Animated Adventures From Around the World

I spent most of the morning dubbing some of the movies I picked up this weekend and over the last few months. Started with the one I knew the least about, The Snow Queen. TV and radio personality Art Linkletter introduces the US dubbed version of this Russian animated fairy tale. Unlike the Disney movie Frozen that's set to be released in November, Snow Queen more-or-less follows the same plot of the original story. The only really major change is here, it's the Snow Queen herself who causes the glass to get in Kay's eye after he claims he's not afraid of her, rather than some random goblin. Sandra Dee is the voice of the determined Gerda; Tommy Kirk is Kay.

I have no idea if this is available anywhere besides videos from the 80s at press time. If you run into it on video or on cable, it's not that bad. In fact, it kind of plays like a Disney film from the 90s with more limited animation. I especially loved Jan, the feisty kid thief who at first wants to keep Gerda with her "pets," then finally agrees to help her.

Watership Down takes us from Russia to England for a very different, and far more realistic, animated tale. A group of rabbits flee their warren after one of them has a vision of their extermination. Their journey to find a new home is fraught with danger, including attacks from predators and the discovery of a warren that hides a deadly secret. Even after they find the perfect place for them, they realize that they need females to populate their new land...and their attempt at bringing some from a near-by group pits them against the nasty General Woundwart, who runs his warren like a totalitarian state.

I was surprised and very impressed at how true to the original, equally realistic novel this 1978 production is. (The original author having a lot of control over it probably helped.) In fact, for many audience members, it's a little too realistic. A healthy helping of blood, lots of adult themes, and a fair amount of violence (especially towards the end) makes this absolutely NOT for young children, and even some older ones who don't handle blood and death well. For teens and adults who have read the novel, despite the somewhat limited animation typical of the time, this is a thoughtful, well-done adaptation with a fabulous cast (especially Zero Mostel as the helpful seagull) and is recommended.

Worked on things around the apartment while the movies ran. I baked Strawberry Muffins from my breakfast recipes cookbook. I cut the sugar to 1/3 cup from 1/2, cut down the milk, and added orange juice for extra zest and more sweetness. Lovely, not too tart or sweet, flaky and buttery. The honey mustard tilapia I made for lunch came out well, too. I also did some crocheting. I'm currently working on some new dishrags; the ones I'm using now are getting a bit old.

Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - quiet when I went in, quiet when I went out, and only really busy during rush hour. There were no major problems, and I was able to leave with no relief.

It's Not That Easy Going Green

My only major plans for today was getting the laundry done. It was so nice this morning, I dropped the laundry bag in Miss Ellie's old cart and walked to the laundromat instead of taking my bike. It was sunny and still chilly and windy, but slightly warmer than yesterday. The daffodils are just about gone, but the lilacs are almost out. I hope the frost they reported for the last few nights didn't do any major damage. Everything looked fine to me.

Thankfully after last week, the laundromat was empty when I arrived. The TV was on the Philadelphia NBC affiliate's 11:30 news show; they discussed Earth Day, flooding in St. Louis, and the capture of the Boston Marathon bombers. A few people did show up later, but by the time it was starting to get busier, my small load was out of the drier and ready to go.

On my way home, I thought I'd try something. Every yard, park, and patch of grass in South Jersey has at least a few sprouts of spring onions, long grass-like bulbs. When you pull them out, they look like mini pearl onions with scallion ends. I used to bring them home all the time as a child so Mom could use them in cooking. Mom didn't always appreciate it; she'd complain when I'd bring home too many, or that she couldn't figure out what to do with them.

I knew what to do with them. I plucked a bunch from the side path that leads to my apartment, along with some fresh dandelion greens. I washed them thoroughly, then chopped the onion and added it to tuna, light mayo, chopped celery, and dried tarragon. I put the tuna mix on a bed of spinach and dandelion greens for Simple Abundance Tuna Salad (named after the book I got the idea from).

Ran cartoons themed around Earth Day, Arbor Day, and conservation of our natural resources throughout the morning and early afternoon. The Lorax is the little orange man who speaks for the trees, but the greedy Onceler won't listen to him and continues chopping them down and destroying the forest, until both learn a sad lesson in the damage unchecked "progress" can do. The Sailor Soliders learn a similar lesson when evil magic turns the creatures of a threatened local park and the park's caretaker against them in the first season Sailor Moon episode "An Unnatural Phenomenon." The Pink Panther has his paws full trying to keep a camper who ignores his signs from making a mess of Mother Nature in the early 70s short "Keep Our Forests Pink."

