Girls' Day at Home

I started a lovely, sunny, warm morning with finally finishing the phone calls I need to make for now. The Union and the insurance company now say all of my claims for the orthodontics have finally gone through, and I should be getting them in two weeks. I couldn't find Comcast's phone number on their web site to call them...but it was just as well. I heard from them, anyway. For some reason, my dealings with them yesterday didn't work or hadn't gone through. At any rate, everything's fine now, and they'll be switching my land line phone over from Verizon next week.

Jodie picked me up at noon to run errands. I needed to get to the Acme. Had to pick up my paycheck and disability (sick pay) papers, not to mention fill my refrigerator. Turns out the Acme was having some great sales...which is a good thing, because I was low on basics like milk, whole wheat tortillas, yogurt, and eggs. There was a great Perdue sale; grabbed ground chicken, tenderloins, and chicken sausages for almost half-off. Stocked up on peanut butter, chocolate chips (Nestle's are $1.99 this weekend), buttermilk, honey, and peanut butter. Took advantage of a huge baking sale to grab baking powder, cinnamon sticks, and peppermint and vanilla extracts. Edy's was finally on a good sale. It isn't fall without their heavenly Pumpkin Ice Cream, and this year, I was glad to see that they had it in a light version.

I also got my prescription for higher ibuprofen from the pharmacy. Dr. Berlin gave it to me for the heel spur, but I think it'll now help with both feet. Jodie was nice enough to run over to America's Best for me and pick up my contacts while I waited.

After I paid for my food and hauled it in the van, we both made a quick run to the PNC on the White Horse Pike so we could deposit money. We saw a police parade as we were in the bank; turns out a long-time Oaklyn police official had died this week, along with Uncle Ken, who will be honored tomorrow. (Both have their names on the sign outside of Oaklyn's City Hall on the corner of the White Horse Pike and West Clinton Avenue.)

Other than a very brief sojourn to my landlord's house a block down to drop off my rent, I went nowhere else today. With any other calls put off until I get my foot looked at on Monday, I could actually relax. I ran Felicity: An American Girl Adventure first. This was the second American Girl movie, revolving around their spunky Colonial character Felicity Merriman. Unlike the movies for Samantha and Kit, Felicity's movie pretty much sticks to the books. Felicity is a tomboy living in Williamsburg, Virginia during the tumultuous Revolutionary War. As families and friends are pitted against one another, Felicity finds herself wondering whose side she's on, especially given that her best friend Elizabeth and her beloved grandfather are loyal to the English. When she meets a wild horse with a cruel master, she becomes determined to befriend the animal...and learns the true meaning of freedom in the process.

Of the three AG movies I've seen (I haven't yet caught Molly's or the ones revolving around modern Girls of the Year Chrissa and McKenna), this one is my favorite. Never mind the irony that Felicity isn't really high on my list of AG characters and I'm not the biggest fan of the Colonial era. Felicity's exciting and daring stories come alive in ways that Samantha's and Kit's didn't. And I can understand why Felicity adored her grandfather and dad - David Gardener and John Schneider were particularly good as the male heads of the family on the opposite sides of the War.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to paperwork, baking a Dark Chocolate Mint Cake for the reception after Uncle Ken's funeral tomorrow, and dubbing another serial, Zorro's Black Whip. Actually, Zorro has nothing to do with this very interesting mid-40s western tale. The Black Whip was a freedom fighter siding with settlers trying to vote Idaho into statehood in 1889. When he and his father are killed, his sister takes over both the Black Whip persona and the family's crusading newspaper. The Black Whip aids a federal agent in bringing law and order to Idaho.

Though this action-packed wild west story from Republic wasn't quite as well-done as the later Federal Agents Vs. Underworld Inc., it had it's own share of fun, from stagecoaches going over cliffs to a raging inferno in a cave. This was a vehicle for Linda Sterling, Republic's answer to the heroines of the silent era serials, who could outshoot, outride, and out-think every guy in the movie, including her love interest. I did find it almost refreshing that we know she's the Black Whip from the get-go, instead of drawing her identity out, as many serials are wont to do with heroes in masks.