to postpone it again to tomorrow, stating that they were too busy, but we insisted we needed it done today. We have been having the room refreshed daily to avoid their confusion over what to do here every other day, with a once-weekly complete cleaning on Friday. It may not sound too tricky, but it seems to continue to be a problem.
Yesterday, I spent the bulk of the morning removing all of my data from Dropbox to our external hard drive, which Rita and Gerhard gave me a few years ago for my birthday. It is loaded with 1000 movies. One can usually purchase such a device with two terabytes for under $70, which should serve the needs of most household users. Click on the Amazon link on the right side of our page to buy, searching for “portable hard drive.”
It’s easy to purchase and use. Like a flash drive, you plug it into your device using the USB outlet and drag and drop your preferred files to the device. Once you confirm your files have been transferred, you can remove them from your primary device or save them as a backup.
Since September 2008, when Dropbox first became available to the public for free, I started backing up all my files there. It was easy to use, and for the past 16 years, it has been easy to access and use as needed.
When I tried logging in a few days ago to search for a recipe, I was directed to a signup/ payment page with fees of as much as $15 to $24 a month, depending on the storage needed. See that page here. There still is a one-month free trial, but I didn’t see any free long-term use options.
Although I can’t confirm this, users with low storage volumes currently in use may still be able to use Dropbox. Tom tried and had no problem. You’ll only know if you try to log in and see if you are directed to the payment page. I was locked out of my account until I signed up for the free 30-day trial, which requires a credit or debit card.
Then, I transferred all my data to my external hard drive, removing all my files after I verified they were on the external drive. Very important: CANCEL THE SERVICE IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU ARE DONE. IF YOU FORGET TO DO THIS, YOUR CREDIT CARD WILL BE CHARGED IN A MONTH FOR THE PLAN YOU SELECTED.
In most cases, this process can be completed in less than 30 minutes, but I went through the files and deleted any I no longer needed. That’s why you didn’t see a post yesterday. I was wrapped up in this process for hours, and it was satisfying when I was done.
Before starting the post this morning, I baked Tom a German Chocolate Cake for the first time in over 12 years. Tonight, after dinner, he’ll savor his first serving. Afterward, I placed an early order at Costco for some of the non-fresh ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner, which I plan to make this year, making Tom’s favorite dishes, most of which I don’t eat. I’ll order the balance of the items closer to Thanksgiving Day, which will be on November 28.
I’ll have turkey, roasted Brussels sprouts, cauliflower mash, homemade sugar-free cranberry sauce, and salad, and Tom will have turkey with homemade dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green bean casserole. He doesn’t like cranberry sauce and won’t eat salad that day. It will be a lovely dinner.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, October 19, 2014:
Greetings from Florida. Would you share your sugar free cranberry sauce recipe?
Cheryl, it so very simple to make sugar free cranberry sauce.
1 pound bag fresh cranberries
Sweetener to taste (whichever zero carb sweetener you prefer)
2 T lemon juice
Follow the cooking directions on the bag of cranberries but instead of adding regular sugar, add your preferred zero carb sweetener. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate.
Easy peasy and delicious.
Thanks for writing!
Warmest regards,
Jess & Tom