At Home In the Rain

Got a quick start on a cloudy morning with breakfast and a couple of shorts featuring the entire Disney gang. They're all excited to be on a "Hawaiian Holiday" as Mickey plays the ukulele and Minnie practices her hula. The others have less luck on the beach. Goofy just can't seem to figure out surfboarding, Donald sits on a starfish, and Pluto does battle with a very crabby crab.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy leave the shores of Wakiki to hit the road in "Mickey's Trailer." This state-of-the-art (for 1938) RV has everything an animated animal could want in a modern trailer...except a driver who can take over while Goofy eats. When he rushes to take control of the vehicle, he accidentally sends Mickey, Donald and the trailer back down a busy and treacherous Hill.

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. Considering the weather, the drivers arrived surprisingly fast. The one this morning came in 4 minutes, the one going home in 10 despite the heavy rain. No trouble either way other than ongoing road construction and some flooding in Oaklyn.

Work was no trouble, either. I spent the morning cleaning deli displays and the large cases for seafood and chicken and dusting the latter. We were pretty quiet for almost my entire shift. Sometimes after my break at 11, the sky finally opened, and it started pouring. It was pouring when I called for a ride home, and it would continue pouring and storming off and on for most of the day. 

Went straight into lunch and Remember WENN when I got home. "From the Pen of Gertrude Reece" has the station's receptionist (Margaret Hall) showing Betty her magnum opus radio script, Rendezvous In Rabat. This turns into a hilarious spoof of Casablanca, with Scott in the Rick Blaine role, Betty as Ilsa, Victor Comstock as Victor Lazlo, Maple as the cafe singer and the refugees, Mackie as Major Renault, C.J as the bartender and a German officer, Mr. Eldridge as Carl the waiter, Hilary as Rick's rejected girlfriend, and Jeff as the waiter. As with the real Casablanca, Gertie's having a hard time figuring out an ending. Nothing that she or Hilary suggests passes muster. Betty types out her own idea of whom Ilsa should end up with before insisting to Gertie that she should really figure out her own ending.

"Eugenia Bremer, Master Spy" is the station's kindly organist who is delighted to be dating British secret agent Desmond Quist (Daniel Davis). He claims there are still secret codes going out over the airwaves and makes the cast "paraphrase" their scripts to keep them out of enemy hands. Eugenia's been receiving mysterious calls and speaking German words, but it turns out there's a far more benign reason for her behavior than spy capers.

Switched to Clue after lunch in honor of Tim Curry, who passed away two days ago. Based on the board game, six strangers are called to a dinner party at the spooky Hill House by Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). They're each given a weapon and reveal that Boddy has been blackmailing them. After the lights turn off, Boddy is found dead, and everyone has a means and a motive. Butler Wadsworth (Curry) tries his best to explain it all as they try to figure out who did it "in the hall, with the revolver," before they become the next victims!

This is an old favorite in my family. We taped it somewhere around 1987 and watched that tape for over a decade. Mom used to call it our "stormy weather movie." I can still quote most of the dialogue. Curry is delightful as the supercilious butler, but the entire cast of some of the 80's best comedians has a blast. 

The movie starts slow with the set up, but give it time. By the end, you'll be breathless just watching Curry run around summing up all the murders! There's also the gimmick of having multiple endings that baffles critics to this day, but makes it the perfect rainy-day DVD watch. (The DVD lets you choose a random ending, or watch all three, as in the video and streaming versions.) Highly recommended for your own stormy day viewing if you're a fan of Curry or any of the comedians or love a good ensemble comedy.

Moved to The Gong Show next at YouTube in honor of singer Jaye P. Morgan, who died yesterday. Morgan was a staple on the wackiest amateur show to almost be live from Hollywood, at least until she bared her breasts in an episode. She was joined in the show I saw by Steve Martin and Arte Johnson. The tuba players were surprisingly fun and a guy playing his lips was honestly pretty nifty, but the singer attempting to ape Neil Diamond was terrible, and I had no idea what the guy with the dog was doing there. 

Went to Disney Plus for Morgan's episode of The Muppet Show. You'd think a lady who frequently judges the weirdest amateur show on television would have no problems with the Muppets, but first she's not happy when she ends up in a bird costume for the cutesy "Tweedle Dee," then gets hit with bombs all over the place. She finally bonds with Scooter's crotchety uncle JP Gross, the owner of the Muppets's theater, and gets a pretty nifty rendition of  "That Old Black Magic" with the Electric Mayhem.

Stayed at Disney after a shower for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in honor of Peter Cullum, who did the voice of Eeyore in this show. The second episode of the show kicks off with "Friend, In Deed." Rabbit is so fed up with Pooh borrowing his honey, he makes him think he's moving. The others really think he's moving and try to get him honey from a hive so he'll stay. Piglet sees Eeyore sitting on the cliff side and thinks he's sad. The others try to be a "Donkey for a Day" and make him happy, but they do what makes them happy, not him. It isn't until Piglet admits he doesn't know what makes Eeyore happy that the gloomy donkey shows Piglet what he was really doing on the cliff.

Moved to Match Game '76 as I made nectarine-banana pancakes for dinner. Gene wears a very, very bright red coat in the first episode that prompted a lot of cracks from the panelists, including Mary Wickes telling him to stay out of the bullring. The first episode of the next week with Bill Daily and soap ingenue Bennye Gatteys was rather important, as it kicked off with Gene announcing that Richard is going to host a new show called Family Feud in the fall...

Finished the night at Tubi with Blue Valley Songbird. I discuss this Lifetime musical drama from 1999 featuring Dolly Parton as a troubled singer at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

A Salute to Dolly Pardon - Blue Valley Songbird

Dreamers Under the Sun

Started off the morning with the last episode of Shirt Tales. It's "Mayhem On the Orient Express" when the Engineer and his fawning partner who steal trains take off with the engine of the most famous train of all, with Bogey and Kip onboard. The others have to rescue them and keep the passenger cars from falling back. They're in Switzerland for "The Cuckoo Count Caper." The Count De Minuit wants to hypnotize the Shirt Tales and use them to finish his massive cuckoo clocks! Kip catches wise, then breaks Pammy out. It's up to the girls to save their guy friends and stop the Count from turning them into clockwork mechanisms. 

And that's that. Unlike Pac-Man, which started strong in the first season but degenerated into a mass of bizarre stories and useless additional characters in its second, the second season of Shirt Tales mostly improves on the first. The first season isn't bad, but never seems to figure out what it wants the Shirt Tales to be, and there's a little too much focus on Dinkel and outside characters. The writing is sharper in the second season (Pammy in particular gets some hilarious lines), and cheerful Kip is a welcome addition. I genuinely regret that they ended the show by mid-way through the second season. It's not the greatest thing ever, and some episodes (like "Saturday Night Shirt Tales") were dated even when the show came out, but it's charming and funny enough to get a recommend from Hanna Barbara fans and kids who love animal stories. 

Hurried out to work after that. There were at least two other baggers working with me, including the head bagger. I thought she wasn't going into a register until 11, but they put her there early. I had no idea she hadn't swept the store. On the other hand, it was only slightly busier today than it had been on Wednesday. It's the end of a month without a lot going on after the 4th of July. Most people are probably on vacation, or were out enjoying the beautiful, sunny, breezy weather. It was so dead by the end of the morning, and I had so little to do, I spent the last half-hour putting away items people didn't need.

Got my schedule while I was at work. I have fewer hours, which I expected for the reasons I mentioned above. We're well between major holidays, there's not a lot going on besides Phillies games, and most people are on vacation. However, I go in early when I do work, and I have 7 hours for some reason next Saturday. 

Did my grocery shopping after I finished. Restocked granola, yogurt, oat milk, soda, tuna, cherries, and cookies. Blackberries and the Acme's generic small trash bags were buy one, get one. Bought two bagels for lunches at work this weekend and a turkey-cranberry sandwich for lunch today. They had the Sprite Zero + Tea here, too, so I got that and a Coke Cherry Zero. Found tea cakes, little turned-over cupcakes covered in icing, on the bakery clearance rack. 

Changed when I got home, then had lunch while watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Taking Turns at Show and Tell" is more complicated when O and Dan want to both use the same apron. Teacher Harriet suggests they take turns, with O using it to play restaurant, then Daniel using it for show and tell. The kids are restless, but they do have to wait their turn when show and tell beings. Daniel has to wait to use the bubbles when Miss Elania already has them. He learns about "Taking Turns at the Pool" when he has just as much fun playing with them as Elainia does blowing them. Likewise, Prince Wednesday has to wait to use a pool noodle. He pretends to be a fast fish with his mother Queen Sarah.

Went back out after the cartoon ended. Acme doesn't have the greatest selection of foot gel pads, and what they do have is overpriced. I've had a lump on the back of my right heel where the Achillies tendon is for weeks now. I hope the heel lifts and covering the back of my foot where the heel gets rubbed with callus cushions will help. 

I was home and finishing Mockingbird Court when the phone rang. It was Clarifi, calling to confirm my desire for housing counseling. On one hand, they're so booked, I won't be able to see them at Cherry Hill until noon on September 17th. That does give me more time to explore Cherry Hill and Voorhees and round up all the paperwork they required. 

Watched The Love Boat after I finished the book and put it away. The captain says "Take a Letter, Vicki" when he makes her his secretary after she complains she never gets to do anything useful. The others realize why when she's a little too good at her job, putting out endless memos and skipping meals to get it all done. A man (Jim Stafford) claims "The Joys of Celibacy" to defrost a frigid young woman (Carlene Watkins), but really ends up falling for her instead. The ladies of "The Floating Bridge Game" try to come between their fourth player (Nanette Fabray) and a charming dentist (Robert Alda), until they realize how much they love each other and play matchmaker instead.

