Mall Adventures

Began a hazy, sunny morning with breakfast and Strawberry Shortcake In Big Apple City. Strawberry's on her way to the Berry City that Never Sleeps for a baking contest. The Peculiar Purple Pieman is determined to keep her from winning and sabotages her every step of the way. Good thing she meets a lot of friendly locals who help her out, including eventual series regulars Orange Blossom and Lemon Meringue.

First on the agenda for the day was getting the laundry done. Good thing I had a tiny load, because they were busy again. Thankfully, it wasn't a noisy crowd. The young boy in the one family there sensibly spent the entire time reading. I took a page from him and spent the forty minutes I was there working on story notes and half-listening to Rachel Ray and The View.

After I got home and put everything away, I had a really quick lunch and got organized to run errands. Garfield and Jon are heading for a tropical resort in Garfield In Paradise. Their vacation doesn't work out well at first, thanks to the cheap hotel Jon booked. It's not until they rent a vintage 1950's car that things begin to pick up considerably. The car, however, eventually lands them in a village of doo-wop-worshiping natives...just as the island's volcano is about to go off!

Made a few quick stops first. I just returned the DVDs and Star Wars In 100 Scenes book to the Oaklyn Library. I'll volunteer there on Saturday, my next day off. Stopped at WaWa for a Gatorade and change for the bus. Locked my bike at the fence behind the former Camden Restaurant Supply Store on the White Horse Pike, then crossed the street to pick up the bus to Cherry Hill. They were right on time, with no traffic anywhere.

The Cherry Hill Mall was the busiest I'd seen it since Christmas, much busier than it was when I went there in May with Lauren. It looked like I wasn't the only person who wanted to avoid the 93-degree heat and stifling humidity. I did my clothes shopping during vacation, so I was mostly there to peek at the toy stores.

Browsed at Jay Street Video Games and Build-A-Bear, but didn't see anything I absolutely needed. The Disney Store had practically no Star Wars stuff left, likely cleared out to make room for the new merchandise for The Last Jedi. They did have some cute Animator's Collection Toddler dolls, though, including a new Flynn from Tangled, the third boy in the line after Aladdin and Kristoff from Frozen. (Flynn comes with the cutest stuffed grumpy Maximus and has an adorable little smirk like Toddler Merida's.)

(And I can name any number of boys I'd like to see in the line. How about a young Arthur from The Sword In the Stone with a stuffed Archimedes? Or Mowgli with a mini-Baloo or Bagheera? Or Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid with a mini-Max the Sheep Dog?)

I was really in Cherry Hill to hit their Target. Hiked across the street and over the pedestrian bridge, taking the elevator up instead of the stairs. (It was really too hot to be dragging my feet up steep concrete steps.) Noticed they're opening a second Layne Bryant location in the fall between PetSmart and the furniture store. Awesome! I like them. You can never have too many plus-size stores. (Plus, this is the first time I've seen that store in a regular shopping center, rather than an indoor mall.)

Target was even busier than the mall. I actually had a reason for being in the toy and sports section besides checking out dolls. I had no bike inner tubes. You never know when one will go on you. All they had was Schwinn. I just grabbed one; I'll get more when I had more money.

Of course I had to check out the toys. While Ever After High seems to be gone, they did have the new Forces of Destiny Star Wars dolls. I debated getting Sabine Wren, then decided I'd save my money for Ahsoka and Padme in the next wave. They did have Jyn and two each of Rey and Leia, including a really cool Leia that came with Wicket the Ewok and the brown dress the Ewoks gave her, but I already have perfectly good Leia, Rey, and Jyn dolls.

Otherwise, I didn't do very well there. They didn't have magnetic curtain rods for my new front door with the too-big window, and I couldn't find the chair pads for my dining table chairs. Their Halloween stuff isn't out yet, either. Not even the candy. They're still on Back to School. This did enable me to buy a red composition book for my next journal for a mere 50 cents. Also grabbed Betty Crocker Spice Cake Mix (which I love - it's cheaper at Target than at the Acme) and a bottle of water for the way home. (And drats. Looks like my favorite toasted coconut covered marshmallows were discontinued again. They didn't even have a label for them.)

Tried looking for the curtain rods and curtain at Kohl's on the way back. Nothing there, either. The rods were all huge. Didn't even see any good American Girl stuff. They had outfits for Tenney Grant, the new musically-inclined modern character, and a few accessories for the little-girls line the Wellies Wishers. I don't have any of the Wellies and find Tenney and her line to be rather bland. I moved on. (To give Kohl's some credit, though, they did have a few fall displays out.)

Headed back into the mall for treats and a cool iced tea sample from Teavana before I headed home. Dairy Queen advertised a new Frosted Fudge Brownie Blizzard as their Blizzard of the Month. Yuumm! The medium cup I bought was delicious! Brownie chunks in vanilla ice cream with fudge swirls and chocolate chips. The fudge swirls turned it into Black and White Brownie Blizzard. I just wished they'd mixed it a little better. It was mostly vanilla and chocolate chips on the bottom.

Briefly checked out JC Penney before heading out into the heat to catch the bus. I got lucky. It arrived a few minutes after I came out, early for once. There was slightly more traffic around the Market Place and in Westmont. Otherwise, I once again had no problems getting home.

As soon as I got in, I went on the computer. Things get worse for Luke when the car he shares with Leia dies on the side of the road. He flags down an ancient old Asian man to ask him to use his phone. Turns out...yes, the old guy is Yoda, the elderly former surfer who has surfed with all the greats and knows many of the best tricks. Yoda's not at all certain he'll be able to teach Luke. Luke tells him he's not afraid. Yoda's not so sure.

Broke around 7 to have leftovers for dinner. Did more fourth-season Moonlighting as I ate. The only mystery in "Tale In Two Cities" is why Maddie continues to remain in Chicago. While she attends a party her parents put on to get her out of her funk, Dave tries to pull him and Burt out of their own depressions by going out on the town with some lovely ladies. But they can't get their women out of their heads...

Did a few more episodes after my shower. Maddie announces that she's pregnant at the end of the previous episode, but only to Agnes. Dave finds out from Agnes and Burt in the start of "Cool Hand David, Part I." He goes to Chicago, only to somehow get switched with a criminal and thrown in jail. While he tries to foil a crooked warden's scheme in Part II, Agnes and Burt attempt to find out what happened to him.

And wow. The humidity we've had all day has finally resulted in a massive thunderstorm that's going on even as I write this. Lightning, noisy house-shaking thunder, crazy wind, torrential downpours, the works. Charlie's not going to like this. He spent an hour cursing his brains out while clearing the massive piles of acorns off the other side of my porch and from around the yard. (And I don't think he can cut down the tree that's dropping the most acorns, despite his threats. I think it's in his parents' yard.)