Girl On Fire

Started the day with grits and a banana for breakfast and more Backyardigans. The kids traded slinky Mission: Impossible-style spy capers for glamorous James Bond-jet setting stories in the special "International Super Spy." Pablo is Agent Secret, who has a gadget for every occasion and likes his apple juice shaken, not stirred. He's tracking down the three canisters that may become "a recipe for disaster" if they fall into the wrong hands. Namely, the hands of the evil Lady In Pink (Uniqua) and her not-very-evil hench-moose (Tyrone). Master of disguise Austin lends Pablo a paw as he makes his way around the world, dancing and dodging Uniqua and Tyrone.

Work was on-and-off steady, helped by a sunny day and slightly warmer temperatures. I also worked earlier and finished an hour before the evening traffic began. This time, I was able to shut down with no relief and no need for one.

Went right to getting my schedule. It's not as good as next week. In good news, Monday and Saturday off again (I'll be off for Valentine's Day). In not-good news, slightly fewer hours, and though nothing later than 7, next Friday is an unusually-early-for-the-winter 9 AM. Several morning and afternoon people who have vacation time left took it this week.

I didn't really have a huge grocery order. The big one was canola oil. I ran out earlier in the week. I bought Wesson; not the greatest sale at $3.99, but I did need it. Also restocked apples, bananas, grapefruit, crushed pineapple, brown sugar, and dollar-shelf soap. They had 3-packs of chicken drumsticks for $1.99 a pound; I bought two. Found those spring-themed Nestle chocolate chips I was looking for last week in a display on the end of an aisle. The clearance rack had tons of the Acme's organic brand tomato soup. For a dollar, I figured I'd try one.

When I got home, I finished out the Backyardigans, then put on Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have no sooner returned from the Games than they're taken on a Victory Tour of the districts to show off the victors. Effie (Elizabeth Banks) wishes they'd stay on script, but Katniss can't help but notice the rebellion that's growing all around her. Manipulative President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has noticed, too. He doesn't like the hope that Katniss inspires. He first increases punishment of all kinds, then announces a special Hunger Games that will call back past victors. Katniss bonds with kindly old Mags (Lynn Cohen) and tries to make friends with bitter Johanna (Jena Malone). Peeta discovers that there's more to strutting Finnick (Sam Clafin) than meets the eye. This time, the victors are older, and the spoils are greater...but Katniss knows that the real threat is without.

This is another sequel I actually enjoyed even more than the original. The stakes are higher, for one thing. A lot of people are counting on Katniss and Peeta to come through and fall in love. It's not just the two of them. For another, the brewing rebellions add even more to the story. The competitors being much older also adds another level - this isn't kid stuff anymore. (And thankfully, they go easier on the shaky cam during the actual Games.) Once again, this is incredibly intense and violent and isn't recommended for kids. Teens on up, especially if they enjoyed the first installment, will have a lot to discuss and chew over.

Speaking of chew over, I made a tasty meal of Merlin's "Magic" (Baked) Chicken, broccoli with cheese sauce, and fruit cocktail for dinner. I was originally going to have roasted potatoes as well, but I left them in the stove for too long, and they got a tad too roasted.

I Can Help

I overslept and didn't get moving until 10. Ran an episode of the Backyardigans while eating breakfast. Uniqua, Tyrone, and Tasha discover strange tracks and raisins dropped around the yard. Uniqua thinks it's "The Yeti," a strange monster of the Frozen North. Tasha is equally insistent that the Yeti is fictional. Tyrone doesn't know what to think, except they should keep following those tracks. It's really just Pablo being cute and trying to get them all to his igloo so he can get snow on them.

Finally volunteered at Studio LuLoo this afternoon. Studio LuLoo is the closest thing in this area to a community center. They hold events and open mic night for kids and teenagers, after school programs, and some classes for adults. They're between Phillies Phatties and Leo's Yum Yum on West Clinton Avenue, a few blocks down from me. I brought them a bag of paper hearts as a donation. I bought them last year to do something for the apartment, but I decided they were too thin and never did it. I thought they could let the kids make valentines or put them on their windows.

My first job was to tidy up their kids' play area. It's a very small room off to your right as you enter. The place is crammed to the gills with toys of every kind and description, including a Cinderella-themed kitchen set and not one, but two doll houses. (One was a castle and sat on a shelf.) The shelves overflowed with books and containers of toys - baby toys, action figures, ratty Barbies. It really needed to be sorted out, but for the time being, I picked up everything off the floor, got it as neatly as I could on the shelves, put the furniture in the larger doll house, and found some folding fabric containers for toys that didn't have a place.

