That left me rather at loose ends, and very disappointed. I had intended to do my grocery shopping and run errands today anyway, since it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I'd just have more time for them now.
I had breakfast and made my grocery list while watching Sailor Moon. Usagi and the girls are thrilled when an English gentleman who is friends with Mamoru invites them to a genuine ball. Usagi dreams of "Usagi Dancing the Waltz," until she realizes she'll have to speak English to all his friends there. Nervous, she grabs the wrong drink at the party and ends up drunk. She'll have to sober up in a hurry when Eudial crashes the party with a tone-deaf phonograph monster whose music is a lot less sweet than a waltz!
Let Supermarket Sweep run while getting organized. I came in for the "Snack Attack Movie Game." The contestants answer three trivia about movies of the time. The one who gets the third question also taste-tests a popular snack and has to guess what it is. (In this case, Snackwell Sandwich Cookies.) That team also had a clear advantage in the Big Sweep, starting well before the other contestants and amassing more in bonus items than the second team did in their whole sweep. They didn't do quite so well with the bonus round, though.
Headed out after that. I first stopped at PNC to get money from their ATM machine. Ran in, got the cash, and got out in five minutes with no lines and no trouble.
Took the back roads in Collingswood to avoid traffic as I headed to the Westmont Acme to begin my big shopping. Found bagels on the bakery clearance racks, picked up parchment paper, Kind kids breakfast bars and Fuji apples with online coupons, and restocked yogurt and soda.
The last thing I expected to find among the probiotic sodas in the big coolers in the front of the store was Slice Ginger Ale! I haven't seen Slice in at least 20 years. I thought Pepsi dropped it in favor of Sierra Mist. Apparently, someone bought the name and started it up again as a type of low-sugar probiotic soda not far removed from Olipop. The can even looked the same as it did when I was a kid. I bought it, though I haven't tried it yet. Their web site indicates that there's at least four more flavors available, including lower-sugar versions of the original orange and lemon-lime. I want to try the grapefruit - that's not a flavor other probiotic soda companies have gotten to yet.
Made a brief stop at the Haddon Township Library to drop off An Appetite For Murder before heading across the street to Sprouts. Picked up tiny mandarin oranges 2 for $1, Zevia and Nixie diet sodas, granola bars buy one, get one free, and chocolate peanut butter cookies on clearance. Decided to try the bulk "European cereal," which was really oats and chopped dates. Had a hard time with the oranges at the self-checkout. They didn't have numbers. I had to wait for the lady in charge to take the wrong ones off, then find the right number.
At least it was a gorgeous day for all the running around, especially compared to the weather we're supposed to have tomorrow! Sunny, bright, breezy, chilly but not overly so like it was last week. By the time I dodged the traffic on Cuthbert and headed home, the snow we got last Sunday had vanished from all but the thickest piles and the shadiest areas.
Put everything away, then had eggs and an orange for lunch while watching Archie's Weird Mysteries on Tubi. Archie's lamenting nothing interesting going on, until Reggie turns up in shock, clutching an overdue library slip. Turns out "The Haunting of Riverdale" all stems from the library, where the recently-deceased librarian who worked there for decades has been turning up again. Everyone says she was sweet and dedicated to her job but Jughead, who was afraid of her. He'll have to face his fears and explain why she intimidated him in order for her to finally be able to go home.
Watched Shinbone Alley on YouTube while doing some job hunting on my own, including putting in an application for a receptionist job at YourOffice, a shared office space company. I go further into this odd 1970 adult animated musical featuring Eddie Bracken as a cockroach poet and Carol Channing as the alley cat he admires at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Watched Match Game Syndicated while getting ready to head out. Gene Rayburn burst through his doors today, smashing them to bits! That led to a round of macho jokes, especially after Gene handed a contestant a piece of the door. Joyce Bulifant did unusually well too, getting almost every answer right.
Jessa picked me up at 5:30 to go skating and out to dinner. We were originally going to go out tomorrow night, but the nearest skating park is outdoors, and like I said earlier, it's supposed to rain. She parked along the road behind the Doubletree Hotel in Cherry Hill, across from Cooper River Park. The former mini golf course across from the hotel had been made over into a temporary ice skating rink. She bought the time and rented our skates, which we changed into in a large white tent.
I haven't skated since there was briefly a rink just outside of Wildwood in the mid-90's. I did well then...but tonight, I just couldn't keep my balance. I moved slower than a snail. My right foot kept threatening to go out from under me. I'd skate out to the ice with Jessa and the kids, only to return to the sides a few minutes later. At one point, I took a very nasty fall on my left arm and wrist and had to be helped up by Jess and the guy in charge. I was so embarrassed, though Jess said I was doing fine. It's not like all the little kids skating around us weren't falling over themselves and each other, too.
After an hour, my wrist and left arm were really sore, and my thighs burned. Jess kept saying "one more round," but I'd had enough. Besides, it was getting busy. More kids had showed up in the hour since we arrived, and it was starting to get crowded. We stopped to take selfies on the side, then took off our skates back in the tent. She took a few more photos of us at the wooden boards set up to look like a snowman, a reindeer, and Santa Claus, and we warmed our hands over nifty little fire pits. I wish we'd brought marshmallows to roast over those little pits!
Jess drove further down Route 70 to a small old shopping center that seemed to consist mainly of various Asian restaurants and one massage parlor and spa. We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant Rayaki Ramen. They were small, but darn cool, with black-and-white anime artwork on the wall, dark wood booths, and episodes of InuYasha playing on the TV over the counter.
She had spicy edamame and miso ramen. I had a spiral fried potato with really spicy mayo and tasty shrimp ramen. (Which I ate with a ladle-like spoon. I never could figure out chopsticks.) We shared crispy fried squid. I tried mochi green tea ice cream. This was ice cream wrapped in some kind of weird squishy dough. The ice cream was good, but I didn't like the texture of the dough and probably won't be trying it again.
Jessa had called an older guy friend to join us tonight. He couldn't find us and didn't turn up until well after we'd already eaten and were ready to go home. Turns out he lives in Pennsylvania and had a hard time getting away from his job as a security guard as a prison. We discussed his drive and his job before we all finally headed home.
I finished the night listening to the Classic Fairy Stories CD set I picked up last year while working on the Shinbone Alley review. British comedian Cribbins reads eight fairy tales, including one, The Princess of the Glass Hill, that you don't often see on children's albums. Glass Hill is something of a male Cinderella story, with Cinderlad taming three horses who are raving his father's crops, then using them to bring the gold apple to the princess in the title three times. Other stories on this set include a very cute Goldilocks and the Three Bears and an expanded Three Little Pigs that shows how the Wolf didn't give up and kept trying to get that last pig.
Oh, and American Girl just re-released Samantha in her original checked dress and black stockings, with her original accessories. Unlike the re-released dolls from last year, she comes with, not her original book, but a book that explains her time period and character. I'm happy with my Samantha and aren't in the market for another one, but I am glad they put out Sam in her first outfit again for those who want it. Now, if only they'd make more outfits for her...
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