Never Land Balance

Started another warm, sunny day with this week's American Top 40 re-run. I would have been just a week from turning 8 in mid-April 1987, when this episode was first run. While I enjoyed a small family party at my parents' house, the rest of the US danced to pop, country, R&B, soul, ballads, and hard rock. Hits that week included "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House, "Let's Wait Awhile" by Janet Jackson, "Looking For A New Love" by Jody Watley, the remake of "Lean On Me" by Club Nouveau, "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me" by George Michael and Aretha Franklin, "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" by Genesis, "Come Go With Me" by Expose, "Walk Down Your Street" by the Bangles, "The Final Countdown" by Europe, "The Finer Things" by Steve Winwood, "Let's Go" by Wang Chung, and "Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm.

That week's big hit was the second #1 hit for long-running super-group Starship. "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" wound up one of the biggest songs of that year (and the movie it came from, Mannequin, didn't do too badly at the box office, either).

Started the Jake and the Never Land Pirates disc as I organized donations and made my grocery list for later. "Never Land Rescue" is something a bit different on the show. For once, it's Never Land itself that needs to be saved. Magical items in Never Land, including the ones belonging to the kids, are fading away. The Forever Tree that provided the magic is dying. Jake goes on a quest to win the Destiny Sword and restore the Forever Tree, while the other kids try to stop Hook from digging up all of Pirate Island in search of their treasure.

Headed out as soon as the episode ended. I had two full bags of donations I wanted to get over to the Logan Presbyterian Church in Audubon. I wish the two older woman I saw as I passed through to the Church hadn't referred to me as "that lady from the Acme." I HATE that. I wish people would stop thinking I'm chained to that darn store. I wasn't in a good mood when I brought my things downstairs. I didn't really have the time to look for much. I did find copies of The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult and the Thanksgiving short Molly's Pilgrim to dub, along with a paperback copy of the Lois Lenski book Strawberry Girl. I was born in Southern Florida, but I know very little about its history before the Roaring 20s building boom.

I was in an even less happy mood when I saw all the yard sales around. Audubon must have had their town wide yard-sale today, instead of waiting for the day before Easter. Not only did I not have the time to check them out, but I realized as I rode down Nicholson that I forgot to pack a lunch before I left. I was lucky to run into a church next-door to Wal-Mart selling hoagies on the sidewalk.

Thankfully, work wasn't nearly as bad as it has been. The beautiful weather and many events going on must have put people in good moods. Everything went fine; my relief was a little late, but nothing outrageous.

I went right into grocery shopping after changing out of my work shirt. I was almost completely out of fresh fruit and vegetables. I couldn't find the grapefruit; replaced them with buy one, get one strawberries and a bowl of pineapple chunks. Picked up the usual apples and bananas, and bought small containers of asparagus and broccoli and a bag of spinach. Replaced the canned fruit cocktail, peaches, mandarin oranges, and chicken. Needed milk and butter; grabbed I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (I couldn't see if the Smart Balance was still on sale). I'm not in desperate need of cereal, but Oatmeal Squares almost never goes on sale with the other Quaker cereals, and it's one of my favorites. At a $1.99, I could afford to wait until I finished my Cheerios.

Once again, my schedule is a little crazy. In good news, I have three days off, including Monday to celebrate my birthday. On the other hand, I have three eight and seven hour days in a row, including an eight and a half hour day on Wednesday! I do have Friday and next Saturday off as well, but I may be too worn out to enjoy them.

When I got home, I put everything away, then vacuumed and made Betty Crocker "Cotton Candy Cookie Mix" Bars (sugar cookie mix with cotton-candy flavored sprinkles - they have a "Blue Snow Cone" version, too) while finishing out the rest of Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Instead of stealing something from the kids and them chasing after it, Hook now follows them when they go to some location that he thinks has treasure. Of course, one pirate's "treasure" is another's water slide or firefly in a lantern. Most of the time, Hook just ends up discovering he's been on a wild treasure chase. The one time he almost gets it, he has to fight female pirate Beatrice "Sneaky" LeBeak for it...and ultimately loses it.

Did yoga after the bars were in the oven. I'm going to continue to try to do this at least once a week, with or without Rose. If nothing else, it'll be a big help to my back. My back has been really sore for weeks now, probably from spending half the winter hunched over a computer.

I realized after I finished that I completely forgot to have dinner. I ate leftover Corn and Chicken Soup from last night while my Best of Linda Rondstat CD wound down.