Springtime Matches

Started off the morning with breakfast and a pair of animated spring specials on YouTube. I go further into the Easter tale Peter and the Magic Egg and the last Berenstain Bears special, The Berenstain Bears Play Ball, at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Spring Short Subject Special - Peter and the Magic Egg & The Berenstain Bears Play Ball

Hurried out to work right as Play Ball ended. Spent most of a busy afternoon pushing carts. The head bagger kept ending up in a register or going in for someone's break, so I was alone for most of the afternoon. I have no idea who won the hot dog eating contest. I had to sweep when it was going on. Oh, and as it turned out, they just had leftover hot dogs in the back. Despite the flyer saying people could bring sides, no one brought any. 

(I also found out why I got so many hours next week. Eight people took off for Easter break, including the head bagger. I do want to take my birthday weekend off in two weeks, but I'm mostly going to wait until Lauren visits in June for long vacations.) 

It was sunny and windy when I rode to work. Silvery clouds moved in around 1:30. It showered lightly off and on for the rest of the day. Thankfully, the rain held off as I hurried home, though it remained a bit windy and chilly.

Soon as I got in, I took a shower, then cut up what I could salvage of the strawberry loaf cake and brought that and dinner upstairs. Watched tonight's Match Game marathon while I ate. Tonight, we saw some of the biggest winners ever on the syndicated nighttime show. And considering the contestants could win up to $21,000, there were some big winners. 

Bill Daily actually managed to come up a winner twice later in the series, once with a $20,000. He was so excited about it! One contestant told Richard she wanted four kisses for her and her family. He gave her those four kisses, then dipped her for one more! Gene's crack to a Japanese-American man who was in World War II would have gotten him into more trouble nowadays. Joey Bishop was a little annoyed in 1976 that a contestant who claimed she wanted money to fly home actually lived in Burbank, where the show was filmed.

See who came up a big winner this Easter weekend in this wild marathon! 

Match Game Saturday Classics - Match Game PM Best Big Wins

My second Amazon package arrived while I was upstairs. Yes, my new record player came! I love it. It's bright red and has shiny chrome trim and cool vintage knobs for the volume and to turn it off and on. I had to turn it sideways to get it where the old one was, but other than that, it's awesome. I also bought a new record set to play on it, which arrived yesterday. If you can believe it, at press time there is a musical version of Back to the Future on Broadway and in London. Considering how big those movies were in my childhood, I had to hear it. I gave the old record player to a friend who says her daughter now collects records.

Lawrence Welk and his musical family also had big Easter parties this weekend. Their '69 show started with everyone singing "A Tisket, a Tasket" in a yellow basket. Then-popular country singer Charley Pride joins in as Cissy King and Bobby Burgess dances a bunny hop in rather goofy costumes. Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts are waiting "After the Shower Is  Done," while Roberts leads the "Easter Parade." A very pregnant Jo Anne Castle is a female Easter bunny playing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" while fellow bunny Arthur Duncan taps along.

1978 began with the Easter parade in Victorian costumes. Bobby and Cissy do "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" in fancy dress here. Kathie Sullivan reminds everyone why we'll be worshipping "Next Sunday Morning." Ken Delo has more fun with "It's a Lovely Day Today." Anacani gets "This Little Light of Mine," while Arthur's tap number is "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise." 

Anacani and Delo get my favorite number from the 1980 Easter episode. Anacani's an adorably hilarious little girl singing "Peter Cottontail" while Easter Bunny Delo hides the eggs in the background. We also get a nice "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" with Jack Imel and Mary Lou Metzinger, while trumpeter Bobby Zell gives us the instrumental jazz solo "My Tribute." Burgess encores "Sunday Clothes" with his new partner Elaine Niverson. 

Celebrate Easter with your family and Lawrence Welk's!

Easter Show - 1969

Easter Show - 1978

Easter Show - 1980

And here's even more vintage holiday specials to tide you over until it's time to find the eggs!

