Once again, I spent the morning watching movies and doing chores. This time, I gave the apartment a quick dusting (I'll do a more thorough one after Thanksgiving) while watching the Disney Babes In Toyland. The plot is more-or-less the same as the Laurel & Hardy movie. This time, the lady in question is Mary Contrary (the late Annette Funicello); her swain is once again Tom Piper (Tommy Sands). Barnaby (Ray Bolger) is again after Mary and her home and money. There's a fat guy and a thin guy for comic relief, but they're Barnaby's men and on the other side of the law. The Toymaker (Ed Wynn) and Toyland have a lot more to do with the plot, including a rousing climax in the toy factory. I prefer the Disney version - the costumes are colorful, the musical numbers are fun, and Bolger is having the time of his life playing against type as a silent movie-style slick villain - but most people seem to like Laurel and Hardy's vehicle more. Your mileage may vary, depending on which one you run into and which cast you prefer.
After I finished dusting, I switched to crocheting while watching another bizarre lesser-known Rankin Bass special. One of the strangest of the 60s Rankin Bass cartoons was their first of two Charles Dickens adaptations, Cricket On the Hearth. Danny Thomas is a kindly toy maker whose daughter (Marlo Thomas) goes blind after her sweetheart (Ed Ames) is lost at sea. Roddy McDowell is the voice of the cricket of the title who befriends the family and does all he can to aid the lovers.
Did a Disney black-and-white short while eating the last of the rice and blackeyed peas for lunch and getting ready for work. "The Grocery Boy" has Mickey delivering food to Minnie for her big dinner. Things go musically well - Mickey even helps out with the food - until Pluto steals the turkey!
Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - off and on busy, with an occasional cranky customer but otherwise no problems. Thankfully, it slowed down enough by 5 for me to shut down, as my relief was going to be late.
I headed behind the mall for dinner. I couldn't remember the last time I had pizza at Tu Se Bella's, the Italian place a few doors down from Sonic. They make the area's best and most creative pies. I ended up with a slice of plain cheese, a slice of tomatoes, cheese, and olive oil, and a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. I enjoyed my warm and tasty meal at one of the tables in the front of the restaurant, across from the main counter.
Rode back to the Acme after dinner to do this week's grocery shopping. Since I spent most of the week eating leftovers, the majority of my groceries were baking restocks - whole wheat flour, brown sugar, white sugar, honey, canola oil. Land O'Lakes Brown Eggs were on a good sale. Since Jello pudding was $.79 a box and Cool Whip was a dollar, I bought two boxes of the pudding and one container of Cool Whip, along with a graham cracker crust, to make myself a Pumpkin Pudding Pie. I also got a start on my holiday shopping with gifts for my almost 5-year-old nephew Collyn and my 8-year-old cousin Faith.
I had a rare bit of quiet time when I got home. I'd already eaten dinner, and Lauren was working late tonight. I took advantage of this to work on my crocheting project for my friend Amanda while watching a few items. The Bowery Boys find a newspaper with 50,000 dollars in the street, but it turns out to be Jinx Money when it turns out to be coveted by a circle of gangsters...and someone with an umbrella is bumping off the gangsters. Garfield's Thanksgiving is anything but relaxing when Liz the Veterinarian puts the famous fat cat on a diet the day before the holiday, and then Jon invites her to dinner! And Uniqua of The Backyardigans wants to know "The Secret of Snow," but Ice Lady Tasha just finds her to be a nuisance and keeps sending her away to warm places. Uniqua, along with Cowboy Pablo, Tyrone of the Jungle, and Assistant Ice Maker Austin teach the bossy hippo girl that the real secret of the holidays is spending time with your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment