Fruits (and Doll) Of My Labor

It was so nice to be able to go to the Farm Market today without rushing! I didn't work until 1PM, so I had plenty of time to buy leeks, mushrooms, pears, darling little Mackintosh apples, and ornamental gourds and small pumpkins for my living room. I stopped quickly at the thrift shop to drop off my old Christmas videos, then headed off in search of yard and garage sales.

I only found one yard sale, but it was a corker. There were some nice Christmas ornaments and a wonderful collection of stuffed animals going back to the 80s, but I didn't have much room left by then on the bike. I initially just picked up Lynryd Skyryd and Ray Charles' LPs, but as I was leaving, I happened to turn around and look at the pile of stuffed animals again. I saw a familiar bit of red and pink peeping out from between two battered teddy bears...and remembered. I got quickly off my bike and dove back into the pile, coming up with a little piece of my childhood - the Strawberry Shortcake rag doll! My sister Rose and I had Strawberry Shortcake rag dolls around 1983. I had Strawberry herself; Rose had her more sophisticated buddy Lemon Meringue. Strawberry was dirty and didn't really smell anymore, but she was otherwise intact. I tossed her in the laundry basket when I get home; she'll get a washing machine bath on Tuesday.

I wish work was that pleasant. It was crazy-busy for most of the day, with long lines, cranky customers, and little help. It's Columbus Day Weekend, and a lot of people who haven't gone down to the Shore to close up their summer houses are holding birthday and sports parties (what with the Phillies in the playoffs) or buying food for fall carnivals and get-togethers...or even just enjoying the gorgeous weather.

I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart after work to see if they had the Christmas Classics Collection set. No dice. They were just pulling out a few shelves of Christmas items in the very back. Not only that, but they were just as busy (and as obnoxious) as the Acme. I got out of there as quickly as possible. FYE was better; I did the 2 for $25 WebKinz sale there and bought Lauren her birthday present and me the buffalo I really wanted. (I'm trying not to buy WebKinz unless I REALLY want them or they're not something I'm going to find anywhere else. I suspect I'll end up getting a lot for Christmas this year.) FYE didn't have the collection but were just putting out their holiday videos. I'll go back there when I get paid on Friday.

I stopped at Tu Se Bella Pizzeria near FYE for two slices of pizza and a bottle of water before heading home. My buffalo "scared" a naughty little girl into sitting down with her mommy and aunt. ;)

Oh, and meet Sitting Bull, my big Buffalo! He's really a sweet softy under that heavy hide who loves kids and a good joke as much as the next WebKinz. He's proud of his Western and Indian heretige (he claims the picture of buffalo grazing in the kitchen of his and Rhonda the Deer's Western Fall Condo is a painting of his ancestors). He's Pet #50, and as such, came with an Exclusive Bed. I chose the Monster Under My Bed for Boo's Halloween Room.

Bat-ting A Thousand

It was a gorgeous Indian Summer day when I woke up. Couldn't be a more perfect day in October, with a bright blue sky and a sunny, windless day. I ran to the Acme quickly this morning for my paycheck and to pick up unbleached flour, yogurt, and eggs (the first and last on good sales). I stopped at FYE afterwards to see if they had the new WebKinz and the new Christmas Classic Collection set I'm looking for. They did have the new WebKinz but not the set, so I just headed home after that. I put the yogurt and eggs in the refrigerator, refilled the flour container, and headed out again, this time to the White Horse Pike to hit the bank (and finally pay my rent) and for my dental appointment.

It wasn't nearly as bad as last time. I guess my right upper side isn't as grimy as my left. There weren't nearly as many needles this time, and not as much done. It didn't take as long for the numbness to go away, either. I was in and out in a little over a half-hour.

I went over to 7-11 for a pretzel (just to see how numb my mouth WAS), and waited for Amanda to arrive. Amanda's a good friend of mine from college who lives in Vineland, NJ, about 45 minutes away from Oaklyn. We get together from time to time, usually at Christmas, but sometimes for our birthdays. Amanda's birthday was last week; I gave her my present to her, one of the Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater DVDs. (Amanda loves cats in general and is a huge Hello Kitty fan.) Amanda gave me the cutest gray stuffed sheep from Bath and Body Works.