A Family Circus Easter

The Fat Albert Easter Special

Buttons and Rusty and the Easter Bunny (A Chucklewood Easter)

Madeline - Just In Time For Easter

The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

Easter Egg Mornin'

Greatest Adventure Stories From the Bible: The Easter Story

The Pink Panther - The Easter Panther

Thumpkin and the Easter Bunny

Veggie Tales - An Easter Carol

The Smurfs' Springtime

The Jack Rabbit Story

Follow That Bunny!

Dodging the Spring Rain

Began the morning with breakfast and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. All the kids in Busytown say "Count On Us!" when they get pledges for a bikeathon. After Billy Dog's mother accidentally runs over his bike, he tries to get a second-hand replacement. Even working hard, he comes up short, but the other kids in town lend their paws. After a Bavarian family is rescued by their king, they vow to give him a special gift. Nothing seems right until the little girl hits on giving him "The First Easter Egg Ever." Hilda says "Be My Valentine" to Lowly Worm when she thinks he's giving her something...and is upset when he gives all his friends, including her, a cookie and she makes the biggest Valentine she can think of.

It was only cloudy, cool, and a bit breezy at that point. I figured I was fine riding to work. Dropped Easter cards in the mail box on the way there and just made it in time. It was a little busier today than it was on Monday, maybe because we're starting to get closer to Easter. I had to return another Walmart electric cart, too. Found this over by the traffic light, well away from any parking lot. Someone mentioned they drove home the old woman who tried to steal it. According to them, she had a lot of things and was angry when it stalled. It stalled because it wasn't supposed to be off Walmart property! What she did was really stealing. Other than that, I swept the store, gathered carts, and shelved cold items.

Oh, and I texted Mom. She called me yesterday to ask if there's anything I wanted for my birthday. I finally found the perfect thing. My record player is nine years old, and was a cheap turntable I bought from Amazon to begin with. I'm shocked it lasted this long, including through two moves. I fell in love with a really cute retro-style portable player that was only fifty dollars on Amazon. It even came in red. She sent me a gift card to buy it. 

I rushed out the second my shift ended. The clouds had darkened during the course of the morning, and though it was actually a little warmer, the wind had picked up, too. I had been home for 20 minutes when it started pouring. It's poured off and on ever since.

Started watching Let's Make a Deal, but decided to put on F-Troop instead while I finished The Kitchen Front. Agarn says "That's Show Biz" when he retires from the Army yet again, this time to manage a music group called The Bedbugs that has a very odd new sound. The troop's attempt to bring him back somehow ends with Parameter and Jane posing as a hippie-esque group and singing for the Hikawis.

We learn how 'The Day They Shot Agarn" began from a balladeer (John Mitchum). Agarn was supposed to be keeping track of a prisoner, but they escaped. Since he lost the prisoner, he has to carry out his sentence, which puts him in front of a firing squad. Good thing none of the men at Fort Courage can shoot straight to save their lives...

Jane's thrilled to announce "Only One Russian Is Coming! Only One Russian Is Coming!" when yet another foreign relative of Agarn's visits Fort Courage. She's truly impressed with Russian cossack Dimitri Agarnoff's trick riding and claims she'll marry him, which makes Parameter quite jealous for once. O'Rourke and Agarn, however, know he has a weakness for gypsies.

Parameter and an inspector general wonder "Guns, Guns, Who's Got the Guns?" when someone at Fort Courage is suspected of selling guns to the Apaches. Suddenly, everyone's pointing fingers at each other, even O'Rourke and Agarn. Parameter, however, isn't sure it's even one of their men.

It's "Marriage, Fort Courage Style" when Jane gets desperate for Parameter to notice her and calls in a matchmaker (Mary Wickes) to put them together. "Marrying Sam," however, keeps pairing off other troopers at Fort Courage, including Agarn.