The first half of Match Game '75 finished out the week with Rona Barrett and Clifton Davies and introduced a sweet, charming middle-aged lady named Dorothy. Dorothy, who sobbed whenever she won, became one of the bigger winners of the year. She continued into the week that introduced Ed Asner and brought in shy chanteuse Julie London. Gene gave Julie her welcome to the show kiss, while Brett got to kiss Ed.

Finished the night at Tubi with The Storyteller: Greek Myths. Jim Henson once again experimented with fantasy tales told by a human (in this case, Michael Gambon) to a Muppet dog. Only four were made before Henson's death, one of which was "Perseus and the Gorgon." Perseus (Jeremy Gilley) wants to stop mean King Polydectes (John McEnery) from marrying his mother Danae (Kate Buffery) and travels to find Medusa (Frances Barber) and cut off her head. On his way, he gives an eye to the Graeae to make them give him directions and tells Atlas, who holds up the world, that he'll find a way to make his burden easier. The King doesn't think this boy can do it, but Perseus is nothing if not determined, especially after he finds a way to keep Medusa from turning him to stone. 

Ain't No Stopping Us Now

Had breakfast around 11, then Lauren and I strolled down to the Collingswood PATCO. It wasn't a bad day for a walk around Old City Philadelphia. It remains sunny, breezy, and bright blue, if warmer and slightly more humid than yesterday. The PATCO is a far more efficient beast than the NJ Transit. The train to Philly arrived within two minutes of us buying tickets and hurrying upstairs. (Oh, and the remodeling is now focused outside. They've long finished the escalator and elevator.)

We got off at the Franklin Square station and went straight around the corner to Franklin Square. I've been wanting to show Lauren this beautiful park since I visited here last August. The Chinese Lantern Festival was even more beautiful this year than it was last year! Flowers were the theme. We were greeted by towering daisies, sunflowers, lily pads, and gorgeous purple fabric blooms. I saw a soccer and baseball-themed "Philly" display near one of the entrances, and fabric horses who looked real enough to jump over the fence.

The fountain wasn't running and none of the food booths were open at quarter of 12, but everything else was ready to go. We played the mini-golf course. It was a lot of fun! The obstacles are all based on Philadelphia landmarks, like Elfreth's Alley, the Ben Franklin Bridge, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (they even have Rocky's footprints next to the course). Lauren got two holes in one, one of them right through the Chinatown Friendship Arch. There's even one with "records" representing hits from Philadelphia International Records, like "Me and Mrs. Jones" and "Ain't No Stopping Us Now." The last course has the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Lauren won, but only by a few points. We were flanked on one side by two middle-aged gentlemen who gallantly allowed us to go on ahead of them, and three college students who laughed a lot and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

After we finished, we headed down Race Street to the Race Street Cafe for lunch. Despite its name, this small brick-and-wood-paneling watering hole is really more of a local bar. Lauren had tilapia tacos she said were delicious. I tried them when I ate there last year and found them to be too spicy for me. I went with a nice, simple grilled chicken sandwich and slender, salty fries.

The Race Street Cafe is just steps away from 2nd Street. Our first stop here was A Four Foot Prune, which specializes in Muppet memorabilia, character toys and media from the 50's through the 90's, and anything Liza Minnelli ever did. Lauren found two cute bags - one with Snoopy, one with a scene from The Monster at the End of This Book that matches a shirt she has - and some pins and patches. I found a small Dakin Bear dressed as a pilgrim girl, with a turkey on a ribbon, for only $2. I think the kids will love Jim Henson's Muppet Babies Big Book of Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales, with its adorable illustrations depicting Rolf as Humpty Dumpty, Skeeter and Scooter as Jack and Jill, Kermit as Wee Willie Winkie, and Piggy as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. I only dug up one record, but it was one of the Tale Spinners for Children series from England, Sinbad the Sailor.

We crossed 2nd Street to check out Brave New Worlds, a popular local comics book shop. This is a lot more organized than the book stores, a long, dark room with shelves and shelves of comic books, manga, and toys. I didn't get anything here. Lauren got a figure for a friend and Marvel Meow, with Marvel characters hilariously interacting with cats and other pets.

The Book Trader is two blocks down from Brave New Worlds. It's a wonderful used book store, with rickety shelves filled from floor to ceiling with books, records, CDs, DVDs, and videos. This time, Lauren didn't find anything. She spent the time relaxing by the fiction and foreign language sections on the second floor. I did dig out two cast album LPs:

The original Broadway cast of Little Me with Sid Caesar playing the seven loves of a Hollywood starlet

The original London cast of Salad Days...which I was kind of shocked to find. Though this charming small-scale musical was a huge hit on the West End in 1954, it played off-Broadway in 1958, didn't do well, and hasn't tried the US since. 

And four books:

Standing In the Rainbow and The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chapin

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey (I did take this one out of the Haddon Township Library about 15 years ago, but that copy is long gone.) 

Last year, I wandered around in Old City until I found my way back to Franklin Square...but that wasn't going to fly this time. For one thing, we were both carrying heavy bags with books, records, toys, and other items. For another, Lauren wanted to hit up Fashion District Mall. Not to mention, while not killer humid like it's supposed to be later in the week, it was much hotter than yesterday. I called an Uber driver, who arrived within 7 minutes and got us to Primark in less than 5.

Lauren briefly explored Primark, an Irish department store, when we arrived. They don't really carry my size, so I just waited in the main mall until she came out and admitted she didn't find anything she wanted. We walked around a bit and got sodas before going upstairs to Round 1 on the third floor. Even newer spaces in Philly can be deceptively small on the outside. Though this doesn't have some of the games seen at other arcades in South Jersey - no skee ball, no ring toss - it does have pinball. I ran from Star Wars pinball to The Munsters pinball (did really well with that one) to Bust-a-Move to Space Invaders. Came in second with a sweet cherry-red Lamborghini on Crusin' Blast. I earned over 2,500, but just decided to save most of it for when we go to Deptford tomorrow. I went with a darling white Beanie Baby kitten named Amelia. 

By that point, we were tired, hungry, and sore. Time to take the PATCO home. I got us turned around a bit, but we did manage to make it to the 8th Street Station by 5:30. We took a jammed-full rush hour train back to South Jersey, getting off at Westmont.

I thought we'd try something different for dinner. The Haddon Diner is just two blocks from the Westmont PATCO Station. I figured it would be less busy and closer to the station than the Collingswood restaurants. (Not to mention, a lot of them aren't open on Mondays.) They were busy, but not so much that we didn't quickly get one of the sweet stenciled wooden booths. Lauren had a BLT and a Yankee Bean Soup she loved. I had banana and pecan pancakes that were so fluffy and tasty and fat turkey sausages. 

I also thought it would be easier to pick up Uber here than in Collingswood...and I was right. It took me a while, but I finally got a driver who came in 15 minutes and got us home in less than 5. No traffic here or, thank heavens, in Philadelphia.

I took the recycling out and we put our laundry in the washing machine, then put on Match Game '75. I came in time for the first day of Carol Bartos' run. Dr. Joyce Brothers and Bill Daily got to match one of her more peculiar answers, one that had Gene wanting to drag Dr. Brothers to her own couch! The next week was Game Show Host Week, with Bob Barker, Arlene Francis, and (ironically) Fannie Flagg. 

Moved to Tubi for Hard Boiled Mahoney. Slip and Sach are at a private eye's office, trying to get the money he owes Sach, when Salina Webster (Betty Compson) comes in and mistakes them for the detective. She offers them $50 to find her lost sister. Slip trails the sister, only to see a man shot. Turns out the two women in question aren't related. Phony medium Armand (Dan Seymour) has incriminating letters that are blackmailing them. Slip, Sach, and their buddies have to dodge the police (who think Slip did it) to bring Armand to justice...but first, they have to get off Professor Quizard's (Bryan Foulger) radio show by driving him crazy!

Finished the night with more of Daredevils of the Red Circle. By the time of chapter 5, "The Ray of Death," former prisoner Harry Crowel (Charles Middleton) has gotten the idea that there's someone tipping off the trio of Daredevils. He intends to kill off anyone in the household he talks to regularly, starting with Granville's granddaughter Blanche (Carole Landis). The boys have to restore the electricity on an old mine and get Blanche and several workers out of there before it's flooded...and before Crowel's goons electrocute the entire lot of them. 

Rain In the Morning

Got a really quick start this morning when I overslept again. I had enough time to write in my journal, change, have breakfast, and call Uber. Alas, they couldn't come for 12 minutes. I arrived one minute late.

As it turned out, I could have been infinitely late. We were quiet all morning. It started raining around 11, getting pretty heavy at one point. The rain and cooler temperatures scared off our customers. It got mildly busy around 11:30-12, then went right back to being quiet again. Other than having to put away a few cold items, there were no problems whatsoever.

Once I changed, I went across the Black Horse Pike to Rexy's Bar. Thought I'd try their flatbread or pizza. Went with "The Italian Job" pizza - mozzarella, tomato sauce, ricotta, peppers, thick sweet sausage slices. I ordered the individual pie. I expected something more like Pizza Hut's individual pan pizza, a little pie that came in a pan. What I got was what would be called a "small" at most pizzerias. It was delicious, especially the sausage, but I ended up taking half of it home.

After lunch, I went back over to the Acme. Got a treat so I could take out money for the Cherry Hill Library book sale tomorrow. Called Uber early. I didn't want to be late this time. They arrived in 8 minutes...too early, as it turned out. I went for a walk around the two blocks nearest to the school until it was time for work. West Collingswood is such a lovely little town, with so many nice older houses and charming gardens, I really should check out more of it.

