Malls 'R Us

Started a gorgeous, warm April morning with Max & Ruby in honor of my birthday tomorrow. "Surprise Ruby" has Max leading Ruby on a merry chase to get her tiara before her surprise birthday party starts. "Ruby's Birthday Party" is lots of fun, with games galore...but Max would rather just have cake. Ruby and Louise open "Ruby's Presents," and while they delight over the contents, Max tries to figure out what to give his sister.

Switched to the original World of Strawberry Shortcake as I got ready to go. Strawberry is also a birthday girl. She's upset that no one seems to remember, but her friends are planning a surprise party. The nasty Peculiar Purple Pie Man is determined to spoil their fun.

Today was my semi-annual trip to the Deptford Mall. I started out around quarter of 10. Even with a half-hour trip down the White Horse Pike, I arrived there with plenty of time to buy a bottle of water before picking up an on-time bus to Deptford. There was no traffic whatsoever, and I arrived at Target around 11.

Target was quiet as a mouse. Pretty much the only people there when I was were the staff and a couple of parents looking for toys for kids. I was mostly there for underwear. I needed Herbal Essences' curl shampoo and a new toothbrush. There wasn't much left of their Easter section, but I did find a Betty Crocker Watermelon cake mix for 64 cents. My big find was one of the three Ever After High dolls I hadn't run into offline, Lizzie Hearts. She was her re-released version in the new, slimmer packaging. While the re-release doesn't have her ring shaped like a pack of cards and many painted details are missing, she's otherwise pretty much the same as the original. She was $19.99, not cheap but better than some of the fancier dolls they had, or than I've seen Lizzie go online.

I was originally going to have lunch at Pizza Hut, but there was no Pizza Hut. Sometime in the last six months or so, they must have succumbed to the heavy local pizza competition, including the Uno down the street.  I just hiked down to the Deptford Mall and had lunch at the A&W in the food court. I had a honey Dijon chicken sandwich, fries, and a Diet A&W. The chicken sandwich was a bit tough and not all that great. The fries were better, typical fast food fries. It was lunch, anyway.

Explored the mall for a while after that. I checked out JCPenney first, but their prices weren't that great, and I didn't like their pants selection. I had far more luck at Boscov's. I got two bras, one 10 dollars off, the other 40% off, and a pair of khakis I needed for work for $18. I browsed in the Disney Store and Teavana, but didn't buy anything there. Bought cards at Hallmark for Dad to get well and for my nephew Khai's birthday next week.

I needed a birthday present for Khai, too, but I hadn't seen anything I liked at the mall or at Target. I decided to brave the traffic on Route 42 and go across the street to Toys 'R Us. It was a smaller, vintage-looking building that still had a tiled rainbow around the entrance. I couldn't remember what Rose said Khai wanted. I did check the Ever After High dolls, but though they did have a few dolls I'd never seen before (including the "Date Night" Raven and Dexter 2-pack), there wasn't anything I wanted.

I finally opted to go neutral. I bought a blue container and put chalk and colored bubble solution in it. The weather's been so nice. It wouldn't hurt my nephew to play outside. I found one of the Backyardigans DVD's, High Flying Adventures, for myself.

I was so worn out when I finally made it out of Toys 'R Us, I stumbled to the bus stop near Macy's at the Deptford Mall and just waited there for the 4:58 bus. The bus was right on time, and though there was some traffic, it wasn't a problem. I made a brief stop at the WaWa in Audubon for a Perrier Lemon Lime Sparkling Water (they didn't have Sparkling Ice) on the way home, heading into Oaklyn to avoid the rush hour traffic.

I took out Lizzie Hearts when I got home. Lizzie Hearts is the daughter of the Queen of Hearts. Like all Wonderland characters, she's under exile and can't go home, thanks to the Evil Queen (Raven's mom) having corrupted the Queen and her land. Lizzie's homesickness is more pronounced than anyone else's. She can't figure out Ever After customers - her "Off with your head!" means "please" and "thank you!" Lizzie had long, wavy red and black hair that shed nearly as badly as Blondie and Briar's. The ends were crunchy; it needed to be washed rather badly.

Put on some Backyardigans while I had leftovers for dinner and put everything else away. Uniqua is a "Fly Girl" in a pink airplane. She delivers singing telegrams to clean-obsessed pirate Pablo, silence-loving Indian queen Tasha, and grouchy Abominable Snow-moose Tyrone. She thinks they don't appreciate her music, but they have a surprise for her when she lands. "Who's Goes There?" is a riff on Night at the Museum. Security Guard Tyrone has to get runaway artworks Pablo, Uniqua, and Austin back in their objects, before Curator Tasha finds them gone.

And...I don't think I'm going to do these Deptford Mall trips anymore. It's just too much of a hassle to get up there. There's now nothing in the Deptford area I couldn't find elsewhere - I could live without the Toys 'R Us.