The Grass Is Always Greener

Began the day with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It's "Boys Night Out" when Bow, Swift Wing, and Sea Hawk are feeling neglected by their ladies and head to a local tavern for some fun. That "fun" ends with them kidnapped by first pirates, then the Horde, and Mermista, Adora, and Glimmer having to rescue them. Mermista's feeling better after having saved her boyfriend, but Bow isn't as happy that Adora and Glimmer are still on the outs. Meanwhile, Catra also learns a lesson about friendship when she finds Scorpia gone and realizes it's no fun doing a villain monologue when no one's there to hear it.

Called Uber after the episode ended. Unfortunately, there were few cars out at quarter of 9, for some reason. I couldn't get one for almost 20 minutes and ended up being 15 minutes late. Not a good thing, as it got busy later on. I have no idea why we were busy. All of the holidays are on the weekend, and we're not supposed to get any kind of bad weather until next week. The weather was even decent, windy and cloudy but nowhere near as chilly as it has been, probably in the mid-upper 30's. In fact, I had so many carts to do I was almost late getting out.

Grabbed frosting and cupcake papers to make Valentine's cupcakes sometime this weekend, then headed out. Had lunch at Tu Se Bella's. They were totally quiet other than a boring court show when I sat down with a slice of ham-pineapple, a slice of mushroom, and a Diet Pepsi. Both were yummy, as always. I love Hawaiian pizza.

Instead of returning to the Acme, I headed across the street to Goodwill to browse and see if I could find some Valentine's Day gifts for myself. I hit the jackpot with records. Someone donated pristine copies of classic jazz albums and a more recent jazz LP. Found a fairly rare cast album and an old-time radio show, too: 

The original cast album for the 1981 Lauren Bacall Woman of the Year musical

Two episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly (The LP was still in its original plastic!)

The Bill Evans Trio - Explorations

Jon Batiste - We Are (This was a surprise. This came out in 2021. I rarely find recent records at thrift shops. I think Explorations is a recent reprint, too. I also saw pristine reprints of Kind of Blue and Mingus Ah Un, but I have those on CD.) 

Went next-door to Five Below after I bought the records. I was there for a Rice Krispies bar to eat with the kids at snack time, but I also found a Care Bears Valentine's Day Squishmallow I couldn't resist. I never heard of the all-red All My Heart Bear before today. Online research revealed that he was originally a Target-exclusive Valentine's Day bear in the 2000's who is still used for Valentine's Day toys and online game extensions by the franchise. I wasn't originally going to buy him, but after I called Uber and had 12 minutes to kill, I went back and got him.

I'm rather glad I did. I showed him to the kids when I got to the Thomas Sharp School (right on time), and they loved him. They all wanted to give him hugs and pet his soft fur. Two of the girls even gave him kisses. Though I had 10 kids at my table, they were generally pretty good. No trouble cleaning up this time, and though they were a bit rowdy at the bathrooms, I at least got them in and out with a minimum of fuss.

We got them to the library a little earlier this time. By and large, things went a bit better than yesterday. First of all, no coloring. We're out of any kind of regular coloring paper, and the kids are too inclined towards ripping the rolled paper we tape on the tables after they get bored stenciling on them. Second, the head teacher was out sick, and she has the dance music, so no dance parties, either. We played calming instrumental music on the big speaker instead. I read books to the kids and admired their magnetic tile towers and space stations. 

Two of the older boys still threw fits. One got angry when I told him to share the building blocks with the younger kids. The other just ran around, threw himself on the floor, and wouldn't do what he was told. The first ended up going back to the cafeteria. The second got into trouble with several teachers, including the head of the company who was in for the head teacher today. He behaved slightly better when we moved the remaining six kids to the cafeteria right before I left.

When I got home, I went straight into Match Game Syndicated. They're on the week in 1980 where all of the panelists but Brett either were currently game show hosts (Dick Martin, Peter Marshall, Bill Cullen) or would be in the future (Betty White, Elaine Joyce). Elaine got to prove she's a lot smarter than she lets on with a big $10,000 Head-to-Head.

