Songs and Sounds of Summer

Slept longer than I planned this morning. Had a quick cereal and blueberries breakfast while listening to the original cast of Bye Bye Birdie. In this spoof of suburban teen life and culture, songwriter Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke) and his girlfriend Rosie Alverez (Chita Rivera) come up with the idea of writing the song "One Last Kiss" for teen idol Conrad Birdie (Dick Gautier), who was just drafted into the Army, to sing on The Ed Sullivan Show. A teen girl chosen randomly from his fan club will be selected to give him that final kiss.

The lucky girl is Kim MacAfee (Susan Watson), who is absolutely thrilled. Her parents and boyfriend Hugo (Michael J. Pollard) are not. Her father Harry (Paul Lynde) loudly protests, until he learns it'll be on television. Albert's clingy mother Mae (Kay Medford) wants her son to continue to be her meal ticket and shoves a tap dancer at him, prompting jealous Rosie to sabotage the show.

Granted, there's a lot of songs here I love, including the hit "Put On a Happy Face," Rosie and Kim's "What Did I Ever See In Him," "A Lot of Livin' to Do" for Conrad and the suburban kids after they've gone out for a night on the town, and the sweet "One Boy" for the girls and Rosie as they discuss their feelings for their men. The problem is, teens may still shriek over their favorite idols and parents may not understand why, but other details have dated rather badly. There's a song revolving around The Ed Sullivan Show, once a staple of family viewing that most families probably don't remember existed nowadays, and Rose's attempt to make Albert do something he doesn't want to do comes off as shallow instead of well-meaning.

This apparently is still a favorite of high schools and colleges to this day...but send the kids online or show them episodes of the real Ed Sullivan to help them understand what a lot of the fuss is about.

Had just enough time to sneak in a little bit of writing before work. Gene's delighted to introduce the six Legendary Princesses, together for the first time in decades. Malade's happy he did her work for her - now she can take them out in one blow, especially since its getting close to midnight...

Rushed off to work less than fifteen minutes after I got off the computer. Work was off-and-on busy all day, surprising considering the gorgeous weather. We're getting pretty close to the beginning of the month; some folks may have already gotten their money. I was tired and flustered and not really up to dealing with some of the more difficult customers. Couldn't have been happier when it slowed down enough by 5:30 for me to dash off without a relief.

It was the perfect day for dinner at Sonic. Evidently, a lot of other people thought so, too. A couple and a large family were already sitting down by the time I arrived. The mother in the family complained gently but firmly that the teens working the kitchen got their orders wrong, even as I gave them mine. They'd fixed the mix-up by the time my chicken sandwich, tater tots, and cherry limeade arrived. Actually, they made a mistake with my order, too. I asked for a cherry limeade slush, not an ordinary cherry limeade. No big deal. It's all liquid.

Took the long way home down Nicholson Road. The weather was too nice not to! It was sunny and breezy, with a deep blue sky, fat fleecy clouds, and no humidity. Not surprisingly, Nicholson Road was just as busy with people going out to order dinner or for Sunday drives. I dodged cars all the way down to Atlantic and Newton Avenue in Oaklyn.

I was so tired, I changed, had peanut butter-no bake cookies for dessert, and settled for listening to my Bold Venture album for an hour. This Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall radio show is one of several Bogart-related old time radio albums that came with the original collection from my late stepmother Kaye. Bogart is Slate Shannon, who owns a Cuban hotel and a boat named Bold Venture. Bacall is Sailor, his equally tough sweetheart. Their adventures range from treasure hunting to dealing with smugglers to battling pirates.

The first story, "The Star of Sheba," has Slate and Sailor delivering jewels that may have lead to the death of a friend of his. "The Blue Moon" involves smuggling intrigue. Both have a lot in common with To Have and Have Not (Bogart-Bacall, he runs a boat, tropical locale with colorful cast), and to a lesser degree, Casablanca (he owns a place where shady types congregate). Evidently, this syndicated show survived better than I Love a Mystery, with 57 out of 78 shows existing. Look them up if you love Bogart, Bacall, or tropical-flavored intrigue.

Finished the night poking around online. Watched the second half of the Flyers-Islanders game after tonight's Match Game premiere on YouTube. Darn it, despite putting up a good stand in the last few minutes, the Flyers lost, 3-2. They'd better get their rears in gear if they want to stay in the playoffs!

Look For a Sky of Blue

Started off a rainy, gloomy morning with buttermilk pancakes, cantaloupe slices, and my Varase Sarabande Cinderella CD. This is a collection of songs from various musical versions of the famous fairy tale, from Into the Woods to the Rogers and Hammerstein TV incarnation to the animated Disney movie. There's some more obscure material from England as well. "Spread a Little Happiness" is a charming cheer-up ditty from the British 20's hit Mr. Cinders, featuring a male Cinderella. "Raise a Ruckus" apparently comes from the southeastern-US-set Cindy-Ella. Research reveals the score mostly featured African-American spirituals. This delightful roof-raiser was one of the few originals.

As soon as I finished breakfast, I dashed out to work. Rain continued to fall, but it wasn't heavy, and I arrived damp but not soaked. That was the worst that happened all day. The crowds were off-and-on steady, likely trying to avoid the rain. Once the rain stopped, the crowds started coming in. Once again, I was in and out with no trouble. One of the managers even said she'd talk to the head managers about getting me extra money for the day of and the day after Dad died, though we won't be having the actual funeral until next year.

Headed straight home after work. Surprisingly, despite the Acme being busy, Nicholson Road wasn't. There were some stragglers around the shopping center entrance and the Hispanic church. Otherwise, it was clear sailing all the way over the bridge and down to Hillcrest. It remained cloudy, cool, and humid, but the rain was long gone at that point. It wasn't even really wet.

Went straight into writing when I got home. Charles ignores the terrible burns on his back to let Brett drink her energy. It covers her, eventually restoring her and giving her the energy to stand up to her stepmother. There's her friend to thank for saving her, too...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Made Parmesan eggplant and yellow squash to go with my last chicken leg. Listened to my double CD of The Desert Song and New Moon while I ate. These are both truncated versions made for Decca in the 1940's. I prefer The Desert Song, with Kitty Carisle and Wilbur Evens doing an enjoyable "Romance," "Then You Will Know," and "One Alone," to the so-so New Moon.

It was cool enough to bake again. The last farm market apple was starting to go bad, so I used it and one Acme apple to make Apples Rolled In Autumn (Apple-Spice-Oatmeal) Cookies from that one-bowl cookie cookbook Lauren sent me a few years ago. Stuck with operetta, this time going with the off-Broadway satire Little Mary Sunshine. Mary (Eileen Brennan) is the owner and operator of a lodge in Colorado that houses a group of finishing-school girls and a band of forest rangers who are after a thieving Indian. While Mary's maid Nancy chases the guy, Mary pines for her handsome head of the rangers...but their quarry is closer at hand than they think...

If you know anything about operetta and other types of musicals from the first thirty or so years of the 20th century, you'll get a big kick out of this. The ladies' numbers are especially fun; Nancy gets the adorable duet "Once In a Blue Moon" with her doubtful sweetheart, and she sings about "Mata Hari" to cheer up the other women while they await their swains. Brennan makes fun of wistful Cinderella heroines with "Look For a Sky of Blue" and joins her Ranger for a "Colorado Love Call" and a retired opera singer for "Every Little Nothing."

Finished the night online with the Flyers-Canadiens game live in Toronto. The Flyers scored early in the first half...which was the last time anyone scored anything. They'd get so close, only to just miss the net or have it pushed away. In the end, that one point was enough to win. They're now 2 - 1 over the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Alas, they play in the afternoon tomorrow. I was hoping to run errands once my check cleared.

Taco Thursday

Today was my first early work shift in a while. Other than the ongoing remodeling, it was no trouble. I did a half-hour of carts when I got in and another one right before I went on break. Otherwise, I attempted to do returns. I really wish they hadn't opted to rearrange everything along with the remodeling. It doesn't bother me so much, but a lot of our customers don't want to have to get used to the way the store is organized again. Thankfully, we were never that busy and for once, there was plenty of help on a weekday.