Spent the rest of my time doing dishes in the industrial-sized sink in the bathroom. From the white and tan gloppy stuff on the plates and knife in the huge tub of dishes, I suspect they may have had a birthday party yesterday or today. I did tell them that they need to be quicker about getting the dishes done after a party, or at least rinsing them off. Not only was the leftover gunk gross, but they don't need to be attracting mice, rats, and other pests.

(I'm going to try to volunteer here every Wednesday or Thursday late morning-early afternoon when I can. I really enjoyed helping them, and do they ever need it! The books need to be organized, the bins are a mess, and things are thrown into any old shelf. I think they could really use my help. I'll see if I can donate more things to them, too.)

Made a quick run to WaWa for lunch after I finished at Studio LuLoo. They were busy, but that wasn't surprising, seeing how it was almost 1 PM. I ended up with a roast beef and provolone hoagie and my favorite Sparkling Ice Cherry Limeade.

Did another Backyardigans episode while I ate lunch. Tyrone, Pablo, and Uniqua are back, this time on a "Secret Mission." They have to bring a strange object to its owner in the museum without getting caught by traps and alarms. This is no easy task, as the kids dodge the perils of falling cages and limbo their way under laser beams. Tyrone just hopes he'll be able to use his Spy Maple Syrup somehow.

Brr! It had been cold and windy earlier, and it was just getting colder as I went to work. I wish I'd stayed home. Work was a pain for a lot of the afternoon. I had a lot of annoying or just plain rude people. I got so flustered over one woman's WIC checks, they had to be refunded. I hope I don't get into trouble for that. (I've been worried about getting into trouble again ever since the suspension in December.) I suddenly got three huge orders in my line 15 minutes before I was supposed to be done. I felt bad that I had to call a manger to finish them.

The Swan and the Bears

Started out a sunny day with the rest of the Care Bears cartoons. One episode in particular stood out to me. "Bully Exposed" brings two kids to Care-A-Lot. Kylie loves to play the ukulele. She's enjoying her time with the Bears...until Madison arrives. Madison bullies Kaylie incessantly, taunting her when she tries to join the Bears' games and breaking her beloved instrument. Madison even goes so far as to threaten Wonderheart, who can't be more than four or five in bear years. It takes Wonderheart filming the threats and a Care Bear Stare to get Madison to reveal why she was behaving so badly.

If only someone could have helped me out like that as a kid. I still spend a lot of time feeling like Kylie. I never know what I do to people. I get scared, and I don't know how to react. If there's one thing I regret, it's that people took 30 years (and several school shootings) to figure out that bullying neither builds character nor is something that should be ignored.

Two more episodes also dealt with variations on dealing with shyness or being different. Harmony, who has been pushing rules at the Bears all day in "Over Bearing," appreciates quiet, polite Peter. That is, until Funshine and Grumpy push sugar at him and tell him that rules don't matter. He ends up running around like a crazy man until Beastly tries to talk him into a prank on Bedtime Bear. Even Peter realizes this goes too far. If Bedtime Bear doesn't get his sleep, he'll be too cranky to help the other bears get theirs!

It's The Baby Bear Who Cried Duck in "Untruth and Consequences." The Bears refuse to listen to Wonderheart's advice on dealing with an exotic baby duck after she makes up obvious fibs to get their attention. They all think that the little girl who just arrives knows what she's doing. They all learn a lesson in telling the truth when, as Peter did, the duck gets too hyper and goes crazy and no one can find Tenderheart to stop it.

Work was busy when I got in and crazy when I left, but pretty quiet for most of the afternoon. It's the middle of the week and the nicest day we've had in months. It was probably as warm as the mid-to-upper 40s, with some wind but not as bad as it's supposed to get. Originally they wanted me to stay an extra half-hour, due to my relief being late. I ended up only being slightly late - they found a college student to go in for me. I would have been fine staying the extra half-hour, but whatever.

I had a nice chat with a former co-worker who is recovering from surgery and her adorable 8-year-old daughter on the way home. It was so nice, we didn't mind standing outside for 20 minutes and talking. They were just coming from the little girl's birthday party.

When I got in, I made Pineapple Spice Cake and watched The Swan Princess. This 1994 animated feature is Swan Lake with a far less tragic ending. Princess Odette and Prince Eric are practically shoved together at birth by their parents, who are hoping to unite their kingdoms. They do finally fall for each other when they're grown, but Eric insults Odette by assuming that all he cares about is her beauty. After her carriage is attacked by the evil Rothbart, she's assumed to be dead by all except for Eric. She's really been turned into a swan. Now, she and her friends Puffin, Speed the Turtle, and Jean-Bob the Frog (who thinks he's a prince) have to convince Eric that this swan is more than it seems...and it'll take a true vow of real love to release her from the spell.