Tiny Toon Adventures did several episodes on saving the planet and its creatures; I chose two from the later first season. In "A Whale's Tale," Buster and Babs save a baby whale from a clueless Elmyra and his mother from a female poacher who wants to use her blubber for cosmetics. "Pollution Solution" has Plucky trying to keep Elmyra from tossing her cans into his pond, Buster and Babs stopping a nasty rich executive from destroying the rain forest to build his front lawn, and GoGo the Dodo coming up with a creative way of getting the backwash from Montana Max's factory out of Wackyland.

The Peanuts take conservation of the Earth into their own hands, paws, and wings in It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. Sally wants to put what she's learned about Arbor Day and trees in school into action. The gang finds the perfect lot for a garden...Charlie Brown's baseball field! Chuck isn't thrilled with their beautification project, until it looks like it might actually help them win a game.

I went to work not long after the Peanuts and Pink Panther finished. Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - busy when I came in, quiet when I left. The time went quickly, and there were no major problems. I was in and out after picking up cherry tomatoes (on sale for a dollar), eggs (still a dollar - might as well stock up), and buttermilk.

New Year's Balance

Started a sunny, very cold day with my last yoga class of the year. Karin honored one of the few holidays that most people celebrate by working on squats and inversions. I'm getting better at squats, but it's still hard to pick up my heavy body. I'm actually glad I got in late. The class was so full, I took the spot by the door, next to the CD player...which means I was the only person in the 20-some-person class who had plenty of room to do squats and inversions!

Went straight to the Collingswood Library after class ended. There was far less going on over there. I shelved a few DVD titles, but there were no books to put away upstairs. I looked up some books on musicals, then just headed out around noon.

When I got in, I pulled out some of the leftovers in my refrigerator, including the ground chicken and several vegetables that were going soft, tossed them into a can of low-sodium, low-fat chicken broth, and made Ground Chicken Vegetable Soup. Ran Sean the Sheep while enjoying a nice, warm, filling lunch. My favorite in the first batch that I hadn't seen was the one where Bitzer and his master borrow a line-drawing machine from a man making lines in the road to make a line for their soccer game. Things really get out of hand when first Sean, then Timmy get their hooves on it...and make lines everywhere!

Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - busy during rush hour, quiet for the rest of the night. It was so quiet, I scrubbed shelves on aisle 1 for an hour when I came in and spent the hour before I left putting away candy and helping two managers try to figure out why a sale wasn't working right.

Sharing the Joy of Christmas

Started out a cloudy, windy, fairly warm day with a flurry of chores. I had a lot that I wanted to get done before my friend Amanda from Vineland arrived for her annual Christmas season visit. I put some things away that had been left out. I made the bed. I vacuumed. Vacuuming took me longer than I thought it would, so I was late getting out the door!

Amanda and I were going to meet at 11 at the PNC Bank on the White Horse Pike. She hit traffic and was about 20 minutes late, but that was ok. We weren't going far, anyway. We did what we did last year and had lunch at Tortilla Press, the Mexican restaurant in Collingswood. It was a little after 11:30 when we got there. We thought they were closed at first - it was dark and quiet inside. The door did open and there was a sign outside with the day's specials, so we went in.

Turns out they'd almost literally just opened. We were their very first customers of the day! We both had huge Chicken and Avocado Wraps with lettuce and tomato, Cilantro Cole Slaw, and shared a plate of sweet potato fries and a basket of home-made chips and salsa. We did eat our cole slaw and the small plate of fries, but the chips and half of each of our sandwiches ended up going home with us. Amanda also had a huge cup of strong Mexican coffee that she said was much better than the brew served at the Bob Evans where she works in Vineland.

Amanda originally requested going to a coffee shop after lunch, but since she had her java at Tortilla Press, we went in the opposite direction and had ice cream at the Pop Shop instead. I went tropical and had two scoops of Vanilla with pineapple "goop" (crushed pineapple) and toasted coconut. Amanda opted for a Christmas sundae - two scoops of Peppermint with chocolate syrup and peppermint patties. Despite our large lunch, we both ate all of our sundaes and enjoyed every bit of them.