Fort Courage itself is in trouble when a greedy land developer buys up the town. The troops say "Carpetbagging, Anyone?" when they have to trick the guy to get their land and O'Rourke Enterprises back.

Worked on writing next. Kathleen's frustrated. She wishes badly to buy a home of her own, but she has little money and knows no one else she can stay with. Mrs. Rowland has many older friends, but she feels awkward among them.

Broke for dinner and Match Game Syndicated at 7 PM. Charles sported a white ten-gallon cowboy hat in the first episode that he claimed to have borrowed from Marc Breslow, the show's director. After he joked about how silly it was, Breslow ended up pointing the camera over his head, only showing the top of the hat! Things got really wild in the second show with Bill Daily, Dolly Martin, and Scoey Mitchilll. Dolly comes up with "Armstrong" as an answer to "Bess __" on the Audience Match. No one believes her...until it actually comes up...

Returned to F-Troop to finish off that show. Parameter has a nasty cold that may interfere with his test to become a major. The others give him so many alcohol-based cold medications, he ends up drunk. Even then, "The Majority of Wilton" may not be as exciting if he really does move up and have to leave the fort.

Chief Wild Eagle becomes "Our Brave In F-Troop" when the guys sneak  him in to have a tooth pulled. All the officers think he's a real trooper, and he quickly rises through the ranks. Crazy Cat works with the guys to get him back with his tribe where he belongs.

Everyone's worried that an officer (Charles Drake) who is notorious for closing unnecessary forts may wonder "Is This Fort Really Necessary?" when he arrives to marry his attractive fiancee (Patrice Wymore). The Hikaris try to distract him by kidnapping the lady and her less-than-lovely sister, but O'Rourke wonders if it's a good idea when he falls for her himself.

And that's that. I am going to say that I really enjoy the black-and-white first season more than the goofier second season in color. While this is pretty much a spoof through and through, the first season feels a little more like a western and a little less like they're trying to throw every 60's cliche and available guest star they can get their hands on into the script. Oh, and this is not a show for the easily offended. The Natives are Jewish comedians in bad red makeup, and every guy in the show, regardless of their skin color, is shifty, dumb, greedy, or just too nice for their own good. 

On the other hand, the women are treated surprisingly well. Wrangler Jane is the only one who can shoot straight, even if she does try to chase Parameter a little too much. Other smart ladies who turn up during the course of the series include O'Reilly who ran the saloon, the black widow who went after Agarn, tall, strong Yellow Bird, that officer's fiancee in the series finale, and the strong-willed mothers of Parameter and Flaming Arrow. Even the Native women were clearly more intelligent than the men in their tribe. 

Once again, this is not for the easily offended. If you're expecting real Natives and a real exploration of the actual west, you're in the wrong show. If you're looking for a frequently funny satire of western cliches and 60's sitcom tropes, grab the first season set and ride on down to Fort Courage for a rollicking good time.

Finished the night at Disney Plus with the Easter episode of Muppet Babies. Kermit and Fozzie are thrilled to team up for the egg hunt, but Fozzie keeps rushing ahead, and the others get there first. Kermit has to remind them that on "Kermit and Fozzie's Egg-cellent Adventure," it's best to go slow and plan your moves first. Animal is so excited about seeing Ratlantis, he refuses to go to the bathroom. He's embarrassed when he has "Animal's Little Accident," but the others admit that they've had accidents when they wouldn't stop playing to use the bathroom, too. 

Little Tigers and Strong Young Ladies

Began a sunny morning with Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood as I ate breakfast. Think Mister Rogers' Neighborhood crossed with the current version of Muppet Babies and you're not far off. The Daniel here is the son of the original Daniel, who lives with his mother, dad, and baby sister Margaret in a little grass hut just outside of The Land of Make Believe. He's friends with the children and relatives of the original members of the Land of Make Believe, and the show is about their adventures as they grow and learn.

