Like Peanut Butter With Chocolate

I actually got up at 8:30, but I didn't get out until nearly 12:30. I finished the Samantha American Girl mystery The Cry of the Loon and wrote in my journal before breakfast. After I ate my grits and grapefruit, I called my stepdad Bill to wish him a Happy Birthday.

As it turns out, I'd just missed Dad. He'd just gone fishing. He works as a commercial fisherman and is out on the ocean for two to three weeks every few weeks or so. He's been doing this for as long as I can remember. I did catch Mom, though.

Mom and I spent two hours doing a lot of talking. We talked about my brother Keefe joining the Navy and how much we're going to miss him. We talked about my sister Anny's son Skylar's father suddenly reappearing after joining the Army years ago. We talked about Rose raising a 10-month-old baby boy, two dogs, and a cat while also practicing for the Bar. We talked about Dad being ordered by our long-time family physician Dr. Drake to lose weight. I told Mom about wanting to learn to sew in addition to crochet, and about hoping to look for a job again.

The trouble with looking for a job is it makes me nervous, and not just because of the economy, either. I have good skills. I'm good with computers. I know how to work Microsoft Office. I know I'm a good writer. I'm good at organizing things and editing things. I'm just not sure what else I can do, or what I can do with those skills, or if they'll even get me somewhere. Majoring in Communications in college was a big mistake. I thought I wanted to work in radio or television...but now I don't think I could. It sounds like it would be too stressful. Radio might not be too bad, but I really don't think I want anything to do with television anymore besides watching old TV shows online or on DVD.

I'm not sure what options that leaves me with. Mom suggested starting my own at-home company. She said I should do medical billing, or edit papers for the students from the many local colleges. I don't know anything about medicine, but the editing might be worth looking into. I have a hard enough time with the Acme, and I really can't afford any major schooling. Picking up a class here and there...but not years' worth of college. To be honest, I wasn't crazy about school when I was in school. It was a little boring, and I now don't think I really learned a whole lot.

Mom and I talked for so long, I didn't get out to Haddon Township Library until lunchtime! Maybe it was just as well. The wind that was still a problem this morning had died by then. It was sunny and cold, a very nice day in early February. I noted a package on Miss Ellie's side of the house for me; I'd pick it up when I returned.

As it turned out, there wasn't much for me to do at the Library. They had several high schoolers volunteering on their lunch breaks who were able to put away most of the DVDs, and there weren't even many books to shelve. I organized the kids' DVDs and took out three books on basic sewing techniques and another one on staying young.

After I left the Library, I made a couple of quick stops. I needed bunched carrots at Super Fresh and a card for Dad and a bottle of Spic and Span at Dollar Tree. I debated going out to eat, since it was past 3:30 after I got out of Dollar Tree, but I had a ton of leftovers in my refrigerator. I just rode home and had a late lunch of leftover homemade pizza instead.

Spent what little was left of the afternoon at home. I ran Airplane while making a Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Icing and having leftovers for dinner. The cake recipe comes from the Prevention cookbook Mom gave me about six years ago. The cake is made with applesauce and egg whites; the icing is made with skim milk and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. They both came out exceptionally well. I cut the recipe in half to make a smaller cake; I certainly don't need a huge full-sized one, even with all the peanut butter and chocolate cravings I've been having lately.

Airplane was the first big hit for the Zucker Brothers, and one of the first of the 80s movie spoofs. In this take on Airport-style disaster movies, an Air Force pilot who hasn't flown a plane in years has to take over the cockpit of a crippled jet plane and land it safely in Chicago. There's a lot riding on this flight - the crew stricken with food poisoning, his ex-girlfriend who is a stewardess, nuns, a little girl who needs a heart transplant, the doctor who diagnosis the food poisoning, and yes, the lady who speaks jive.

This is the first spoof...and still one of the best. This opened a whole new door for dramatic heroes who spent their lives being taken seriously to have a little fun every now and then. Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielson quite happily switched from action to comedy for the rest of their careers.

And of course, there's Johnny. I don't know what he's doing there, or why he's there, or why he's crazy...but he has some of the best lines. "And Leon is getting laaarrger!" "And it really looks like a big Tylenol." "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!"