We took the White Horse Pike down to the Voorhees Town Center. Formerly the Echelon Mall, the Town Center is one of four major malls within driving distance of Oaklyn (and not counting the ones in Center City Philadelphia). (The others are the Moorestown Mall, the Deptford Mall, and the Cherry Hill Mall.) The Town Center is in the midst of a major remodeling project, and while it's left the building cleaner and in better shape than some of the other malls in the area, it also means there isn't as much there as there is in Deptford. This isn't helped by the Town Center being more-or-less in the middle of nowhere, with few other major stores nearby (which is one of the reasons the Echelon Mall was having trouble to begin with) and Amanda wasn't willing to go prowling around looking for more.

We both had Grilled Chicken Sandwiches and Carrot and Raisin Salads and shared Waffle Fries at Chick-Fil-A, then walked around the mall. I bought the WebKinz Bat from Hallmark. She bought a candle from the Candle Scents store (not the one she wanted, Chocolate Cupcake, but Vanilla Cupcake smelled real nice too) and a book from Borders Express, and we both admired the gowns we'd never have a reason to wear at Boscov's.

Figuring we weren't going to find much else, we headed back to my apartment and spent an hour there. Amanda had been to my place in Wildwood, but she's never visited me when I've lived in Oaklyn. I haven't been able to talk her into coming this far up the Pikes. We spent a pleasant hour as I showed off my place and we had chocolate cake and watched Hello Kitty. I'm hoping to talk her back up here for New Year's Eve, now that she knows where I am and that I'm not hard to get to.

Oh, and meet my WebKinz Bat, Boo! Naturally, Boo lives in my first Halloween room. I'm hoping to do at least two more rooms with the Halloween theme (a small pub-type restaurant and a bathroom) before they take it away for the year.

Ready For the Holidays

Today was counseling day. I slept in and browsed around Collingswood for a while before my session. Said "hi" to Erica at the thrift shop and finally found a copy of the Mikhail Barishnikov version of The Nutcracker, which I watched every Christmas when I worked at the Stockton Media Center in college. I've wanted to get it on DVD, but it's mega-expensive.

I wasn't really hungry, so I just had a few cookies, a soda, and half a blueberry muffin at GrooveGround before heading over to Genesis Counseling for my first session in over two months. We mostly discussed my vacation, my frustration with Mom last week, my desire to get my girlfriends to visit me, and my ideas for finding a job. I do want to look into substitute teaching, and maybe volunteering for school libraries. I think it would be a great way for me to get my foot in the door and see if I want to do this...and if it would be worth spending more money on education.

I made a couple of quick stops in the area after my session ended. I went to the Walgreens on Cuthbert Road to see if they had any of the new WCares WebKinz; they didn't, just Black Bears and Cows. I next stopped at the small Dollar Discount Plus store, a small local dollar store next door to the Westmont Acme. They have a wonderful selection of holiday decorations. While I didn't end up getting any decorations there, I did find something even better. They had a table stacked with what looked like the overflow of children's Christmas DVDs from the Acme next-door. In addition to titles from Barney, Bob the Builder, Veggietales, and Dora the Explorer, they had the 60s Rankin Bass specials Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, and the Universal set with Holiday Inn and Going My Way. I had all but Going My Way on video and had been wanting to replace them (and clear out space on my video and DVD shelves) for years. The Little Drummer Boy was a dollar; the others were $2.50 each. I also grabbed a bag for my friend Amanda's birthday present and cards for Amanda and Lauren (whose birthday is in two weeks).

The Haddon Township Library is down the street from the Westmont Plaza, so I went there next for this week's library session. It was quiet in the library, and given it was also fairly late by then, it may have been just as well that there wasn't much to do. I put away the DVDs and organized some of the CDs. I peeked at AC Moore, Super Fresh, Dollar Tree, and Halloween Adventure after I left the library, but only bought a pack of on-sale pens from Super Fresh for work.