This was a favorite in my family during the mid-90's, due to Odette's strong character, the hilarious supporting cast (gotta love Jean-Bob), and some lush animation. There are at least four direct-to-home-media sequels I haven't bothered with, but you might want to look them up if you really get into this. I how Eric and Odette are set up to be lovers from the start and have known each other all their lives (making this one of the few animated fairy tales prior to Frozen to develop the romance gradually).

Pink and Red Dolls

I spent a sunny, bitterly cold morning changing the dolls. They all get fancier pink or red outfits for Valentine's Day this month. Jessa wears the just-retired modern Sweet Spring Dress that Lauren gave me for Christmas with the pink tights from the Ballet Outfit and the yellow shoes from Kit's Scooter Outfit. Whitney has now claimed Molly's Skating Outfit. Though the blue-and-red sweater is almost as tight on her as it is on Molly, the skirt is actually a little too big! (Unlike Molly, who can barely squeeze into it.) She's going out to the river in Springfield Collection skates. I put Felicity in her Laced Jacket and Petticoat and Samantha in her lovely pink, white, and black Talent Show Dress. (It's so historically accurate, it's based after a real Edwardian girl's dress seen in a museum.) Josefina gets a hand-made pink and mauve floral Empire-waisted dress I picked up for her last year, along with a lace wrap. Molly's in her plaid School Jumper and Blouse.

It took me so long to get the dolls dressed, I had just enough time for a really quick lunch before rushing out to work. Work was on-and-off busy for most of the afternoon, nothing really out of line for early in the month. One of my co-workers asked me to switch hours with him tomorrow - he had an unexpected doctor's appointment - to 11 to 4. Fine by me. I don't mind 2 to 7 either, but this way, I'll be home before dark. I was going to volunteer at the Oaklyn Library tomorrow, but I'll move it to Thursday.

I was looking for some spring-themed chocolate chips I saw a customer buy after work when I found something else equally interesting. There's a big bin of discounted books in the seasonal section. Among them was a hardback young adult novel called What We Found In the Sofa and How It Saved the World. It's creative kids-foil-evil-rich-guy's-plot sounded a little like the 7 Professors of the Far North books Linda gave me a few years ago. I was willing to give it a try...especially after it only rang up a dollar.

I went straight home after I bought the book and into the bath. Ahhhh. That felt so very nice after a long day. I read What We Found In the Sofa and listened to Jazz For When You're Alone. Outside, a stunning flame-orange-and-hot-pink sunset lit up the sky. It was a really lovely hour or so. I seriously didn't want to get out, but I had to eat sometime.

Started the Care Bears DVD while I added broccoli and taco meat to the last of the pasta and bean soup for dinner. Harmony Bear and performing are in the spotlight, as the Bears teach kids about loving music and how to get out and shine. In "Show of Shyness," Harmony Bear and some of the others are appearing in a talent show. Beastly wants to appear too, but his idea of talent is playing pranks on others. Upset that he wasn't invited, he sets out to sabotage the show. Meanwhile, Harmony loses her voice and can't go on. The little girl who is visiting turns out to have a fine singing voice, but she's shy in front of a crowd. She finally turns to Beastly for help in conquering her feat...and discovering both of their hidden talents.

Oh, and my tax return just arrived! The other big thing I want besides at least one online writing course is a new record player. The arm old the old one tends to stick, and it's starting to sound weird. When I split the record player with Lauren about five or six years ago, we had to buy it from a novelty catalog because there seemed to be none in the store. Now, Amazon and Best Buy are bursting at the seams with models both new and retro, and I imagine there's even more out there. It should be a lot easier to find one this time.

The Groundhog's Shadow

I awoke to pouring rain. The snow I mentioned in the last entry changed to rain not long after I finished writing. Almost every bit of last night's snow was gone. There wasn't even any slush, like there was on my trip to Market Place a few weeks ago. It was just gloomy and wet.

Celebrated Groundhog's Day with the Rankin-Bass special Jack Frost. Jack normally loves being able to make winter storms and create frost. He starts to question his immortality when he meets the pretty Elisia and saves her life. He falls in love with her and begs Father Winter to make him human and win her heart. He's not her only suitor, though. The nasty Cossack King and a handsome knight are also in pursuit of her. The Cossack King tries to kidnap her, but Jack gives up his humanity and calls on a huge blizzard to bury his castle. The castle won't stay buried for long if Father Winter gets a certain signal from a certain little groundhog named Pardon-Me-Pete. Jack is determined that Pete will see a shadow and that he'll save the town, whether he can get his girl or not.

(Incidentally, Phil saw his shadow in real-life as well. Considering it's supposed to be cold off-and-on for the rest of the week, I'll believe that six more weeks of winter.)