We were way too full to do anything else in Collingswood (and most stores are closed on Monday anyway), so we just went back to my place. When we got in, I got the mail, and we exchanged gifts. Interestingly, we both gave each other Peanuts-related items. I gave Amanda a cute set of Peanuts ornaments I found at CVS a few weeks ago. She gave me Charlie Brown and Snoopy stuffed toys. Snoopy is dressed in a chef's outfit and holds a felt "cookie"; his apron says "Happiness is a warm cookie." (How true!) Charlie Brown talks when you press his foot. He holds a felt Christmas shopping list and says "If picking the right present wasn't so hard, I'd be better at it."

We continued the Peanuts theme with the two Peanuts specials I hadn't watched yet. Little Re-Run Van Pelt, Linus and Lucy's younger brother, really wants a dog of his own in I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown. His mother and siblings remind him that it's a big responsibility to own a dog. He doesn't listen at first and just keeps asking Snoopy to play with him. When Snoopy's lanky brother Spike visits from the desert, he finally shows Re-Run just how hard it can be to take care of a pet.

Charlie Brown was the one having the trouble in Happy New Year, Charlie Brown. He somehow has to write a book report on War and Peace over Christmas Vacation, but Peppermint Patty, her big New Year's Eve party, and a host of unrequited romances keep distracting him from his work.

We went for a stroll in Veteran's Park next-door between specials. I told Amanda about wanting to take classes and start a business. She talked about her health troubles and her jobs at Bob Evans and as a substitute teacher in Vineland and Millville (and how much she doesn't like school cafeteria food).

Amanda left around 3:30, shortly after Happy New Year, Charlie Brown ended. She was having dinner with her father and grandmother and wanted plenty of time to get home. I saw her off, then grabbed my DVDs and made a quick run to the Haddon Township Library for this week's volunteer session there.

It was still pretty light out when I headed past Newton River Park. It had been muddy and spongy in Veteran's Park, so I avoided the ground all together and rode on the street. The library wasn't too busy. I did have some DVDs to put away, and I did some organizing. I ended up taking out more Max & Ruby Christmas episodes (A Very Bunny Christmas), Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (Disney's computer-animated follow up to Once Upon a Christmas), McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and the most recent Chronicles of Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

It was dark when I left the library. I made a very quick stop at Dollar Tree for a card for my nephew Collyn for his birthday on Friday and for my mom and stepdad's anniversary next week, then rode home. Watched Max & Ruby while having leftovers. After dinner, I took cute Christmas shots of the AG girls around the living room. Here's the link to the Photobucket album:

AG Christmas 2011

"Never Jump In a Pile Of Leaves With a Wet Sucker."

Yup, today was raking day...but before I started the leaves, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. The weather was sunny, chilly, and windy, but not out of line with early December in New Jersey, and my walk was quite pleasant. There's leaves all over the place now. Thanks to the storm on Wednesday, most trees are bare, though a few do continue to cling to the last few leaves. The neighborhood is in something of a transitional state. Some people have their Christmas decorations out. Some still have Thanksgiving decorations. Most don't have anything, but that usually changes by the end of the weekend.

When I got home, I went right into raking. It was a LOT harder to rake today than it was two weeks ago! For one thing, there seemed to be three times as many leaves as usual, some as large as dinner plates. For another thing, a lot of them were still wet from the Wednesday monsoon. I started at 11:30 and didn't get done until 1...and then Miss Ellie asked me to put the pruned branches from the bush we did last month in a bag (after leaving them in a recycling canister since then). I never did get to the side path - I'll do that tomorrow.

After I finally finished, I went upstairs and had a hot turkey, spinach, and cheese sandwich for lunch while watching The Little Drummer Boy. An elegant, sweet tale of an orphan boy who hates people who is redeemed by faith, this is one of Rankin-Bass' best and classiest productions. No kitsch here - renown British actress Greer Garson narrates the story, and actor/director Mel Ferrer plays two roles, Aaron's father and Ali Hakim, the wily desert impresario.