The first two episodes revolved around snow days. Daniel and Miss Elania (daughter of Lady Elaine) want to make a snow astronaut on "A Snowy Day." Daniel refuses to put on his hat and coat in favor of his astronaut helmet. He gets so cold, he finally decides that astronauts need to be warm, too.

"Daniel's Winter Adventure" takes him, his father, and his friend Prince Wednesday (younger son of King Friday) to a snowy hill, and then ice skating. Dan and Wednesday are scared of the big hill and of skating at first. Daniel Sr. suggests they take it a little at a time. They both gradually get used to both the sledding and the falling down when they learn to skate.

The reason I rented this one was for "Neighborhood Nutcracker" to kick off my holiday season. The "try new things" theme is repeated here. I can certainly relate to poor O the Owl (nephew of X the Owl) when he's nervous about the big crowd in the Enchanted Garden. Big crowds sometimes make me nervous as well. Even after O gets used to the noise, Daniel is asked to step in for Wednesday as the Nutcracker in the ballet because his friend got a cold. He's understandably scared at first, but Katerina Kittycat and her mother Henrietta Pussycat (who are Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy) help him with the steps.

I can also relate to "Baking Mistakes." I've made quite a few of my own over the years! Baker Aker, Dan, and Wednesday make trolley-shaped sugar cookies. They each make mistakes, but figure out ways to fix them.

This was too cute for words. The Flash designs of the characters are adorable, and the stories are simple but fun. There's also the "Neighborhood" segment, where Daniel shows real-life kids taking part in the activities depicted in the episode. (Loved the older brother teaching his younger brother to ice skate. That was so sweet.)

While I did enjoy it, it's probably too cutesy for anyone who isn't a fan of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, are in the toddler-pre-school age range, or are the parents of toddlers. If you're like me and have fond memories of the original show, it's worth checking out. I'm guessing it's pretty popular. It's currently in the midst of it's fourth season on PBS, and the Haddon Township Library has at least 15 episode collections. I liked the show enough to want to take out a few more of those the next time I have the chance.

Headed out to work shortly after the cartoons ended. I was tossed in the register almost as soon as I arrived. There had been another call-out. One of my first customers was an older woman who kept fussing about double-bagging in plastic because she was walking...but she threw a cloth bag at me, too. She was such a grouch! I didn't double-bag one bag because it was light and could be carried easily, and she just growled at me. I ended up in tears, though I composed myself quick enough after she left. The other customers after her were super-sweet. One very old lady gave me a hug. I had no trouble after that.

Thankfully, I was only in the register an hour this time. I spent the majority of the rest of the day outside, gathering carts, doing outside trash and recycling, and sweeping up debris on the patio. I also cleaned up two broken jar messes. One was in the soda and chips aisle. Someone must have knocked over a jar of onion dip. Yuck, that was messy! Good thing onion dip is too gloppy to go far. The other was outside. An old man's bag broke, and a jar of artichokes broke. There was so little liquid in that small jar, I just had to clean up the glass and the artichokes.

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. I finally broke down and ordered those record needles from Amazon. I got two this time, so I wouldn't suddenly have to go around searching for them the next time one breaks. It took me a few minutes to finally slide in, but it's up and running again.

I listened to Merry Christmas Songs as my first holiday album of the year while I got organized. This is a somewhat older collection of Disney holiday tunes. It's mostly instrumentals and chorus numbers this time, but we do have an unusual version of "From All Of Us to All Of You" where Willie the Giant gets a solo on a third chorus. (We also have more of that squeaky mouse choir. I know Disney likes mice, but they sound more like Chip and Dale on helium than Mickey.)

Did a little bit of writing next. Anakin grudgingly allows Luke to have all of Christmas Day off. As he points out, the only other financial business open will be the First Order Savings and Loan, and even they won't be open all day. He also doesn't want to incur the wrath of Mara, Luke's very opinionated wife. Unlike Leia, he did approve of Luke's marriage to Mara, the ward of his late partner Sheev Marley...until they refused Marley's money and Mara revealed that she's not a fan of her father-in-law.