Good thing I did arrive early. We had 26 kids today, 9 of them at my table. The kids at my table cleaned up well enough and were fine in the bathrooms. Once they all finished snack time, though, they were a mess. The boys playing with magnetic tiles in particular threw so many of them around, there were barely any left on the table by the time we were getting ready to go outside, and everyone who had sat at the table were kept inside for 10 minutes. (Though one girl did sneak out anyway.) The ones coloring weren't much better. They ripped the white paper we taped down for them to stencil on, to the point where I finally threw it away and gave them regular paper.

Things were still crazy, even when we got outside. At least all of the teachers were here this time. I had to meditate between the two squabbling best friends again. Another girl threw an absolute fit when she tried to climb up the slides (which she's not supposed to do anyway) and some of the other kids blocked her. It calmed down a little by 4:30 when more kids started to go home. That's when they were allowed on the swings, too. Everyone wanted me to push them, even the kids who are perfectly capable of swinging on their own.

Thank heavens the weather had much improved by quarter of 5. If there weren't a few fat drops of water left on the slides, you'd never know it rained this morning. The streets weren't even wet anymore. It was sunny, breezy, and much warmer, likely in the lower-mid 60's. It was so nice, the kids never went back inside. The head teacher took the four remaining younger kids to the blacktop in the back to play ball games with the five remaining older kids as I called Uber. It took me two tries, but I did get one that came in 7 minutes, not bad for the height of the dinner rush hour.

Put on Buzzr when I got home. The Price Is Right was already into the Showcases. I think I might have seen this episode before, actually. The first one was a generic "every room in the house" that ended with a piano. The second saluted the then-popular CBS soap Capitol with a trip to Washington DC, a sports car, and an appearance on the show. Two of the hunky leading men even appeared in some segments. Alas, the lady going for the soap went over. The other lady got her piano.

Things went better on Match Game '90. The entire night was devoted to the week with Vicki Lawrence sitting in the second "character actress" seat next to Charles for the first time. She was joined by Jimmie Walker, slightly ditzy soap star Jacklyn Zeman, and stand-up comedian and voice actor Roger Behr. Honestly, Roger was the funniest this week, tossing out a few good quips. No wonder he'd been doing voices on Hanna-Barbara shows since the 70's, and would continue doing them up until his death in 2018. 

Moved to Disney Plus for two animated episodes about respecting plant life, the birth-death cycle, and helping our planet next. In Muppet Babies, Summer Penguin learns why "It's Not Easy Being Greeny" when her beloved daisy Greeny McPlant Plant starts to wilt. The Muppets do everything they can to revive it, but to no avail. Nanny gently explains about the birth-death cycle to them and that it's ok to miss their friend. "Dueling Harmonicas" is a little less dark. Rizzo the Rat stubs his toe and decides to play harmonica in the Muppet Talent Show instead of dance. Fozzie, who is also playing harmonica, tries to get him to do something else.

Usagi and the Guardians also learn a lesson about the importance of plant life and preserving it during the first season of Sailor Moon. Usagi isn't thrilled when Rei manages to snag a date with an unimpressed Mamoru in "Usagi's Panic: Rei's First Date." She grabs nerdy Umino and uses him to keep an eye on the two. Ami is more concerned about the kindly old park manager who is upset that the park may get torn down for an office building. Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom has used his black energy to possess him and the animals in the park, who attack anyone who seemingly abuse nature. It takes the combined effort of all three girls and Tuxedo Mask to get rid of the flowery monster who took over his body.

Finished the night with the first disc from my last birthday/Easter present to myself. The deluxe 4-disc CD edition of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones LTD that I ordered from Rhino Records finally turned up today. It's the same as the previous CD box sets, two discs of the original songs on the album with remixes and rarities, another of backing tracks and rarities, a 45 featuring two of those rarities as singles (in this case "Goin' Down" and "Love Is Only Sleeping" in alternate mixes), and a book on how it all went down. Considering there's far fewer rarities here and more remixes of songs already available, I wonder if the well is really going dry here. Actually, the stand-out on the first disc that hadn't already been heard in one form or another is a lovely alternate version of "Riu Chiu," which the Monkees performed on the Christmas episode of their TV show. 

Dolls and Harts of My Dreams

Actually, I began today with a phone call. The lady from the Camden County First Home Buyers loans was calling me back to do an online application. Awesome! She sounded really pleasant and interested, too. I gave her my information and explained why I'm doing this. I want to get out of this attic, and soon, preferably between mid-October after I get back from my vacation in Pittsfield and mid-January. 

After I finished with her, I had breakfast while watching Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies. The Easter Bunny is sick and can't make his usual rounds this year. Granny wants Bugs to do it, but he's busy making his shorts, so she searches for a replacement among the Toons. With a story that flimsy, this is less of an Easter special and more "Oscar-winning shorts from Termite Terrace." Among the shorts seen are bits and pieces of "Knighty Knight Bugs," "Hillbilly Hare," "Birds Anonymous," "Robin Hood Daffy," "Sahara Hare," and "For Scent-imental Reasons." 

Switched to Tale of the Bunny Picnic after I ate. I go further into this charming Muppet spring cable special from 1986 that introduced Bean Bunny at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Happy Easter! - Tale of the Bunny Picnic

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon dressing the dolls for the spring holidays. Samantha looks so pretty and grown-up in her pink and magenta Flower-Picking Dress with the asymmetrical lace collar. I'm glad I bought that outfit when I did. It's hard to find now. Josefina is in her Feast Day Finery ruffled camisa and turquoise skirt. Felicity is pleasantly salmon pink in her Birthday Dress and flowered Pinner Apron. Kit may not appreciate the ruffles, but she does look cute in her Candy-Making Dress. The soft fall colors on Julie's original Birthday Outfit look even better on redheaded Ariel. Jessa gets the original late 90's Girl of Today Birthday Outfit with the fruit-print purple jumper and t-shirt. 

Whitney, Molly, and Barbara Jean wear home-made outfits, Whitney and Barbara Jean's from eBay. Barbara Jean's minidress has a fashionable 60's pink, yellow, and brown geometric design. It's sleeveless, so she wears a white ruffled sweater over it. Whitney's white dress has pastel polka-dots, a wide skirt, and purple ribbon trim. I bought Molly's pink and red striped dress with the flowers and the smocking from a booth at a church book sale last spring. 

Listened to records as I finished the dolls, and later as I ate lunch. Dreamy Serenades with Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra are exactly what it says on the cover - dreamy ballads or songs about dreams, done in a soft, breathy style, almost Hawaiian. These lovely ballads make gentle background music for a soft spring day, including "I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All?," "I Had the Craziest Dream," "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming," "My Isle of Golden Dreams," and "Girl of My Dreams."

The Tale Spinners Aladdin is a pretty straightforward retelling of the original Arabian Knights story. It's even set in China, rather than the Middle East as in the Disney version, and Aladdin lives with his mother. This does cut the Genie of the Ring, probably for time, but otherwise, it's action-packed and actually rather charming.

Swashbuckler is a rousing original pirate yarn from 1976. John Addison wrote an appropriately lush score that works with the old-fashioned adventure and derring-do. In fact, the title of the second-to-last number is "Derring Do!" Other notable pieces here include the Main Theme, "The Coach Robbery," "The Pickpocket Monkey," and "The Incredible Chase."

Soon as I finished eating, I jumped on my bike and headed off to the Thomas Sharp School. We had far fewer children today, 22 younger ones all together, 6 at my table. They messed around a little in the bathroom, but otherwise, they were just fine. They're still getting too wild in the cafeteria after snack time, though. Pinching, biting, name-calling and then tattling about it, running around. Several kids pulled plastic eggs out of their class Easter bags when they were told not to. Two actually got them open, revealing Play Dough. One girl was really good about putting hers away. Her friend just got upset and had to be talked into it. I couldn't get the eggs back together, so I wrapped them up with plastic and paper towels and put them in their backpacks. 8 kids had to be held back by the head teacher while we got the ones remaining outside.

It wasn't as nice of a day to be on the playground. For one thing, it was windy and considerably chillier, barely in the 50's. For another, it was also cloudy and kept spitting lightly on and off the entire time we were outside. We also had to ban the kids from using the bouncy balls they got for Easter when they bounced them over the fence around the playground twice and the teachers had to retrieve them. The kids still had fun, though. They chased each other, played hide and seek, and gathered flowers that had fallen from the tree over their heads and made tiny bouquets. Others danced to "Try Everything" from Zootopia, "Zoo" from Zootopia 2, "I Like to Move It," and songs from Moana, Moana 2, and Trolls. 

The sprinkles had picked up slightly before the kids started to complain about the cold. We finally got the remaining four inside around 5 PM. I spent the 15 minutes I had left sharpening colored pencils. I also discovered there was a reason the kids took their Easter bags home today. I thought their Spring Break started Monday, but it begins tomorrow. That means I get a full day off I hadn't planned on, as I'm also off of the Acme tomorrow. Sweet. I'll move my grocery shopping to tomorrow instead of Saturday and see if I can get some things done in Westmont that I originally planned on doing next week.

There was a package from Amazon waiting for me when I got home. My first birthday present to myself are the most recently-released Peanuts specials soundtracks. Apparently, Craft Recordings couldn't find the original audio masters for Charlie Brown's All-Stars, so they paired what they could get off the actual special with It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. I'll listen to it tomorrow or this weekend.

Watched Match Game '90 during dinner. Jo Anne Worley finished the previous week with a record on the Match Up mini-game, getting 7 matches in a row. Brett Somers turned up for the first of three weeks on the next show, sitting between Fred Travelena and his one-man White House and her old drinking buddy Charles Nelson Reilly. She got to flirt with a handsome young contestant who had no trouble choosing her for that Match Up game.