Work didn't go quite as well. There were a lot of obnoxious and just plain annoying people tonight, including several of those older ladies who like to give out 500 orders for how to bag without lifting a finger to help themselves, and at least one family who put back half their order because they didn't have enough money. Since when did 120 dollars worth of food look like 80?

And now, I find out that Rose and I might not be going to the West Cape May Christmas Parade tomorrow after all. One of her dogs seem to have hurt its leg, and she wants to stay with it at the vet and doesn't know how long she'll be. I understand how she feels about her dogs, and I have a lot of other things I want to get done tomorrow, too...but I really wish she could have told me this earlier.

A Very Long Walk

We started off today with a pleasant breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar while I ran cartoons. Unfortunately, we ran into a problem when we tried to saddle up the bikes to head to the laundromat. Both bikes were just too tall for Lauren (who is 5'0), even set as low as they could go. We decided that the laundry had to get done, and we didn't want to sit around. We walked to the laundromat on the White Horse Pike after making a brief stop at the Oaklyn Library, where I introduced Lauren to three of the librarians.

The laundromat was a bit busy when we arrived around 11:30. There were a few older ladies doing their linens, and college students were in and out. An older lady had trouble with one of the super-size laundry machines and called in the owners. We didn't have nearly that much trouble. Since Lauren only had a little laundry, we washed and dried our clothes together.

Dark clouds had begun to gather on the White Horse Pike as the dryer ended its run. We were a block away when we saw lightning and heard noisy thunder! We ducked into the little Italian food store to let the storm pass, which only took a few minutes. It spit for a few moments, then stopped. We had a few rumbles of thunder as we walked home.

I dropped my laundry in my room, and she dropped hers in her backpack. After a quick bathroom break, we headed out again. I wanted to catch the Bagel Shop at the Westmont Plaza before it closed. We got in there around quarter after 2, which proved to be absolutely perfect timing. They were just closing up the back dining area where the Flyers, golf, and boxing memorabilia is. We both had Grilled Chicken Ranch Panninis with bacon and cheese, along with fries and very big pickles. We loved it...and Lauren loved the posters of baseball greats on the walls. (She had to get a picture of the Ted Williams soda poster on her cell phone.)

Our next stops were all short ones. We were in and out of Super Fresh - I needed yeast, and their 49 cent packs of Hodegson Mill yeast are a lot cheaper than the three-packs of Fleischman's at the Acme. I had several books to drop off at the Haddon Township Library, one of them overdue. We browsed through the used books for sale at the Library and in Dollar General next to the Westmont Acme.

It was past 4 by then. I suggested taking the PATCO to Haddonfield, since most of the stores in Collingswood were probably shutting down or already closed for the day. We hiked down Cuthbert Road and over to Collingswood, where we ended up waiting almost 15 minutes for a train. One left so fast, we didn't have the time to get on it, even though we were right on the other side of the platform! (I later figured out it was an Express train.)

We didn't spend a lot of time in Haddonfield when we finally arrived. King's Highway was busy with rush-hour communters, and many of the stores there were also close to closing. I did get to show her the Happy Hippo Toy Store (no good WebKinz this time), and we had iced teas and Chai Lattes at Starbucks. (Lauren had never been to a Starbucks before!)

After that, we took the train back to Collingswood and walked straight home. I was tired, sore, and bone-weary. Lauren, despite being as hot as me, was still full of pep. I felt like a fat pig and told her so. She said I was being too hard on myself. It's just been ages since I'd had such a long walk. In fact, the last time I had a walk that long would have been New Year's Eve, and I felt just as sore and tired coming home from the Deptford Mall that day.

I feel so huge. Lauren pointed out that there doesn't seem to be many work-out options here. The few gyms in the area are in the "suburban" towns - Deptford, Cherry Hill, Marlton - that I can't get to easily. Lauren's been going to an inexpensive gym in her town that really seems to be working for her. Everyone says I look great, but all I've been doing is gaining and gaining weight. I can't seem to drop under 200 pounds. I fully expected to be at least 160 by now.