Put on my first Thanksgiving special of the season while making Wonderful Tuna Salad (tuna salad with crushed pineapple and celery) for dinner. Garfield's Thanksgiving doesn't start out well. First Liz the Veterinarian puts him on a diet, then Jon invites her for dinner! Jon wouldn't know how to cook a turkey if one bit him in the rear. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special knows what to do.

Finished the night after a shower with A Wrinkle In Time. Meg Murray (Storm Reid) feels like a misfit. She doesn't fit in at school. Popular girls bully her, and her principal (Andre Holland) wonders why she's lashing out and isn't trying harder. Meg's reacting badly to the disappearance of her father, renowned astrophysicist Dr. Alex Murray (Chris Pine) four years before. She is close with her mother, Kate (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), and her gifted little brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe). Her family is visited one night by chatty, white-clad Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), whom Charles Wallace seems to be friendly with. They meet up with a boy in Meg's class, Calvin O'Keefe (Levi Miller), before encountering Mrs. Whatsit again. She introduces them to two more witches, ever-quoting Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and the magnificent, towering Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey). The witches claim they can find Meg and Charles Wallace's father, who is being held prisoner on a planet under the sway of an evil black force known only as "It." When Charles Wallace falls under the spell of this terrible being, Meg is the only one who can release him...and prove that love of all kinds is really the most powerful force in the universe.

On one hand, I can see what director Ava DuVerney was aiming for. This is a lovely girl-power tale, with Reid particularly strong as Meg. The cast is wonderfully diverse, something you don't often see in a family film of this stripe, and the special effects are just incredible. Check out the scene where Mrs. Whatsit reveals her true form. No wonder the kids are amazed.

She may have tried too hard. The movie feels preachy and a bit pushy. The "be yourself" and "love conquers all" morals are hammered home with all the force of the negative light of Camazotz. They also cut a few points from the book, likely for time, including the other two Murray boys and the sequence with Aunt Beast after Meg left Camazotz with her dad. Maybe this story really is better suited to the page, where you can use your own imagination to create what the witches, "It," and the Tesseract look like.

If you have older elementary school or middle school girls who have read the book, they may find more in this one than I did. For everyone else, I'd recommend a rental for the special effects and cast alone.

Clouds began rolling in as early as my rounding up carts at work. It did wait to start raining until I was eating dinner and watching Garfield. I hope it doesn't last all day again. I want to hit the libraries tomorrow afternoon.

Running On Ice

I ate the last of the grits for breakfast while listening to the George Harrison CD I bought on Saturday. Ringo Starr is my favorite solo Beatle, but I like a lot of Harrison's work, too. I picked up this particular CD because it included my two favorite Harrison solo songs, "All Those Years Ago" and "Blown Away." "Got My Mind Set On You" is the first song on the CD; I remember when that came out in 1987. Having been a toddler when "All Those Years Ago" came out, "Set On You" was really my first encounter with Harrison. He's always been Mom's favorite Beatle. (She likes the quiet guys. Peter Tork is her favorite Monkee.)

Didn't get out to run today's errands until quarter of 1...and got a nasty surprise when I did. It was damp and gray but not raining when I awoke this morning. As I walked out the door, I could feel myself get pelted with ice. I skidded across the porch, just as I realized that it was sleeting. I made my way carefully downstairs and checked the roads before I left. The roads were wet but fine, with no ice anywhere. Goes without saying that Newton Lake Park wasn't terribly busy. I saw one jogger and one duck swimming on the defrosted part of the lake as I hurried to Cuthbert Road.

The weather scared people away from Haddon Township Library, too. I organized DVD's with no interference of any kind. Other than they still have too many Scooby Doo titles to fit on the kids' shelves (and a few S adult titles that wouldn't get in), I was able to shelve everything without trouble. The librarians had more problems than I did. Their computer system went down (probably due to the weather) and had to be rebooted.