Finished the night with Hart to Hart. "A Couple of Harts" are on a picnic outside of Acapulco when the junker car Max loaned them break down. They walk to a nearby mansion to ask for directions to a repair shop, only to fall right smack in the middle of a conspiracy when the wealthy woman owner assumes they're the new butler and maid. Turns out the woman is the head of a group of revolutionaries who just assassinated a senator and intend to do even worse at a dinner that night...and a close friend of the Harts may be involved as well. 

Cold Spring Matches

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and the 2018 Disney Muppet Babies. "Kermit and Fozzie's Egg-cellent Adventure" sends them around the back yard to find more eggs before the other kids. Fozzie keeps rushing ahead before Kermit can make a plan. When Fozzie loses two eggs, Kermit quits. Talking to Miss Nanny makes Fozzie realize just how important it is to take things slow and plan first. Animal puts off using the bathroom, then regrets it when they travel to the city of Ratlantis. Animal discovers how important it is to go when you need to when "Animal and the Little Accident" doesn't make it back in time. The others assure him that it's happened to all of them.

Switched to PAW Patrol while getting ready for work. "Pups Save the Easter Egg Hunt" when they color and hide eggs for Mayor Goodway after she breaks her arm. Alex contributes a huge colored egg, but an eagle steals the egg, the basket, and Rusty and Chickaletta in it. Turns out the egg was the eagle's baby, and she wants it back. The others have to rescue them and the basket without harming anyone, including the eagles.

Called Uber after the pups ended. No trouble here at all. The driver going to work arrived in 8 minutes. I got to the Acme just in time. The one going home surprisingly only took 4 minutes, despite it being the height of rush hour. 

It wasn't busy when I got to the Acme or when I left, but it got really crazy in between. There were long lines for a lot of the afternoon. The head bagger took over a register during the second hour and would remain there for the rest of the evening. I had a hard time keeping up with the carts until things finally died down in the last hour. It didn't help that, though it was sunny, it was also cold and windy, barely in the upper 40's. 

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. That was a surprise. I hadn't ordered anything. It was my Easter gift from Mom. She sent me scones and a big jar of blueberry preserves from Wolferman's Bakery online. There were twelve varieties of scone, two each. I tried Apple Cranberry. Yum! Nicely crumbly and not too sweet. And I was worried about what I'd take for lunch at work tomorrow. 

Took a shower and grabbed leftovers for dinner, then finished the night with today's Match Game marathon. When 1978 began, Match Game was just starting to slide in the ratings, thanks to ill-advised schedule changes and more conservative tastes. Richard Dawson had noticed, too. He wanted a bigger salary and either equal billing with Gene Rayburn or to be let go. He was by far the most popular of the regular panelists on the show, and he was hosting the huge hit Family Feud. Goodson-Todman said yes to the salary, but no to the build-up or letting him go. 

That and his burnout from working on two shows with frantic schedules didn't improve Richard's mood. He spent most of mid-1978 acting like a grouch. Gene Rayburn did not appreciate his behavior at all. At one point, he even tried to push at Richard's face to make him smile. He did laugh, but the whole incident was disturbing. 

The arrival of the Star Wheel was the last straw. Richard had always been the go-to panelist for the Head to Head bonus round. The Star Wheel was supposed to assure that all of the panelists would get a turn on the Head to Head. Richard saw it as encroaching on his territory and was furious. Ironically, it landed on him the first time they used it, prompting everyone but Scoey Mitchelll (including Richard himself) to walk out. Richard lasted a few weeks after the set was revamped, but the writing was on the wall. By late June, he was barely reacting or doing much of anything. His wearing glasses during his last two weeks to cover an infection (he wore them on Feud during those weeks too) didn't help matters. After June 25th, he left and never looked back. 

(Oh, and though Richard apparently tried over the years, Gene was so offended by how Richard acted in those last weeks, he never spoke to him again.)

At any rate, see how all this went down for yourself in these hilarious and heartbreaking episodes!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Richard's Downfall On Match Game & Exit Marathon

Corner of the Sky

Began the morning with breakfast and the 2018 version of Muppet Babies. "The Spoon In the Stone" is really a spoon Nanny stuck in a dry block of clay. The kids imagine it as the mystical spoon that can only be pulled by the greatest knight. Piggy, Gonzo, and Animal all try their luck, but in the end, Summer proves that the greatest knight is the one who helps others. "Gonzonochio" lost his library book, but keeps telling fibs to cover the truth. The kids keep confronting all the shady characters he claims has it, until he has to use his growing nose to fight Bunsen and Beaker's ping-pong playing robot that got out of control.

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. Though I can walk on my knee, it's still really sore. It shouldn't still be sore after a month and a half. I figured it would be better once the weather changed. I had to get it checked out. The driver arrived in 7 minutes, and got me to Audubon in three.

I really should have called first. The waiting room at Cooper Health Urgent Care in Audubon was full to capacity when I arrived. The lady at the desk said it would be an hour and a half wait! I didn't have the time for that. I just bought a peppermint mocha hot chocolate from the WaWa next-door and walked home, despite the dreary cold, cloudy day. I already would be paying for the ride to Thomas Sharp School later.

When I got home, I dusted the apartment while watching Pippin. This is a 1981 recording of the Bob Fosse-choreographed 1971 musical with music by Steven Schwartz. William Katt is the title character, the elder son of Charlemagne who spends the show searching for his purpose. The Leading Player (Ben Vereen) and the cast frame it as a musical revue, much like Fosse would do later with Chicago's vaudeville. Chita Rivera is Pippin's scheming mother, Martha Raye is his grandmother who teaches him to enjoy the time he has left on this earth, and Leslie Dennison is the sweet woman who climbs out of the narrative by falling for him. Though this is apparently a shortened version (Pippin's lover is missing her big ballad "I Guess I'll Miss the Man"), it still hits enough beats to show why this was a hit in 1971 and in a popular 2013 revival. The sets and costumes are relatively minimal, but the score is one of Schwartz's best, and Katt and Vereen are terrific as the confused young man who wants to be "Extraordinary" and the player pushing and prodding him into that "Glory."

Pippin finished in time for me to call Uber. I had even less trouble this time. Though it did take 12 minutes for the driver to come going there, it only took 7 going home, surprising during rush hour. No traffic anywhere today.

The kids were crazy when I got in, and we had a lot of them. We had 24 to start, including 10 at my table. Thankfully, the bathrooms weren't that bad. It was later, in the cafeteria and library, where we had trouble. For one thing, we couldn't go to the library until later. The school band was meeting there. I had such a hard time reminding two boys to share all the Duplos, I almost made them clean it up well before their time in the cafeteria was done. I spent what little time we had in the library drawing with several kids while the others danced to the themes from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bluey, "Ghostbusters," and kids' dance numbers like "The Wiggle Dance."

Put on Match Game Syndicated after I got in, took the laundry downstairs and the recycling outside, and finished Pippin. Most of these episodes covered the week with Diana Sorvino, a friend of Charles Nelson Reilly's and the only opera star to appear on any version of Match Game. Too bad she never came back, as she was a decent player and dodged opera diva jokes like a champ. Former beauty queen Marjorie Wallace was in the 4th ingenue seat the next week. She was joined on the lower tier by Marcia Wallace and Gary Crosby.

Finished the night watching To the Ends of Time on Tub after I finally remembered to bring the laundry upstairsi. This 1996 TV fantasy film has a really interesting premise. Desperate to end war in his kingdom in the clouds, a king (Joss Ackland) has his magician (Michael Silverback) create a machine that can control time itself. The king decides it's too powerful and orders it destroyed, but it ends up in the hands of a furious sorceress (Sarah Douglas) who puts a terrible curse over the kingdom. Every living thing ages a year every day, including the King's daughter (Christine Taylor) and the servant boy who has a crush on her (Tom Schultz). When his brother is killed trying to find the time machine, the young man vows that he'll destroy the machine, before they're all too old to do anything about it.

The movie makes the most of its limited TV budget with fairly impressive miniatures and costumes...but it becomes obvious when we see the flying boats move with strings or against early CGI backgrounds or the really bad aging makeup and gray wigs on almost everyone. Some of the dialogue is a little stiff, too, especially in the second half when the guy is making his quest. And there's plot holes galore, including the kids never going back to their original ages (or getting their childhoods back) in the end. It's still worth watching for fans of fantasy who can deal with some low-budget cheese in their fairy tales. 

Spring Into Winter

Began a gorgeous morning with breakfast and Muppets Musicians of Bremen. I go further into this charming Muppet adaptation of "The Musicians of Bremen" at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Family Fun Saturday - Muppets Musicians of Bremen

(And reminder that this is the last Saturday review. Starting next week, I'll be doing one Musical Dreams Movie Review on Thursdays. It might be a live-action film, an animated film, an old movie, a new one, a special, or a streaming movie. You never know what you might see, so keep an eye out!) 

Called Uber after Muppet Musicians of Bremen finished. No trouble here. I did have to wait 13 minutes for the first one, but I called early enough that I got to work right on time.  Waited 11 minutes for the one going home at the height of rush hour.

First of all, yes, I was right. The head bagger took half of next week off, which is how I got all those hours. She was here today, though, which is why I focused entirely on pushing carts. At least it was a gorgeous day for it. It was in the upper 50's, sunny and blue as can be. Most of the snow that came down last Sunday and Monday has already vanished. Only the highest piles on the curbs and in shady corners remain, and those aren't nearly as high.

Did my grocery shopping after I finished. I restocked yogurt, apples, grapes, soda, granola, granola bars, and coconut milk. I bought three bags of cookies from the Girl Scouts who were having so much fun outside earlier (two of them danced together, laughing and enjoying the day), so I just got a slice of carrot cake for a special treat. 

