Taco Thursday

Today was my first early work shift in a while. Other than the ongoing remodeling, it was no trouble. I did a half-hour of carts when I got in and another one right before I went on break. Otherwise, I attempted to do returns. I really wish they hadn't opted to rearrange everything along with the remodeling. It doesn't bother me so much, but a lot of our customers don't want to have to get used to the way the store is organized again. Thankfully, we were never that busy and for once, there was plenty of help on a weekday.

The floral department manager gave me some good news yesterday. They're opting to expand the Floral Department and put that up front instead of the unnecessary Starbucks. It'll probably replace the weekly sales displays and self-checkout area that are at the entrance now. They're already building at the former display area, which is mostly boarded off.

Picked up a box of brown sugar quickly on sale, then headed home. Ate leftovers for lunch while watching Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates. The show finally acknowledges that Captain Hook and his boys weren't the best villains by downplaying their roles and creating an entirely new, far more menacing bad guy for the special "The Great NeverSea Conquest." Lord Fathom is an evil mer-wizard who wants to take over the entire NeverSea...and eventually, Never Land! He finds an emerald that gives him control over the creatures of the NeverSea and allows him to lock up the rightful rulers.

Meanwhile, Captain Hook and his crew and Jake and the kids are both looking for The Mighty Colossus. The legendary pirate vessel destroyed an enormous sea serpant, but went to the bottom of the Never Sea after doing so. Captain Hook wants the treasure it was supposedly carrying. Jake just wants to see the famous ship and learn more about its captain. He gets his wish and his chance when the kids' beloved ship Bucky is damaged. They get help from all the pirate captains in the Never Sea to raise the Colossus and prove Jake to be the strong-hearted pirate captain he'd always dreamed of.

Did writing for the next few hours. Hank's huge friend Charles appears with Baby, whom he found wandering the streets. Rey finds the message on Baby's collar. They take the dog and the paper to Leia Organa-Solo. After Leia tells them she knows Artie Baker, a friend of Luke's, she confronts Hank. The kids are hoping for romance, but despite a promising start, they end up discussing their son being involved in the shootout and Poe's kidnapping instead.

Artie turns out to be an eccentric, very small inventor. He's created a robot that looks like a huge Swiss army knife, but is really designed to hold secrets and communicate with other robots. A red light on its dome flashes, even though none of Artie's other robots are operating and there are no others in the area. He reveals that Luke is in New York, searching houses...though he's not sure why.

It was just getting dark and cloudy when I rode over to Dad and Jodie's around quarter of 6. Jodie's Taco Thursday was in full swing. She had hard and soft tortillas, seasoned ground beef, sliced tomatoes and onions, shredded lettuce, and hot sauce and sour cream out. I didn't have a big lunch and ended up eating four of them, three soft and one hard. (I'm not a big fan of hard tacos. They tend to fall apart.)

Chatted with various members of the family, including Dana, Jodie, and Rose. I didn't know Rose was a Flyers fan. This is their 50th season - today was their 50th annual home opening game, (Disappointingly, I later discovered they lost to the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2.) She suggested going to see a home game some time. I'd love to! I've seen Phillies and Eagles games live, but never the Flyers.

Glad I got to see everyone. Khai mostly watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown on DVD and The Loud Family on Nickelodeon while playing with his mother's iPad. Rose brought a Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake, made from our mom's own recipe that she used to make for the Ugly Mug bar in Cape May when she worked there in the 80's. It was just as good as Mom's was when we were kids, chocolate-y and rich.

Rose also reminded me that I really need to call the family in Cape May County. I haven't since I went down there with her in July. They did just get past their busy season. Dad-Bill apparently hasn't been doing so good, but it's more than likely he won't do anything like resting and is probably driving Mom nuts. He and Anny apparently went up to visit Grandma Ann in upstate New York. Grandma Ann is cool. She's my only grandparent left. As Rose said, she has a tendency to spend money like it's going out of style (gee, wonder where Dad-Bill gets that habit from), but she's funny as hell and tells great stories.