New Jersey Redmer and Raiders of East Gate

Started off a hot, sunny day with a trip to the laundromat. Thankfully, it went far better than last week's trip did. It was busy, but the families and old people were too busy attending to their laundry or their kids or The Price Is Right to bother me. This was all for the good, since I had a larger load this week that included towels and dust cloths.

When I went home, I put everything away, then went right back out. I wanted to make a second trip to the Moorestown Mall are and take a look at the shopping center surrounding it, the East Gate. Trouble is, I read the bus schedule wrong. I thought it left at 12:47; nope, it was 12:37. I had to stop and get change at WaWa and missed it. I just rode up to Haddon Heights a block from King's Highway and got a chicken cutlet wrap at WilJax Hoagies instead. I sat and listening to the Phillies game (the Mets would go onto beat the Phillies again, 5-3) and the people picking up late lunches.

I finally caught the bus to the Moorestown Mall area at 1:37. Once again, I was the only one who went all the way to Moorestown. This time, I got off at the second East Gate building, which houses its Barnes and Noble. Turns out the Moorestown Barnes and Noble is enormous, twice the size of the one in Cherry Hill. They even still have DVDs, which Cherry Hill has long phased out. I ended up with the other recent American Girl mystery I wanted to read, the Kit story Intruders at Rivermead Manor, the first Sailor Moon manga (Japanese graphic novel - I've been trying to get the rest of them for ages, but they've been out of print until recently), and the Rita Hayworth/Fred Astaire musical You Were Never Lovelier.

My next discovery didn't pan out as well. I've never heard of Catherine's, a woman's plus-sized clothing chain. No wonder. Their clothes were very nice, but rather expensive for something that was basically the same as Layne Bryant or Avenue. Even heavy summer sales failed to bring prices down to reasonable levels. I just left and went across the street to the main mall instead.

Maybe it's just as well. I hit the jackpot at Boscov's, which was also huge. They were having gigantic clothing sales. Their clothes are sort of dated compared to some other stores, but all I needed was work pants. I got one pair for $9.99 and the other for $6.99! I also picked up a pack of much nicer Goldtoe white socks than the ones I bought a while ago for $12.00.

A stroll through the main mall didn't reveal anything useful. I didn't like the prices of the CD cases at FYE, and I just bought a movie. Lord & Taylor was disappointing. They were pretty much the exact same thing as Macy's, in prices and products. I left the mall and returned to the East Gate Shopping Center instead to hit up Staples. This time, I did get the CD holders I needed, along with a wooden ruler for 25 cents.

It was past 5 at that point. I wanted to catch the 5:37 back to Audubon, so I briefly returned to the main mall. Picked up a Peach Lemonade Mixer from Aunt Annie's on the way. I was crazy thirsty after all the walking I did! I finally got to Boscov's and made the bus with time to spare. When I got in, I briefly went to the CVS on King's Highway for a pineapple-coconut sparkling water, then went home.

I was so happy to finally get all those DVDs out of the jewel cases when I got home. The jewel cases are flimsy and take up too much room. From now on, If I buy a disc in a case, it stays in the case, but if a disc is in a cheap cardboard case or is home-made, it goes in a book.

Ran Dock of New York as I organized the DVDs. This East Side Kids title mixes things up a bit by pitting Mugs, Glimpy, and the rest of the gang against not gangsters, but spies. Mugs and Glimpy are entrusted with a valuable necklace by a kindly old woman and her daughter who were once the royal family of a European country. Spies are after the necklace and its owners, and they'll do anything, including kill a pawn-shop owner, to get it and get the princess.