Put everything away when I got home, then took a much-needed shower and had dinner. Finished the night watching tonight's YouTube Match Game marathon. With the Cold War in full swing during the entire run of the show, many episodes joked either about America's allies at the time or the Eastern Bloc countries like Russia and Poland. Having worked with Germans and Austrians for six years on Hogan's Heroes, Richard Dawson could never resist trotting out his (fairly realistic) German accent. 

Probably the most memorable episode to feature another country was when Gene decided to do what the German version of Match Game did and say "Snick Snack" instead of blank. Apparently, the Germans don't have a word for "blank" in their language. Other questions joked about states sliding into the ocean or where Hawaiian goods really came from. 

Go on a trip around the world without leaving home the Match Game way with this high-flying marathon!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Around the World Marathon (Part 1)

Remembering Muppets

Began the morning with breakfast and two episodes of Bluey. Chili wants to make Bandit an "Omelette" for his birthday. She tries to make it quickly when he insists he's hungry, but Bingo's attempt to help slows things down. When Chili takes over the job herself, she sees how upset her daughter is and agrees to let her help out. "Unicorse" is a unicorn puppet Bandit's playing with who disrupts Chili and Blue while they're reading. They first try to change the annoying unicorn's behavior, then decide they're better off ignoring him.

I called Uber as soon as the second episode ended. The driver was supposed to come in 12 minutes, but...ten minutes passed, and it still said 12 minutes. I canceled them. Their replacement arrived in 7 minutes, but he missed the turn off for the Acme and had to go down the Black Horse Pike to turn around. Between those two, I ended up being 20 minutes late.

Thankfully, that was the worst thing that happened the entire morning. The Acme was surprisingly dead for the beginning of the month. Everyone must have come over the weekend. I swept the store and pushed carts with no trouble whatsoever. Nicer weather helped, too. It's still sunny, but I think it got into the lower-mid 30's today, closer to what it should be this time of year. I even found two bags of the super-expensive Michele's Granola on clearance - their Christmas flavor Cranberry Pecan. I bought two. 

Since it was nicer, I strolled to the shopping center in the back of the mall and had lunch at the Vietnamese Pho restaurant. They were pin-drop quiet when I arrived, too. I had shrimp and pork rolls in sticky clear rice wraps and a huge pho bowl with shrimp, rice noodles, sprouts, and scallions. Delicious and filling on a day that remained relatively cold.

Headed back to the Acme and picked up the Uber there. Had no more trouble getting a driver. The one going to Thomas Sharp School arrived in 7 minutes. The one going home came in 11. The one going home hit a little traffic on the White Horse Pike, but otherwise, there were no problems. Got to the school right on time.

That was a really good thing. We were crazy today. I had 8 kids at my table alone. They were noisy in the halls going to the bathrooms. Two of the boys threw Duplos at my back when I tried to read 101 Dalmatians to a couple of the other kids. The head teacher had to stop the music three times because the kids who were dancing kept laying on the floor and running around, things they weren't supposed to be doing. I had to separate a girl and a boy when she kept poking at him. I spent the rest of the time coloring artwork for Once Upon a Time In the Land of WENN at one of the tables with a couple of the boys once the girl got up and danced with the others. 

Went straight into Remember WENN when I got home. The fourth season kicks off with "Some Time, Some Station." After he accidentally shoots Pruitt, Victor thinks it's 8 AM and time to start their broadcast day. While the others trickle back in and Scott tries to keep Victor from finding out the truth, Betty attempts to find out who Victor's contact is from Pruitt and Jeff tells Hilary why he really married Pavla.

Mr. Eldridge is saying "Thanks a Lottery!" after he wins the Irish Sweepstakes. Everyone at the station has definite ideas of how he should spend the money. Meanwhile, though he's now in jail, Pruitt isn't done making trouble for the station. He's shunted WENN into another company that slashes the budget and insists on a mandatory age for retirement that Mr. Eldridge is long past. The others think his winnings go up in smoke when Hilary burns her letters from Jeff, but Mr. Eldridge is a lot smarter than everyone thinks he is. 

Watched Match Game Syndicated during dinner. Phyllis Diller and Fred Grandy joined in during the episodes I saw. Fred mostly protested the Star Wheel landing on his name three times in a row. 

Finished the night with the new Muppet Show special on Disney Plus. They've been advertising this to high heck online...and yeah, they were right to. It's the Muppet Show you know and love, with Kermit in charge, Statler and Waldorf in the balcony, Piggy angry that her number has been cut, and Gonzo's attempt at "performance art" going haywire. We even get some Muppet Labs. (I hope they found Beeker's eyeballs.) I don't know who Sabrina Carpenter is, but she had so much fun and played off Miss Piggy so well, I might have to look up her albums. Also look for Seth Rogan (who apparently executive-produced this) and Maya Randoph. If you're a fan of the original Muppet Show or the Muppets in general, this is definitely worth braving flaming rings for. 

Fairy Tale Matches

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and The Frog Prince on Dailymotion. I go further into the charming 1971 Muppet version of this Grimm's Fairy Tale at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Family Fun Saturday - The Frog Prince (1971)

Called Uber even before the special ended. Thankfully, no trouble there. 10 minutes going there and going home. In the case of the former, I left early enough that waiting wasn't a problem. In fact, I got there with two minutes to spare for once.

No problems at work either, other than I was outside pushing carts in the cold on a sore knee for most of the day. The head bagger took over the indoor chores. I would go inside and warm up whenever I got too cold or finished the carts. Thank heavens we weren't that busy, especially later on. Most people are either avoiding the cold or waiting for the beginning of the month tomorrow. We're between holidays, too. The Winter Olympics start next week, the Super Bowl is next weekend, and Valentine's Day isn't for another two weeks. 

Grabbed a few things when I finished. The Westmont Acme didn't have the mouthwash I use, and there's an online coupon for it this week. Had online coupons for cookies, too. Decided to try the Acme's sushi (shrimp roll, cooked) and pork dumplings for dinner. 

When I got home, I went straight into the shower.  I ate my sushi, put a heating pad on my knee, finished The Frog Prince, then spent the rest of the night watching a super-long Match Game marathon on YouTube. For some reason, this show really loved its Snow White jokes. Whether it was about her relationship with the Seven Dwarfs, how impossibly innocent she was (or wasn't), or how she was depicted by parade balloons, Snow White was mentioned far more than any other fairy tale on the show. 

Rather appropriately, a question turned up during the week in 1979 with two other fantasy characters, vintage puppets Kukla and Ollie. Nipsey Russell and Jimmie Walker gave answers claiming that they wished Snow White looked a lot more like them. Fannie Flagg sure felt like Snow White being kissed by the prince when she answered a question for handsome gym teacher Ron Valenti in an infamous episode from 1975. Fannie also got to give the answer to lovely blonde contestant Darlene that made her the all-time winner to that point in 1976, with over $22,000. Roz Kelly made her own virginal Snow White jokes during her first of two appearances on the show later in 1976. There was also the PM episode where Nipsey insisted that Snow White should look more like him and the Air Force captain contestant. 

Whistle while you work with the fairest question character of all, because good things grow with these wacky weirdos in this extra-long marathon!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Marathon

Wild Times In the Library

Began the morning with breakfast and Pac Man. The Ghosts are given super powers that make them "Super Ghosts," letting them wreck havoc around Pac Land. Pepper and Pac have no idea how to stop them, until they figure out how to get super powers too. Pac becomes "The Pac-Man In the Moon" when the Ghosts steal the space shuttle and he and Pepper make their own intergalactic trip to rescue it.

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. It was getting late, and I needed to make a very grocery run. Uber picked me up within 6 minutes at home and 10 at the Acme, not bad for between 1 and 2 PM. There wasn't any bulk dried fruit on sale this week, but I hadn't had golden raisins in a while, and they weren't that expensive. Probiotic soda and sparkling water were on sale, though. Restocked coconut milk and found peanut butter cookies and one of those bags of almond butter and jelly sandwiches with chips, water, applesauce, and a cookie on clearance. 

I walked the five or so minutes from Sprouts, past the Haddon Township Library, McDonald's, and the high school to the Westmont Acme. It was sunny, but cold and blustery, with a blistering blue sky that was so intense, it almost hurt to look at it. I hurried along as fast as I can, pushing at the still fairly strong wind.

The Acme wasn't much busier than Sprouts had been. I was mainly restocking apples, oranges, granola, and yogurt here. Made Good granola bars and Cove probiotic soda were on too good of a sale to resist. Found a clearance container of gingerbread cake, too. I still have 10 percent off coupons from when I got my vaccinations back in November, and had online coupons for the yogurt. Grabbed Fresca and Diet Coke With Lime from the coolers.

Had a quick lunch when I got home while watching the Disney Muppet Babies. Gonzo is so addicted to racing and winning, he insists on "The Great Gonzo's Desert Grand Prix" to prove he's the best. He keeps cheating, until Statler and Waldorf remind him that it's no fun to win a race of one. "Animal Kong" throws a fit when he can't play the drums during quiet time. The others think of every possible way to calm him down, but it's Summer who figures out what he really needs.

Hurried off to the school even before the episode ended. Once again, we were pretty busy, with 26 pre-schoolers and kindergartners running around. Despite the sunny day, it was still too cold for them to go outside. I did read them a Thomas the Tank Engine book and a book about a boy who deals with a dragon that moved into his sandcastle while they finished their snacks, and two of them played with my Timex watch (while it was on my wrist) and gave me hugs. Two more hugged my legs as we got organized to spend the rest of the day in the library.

