The Verdict

Jodie picked me up for my appointment at the Foot and Ankle Center at 10:30. I learned my lesson last Tuesday after the incident with Rose. This time, I was ready to go when she arrived, and we were there on time and with no problems. Dr. Berlin and a nurse looked at my foot and explained what had happened and what I needed to do.

Long story short - that chip means it's fractured. I'm supposed to be out of work for at least two weeks. She gave me a note for the Acme telling them that I can't come in and a prescription to get a boot (heavier wrap) at Komfort Kare, a medical equipment sales store in the Westmont Plaza between Dollar Tree and Super Fresh. I need to make an x-ray appointment at the medical examiners next-door to them later this week or in the beginning of next week and will be returning to the Foot and Ankle Center at the end of next week.

Jodie and I stopped at Acme on the way home. We both needed some supplies, and I needed to deliver my disability papers to the managers. I also grabbed a few things I thought I might run out of or realized that I needed to restock - eggs, pasta, canned tomato sauce, brown sugar, bagged vegetables, more pears. The Acme is clearing out the majority of its DVDs. I found the Veggitales Penniless Princess episode that I enjoyed so much last month for $3.50 in the pile.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day at my place. I watched Penniless Princess to cheer myself up while having scrambled eggs with spinach for lunch, then tossed on an episode of the first season of Sailor Moon that also dealt with being a princess while cleaning up. Serena joins a "Princess Seminar" in order to study good manners and breeding. Serena may not be a lady, but it doesn't take proper posture to realize there's something sinister about the seminar and its headmistress...

I worked on inventories for my children's books for several hours after the cartoons ended. I decided I had enough young adult novels to separate them into their own list. The original "kidfiction" list now holds all of my picture books, mostly vintage Golden Books titles of interest to me and some hardback picture book series based after favorite childhood characters like Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears.

For once, I had plenty of time for a nice, slow dinner, even after finishing my inventory work. I watched Radioland Murders while a sweet potato and turkey meatloaf baked in the oven. Brian Benben and Mary Stuart Masterson head a huge cast in this comic mystery set in a fledgling Chicago radio station in 1940. The staff and sponsors of the station are dying one by one, and writer Roger Henderson (Benben) has been accused of the crime. He has to figure out who did it, then catch them in the act, all while trying to convince his wife (Masterson) not to leave him.

This was a huge flop on first release in the early 90s, despite the George Lucas pedigree (he developed and produced it). I get a kick out of it, especially the first half, but it does have its problems. First and foremost, it runs at least 20 minutes longer than it should. The second half, which is mainly a series of slapstick shenanigans as Roger tries to elude the cops, grows wearying after a while. Comedienne Anita Morris' death during filming may have prompted some re-writes as well (which also explains why her character disappears during that chaotic second half).

This is one of those cult features that people seem to either love or just not get. Give it a chance if you ever run into it on cable or Netflix.

Threw on a Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1931 that also dealt with a fledgling radio station as I did the dishes. The Barnyard Broadcast is just as nutty as Radioland Murders, but the chaos comes from a much different source. Pluto overhears cats meowing on the radio Mickey put outside for him. He immediately rushes to fend off the felines, destroying Mickey and the gang's radio show in the process.