Really Putting My Foot Into It

Lauren's off to a Weird Al concert this evening, so I stayed up late with her last night. I didn't get out of bed until after 10, and it was 11:30 before I even had breakfast! I had two Spicy Cranapple Muffins and a fresh farm market pear and dubbed the Tall Tales and Legends "Annie Oakley" for Mom.

"Annie Oakley" is one of my favorite of Shelly Duval's second series of fables and fantasies, this one revolving around American history. This is a grittier and somewhat more accurate version of the story of legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley than the musical Annie Get Your Gun. (For one thing, in real life, Frank Butler knew he was no match for his wife's skills with a gun and did step down to manage her career.) A young Jamie Lee Curtis is a marvelous, down-home Annie, possibly the best until country music star Reba McEntyre wowed Broadway audiences in the late 90s Annie revival on Broadway.

Headed to the Haddon Township Library after work. It was partly cloudy and a little humid and warm, but nothing like it has been the last few times rain has threatened. Unlike last week, the Haddon Township Library was very busy. I organized kids' DVDs, shelved DVDs and kids' books, and for the first time in ages, helped kids find the DVDs they wanted. One little boy requested the Toy Story movies. I directed him to the second one. (His mother said they'd rented the first one every other week!) Another little boy wanted Thomas the Tank Engine.

It was past 2:30 when I made my own DVD and book choices. I found two more of the new historical American Girl books, both about Marie-Grace this time, Marie-Grace and the Orphans and Marie-Grace Makes a Difference. Rented two Scooby Doo collections, a set of the first four episodes of A Pup Named Scooby Doo and three What's New, Scooby Doo? episodes revolving around zombies. Decided to continue my streak with film biographies and chose I Remember Mama and The Young Victoria from the adult section.

Headed across the street to the Westmont Plaza next. Stopped at Dollar Tree first. Two of my very best friends, Lauren and Amanda, have birthdays this month. I wanted to buy Halloween cards to say "hi" to everyone in Cape May County, too. I also needed new scrub-brushes. The old ones were absolutely disgusting. The bristles were getting crunched.

It was a little past 3 when I went around the corner to Nick and Joe's Pizza, the Westmont Plaza's pizzeria. Their pizza's only ok, but I was hungry and it was late. I ordered a mushroom slice and a bottle of water and read the AG books while waiting for lunch.

The two books were quite interesting. In ...And the Orphans, Marie-Grace finds a baby on her father's doorstep. She and her dad, who is a doctor, are too busy to care for a small child. They eventually take him to a large orphanage in New Orleans. However, when the nuns there say they've found a home for the baby in Chicago, Marie-Grace realizes how attached to him she is and seeks Cecile's help in finding a way for him to stay.

...Makes a Difference brings the girls into the Yellow Fever epidemic as Marie-Grace dedicates her time to volunteering at the orphanage and nursing her sick singing teacher. When the fever becomes too much, Marie-Grace's dad tries to send her away...but how can she leave Cecile and the children at the orphanage, who need her care?

After lunch, I finally decided it was time to do something about my foot. It was quarter of 4 when I rode over to the Camden County Foot & Ankle Center on the White Horse Pike, less than a mile from my apartment in Oaklyn. Thank goodness I caught Dr. Berlin and her assistant right as they were preparing to close up shop!

After we got the matter of my health care settled, Dr. Berlin took a look at my bad foot. She gave me an injection...which I wasn't thrilled with at first. I hate needles. Then I remembered how brave Marie-Grace and Cecile were when they were faced with the Yellow Fever and how it ravaged New Orleans and their loved ones. If two 10-year-old girls in crinolines can handle an epidemic, I thought, surely I can handle one little needle! It stung going in, but it wasn't so bad. Dr. Berlin put a Band-Aid on it, then made a plaster cast of my foot in order to make the right size orthopedic pads for them. That felt good. It was nice and warm, like a heating pad.

Dr. Berlin wrote out two prescriptions for me. One was for a stronger Motrim than I could buy over-the-counter. I could get that one filled at the Acme. The other was to have the foot X-rayed at a doctor's office on the White Horse Pike in Haddon Heights. (I think it may be the same place I got my knee looked at the second time I sprained it in July 2007.) I'll get the prescription done tomorrow before work and go up to the doctor's office on Friday, my next day off.

Just headed home after that. My now-swollen foot wasn't up to any more running around. I spent the next two hours organizing items in my bedroom and the back room. I moved the Sailor Moon dolls' clothes from the plastic dresser to those two sturdy boxes I got from Amazon.com at Christmas. I've been trying to find something to put in those for months! Some of the American Girl dolls' clothes were moved to the dresser. Others were moved to Sam's box. I really need more clothes hangers for them. Oh well. Christmas is coming. Moved the Sailor Moon comic books and graphic novels to their doll display and the other comic books in with the Garfield, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbes comics.

Tackled my vinyl accordion file folders next. The transparent one was falling apart. Moved any instruction booklets I didn't clear out and the few remaining notes, cards, and letters I've kept to other folders. Moved my old college and high school papers and essays to the random stories folder. Went through my taxes and W-2s - I have those going back to 2003, the first year I did them after I moved out on my own. I gave those their own folder and put that and anything relating to my health insurance in the huge leather portfolio the secretaries at the Stockton Media Center gave me in 2001 for a dual Christmas/Graduation gift.

It was 7PM before I got to dinner. I had shrimp, roasted Brussels sprouts, and brown rice with Smart Balance butter while watching A Pup Named Scooby Doo. Of the first four episodes of the series, the one I most enjoyed was "The Schnook Who Took My Comic Book." Shaggy is thrilled that he was able to buy the first edition of his favorite comic book hero, Commander Cool, for pennies at a comics convention. When a frog monster from the comics appears and tries to slurp up every Commander Cool first edition at the convention, Shaggy becomes determined to protect his beloved hero...at any cost! (Also, note that Red Herring has more of a role in this than he usually does. We don't normally get to see him do anything besides refute Fred's pointing the finger at him. Here, he's actually the bully Fred claims he is.)

Though I did enjoy the episodes, I repeat what I said when I rented the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Season set earlier in the year. These episodes are very repetitive (almost annoyingly so) if watched in succession. On the other hand, I noticed that these earlier episodes have more of an emphasis on interactivity, with Velma encouraging the kids at home to put the clues on-screen together themselves before Mystery Inc. solves the case. Pup Named might be a nice Scooby cartoon for somewhat younger grade-school age kids who would enjoy the bright colors, blocky anime-esque animation, and goofy gags. It's also fun for Scooby fanatics who can recognize the many references to the original series. Casual fans and older kids will want to start with the original, the movies, or What's New, Scooby Doo.