Hot Fun In the Autumn-Time

It's probably just as well that I spent a lot of the morning reading, writing, and listening to The Breakfast Club in bed. I couldn't see much anyway. The Delaware Valley awoke to a heavy bank of dense fog and humidity that was almost as bad as what we had last summer.

It was still humid when I headed out to the Acme for this week's paycheck, but not really hot. Alas, that didn't last long. The sun started to come out as I left the Acme with my money. By the time I emerged from FYE with a used copy of The Three Amigos on DVD (for $3.70), it was sunny, hazy, muggy, and hot.

I rode over to Staples to check out their DVD/CD storage. I really need somewhere else to put those Bowery Boys/East Side Kids movies Lauren sent me. The spindle was fine for sending them here, but constantly moving the DVDs up and down will likely damage them, if it hasn't already. I need something that won't take up much room, but can hold them all.

I noticed a Halloween store in the empty building next to Monster Pets, so I went there next to browse and get some ideas for my Halloween costume this year. I don't want to wait until the last minute again. It was pretty much the same deal as the store that used to be in the now-demolished building in Westmont in a lighter, smaller area. (No need to curtain off the unused part of the store here.) There were adult costumes, kids costumes, costumes relating to decades, to medieval folklore, to princesses, to ancient history and popular characters. There was an aisle devoted to makeup, and the whole right side was filled with weird masks.

I didn't buy anything, but I did get some costume ideas. I'm thinking of either doing a simpler version of my flapper costume from 2006 (in a shirt and skirt I can wear to work), a southern belle in a huge hat and one of those ruffled gypsy skirts (I could probably make a hat and dig around thrift shops for petticoats), or Velma from Scooby Doo. (I have my own glasses and orange sweater and could probably get brown strap shoes and a skirt, and I see stuffed Scoobys all the time.)

Made a brief stop at Fashion Bug to look at ruffled skirts for my costume ideas before returning to the Acme for grocery shopping. I needed a bit more this time. I really needed meat. Grabbed chicken legs on sale, along with cubed beef and beef ribs for my slow cooker. Took advantage of the 50 cent Dannon sale and restocked my yogurt. I also restocked my granola bars and applesauce.

Headed home next. It was about 1:30 by then. I wanted to hit the bank and get out a little. Since I didn't have any other plans for the day and my paycheck last week was not wonderful, I decided to save my money and just go for a stroll in Oaklyn.

The bank was dead when I arrived there, and I was in and out quickly. My next stop was the newly reopened House of Fun. I thought they were shutting down, but it seems they merely took over the stores next-door that formerly belonged to a now-departed T-shirt printing company. They now had two rooms for all the junk any geek could ever want. The first room was filled with nothing but every kind of action figure. The second room held everything else - Hello Kitty merchandise, stacks of pulp science fiction magazines from the 60s and 70s, dolls, stuffed animals, video games from Atari to Nintendo 64, and for some reason, a lot of books on World War II.

I debated buying the Atari 2600 console. There was a huge stack of games for only $2 each. However, it didn't have a price on it, and I don't have a lot of money right now. It also didn't have any controllers, and I didn't see any loose ones. I didn't buy anything today, but I may have to go back there the next time I actually do have money.

Next stop was Capitol Pizza for lunch. It was really late by then, almost 2:30, and I wasn't that hungry anyway. I just had a slice of vegetable pizza and a Coke Zero. Not surprisingly, it was quiet in there except for CNN and a few guys picking up pies.

I just strolled around the neighborhood after that. I thought of going to Westmont or heading down to Kayla's Custard Corner for a water ice, but it was just too hot. I hiked across the school yard (having seen kids on their way home from school), then went home. Even with the soda, I was dripping sweat when I got in.

Due to the heat and my shrinking purse, I didn't go anywhere else. I swept the porch (which badly needed it), then watched Bowery Boys movies and read that Prevention cookbook Mom sent me a few years ago, Eat Up, Slim Down. The first chapter has a lot of tips and ideas on how to lose weight, along with lists for your body mass and general weight.