It was a great day for running around, too. It started out cloudy and a little cool, but by the time I went in for my counseling session, it was sunny, bright, windless, and 75 degrees.

Balanced Motions

I went to my Yogawood class today. Jill, the usual instructor, was out today. Her replacement was a small blond lady named Victoria, who was excellent but lacked Jill's joie de vive. The class was actually fairly full for a Wendesday, 8 women counting Victoria. I'm doing better with the "tree" balance on one foot, but I still can't do headstands. Victoria said people who can't headstands probably lack practice or confidence. I know I lack both. And I still feel out-of-place, too. Victoria and the other women knew each other from the area, from PTAs, from pediatrician's offices. I have no children. I'm not married, nor am I ever likely to be at this rate. I don't think I'm ever going to fit in here.

I spent the rest of the morning mucking around online. My friend Amanda e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to go to the Voorhees Town Center (formerly the Echelon Mall) on Friday after my dental appointment. I said "sure." I haven't gotten together with her since Christmas.

It was another lovely day here, sunny and slightly warmer during the day, but still chilly at night. (It's so cold at night here, Miss Ellie turned the heat on. They've actually had frost warnings for the past few days.) Work was steady-to-busy, with no major problems. I had no relief and got in and out on time.

Winterizing the Apartment

Just did some chores at home this morning. Pulled out my winter clothes, mostly to see what I needed after getting rid of a lot last year. Not as much as I thought. I mostly need turtlenecks and mock turtles - I only have my green Land's End turtleneck and my red one left. I could use a winter dress, and I would have needed a new winter coat whether I'd lost weight or not. My lighter winter coat is fraying badly at the cuffs and hems; my heavier winter coat has holes and is missing a button. I've had both for over a decade, the heavier coat since high school. Oh, and I need real winter boots.

I also covered the air conditioner and cleaned the filter for the last time this season. I don't think I'll really need it again. Even if it gets warmer, I doubt it'll get above 75. The 90-degree heat wave we had early last October was something of a freak of nature. If it does get warm, I'll just pull out the fan. After I finished there, I went in the back room and organized the scrapbooks, yearbooks, Christmas books, and photo albums that fell off the bamboo shelves I was keeping them on. I won't be able to do that for very long once it gets colder. The back room isn't heated and it can get chilly over there!

It was such a gorgeous day, I went for a quick walk around my neighborhood after work. I stopped briefly at Doria's Deli for ham to buy hot ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner and chatted with one of the owners. He also just pulled out his winter clothes and agrees that we may have a few more random Indian summer days, but it's unlikely we'll get anything over the 70s, especially seeing how it hasn't gotten over 85 since early August.

Work was, thankfully after yesterday, no problem. My relief was late, but he's one of the kids who chronically is (he has a second job that he can't get away from easily) and I was able to get in and out with no problems.

Pipe Dreams

My day went fine...until I got to work, of course. A plumber showed up first thing this morning after my landlady Miss Ellie reported seeing leaks under my shower on Saturday. As it turned out, my shower merely needs to be re-caulked. Miss Ellie's grown nephew, who lives down the street, will probably do it in the next few days.

I spent the rest of the morning doing my laundry, going for a walk, and watching cartoons at Dad's. Dad and Jodie are still on vacation, Uncle Ken and Dolores were out running errands, and Jessa had school. One of my favorite Playhouse Disney cartoons is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a much better way of re-using older characters than the somewhat similar My Friends Tigger and Pooh. In this case, Mickey and the gang hold a carnival at their clubhouse to help Clarabelle Cow (who has traded her trademark long skirt for a yellow hair bow and wide-legged trousers) gather enough corn to feed the new chickens at her petting zoo. The fun-park setting allows us to see other classic Disney characters who only turn up from time to time, along with Clarabelle. Chip and Dale toss bean bags to dunk Donald in the Dunk the Duck tank (of course). Big Pete runs a Guess-His-Weight game. (Hint: he's not QUITE as big as an elephant.) Professor Ludwig Von Drake is in charge of the hot dog stand, and Willie the Giant of Mickey and the Beanstalk fame is his best customer.

