Reading Day

It started out just mildly cloudy and a bit warmer than it has been when I finally got up this morning. Lauren is on vacation this week, so I stayed up late with her last night (and probably will again tonight). I actually didn't do a whole lot. It was just starting to rain when I went downstairs to take a look at my mail. There it was, this year's American Girl Wish Book! They did a nice job with it this year. The purple/silver/sparkle theme looks beautiful and elegant, and some of the photography is lovely. I wish I could get the really cute Sugar and Spice "Baking" Set, with its adorable doll-sized gingerbread house, soft red apron, and Santa hat, but I just don't have the money.

That wasn't the only book I went through today. I also took a good look at The Home-Based Business Kit. I'd still like to run something at my house, something simple like data analysis or freelance writing, but I'm not even sure where to begin. There's a lot of things I can't do right now...but one thing I can do is write down my long-term and short-term goals and get what I want to do straight.

Ran more of Rick Steves' Europe throughout the day. Rick returned to Vienna, this time covering the Danube and the home of Empress Maria Theresa. My favorite the visit to some of the tiniest countries in the world...and the smartest with taxes...Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Lichtenstein  and Andorra. The trip to the Czech Republic was a reminder of that country's long and often tragic history.

I'm running low on supplies and just had small meals throughout the day. Ran two spooky episodes of Get Smart while cleaning up from dinner. In the first season episode "Weekend Vampire," three CONTROL agents are murdered on the weekends by what seems to be a vampire. Max and 99, disguised as newlyweds, investigate a disgruntled former CONTROL scientist who may have the keys to the mystery. Max and 99 have an otherwordly encounter with an informer who was supposedly murdered by KAOS years before and try to get in touch with her via a seance in the third season episode "The Spirit Is Willing."

I've been having a lot of fun looking up older animation on You Tube since I encountered Animalympics a few months ago. Tonight, I ran into a pair of specials that 80s girls like me may remember. "Rose Petal Place" was a short-lived line of dolls, books, and stuffed animals. They were pretty much a more elegant "Strawberry Shortcake" with a flower scent instead of fruit and a more dramatic hook - a young Victorian lass had been forced to leave her beloved garden. She weeps on her favorite flowers, turning them into pretty girls. Her favorite rose becomes Rose Petal, head of the garden, whose voice keeps it alive.

I was delighted to discover that the original 1984 special is now available online, along with the 1985 follow-up Real Friends. Shy Violet, Cherry Blossom, and the other new characters in Real Friends were supposed to have followed the original characters into doll form, but the line was discontinued before they could be widely made, and only prototypes apparently exist today.

Original Rose Petal Place Special
Rose Petal Place: Real Friends