The floral department manager gave me some good news yesterday. They're opting to expand the Floral Department and put that up front instead of the unnecessary Starbucks. It'll probably replace the weekly sales displays and self-checkout area that are at the entrance now. They're already building at the former display area, which is mostly boarded off.

Picked up a box of brown sugar quickly on sale, then headed home. Ate leftovers for lunch while watching Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates. The show finally acknowledges that Captain Hook and his boys weren't the best villains by downplaying their roles and creating an entirely new, far more menacing bad guy for the special "The Great NeverSea Conquest." Lord Fathom is an evil mer-wizard who wants to take over the entire NeverSea...and eventually, Never Land! He finds an emerald that gives him control over the creatures of the NeverSea and allows him to lock up the rightful rulers.

Meanwhile, Captain Hook and his crew and Jake and the kids are both looking for The Mighty Colossus. The legendary pirate vessel destroyed an enormous sea serpant, but went to the bottom of the Never Sea after doing so. Captain Hook wants the treasure it was supposedly carrying. Jake just wants to see the famous ship and learn more about its captain. He gets his wish and his chance when the kids' beloved ship Bucky is damaged. They get help from all the pirate captains in the Never Sea to raise the Colossus and prove Jake to be the strong-hearted pirate captain he'd always dreamed of.

Did writing for the next few hours. Hank's huge friend Charles appears with Baby, whom he found wandering the streets. Rey finds the message on Baby's collar. They take the dog and the paper to Leia Organa-Solo. After Leia tells them she knows Artie Baker, a friend of Luke's, she confronts Hank. The kids are hoping for romance, but despite a promising start, they end up discussing their son being involved in the shootout and Poe's kidnapping instead.

Artie turns out to be an eccentric, very small inventor. He's created a robot that looks like a huge Swiss army knife, but is really designed to hold secrets and communicate with other robots. A red light on its dome flashes, even though none of Artie's other robots are operating and there are no others in the area. He reveals that Luke is in New York, searching houses...though he's not sure why.

It was just getting dark and cloudy when I rode over to Dad and Jodie's around quarter of 6. Jodie's Taco Thursday was in full swing. She had hard and soft tortillas, seasoned ground beef, sliced tomatoes and onions, shredded lettuce, and hot sauce and sour cream out. I didn't have a big lunch and ended up eating four of them, three soft and one hard. (I'm not a big fan of hard tacos. They tend to fall apart.)

Chatted with various members of the family, including Dana, Jodie, and Rose. I didn't know Rose was a Flyers fan. This is their 50th season - today was their 50th annual home opening game, (Disappointingly, I later discovered they lost to the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2.) She suggested going to see a home game some time. I'd love to! I've seen Phillies and Eagles games live, but never the Flyers.

Glad I got to see everyone. Khai mostly watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown on DVD and The Loud Family on Nickelodeon while playing with his mother's iPad. Rose brought a Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake, made from our mom's own recipe that she used to make for the Ugly Mug bar in Cape May when she worked there in the 80's. It was just as good as Mom's was when we were kids, chocolate-y and rich.

Rose also reminded me that I really need to call the family in Cape May County. I haven't since I went down there with her in July. They did just get past their busy season. Dad-Bill apparently hasn't been doing so good, but it's more than likely he won't do anything like resting and is probably driving Mom nuts. He and Anny apparently went up to visit Grandma Ann in upstate New York. Grandma Ann is cool. She's my only grandparent left. As Rose said, she has a tendency to spend money like it's going out of style (gee, wonder where Dad-Bill gets that habit from), but she's funny as hell and tells great stories.

Law & Order & Sisters

I overslept and even with Dad and Jodie picking me up, was almost late to work! This was not a good thing. For one thing, it was pouring when I got up, and continued to pour all day. Big-time, monsoon-level, everything floods pouring. Dad and Jodie were taking Khai grocery shopping anyway, but I was still a little embarrassed.

Thankfully, that was the worst that happened. It was quiet-to-steady until the 4PM rush hour, after which it picked up considerably. I really got rather lucky. The college boy who was supposed to come in at 4:30 was so late, he came in for me when I was done at 5.

Dad picked me up at work. The rain was still coming down. The roads were really bad by then. They were starting to shut down parts of roads that had been flooded. The part of West Clinton that goes under the train bridge was so high, we barely got through in Dad's mini van. (Dad said we may have been the last ones through before the police shut the underpass down.)

I ended up at Dad's house for the rest of the night. My sister Rose was finally being sworn in as a lawyer! A local judge and his wife were going to do the swearing in, but they had problems getting there, thanks to all the road closings. Dinner took a lot longer than the swearing in. We used Dad's den for the event, and it took all of five minutes. Khai was so cute. He ran next to his mother and repeated the oath as best he could with his hand raised; he wanted to be sworn in, too!

I spent most of the rest of the evening watching Law & Order re-runs on WE and cartoons and playing games with Khai and Jessa. Khai got a lot of fun new games for his birthday. One was "Zingo!," basic bingo, only with words and pictures (like "cat" or "dog" or "sun") on chips instead of numbers and letters. Another was a variation on Candy Land, only with dinosaurs in a train trying to get home, and a spinner instead of cards. A third was a 3-D matching game. You set up penguins holding colored "eggs" inside and roll the dice. Each side of the dice has a color. You look under the penguin and see if you can find the color that matches the dice.

We finished with the penguin game in time for dinner. Jodie made her famous so-soft-they-fall-off-the-bone ribs, along with boiled asparagus (which was sadly rather overcooked) and scallops wrapped in bacon. Margaret, Dad's neighbor, made a delicious spinach and bacon salad. There was a lemon cake from the Acme in Westmont for dessert.

Khai and I watched a couple of on-demand cartoons as the others chatted. Evidently, Khai's interests are slowly moving from dinosaurs to superheroes, especially the Cartoon Network show Teen Titans Go! The original Teen Titans were four young adults - Batman's ward Robin, good-natured robot man Cyborg, sweet Beast Boy (who can change into any animal), naive alien Starfire, and goth bad girl Raven - who are the Justice League's apprentices. While the show did well enough, it must have gotten too dark for execs at Cartoon Network. The new show looks and sounds like a cross between The Powerpuff Girls and Super Friends. It's now done in super-cute Flash animation, and most stories revolve around the kids hanging out or being weird in their t-shaped hide-out. Very strange show with some oddly dark humor, especially the one that reveals all the kids' dreams in different styles, from live-action for Beast Boy to the original show's anime for Robin.

Wally Kazaam made at least slightly more sense. This Nick Jr. little kids' show follows the title character, a cute ogre whose stick can make magical words appear. His friends include a fairy, his dog-like dragon, and Bob Goblin, a goofy little monster with a very one-track mind. In the episode we saw, the four have to dodge rotten tomatoes raining from the sky and tricky trees to get to the Magical Wishing Potato and wish their fairy friend's voice back in time for her concert. Every episode has a letter or sound of the day, and those letters or sounds will appear in Wally's magical words (in this case, the "sh" sound). Very cute show; Bob Goblin in particular was a riot.

When Khai and I started having pillow fights and Dad played monster, we knew it was time to go home. Rose and Khai drove me back. Thankfully, by that point, it was still raining but not anywhere near as heavily. The waters had receded, and we were able to get home with no problems. It may not even be raining now.

Oh, and alas, the Flyers ended their season today, just barely losing to the New York Rangers 2-1.

The Garden Next Door

Started the day quickly with the original book version of Auntie Mame, Carrot-Oatmeal Pancakes for breakfast, and this week's Brunch With the Beatles. "Questions and Answers" was the broad, simple theme for today. Any song from any era was fine, as long as it asked a question or gave an answer. Songs that did one or the other or both included "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", "When I'm 64," and "With A Little Help From My Friends."