The Backyardigans had an even more exciting adventure. Tyrone played mythical sailor Sinbad, who sails the seven seas all alone and makes amazing discoveries. Ever-eager Pablo, however, is determined to join his buddy. Tyrone's not as happy to have him around, especially when his attempts to be an able-bodied sailor wind up losing their water and food...and lands them in some odd games of Simon Says and Freeze tag with Uniqua the Siren and Medusa Tasha respectively!

I went on a lovely walk between shows. Other than being on-and-off cloudy, it was a perfect fall day, in the upper 60s and breezy. The leaves are on the verge of turning colors here. Some are a little red-and-yellow around the tops. Others are still full green. Mums grace every garden, and most homes who don't go the garden route have anything from banners with pumpkins on them to elaborate Halloween displays with huge ghost and goblin statues and massive orange pumpkins.

I wish work were as pleasant. Lots of cranky people today, especially around the 4PM rush hour. One older woman threw a fit when she said she gave me a coupon and I told her I hadn't seen it. I really hadn't. She'd dropped her coupons in an untidy, wrinkled heap on the register. I had to dig around to find coupons that pertained to her order, and the one she was angry about wasn't among them. She didn't pull it out until after the order went through; the bagger confirmed this. She could have taken it up to customer service. People miss coupons all the time. Another woman got mad when her order didn't come out exactly as she'd counted. Sorry, but I'm not the one who prices these items! It's not my fault when they don't come up right.

I finally got a hold of Mom when I got home and ate dinner. I almost wish I hadn't. We ended up arguing over the economy and the Acme and my not saving money. I'd save money if I had any to save. I know the economy's bad, but I don't think it'll hurt the Acme. People still need food, and the only large (business-killing) Wal-Mart in this area is in Deptford 30 minutes away. Mom thinks every single business in the whole universe is in jeopardy just because some of them have shut down in Cape May County. Of COURSE they shut down in Cape May County. There aren't enough people down there year-round to keep them open! (That was one of the big reasons I moved.)

Indian Summer

What an absolutely gorgeous fall day! Warm and windless, with a brilliant gold sun against a bright blue sky. I spent most of the morning asleep after a late night online with Lauren and my WENN chat friends. The Beatles show was highlighting their early songs from 1964; I prefer their later music, so I switched to Unsung Musicals CDs as I ate Chocolate Chip Pancakes with honey for breakfast.

Work was steady to busy, with no major problems, not even scheduling snafus. I was in and out on time and went straight home after finishing my shift. I was hoping to catch the family before they left after the Eagles game was over. Uncle Ken, Dolores, Karen, and her 2-year-old son CJ were still there, but Jim had just taken their daughter Taylere to catch a train to Rutgers, Samantha and her family were on their way out, Jessa was at a friend's house, and Dad and Jodie were on vacation. I did get to have a hoagie and some cole slaw and chat with Karen and Dolores (and tell Dolores I intend to do my laundry tomorrow morning) and watch CJ run around on his new foot-powered bike.

And the Eagles lost to the Washington Redskins after being ahead for most of the game. The Phillies, on the other hand, advanced to the National League Championships after beating the Milwaulkee Brewers.

Harvest Time

Even with going into work early today, I still had time to hit the Farm Market beforehand and even check out a few yard sales. I picked up honey, Asian eggplants, a tomato, pears, lovely little apples, celery, carrots, and a green pepper from the Farm Market. There wasn't anything interesting at any of the yard sales on the way home from the Farm Market, but I did find two adorable Pooh Bear and Eeyore Beanie-style stuffed animals at a yard sale on my way to work. They're made with pre-faded, chenille-style fabric and embroidered eyes that give them a sweet, old-fashioned look.