The weather didn't help. It felt breezy after the storm left, but once it was out of the area, it was hazy, hot, and humid all day long. We switched the air conditioning back on when we finally arrived at my apartment. I cheered myself up by making Chicken Stir-Fry with Spring Vegetables and brown rice for us for dinner. Lauren absolutely loved it, and I have to admit, it came out well for just being something I threw together. It was just chicken cutlets, carrots, celery, leeks, and mushrooms cooked in olive oil with a sauce made of Marsala cooking wine, soy sauce, cider vinegar, and a little sugar.

Tomorrow, we're hopping on a train to explore the Outlets and the Boardwalk in Atlantic City!

You're Gonna Make It After All

I slept in a little this morning (thought not nearly as much as yesterday), and did some reading in bed before finally having cereal for breakfast and running some errands. Went to CVS to buy conditioner. Turns out they were having a sale on Herbal Essences, one of my favorite brands (yes, the curl formula too). I then walked a couple of blocks down to the bank and deposited my paycheck. I debated getting milk, but it was quarter of 12 by that point, and I had work at 1. I'll get it tomorrow.

Started the first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show while eating a quick lunch of a pumpkin muffin, an orange, and Yoplait's newest light flavor, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. (Which was really good, by the way. Tasted like pineapple custard.) Other than the dubious fashions (even sensible Mary wears some rather scary outfits), Mary Tyler Moore was a fun series from the get-go. I loved Lou showing up at Mary's apartment drunk and missing his wife in the first episode. Mary was right; it was kind of sweet.

Work was steady, but not quite as busy as over the weekend, and other than some obnoxious customers, not a problem. My relief was on time. While it's still cold, the wind is gone and the cold isn't quite as biting as last week. I had a rather pleasant ride to and from work.

Losing My Mind

As usual, the day started out well. It was sunny and gorgeous this morning, a perfect-for-November-in-New Jersey upper 50s, cloudless with no wind. After breakfast, I browsed in the Oaklyn Library for a little while, then ran to WaWa for milk. Also treated myself to a fountain Coke Zero with cherry and vanilla syrup. Just hung around for a while when I got home. Had a simple lunch of light Acme blueberry yogurt, home-made rye-whole wheat bread with farm market apple butter, and a banana.

I really, really wish I'd stayed home. Work was nothing but a pain in the rear end all day long. The lines were ridiculously long for a Wednesday, and we just didn't have enough people to handle them. People were cranky. People were obnoxious.

An older woman had a ripped bag of spice drops, so I went back to see if I could find her one, despite the line. All the baggers were rounding up carts. Maybe it did take me longer to come back than it should have, but the candies turned out to be part of a 10 for $10 sale, and the entire rack was almost bare! I thankfully talked the old woman into taking similar fruit gumdrops instead...but the two women behind her rudely and in earshot of me complained about how slow I'd been and why didn't I hurry up and oh, didn't she take forever? Hello, I CAN hear you! It didn't slow down until about a half-hour before I left at 7.

And of course, the chain on my bike falls off half-way through the ride home for no good reason. It hasn't been a problem in months! I ended up walking home in frustrated, angry tears.

I'm almost glad it clouded over sometime during work. I'm so frustrated and fed up and depressed and angry and lonely.

Some Call It Cold

Started out sunny today as I headed for the Haddon Township Library for this week's volunteer session. There wasn't a whole lot to do today. I put away some DVDs and children's books. Returned five books (including Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds, which I finished a few days ago) and the DVDs. Took out four more - another book on job hunting, that cookbook with light baked goods recipes I took out in the spring and loved, the next Blackbird Sisters novel, Some Like It Lethal, and the newest Maisie Dobbs novel, Among the Mad. (I've been looking for the latter for ages, since it came out last winter.)

I emerged into what had become a cold, cloudy, windy day. It couldn't be more than the upper 50s, really too cold for this time of year. (And it's supposed to get worse starting tomorrow, with rain and temperatures in the 40s. I wanted it to be a nice, fairly cool fall, but this feels like we're skipping Halloween and going straight to Thanksgiving. I'm not ready yet!)

Stopped at Dollar Tree after leaving the library. I was hoping they'd have an inexpensive witch's hat, but no dice. They had cowboy hats and pirate hats, but no witches hats. In fact, their Halloween aisles alternated with Christmas decorations. That's ridiculous. It's really too early for THAT. I bought soap and moved on.

