Windy Spring Days

I spent the morning finishing out Doc McStuffins. The funniest episode of this round was "Kirby and the King." The evil King and Sir Kirby, the valiant knight action figure, get stuck together after an accident with a sandcastle. They have to make their way out of Doc's little brother Donny's room so she can get them unglued. "A Day Without Cuddles" was also really sweet. Poor Lambie is "sick" again. This time, she got flour all over her and can't hug the others until she's been washed. Trouble is, it's International Cuddle Day. The others all want hugs from their favorite fleecy cuddler, but she doesn't want to get flour on them, too. She learns that it's hard to wait (and for humans to not spread germs), but you're better off in the end.

I thought I'd try something as the cartoons ran. When I lived in Wildwood, the Dollar Tree in Rio Grande carried small cake mixes in little 9 oz boxes. They were a perfect treat for one person. The first thing I baked in my new home was made from one of those mixes. Alas, after a year, the Dollar Tree stopped carrying them. I rarely saw anything like them, until I discovered that the Westmont Thriftway carries the Jiffy yellow cake and brownie mixes. Most local supermarkets only have their corn muffin mix, maybe the blueberry muffin mix if you're lucky. I made myself a lovely little one-layer Strawberry Buttermilk Cake.

Switched to the last first season Remember WENN episode I hadn't done as I got ready to head out. WENN's resident diva suddenly turns into "Hilary Booth, Registered Nurse" when she's struck on the head by a microphone boom and thinks she's the kind-hearted nurse from a World War I drama. Betty Roberts has to jolt her memory in time for a very important broadcast...and do it without the help of Victor Comstock, who is preparing to leave on a government assignment to London.

I didn't see Studio LuLoo open when I finally got out around quarter after 12. My first stop ended up being the Oaklyn Library by default. There wasn't a lot going on there, either. I didn't even have a ton of things to organize. I just sort of browsed around in the books for an hour.

When I got out, I decided I wanted more lunch than just a hoagie from WaWa. I ended up having lunch at Jalapeno's Grill across from WaWa. They were totally empty, despite it being 1:30. Not even that older lady who seemed to be a permanent resident was there. A man did come in as I was finishing, but for most of my lunch, it was just me, my vegetable and cheese quesadilla, and the notes I was taking for another Remember WENN fanfiction. I was surprised to see they were already decorated heavily for Cinco Del Mayo, despite that holiday not being for another couple of weeks. 

I did stop at WaWa on the way home. I wanted heavy cream to make icing for my cake. I also bought myself a Black Raspberry Sparkling Ice. They were busy, but thankfully, the other cashier opened as I was waiting. 

Though it wasn't raining (or even snowing - Lauren said she got snow in Pittsfield today), the weather was not much fun. It was cold and gloomy and windy. I went straight home after leaving WaWa and didn't attempt to go anywhere else.

Did some more Sailor Moon as I got organized after I got in. When a handsome young photographer holds auditions for new models, Usagi thinks her modeling career is about to take off. Mamoru first reminds her that modeling is tough work. It really gets hard when she makes it to the audition, and she and Luna realize it's another Negaverse plot. 

The new Strawberry Shortcake set Snowberry Days seemed rather appropriate, given the weather. I very much enjoyed these three snow-themed tales. In the first one, the girls are surprised when they have a warm day in the middle of winter. They're disappointed they can't make snowmen to play "Capture the Snowman's Nose," until Strawberry comes up with a creative way to let them have fun. It's all crazy games until the carrot noses go missing, and the girls and the Berrykins start wondering if the squirrels may be short of food. 

The second story focused on Blueberry. Her new ice skates that use butterflies to pull you faster are such a huge hit, she's asked to make a line of them for a shop in a city nearby. Blueberry's not sure she can pull it off, but she learns that you never know what you can do unless you try. 

The third one once again begins on an unusually warm winter's day. Raspberry Torte is planning a spring fashion show for the same day one of the Berrykins has scheduled a water show - and they both need to use Berry Bitty City's fountain. Even when they put the shows together, Berrykin Bruce the mechanic feels his show is being overlooked. When everything freezes overnight, an overflowing fountain makes the court too slippery for fashion shows or water shows...until one of Bruce's workers comes up with a creative solution.

I did a few chores around the apartment. The big one was clearing out the space under the sink. I keep my pots, pans, and leftovers containers down there. Trouble is, there's only the narrowest of shelves and no real way to organize anything. I tend to lose tops for containers among the kitchenware. 

Did some writing for about an hour, hour and a half. While I still want to finish the Precipice series, I finally came up with some ideas for that WENN swashbuckler/Revolutionary War spoof I've had in the back of my mind for years this morning. It's set after the (unresolved) 4th season finale cliffhangers. When the WENN show "The Crimson Blade" ends abruptly on similar cliffhangers, Betty and Maple wonder how they would have ended it if given more of a chance. Their narrative will turn into a spoof of every swashbuckler I can think of, and probably quite a few other things, including the show itself. 

Around 6, I made leftovers for dinner while watching the newest Scooby Doo movie, Moon Monster Madness. This story is the strangest yet - the gang wins a lottery to go up into space on a luxury space shuttle financed by an egotistical millionaire. The moment they get into orbit, things start going wrong. An alien attacks the ship, depleting their oxygen and forcing a stop at the millionaire's new resort on the moon. While Daphne and Velma fight over Daphne's astronaut scores being higher than Velma's, Fred hounds two aging astronauts who are driving the ship and Shaggy and Scooby befriend a football player who has some very interesting methods of dealing with fear. The gang has to learn to work together, especially the girls, in order to find out who's really behind these extraterrestrial doings.

The science fiction trappings gives this one a bit of a jolt, despite the been-there, done-that plot. I can only think of a few other episodes where Scooby and the kids got anywhere near sci-fi, and they were mainly in the 70's and early 80's. I did figure out the mystery before the kids - if you're paying attention at the beginning, you may be able to as well.

If you love alien stories or are already a Scooby fan, go right ahead. This isn't the best one they've ever did, but it's a fun mystery with a unique setting. Newcomers will probably want to go to the original series or What's New, Scooby Doo? first and save the movies for after they've gotten to know the characters a little better. 

Oh, and I frosted the cake while Scooby Doo was ending. It ended up being Cocoa Cream Frosting. Not bad. I think I should have just broken out the mixer. The cocoa was a little lumpy.