Started a beautiful, sunny day with Multi-Grain Cheerios, crocheting, and Scooby Doo. The newest 13-episode set is supposed to revolve around Scooby and Shaggy's notoriously oversized appetites. Only the first four episodes on Disc 1 have anything to do with food, and all can be found elsewhere. "Wanted Cheddar Alive" is A Pup Named Scooby Doo's worst nightmare - a cheese monster is haunting the Scooby Snacks Factory, which is shut down until the kids can clear that goopy ghoul out of there! Scooby and Shaggy are feuding in the second Pup Named show "Night of the Living Burger," which isn't going to help the others solve the mystery of a gigantic burger who is trying to shut down a mall burger stand. Skipping to the early 2000s What's New, Scooby Doo?, Shaggy's "Big Appetite In Little Tokyo" gets him into trouble when he is accidentally eats a cursed pizza. Is that Shaggy who's been turned into a giant monster...or is something else going on? We move ahead a decade to Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated and return to the US for "The Devouring." The gang helps a spoof of Paula Deen figure out why a monster made of flour and dough has attacked her program.
The remaining episodes on Disc 1 are all Scooby/Shaggy/Scrappy shorts. Almost none involve the traditional monsters and mysteries; the few that do involve monsters have actual monsters, no mysteries anywhere. "Scooby's Swiss Miss" is a cute poodle whom Scoob keeps showing off to, much to the annoyance of her bulldog boyfriend. "Scooby Ghosts West" takes the trio to an abandoned hotel in a western ghost town. Scooby keeps seeing spirits eating his food and using the shower, but Shaggy and Scrappy just think he's nuts. The three run afoul of a "Swamp Witch" who wants to turn them into frogs. "Waxworld," which has the trio dodging the evil owner of a wax museum who for some reason wants to add a stoner and two dogs to his collection, is probably the most interesting of the 70s episodes.
I headed for the Oaklyn Library around 11. It was a stunning day for a walk. The day was sunny and fairly mild for January, probably in the mid-40s, and calm as could be. Despite the nice weather, there were a couple of people reading newspapers or working on the computer when I arrived at the Oaklyn Library. I was there for a little less than an hour. Pretty much just did the DVDs and took a quick look at the kids' books. The Oaklyn Library tends to get the newest releases faster and for longer than Haddon Township does; I ended up with Iron Man 3 (not my favorite Marvel character, but I did see the other two and The Avengers), Gatsby, and Epic.
Since it's a couple of blocks down, I headed to WaWa and bought milk and a s'mores cappuccino. It was past noon by then, and they were fairly busy. I got lucky - they opened a second line right as I got there.
I went the long way home down Kendall and past Rose's house to West Clinton and Manor. I couldn't believe how nice it was, especially compared to the cold weather we got last week and are supposed to get next week. Needless to say, there were quite a few people out and about, walking their dogs or running errands. There's still a surprising amount of Christmas decorations around. A few people already have Valentine's Day banners or wreaths on their houses, but most still have greenery or nothing at all.
When I got in, I watched more Scooby Doo, had a couple of slices of Banana-Carrot-Chocolate Chip Bread and an apple for lunch, then headed out to run errands in Audubon. Since it was so nice, I once again took the long way, this time down to Nicholson Road...where I was promptly reminded why I don't go down there often. Nicholson is very busy, and thanks to the train overpass, it's often hard to see where cars are coming from down by the Cuthbert light. It took me a while to cross, even where the street was narrow.
I finally made it to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center, stopping at Rue 21 first. I was still interested in the backpack they had in the window during New Year's week. It wasn't in the window anymore, but they still had a blue version in stock. No wonder I couldn't find them that week. The backpacks weren't with the purses in the accessories area. They hung on hooks under the counter. I bought a nice, new mini-backpack with a pretty blue and white southwestern pattern and a heavy vinyl bottom, as well as some cozy yellow and pink sleep socks. The old sky-blue nylon backpack went in the DARE clothes donation containers.
The Acme wasn't much busier when I arrived there than it was on Wednesday afternoon. I had no problems picking up this week's grocery list. I only needed to restock fruit (apples, bananas), vegetables (carrots, more small containers of broccoli and asparagus), and ingredients for baked goods (flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda).
Got my schedule while I was there too, since I'm off tomorrow. It's a good thing I did. Seems I'm also off Sunday, much to my surprise, as we're coming up on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Weekend and I very rarely get Sundays off. I don't work again until Monday at 2:30. I have next Friday and Saturday off as well, and slightly more hours though nothing more or less than what I normally get at this time of year.
When I got home, I put everything away, then went right into sweeping the porch. Between my hours and the cold weather, I haven't had a chance to do that in ages. The porch was covered in sticker balls and bits of bark and twigs from the heavy winds we had last week, especially the half that overlooks the path, where there's more trees.
Spent the rest of the evening in the bath. I very much needed that. I put on the Frozen soundtrack and took a look at the Soul Searching book for a while. Eventually, I heeded the call of the warm water and just soaked as far as I could go. It felt soooo very, very nice. I haven't felt this relaxed in ages. Have these couple of days off was really worth it. I feel much better.
After I finally managed to drag myself out of the tub, I made scrambled eggs with cheese, broccoli, and mushrooms for dinner, then made gingerbread and crocheted while watching Iron Man 3. Unlike most franchises, what happens in one Marvel Universe movie has repercussions on others...and at the start of the movie, Tony Stark is still reeling from the events of the finale of The Avengers. He's created suit after suit in order to protect him and his sweetheart Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow) from more invasions. In the process, he's neglected Pepper and his Iron Man duties. Both come to bite him in his metal rear when an evil warlord called "The Mandarin" seems to be stirring up terrorism and hijacking bases and broadcasts. When he threatens the President, Tony threatens him right back. His home and base is promptly destroyed and Pepper kidnapped. He recovers from his losses in a science-loving kid's garage, where he creates a new suit and proves that Iron Man can fight as well without technology as with it.
I'm still not a big fan of the character, but I will add that I enjoyed the third Iron Man installment far more than the previous two. There's less noise and more character, Pepper gets in on the action, and you get to know Tony Stark better as a man, and not just as a suit. If you're already into the Marvel Universe or are a comics book fan, grab a suit and join the ride. If you're new to the Marvel Universe or Tony Stark's world, check out the previous Iron Man movies or The Avengers first to get acquainted with the characters and situations.
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