Work was busy today. There were no major problems other than we're still short on help thanks to that lousy schedule. I was out a little late, and after picking up Multi-Grain Cheerios, two discounted bags of Chocolate Chex Mix (yum!), and fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth, I headed home. Thank goodness the weather behaved this time. The wind was gone, and while a few clouds moved in this morning while I was picking my produce, by the time I got out of work, it was sunny and somewhat warmer than it has been (though nothing near as bad as it was this time last year, when it was in the upper 80s).

I spent the rest of the afternoon putting up my many Halloween decorations. I have more than you might think for someone who isn't that big of a fan of Halloween. It's mostly just stuffed toys, cardboard posters, and little items I've picked up over the years, some since college.

Sugar and Spice and Work's Not Nice

Once again, with this my only day off, I spent the morning running errands. I picked up my paycheck and a few items at the Acme, then made a brief stop to FYE to see if they had the new WebKinz (they had the Hummingbird and the Triggerfish, but not the Buffalo). When they didn't, I headed across the parking lot to America's Best for my contacts, then next door to Audubon's post office for stamps. I wanted to look for the new WCares WebKinz for Lauren, so I next went to the Walgreens on the Black Horse Pike, making a brief stop at the PNC Bank to deposit my paycheck. No new WCares Lil'Kinz there yet. All I saw were the same old Black Bears, St. Bernards, and Pandas. I did get some more saline solution for my contacts there.

I got a call from work shortly after arriving at home and having lunch. Janice, one of the head front end managers, wanted to know if I could come in early tomorrow...from 7 to 4! Uh, no. I want to go to the farm market tomorrow, and 7 is pushing it anyway. I finally agreed to 10 to 4. I need the hours badly, but I'm getting a little tired of this calling in stuff. Why don't they teach managers how to make schedules, so they don't screw up or panic so badly when the ones who normally do it go on vacation, take family or sick leave, or are otherwise unavailable?

The rest of the day was passed at home, baking and dusting (the latter finishes the cleaning for this month). I made my first loaf of French bread. I didn't get it into the right shape, but it smelled and tastes lovely. My gingerbread came out well, too, nice and soft and spicy. I made a garlic-chicken stir fry for dinner when I took too long working on editing the Monkees role-play and needed a quicker dish than the one I'd originally planned.

The Time of the Season For Cleaning

Continued my monthly cleaning today. Washed the windows, dusted the sills and the blinds, and vacuumed the living room and my bedroom. I also got a bit of a surprise when I opened the door this morning and received a blast of cool air. It barely got into the 60s here today, which was fine by me. It's not like it's been really hot here since mid-August anyway. We had on-and-off clouds, but no rain.

Work was steady-to-busy tonight, which wouldn't have been a problem if we weren't still short on help. Janice actually tried to get me to come into work tomorrow. Oh, I am going to go to the Acme tomorrow...for my paycheck and groceries. I want at least ONE day off this week!

And maybe they'll have the stupid computers fixed by then. My register froze on me less than ten minutes before I was supposed to leave. I had enough stray change sitting out that I was able to give the woman whose order had just finished hers, but the other two people in my line had to go elsewhere. I hate it when that happens. I end up feeling so stupid, even though it's not anyone's fault but the computer system.

Fall Cleaning

It's cleaning week here at the Riverside Rest. I wanted to get started last week, but I kept getting called into work. I was finally able to get enough time in at home to do the bathroom (which badly needed it) and the kitchen. The weather started the same as yesterday - sun in the morning, but cloudy by the time I left for work.

Unlike yesterday, we just got rain, no noisy thunder. It was raining lightly when I got out of work and looked like it hadn't been doing it for very long. Work was a bit of a pain today, but it's the beginning of the month, which brings a lot of obnoxious people out of the woodwork. We were overrun with people with carts filled with sale and dollar items and stacks and stacks of coupons for every single item in the cart...and they always come back for more, if not right away, later in the day. I know as well as the store does that they're buying things for chop shops and stores in Camden and Philadelphia that resell these items illegally. I wish they'd crack down on this. Not only is it aiding and abetting criminal activity, but it holds up the line and takes inventory away from people who are buying things legitimately for their families and really need them. If they can't buy the things they need for their stores from warehouses like normal people, they should not be in business.