Although I had to work earlier than usual for a Sunday, I did have enough time to call Mom. She had a quiet Easter. Anny spent a lot of the week with her sons and a guy friend and his daughter who was visiting the area. Dad was out working, but was due in soon, and Mom wanted to get a lot of cleaning done before he was underfoot. Basically, she said to keep moving forward, ignore Rose's complaints about my being self-centered (um, I live alone - whom am I supposed to be centered on?) and not doing enough to change my circumstances. I'm doing what I can.

I went to work almost as soon as I got off the phone with Mom. Work was crazy for most of the day. It was a beautiful, if windy, spring day, and this is the only day of the week a lot of people can shop. Basketball and hockey are in playoffs, too. The Flyers played at noon. Alas, they couldn't hold off the New York Rangers, who handed them their rears, 4-2. I saw the opening seconds of the game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues during my break, and later as I was getting ready to go home. (I had to stay an hour later, due to how overwhelmingly busy we were.) The Blackhawks had no trouble giving the Blues the blues with a huge 5-1 win.

When I got home, I had a quick leftovers dinner and listened to my original cast LP for Mame. Although I do enjoy the movie version, the cast album is fun, too. Angela Landsbury became a beloved stage star with her performance as the world's most unconventional relative. The cast recording includes a number for Mame and the ensemble, "That's How Young I Feel," that didn't make it into the movie.

I wanted to go for a walk after dinner, but it was past 7. I just opted to go next-door to Veteran's Park. The park is in full bloom now, with shiny, soft green leaves on every tree. They're just starting to work on the town garden, too. I saw one plot with pots of dazzlingly white hyacinths. Someone planted tomato stalks and what looked like lettuce in another. There were adorable little mums all around the perimeter. A heavier wooden fence had been added in some places. It was probably to keep local critters out, but it also made it a bit hard to look in.

Into the Holiday Weekend

Began a sunny morning with the American Top 40. Valentine's Day 1976 broke out the disco, R&B, novelty tunes, and some classic ballads. We heard "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow, "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate, "Evil Woman" by the Electric Light Orchestra (which would be incorporated into the 2007 stage version of Xanadu), Neil Sedaka's slower version of "Breakin' Up Is Hard to Do," "Theme from S.W.A.T" by Rhythm Heritage, "Love Roller Coaster" by the Ohio Players, "Love Machine (Part 1)" by the Miracles, "Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer, and the novelty tune on the then-exploding trucker culture, "Convoy." That week's #1 song was one of my favorite Paul Simon hits, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.

I finished out the second Avengers: The World's Greatest Superheroes! volume while doing some crocheting. My favorite episodes on the second disc both highlighted the Hulk. "Gamma World" was a very interesting two-parter in which the Hulk's old adversary The Leader, one of the escapees from the Cube, the prison for gamma radiation villains, creates a huge dome of radiation. It eventually expands until it consumes the whole desert and Las Vegas, turning the entire city and most of the Avengers into monsters. The only Avengers who avoid this fate are Thor, who isn't from this world, Hawkeye, who managed to outrun the blast, and Hulk, who's been a gamma monster for ages. The three find themselves working together to try to contain the Leader's scheme...and prove to the Hulk that both of his alter egos have a purpose in the Avengers.

I made a quick errand run around the Oaklyn area after the DVD ended. The Oaklyn PNC branch will be closing the 22nd and consolidating with the branch in Collingswood. Next week will be my last day depositing anything there. I wish they were closing the branch in Collingswood instead. That would really make more sense. There's at least three or four other banks on Haddon Avenue alone, but only one other bank in Oaklyn (TD Bank further down the White Horse Pike). I like PNC and intend to stay with them, but I don't want to ride to Collingswood every week to deposit my paycheck.

I never made it to the Oaklyn Library last week. Made up for that with a quick stop there after leaving the bank. The library was the busiest I ever saw it. The children's area was filled with kids making LEGO kingdoms and vehicles and towers. I'd forgotten that today was the library's LEGO Building Club. Oh well, the kids were fun to watch.

I ended up working on the adult DVD section instead. It really needed the organizing. Half the boxes weren't in the right place at all. I also did something I'd been wanting to do forever. The Oaklyn Library probably can't afford to give the DVDs uniform cases and usually just leave them in the case they came in (even when the case is merely a cardboard box or slipcover). This would be all well and fine, if whomever shelved them actually bothered taking off the black and white sticky labels that hold together the tops. Many of them still had parts of the labels on their tops and sides. It looked tacky and unprofessional, not to mention made the cases hard to open. I removed as many of the labels as I could (some of them were covered with the library's scan bar stickers and couldn't be budged), then explained the situation to the librarian on duty. She said she'd leave a note for the other librarians to be more careful with the DVDs.

When I got home, I finished out "Gamma World" and ran a couple of Sailor Moon episodes from the first half the second season during a leftovers lunch, then headed to work. One of the managers had asked me to stay until 8. Having already taken a lot of hours this week, I told her I'd stay until 7, if necessary. (Getting off at 7 made more sense than getting off at 6:30, anyway.) Evidently, the father of one of the college boys had passed away, and he was going to be gone for a while. (Which also explains my late hours later this week.)

It was crazy-busy for most of the afternoon, not helped by the lack of employees. At one point, we even had to call a guy from the bakery to help out up front...and the bakery was even busier than us! February is a big birthday month. I saw at least seven or eight people buying birthday cakes and party trappings today. I thought it was quiet enough by 6:30 for me to leave at the original time, but the managers needed one of the cashiers to help with a display. I was embarrassed when they called me back to stay until the original 7. I thought the other cashier would be coming back!

I did get one important thing done at work today. One of the head managers helped me switch my paycheck from check to direct deposit. I was wary of that when it was first debuted. I would rather have the money right away, in my hand. But then, I started direct-depositing my tax refund money, and then got my temporary disability money last fall through direct deposit, and I realized how convenient it is to have the money right away and not have to run to the bank to put it in there. If nothing else, it'll save me an errand. From now on, I'll just take the money out of the bank that I need for the week on Fridays.

I finally made it to Applebee's after changing into a regular shirt. Needless to say, they were very busy on a Saturday night. My original plan for Christmas Eve was a decent dinner at Applebee's, which is in the parking lot next to the Acme, but I ended up going to Dad's party instead. I just switched it to a late Valentine's Day dinner. The hostess originally said the wait was 10 minutes, but it took less than 5 for them to seat me in a booth near the door.

I had the tasty Napa Chicken and Portobello, which was pretty much grilled chicken with roasted red peppers, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini, topped with Swiss cheese. Some of the zucchini slices hadn't really been cooked through, but they were awfully thick. Everything else was just fine. The chicken was tender and salty. The remaining vegetables were divine. I may have to try something like that at home this week. I enjoyed my meal and watched the Flyers play the Montreal Canadians. (Alas, they ultimately lost, 4-1.)

I heard customers mention a flurry in the middle of the afternoon. It was just cloudy when I got out of work, and at press time doesn't seem to be anything but cold.

The Ghost Walks...Into Oaklyn

Started out the morning with more Popeye shorts. Some of the supporting cast from the comic strip joined in for the next round of shorts as the Fleischers moved their studio from grimy New York to sunny Miami. Some of the characters, like Eugene the Jeep (a dog-like critter that can disappear and reappear at will) and the Goons, were pretty bizarre. Others, like Popeye's rough old father Poopdeck Pappy, made slightly more sense. Pappy's introductory short, "Goonland," looks a lot like the 1980 movie - Popeye is in search of his very old father, who doesn't recognize him when he does find him.

Others played with the "Popeye and Bluto fight over Olive" formula. All three try to make themselves more "refined," as per their fan club's orders, in "It's the Natural Thing to Do"...with predictable results. Popeye's fondness for animals helps to show a bull that he doesn't have to fight in the ring in "Bulldozing the Bull." He has less luck freeing pets from Olive's shop in "Leave Well Enough Alone." The third two-reeler also showed up at this point. Olive beats Warner's "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" by a decade by "penning" Popeye's next featurette, a more straightforward adaptation of "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" than Disney's version.

