Yarn Daze

I slept until 9:30, longer than I'd planned...but it did wonders for my cold. I still sniffled a bit and had a mild headache and a dry throat. Other than that, I didn't feel anywhere near as bad as I did over the weekend. I had oatmeal for breakfast while watching spring-oriented Tiny Toon Adventures episodes, "Spring In Acme Acres" and "Rainy Daze." My favorite of the short episodes in these was in "Rainy Daze." Babs turns ordinary rainy-day chores like cleaning her room into an adventure when she uses her imagination to spice things up a bit.

After the Toons ended, I got ready to go. I stopped at Miss Ellie's side of the house on the way out and found a square package on the patio for me. It was from Mom and despite being a good size, not heavy. Yay, the yarn and tapestry needles Mom sent me had arrived! I put the package on my porch and went on my way.

It was sunny and probably in the 50s when I rode my bike to the Haddon Township Library for this week's volunteering session there. Newton River Park was gorgeous today. There wasn't even a hint of snow or ice left anywhere. Everyone was out - dog walkers, parents with children in strollers, friends walking together, joggers, Canadian geese having an early lunch.

Haddon Township wasn't too busy today, probably due to the weather. I mostly organized the childrens' DVDs and put away the adult ones. I also helped a mother find books to help her son with being an only child.

I took out several DVDs and books this week. I thought I'd try the Shaun the Sheep series for the first time and opted for a collection of six episodes, "Party Animals." I also took out a CGI Care Bears movie The Giving Festival and decided to give the current CGI Strawberry Shortcake another chance with The GlimmerBerry Ball. Grabbed two recent live-action movies I've wanted to see for ages, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Pirate Radio.

For once, there wasn't anything I needed at Super Fresh or the Dollar Tree, and I obviously didn't need anything at JoAnn's. I rode home instead, making a brief stop at WaWa for an orange juice, a small turkey and Swiss hoagie, and a pretzel.

After I got in, I quickly ate my hoagie, then opened the box. I had expected a couple of small balls of yarn, the doll crochet pattern magazines, and tapestry needles. I got the magazines, the needles, a tape measure...and bags and bags of yarn in every color under the sun! Most of the balls weren't big...but they were enough for me to practice with and make small things for the dolls and around the apartment. All of the yarn had been separated into bags for pinks, red and oranges, beiges and whites, blues, greens, browns and blacks, etc. There was even a big bag to keep it in.

I called Mom right away to thank her. Got Dad; I hadn't figured I'd get Mom at 3:30 anyway. I told him to tell her that I really appreciated the yarn.

Went for a quick walk next. I was hoping the Doria's would have skim milk. I forgot to get it at WaWa. No such luck. Mrs. Doria said it wasn't a big seller. I wasn't out for too much longer after that. Not only was it getting late, but it was growing windier and colder, too.

I worked on some crocheting while running The Giving Festival Movie. The "movie" seems to be several episodes of the new Care Bears show Care Bears Power Team stitched together, and as such, is kind of cute. I especially liked the second segment where Oopsy helps True Heart overcome her fear of roller coasters and helps the Care Team at the same time.

The main storyline has the Bears trying to prepare for their Giving Festival, but there's a heavy wind blowing that's preventing them from having it outdoors. Will that wind keep the Princess Starglow from arriving in time for the Festival?

Actually, my biggest problem was with the revamp. I don't like the super-power thing at all. For one thing, there's less emphasis on all of the Care Bears than I'd like. For another thing, this is getting a little too far into sci-fi territory, with powers that sound like they come straight out of Sailor Moon. Maybe it's time American Greetings scrapped the Adventures in Care-A-Lot Care Bears all together and gave them a new look, like they did with Strawberry Shortcake two years ago.

Speaking of Strawberry, I decided to give the 2009 version of the franchise a second chance after I was less than impressed with last year's The Berryfest Princess. Like Giving Festival, The GlimmerBerry Ball Movie is basically three episodes stitched together to follow a loose storyline involving the residents of Bitty Berry City's preparations for First Frost (i.e, their winter festivities).

I ended up enjoying this a lot more than the muddled Berryfest. We see more of Strawberry's friends, and they make a bigger and generally better impression this time. We also have some surprisingly realistic plots. I especially liked the first one, where a book that Blueberry Muffin gives Lemon Meringue that is hopelessly unsuited to her is re-gifted from girl to girl like a bad fruitcake...until it finally gets back around to Blueberry Muffin and she smells a fruit-scented rat. It takes a gift from Strawberry to Mr. Longface the Snail to remind the girls that the best gifts are the ones that fit the recipient, not the giver.

I also liked the emphasis on traditions and how the history behind them makes them special in the second story. Strawberry reads the story of how the GlimmerBerry Festival began to the girls...but they get too carried away with their berry-carving and start accusing each other of stealing ideas. The girls were more annoying here, but I love Strawberry's sweet solution...and how a book helps them realize that it doesn't matter how you do a tradition, but why.

Switched to Shaun the Sheep while having steamed collard greens, chicken meat loaf, home-made gingerbread, and roasted Brussels sprouts for dinner. Sean the Sheep is apparently an offshoot of the popular Wallace and Gromit shorts, made by the same company. They look and feel like a cross between Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit. Since the shorts are dialogue-less, as far as I could tell, the story here seems to be that Sean and his fellow barnyard animals like to party behind their master's back. The sheep dog is their pal and won't tell...but the cat would love to catch them in the act.

The Haddon Township Library had a full season set for Sean the Sheep. I might have to take that out the next time I'm there. These were really funny. My favorites were the one where the barnyard animals tried to save their master's toupee when it blows away, the dog teaches Sean to play pool on the master's new table, and the cat gets Poloroids of one of their parties...but ends up on an electrical pole before he can show them to the farmer.

(Oh, and I finally finished the crocheting project I was working on...not because I was finished, but because I ran out of yarn. Oh well. It's too wide to be a scarf for Sam, anyway. I'll make it into a nice, warm cape for the Sailor Moon dolls. Oh, and I changed all of my AG dolls into pretty spring dresses this evening.)