Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Animated Adventure Tales

It was pouring rain when I got up this morning. It was a good morning to read holiday short stories in bed for a while. Today, I did some real-life Christmas tales from A Treasury of Christmas Stories. There were some interesting ones, too, including how a gift of orange blossoms to millionaire Henry Flager contributed to the creation Miami, Florida and the inspirations for the first teddy bears.

After I got out of bed, I had breakfast, then made Banana-Coconut-Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins with the Alton Brown "Old School Muffins" recipe. Started with Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater episodes spoofing movies, including then-recent action and sci-fi parodies. Kitty is "K.T: The Kitty Terrestrial" when she's accidentally stranded on Earth. She and the others try to phone home while being pursued by scientists Catnip and Grinder. "Cat Wars" takes Princess Hello Kitty and Sam Skypenguin to a galaxy really far away. Darth Catnip has taken over the Princess' planet! It may take all of the powers of the fur for Sam to defeat her. "Jaws: The Great White Dog Shark" (Grinder) is wrecking havoc at Catalina Island. Sam, Kitty, and Professor Chip want to find out why he's suddenly gone bad.

Switched to The Backyardigans while I cleaned up and got ready to work. Uniqua, Pablo, and Austin go on a "Mission to Mars" to find out what that "boinga boinga" sound is. Tyrone and Tasha work Mission Control. The trio and their robot vehicle Rover drive deep into the heart of Mars...and make some surprising (and very cute) discoveries.

Work was a pain. I was tired, and not up to dealing with people. At least two people had items with the wrong prices on them. I figured they just had expired tags, but they got them for free, anyway. And I messed up the money I gave another woman. We weren't even that busy, off-and-on steady, really. The rain was long gone by the time I was at work, but it was still gloomy and gray and no day to be running around. Thankfully, my relief was on time, and I was able to get out fast.

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. I ordered two "Special Edition" Ever After High dolls on Christmas Day from Amazon as gifts to myself. I really wanted these two. Ever After High's had so many villains who didn't want to be bad, it was refreshing to have dolls representing characters who were genuine old-fashioned baddies. Courtley Jester was the jealous daughter of the Joker card who wanted to rule Wonderland. Mira Shards is listed as "Teenage Evil Queen." I can't say who she is without spoiling a lot for the next big special, Dragon Games...other than she wants Raven to play up her evil side.

I'm a little disappointed that Courtley's jester tights are painted on, and Mira has no tights at all. Other than that, they're both beautiful. I love how Courtley's colorful makeup makes her smile look a lot more nasty than Kitty Cheshire's. Mira has gorgeous hair in the most amazing shade of dark coral and a very, very detailed outfit, including the earrings and necklaces that have been eliminated from many dolls of late. Mira is currently hanging out with C.A Cupid; Courtley is with the other Wonderland girls.

I did a little bit of writing after I set up the dolls. While Alan uses a slingshot to hit a lever and stop the conveyor belt, Lisa unties Scott and gets him free. Barnaby, however, has already taken off with Betty. There's only one way to get to the Christmas Festival quickly...and that's the toy soldiers.

Did more Backyardigans as I ate chicken-vegetable soup with the last of the Christmas Day leftovers for dinner. "Samurai Pie," a spoof of Japanese samurai movies and Spaghetti westerns, is one of the most unique episodes they did. Tyrone is a master samurai pie maker. Austin is his eager apprentice. Picky Empress Tasha orders them to make the Great Pie. Tyrone sets Austin to the task...if they can get it past pie-snitching ninjas Uniqua and Pablo first!

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