It was back up by the time I was ready to take out some DVDs. I grabbed new titles for The Cat In the Hat Knows A Lot About That and Sofia the First, along with My Little Pony: The Movie. The only adult movie I rented this time around was Lincoln, the well-received biography Steven Spielburg did a few years ago with Daniel Day Lewis as the title character and Sally Field as his wife. I thought it would be great for Lincoln's birthday and President's Day.

Though it looked like it had sleeted again while I was in the library, it was gone by the time I got out. I was taking no chances. This wasn't a day for lingering. I kept the rest of my errands short. Checked Tuesday Morning to see if they had Ever After High dolls. Yes, they'd just gotten lots of them in, including Briar, Raven, Maddie, Cupid, one Blondie, Legacy Day (fancy outfit) Raven and Apple, and Thronecoming (prom gown) Blondie, Raven, and Cupid, along with the Hat-Tastic (tea-party-themed) playset that included Maddie. Nothing I hadn't seen before except for the Thronecoming dolls. I'm only looking for the basic "Signature" dolls.

A stop at Dollar Tree was even quicker. I just wanted a few Valentine's Day cards for family members and a birthday card for my stepsister Jessa. (Hers is Friday.) It took me longer to stand in line than it did to choose cards.

I just made it to the Westmont Bagel Shop in time for a quick lunch before they closed. The owner mopped the floor even as I ate my Turkey Club Sandwich on whole wheat, fries, and macaroni salad. I watched Jeopardy! and listened to the oldies on their radio.

Made one more fast stop at Thriftway for milk. I was originally going to get it at WaWa, but I really didn't want to go anywhere else. After I got out, I went straight home. The traffic wasn't horrible, not even on Cuthbert - I got out just as the rush hour was starting.

There was a huge box sitting on the front apartment porch when I got in. The ice did stick to the walkway that lead to the front apartment, so I had to be really careful getting it off the porch and up to my apartment. (Richard finally salted my porch and steps later. Hopefully, he did the front for Charlie and his men, too.)

The first part of my Amazon order had arrived! I bought a new Jensen record player and the next Ever After High doll I was looking for, Cedar Wood. The record player is a simple replacement for my old turntable. I bought that from a novelty catalog at least six years ago (with Lauren's help). The Jensen is nothing fancy, no big speakers or added gadgets, but I just want something to play records. That, it did. Billy Joel's The Bridge played just fine and sounded even better. (And thankfully, the plastic top is attached this time. The last one was removable, but I couldn't figure out how to get it back on.)

I got Cedar out next. Cedar is the sweet-natured artist daughter of Pinocchio. She's been cursed to never tell a lie, which is more than a little inconvenient, what with all the secrets floating around Ever After High. (Especially the rather big one her roommate and good friend Cerise Hood is hiding.) Not being a princess or an eccentric tea party lover, Cedar's outfit is a little simpler than the fancy get-ups Maddie and the princesses wear. Her dress is a cute purple and pink variation on her dad's famous outfit from the Disney movie. She has a schoolgirl-ish Peter Pan collar instead of a necklace. She does have a ring and earrings, along with a cute bright green cricket clip in her hair. Her hair was crunchy with a ton of styling goop out of the box. I gave it a good washing. She's another one who sheds badly, but unlike Briar and Blondie, she does seem to have retained her curl.

(The neatest thing about Cedar is her vinyl. It's actually textured to look like she's a real wooden puppet girl. It doesn't just extend to the places that show, either. It's all over her body except for her face. This makes her one of the most detailed - and definitely one of the most unique - dolls in the entire line.)