I went online briefly after the special ended. The rain finally slowed down by 12:30 long enough for me to pack up my huge laundry load and head for the laundromat. It wasn't bad when I arrived and was clearing out when I left, but it did get a little busy around 1. I thankfully had no problems grabbing a washer and a dryer.

When I got in, I put everything away, then went right back out. The rain had stopped completely by this point. It wasn't even that cold, probably in the mid-to-upper 30s. I had a quick lunch at Phillies Phatties next-door to Studio LuLoo's on West Clinton. They were so quiet, the TV wasn't on when I arrived. I'd just finished my mushroom and cheese pizza slices when the kids started coming home from school. One little girl in cozy-looking blue fur and suede boots waited for her parents. Another younger girl seemed to be staying with her brother at the store. He put on the Disney Channel for her. I watched the second half of a hilarious short that had Mickey chasing after Goofy, who was somehow sleepwalking his practice for a marathon, with her before heading out.

I headed across Newton River Park to the library after lunch. Thanks to the gray weather, the park was totally empty except for one man going for a stroll. I didn't even see any bird flocks. The park has an austere beauty in the winter, with its bare trees and crackly tan grass a striking contrast to the white frozen lake.

The Haddon Township Library was very busy with kids coming from school when I finally arrived. I had a lot to do and plenty to shelve. The kids' DVD's still wouldn't all fit where they belonged (those darn Scooby titles...), but I got all but two adult W titles in. There were two huge piles of books-on-CD's to put away. I guess everyone really wanted to listen to books during last week's weather. (And the books-on-CD section is a mess. A quarter of the boxes were in totally the wrong places. I may see if I can give that a closer look next week.)

I did end up taking out some movies this week. They got the newest Care Bears set, Belly Badge Rock, in. I finally have the time for the very long The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. (Might as well catch up with that before the next parts start showing up in the libraries.) Also grabbed American Hustle and one more Esther Williams vehicle, Neptune's Daughter.

By the time I finally made it out of the library, the clouds were breaking up, but the wind was howling and it was far colder. It was almost 5 and starting to get dark, too. I was originally going to run a few more errands in Westmont, but I finally decided cards and a bottle of canola oil weren't worth braving the weather. I rode straight home the same way I came, across the park. That did allow me some glimpses of a lovely orange-and-magenta sunset between the slate-blue clouds.

As soon as I got in, I hit the kitchen. I love chocolate and I love mint, and I still have mint chocolate chips leftover from Christmas. I turned Hershey's low-fat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe into Dark Chocolate Mint Cookies with the addition of the chips and Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, and replacing the vanilla extract with mint extract. (I use no other kind.) Oooh, other than I probably should have added more cocoa, they came out amazing, smooth and chocolaty, with bursts of mint.

Ran Neptune's Daughter while I made the cookies, and later while having leftovers for dinner. This time, they actually found a fairly reasonable excuse for Williams to be in the water - she's a swimwear designer and former swimming champion. Betty Garrett is her sister, who chases a different guy every month. The guy who's caught her eye at the moment is a handsome South American polo player, Jose O'Rourke (Ricardo Montalban.) Betty goes after  him at the stables, where she encounters the team's masseur Jack Sprat (Red Skelton) and, despite his ridiculous attempt at a Spanish accent, thinks he's Jose. This doesn't amuse Williams one bit. She goes on a date with Jose to get him to drop her sister. He genuinely likes her, though, and keeps dating her despite the suspicion of her partner (Keenan Wynn), who thinks he's just another playboy. It all finally winds up with Jack accidentally taking Jose's place on the polo field when he's kidnapped by gangsters and the girls' discovery that, cold or hot, there's a lot more to love and life than making bathing suits.

This is now my favorite Esther Williams vehicle. The gangster subplot is more exciting than her straight-up romantic comedies, and the musical numbers are fun and well-staged in and out of the water. It's probably best-known today for introducing the Oscar-winning, innuendo-laden hit "Baby It's Cold Outside." Montalban has more to do than in On an Island With You and looks wonderfully relaxed in the water with Williams in the finale. Skelton and Garrett are hilarious together; Garrett gets a cute number with Xavier Cugat's orchestra. (Other than one amazing tropical-themed instrumental dance number, Cugat is barely seen.) Also look for Mel Blanc (with what would later become his Speedy Gonzoles voice) as a stable hand buddy of Skelton and Montalban.

If you want to learn what Williams was all about, this is a good place to start. The cast is good, the Frank Loesser score is fun, and there's a lot more going on than just Williams being chased by guys and jumping in the pool. Highly recommended.

Oh, and all that snow we didn't get went north. Lauren got up to a foot from this storm in Pittsfield. She was off work today and, according to her, spent a lot of the evening shoveling snow with her dad.