Finally headed out to run some errands around 11:30. Much to my surprise, despite all the fuss, we once again only got about 2 inches of snow. The day was sunny and bright, with only a few cottony clouds in the sky. Even as I strolled to the bank, the warm sun was melting a lot of the snow. Anything that was in the shade was icy, though, and the wind was fierce.

I deposited my paycheck, then decided to take a lot at the House of Fun a few doors down on the same block. I hadn't been there since Lauren visited last May. I had such a hard time choosing between the many, many items stuffed on shelves and laying on the floor. I considered a leathery Felix the Cat doll, an original Atari 2600 console (the games were really cheap), or a book on 80s toys. I had such a hard time deciding, I ultimately just walked out with a DVD copy of the 1996 movie The Phantom.

(The other thing is, I'm going to save some money for a new laptop. I've had the Compaq I'm using now for 4 years, since 2009...and my best friend Lauren owned it for 3 years before that. I don't want anything fancy. I just want something I can download music, use the internet, and write on.)

I stopped at Capitol Pizza, which is a block from The House of Fun, for lunch. I had a slice of cheese pizza and a slice of mushroom pizza with a can of Fresca. For once, they had something interesting on their widescreen TV. The usual CNN had been replaced by Comcast Sport Network's showing of today's Flyers home game. I joined them just as they scored against the Carolina Hurricanes and pulled ahead 2-1. The Hurricanes evened up the score as I was leaving. (Apparently, it went into overtime after I left; the Flyers just pulled off a 4-3 win.)

Spent the rest of the afternoon at home. For one thing, I really needed to clean. The bathroom and kitchen weren't quite as bad as when I did them last month, but they had to be done. I never did get to vacuuming  I'll have to do that tomorrow.

I ran Popeye while doing the kitchen, then switched to The Phantom while making White Chocolate Chip-Strawberry Cake and Chicken Stir-Fry for dinner. As with The Shadow and John Carter, this is a cult adaptation of a seminal, prototypical sci-fi franchise. "The Phantom" was one of the earliest superhero comics. Kit Walker is a young man who is the 21st in a line of superheroic do-gooding characters whose ancestors befriended an Asian Indian tribe. Kit (Billy Zane) has to foil the plot of the evil tycoon Xander Drax (Treat Williams), who wants to find three skulls that will grant him ultimate power. Diana (Kristy Swanson), the feisty niece of a newspaper owner who is doing a series of articles on Drax's underhanded business deals, wants to find the skulls first. Both she and the deadly female pilot Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones) want to find out more about this mystery man in the purple suit...

Ultimately succumbs to the same problems as The Shadow, another 90s movie version of a 30s character - poor casting choices weaken a nifty, Indiana Jones-esque story. Zane is a bland leading man; Swanson and Jones are slightly better as the strong-willed woman Walker has fallen for and the vampy aviatrix.

Putting It Together

Before I started in on my bed, I did have Strawberry Multi-Grain Pancakes for breakfast while listening to Brunch With the Beatles. "Award Winning Beatles Songs" was the theme today. Grammy winning Beatles songs include "Hey Jude," "A Hard Day's Night," "Eleanor Rigby," and "Sgt. Pepper"'s title song and "With a Little Help From My Friends."

Had a quick chat with Mom during the Beatles show. She'd just gotten out of the shower and obviously wanted to get dressed and moving on her errands. Like me, she plans on spending her week working outside once Mother Nature calms down.

I spent the next two hours putting my new bed together. It's pretty big for a daybed, and very heavy! I had to move my new bookshelf, the phone stand, and the crate I use for a nightstand away from the back wall. I used to have just the front of the mattress and box spring against the wall, with the rest jutting out into the room. With the closets taking up one wall and the heater along the other, there just isn't anywhere else I could put it. I moved the stuffed animals into the back room while I worked; the AG dolls and Disney Animator's Collection girls watched me from my desk chair.

As it turned out, the bed came with everything but one screw and directions. I keep screws and nuts leftover from previous projects in an old plastic butter container in the antique dresser in the living room. The last section of the head board was put together with a golden piece from I believe one of the Ikea shelves. I call it "The Golden Spike." (I think it actually worked better than the ones they provided.)

The lack of directions was a problem. It took me at least ten minutes to figure out that the nuts were to help the screws stay in the holes. There was also the fact I was doing this alone. I had no one to hold up the metal bed frame so it would stay in place. I eventually used the nightstand and another crate for that job.

It took me so long to figure everything out, after I was finished and the sheet was on, I had twenty minutes to eat lunch, pack dinner, change, and head to work! I managed to make it only slightly late and with no injuries this time. Work was busy when I came in. In addition to the beginning of the month and many barbecues and birthday parties, it was a big sports day. The Sixers played even as I arrived; they ultimately beat the Bulls 89-82. The Phillies played while I was at work, and the Flyers started as I was heading home at 7:30.

I finished putting the sheets, comforter, and stuffed animals on my new bed when I got in. It is so much easier to make an actual bed than it is a mattress and a box spring! With the mattress not jammed between the crate and the phone stand anymore, I can actually get the sheets and blanket on without a struggle. I moved the old mattress and box spring and the phone stand to the porch; they'll be taken downstairs later in the week for trash removal. The phone stand is one of the cheap furniture pieces I picked up from Ames when I first moved to Wildwood in 2002. Not only has it always been a little wobbly, I didn't do a great job of constructing it and actually chipped one side when I was screwing the parts together. (In my defense, I wasn't feeling well at the time. I called out the next day with a nasty flu bug.) The phone is now on the crate nightstand.

All of my stuffed animals fit on the day bed, including the dolls. Good thing, because I haven't figured out where to put their bed yet. That and the bookshelf will be organized tomorrow.

Oh, and while the Phillies blasted the Washington Nationals 9-3, the Flyers lost to the New Jersey Devils 4-2. The latter had better get their rears in gear before their eliminated from the playoffs...

Spring Greenery

I slept in this morning, then read The Drackenburg Adventure and did my journal and An Artist's Way in bed. When I finally got up, I switched on Brunch With the Beatles. The album in the spotlight today, The Beatles (generally known as The White Album), is a favorite of mine. The big hits were George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," John's "Revolution," and Paul's driving "Helter Skelter." The boys were beginning to fracture as they did this album, and some of the fracas found its way into the music, including "The Continuing Story of Buffalo Bill," "Green Tangerine" (John's response to people looking for meaning in their lyrics), George indulging his sweet tooth in "Savoy Truffle," Paul taking over an angry Ringo's drumming duties for "Back In the U.S.S.R," and the ultimate rock "Birthday" song.

I made Pear-Honey Pancakes for breakfast, then called Mom. She'd just finished her breakfast and was about to spend a nice day in Cape May. I told her that, thanks to my trip to Haddonfield, my new purchases, and my less-stressful schedule, I am feeling a bit better. Mom was also in a good mood; she told me that my sister Rose is trying to get her lawyer certificate, so she can become a junior partner in the firm she's working for right now. My brother's girlfriend visited him in South Carolina while he's on leave. Keefe and Vicki are so sweet on each other, they're giving the entire family cavities. ; )

Spent the rest of the early afternoon changing the American Girl dolls into less fancy spring clothes and reorganizing their wardrobe. I moved the Sailor Moon dolls' things into the last milk crate I took out of the bedroom and switched the American Girls' winter clothing to the gray container. Samantha's now in her nautical-themed Middy Dress, brass whistle, black stockings, and Springfield Collection black flats. Jessa's going casual in the tie-dyed T-shirt from 1996 Earth Day Outfit, the cargo khakis from the 1999 Drawstring Cargoes and Plaid Shirt outfit, and the sandals from Molly's bathing suit. Molly's showing off her new purple pleated Jitterbug Dress from the American Girl Place Revues. Felicity stayed in her pink Birthday Pinner Gown. I don't really have much else for her. Her things are still fairly expensive on eBay.

Had a very quick leftovers lunch and headed to work around quarter of 2. Work was very busy when I got in, despite the utterly gorgeous weather. It was a little chilly when I poked my head out during the Beatles show, but by 2PM, it was sunny and a little windy, but nothing like yesterday. People were either buying beginning-of-the-month orders, food for barbecues, or gearing up for the big Devils-Flyers showdown at 3PM.

