Hot Hot Hot!

Ugh. It continued to be hot, hazy, and humid today. I slept in, then spent some time volunteering at the Oaklyn Library, mostly organizing children's books. After that, I went for a walk. Stopped at 7-11 and bought a cup of honeydew and cantaloupe chunks and a very salty soft pretzel for lunch. (And was reminded why I don't go into that 7-11 more often when the Middle Eastern guy behind the counter started asking questions that got a little too personal for my liking.) I ran to CVS to buy some Draino, but the guy in front of me took so long to buy money orders, I put the bottle back and went home empty-handed.

I hung out at my place and read until it was time to go to work. Work was on-and-off busy all night, with no major problems other than some annoying customers. I didn't even have much to buy after I finished, mostly whole wheat flour, yogurt, a small shoulder steak for pepper steak, granola bars, and dish washing liquid. I had lovely dinner of salmon, sauteed summer vegetables, and very sweet Jersey corn on the cob when I got home.

My schedule for this week is pretty decent, too. I have Tuesday and Saturday off, with only one day that's later than 7...but that day is 5:30 to 10 on Wednesday. I only hope I don't need a ride that night. Most of the people I know don't stay up that late.

Balanced Heat

Started today with my first Yogawood class in over two weeks. As always on Fridays, it was fairly full, too, 14 people with the teacher Micki. We worked on heart-openers - stretches, balancing, handstands. I don't think I'll ever be able to stand on my hands or do a full wheel. I just am not coordinated or flexible at all.

I ran the usual day-off errands after class. Stopped very briefly at the thrift shop, but they weren't open yet. I just left my small bag of donations at the door. I stopped at the Collingswood Library next to take a look at a book they had. Had a pretzel and water at the 7-11 on Cuthbert Road, then went down to the Haddon Township Library.

I spent a few hours in there, but I was mostly browsing. For the first time in months, there wasn't much for me to do. They must have really gotten caught up on book and DVD returns last week. I eventually took out four non-fiction books. One was on writing and publishing children's books, one on general job-hunting, one on copywriting, and one on how to get a job after completing college. (I want to figure out what I did wrong after I got out of college.)

Stopped at Super Fresh (they were having a $1.99 for 12 packs of English muffins sale, but they didn't have the whole wheat) and at WaWa (for a Junior roast beef hoagie and Coke Cherry Zero) before heading home. I spent the rest of the evening working on editing this month's Monkees role play main story and making Tex-Mex scrambled eggs for dinner.

It's just as well that I got home when I did. It was sunny when I went out this morning, but dark clouds had been gathering all day, and it was still really hot and humid. They'd reached critical mass around 4:30, and by the time I was editing, it was thundering and lightning and pouring in droves. It didn't last long, but it did make everything very wet (again).

Good Clean Fun

I opened my eyes. The clock read 7:30. I closed them for what I thought was five minutes or so. When I opened them again, the clock said 11.

Not a good way to start the day.

I was even less thrilled when I was half-way to Collingswood to deliver some donations to the thrift shop and I discovered the back tire, which I pumped last night, had deflated again. Looks like I was right about that slow leak. I ended up walking it around Collingswood and Westmont for most of the day.

The thrift shop went better. Erica called me last night and said she'd received a big box of records as part of a donation, including Monkees records. She'd mentioned the record Davy, Peter, and Micky made when they were on tour together in the mid-80s, Pool It! The record was still there when I arrived...and it held an even more interesting surprise. The Pool It! cover contained not only the record that went with it, but the mid-80s Rhino copy of a later Monkees album, The Monkees Present. Monkees Present was the second album released after Peter Tork left the group, and it features my very favorite of the songs Mike Nesmith wrote for the Monkees, "Listen to the Band."

(I also picked up the Rhino version of the first, self-titled Monkees album, along with Jack Jones and Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians.)

I hiked over to the library after leaving the thrift shop, with short stops at the Collingswood Library and the 7-11 next to the Westmont Acme, picking up a bottle of water and a big soft pretzel for lunch from the latter. It was hot, humid, and sunny by the time I was out and about, and I was sweating like crazy.

