No Business Like Snow Business

Started the morning with grits with bananas and a grapefruit for breakfast. I ran the beginning of Annie Get Your Gun while I was doing the dishes. Annie is the 1950 adaptation of the hit Broadway show. Judy Garland was originally supposed to have played the title role. She filmed two numbers, but ultimately dropped out due to her many problems at the time. Betty Hutton took over playing Annie Oakley, the female sharp-shooter with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shooter who charms everyone...including Indian chief Sitting Bull, who adopts her into his tribe, and bullheaded fellow marksman Frank Butler.

I love Irving Berlin's score for this one (yes, even the non-PC "I'm an Indian Too"), but the book hasn't dated that well. Still, if you can get around some of the comic treatment of Indians and smart ladies, there's a lot of really nice numbers here. My favorite - Annie and Frank come face-to-face (and high heel-to-rear) in the hilarious "Anything You Can Do."

Also included are the two sequences Judy Garland filmed before she dropped out, "Doin' What Comes Naturally" and "I'm An Indian Too." "Naturally" is genuinely charming. Garland has a lot of fun with the kids, and it's warmer and less pushy than Hutton's version. Garland, however, didn't seem to be up to the rigors of "Indian Too" - she's noticeably weary throughout the number.

Headed for the laundromat after breakfast. Thanks to those three days off last week, I only had one work uniform to wash and half the laundry I usually had to do. Good thing, too. Probably thanks to the holiday and the weather, the laundromat was very busy. I saw three older women, two men, three college students, and two couples with tons of laundry. Thankfully, I was able to get a washer and dryer without waiting.

Inspired by the tips in the Younger By the Day book I've been reading, I decided it was time to do something I haven't done in years. I cleared out my makeup and hair accessories. Most of my clips and scrunchies belonged to my mother or have been around for years. I rarely wear makeup, which means I replace it even less often. Some of my makeup has been around since I lived in Wildwood, and possibly longer. Anything that was stretched out or I knew had to be way past its expiration date was thrown away. Scratched clips were tossed. I really need new clips, and at least a new lipstick wouldn't hurt, either.

I had leftover teryiaki chicken cutlets with broccoli slaw and peas and brown rice for lunch while watching more of Annie. After lunch, I changed into my work uniform, packed dinner, and headed for the Acme.

It was sunny this morning, but the morning sun gave way to pearly gray clouds and wind this afternoon. Everyone fussed about snow and how cold it's gotten. Um...it was probably in the 40s when I rode to work. We were supposed to get around 1-3 inches of snow starting at 8. Thing is, I seem to remember this time last year, we also got a late snowstorm...that dumped about an inch or two of snow on us that didn't really do much damage. The ground was just too warm.

Between the weather and this being President's Day, we were busy for a lot of the night. Thankfully, it had slowed down enough by 8 for me to shut down, as I had no relief.

A woman claimed it was sleeting around 6:30. If it did, it either didn't do it here or didn't stick. It was still dry when I came out around 8. In fact, as far as I can tell, it didn't start snowing here until around 10. The snow seems to be coming down fairly hard and fast...but it's the light kind of snow that you can sweep up like dust.

Here's hoping that all of my readers had a wonderful President's Day Weekend!