I got to see a little of the end of the second quarter during my break. The Devils were winning then, 1-0. The Flyers must have had a heck of a second half. When my relief came in and I got my eggs and tortillas and went to the back room to get my bike, they were in overtime. I saw one of the Flyers get a goal that seemed to win the game...and promptly screamed my head off. I brought a stock boy running in, and he did his own screaming. We screamed even louder when we discovered it had been kicked in and the goal was removed.

I had eggs to get home; I couldn't stay any longer. I rode home, enjoying the lovely weather. I heard someone yelling as I rounded the corner of Goff and Kendall Avenue; I figured it was about the game, but I couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

The weather was too perfect for my original plans of making fish at home. I went for a walk to WaWa for a hoagie instead. It's so green outside. The iris are already blooming; the lilacs are about done. Many bushes are blooming profusely, too. The leaves on the trees are already big and full and fat. Fuzzy season seems to be winding down here. I haven't seen nearly as many seed pods in the last few days as I have the past month. There were tons of people out and about, enjoying the weather. Kids played in backyards; adults went for jogs or power walks. One enterprising fellow was selling porcelain dolls on the White Horse Pike, next to the Gulf Gas Station. (I didn't buy any. I'm trying to clear out my porcelain dolls, not buy more.) A family on Manor was either moving into their home or moving out; I saw a half-full U-Haul. I do wish they hadn't been tossing that poor huge teddy bear around and abusing him. They were young adults and college-age kids, and they were being awfully noisy.

(And yes, that scream was a good scream. The Flyers finally made a legit score and won more than 4 minutes into overtime, 4-3.)

Not-So-Little April Showers

I awoke late in the morning to a heavy, steady downpour that has continued without abate for the entire day. Oh well. Even my customers, most of whom fear anything that isn't perfect 60 degree weather, have said that we badly need the rain. It's still raining out there now, as I type this.

I made Banana-Currant Pancakes for breakfast after I switched on Brunch With the Beatles. The subject of today's show was Beatles EPs - ie, long-playing singles, records with two or three songs on each side. Apparently, they were common in Europe, but never caught on in the US. This is why the majority of today's songs were lesser-known singles mostly heard in England, like "Slow Down" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy."

Called Mom about half-way through the show. She had a much better week than I did. She's now taking several online courses in Microsoft Excel and Word and seems to be quite thoroughly enjoying both of them. She never had the chance to take typing or computer courses when she was in school, and now that she's finally an official empty nest mom, she's taking full advantage of the opportunity to upgrade her skills and learn something new and interesting.

Spent the rest of the afternoon updating my inventories, including the records I bought yesterday and my newest dubbed finds. The rain continued, pounding on the roof like a mad Keith Moon drummer. Around 2PM, I began to realize that, despite my best hopes, the rain would not be stopping anytime in the near (or even distant) future. I tried to call Jodie, but couldn't get her. Rose and Jessa would probably be at work, and Dad's out doing a cruise ship job. I just rode to work and got very wet.

Work was surprisingly the same as yesterday - busy when I arrived, quiet when I left. Apparently, a lot of people shopped earlier in the day, before the big playoff game between the Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was do or die for both teams - whomever won this one won the series and the right to continue in the post-season. The Phillies were playing the San Diego Padres in Southern California, too. (The latter was playing on the new TV in the back room when I had my break.) There were no major problems, and I was in and out with no relief.

The rain was still coming down heavily when I got out of work. I guess Mother Nature wants to make up for our dry spring all at one time. I once again just rode home. I needed a shower anyway, so I got pre-wet.

(Oh, and the Flyers kicked the Penguins' rears 5-1 and will be going on to the next round of the playoffs. I could so kick myself for forgetting that game was on today and not tomorrow! The Phillies didn't get nearly that lucky. The Padres beat them 6-1.)

How to Survive a Dull Day At Work

Yes, we were dead today. We were dead right up until 3PM. Even then, it wasn't THAT busy. It was nothing like last weekend. First, we're between holidays again. Second, it's the last week of the month. People will probably be getting their money later this week or early next week. Third, a lot of people just paid off taxes. Fourth, some folks may still be on spring break.

Once again, it was a beautiful day when I got home. Some clouds in the morning were quickly replaced by sunshine, wind, and mid-70s temperatures. I changed into shorts and tank top and went for a walk to run some errands.

My first stop was the PNC Bank on the White Horse Pike to deposit that $50 Mom and Dad gave me into the ATM machine. (I moved it to my savings account later in the evening.) I strolled down the White Horse Pike next, stopping at WaWa for a pretzel and a bottle of water.

Not surprisingly, everyone was out enjoying the day. It's so gorgeous here. Though it remains hot above the average, the wind kept it from feeling as sweltering as it did on Sunday. Kids rode their bikes and scooters. Parents pushed toddlers in strollers or walked dogs. Teenagers wandered in groups or sat at picnic tables and texted their buddies.

I had leftover chicken and carrots with spinach salad for dinner while I ran How to Train Your Dragon. Hiccup, a Viking teenager, is a bit of a joke in his village due to his clumsiness and seemingly crazy inventions. At first, he wants to be a great dragon-killer, like his father the Chief, but he changes his mind when he realizes there's a lot more to dragons than meets the eye. It's too late by that point; the village is desperately recruiting anyone who can fight the fire-breathing beasts, including kids. Hiccup joins a group of goofy fellow teenagers (including two very intense female Viking warriors) mostly against his will. He really changes his point of view when he encounters a black dragon who is said to be the fastest and most fearsome of the breed...and can't bring himself to kill it. The two become fast friends, and in doing so teach Vikings and dragons alike a lesson in harmony.

This was a very touching action tale with some phenomenal animation (love the dragon in the air - no wonder Hiccup was thrilled). I especially love that the two female Viking dragon fighters are a lot more intense and intelligent than any of their fellow gentlemen; Hiccup lets one he has a crush on, Astrid, in on his secret friendship.

Oh, and congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers for their do-or-die 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres tonight! Next up, they take on the Washington Capitols for the Eastern Conference Finals!

Welcoming the Rain

I awoke to a cloudy, gray, cool day...and I was ok with that. We badly need the rain. The grass is looking very brown, and everything is getting crackly. I had oatmeal for breakfast, then headed down to the Oaklyn Library for this week's volunteering session there.

The Library was surprisingly quiet for such a nasty day. There weren't even any kids. I worked on organizing the kids' books, then took a quick glance at the DVDs. The kids' section took me a while, since I didn't do it last week.

It was just starting to spit a little as I walked back to my apartment. It didn't turn into a shower until an hour later, when I was eating lunch and working on the budget. By that point, I didn't really have the time to call for a ride. I rode my bike to work and got wet.

Work wasn't too bad. We had several call-outs in the morning and were busy during rush-hour, but once the Flyers game started, everyone cleared out. I spent the last half-hour shelving candy. There were a few annoying people, otherwise no problems.

It was just misting a little when I got out of the Acme. The rain thankfully waited to increase until I was two blocks from home.

And the Flyers are down 3-2 in the second period as of this writing, but it's still anyone's game...

The Two of Us

We both slept in today. I got up around 9 and puttered around online. Lauren wasn't out of bed until almost 11:30! I made us smoothies for breakfast. I had Strawberry-Banana-Peanut Butter. (My bananas were ripe to the point of falling apart.) Lauren had the last of the blackberries and strawberries. They were both quite good.

We walked over to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center next. I picked up my paycheck, and we hit the FYE and Game Stop. I found the 80s romantic fantasy/comedy Mannequin, a childhood favorite of mine, and the second season of Night Court at FYE. Lauren asked about a game she wanted at Game Stop. We also made a quick run across the parking lot to America's Best so I could order new contacts.

One of the first things Lauren said she wanted to do when we discussed her visiting me this year was visit Sonic. Apparently, she and her parents visited one in Texas several years ago that she loved. Sonic is a fast-food franchise with a twist - there's no indoor seating. Waitresses roller-blade to your cars or the outdoor patio. I've been wanting to try them for ages, but either it was too late, the place was too crowded, or the weather was bad.

