Brush definition/color swatches have disappeared for pen tool

I'm using illustrator CC on a late 2012 Mac, OSX 10.9.5
I just opened up my pen tool to draw some lines. Among my color options for both the stroke and the fill are.... nothing. That's ok, because I can still hold shift and click to being up the alternative color user interface. But I wonder if this is connected to my more serious problem: When I click on the brush definition dropdown, my choice is... Basic. And nothing else. I can open the brush libarary, and select a bunch of artisitic and bristle brushes, BUT I JUST WANT 3 pt. ROUND! And I can't find it, the dropdown menu has gone blank, where befiore it contained basic, 1 pt, 3pt, 10pt round, etc.
Where did they all go? I'm pretty sure I haven't changed any settings. I just want to be able to draw a line with the pen tool that has rounded ends. This is entirely mysterious to me.
(PS, while I'm complaining, Adobe, seriously, why can't I just pick a variable width profile and a brush definition for a pen stroke rather than having to make the stroke and go back and edit it? Endlessly frustrating. As powerful as this program is, this seems like a really simple thing you guys should include)
Please help!

Bottom left of the Swatches panel or from the panel flyout (small triangle, upper right) Open Swatch Library gives a whole list. You can use System or even better just copy the image and use File>New and choose an appropriate New Document Profile for the new file and then paste in the image.

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I am a volunteer and neither a Lenovo nor a Microsoft employee. • Dexter is a good dog • Dexter je dobrý pes
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Brush definition/color swatches have disappeared for pen tool

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