Ran The Cat In the Hat's newest tales while pulling everything out. The theme here is simply Let's Take An Adventure, as The Cat and the kids take trips and learn how seeds and animals travel. "Amazing Journey" is one of the most interesting, teaching Nick and Sally how Salmon Samantha swims upstream (and up a waterfall) to calm waters to lay her eggs. The kids and The Cat use "Maps!" as they play pirate on an island and look for treasure. "I See Seeds" shows the group how seeds travel long distances when a bird grabs the Thing-A-Ma-Jigger, and they use seeds to go after it.

Finished the night with Bloomer Girl on my new record player and braised celery in chicken stock with a leftover chicken leg for dinner. This 1944 musical had Celeste Holm as Evelina, the youngest daughter of a hoop skirt manufacturer right before the Civil War, who gets involved with her aunt Dolly Bloomer and her crusades for women's and African-American rights. The southern gentleman her father is trying to marry her off to (David Burns) mostly sides with her, to the point of even releasing his slave (Dooley Wilson). Not everyone's so amused, and even the lovers quarrel after she's arrested for showing off her aunt's new trouser-style garments for women in public. It takes the arrival of war to reunite them and make him understand the importance of rights for all.

Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg did some nice music for this somewhat fanciful historic tale, including "The Eagle and Me" for Wilson and "Right as the Rain" for the young lovers. This was a hit in the nostalgia-starved mid 40's and was made into a TV musical with Barbara Cook 10 years later, but hasn't been seen much since then. Thankfully, both the cast album and the TV version are available and easy to find on Amazon and other sites.

Have To Believe We Are Magic

I'm amazed. This is probably the first time I've had two good days in a row since my vacation last month.

I made it to volunteering at the thrift shop on time. The store was having sales on some overstocked merchandise (like clothes and frames and pictures), and I spent most of the morning and early afternoon removing empty hangers, sorting clothes and toys, and undoing knots in costume jewelry bracelets and necklaces.

My favorite find today was a basket of old Barbie/fashion doll clothes, some dating back to the 60s and 70s from the many miniskirts and bell bottoms. Diane, the other cashier at the store, told me she'd found an old suitcase in the back room filled with the clothes...and that suitcase had sat in the back room for a year! The outfits and dresses cost a quarter each, and while some weren't in the best of shape, my Sailor Moon dolls now look nice and retro in their summer minidresses, culottes, and poodle skirts.

I also bought a handsome teddy bear from a huge bag of mint-condition bears someone brought in this morning and four more records (Olivia Newton-John, Toto, Air Supply, and songs from Frank Sinatra's earliest films).

I'm glad I've picked up more records lately, because a package was sitting on Miss Ellie's porch when I arrived home. Yes, it was my record player (turns out Carol Wright Gifts' warehouse is in Edison in North Jersey). It works beautifully...and no need to balance the darn thing this time. My only complaint is the arm is plastic, rather than the metal one on the larger console, and it doesn't return automatically after the side's over. I'll just have to be more careful with the arm.

The union meeting I went to the Acme for was no big deal. Some of it I'd already known, thanks to working for the company for six years and the tussle with the Acme over my transfer last year. The girl who did the presentation was young (college-age), well-prepared, passionate about the union, and a wonderful speaker. I only wish we'd had more time (and fewer distractions from dopey teenage boys) to hear her whole speech!

I went over to FYE afterwards. I figured, since I was already in the area and not really tired, I'd see if they still had The Lion King: Special Edition. They did, and since they were having a buy 3, get one half-price sale, I also acquired last year's release of "Star Wars: A New Hope" and "Weekend At Bernie's."

I took a short look at The Lion King set when I came in. While the movie is as much fun as ever, the menus are very poorly designed, and most of the same few featurettes on Disc 2 tend to pop up everywhere...and that Disney merchandising gets VERY annoying here. (And UltimateDisney.com is right - could we have some trailers, please?)

On the other hand, I LOVED "Timon and Puumbaa's Virtual Safari." That was a blast. (Literally at one point in hot molten rock caves.) While both "rides" were fun, I think I prefer the boat ride. Timon has better commentary, and their reactions to the monkeys and crocodiles alone are worth the price of admission (and my reaction nearly scared ME out of a year or two of my life!).