Which got really wild. The kids doing the drawing were fascinated by my Hilary and the Beasts artwork of Eagle (Victor), Maple, Puppy (Enid), and Mrs. Fox (Gertie), but the ones playing with rubber food and bristle blocks kept throwing everything around. Three girls argued over one of the sheets of paper on the back tables intended for stenciling. Several kids built an enormous tower of magnetic tiles...right where the head teacher wanted to set up a dance party. We basically had to scold them to clean up that mess, then the toys and books that had been thrown all over the small room. It was rather a relief when we finally moved those that remained to the cafeteria around quarter of 5 to join the older kids. 

Made a quick stop at Speedy Mart on the way home for bagels, then went straight upstairs to finish putting my groceries away, have dinner, and watch Match Game Syndicated. The first week showcased McLean Stevenson between two lovely comediennes, Dolly Martin and Elaine Joyce. (And I'd love to know how they talked Elaine into the sixth "comedienne" seat. I did hear she wasn't fond of sitting on the end.) The last hour brought in character actress Sharon Farrell, impressionist Richard Paul, and Betty White for the second half of that wild week with the guy whose laugh supposedly woke up his children in the morning and Sharon's array of somewhat revealing fashions.

Finally got my schedule at this point as well. It's...identical to this week, with slightly later and fewer hours next Saturday, and earlier hours on Sunday. The Sunday morning bagger must have taken the day off. I have Monday off, and since school is also closed that day and I have an after-school program meeting on Tuesday evening, I texted Jessa to see if she wanted to do lunch on Monday. 

Finished the night with more Remember WENN. Hilary is convinced by Dusty Foxx (Rue McClanahan), the wife of the owner of Midas Hand Lotions, to sponsor a gossip show. The show is quickly canceled when all the gossip is about Hilary. She's even more devastated when she learns that Dusty wants her off the soap The Hands of Time. With Maple's encouragement, she becomes "The Diva Who Wouldn't Die," doing anything she can to stave off fictional death and keep her character on the air!

"Behind Every Great Woman" brings in another Broadway diva and rival to Hilary. Ruth Geddy (Donna Murphy) isn't nearly as pleasant as Grace Cavendish mostly was, either. Betty hears Hilary and Jeff talk about Hilary having been in a musical and decides to do a musical show around her talents. Hilary, however, freezes on the air, and Betty has to sing for her. Hilary is fine with letting this state of affairs continue, until the others discover the deception and bring down the curtain on Hilary's lies. 

Dolls On a Warm Winter Day

Began the day with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When Mickey goes to help Clarabelle Cow at her Moo Mart, the clubhouse becomes "Donald's Clubhouse." Goofy and Pluto teach Donald a lesson in helping out when he keeps trying to push all the work in cleaning up the clubhouse for a surprise guest on them and the Handy Helpers.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon dressing the dolls for cooler January weather. Molly wears her Play Outfit with the gray and red plaid flannel shirt. I haven't gotten her oxfords yet, so she borrows Kit's. Kit wears Rebecca's School Outfit with Samantha's black strap shoes. Samantha is in her gray flannel School Outfit and the black boots from Rebecca's School Outfit. Felicity will be warm and cozy on the trail in her emerald green Riding Habit. Jessa is in her original Meet Outfit with the yellow felt sweater and black corduroys and a flower-print long sleeved AG shirt from the 2002 Ready for Fun meet outfit. Ariel wears Julie's orange and blue embroidered long-sleeved tunic, dark blue corduroy gauchos, and boots. Whitney hopes she can go skating in her blue and red Skating Outfit and Springfield Collection skates. Josefina and Barbara Jean are both in hand-made eBay outfits. Josefina wears a lovely blue and red flower print Empire-waist dress, while Barbara Jean's yellow dress has long, full sleeves and pin tucks on the chest.

Listened to records while I worked. Merrily We Roll Along is the 1981 musical adaptation of the 1934 play that goes backwards in time, showing the dissolution of a movie producer, his wife, and his best friend from the acrimonious debut of his latest film to their high school graduation. Apparently, Sondheim suggested this one because he wanted to work with teenagers. He may have thought the idea charming, but he was the only one who did in 1981. Audiences and critics alike found the book too bitter and difficult to figure out, though Sondheim's music was praised. It was so badly received at the time, it ended Sondheim's collaborations with producer Harold Prince until 2003. 

I can see why people wanted to give this a second chance, even after the original production flopped. "Old Friends," "Good Thing Going," the searing "Not a Day Goes By," and the title song are among the best Sondheim ever wrote. The cast is mostly unknown and kind of shrill, though Jason Alexander can be heard as a washed-up Broadway producer. Apparently, a lot was re-written and re-worked after this production failed, enough that a revival off and on Broadway in 2023 and 2024 with Johnathan Groff as Frank and Daniel Ratcliffe as Charley was a surprise hit. I might have to look for that one too and see what's different. As it is, the original cast is worth hearing for the wonderful songs and unique plot alone.

I was so late getting out to the Thomas Sharp School, I ate my lunch with the kids. It was even nicer today than it was yesterday, sunny and warm, without a bit of wind, probably in the mid-50's. The kids had a great time running around outside after their snacks. I made sure there was no fighting over the swings and kept an eye on my watch to make sure everyone got enough time. The other kids danced to "Takedown" from KPop Demon Warriors and various kids' dance numbers or chased the other teachers. They were so funny playing tag! I hadn't laughed so hard in ages. 

Grabbed dinner and put on Copacabana after I got home, after a quick stop at the Speedy Mart for a Propel water. I go further into the 1985 TV movie version of the Barry Manilow song at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Musicals On TV - Copacabana (1985) 

Watched Match Game Syndicated after the movie ended. Gail Farrell was the only cast member of The Lawrence Welk Show who was brave enough to join the lunacy on Match Game. She was joined on her week by an even more famous musician, diminutive singer-songwriter Paul Williams. 

Switched to Remember WENN after the show ended. "Sight Unseen" becomes the first of two episodes in a row to deal with minority relations in the 1940's. In this case, a blind girl (Molly Ringwauld) comes the station to meet her hero "The Vagabond." The Vagabond is played by Mackie Bloom, who is a short, balding character actor and anything but the suave, handsome man he thinks she wants. He's the one who learns a lesson when she points out that he's just a voice to her, but one that means more than all the sight in the world.

"The Emperor Smith" is George Smith (Howard Rollins), a black waiter Betty hastily puts on the air as the sexy Lord Bramley in one of Hilary's soaps when Mackie gets laryngitis. He's a sensation, but this is 1940 Pittsburgh, and blacks playing anything besides waiters is still frowned on. Betty and the cast jump through hoops to keep their "mystery man" under wraps when a gossip columnist insists on getting the full scoop. 

Finished the night with more Copacabana. Manilow expanded the movie into a full stage musical in the early 90's. Though it has yet to play Broadway, it did run two years in London from 1994 to 1996 and has toured the US. Here, the story is framed as a songwriter imagining the story of his newest brainchild, and Tony is not the one who dies in the end. The framing is a bit confusing, but I actually think the ending here works better than the more tragic one in the movie does. Some of the additional numbers are fun, too. I love the opening "Just Arrived" that depicts Lola and many other women arriving in New York to find stardom, the hilarious "Who am I Kidding?" for Sam Silver after everyone at the Copa convinces him to keep an eye on Tony in Havana, and the meta-romance "This Can't Be Real."

Even the Muppets had their own take on the song in The Muppet Show. Liza Minnelli performed it with two Muppet monsters representing Tony and Rico in a hilarious spoof of 40's film noir from the 4th season. Kermit is the private eye trying to figure out who's killing the cast, while Piggy is Minnelli's jealous understudy. 

A Merry Bear-y Christmas

Began the morning with breakfast and Sheriff Callie's Wild West. Toby wishes he could have an animal to ride, like Sheriff Callie and Deputy Peck. After he gets carried away by animal rustlers who steal Santa's reindeer and gifts, he gets help escaping from one of the reindeer. He thinks Comet is "Toby's Christmas Critter," but there's an even cuter (and equally horned) critter waiting for him at home. It's "A Very Tricky Christmas" when Tricky Travis and Oswald the Bear set up a marching band for the town, then steal their tree. They think it'll make them happy, but their hearts grow three sizes when they see that what really makes the citizens of Nice and Friendly Corners happy is being together for the holidays.

Hurried out as soon as the cartoon ended. The Acme surprisingly wasn't busy early-on, though it picked up at noon. The head bagger took the sweeping for the first half of my shift. By the time my break rolled around, it had picked up enough for her to take a register. I swept and gathered carts for the rest of my shift.

Went straight into grocery shopping after work. I'm hoping this will be my last big trip before Christmas. There was a buy two, get two sale on Nature's Valley granola bars. Tried a slightly more expensive brand of granola that had made a Christmas cranberry pecan flavor. Bought bagels for lunch this week and restocked clementines, apples, and yogurt. Grabbed that White Cranberry Spiced Sprite Zero, along with Orange Cream Coke Zero. Picked up treats for Rose's dogs Oreo and Cider, which were the last Christmas gifts I needed to buy. 

Hurried home, then changed and watched Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper while putting everything away and getting organized. Yogi and Boo Boo head off to the big city to see all their Hanna-Barbara funny animal friends, not realizing their friends had gone to Jellystone to see them. While they're in the city, they dodge animal control officers by playing Santa in a department store. When a little girl thinks Yogi really is Santa, they do their best to give her a nice Christmas...until her wealthy father sends cops to find her.

Headed back out around 3. My first stop was the Dunkin' Donuts on the White Horse Pike. This isn't normally the first place I'd go out for lunch, but I did get that $25 gift card from one of the kids in the after-school program. Not surprisingly for quarter after 3, the place was pretty quiet when I came in. It was just me, the workers, and two teens getting snacks. I had a hot chocolate, a chicken wrap, and a green-frosted donut drizzled with vanilla glaze. Yum. The chicken wrap was small, but surprisingly tasty, hot and dripping with cheese and red peppers. I enjoyed my donut so much, I got a cream-filled one on the way out, too.

