Tonight Was Made For the Young

I slept until 10:30 today! Finished out the Once Upon a Time Ever After High short story collection. I really loved the Ever After High books. The anthology features eight tales that were originally published online as e-books and four that were written directly for the book. My favorites were the sweet story of Cedar Wood, the daughter of Pinocchio who feels a little out of place, since she's made of wood (bonus points for it being set in a seaside artist's colony like Cape May), the entwined tales of twins Dexter and Darling Charming at their family's big end-of-summer reunion, and poor lonely Lizzie Hearts, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts who can't go back to Wonderland, figuring out how to bring a little piece of home to Ever After High. Tricky Kitty Cheshire's story ties the others together.

When I finally did get up, I listened to Dorothy Provine's Oh, You Kid! while making gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. I loved her Roaring 20s soundtrack so much, when I saw this at a thrift shop last month, I grabbed it. It's a collection of medleys of popular songs from the late 1800s and early 1900s. I especially like the dance-y ones - "I Don't Care," "Rings On My Fingers," "Ta-Ra-Boom-De-Yay."

It was sunny and warmer than it has been when I got home, in the mid-30s. The warmer day and threat of rain or ice tomorrow must have brought people out of the woodwork. It was crazy for almost the entire afternoon. It was so busy, I was late with my break again. By the time my relief appeared at 5, it had slowed down to a trickle.

When I got home, I changed into regular clothes, then started dinner. I made chicken meatloaf with one of the three packs of ground chicken I had in the refrigerator. Tossed the last remaining sweet potato that's been around since the Collingswood Farm Market closed in the oven as well.

I did the dusting while dinner was in the oven. It was pretty bad, possibly from a combination of the Christmas decorations adding more dust and all the work downstairs. I didn't do a lot of heavy dusting, though. I only go under the heavier stuff when I do major spring and fall cleaning. It's just too much of a pain to do it every time.

Ran 80s soundtracks while I cleaned, and later while I had chicken meatloaf, sauteed spinach and mushrooms, baked sweet potato, and Cranberry Flummery for dinner. Footloose and Dirty Dancing were two of the most popular musicals in the decade that redefined the form. They were both so popular, they would be adapted for the stage in the late 90s and early 2000s. (To my knowledge, Dirty Dancing has yet to show up on Broadway, though I think it was seen in England). Streets of Fire is far less well-known. This "Rock & Roll Fable" is apparently a musical comic book about a mechanic rescuing his guitarist girlfriend from a nasty biker group. I haven't seen it, but it's considered something of a cult favorite. The soundtrack is a lot of fun. The hit was "I Can Dream About You," but my favorite number is the epic dance song "Tonight Is Made For the Young."

Oh, and despite a controversial call, the Packers finally got past the Cowboys, 26-21. Much to the shock of probably everyone except midwesterners, the Colts handed the Broncos their rears, 26-13. I hope they kick the Patriots just as hard. I do like the Packers and the Seahawks - they're both good teams that deserve their success, and I'd be happy if either made the Super Bowl.