It was worth the wait. Lauren and I had Chicken Ranch Wraps with Diet Cherry Limeades. The Wrap came in a real flour tortilla and was made with real grilled chicken. The limeade was yummy, all bubbly and cherry-sweet, even without the actual sugar. The waitress was nice, too. She had a few problems stopping, but in her words, she was "trying out new wheels" (i.e, a brand-new pair of roller blades with hot-pink laces).

Next was a quick stop back at the Acme for grocery shopping. I needed a few things, but not quite as much as last week. Mostly, it was restocking the stuff I ate this week - tomato sauce (which I used on the beef ribs we had for dinner Wednesday night), those sweetened Blue Almond Diamonds that are on clearance (I treated Lauren to a canister for the ride home tomorrow), dried fruit, not-as-ripe bananas, and things to make a pudding pie. (I figured they'd be easier to carry home than ice cream.)

We ran into a very unpleasant visitor on my porch when we arrived back at the apartment. That guy I spent a day with last month has called me four times since then, including Wednesday. I've told him each time that no, I'm not interested in going anywhere near him again, please stop calling. This time, I screamed at him to get lost, or I'll call the cops. I don't care about his sob stories. I'm not going to be a toy or a piggy bank for him. He tried to sweet-talk Lauren, but she just said to leave, too.

I'm still a little shaken. I don't know why that guy can't get the message. What part of "no, I'm not interested, go away or there will be legal recourse" doesn't he understand? If a guy said no to me, I'd shrug and say "oh well, that's the end of it." One day - a day I now consider to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life - and he thinks we can be buddies? I've been used too often in my life. I'm sick of it. It stops now. I'm worried that he might show up again or try something nastier, but I just don't feel what he thinks he feels.

We didn't really talk much about it when we finally got inside. Lauren got the full brunt of my ranting and tears the day it happened and several days after. I made the pudding pie, and we decided to head out again and see what stores in Audubon were open.

Though we missed Willie the Woodsman and Wife and Act Two Collectibles, we did make it to Abbie Road and Desserts By Design. Bob at Abbie Road was great with Lauren. They chatted about the Boston Celtics losing last night and the Flyers' prospects tonight and visiting the Grand Old Opry years ago (Lauren actually went to Opryland before it shut down). I ended up with a set of Harry Connick Jr's two Broadway shows, the 2007 limited-run hit revival of The Pajama Game (another one of the few Broadway favorites I didn't own in any form) and the 2002 flop Thout Shall Not and the Beatles' last record, Let It Be. Lauren got two Herman's Hermits CDs. (She's a big fan of Peter Noone.)

Lauren insisted on trying an Almond-Coconut-Marzipan Cookie. I'm glad she did. It was very sweet, soft, and tasty. We split it in half, since it was so rich. (She got the bigger half.)

It was sweltering hot and humid when we were at the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. By the time we were heading home at quarter after 5, clouds had covered the sun and a nice breeze was blowing in. Even so, when we got home, we cranked up the AC and watched Mannequin and more Bowery Boys.

Lauren's going home tomorrow and I'm going to meet another online friend, Jen Payne, in Philly...but before that, we're going to the Collingswood Farm Market together.

(Oh, and congratulations to the Flyers and the Phillies, both of whom won tonight. The Flyers are now 2-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals with the Blackhawks; the Phillies finally ended a rather nasty losing skid.)

May Fair Affair

It was a bit cloudy when I headed out this morning. My first stop were two yard sales in Oaklyn. One was on Cedar Avenue, the other that family on West Oakland that sells the collectibles. Neither had anything of interest. I moved on to the bank, which was dead; I was in and out quickly after a short chat with the cashier about my vacation and Lauren's visit.

The main reason I wanted off today was to attend the May Fair in Collingswood. The May Fair is a huge craft show/car show/midway that runs on Haddon Avenue the Saturday before Memorial Day. I've seen it every year I've lived here...but I've never been able to see everything. I always had to rush to get to work. I'm tired of rushing.

I was exploring around Collingswood's City Hall when I ran into Rose, Craig, Khai (snuggled in his daddy's arms), and their puppies Toby (I forget what mix he is, besides "big" and "cowardly") and Kelsey (a very frisky miniature pincher). They were strolling the Fair as well. Rose said they'd just come from the Classic Car Show, which was so long, they didn't take in half of it!

I did better. I saw all but the last few before I got bored and turned back. I'm not really a huge car fan, but I did see some interesting cars. My favorite was an absolute gorgeous, mint cherry-red Bel Air. I'll have to tell my nephew Skylar, who is a huge fan of The Love Bug, that I saw Herbie in person...or at least a late 60s-era Volkswagen painted to look like Herbie.

The rest of the Fair was much busier. I browsed in a doll clothes seller (though I didn't buy anything). I ran into Rose, Craig, and their brood again at the Farm Market (which is on a side street and absorbed into the main Fair for this week). They'd apparently come for the Farm Market and hadn't even known about the Fair. (That happened to me in 2007, when I first started going to the Farm Market.) I ended up buying apples, asparagus, grapefruit, spinach, carrots, mushrooms, strawberries, and a surprise for our dinner this week.

Kept strolling down Haddon Avenue, this time to the Midway. The "midway" is several blocks of kid-oriented games, rides, and booths from the PNC Bank and Bank of America to the Philly Pretzel Factory shop. I'm too old to ride the midway, but they're still cute to look it. I love the little Ferris Wheel, "helicopters," Whip Ride, and bounce houses. There were pony rides in a church parking lot and a train-like "fire truck" on a side street. I bought a present for Lauren from a booth here, but didn't get anything else.

By 11, the clouds were gone and the sun had come out. While a nice breeze prevented it from getting as hot as it could have, it wasn't as cool as the morning, either. I bought a bottle of water from a booth on the corner of Collings and Haddon Avenues, then headed for Oaklyn.

I was kind of tired by then, but I did make one last stop in Oaklyn. I saw signs for a yard sale on Kendall Boulevard, across from the ramp into Oaklyn from the Black Horse Pike, on my way home from work yesterday. They had a couple of good records that I picked up - Jackie Gleason, the Andy Williams Christmas album, a collection of 50s love songs, and a two-disc "best of" collection of early Rod Stewart.

Went straight home after that. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing things around the apartment. I hung out online. I scrubbed the inside and the outside of the refrigerator, which I hadn't done in the five years I've lived here. It was disgusting, especially the top. I crocheted. (The "hat" I was working on for Molly may turn into a purse.) I made another surprise for Lauren, this one home-made. I watched Road to Rio and National Lampoon's Vacation.

And tomorrow...Lauren arrives around 7:30. I can't wait! I'm going to spend the day picking up around here and grabbing a few last things I need.

And...go Flyers, who are 5-5 with the Chicago Blackhawks at press time. Come on boys, you can do it!

Party On Ice

First and foremost...woo hoo! Congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers for reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1997! It's been a long, crazy trip...but here's hoping they'll keep up the amazing job they've done in the post-season against an equally Cup-hungry Chicago Blackhawks!

Otherwise, today wasn't terribly exciting. I slept in and headed for the Haddon Township Library first, after a quick stop at Super Fresh and the newly-opened Party Fair store a few doors down. I put away DVDs and kids' books. They weren't too busy, but I was also there around noon-1PM, so most people were probably at lunch. I took out four books on handling stress, dealing with low self-esteem, and breaking out of a comfort zone that's too stifling to stay in...but too hard to leave.

It was about 2PM when I rode over to the Bagel Shop for lunch. They were pretty dead, except for one couple and an older woman reading a newspaper. I listened to CNN's coverage of the huge oil spill in the Gulf Coast as I ate my egg, cheese, and spinach sandwich on a plain bagel and fried potatoes. (Switched to a bagel from a croissant. I don't really like croissants. They're always too flaky and greasy for me.) It was quite tasty.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at home. I read the self-help books, dusted the Ikea and heart shelves, and gave the Sailor Moon dolls and Star Wars action figures magic eraser baths.

