The Cutest Little Lab In Town

Today was Library Volunteering Day. They're still weeding the PG movies out of the kids' section. I found a couple more. Pulled the recent CGI version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and something called Zoom: Academy For Super Heroes. Pulling the live-action Scooby Doo proved to be a bit more complicated. The library has a ton of Scooby Doo DVDs, but the movie has some mild violence and gross-out gags and really does earn it's PG rating. (I took Keefe to see it when it was in the theaters. It's fine for older kids, but not for the little guys.) I left it with them and will see what they say next week.

After browsing quickly through AC Moore and Super Fresh, I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous, 40-degree day and ride over to Willie the Woodsman and Wife's to see if they have the new Emperor Dragon or Groundhog WebKinz yet. Nope, but I found a Lil'Kinz Black Lab who is just as cute. I named him Max, after my dad's girlfriend's black lab. The money he came with bought furniture to rearrange the "Lab House" where Max and Nelson the Yellow Lab live and to start a new room in the Asian theme for the upcoming Emperor Dragon and my panda Marza. (She used to share Miles the Black Bear's original room. He's now a single guy again, though he did keep her baseball dresser after I moved her stuff to the Asian one.)

I saw a new little restaurant that specializes in sandwiches and soups two doors down from Willie the Woodsman and Wife's the last time I was there (buying that snowman for Lauren back in late November), but had no time (or money) to try it. I decided to amend that. The small room was a curious blend of the rustic (wicker and glass tables up front, country crockery, old silverware, worn bare wood floor) and the 50s diner (vintage metal-trimmed vinyl tables and chairs, a small counter where the cash register was, 50s posters, a hanging featuring 50s icons). The soup was ordered day-by-day. Each day had a different listing of soups (including one "soup of the day"). There was another menu of sandwiches, drinks, and sides on the back. I ordered a large cup of Italian Wedding Soup, two breadsticks, and a can of Diet A&W Root Beer. It was excellent. I love Italian Wedding Soup, and this was much better than anything from a can, with huge chunks of escarole and meatballs the size of golf balls. The breadsticks were huge, too, and warm with melted garlic butter. I had a wonderful lunch. I hope the place doesn't go away too soon. At any rate, they seemed to be having good business when I was there. An older woman and two Yuppie women came in for sandwiches, and two or three other people had take-out.

I browsed Act Two Collectibles next door, but only came out with a Bob Seeger record. I rode back down to Market Street in Audubon. I stopped for a cupcake and a chat with the owner and operator of Desserts by Design. I was going to say "hi" to Bob at Abbie Road, which is a block down from Desserts, but he had a sign in his window saying he was going to be out for 15 minutes. I didn't feel like waiting around, so I just headed home.

I spent the rest of the evening working on editing some of our most recent Monkees role play short stories. Look for them in the next week or so!