I was on the other side of Oaklyn to deliver Christmas presents to my old neighbors on Hillcrest. Brought cookies to two older single women with small families and a larger family whose mother just died of cancer a few months ago. They live next-door to what was Dad's house, and the mother was supportive and very helpful during the trouble I had finding a home in late 2021 and early 2022. Delivered cards to a single mom and her son and a female couple a little further down Hillcrest.

Besides, it was too nice to be sitting inside all day. Yesterday's in and out clouds and strong winds had been replaced by radiant blue skies, fresh breezes, and normal lower 40's December temperatures. Even most of the puddles had disappeared by 3:30. If it wasn't for a few puddles and the saturated ground, there would be no indication we had huge rain and snow storms at all this week.

Went straight into Santa and the Three Bears when I got home. I go further into this charming short animated movie from the early 70's at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Animation Celebration Saturday - Santa and the Three Bears

Switched to Christmas Eve On Sesame Street while working on the Three Bears review. I went further into the first Sesame Street holiday special on Christmas Eve last year.

Merry Christmas Eve! - Christmas Eve On Sesame Street

Finished the night with something different on YouTube. Instead of Match Game, we looked at Password and Password Plus Christmas and New Year's episodes. The only 60's Password holiday episode had Peter Lawford and Lee Remick playing with a revolving door of stars, including director Otto Preminger and songwriter Stephen Sondheim. 

Password Plus got somewhat more into the holidays. They really did it up right the first year in 1979 for two weeks, starting with Barbara Rhodes and Bill Anderson. The lavish decorations and beautifully decorated tree continued into a hilarious week with Bert Convy and Carol Burnett. Burnett in particular is a great Password player, and Convy certainly wasn't bad. They both won their contestants quite a bit of money that week. Brett Somers played her only Password Plus week at New Year's 1979 with Ross Martin...and showed why she would never do Password again when Martin wiped the floor with her. 

After the ailing Allen Ludden was replaced with his friend Tom Kennedy, fancy decorations were replaced by star power. Christmas week 1980 was dominated by the all-star quartet David Doyle, Debralee Scott, Gina Hecht, and Dick Gautier. The ladies did far better than the guys did. Debralee, in fact, just won the week over Gina. Susan Richardson and Bill Cullen joined in for the rare New Year's 1980 week. Betty White and Pat Sajak visited for Christmas 1981 and got nifty Password Plus jackets, while Tom Poston and Edie McClurg saw the New Year's out with streamers and party hats.

The Password is...holidays! Celebrate the holiday season with these classic guess-the-word games!

Game Show Saturday Classics - A Very Password Plus Christmas

Oh, and the Eagles started slow, but they eventually out-ran the wayward Washington Commanders 29-18.

In the Cold Late Autumn

Began the morning with breakfast and the 2018 Muppet Babies. "It's a Wonderful Elf-Bot," which Bunsen and Beaker invent to help the Muppets make a wreath for Statler and Waldorf. They're supposed to put art supplies in and get a present, but end up creating presents for themselves. They learn a lesson in giving when the Elf-Bot overloads, and they're out of art supplies to make a wreath. "A Merry Litter Christmas" has Bunsen learning a lesson about littering when he throws his shrimp-flavored milk into outer space to get rid of it, only to find the boxes are raining down on Gonzo's home planet of Gonzonia and blocking the shipping lanes.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon making more cookies. Did the two from-scratch batches today. The oatmeal chocolate chip recipe came from Prevention Magazine when Linda Young gave me that subscription in 2010. I got a lot of great recipes from Prevention that year, but that one is my favorite. The cookies are made with egg whites, and they come out moist and chewy every time. The ginger molasses recipe comes from the Cookie Classics Made Easy cookbook Lauren sent me a decade ago. I've never done a bad cookie from that book, and these are no exception. I didn't even burn anything this time. The ginger molasses spread slightly more than I would have liked, but they tasted great and smelled amazing in the oven. The oatmeal chocolate chip came out perfectly. 

It was so late when I finally ate lunch and got everything cleaned up, I called Uber to get to work. Or tried to, anyway. I must not have pushed the prong for the charger all the way in. It was down to 1 when I picked it up. I had to wait for it to get up to 4 to use it. (At least there's places in the cafeteria where you can charge your phone!) When I did finally call them, they took 13 minutes to arrive. Thankfully, there was no traffic anywhere once they did get there, but that did mean I was 5 minutes late to work. 

Which was not a good thing. We were crazy today. We had at least 22 pre-school/kindergarten kids and 20 older kids, and it's still too cold and messy for them to play outside. Ironically, we did end up outside anyway at one point. The head teacher (who's watching the older kids this week) called a practice fire drill about mid-way through the session. Everyone trooped outside...and then all the kids complained because there was no time to bring their jackets, and it was sunny but still pretty cold. I told one of the shivering girls they could lean on me for body heat.

They were still pretty rowdy even inside. They were crazy in the bathrooms, and crazy in the cafeteria...and once again, the library was being used, and we couldn't separate the two groups. Things settled down slightly once one of the teachers pulled out the Duplos and magnetic tiles along with coloring. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening coloring with the kids. I did two scenes from The WENN Nutcracker Suite, Betty trying to convince Queen Gloria to let Christmas go on despite what the Mouse King told her, and Scott changing back into a human. I was about to start a grove of Christmas trees when there was few enough kids to let me go. The parents of one of the little boys even gave me a $20 WaWa gift card and a lovely Christmas card for doing such a good job watching their son. 

Called Uber again after work...and once again had to wait 14 minutes for a driver. At least I spotted them fast when they did arrive. There was a little traffic around Collings and the White Horse Pike, but not enough to make it more than a five-minute ride home.

Did a few quick chores before Jessa picked me up a little after 6. We had dinner at Ponzio's Diner in Cherry Hill. Jessa has never been to this long-standing Cherry Hill institution, and I've only been there twice. (Once was with Dad when he took me to the near-by bike shop in March 2018.) Jessa had salmon cakes, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and a cup of chicken orzo soup. I had a shrimp salad sandwich on rye toast that was absolutely delicious, tasty hot fries, and a tiny cup of soupy Cole slaw. Jess had a gigantic black and white cookie for dessert. I had a massive slice of German chocolate cake that was slightly dry, but made up for it with its rich flavor and wonderfully thick chocolate and coconut-pecan icing. We talked about Dad, video games we liked, and childhood memories.

Finished the night watching Christmas On the Square at Netflix. I go further into this melodramatic Dolly Pardon TV musical that won an Emmy for Best TV movie in 2021 at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Musicals On Streaming - Christmas On the Square

(Oh, and Rose texted me earlier in the day. Yes, she and her family are not going away for Christmas this year. Did I want to come over and do a big appetizer spread, like I did at Thanksgiving? Sure! I have presents to give them all anyway.) 

Star Wheel Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and the rest of the Brian Setzer Orchestra Boogie Woogie Christmas CD. Switched to Merry Christmas From Sesame Street after that ended. As far as I can tell, this is the very first Sesame Street holiday album from 1975. A lot of what's here would be adapted for Christmas Eve On Sesame Street three years later, including Oscar's "I Hate Christmas," the cast number "Keep Christmas With You," and the entire Bert/Ernie/Mr. Hooper "Gift of the Magi" segment, complete with Bert and Ernie singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." 

Most of the other songs exclusive to this album are covers, but we do have a few unique items. "A Christmas Pageant" for some reason involves Bert posing as a Christmas tree and the other Muppets "planting" him. "The Night Before Christmas On Sesame Street" is David's solo, and it reads more as "a mid 70's New York hipster's version of 'The Night Before Christmas.'" Hispanic neighbors Luis and Maria sing two untranslated Spanish numbers, "Saludo" and "Arrurru." The Count gives us his...unusual...rendition of "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wrapping presents. I managed to get through half of them, including all of the gifts for Mom, Keefe, and Keefe's family, all of Lauren and her parents' gifts, one of Finley's gifts, and one of Khai's gifts. I'll finish the rest tomorrow.

Listened to two more Christmas children's albums while I worked. My family had 4 of the 6 Little Golden Book Christmas Stories when I was a kid in the 80's. For all I know, Mom or Rose may still have "Jingle Bells," "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and "The Night Before Christmas." Of the two books narrated on the LP I don't recognize, "How Lovely Is Christmas" is the more interesting one. A young boy who wants an ax that's his size to clear trees for his pioneer parents dreams that American tall tale icons Johnny Appleseed, Daniel Boone, and Paul Bunyon give him gifts to help his family. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" isn't nearly as effective when the lyrics are recited rather than sung.

Dickens' A Christmas Carol from 1974 is the original version of what would become Mickey's Christmas Carol almost a decade later. There were quite a few changes from the LP to the big screen. Merlin from Sword and the Stone was the Ghost of Christmas Past. The Wicked Queen in hag mode from Snow White was Christmas Future. Gideon and Foulfellow from Pinocchio were the men collecting for the poor. The biggest change is the addition of six songs, none of which would make it to the animated version. To be honest, I suspect the reason for that is they're not that memorable, although I do like the delicious march "Money" as Scrooge explains what he loves most to Mickey Cratchit. 

I was just having lunch when I looked at my watch...and realized it was quarter after 2. I was supposed to have been at work at 2! I was thinking of the after-school program's schedule, not the Acme's. I usually work there in the mornings. I raced around like crazy after that. Took Uber because I thought it would be faster, and because I would be at work after dark. Even with Uber only taking 6 minutes to arrive, I was still a half-hour late.