Football Follies

It was cloudy and a little blah when I got up this morning. I combated the grayness with Gingerbread Pancakes and Lost In Boston IV. I love the Lost In Boston and Unsung Musicals CD series. The first three Lost In Boston albums cover songs cut from famous or hit musicals. The one I listened to today, the fourth and final volume, gives us cut songs from off-Broadway shows ("Bad" and "A Little Dental Music" from Little Shop of Horrors), flops ("A Green and Private World" from the infamous Drat! The Cat), and shows that aren't well-known today ("Noah" from Jamaica, "Hots Michael at the Piano" from Working). My favorite numbers are "Thirty Weeks of Heaven," a hilarious tune on traveling the vaudeville circuit in the early 1900s from By the Beautiful Sea, the bouncy "Marking Time" from Pippin, and three devastating character songs from Ballroom, "Who Gave You Permission?", "Suddenly It's You," and "The Job Application."

Goes without saying that work was a madhouse today. First of all, the Super Bowl was tonight. Second, it's the beginning of the month. A lot of people just got money. Third, we're supposed to be getting bad weather again, although this time the forecasts made it very clear that it'll be rain and a little sleet and snow. This time, there was plenty of help to alleviate the long lines. The college boy who was my relief was right on time, and I was in and out with no problems.

When I got home, I changed, then put the Super Bowl on the radio while making salmon with escarole and mushrooms in lemon-wine sauce for dinner. The Patriots were playing the Seahawks tonight...and frankly, no amount of deflating could make me that excited. Both teams have made the Super Bowl at least once (and in the case of the Patriots, many times) in the last five years. Good thing it ended up being a far more exciting and less lopsided game than last year. No one scored during the first quarter. One team would get a touchdown, then the other would turn around and score points. I was really hoping that the Seahawks would repeat. I'm not terribly fond of the Patriots. Alas, they finally pulled through in the final minutes. The Patriots won the game 28-24.

It was just cloudy and cold but not freezing through most of the evening. It didn't actually start snowing until about 20 minutes or so ago. Once again, it's not coming down heavily, and it's not supposed to stick around. They're saying sleet and snow for tonight, then rain and snow tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

The Road to the Super Bowl

I began a beautiful, sunny morning with a couple of football-related cartoons in honor of the Super Bowl tomorrow. It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown has Peppermint Patty leading the football team in the big homecoming game. Lucy makes sure that Chuck will miss every kick...but his mind is really on escorting the Little Red Haired Girl to the dance later.

Move onto shorts next. The Fleischer Brothers put Popeye into two football shorts in about three years. The first, "You Gotta Be a Football Hero," has Popeye taking over for the quarterback on the team opposing Bluto to impress Olive. "The Football Toucher-Downer" is Popeye's attempt to get Swee'Pea to eat his spinach. He tells the baby about a football game during his childhood that he won using spinach. (Mini Olive is so cute in that short, with her little braids!) Mickey Mouse becomes the world's least-likely Tom Brady in the black-and-white Disney short "Touchdown Mickey." Goofy's an even less-likely Al Michaels!

Headed out to run some errands after Mickey ended. Brrrr! It was cold today, probably not much more than the mid-20s. Blustery wind made it feel much worse. Good thing my first stop wasn't far away. I hadn't seen Dad and Jodie for a while, so I rode up to their place to say "hi," see how they were doing, and ask them if they were having a Super Bowl party. I was a bit surprised to see that they were still in their pajamas and robes! They were babysitting Khai - according to him, his mother had a doctor's appointment. Dana came in later with Helio - Khai got to chase him around. And no, they're not having a Super Bowl party. Dad's not feeling well, and the weather is supposed to be lousy tomorrow night.

The Oaklyn Library was dead as a doornail when I arrived. The cold weather must have scared everyone off. It was just me, the librarian, and CNN the whole time. I organized DVDs for kids and adults and gave the kids' series books a once-over.

Despite the deep freeze, I decided to dodge the traffic and took the back way into Audubon Crossings via Market Street. The back road that goes past a baseball field takes you right to Golden Corral and the America's Best/Pep Boys building. I kept putting off picking up my contacts. They've been available since Wednesday, but either the weather wouldn't be right, or I just wouldn't feel like fighting the traffic back there.

Though I was off of work today, I promised I'd bring in cookies weeks ago. I donated my Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies and helped myself to a free lunch. While not as overwhelming as the Thanksgiving and Christmas luncheons, there was still plenty of food. I had a shredded pork sandwich with a broccoli salad topped with bacon, a really yummy tomato-fresh mozzarella salad, bacon mac & cheese, and deviled eggs. I also saw meatballs in sauce, sausage, roast beef, and meat and fixings for tacos. Had a slice of carrot cake and a slice of chocolate cake and two peanut-butter-cup cookies for dessert. Neither cake was all that great - the carrot cake wasn't sweet enough, and the chocolate cake wasn't all that chocolaty. Since I was there, I bought things I forgot yesterday - toilet paper, D batteries, and cooking spray.