And it's a good thing I got in when I did. About 20 minutes after I got home, it started pouring cats and dogs. It's showered off and on for the rest of the evening.

Outdoor Spring Cleaning

I spent most of the day doing things I've put off doing for the past few weeks, either because of the weather or a lack of time. First of all, I made a quick run to the Oaklyn Library to return The Mapping of Love and Death, renew Apple Turnover Murder, and pay the fine for both.

After that, I worked on outdoor cleaning. I washed the deck chairs, the milk crate I use for a deck table, the trash can, the recycling canisters, and the cruiser bike. I would have done it earlier in the week, but it's been too cold to use the hose, or to be playing in water outside at all. The only thing I didn't do today was the mountain bike. I'm going to do some more work on that before I clean it.

I had far less luck with the sewing machine. I've been trying to figure out how to thread the mini-sewing machine I bought from the thrift shop forever. Every time I do it, it just keeps bunching up and getting tangled. The instruction manual is no help. It doesn't really explain things well, and the pictures are so small, I can't see what it's referring to. I guess I'm just going to have to stick to hand-sewing until I can get that thing going.

I went to work early to pick up my paycheck, which turned out to be pretty smart. I got two paychecks this week. Something about the Union paying us extra for not giving us raises for over a year and a half. (I really can't remember the last time I had one.)

Good thing I did. It'll make up for getting lousy hours next week. I only got 18.50. On one hand, having three days off, including Sunday, will come in handy for all the chores and cleaning I still have to do before Lauren arrives in two weeks (and Jen after her). Not to mention we haven't exactly been hugely busy lately. On the other hand...the extra money's been really nice, too.

Work wasn't really busy tonight, either. Two major sports games (the Flyers had a do-or-die playoff game with the Boston Bruins, and the Phillies played tonight, too) and a huge thunderstorm around 7 pretty much cleared everyone out. It may have been just as well. There was a call-out, and we were short-handed tonight.

I did get some grocery shopping in after work. I mostly needed flour (unbleached and whole wheat), but I also picked up apples, bananas, canned black beans and fat-free/low-salt chicken broth, beef ribs, and chicken cutlets and Yoplait yogurt that were on sale.

Though it wasn't raining when I got out, I could see dark clouds on the horizon, and even a little lightning. I hurried home. We had a second thunderstorm about a half-hour after I got in, but it didn't last long.

Oh, and congratulations to the Flyers for becoming only the third team in NHL history to come back and win a playoff series after being down 3-0 after the first three games! (The Phillies won, too.)

Awaiting the New Arrival

Most of today was a pretty typical spring Sunday. I made Whole Wheat-Oatmeal Pancakes spread with berry jam this morning for breakfast while listening to Beatles records. (The Beatles show was covering 1964 - I prefer their later music.) I tried calling Mom about a half-hour before work, but I didn't get her. Left a message, and headed out. It was still cool, windy, and partly cloudy, and my ride was still a bit choppy.

Work was fairly quiet for a Sunday. Between a big Phillies game (they eventually lost to the Marlins, though the Flyers beat the New Jersey Devils in their playoff game) and people taking advantage of the decent weather (we were supposed to have rain all weekend), I guess people decided they'd rather be elsewhere. Fine by me. There were no major problems, we had tons of help, and I was getting off at the same time as another cashier, had no relief, and still had no trouble leaving. I grabbed honey, fruit spread, good natural peanut butter (Acme's Wild Harvest organic brand is tasty), and soy sauce (on sale for a $1), and headed home.

I tried calling Mom again when I got in. I got not only her, but the entire Cape May County side of the family. Dad picked up, and I heard Keefe, my sister Anny, and her son Skylar in the background. Apparently, my sister Rose - the one I went shopping with yesterday who bought my comforter for my birthday - went into labor at 5AM this morning. Her boyfriend Craig got her to Cooper River Hospital in Camden, one of the best hospitals in an area filled with excellent ones, shortly after. She called Anny even as I talked to Mom on the family's line. I let Mom go to talk to Rose a few minutes later.

(And yes, at press time, Rose is fine and has not had her child yet. More on that as it develops.)

I called Dad right after to tell him about Rose and that I intend to do my laundry on Tuesday morning. Yes, he knew - he and Jodie found out from Craig on Facebook this morning.

After that excitement, I didn't really feel like doing much else. I baked brownies, crocheted, and listened to my two new cast albums. Ironically, both were well-done musical biographies. Gypsy is about 30s burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee, though the real main character is her pushy mother Rose, played in the original cast by Ethel Merman in her defining role. George M! is 1968 take on the life of George M. Cohan, including more of his real life (such as his marriages and his involvement in the 1919 Actor's Equity strike on the side of the producer) than the 1942 version could or would. Joel Gray still isn't quite right for Cohan, but he and Bernadette Peters (as his younger sister) have a great deal of fun with the classic material.

The Dress Circle was a bit quieter. They did their second show revolving around Disney songs performed by jazz, cabaret, and Broadway singers. In addition to obvious choices like Barbara Cook's lovely "The Second Star to the Right" and the classic Peggy Lee "He's a Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp, they dug up a few oddities. A lot of my friends who get a kick out of the Looney Tunes-esque humor of The Emperor's New Groove would appreciate the inclusion of Eartha Kitt's "Snuff Out the Light." I liked the surprisingly good country versions of two favorites, Faith Hill's "Part of Your World" and Josh Grayson's adorable "When I See An Elephant Fly" (which I actually enjoyed much better with the twang!).

Sunday In the City

Slept in today, longer than I usual do. I didn't have breakfast until almost 11! I called Mom while making Banana-Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Mom was fine. She'd been sick for most of the week, but was now feeling much better. She apparently intended to spend the day quietly knitting.

While cooler than yesterday and cloudy, it was still relatively warm. I wanted to make a rare Sunday shopping trip, but couldn't decide whether to do the Deptford Mall area or Philadelphia. Mom suggested a walk in Philly, and I finally agreed. It was still too nice to spend the whole day wandering around a mall. I headed to Collingswood after today's Beatles show ended. ("Questions and Answers" was the theme of the day.)

The vending machines for the PATCO Speedline Trains only give you coin change...including dollar coins. Not the best thing to be carrying around Philly. Of course, it turned out that all I had was a twenty dollar bill. I was lucky the people at Cafe Antonio's pizzeria were nice enough to change them to paper money for me. Maybe they did it because I was really thirsty and bought a soda. (The kids and their families who were eating there were amused enough - they called it "pirate's gold.")

Took a surprisingly full PATCO into Philly. In addition to old women on a Sunday jaunt and military personnel on leave, there were large groups of sports fans in Phillies and Flyers jerseys and jackets. Yes, both teams played today. The Flyers, in fact, are in the playoffs but had been having a lot of trouble with the high-ranked Pittsburgh Penguins. (I later found out that both teams won their respective games.)

Today may be a holy day, but Philadelphia was bustling when I arrived. I briefly explored the Gallery Mall, but it was too nice to be inside for too long. Headed to big Macy's on Market Street next. That was a disappointment. Fashion still hasn't improved since my last attempt at spring shopping. There were a few mildly cute early 60's style dresses and button-down blouses and a few ruffled skirts, but it was mostly the same awful empire waists and gypsy blouses and bell bottoms I've seen for the past couple of years. I really hate this. I made no bones to the cashier that I didn't buy a blouse because I thought they were butt-ugly. Could we please, PLEASE drop the fussy ruffled collars, hippie-style Indian embroidery, and the loud, huge neon psychedelic print? I walked out with another pair of jeans like the ones I bought on New Year's Eve, only darker, and that was the only clothes I bought.