Finished the night with Remember WENN. Everyone at the station agrees to a "Work Shift" after Mr. Eldridge's mix-up with the scripts leaves the entire staff feeling frustrated. Smarmy inspirational guru Arden Sage (Greg Germann) claims he has the answer - they should "walk a mile in each other's shoes" and switch jobs for the day. That works about as well as can be expected. Eugenia is too nice to sell time to sponsors, Maple can't type well enough to write shows, Betty can only play "Chopsticks," and Hilary absolutely cannot handle the switchboard. They learn a lesson all right when it turns out Sage's "money" is more hot air than cold cash. (If nothing else, this episode does end the running gag about what Mr. Eldridge does at the station. He's the go-fer, the one who fetches the coffee and runs all the errands no one else has the time or inclination to do.)

Betty tells Maple and Scott about her first day at the station in "Past Tense, Future Imperfect." Victor's habitual "grandeloquence" and his long words just mixes her up and makes her think he's coming on to her. She tells Mackie...and before you know it, the entire station is convinced that Betty is a loose woman. Victor finally explains why he hired her - because she may lack polish, but he appreciates her energy and her ability to come up with ideas on a dime.

Wild and Crazy Kids

Got a quick start today with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. "Mer-Mysteries" begins as a spoof of film noir when the Rebellion return to Bright Moon from a failed attempt to retake one of their previous strongholds. Mermista comes to the conclusion that there must be a spy in their midst, which leads to accusations flying wildly all over Bright Moon and clues being found in black and white. As it turns out, Mermista is right. There is a spy at Bright Moon...but it turns out to be a distraction when Double Trouble reveals that Mermista's kingdom is in grave danger.

Dusted the rooms, filled a bag with clothes I didn't want, and got the Valentine's Day cards together while watching Scott Joplin. I go further into this 1977 biography with Billy Dee Williams as the "King of Ragtime" at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Cult Flops - Scott Joplin

Headed out to have lunch and run errands on the White Horse Pike after the movie ended, starting with dropping all the cards in the mail box. Thank heavens it wasn't freezing anymore. It was cloudy, windless, and in the 40's, perfectly normal mid-February weather. I don't know why I thought the clothes donation bin was behind the Family Dollar. It's behind Dollar General. Since I was down that way, I had a quick lunch at Dunkin' Donuts to finish that gift card one of the kids gave me for Christmas. The turkey sausage and egg sandwich and mini-hash browns weren't bad, and the brownie batter donut was a bit dry, and the "brownie batter" thin and messy. The hot chocolate was really sweet and creamy, though.

I went home to take out the trash and wait for Uber. No trouble there today. The driver to work didn't even take four minutes to arrive. The one going home took 10 during rush hour. No traffic, no trouble getting there.

The kids were a lot wilder. If they weren't battling colds and sniffling, they were battling cabin fever. I don't think any of them have been outside to play since the middle of last month. Two of the littlest girls got so crazy after lunch, throwing rubber food everywhere and running all over, they were kept in the cafeteria instead of joining the rest of us in the library. Two older boys were even worse in the library, arguing, yelling, pointing fingers, breaking magnetic tiles, and building too-tall skyscrapers and letting them fall and make a mess. Two more girls ripped the paper one of the teachers taped to a table for stenciling so badly, we finally gave up, removed the paper, and gave everyone regular sheets of paper to color on instead. At least we managed to get them together enough to help clean up and get everything back to the cafeteria before I left.

On the other hand, I had 10 kids at my table, and they did clean up quickly when we went to the bathroom early. They were a little crazy in the bathrooms, but I got them back with no trouble. Two of the girls even gave me (or my arms) a big hug. 

I read inside for a little while when I got home, then went out to dinner with Jessa around quarter after 6. We ate at the Philly Diner in Runnemede. This is the huge chrome diner and sports bar with the massive panels on top that the bus passes on the way to the Deptford Mall. Their food was pretty tasty, too. Jessa had a gyro. I had a crab cake sandwich. We both had fries, cole slaw, pickles, and chicken orzo soup. My sandwich was so gigantic, half the crab cake ended up on the plate, but it was really tasty. The coconut cake I had for dessert was even better.