My original plan for today was a long bike ride, but it was too cold to be lingering outdoors. I went straight home after lunch and didn't go anywhere else. Spent the next few hours dusting and washing the windows. I can't believe how bad the dust gets, even after just a few weeks. After that, I put up the Valentine's Day decorations. I have two heart tinsel garlands (one red, one white and red), a pink teddy bear tin, and lots of paper hearts and cardboard and Mylar hearts to hang on doors and tape to walls. Tons of old Valentine's Day cards, too.

Finished out the football programming while I worked. Tiny Toons Adventures gives us "The Acme Bowl." The Toons really want to win against rivals Perfecto Prep, but Plucky's defection to the opposing side may set them up for a fumble. Hello Kitty is "Cinderkitty" in Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater. This little kitty would rather be catching forward passes than prancing in ball gowns. She may get the chance to show what she can do when a little magic allows her to be the heroine of the cheerleading squad and the big game.

The Three Stooges twice found themselves stuck on a playing field without a paddle. "Three Little Pigskins" are thrilled when three lovely mobsters' girls (including a very blond Lucile Ball) show an interest in them. They really think they're college football players who can be persuaded to go pro for the big game. They have "No Census, No Feeling" when they search high and low for people to add to their census lists...even on a football field!

Moved onto making Carrot Muffins and eating leftovers for dinner while watching The Road to El Dorado. Tulio (Kevin Kline) and Miguel (Kenneth Brannagh) are Spanish con artists who find themselves on a boat to the New World after stealing a treasure map to untold riches. The treasure map leads them to the title city, where the natives declare them to be gods. The high priest (Tony Jay) isn't happy to see his position usurped by people who may or may not be divine. They're eventually joined by Chel (Rosie Perez), a sassy native handmaiden who wants out of El Dorado. She may want to leave, but Miguel is beginning to have his doubts. He's come to love El Dorado and its people. He, Chel, and Tulio have to decide if the gold is more important than their new friendships...and their long-standing friendship with each other...when the Spanish conquistadors arrive on the island hoping to find gold.

This is a hilarious gem with a wonderful Elton John song score. (My favorite Elton John song, "Someday Out of the Blue," comes from this movie.) Though Dreamworks tried to aggressively market it to little kids when it debuted in 2000, it's really for older grade school on up - there's some violence, suggestive behavior, and references to human sacrifice. Mom rented this for my brother Keefe when it came out on video, and they both loved it. Keefe went around saying "You da God!" from the ball game for weeks. A highly recommended and very underrated treat.

Finished out the night as I began, with the Peanuts. Chuck sees a girl on TV at a football game for a few seconds in Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown, and instantly falls in love with her. He and Linus literally scour their area from the stadium all the way out in the country to figure out what happened to her.

Weird Wild West

Started off the morning with the rest of The Wizard of Oz and one more cartoon. There's been lots of animated versions, spoofs, and take-offs on Oz over the years. Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater did one of them in the 1980s. Hello Dorothy finds herself over the rainbow and on a quest to find "The Wizard of Paws," who'll send her back to Catfish. She's joined by the Cowardly Rabbit (My Melody), the Tin Penguin (Tuxedo Sam), and the Scarecrow Seal (Chip), all of whom want to make some changes of their own. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witchie (Catnip) is after Hello Dorothy's magic collar and will do anything to get it!

It was flurrying lightly as I rode to work...but even as I dodged traffic and construction on the Black Horse Pike, the sun was trying to come out. The sun would be in and out all day. The howling wind  made everything twice as cold as it otherwise would have felt.

Surprisingly for the weekend before the Super Bowl and the beginning of the month, it was only on-and-off busy at work. The lines did get long, but not unbearable, and we had a lot more help. I think a lot of people did their shopping last week, before the weather forecasts got crazy. As of now, we may be getting a few inches this week, but the real concern is bitter cold and more wind. Thankfully, we were slow when I shut down. I had no relief and no need for one.

Went right in the back to get my schedule after I finished. Actually, I have a very nice schedule, possibly the best I've had since the week of New Year's. Nothing earlier than 10 or later than 7. Monday and Saturday are off again. I'll probably do the same laundry/library chores on Monday. If my tax return shows up by Saturday and the weather behaves, I may make another mall run.

Did my grocery shopping next. I was mainly restocking fruit and meat. Found two-packs of lobster cakes with a manager's coupon on them; bought one for dinner. The sales for chicken weren't great, but I needed them, so I picked up more ground chicken and a pack of chicken drumsticks. Restocked grapefruit, bananas, apples, and powdered sugar. Had a hard time deciding on the Quaker sale cereal I wanted. Picked Honey Graham O's, which I haven't seen since I was a kid. (They turned out to not be part of the sale, but I wanted them anyway.) Bought two mouse traps. I've been seeing mice again. (I need to tell my neighbors about that when I give them the rent.)