It was really busy when I got in, much more than it has been. Good thing the Eagles aren't playing until tomorrow night, or it might have been even worse. I ended up getting help with the carts from one of the guys who were supposed to be cashiering. Thankfully, it slowed down enough by the end of the night that I was able to get the carts done on my own, though I never did get to the trash or the side by the pharmacy. Uber took 11 minutes to get me home, not bad for the height of rush hour.

Spent the rest of the night after dinner watching the Sunday Match Game marathon. The addition of the Star Wheel in mid-1978 was controversial from the outset. Admittedly, it did allow contestants to win more money, up to $10,000 on the daytime show and $20,000 on the nighttime syndicated run. It was also supposed to give panelists other than Richard Dawson a chance to play the Head-to-Head. Richard was furious, to the point where he only lasted two weeks after they changed the set to work better with the Star Wheel.

While the idea of giving everyone a chance to play may have been nice, it didn't always work. Some of the panelists weren't that crazy about doing the Head-to-Head, even the ones like Brett who were actually good at it. Sometimes, the Wheel would land on someone multiple times in a row, like it ironically did with Richard the first couple of times it was used. (In fact, the moment it landed on Richard the first time, most of the panel, including Richard himself, walked out!) I know it landed on David Doyle at least four or five times in a row one week during the syndicated era, too. 

Contestants had fewer problems with it, other than some of them weren't all that great at spinning it. It did allow them to win a ton of money. This was particularly true in the nighttime syndicated show. Joyce Bulifant got the chance to help a man dressed all in blue win $20,000. Charles made him his "code of arms" to remind him of a slip-up on the Audience Match and of his big win.

Spin that Star Wheel to get big bucks the Match Game way in this hilarious marathon!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Star Wheel "Special Moments" (1978 - 1982)

Birth of Fall

Began the day with breakfast and The Muppet Show. Hard rock star Alice Cooper was the other guest associated with horror who appeared on the show, this time in the third season. The Muppets played on his ghoulish reputation with a story where he tries to sell the Muppets' souls, but Gonzo is the only taker. Meanwhile, teeth complain about a toothache, Pigs In Space are turned into ghostly outlines by a virus, and Robin sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Work was pretty much the same deal it had been on Wednesday. We were dead the entire morning. It got a little steady around 11:30, then went right back to being dead. Like I said, we're between holidays, the next major holiday isn't really food-oriented anyway, and the weather remains gorgeous. It was sunny and windy, but not quite as warm as it has been, likely in the lower 60's. 

Got my schedule here, too. In good news, I only work Sunday afternoon and Wednesday morning next week. I asked for Halloween off (we're never busy anyway), but I didn't expect to get Saturday! In bad news, that means a really bad paycheck the week after. 

Headed home after work, then changed and briefly went right back out. I bought a pepperoni-stuffed pretzel and two regular pretzels for lunch. Got them at the A&A Pretzel Shop, then rode home.

Had lunch while watching Paw Patrol. "Pups Save the Trick or Treaters" when Mayor Humdinger's giant spider costume steals all of the trick or treat candy. They make use of a marshmallow web Marshall inadvertently created to catch him. "Pups Save an Out of Control Mini Patrol" when Alex accidentally takes Daring Danny X's new rocket bike while delivering cow shampoo to Katie. Chase and Marshall keep him from ending up in the bay.

Rode to the Thomas Sharp School after the cartoon ended. Though the teacher did read a book about various kinds of tools and their uses after snack time, we were mainly outside. I had to settle a lot of arguments over the swings! They all really love them, but there's only two. I told them I'd choose who went next and would keep them from hitting each other. They love it when I push them! The girls say I push really high. We had a somewhat smaller group than usual that disappeared quicker than usual. The school was apparently holding a "trunk or treat" event on the blacktop in the back of the school later in the evening. It was just starting as I left.

At this point, I also got two big announcements. First of all, my fourth nephew was born this afternoon! Keefe's wife Julia had her son, Elijah Jackman, and mother and son are apparently doing just fine. Second, Jessa texted me to say Rose's husband Craig's father just passed away and asked me if I could come to his funeral tomorrow. (I can't. I'm working in the morning.) 

Made a quick stop at the Speedy Mart on Collings Street after I got out. They were really busy with teens from Collingswood High getting snacks and drinks. I just bought bagels and a Propel.

Watched Match Game '76 while eating dinner. Tom Poston and Laugh-In comedienne Barbara Sharma made their only appearances on the 1973-1982 run of the show this week. Neither played especially well, though Tom Poston at least had a sense of humor about it. 

Moved to YouTube after dinner for a rare Halloween special. Boo! is another attempt at a Halloween variety show, this one coming from Canada in 1982. It's even stranger than Paul Lynde's special. Monsters, including a rather adorable orange-haired Frankenstein, appear in a series of blackout sketches. The wolfman is hypnotized to not go crazy at the mention of the full moon, Dracula and his Countess sing "If Our Friends Could See Us Now," and truckers discuss the death of the variety show on regular TV. (Real variety shows had just gone out of fashion in the late 70's.) Dionne Warwick sings "Deja Vu" and "Just the Way You Are," the latter to Frankenstein's monster, and Rip Taylor appears as a prisoner with a few screws loose and sells his wares to aliens in a bar.

Jessica Fletcher recreates another Halloween favorite in Murder She Wrote. Dorian Beecher (Thom Bray), a nerdy young man who teaches poetry at a private school in Vermont, calls Jessica to act as his mother and impress the father (Doug McClure) of his sweetheart (Karlene Crockett). Dorian is at odds with bullying riding instructor Nate Findley (Barry Williams), until he's found dead with his head missing after witnessing "The Night of the Headless Horseman." Dorian is arrested for the crime, but Jessica doesn't think he's capable of murder. She realizes the obnoxious Findley had other enemies, including the town dentist (Charles Siebert) whose fiancee ran off with Findley. 

Winds of Fall

Began the morning with breakfast and The Scooby Doo Show. Mystery Inc ends up in Salem for Halloween when a friend invites them to the spooky house she just inherited. An old caretaker warns them away when they arrive, claiming the witch ancestor of the girl has returned from the grave...and worse yet, she looks like their friend. While Shaggy and Scooby prepare their trick-or-treating costumes, the others explore Salem's notorious witch-dunking past and try "To Switch a Witch" and find out what's really behind the spooky magic in Salem.

Switched to the second half of Supermarket Sweep while getting organized for grocery shopping. The episode I caught looked like a mid-90's tournament of contestants who had played before and lost. No wonder they all got far more time than usual for these groups. Only one team got anything resembling a good score, though. They did well on the first two questions in the Bonus Round, but the third one was a reference to Roman numerals you would probably only understand if you knew something about Latin.

Hurried out to run errands next. Hit Dollar Tree first to find rope for my cowgirl outfit. I was hoping to get a plastic sheriff's badge or plastic pistols too, but I didn't see them. I did get Moon Pies for the trick-or-treat bags. and cute Halloween cards for Mom, Keefe, and his family and Lauren and her parents. Hit Sprouts after a brief peek at Target. (Which is surprisingly still into Halloween. The Acmes are, too. Dollar Tree is half-Christmas.) Got coconut milk, dried apricots, soda, sparkling water, granola bars, and ginger molasses cookies from the bakery. (That's their seasonal cookie flavor.) 

Sprouts had been quiet. The Acme was even more so. I had no trouble picking up grapes, Cliff Bars were on a decent sale, and I had online coupons for yogurt. They actually had the Dannon Light Pumpkin Pie. I hadn't seen it for a while at the Audubon Acme. Grabbed a slice of white cake for a special dessert this weekend from the bakery clearance racks. Since they were out of Fresca, I grabbed two of the Diet Cokes With Lime. Grabbed a pack of two turkey and cheddar sandwiches on pretzel rolls for lunch.

Threw on The Muppet Show while I ate lunch and put everything away when I got home. Elegant horror icon Vincent Price became the first of two spooky guest stars to appear on the show in the late first season. He and Kermit discuss gourmet cooking with a distinguished panel (including a very hungry Muppet monster) and learn about the fine art of horror acting. Meanwhile, Gonzo and Fozzie are nervous when Price and Uncle Deadly turn up on the doorstep of their haunted mansion, one Muppet monster eats another (and sings about it), and the Muppet Newscaster reads a story about living furniture consuming its owners. 

Actually got off to the Thomas Sharp School a bit early. Good, because we had quite a few kids today. They were all excited because a fire truck and ambulance came by earlier in the day in honor of Fire Prevention Month. They taught them fire safety and gave them red plastic fire hats. That brought back a lot of memories. We also got red plastic fire hats in October, only instead of the fire fighters coming to us, we would walk to the Cape May Fire Hall and Museum on Washington Street to learn about fire safety and fighting fires in the past from them.

They were all still really wound up from the fire truck visit, which is likely why they were so crazy outside. There was a lot of arguing over the swings. I wish there were more than two of them! Some of the girls in particular would remain on the entire hour if allowed and will throw a fit if they have to get off. I admire their spunk, but they do have to take turns. The weather was still a bit blustery and cloudy, but a bit warmer than yesterday. It was so nice, all of the kids regardless of age once again remained outside until the session ended.

Hurried straight home after that. Jessa asked if she could bring a friend to dinner...but she didn't say it was a guy friend. He seemed nice enough, and he did pay for our meals at the Pub, but he mentioned a GED, spent a lot of time complaining about how the suburbs had spread, and had no idea that Shop-Rite and Marlton go a lot further back than the 80's and 90's. (I've seen houses in Marlton that date to the 1840's, and online research reveals that Shop-Rite began in 1946.) My salmon sandwich and crispy fries were delicious (if messy), but I just felt a little awkward.

Finished the night with Shock 'Em Dead, a heavy metal horror comedy from 1991, at Tubi. I go further into this B-pic take on the Faust legend at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Shock 'Em Dead