Had lunch at the little bagel shop in the same shopping center, between Friendly's and the Game Stop. The place was packed when I walked in around lunchtime! Groups of students from the Catholic high school down the street joined older couples in the booths. The lady behind the counter told me when I paid that the kids got out of school early for their PSATs today. I had a delicious (and lively) roast beef and provolone on a whole wheat bagel with pickles and French fries. (I also discovered why the bagel shop is never opened when I'm there. The open at 5:30AM and close at 3PM. I'm usually done in the library well after 3PM.)

Rode home after lunch. Miss Ellie called me while I was doing research on my computer and reminded me that she owed me money for picking up sticks for her. I reminded her that I need to get started on raking soon, too. Trouble is, we have a ton of acorns right now, and the people who pick up the leaves aren't going to want them.

I picked up my money from Miss Ellie, then ran to work. Work was surprisingly steady for a Wednesday in the middle of the month, with no major problems.

A Ghost of a Chance

Slept in this morning after a second bout with allergy attacks in a row kept me awake last night. Thankfully, my nose was feeling much better by the time I finally got out of bed around 10:30. I had a quick breakfast of carrot muffins, orange green tea, and a peach, then headed for the Acme to pick up my paycheck and take a look at the stores behind the mall.

The Acme was very busy when I arrived for my check. Not surprising, given this is the beginning of the month. FYE wasn't busy when I was there. I was looking for Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving on DVD, but I didn't see it there, so I went on my way. Made a brief stop at Fashion Bug. I was going to go to Wal-Mart, but the parking lot was packed. I didn't even want to think of what it would be like inside! I just went back to the Acme instead.

Didn't have a really long list today. I wanted more of the canned diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning. (They're still on sale, though not as good as last week.) I was out of brown sugar, too, and almost out of allergy medicine. I hadn't had rye flour in a while - the Acme had the smaller Hodgeson Mill box on sale. Stocked up on Dannon and Acme generic light yogurt. (I love pineapple-coconut yogurt, and they have delicious light versions.) I saw that Edy's Ice Cream was on sale and treated myself to my annual fall dessert, their heavenly Pumpkin flavor. It really tastes like pumpkin pie. I've bought at least one carton every fall since I first encountered it in college in 2000.

Rode straight home after work (and after I picked up my schedule, since I hopefully won't be at the Acme at all tomorrow). Put everything where it belonged, then headed out again. First stop was the bank, where I deposited this week's large paycheck. For once, I actually have more in the bank than I thought I did, even after paying my bills. My rent will only be a few days late.

My next stop was a little restaurant on Cuthbert Road that I've always wanted to try, Geneva's Pizza. It turned out to be very nice and clean on the inside, with pretty watercolors of Italy. A couple of what looked like workers from the White Horse Pike were enjoying lunch there when I arrived, chatting and watching some dumb talk show. The man-and-woman pair who ran the place were very sweet and attentive. I enjoyed French fries and a turkey and bacon wrap with thick slices of smoky bacon that tasted like they came from a slab, not one a bag in the supermarket.

Headed down Cuthbert Road to the Haddon Township Library next for this week's volunteering session. It was past 3PM by that point. I didn't want to stay for too long, so I just shelved adult and children's DVDs. I also finally got the nerve to mention to one of the librarians that I was interested in becoming a librarian myself, but wanted to find a related job to earn money for tutoring, so I could go back to school. She suggested becoming a library assistant or technician, which only requires a Civil Service test.

Made a quick stop at Super Fresh for low-fat salad dressing, then headed back to the apartment to conduct further research. Turns out library assistants mostly shelve books and add data into the system, which I happen to be very good at. They can earn anywhere from $8 to $16 an hour. I earn $11.80 at the Acme now, which is the only reason I haven't pushed harder to leave. I've been deathly afraid no one else will hire me for that amount of money so lacking in experience as I do. I'll do further research on Monday.

It was supposed to rain today, but the weather never got worse than gloomy clouds and tons of wind. The rain was supposed to be worse tomorrow; we'll see what happens.

Early Autumn

It was absolutely gorgeous this morning, 75 degrees and sunny as can be. It was too nice to spend the whole morning cleaning. After breakfast, I went out to the White Horse Pike to run errands.