When I got home, I put everything away, then changed back into my regular clothes. The Acme is having its annual employee Super Bowl party tomorrow. I'm off, but I wanted to bring the cookies I promised a few weeks ago anyway. There was a sign up on the punch-in clock that promised a 20 dollar gift card to the person who brought in the tastiest dish made with bacon. I remembered that yummy bacon cookie mix I had back in the fall. It's long-gone (and I think it was a Target exclusive), but I thought I could pull it off from scratch. So, the Betty Crocker Stir-and-Drop Sugar Cookies became Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies. I replaced the white sugar with brown sugar, added a little honey for flavoring, and tossed in a bag of real bacon bits I bought on my grocery rounds. They actually came out pretty well, just the right salty-sweet, though a few of the second batch got a little burned.

Ran The Lone Ranger while I baked, and later as I ate the lobster cakes and a spinach salad for dinner. The title character is John Reid (Arnie Hammer), a lawyer who has come out west to help his brother, a Texas ranger, track a nasty outlaw. He's also in love with his brother's wife, but she ended up with his heroic brother...and they have a son. Their town, and the land of the near-by Commanches, is being eyed for railroad expansion by a money-grubbing land boss. It turns out that's not all he has in mind when the Reids and their Ranger party are ambushed. Dan Reid is killed, and John is left for dead. He's found by a wandering misfit native (Johnny Depp) who wants his own revenge on the railroad baron for destroying his village...or does he? His talk of spirits that can never die seems more than a little crazy to John, but he takes his advice, makes a mask out of the shirt of his brother, and becomes the Lone Ranger, fighter for justice and silver mines in a very weird frontier.

Ok, now I understand why this was a monumental flop in the summer of 2013. Johnny Depp made one of the worst-looking Native Americans I have seen in a modern movie (and offended many real ones). The plot was way, way, waayyy too long. A story that should have been a tight 90 minutes or so was dragged out to two and a half hours. Despite being in all the ads, Helena Bonham Carter was in maybe 10 minutes of the finished film. On top of all that, there was pretty heavy violence for a PG-13 movie, including two railroad crashes, a fair amount of blood, and lots of gunplay.

As you can guess, I don't really recommend this one unless you're incredibly bored and looking for a long, lazy weekend rental, or you're a huge fan of Depp. Stick to the radio and TV shows for the real "Lone Ranger."

Riverside Musical Revue

I had early work today. Work was on-and-off busy, not as bad as it probably will be over the weekend, but not horrible, either. We had plenty of help this time, even as most of the managers and baggers were cleaning the front by the registers. My relief was late; a manager came in for me.

When I got home, I did some vacuuming while listening to CD's and records. I had a Barry Manilow kick today. I did Copacabana while I was getting organized. This was a London musical based around one of Manilow's most famous creations. Sweet Lola comes to New York and ends up at the famous nightclub of the title, where she falls for Tony, the club's top male dancer. She's whisked off to Havana by a famous gangster. Tony goes after her with their cowardly boss. Also did some of my 2-disc Manilow's greatest hits LP.

Switched to The Wizard of Oz during dinner. This is the very famous 1939 version. Dorothy (Judy Garland) longs to escape sepia-toned Kansas and the nasty old lady (Margaret Hamilton) who wants to take her beloved dog Toto away. A tornado whisks her over the rainbow, where she encounters a talking, dancing scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a sentimental tin woodsman (Jack Haley), and a funny, very cowardly lion (Bert Lahr) who all want to change their lives. Dorothy just wants to get out of there, so she and her friends go to the Emerald City to meet the title character. The Wicked Witch of the West (Hamilton) dogs them every step of the way. The Wizard seems fearsome, and his orders to eliminate the Wicked Witch seems impossible. Turns out that it's not as impossible as it seems...and the Wizard isn't what he seems, either.

While not my favorite musical, this is still one of the most famous movies of all time, especially for families. Lahr's hilarious lion has always been my favorite part, along with some of the famous music. I probably don't need to recommend this to anyone. If you love musicals, the cast, fantasies, or Oz in general, this is one of the most famous ones of all time.

Winter Cleaning

I got the phone call while I was eating grits and a half of a grapefruit for breakfast. The Acme wanted me to come in early. Sure, why not? I was only cleaning today. I agreed to 1 PM. I didn't think it would be much busier than yesterday, but the extra hour wouldn't hurt.