And the Haddon Township Library called this afternoon while I was working on The Monkee Knight. They have accepted my application! They just want me to come in tomorrow or Friday to do some paperwork.

YAY! It's about time! I wonder why they never responded in February? Oh well, at least they are now. I love helping the community, and I spend a ton of time in the library as it is; might as well give back to them.

If Your Friends Are There, Then Everything's All Right

My best friend Lauren offered to go half with me on a new record player. No, she insisted. I wanted to pay at least part of it, since she's bought me plenty of things in the past. I have over 120 records now, and I really do want to hear a few of them every now and then, especially since obscure albums like "The Living Strings Play The Music Of Hawaii" or the Nelson Eddy version of "Oklahoma!" are probably not on CD or easy to find online. Not to mention records are cheaper than most CDs or downloads. They cost a dollar at the thrift shop in Collingswood, but I've picked them up for as little as a quarter from yard sales and libraries. I'll keep the larger Victrola-style stereo in the living room for the CD and cassette player, but I've had quite enough of the phonograph not wanting to work.

Speaking of Lauren, we finished the role play tonight. Look for it by the end of this weekend.

Otherwise, this was a rather annoying day. Work was a pain and a half. It was steady-to-dead, but many of my customers were cranky, grouchy, and/or obnoxious, especially parents whose children spent most of the last week inside due to the heat wave and were driving them (and me) up the wall. I also had to deal with a man who was clearly drunk (the scent of heavy liquor came off of him in waves) and threw a fit because he thought I didn't give him his money back, and that was all he had. The guy had me so confused, I'm still not sure if I gave him the right money or not! Apparently, his trailer burnt down two months ago, but he should be working things out with a counselor and financial aid, not drowning his sorrows and annoying people.

In The Swim

The big news today was my first swim of the year in Uncle Ken's pool. He's the only person I know in the area who has an in-ground pool, and I swam laps and did stretching exercises for my knee while my laundry was in the dryer. My biological father Bruce set up a small fountain in the grassy area alongside the pool, trying to fill in the gap left by a pine tree knocked over in the February and March ice storms.

Other than that, it was a quiet day. I spent the afternoon reading and catching up on my cleaning; the dining room and music room area desperately needed to be vacuumned.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm but not humid. Even so, I turned the air conditioner back on. It's supposed to get into the 90s by the end of the week again. One of my two fans had a hard time starting up when I first brought it out of the storage room and just wouldn't run again tonight, so I put it out in the trash. I bought it the first year I lived in Wildwood, which would have been about five years ago, not a bad run for a reletively cheap fan bought from Eckard's. I'll look for a new one at CVS tomorrow and Wal-Mart on Friday.

Oh, and I'm considering finding another record player. The one I have won't work, no matter how much I try to balance it. It'll work for a minute or two, then go back to being too slow or too fast. The manual is no help at all. It tells you how to fix the CD player and the tape player, but the only thing it tells you to do to fix the record player is turn the screw that is supposed to balance the turntable. The screw doesn't seem to be balancing anything, no matter how much I turn it.

Spring Rain

Not a whole lot going on today, other than I finally got the record player working, at least temporarily. The Debbie Gibson record I ran this morning started problematic, but finally seemed to have settled down. Thank goodness. The record was "Out of the Blue," which I must have worn out in the cassette version the girls and I had in the late 80s. I used to listen to Debbie Gibson and Tiffany cassettes for hours in the little pink cassette player I shared with my sisters.

Work was on-and-off busy, mostly of people trying to avoid today's sometimes-heavy rain. The weather was warm, into the mid-60s, and it looks like it's supposed to stay that way. The rain and yesterday's upper-60s temperatures got rid of the last of what I hope is the final major snowstorm of the year.