Crossed over to City Hall next and made my way to the Avenue of the Arts. The big FYE was a mob scene, and I didn't figure out why until I tried to go upstairs to the DVDs. Seems there was an autograph signing for some hard rock band called Silverback today, which explains the lines of eager teenagers. I took the elevator upstairs instead. Finally came downstairs with the MGM musical Words and Music and a DVD copy of National Lampoon's Vacation to add to the CD of the recent musical Curtains I picked up downstairs. (And I was able to take the stairs on the way out - by the time I finished browsing the DVDs, the kids were long gone.) Words and Vacation were both used and on sale, thanks to a 20% off all used DVD sale coupled with my Membership discount.

Made my way down Chestnut and Walnut next to the big Barnes and Noble in Rittenhouse Square. Alas, I still didn't have much luck with clothes shopping. Talbot and the Ann Taylor Loft had nice clothes but ridiculous prices. Express at the Liberty Place Mall was having a huge sale, but their clothes were more of the same junk I'd seen at Macy's. I have the feeling I'd probably have more luck clothes-shopping at the New Jersey malls.

Barnes and Noble was somewhat better. It was still busy, but not like it was at FYE. I made some decent finds, too. Used the last of my Christmas B&N gift card on a chai latte and a peanut butter cup cookie. The gift card I got from Keefe bought a hardback copy of the just-released new Hannah Swenson mystery, Cream Puff Murder. I also found another mystery series I love and haven't read in ages, Dorothy Cannell's Thin Woman series, along with the Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Preview. I always buy the Summer Movie Preview, have since high school...especially when I get to ogle Hugh Jackman's amazing forearms.

I noticed as I was paying for my order that it had grown even cloudier since I'd arrived in Rittenhouse Square. Cloudier and much colder, as I discovered when I headed out the door and into the late spring afternoon. The wind was picking up, too. I was only wearing jean capris and a thin red sweater, not the best protection against fickle spring weather. I went straight home on a, for once, not full dinnertime PATCO.

The weather wasn't much better in Camden County. I was able to ride home without incident and make a lovely chicken bake with red potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and pesto.

Center City Kitty

Hoo boy, have I had a LOOONGGGG day! I'm dead tired and have a lot to cover, so this will be brief. I finally got a hold of Mom this morning before I headed out to the bank and to do some shopping in Center City Philadelphia. Mom's worried about my almost-4-year-old nephew Skylar. He was just put in day care and is proving rabidly unsuited for it. He's hitting, kicking, and punching everyone in sight, especially children.

I don't have kids, and even I could have told Mom all this a long time ago. Skylar lives with his overly-indulgent working mother who tends to ignore him when there's a phone, a man, or friends nearby and has even more indulgent grandparents, especially a grandfather who sees the boy as a way to make up for not spending more time with his own son. I agree with Mom. What Skylar really needs is psychological help as soon as he's old enough and to attend the Special Services School District. They'd never handle him in the regular schools. (They couldn't handle ME in a regular elementary school, and the only thing I ever did that was even close to aggressive was kick the side of the school building in frustration.)

Actually, the real reason I called Mom was to find out if she wanted anything for Mother's Day. She said, "No, I just moved and I don't want any knick-knacks cluttering up my new house." Fair enough. I'd just get her a card. I finally headed out, making a quick stop at the bank before riding over to the PATCO Train Station in Collingswood, enjoying a beautiful, mild, sunny spring day.

This was my first long outing in Philadelphia since my after-Christmas trip and my first Philly visit in over a month (since I took Jessa into the city), so I really enjoyed it. The greenery and lights had been replaced by banners of orange and black cheering for the Philadelphia Flyers on their way to the Eastern Conference finals, a miracle for a team that was one of the worst in the NHL last year. Even some of the SEPTA buses flashed "GO FLYERS" between the names of the streets they were headed for. I thought it was a nice touch.

I had a great shopping day, too. I picked up two paperbacks (the novelization of Young Frankenstein and an Indiana Jones-type adventure) and a gorgeous sepia photo from The African Queen at my favorite used book store, Ralstoff's Used Books and Records on 10th Street. I a Sesame Ginger Chicken Sandwich and an iced tea at a nifty little sandwich shop called Cosi. I bought a Lil'Kinz Gray and White Cat at the Suncoast in the Gallery Mall, and since they were having a sale where you could get 20% off a family DVD if you bought a WebKinz, I picked up Volume 3 of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. I bought cards for Mom and for Uncle Ken (whose birthday is today) at the Hallmark in the Gallery Mall. I bought a Rachel Ray cookbook for Uncle Ken (who loves Rachel Ray and Food Network in general) and finally found the two sequel novels to my favorite book, The Scarlet Pimpernel at the big Borders on Broad Street.

I made my favorite find of the day at the FYE across from the Broad Street Borders. They were still in the midst of rearranging the DVDs on my last visit here, but they were definitely finished now. I didn't have to go very far to find something I really wanted. I was browsing through the Disney DVDs when I came across a surprise - the Walt Disney Treasures set Mickey Mouse In Black and White used for only $34.95! I have the second black and white Mickey Treasures set and it's one of my favorites and have been debating getting the first one online for months. The sets from the first two Treasures waves are among the rarest and most expensive online and almost impossible to find with their tins intact. This one not only came with a slightly scuffed tin, it also had the mini-poster of Steamboat Willie. (The only thing missing was the original blue cardboard wrap-around banner.) Not only that, but it turned out to be about $32 with my FYE Membership card. Sweet, and probably cheaper than anything online would have been with the shipping. (The shipping is a big part of the reason I don't buy more online.)

I briefly went to Messages, the store in the Liberty Place Mall where I bought Linda the Collie, to see if they had any good WebKinz and to buy cards. No good WebKinz this time, and no good cards either, so I headed back out. I walked down the street and through City Hall (admiring their "Vengeance Now!" Flyers banner on the way through), then down Broad Street...before realizing I didn't know where in the HECK I was. Long story very short, I finally made my way down Broad Street, turning at Race Street and heading for Chinatown, which I know is near Market Street.

At one point, I walked under the Philadelphia Convention Center and found something I'd heard about from several people but had never seen before - Reading Terminal Market. Reading Terminal Market is kinda Philly's large-scale version of the Collingswood Farm Market, selling fresh meats, produce, cheeses, ice cream, and baked goods...not to mention, its rumored, the best cheese steaks in a town filled with them. It was around quarter after 5, and most of the stores were starting to close down at this point. They also only took smaller bills, and all I had was a 20. Pooh. I walked on, finally getting an iced tea and a slice of Lemon Pound Cake at the Starbucks near the 9th Street entrance of the Gallery Mall.

After I took a stuffed-full train home, I made a brief stop at Dad and Uncle Ken's to see if Uncle Ken was home. Not only were he and Dolores home from their trip, but several neighbors and relatives were around as well. I showed off my finds and gave Uncle Ken his card and cookbook (he loved both) before heading home for a very late and much-needed dinner.

Oh, and meet Maisie, the sweet, athletic Gray and White kitten! Cassie the Himalayan Cat is going to take care of her in their Candy Bedroom. She came with the cutest little plane the WebKinz can ride in!

Return of the Farm Market

I attended the first Collingswood Farm Market of the season this morning. Despite the gloomy clouds and chilly weather, the place was packed three and four deep at some booths. It was mostly vegetables, baked goods, or flowers. I'm iffy on buying flowers because I don't know how well they'd survive the bike ride home, but I did get honey, pumpkin butter, leeks, dandelion greens (something different for salads than spinach - and just as nutritional), asparagus, bananas from the wholesaler, and a nice, round loaf of bread. I've missed the Farm Market. It's fun to just walk around and see all the people and their kids and pooches. There were some beautiful dogs there today, including two frisky Pinchers who reminded me of my sister Rose's dog Kelsey and two gorgeous honey-colored collies.

I had lunch (yogurt, two slices of Portuguese Corn Bread with Sugar-Free Apricot Preserves, and dandelion greens with balsamic vinaigrette), then went to work. Work was busy all day long, especially when the sun briefly came out and the temperatures soared. By the time I went home, though, the clouds and the chill had returned. It's supposed to get warmer later this week, though.

And...all RIGHT! The Flyers rode past le Montreal Canadiens this evening and will be going on to the Eastern Conference final! Woo HOO! :D