I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen. Darn it, it looks like there's another mouse loose. I need to tell Richard or Miss Willa as soon as possible. Otherwise, the kitchen wasn't too bad. The top of the refrigerator was dusty, and the top of the stove was grimy, but the sink has been worse.

I listened to Billy Joel CDs for most of the morning. I grew up listening to Billy Joel. My stepfather is from Long Island, just like Joel, and grew up with some of the same experiences. My mom actually saw him perform in clubs and in concert in the 70s. His An Innocent Man, 52nd Street, and The Bridge albums in particular were in heavy rotation in my family for years. "Uptown Girl" is still one of my favorite songs, and I think of my commercial fisherman stepfather whenever I hear "The Downeaster Alexa."

I had leftovers for lunch, then hurried to work. It was a beautiful, sunny day, cold but without the wind that had been such a problem for the last few days. They did have a reason for calling me in - lots of call-outs. We really weren't overwhelmingly busy, but it felt like it because we didn't have nearly enough help. There were long lines all evening, and not enough people to deal with them. We're getting close to the Super Bowl and the beginning of the month, too. Things should be picking up starting this weekend. Thankfully, my relief, one of the college girls, was on time.

Do You Believe Your Eyes, Or Do You Believe the Forecast?

My bed felt so nice and warm this morning. I was afraid to get out of it. I didn't really want to. I knew there would be snow on the ground, and everyone would be freaking out. I read Anne of Green Gables in bed and did my journal, then finally went to look out the window.

There it was. Pure, clean, and white. One inch of snow. Not four inches. Not eight inches. Not a foot, two feet, or three hands and a leg. Barely one inch. And it was melting, even as I gazed outside. Clearly, someone goofed somewhere.

I shrugged, got dressed, and ate grits and a half of a grapefruit for breakfast. I ran the My Little Pony episodes all morning. I was disappointed to note that the Escape From Catrina here wasn't the original version, but the cut-down two-parter from My Little Pony and Friends. It was still nice to see it again, though, even in truncated form. As with the first special, Rescue From Midnight Castle, this is rather dark for 80's girl-oriented animation. Catrina is a nasty witch who uses the fuzzy Bushwoolies as slaves to make her witchweed potion, the source of her powers. When the Bushwoolies revolt, she tries to capture some of the ponies..and then goes after one of the babies wearing the Rainbow of Light and uses her to get to the others.

The other episodes of My Little Pony and Friends included weren't quite as scary as the special or as some of the shows in this series could be at times. The creative "The Revolt of Paradise Estates" has the Ponies' furniture turning on them when they use a magic paint. One of the babies (who comes to adore her baby buggy that can now sing to her) discovers the magician who gave them the paint and what he's after. "Flight to Cloud Castle" has three of the Pegasus ponies helping a young man who wants to rescue his sweetheart, who is under a sleeping spell, from a flying castle that keeps moving.

Ironically, my favorite episodes was a short, and one of only two episodes in this set with no villains. The Baby Ponies discover "A Little Bit of Magic" when Buttons the Unicorn says she'll send a ball rolling over the hill. They each imagine what they'll do with it. One hopes it'll teach her to fly; another wants to bring it to a magical world of games and toys. They eventually realize the ball never came...but they've had fun anyway imagining it. I've done this many times, and I usually enjoy it as much as the ponies do.

I cleaned the bathroom while the cartoons were on. It wasn't quite as bad as after the holidays, but I wanted to get it done while I had time. I don't like putting the bathroom and kitchen in particular off for long. They get disgusting.

Went online briefly to check and see how everyone else was fairing. The answer was...not happily. People were up in arms over a "snow emergency" that never came. Not only did the storm lose force, but most of it wound up hitting the New England coast. Even Lauren didn't get that much snow in Pittsfield (though she got more than we did). Businesses were losing money and kids were wasting a day home from school for no reason. Forecasters from Channel 6 Action News actually apologized for making such bad calls.

I hope everyone learned a good lesson today. This is why you shouldn't buy into hype, especially when you don't have all the facts. Use your own judgement, and don't do something just because the TV or computer said to.

There was even less snow on the ground when I went to work. In fact, other than some ice on the dead end part of Manor, the streets were totally clear. I rode to work normally and actually got in a little earlier than I have been lately.

I could have been indefinitely late. Everyone must have panicked yesterday and Sunday. We picked up slightly during the 4 to 6 rush hour, but were otherwise dead all night. A lot of people were fussing about the government and oh why did people let the Internet/TV tell them what to do? I wouldn't blame the devices - I'd blame the people running them. Otherwise, there were no problems. I spent most of the night standing around. My relief was on time, and I was in and out.

Oh, and I'm off to do my tax return! I got my W-2 today. It usually takes about 20 minutes to an hour to do my return. I have no dependents, own no property, and work one job. We'll see how much I come up with this year.