Rain Dazed

It was pouring when I rolled out of bed this morning. Put on an episode of She-Ra to bring some fun to a gloomy day. Cowardly flying koala Kowl, forgetful sorceress Madame Razz, and her sassy talking broom are in the spotlight in "Three Courageous Hearts." They end up being the only ones who can rescue She-Ra when an evil sorceress imprisons her in another dimension.

I called Dad and Jodie for a ride to work, but they had things to do today. I just rode to work in the rain and got wet. Maybe it was just as well. I spent the first hour or so outside doing carts. Thankfully, a bagger that prefers being outside came in at one. I spent the rest of the afternoon bagging, gathering baskets, and cleaning and organizing the gift card kiosk.

My schedule's kind of odd next week, but I don't mind. I have three days off, including Tuesday for counseling. Wednesday and next Friday will be longer six-hour days, but I'll live. Once it gets past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it usually isn't busy anyway. It won't pick up until we get closer to the beginning of the month and all the activity in early-mid February.

By the time I was doing my own grocery shopping, the crowds had died out. I could restock canned pineapple, mandarin oranges, apples, grapefruit, blue corn tortilla chips, chicken sausage, cereal (went with bran flakes), yogurt, and pads in relative peace. There were good sales on blackberries (99 cents) and ground turkey ($1.88 - I bought two packs). Bought marshmallows and evaporated milk to make fudge later.

Thankfully, when I finally headed out around quarter of 4, the rain was gone. It was still damp and way too warm for this time of year, probably in the mid-60's, but at least I got home dry. I changed, put everything away, and got organized while watching The Cat In the Hat. We're not the only ones dealing with a wet, dismal day. Two bored kids and their very opinionated fish get their rainy day turned on its ear when a talking cat sporting red and white headgear almost as tall as he is appears on their doorstep. He claims to be searching for a family heirloom, but he and his "thing" helpers seem to be more interested in pestering the annoyed fish and performing hat-related musical numbers.

Wrote for a couple of hours as the rain returned. The group arrives in the back side of the Toy Factory, but the door is locked. BB is the only one who can get up into the high windows and retrieve the key to let them in.

Made scrambled eggs with cauliflower, cheese, and mushrooms for dinner and mandarin oranges for dessert. Tried putting banana-peanut butter fudge together after I finished dinner. I don't know how well it worked. I burned the bottom of the big, heavy pan I was using. It seemed thicker than the "gingerbread spice" fudge that never set, but it definitely wasn't as thick as the chocolate fudge that came out right. I stuck them in the freezer, which does seem to have helped somewhat.

Watched an episode of the third season of Wonder Woman as the fudge cooked. The citizens of a small town are terrified that "The Starships are Coming" after a young man who claims to have seen UFOs disappears. Footage of a seemingly real invasion bears this out. Diana does some snooping around on her own...and discovers that the so-called "aliens" have a very real and chilling reason for their "invasion."

Ended the night with Three Days of the Condor. Joe Turner (Robert Redford) works as an analyst for a hidden CIA office in New York, code named "Condor." He's supposed to be checking media for hidden meanings...but just as he thinks he's come across something big, all of his co-workers are murdered while he's out to lunch. He calls it in to his boss Wicks (Michael Kane), but it turns out he's a member of the group who did it. Joe flees, taking a young woman (Faye Dunaway) hostage in order to have a place to figure out what's going on. She ends up falling for him, but that won't help him when Joubert, the hitman who killed his co-workers (Max von Sydow), turns up and tries to kill him. Now he has to figure out who he can trust in the CIA and New York while getting the director of the CIA in New York (Cliff Robertson) to reveal what's going on.

Tense thriller benefits from fine performances from Redford, Robertson, Dunaway, and especially Von Sydow as the ruthless assassin and from Sydney Pollack's expert and fast-paced direction. The general plot and several sexual scenes later in the film make this for adults who love the cast or political thrillers.

Incidentally, the rain has been off and on the rest of the evening, sometimes heavily. It's off right now. If nothing else, it and the warm temperatures got rid of the last of the snow.