My first stop was the Oaklyn Post Office. Silly me forgot to buy stamps for her bills when she sent them out, and they came right back to her. I bought my stamps and sent my bills along. Thankfully, the post office wasn't busy. The tiny Oaklyn Post Office is a total pain when there's more than two or three people in there. (Trust me. You should see it at Christmas.)

The White Horse Pike was busy with cars and people as I headed towards WaWa. A t-shirt shop was having a sidewalk clearance sale, but alas, I had just enough money for milk and a soda fountain drink. WaWa wasn't bad when I got in. I made myself a Cherry-Vanilla Coke Zero on the fountain, then headed home.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon cleaning the kitchen. It wasn't quite as bad as the bathroom, but the stove in particular needed to be scrubbed. I opened windows and aired out towels, enjoying the fresh fall breeze. After I finished cleaning, I made myself a quick lunch of a slice of "Pillow Bread" (from Alton Brown's baking book) and honey, carrot sticks and peanut butter, and a tomato-cucumber salad.

Even cleaning was more exciting than work. Between the nice day and this being the end of the month, work was dead for almost the entire night, even during the usual rush hour time. I didn't have much to pick up afterwards, either. Mostly yogurt - Acme's having a 39 cent sale on Dannon Yogurt this weekend. Also bought toothbrushes for a dollar, Smart Balance butter, peanut butter, and another weekend sale, canned diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning.

The Last Harvest of Summer

I awoke to a day that could not have been more perfect. It was 60 degrees, breezy, and sunny when I headed out to run my usual Saturday morning errands. I was actually cold when I got out of bed. I couldn't have asked for a nicer last weekend of summer.

The Oaklyn Library had their second fund-raising Book and Yard Sale today. I stopped there first on my way to the bank, but there was nothing interesting this time. Saw a lot of yard sales today. Not counting the Oaklyn Library Yard Sales, there had to be at least five or six scattered around Oaklyn and Collingswood this morning. Alas, I didn't make any good finds this time. One sale in Collingswood had crate shelves for five dollars each, but I thought it was asking too much for something that wasn't big or in that great of shape.

The bank wasn't busy when I got there, but the Farm Market was hopping. Lots of people and lots of dogs out and about, enjoying the stunning weather. I finally ended up with peaches, tiny little gingergold apples, small portobello mushrooms, two ears of corn, two tomatoes, and bunches of spinach and Chinese Cabbage. I had the cabbage sauteed in olive oil with a clove of garlic for lunch, along with tomatoes and light mayonnaise and the last poached chicken leg.

Work was steady, but not too bad. I guess everyone was out enjoying the day. It was dying all together by the time I picked up olive oil and a box of French Vanilla cake mix and headed home. The cake mix is to make Peaches and Cream Cake for the Eagles game at Uncle Ken's house tomorrow; it's baking in the oven as I write this.

Balancing Chores and Play

Did my yoga class today. It was the fullest class I'd seen in ages, sixteen people including the teacher, Jill. The gorgeous, sunny-and-mid-60s weather must have brought everyone out. I did what I could with the twisting and balancing exercises, but I sometimes feel so frustrated that I can't do better after a year. And after class, most of the women started talking about their children and jobs again. One was pregnant, and Jill's definitely showing now...and I felt left out. I left as quickly as I could, grabbing milk from WaWa on the way home.

I used the last of the canned crabmeat to make crab salad for lunch. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup mayo and 3/4 cup sour cream. I substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream (which I don't like anyway) and light mayo for regular mayo and cut the mayo down to 3 tablespoons. I also added chopped onion along with the original celery to give it a little zing and replace the hot sauce that I really don't like. It was a very tasty lunch on a bed of spinach, with a Honey Yogurt Muffin to add some fiber.

After lunch, I finally scrubbed the indoor trash and recycling canisters. They needed to be done rather badly. The trash can was starting to smell. I was going to do it Monday, but put it off due to the cold that day. I use the hose under my porch to wash the canisters. Easier than hauling water downstairs.

Spent the rest of the afternoon working on my budget and other stuff on my computer before heading off to work. Work was steady for most of the night, but other than when I left (I was almost late getting out, thanks to a long line and no relief), there were no problems.