Cranberry Day Before Thanksgiving

I was tired of waiting around to do the laundry. I decided to break in my new orthopedics and stretch my foot with errands and a nice walk. I borrowed Mrs. Ellie's old grocery cart for my laundry. Started with a quick stop at the Dorias' for brown sugar. Mrs. Doria was happy to see me, but not with her business. They've been having a LOT of trouble lately. They just can't drum up business. With the opening of the street that crosses the train tracks, no one has to go all the way down West Clinton anymore to get where they're going. The school kids don't pay much attention, and the cars from the dance school teachers and students tend to block cars.

Next stop was the laundromat. While I appreciated Dad letting me use his washer and dryer, they take forever. I don't always have three or four hours to get the laundry done. Not to mention, I had a fair-sized load, and I figured everyone would be busy at Dad's house getting ready for tomorrow. It was worth the three dollars to get it done in an hour. I got in around 10, when Rachel Ray was starting on Channel 6. It was on-and-off busy, not too bad. I figured it would be far busier the day before a holiday.

Next, I headed to Newton Avenue. I wanted to make an appointment with the therapist the union recommended me. Much to my annoyance, when I went inside, there was one long hall that sloped down the hill, with two other halls branching out from the main one. No one was around. I didn't even see any receptionists, nor any office for the receptionists. There was a cozy waiting room, with lots of magazines and yellow furniture, but no people around at all. I just left. Called the therapist and left a message with her requesting an appointment when she gets in.

After I made the call, I put my laundry away, then spent an hour or so adding Christmas music to my iPod for the trip down to Cape May County tomorrow. When I finished with that, I had Tuscan Tuna Bean Salad on a bed of spinach for lunch while watching Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Small One. 

Devoted the next few hours to beginning this year's Christmas cleaning. I always do a major cleaning session right before Christmas. I like the apartment to look its best during the holidays. Scrubbed the bathroom while listening to Christmas music. The bathroom was pretty bad. I hadn't done that great of a job scrubbing the bathtub last month (partially due to my ankle) and it really needed to be done.

Switched to the kitchen while running Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving. The kitchen was more dusty than anything else. I did need to give the stove a really good scrub. It had brownish stuff on the front oven that I missed wiping off, for some reason.

I called Rose towards the end of Seasons of Giving to find out when we're going down to Cape May County tomorrow. She wants to leave early. At press time, she'll be picking me up at 10 after 10 in the morning. We'll be leaving by 10:30 and arriving at noon. Mom wants to have dinner at 2. Rose says she'd like to be on the road again by 5; she wants to get going before it gets really dark. (Oh, and Khai's feeling much better. It seems that whatever he had yesterday was a 24-hour bug.)

Worked on crocheting during my annual showing of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Neil Page (Steve Martin) is a harried advertising executive who just wants to get from New York to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving. When Chicago is hit by a blizzard, he finds himself stranded at the airport with Del Griffith. Del's a pretty nice guy and a good shower curtain ring salesman, but he's also an overly chatty mass of bad habits. Neil's no saint, either. He's frustrated over his stressful job and angry over the delayed flight. The two men find themselves constantly thrown together as they make their way across the frozen Midwestern landscape towards Chicago. When they finally arrive, Del finally teaches Neil a lesson in friendship and being thanks for what we have.

John Hughes' only truly adult film is a hilarious cross-country trip with two of the 80s favorite comedians. It's not for everybody; Hughes wanted bad language to earn the R rating and get him noticed for something besides teen flicks, and you may need to have done as much traveling in public transportation as I have to get some of the jokes. If you're a fan of Candy or Martin, on the other hand, hop right on - even when the movie gets a little too sentimental for its britches, this is some of their best work.

I worked on Cranberry-Orange Bread for Thanksgiving tomorrow and Cranberry Flummery for my own leftovers dinner while running several Scooby Doo winter-oriented episodes. "That's Snow Ghost," from the original 1969 series, takes the gang to a spooky ski lodge that's being terrorized by supposed Yeti. "Alaskan King Coward" was a short from the early 80s that featured Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy trying to out-run a defrosted dinosaur-man in the Yukon. "A Scary Night With a Snow Beast Fright," an episode from the mid-70s, brings Velma, Fred, and Daphne back in for a romp in Alaska to find what's become of a missing professor and why a huge dinosaur-like creature has suddenly appeared among the native Inuit.