And Baby Makes Smart

Started a cold, blustery, sunny day with a late-morning run to the Haddon Township Library (after dropping the rent at Miss Ellie's side of the house). I arrived just as the kids' story time was ending. Helped some kids find DVDs and recommended the online catalog to one fellow who was looking for Tuesdays at Morrie's. Returned adult and children's DVDs and put away some children's books. After I finished, I took out three books of my own - the next Blackbird Sisters mystery, A Crazy Little Thing Called Death, the newest Daisy Dalyrumple mystery, Sheer Folly, and the first book in a new historical mystery series about two cowboys who love Sherlock Holmes mysteries and fancy themselves detectives, The Black Dove.

Made a quick run to Super Fresh next. I needed carrots and bananas. Debated getting jelly, but I didn't see anything I liked that was on sale.

I rode straight over to Audubon after leaving Super Fresh. Now that Willie the Woodsman and Wife is the sole WebKinz retailer in the northeastern Camden County area besides FYE, I was hoping they'd have some of the recently-released Webbies I couldn't find anywhere else over the holidays, including the Deptford Mall. They did - the first WebKinz I saw on the spinning rack was the one I wanted, their last Baby Penguin. They are just so adorable, and they come with the cutest pet item - a frozen playpen!

Went out to lunch at the little soup restaurant next door after I bought my penguin. I'm so glad this place is still there. Similar little hole-in-the-wall places in Cape May and Wildwood would come and go in the blink of an eye during my childhood. I ordered the same meal I did the last time I ate there, the Italian Wedding Soup with a little loaf-shaped piece of cornbread and a can of Diet Coke. I love Italian Wedding Soup, and theirs is the best, with lots of huge meatballs and chunks of greens. The place was actually hopping when I was there. An elderly couple chatted at one table, while countless others were in and out, ordering soup, sandwiches, and salads for their offices.

I was going to go to Act Two Collectibles, but finally decided to save my money and rode home instead, over the train bridge and into Oaklyn. Not to mention, it was getting colder and windier by the second, and clouds moved in not long after I got home, too.

Spent the rest of the afternoon taking down Christmas decorations, listening to Disney soundtracks, and watching the last season of Get Smart. Ironically, my mother had finally sent me a Christmas/New Year's card, even as I was piling the others onto the table. It was really cute, too, with a "parade" of cartoon-y reindeer in bright reds and greens.

I was able to get all of the displays packed away but the Christmas tree and garlands and redressed the Sailor Moon and American Girls dolls in their regular clothes. Sam and Felicity wear their regular dresses; they don't have anything else. Molly wears her argyle sweater and the matching navy skirt that, for some strange reason, is much too small for her and had to be tied to her waist with a ribbon. Jess now wears her original corduroy pants and yellow felt jacket with the turtleneck that came with the Girl Scout uniform. I also took the stuffed animals out from under the tree. The ones that stay out year-round went back in my room; the others were put in bags, which were shoved in a plastic container, along with the stockings and my Santa hat.

Watched Get Smart as I made Tuscan Tuna Bean Salad and sauteed collard greens for dinner. Honestly, I don't know why fans are so down on this last season. Other than the revised opening (probably due to the change in networks, from NBC to CBS), nothing seems to be all that different in the episodes on the first disc. 99's pregnancy is worked into the scripts quite well. I especially enjoyed the hilarious spoof of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Max does a great Humphery Bogart impression.

Oh, and meet my Baby Penguin, Priscilla! I have no idea what to do with her. Maybe I'll just make her a little ice nursery. She's an awfully big "baby," though. I really wish they'd made these Lil'Kinz - Prissy is twice the size of her Lil'Kinz Penguin brother Elvis!