Organized Balance

Started off an initially sunny morning with my first yoga class in two weeks. It was a busy one, too, 14 people counting the teacher Karin. The large class made it a little difficult to practice stretches and standing balance poses, but we did what we could do. Still can't stand on my head, but other than that, I did well enough.

Went straight to the Collingswood Library next for my first volunteer session there in three weeks. I spent an hour returning books in the second-level non-fiction section...at least, as well as I could. They're building new shelves on the narrow passageway between the adult non-fiction and the kids' section. I couldn't shelve three books on Collingswood that normally go in the reference section on New Jersey.

On the other hand, I saw some interesting historic photos in those books that explained a few things. For one thing, Haddon Avenue used to boast an A&P (then known by its full name of The Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company) and an Acme. Both are long gone. I'm assuming they moved to their current, much larger digs in Westmont in the 60s, from the design of those buildings. The A&P building now houses a convenience store. The Acme building is now home to two restaurants. One side is a 50s-style diner, the Pop Shop; the other, a just-opened South American steakhouse, El Sito.

The books also explained Haddon Avenue's eclectic building designs. Some look like they date from the town's founding in the 1880s, some from the early 20th century, some from the 30s, and some from the 60s and 70s. There was apparently a gigantic fire in 1915 that damaged a lot of the downtown area, including Haddon Avenue. That's probably why many of the stores on some parts of Haddon are made of stone, including the Woolworth's Building (The Painted Cottage Cafe and a karate studio) and Marlene's. The Library's been rebuilt, too. The current building replaced a far more elaborate stone library from the turn of the 20th century in the 70s.

Stopped at the thrift shop after volunteering to say "hi" to my friend Erica (who is one of the managers there) and to browse. I ended up buying another Effanbee doll. I only have two male Effanbee dolls, Prince Charming and the Scarecrow, so I bought a third. In his red velvet covering with its yellow fleur-di-lis trim and huge brown plumed hat with its (now yellowed) feather, he could be none other than one of the Three Musketeers! Unlike the Bo Peep I bought a while back, he even came with his sword. I also bought a book on making stuffed animals.

Lunch was next. Once again, I ate at GrooveGround, which is really the closest place to Genesis Counseling that I can afford. I had a huge Turkey Ciabatta Sandwich and half of the pasta salad that came with it - it came in two little cups. (I did, however, nix the potato chips that were also part of the meal. The pasta salad was more than enough.)

My monthly counseling session was next on the agenda. I had a LOT to tell Scott about. I'd had a rather busy month! We discussed Rose and Craig and the baby shower, my stress over my hours at work and all the weather and health issues I had in February, my decision to find hobbies after spending a lot of the winter bored, my anxiety with large groups, and my both my current vacation and the one I'm going to take in late May when Lauren visits. Scott basically said to try not to stress so much over the customer issues, to try to calm down and say positive things.

The Collingswood history book I'd read earlier had made me want to check out the larger of two parks in Collingswood, Knight Park. The land was apparently donated by a local millionaire in the 1880s and has been Collingswood's premiere recreational facility ever since. The small (and surprisingly modern) Picnic Pavilion and the Victorian park office building have been supplemented by a host of baseball and soccer fields for the park's across-the-street neighbor Collingswood High School. A colorful playground was added last year.

It wasn't a bad afternoon for a ride, either. By the time I was in Knight Park, it was on-and-off cloudy, but not cold, and yesterday's wind had died down to a breeze. It's remained so the rest of the day.

The last stop of the day was the CVS across from Newton River Park, on the border of Collingswood and Oaklyn. I was originally looking for ant spray, but while I didn't find what I was looking for, I found some other interesting things. I picked up three plastic baskets and made use of a 99 cent sale on bags of dried fruit to restock my dried cranberries and apricots. (That's the cheapest I've EVER seen dried fruit, and even the regular $1.99 price is much better than Craisins at the Acme.)

Got home around 3:30 and spent the rest of the day organizing the apartment. The shelves in the back room that I use for towels, dust rags, dish cloths, and items that don't fit in my tiny bathroom looked messy, and I could never find anything.

When my sisters and I were little, Mom controlled the clutter in our rooms by putting our smaller toys, games, and puzzles in plastic baskets. I decided to do that again. Bathroom items like foot salts, cough drops, and extra soap and Band Aids, went in one basket. All of the bottles of lotions, shower gels, and creams that everyone keeps giving me, along with extra toothpaste and deodorant, went in the second basket. The third holds the wrap stabilizers for my knee and wrist that I bought after my accidents in July 2006 and 2007.

Since I was in the back room, I organized the Prevention Magazines I got last year and early this year as well. As nice as they were, my only real interest in them were the wonderful recipes. I've really used some of those over the past year. My favorites are the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I've mentioned several times here and a few recipes for honey-glazed carrots. I pulled the recipes out, cut out the ones I wanted to keep, and recycled the rest.

(Though some of the articles on health and nutrition were interesting, I didn't think they were worth keeping. Our knowledge on those subjects have been changing so much, those articles may not be relevant even six months from now.)

Watched Once Upon a Mattress during my dinner of steak, sauteed carrots and onions, and a spinach and dried apricot salad. The third TV taping of the 1959 Broadway musical shows us a comic version of the Hans Christian Anderson story The Princess and the Pea. Meek Prince Dauntless the Drab wants to get married...but his decidedly not-meek mother Queen Agrivain will only allow her baby to marry a "real" princess. She devises a series of impossible tests that every would-be suitor fails. No one in the kingdom can marry until Dauntless does. This proves to be a problem for virtuous Sir Harry and his sweet girlfriend Lady Larkin. They got a little...intimate...and she's now expecting.

Harry figures he'll find a princess the queen can't turn down outside the borders of their kingdom. The woman he chooses is Princess Winnifred of the Swamps. Call her "Fred." She's certainly not your typical princess. Despite her introductory number, "Shy", she's noisy, athletic, intelligent, energetic, and could probably wrestle an alligator if she felt like it. Naturally, the queen hates her on sight and devises one last, impossible test for her. Just something simple, putting a pea under 20 mattresses...

Apparently, this sat on the shelves for several years before being one of the last movies shown as part of The Wonderful World of Disney. I don't know why they waited so long. It's really cute, especially if you're a fan of Broadway musicals. Lady Larkin and Sir Harry's little problem gives the story an edge that many of these shows lack. Tracy Ullman is a hilarious Winifred; Carol Burnett is delightfully nasty as the controlling Queen.