Fairy Tale High

The morning got off to too fast of a start with Chocolate Chip Pancakes. I'm not used to working early on Sunday! I burned one side of a pancake and just barely had the time to eat them. Too bad. Other than the burned side, they came out very well. I tried to make them as much like a real chocolate chip cookie as possible, with butter instead of vegetable oil and a little brown sugar in the batter.

I just barely got into work on time. And for once, I needed to be on time. We were busy all morning and early afternoon. Today was the first pre-season Eagles game at 1 PM. (They beat the Colts 36-10, BTW) and we're usually at least steady on Sunday regardless of what's playing. This is the only day many people who work during the week can shop. My relief was one of the new college kids who is usually early.

Good thing, too. I had many things I wanted to do today. As soon as I got home, I changed into regular clothes, then grabbed this week's laundry load. Since it was small, I threw in the doll-themed quilt on my bed. The laundromat was bustling when I arrived! People seemed to be in a far better mood there than they had been at work. I especially liked the lady with three adorable kids, ages seven, five, and two. They watched their clothes go around and around and helped their mom fold their things. They were so cute. I've never seen kids that were so well-behaved in the laundromat. I spent a pleasant hour or so working on notes and watching their antics.

When I got home, I folded my own clothes, then spent the rest of the afternoon dusting. I put it off to work on stories, but it was getting really bad. I couldn't put it off any longer. The dust came off one window sash in waves, it was so bad. Thankfully, I did get it all done in about an hour and a half.

I listened to more fairy-tale themed records and CDs as I dusted and ate the last of the leftover tuna salad for dinner. Once Upon a Time is Donna Summer's disco Cinderella retelling. The ballad "I Love You" was the only hit, but I prefer the sprightly "Fairy Tale High."

After I dusted, I switched to a true curiosity. Among the radio shows included in my The 60 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows of the 20th Century set are an episode of the children's program Let's Pretend that recreated fairy tales and fantasy stories. They covered many lesser known stories as well as familiar favorites, including one story even I never heard of - "Mell-A-Lot." Three brothers are turned into half-frogs, half-men by a wicked sorceress. Mell-A-Lot is their gentle neighbor, a sweet girl who accepts their help to fix her roof and eat her food without any thought of herself. It takes intervention from three fairies - and acts of true kindness - to break the spell and eliminate the sorceress.