Wonder Women

Lauren headed home around 1:30 this afternoon. We spent most of the morning at my place, watching cartoons together. I'm so happy she visited. She's the best best friend anyone ever had. I had a great time, and she said she did, too.

Bruce and Jodie drove us to the Cherry Hill Train Platform. It was another gorgeous, sunny, warm day. Lauren had checked her iPhone to make sure there were no train delays. It would appear there wasn't, at least not in Cherry Hill. The train to the 30th Street Station was only a few minutes late, nothing to worry about.

After I bid Lauren adieu and Bruce and Jodie dropped me off at my place, I ran upstairs, grabbed my backpack and a tote bag, and went back out on my bike. I needed to do my usual Friday grocery shopping and run some errands I didn't get to with Lauren last week in the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center.

I wish I hadn't needed my paycheck so badly. The line for the customer service desk ended up going past Register 1. In addition to the holiday weekend, it's also the beginning of the month. Many people want to cash government checks before the 4th of July kicks in. Not to mention, the store was so busy, the line only had one manager for at least 10 minutes.

I wasn't a happy camper when I finally rode over to Sonic for a late lunch. Happily, it came out much better than my last visit there a month and a half ago. I just bought a regular burger, onion rings, and a Diet Coke. The burger was ok, same as any other fast-food burger. The onion rings were the best darn fast-food onion rings I've ever tasted. Blew Burger King's tiny, stringy rings out of the onion field. These were piping hot, with just enough crunchy breading surrounding thick, juicy slices of onion. Delicious, and just the thing to cheer me up after the trouble at the Acme.

Took the bike into the mall next. The lining in the red change purse/card holder I've had for at least six or seven years finally frayed so badly, the change was falling out. I replaced it with a larger wallet from Fashion Bug, a pretty long floral holder with spots for money and cards and a little purse for change. Went across the parking lot to Staples to check out the CD wallets, but the prices weren't wonderful. I'll try online instead.

The Acme was much quieter when I finally arrived back to do this week's grocery shopping. I didn't need that much. Needed to restock fish, buttermilk, yogurt, tissues, and diced tomatoes after Lauren's visit. I noticed when I made macaroni for us the other night that the pasta canister was running low; time to refill it. I was out of brush picks, and I grabbed some on-sale rubber bands to replace the dollar store ones that had stretched too much. I treated myself to Bryers' second-best flavor, Butter Almond, on sale.

Rode the bike back to my place when I was done. I put everything away, then once again went right back out. I really needed to get to the bank before it closed for the holiday weekend. I just made it. Said "hi" to the tellers, explained my new tan, and told them Lauren and I both had a great time on our vacation.

I had no major plans for the rest of the evening. I work 8 1/2 hours tomorrow and need to make an early quick run to the Farm Market! I swept the porch, then did stuff on the computer for a few hours. I had a late dinner of salmon, green beans, fresh Jersey tomatoes, and whole-wheat rotini pasta while watching the animated Wonder Woman.

I'm not a comic book fan, so I don't know how much this goes by Wonder Woman's "cannon" origin. As in the pilot movie for the first season of the TV show, Wonder Woman leaves her home, an island that's home to an Amazonian all-woman race, to return pilot Steve Trevor to the US. Instead of dealing with Nazis, this updated version goes to Diana's Greek/Roman influences and brings in the God of War, Ares, who escapes the island and heads for the US in order to create chaos and bring more souls who will give him power.

While I thought it lacked humor and the feminist discussions were a bit awkward, by and large, this was an enjoyable outing. There was tons of action (including blood and two decapitations - this one works hard to earn its PG-13 rating), the animation was quite well-done, and the voice cast - including Keri Russell as Diana and Alfred Molina as Ares - was excellent.

Oh, and I heard from Lauren shortly before finally getting dinner going. At that point, she was about 45 minutes outside of Albany. The trains were all on time, and she apparently had no problems anywhere. I imagine she's either at home or on her way there with her folks by now.

And thank goodness my schedule for next week isn't nearly as bad as tomorrow's! Granted, I only have one day off (Tuesday), and I do work the 4th of July. However, I work in the afternoon on the 4th. That means that while I'll miss the barbecues, I should make both Oaklyn's Town Parade and the fireworks at Collingswood. None of my shifts the rest of the week are very long, which will leave me plenty of time to catch up on household chores, library volunteering, and yoga.