I've Got My Bears To Keep Me Warm

As it turned out, we did get snow very early this morning...less than an inch of snow. The snow wasn't the problem. It must have turned into freezing rain or sleet later in the morning. By the time I got up around quarter after 8, there was a layer of ice on my porch. It was very, very windy, too, and quite cold, in the 20s.

I had cereal for breakfast while watching The Man From the Diners' Club, the last Danny Kaye movie in the box Lauren sent me. Danny moves into the swinging 60s as a worker at a Diners' Club (credit card) company who signs and writes the approval forms for all card holders. When he accidentally approves a notorious gangster for a card, he goes to the gangster's spa hideout to get the card, before his fiancee and boss find out what's going on!

Given it's one of Kaye's last vehicles (and as far as I can tell, his only vehicle in black and white and for Columbia), this one was surprisingly fun. It feels like a 90-minute Bowery Boys movie crossed with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Kaye gets some rare encounters with early 60s culture, too, including a hilarious battle with one of the era's oversized computers and an impromptu visit to a beatnik party, complete with bongos and lots of men with goatees.

Headed for the Acme right after the movie ended for this week's paycheck and grocery shopping. My porch and steps were very icy, but the streets weren't. It took me longer to get to my bike than to get my bike to the Audubon Crossings Mall.

(And before you ask, yes, I was cold, but I have my heavy black coat, and I wore my favorite thick read tunic sweater and the chenile scarf that was made for me several years ago, not to mention my new boots. I was just fine.)

The Acme wasn't too busy when I got in, which was fine for me. I was able to shop and get my paycheck and schedule in peace. I mostly needed fruit and vegetables, and Acme complied with a $1 sale on bagged veggies. I bought bagged spinach, mushrooms, and cauliflower and broccoli. Grapefruit are still on sale, and they must have restocked the bananas after last night - I heard they got decimated when people went into their unnecessary snow fuss. I also got yogurt (good sale on the light Acme and Dannon brands), cereal (Acme's generic version of Cinnamon Life), and those Smart Ones ice cream sundae cups. Needed ground chicken and cubed steak. There were $1 sales on Arm and Hammer Deodorant and Softsoap, too, so I bought those.

Oh, and I got my schedule. Other than slightly more hours, I'm not thrilled. My hours are all late - I work until 9 on Sunday and 9:30 on Thursday! And then I work at 10AM on Friday. I hate working late. Working late yesterday was nothing but a pain. Don't they have teenagers and college students to do this stuff?

On the other hand, I do have Tuesday, Wednesday, and next Saturday off again. The first two especially may be a good thing. We might be getting our next round of snow on Tuesday, though at the moment the National Weather Service is saying a chance of snow.

When I got home, I put everything away and attempted to break the ice, but it was just too thick. I just grabbed my purse and money and took my bike back out again.

My first stop was the bank to deposit my paycheck. The teller completely agreed with me on everyone overreacting about the weather. Not only was the bank busy with people freaking out yesterday, but she'd tried to do some routine shopping and hit the snow mob.

My next stop was one of my favorite lunch places, the Bagel Shop at the Westmont Plaza. It was surprisingly busy for quarter of 2. There were quite a few people coming in, looking for a warm bagel-and-cream-cheese snack. I opted for a tasty turkey-and-Swiss sandwich on rye with Cranberry Cole Slaw and fries instead.

Made some quick stops at the Westmont Plaza after lunch. The Blockbuster next door to the tire store on the far side of the parking lot is closing down. I'm honestly not surprised. In fact, the only thing that surprised me was that they stayed open as long as they did. Their prices were ridiculous and they had a lousy selection of nothing but new releases. It wasn't so bad with the Blockbuster in Wildwood, mostly because it was the only option on the Five Mile Islands to buy or rent DVDs. There's still a lot of other places in Camden County that have better choices and other, cheaper ways to rent or watch DVDs without buying them.

Next quick stop was Super Fresh. They have better prices on maple syrup, and I like those individual packs of Hodgeson Mill yeast - they work better and are much cheaper than Fleichman's or Red Star, too. I also bought cupcake papers, which I forgot at the Acme.

Rode over to the Haddon Township Library after leaving Super Fresh for my last library volunteer session of the week. The library was very busy with people looking for books and DVDs to keep them amused during this cold weekend, and there was plenty for me to shelve and arrange.

I went straight home across Newton River Park after leaving the Library. Brr, was that a cold ride! By this point, it was after 3:30 and very, very windy! Most of the snow and ice was gone from the park, but the wind made riding slow and difficult. The only other people in the park today besides me were a large flock of Canadian geese looking for a late-afternoon snack and a couple of kids having a mock-sword fight on their way home from school.

Made a very quick stop at WaWa for milk before heading home. This time, I stayed in. Messed around online for a while, then made steak, steamed Brussels sprouts, and spinach for dinner while watching Tales of the Gold Monkey. I've decided I've wanted to run this one all at once, like one long Indiana Jones movie.

I wasn't disappointed. "Shanghaied" concerned Jake and Sarah searching for the kidnapped Corky, even as Jake is battling malaria. "Black Pearl" pits Jake against Nazi spies out to create a super-bomb long before the word "nuclear" came into people's general vocabularies. Both were quite a bit of fun, and I'm looking forward to watching the rest.