The Haddon Township Library was hopping when I finally made it there. One of the librarians said she'd organized the children's DVDs yesterday and discovered this morning that they were messy again. I reorganized them again, then shelved the adult DVDs as well as I could. Lots of people wanted DVDs today, and I couldn't always answer their requests for specific titles. Not to mention, a mother and her son were looking for DVDs, and the little boy, who couldn't have been more than 7 or 8, kept dragging over titles like Rocky Balboa or I Am Legend that were way over his head.

I took three DVDs I'd been wanting to see (the original 50s version of Cheaper By the Dozen with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb, the original High Noon with Gary Cooper, and the magic-themed The Prestige with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) before heading back into the hot sunshine. It was about 4:30 by this point. I made a very quick stop at Super Fresh to see if they had any low-fat peanut butter on sale (nope) before just walking home. I was hoping my neighbor would be out to fix my tire, but I didn't see him. Maybe he'll be there tomorrow.

Cranberry Christmas

I ran to the bank this morning to deposit my money...then realized I didn't have enough for the rent AND counseling next week. It'll cover the rent, but there won't be much left. Oh, well, I just won't have as much money on me this week.

I stopped at 7-11 to see if they had any of the seasonal Cranberry Splash Slurpee, based after the Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash soda that's out again for the holidays. Yes, they did, so I bought half a 12 oz cup. Oooh, was that GOOOOD stuff! Tart but not too tangy, sweet but not overly so like some Slurpee flavors. It was 40 degrees out this morning, and I still loved it. I may have to have that again at least once before the end of the holiday season.

Work was busy, busy, busy! We had the help; it was just BUSY. It's the beginning of the month, and people are out spending their checks and food stamps. Adding to this is the nasty local weather reports. We MAY get snow tonight, along with freezing rain. It'll more likely rain, but even if it does snow, I doubt it'll be any real accumulation. And even if it accumulates, I really don't understand why everyone around here makes such a fuss, anyway. It's not like most people in northern Camden County are more than five minutes from a grocery or convenience store. The panic is more understandable in Cape May County, where many people really DO live far from grocery stores, but here it's just silly.

Ooh, and my WebKinz harvested their first garden-fresh fruit and vegetables today! Rosie Pony had the honor of picking our ripe, tasty pumpkins and watermelons!

Down And Dirty With the Simpsons

Began cleaning today. I put it off last month because of my knee, and no matter what everyone says, I just can't put it off any longer. The apartment looks terrible; the bathtub and sink in particular were bad, and I was starting to get tiny ants around the crack between the sink and the small counter next to the stove. (In fact, this crack is right above the area under the sink that gave me mouse trouble in the spring.) I ran to the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike to pick up some Raid before cleaning.

On my way home from Family Dollar, I stopped at the 7-11 for a Slurpee to combat the continuing intense heat. I've been getting their Crystal Light Passionfruit, which actually tastes more like Sour Watermelon than the flavor that claims to be Sour Watermelon and is probably sugar-free.

7-11's in the midst of a huge promotion for The Simpsons Movie. I don't care much about the Simpsons, but even I couldn't resist a promotion this big. As Matt of X-Entertainment mentions in this very breathless article at his site, some stores even converted into an all-Simpsons "Kwik-E-Mart" for the weeks surrounding the opening of the movie. The White Horse Pike store isn't one of them, but they still have a ton of Simpsons merchandise. I even bought a Squishee cup to go with my Superman Returns Slurpee cup from last summer. (It's the green one with Lisa, one of the few characters from the show I sorta like.) I saw a box of Krusty-Os on one half-price shelf, but despite the massive size, the front cover did not look appetizing.

Of all the Simpsons stuff 7-11's peddling this summer, the must-have would probably be the infamous pink-frosted donut. I hate donuts, but I figured today I'd have one anyway, just for history's sake. I like trying weird, unusual, and "limited edition" flavors of regular junk food. I think I'm one of the only people who liked that cinnamon-flavored Holiday Pepsi Spice they did two Christmases ago, and I was also big on Crystal Pepsi in the early 90s. I had to do it. I had to know what a pink frosted Simpsons donut tasted like.

I took a big bike the moment I walked out of the store. I managed to get through almost half of it before coming to the conclusion that, as cool as the Pepto-Bismol pink frosting was, it was TOO FREAKIN' SWEET! Blech. Like eating fifteen thousand pounds of sugar at once. I don't have THAT big of a sweet tooth. I ditched the thing without finishing it and concentrated on my Passionfruit Squishee instead.