I ate the last of the grits for breakfast while listening to the George Harrison CD I bought on Saturday. Ringo Starr is my favorite solo Beatle, but I like a lot of Harrison's work, too. I picked up this particular CD because it included my two favorite Harrison solo songs, "All Those Years Ago" and "Blown Away." "Got My Mind Set On You" is the first song on the CD; I remember when that came out in 1987. Having been a toddler when "All Those Years Ago" came out, "Set On You" was really my first encounter with Harrison. He's always been Mom's favorite Beatle. (She likes the quiet guys. Peter Tork is her favorite Monkee.)
Didn't get out to run today's errands until quarter of 1...and got a nasty surprise when I did. It was damp and gray but not raining when I awoke this morning. As I walked out the door, I could feel myself get pelted with ice. I skidded across the porch, just as I realized that it was sleeting. I made my way carefully downstairs and checked the roads before I left. The roads were wet but fine, with no ice anywhere. Goes without saying that Newton Lake Park wasn't terribly busy. I saw one jogger and one duck swimming on the defrosted part of the lake as I hurried to Cuthbert Road.
The weather scared people away from Haddon Township Library, too. I organized DVD's with no interference of any kind. Other than they still have too many Scooby Doo titles to fit on the kids' shelves (and a few S adult titles that wouldn't get in), I was able to shelve everything without trouble. The librarians had more problems than I did. Their computer system went down (probably due to the weather) and had to be rebooted.
It was back up by the time I was ready to take out some DVDs. I grabbed new titles for The Cat In the Hat Knows A Lot About That and Sofia the First, along with My Little Pony: The Movie. The only adult movie I rented this time around was Lincoln, the well-received biography Steven Spielburg did a few years ago with Daniel Day Lewis as the title character and Sally Field as his wife. I thought it would be great for Lincoln's birthday and President's Day.
Though it looked like it had sleeted again while I was in the library, it was gone by the time I got out. I was taking no chances. This wasn't a day for lingering. I kept the rest of my errands short. Checked Tuesday Morning to see if they had Ever After High dolls. Yes, they'd just gotten lots of them in, including Briar, Raven, Maddie, Cupid, one Blondie, Legacy Day (fancy outfit) Raven and Apple, and Thronecoming (prom gown) Blondie, Raven, and Cupid, along with the Hat-Tastic (tea-party-themed) playset that included Maddie. Nothing I hadn't seen before except for the Thronecoming dolls. I'm only looking for the basic "Signature" dolls.
A stop at Dollar Tree was even quicker. I just wanted a few Valentine's Day cards for family members and a birthday card for my stepsister Jessa. (Hers is Friday.) It took me longer to stand in line than it did to choose cards.
I just made it to the Westmont Bagel Shop in time for a quick lunch before they closed. The owner mopped the floor even as I ate my Turkey Club Sandwich on whole wheat, fries, and macaroni salad. I watched Jeopardy! and listened to the oldies on their radio.
Made one more fast stop at Thriftway for milk. I was originally going to get it at WaWa, but I really didn't want to go anywhere else. After I got out, I went straight home. The traffic wasn't horrible, not even on Cuthbert - I got out just as the rush hour was starting.
There was a huge box sitting on the front apartment porch when I got in. The ice did stick to the walkway that lead to the front apartment, so I had to be really careful getting it off the porch and up to my apartment. (Richard finally salted my porch and steps later. Hopefully, he did the front for Charlie and his men, too.)
The first part of my Amazon order had arrived! I bought a new Jensen record player and the next Ever After High doll I was looking for, Cedar Wood. The record player is a simple replacement for my old turntable. I bought that from a novelty catalog at least six years ago (with Lauren's help). The Jensen is nothing fancy, no big speakers or added gadgets, but I just want something to play records. That, it did. Billy Joel's The Bridge played just fine and sounded even better. (And thankfully, the plastic top is attached this time. The last one was removable, but I couldn't figure out how to get it back on.)
I got Cedar out next. Cedar is the sweet-natured artist daughter of Pinocchio. She's been cursed to never tell a lie, which is more than a little inconvenient, what with all the secrets floating around Ever After High. (Especially the rather big one her roommate and good friend Cerise Hood is hiding.) Not being a princess or an eccentric tea party lover, Cedar's outfit is a little simpler than the fancy get-ups Maddie and the princesses wear. Her dress is a cute purple and pink variation on her dad's famous outfit from the Disney movie. She has a schoolgirl-ish Peter Pan collar instead of a necklace. She does have a ring and earrings, along with a cute bright green cricket clip in her hair. Her hair was crunchy with a ton of styling goop out of the box. I gave it a good washing. She's another one who sheds badly, but unlike Briar and Blondie, she does seem to have retained her curl.
(The neatest thing about Cedar is her vinyl. It's actually textured to look like she's a real wooden puppet girl. It doesn't just extend to the places that show, either. It's all over her body except for her face. This makes her one of the most detailed - and definitely one of the most unique - dolls in the entire line.)
Ran The Cat In the Hat's newest tales while pulling everything out. The theme here is simply Let's Take An Adventure, as The Cat and the kids take trips and learn how seeds and animals travel. "Amazing Journey" is one of the most interesting, teaching Nick and Sally how Salmon Samantha swims upstream (and up a waterfall) to calm waters to lay her eggs. The kids and The Cat use "Maps!" as they play pirate on an island and look for treasure. "I See Seeds" shows the group how seeds travel long distances when a bird grabs the Thing-A-Ma-Jigger, and they use seeds to go after it.
Finished the night with Bloomer Girl on my new record player and braised celery in chicken stock with a leftover chicken leg for dinner. This 1944 musical had Celeste Holm as Evelina, the youngest daughter of a hoop skirt manufacturer right before the Civil War, who gets involved with her aunt Dolly Bloomer and her crusades for women's and African-American rights. The southern gentleman her father is trying to marry her off to (David Burns) mostly sides with her, to the point of even releasing his slave (Dooley Wilson). Not everyone's so amused, and even the lovers quarrel after she's arrested for showing off her aunt's new trouser-style garments for women in public. It takes the arrival of war to reunite them and make him understand the importance of rights for all.
Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg did some nice music for this somewhat fanciful historic tale, including "The Eagle and Me" for Wilson and "Right as the Rain" for the young lovers. This was a hit in the nostalgia-starved mid 40's and was made into a TV musical with Barbara Cook 10 years later, but hasn't been seen much since then. Thankfully, both the cast album and the TV version are available and easy to find on Amazon and other sites.
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