Since we were in Runnemede, Jess drove us to the shopping center next to the Acme. She wanted to show me a store that sold closeouts and overstocks, but it was closed by 7:30. We ended up a few doors down at Dollar Tree instead. I just got a birthday card for Jess, freeze-dried strawberries for a recipe I wanted to make later this week, and a Zootopia bag. Jessa got notebooks and cards. 

Finished the night after a shower with the third CDs from two of my favorite series. Unsung Musicals covers shows that closed on the road or had such short runs on Broadway they were never recorded. On the third volume, the second is represented by two lovely songs from short-lived musical versions of popular plays and books, "Reveille Sun" from Here's Where I Belong (musical East of Eden) and "Simple Words" from Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen (musical Teahouse of the August Moon). We also have "Nothing To Do With Love" from a show called Personals that definitely sounds like it was written by the creators of Friends, the hilarious teen lament "At the Same Time" that was from the first attempt at a musical Freaky Friday, and two songs from a musical version of It's a Wonderful Life that has yet to play Broadway, its title number and "In a State." 

Lost In Boston gives us numbers cut from hit shows, or ones that at least made it to Broadway. The third album kicks off in high style with one of my favorite cut numbers, the hilarious "Mama's Talkin' Soft" from Gypsy. There's also another funny teen lament, "You Don't Have to Kiss Me Good Night" from The Music Man, the touching soliloquy "Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10" from Sweet Charity, "Travelin' Light" from Guys and Dolls, and two dropped songs from the troubled Seesaw, "Big Fat Heart" and "Pick Up the Pieces."

Kids and Harts

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "It's Love Day!" and Daniel is excited to show he cares by giving hearts to all his friends. He can't figure out who gave him the heart with the boat on it, though. Grandpere is there for "Daniel's Love Day Surprise." Daniel is excited to help his mom make a heart-shaped pizza and hide hearts for Grandpere to find. He gets a bit upset when his little sister Margaret finds a heart first, but Grandpere reminds him that it's her way of loving.

I decided my knee felt up to a short walk to Dollar General after breakfast. I needed laundry detergent and Valentine's Day cards. It was almost noon by the time I got there, and they were pretty busy. I dodged a lot of people as I grabbed cards, Fresca, the smaller yellow Tide liquid, and a new flavor of hydration mix, Arctic Cherry. It wasn't a bad day for a walk, either. Though it remains cold, probably in the mid-upper 20's, it's still warmer than it was yesterday. The wind's down to a slightly chilly breeze, too, and the sun shown in a pale blue sky.

Put on Hart to Hart while looking up condos for sale listings in Cherry Hill and seeing what neighborhoods they're in. Jennifer is surprised when someone destroys the chocolate hearts she bought for her charity committee members. Turns out, the chocolate shop where she bought them is a front for a smuggling operation. The owners are willing to commit "The Hart-Shaped Murder" to find that heart and keep Jennifer and Jonathan from figuring out what they're up to.

Switched to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power during lunch. "Princess Scorpia" learns a tough lesson in friendship when Catra demands that she find Entraptra's notes for her work with Hordak. Turns out they're in Entraptra's favorite robot Emily, whom Scorpia has been taking care of. She's been trying and trying to make Catra see her as a friend...but it's Emily who reminds her what a real friend behaves like. Meanwhile, Flutterina is working hard to drive a wedge between Adora and Glimmer, who have their own ways of doing what's right for Eternia.

Called Uber around 2:25...and to my surprise, I got a ride home in 4 minutes. Got one going home in 6 minutes. No problems either way. Both turned up on time, and there was no traffic. In fact, I got in a little early and went for a short walk down Comley before I headed for the Thomas Sharp School.

The kids weren't that bad, either. My group did have some trouble cleaning up the Duplos before we went to the bathroom. Once I got them there, they were fine. We also had to wait a little longer than usual to get in the library after snack time. The school band was meeting there. I read The Gingerbread Man and Positively Purple (the latter about a polar bear whose medicine turns her purple and is reassured by her fellow animal friends that she looks great) to the kids looking at books and coloring. Once we did get in the library, I joined the kids who were coloring, while the others danced or built with magnetic tiles. They were fascinated with my artwork of Jeff, Scott, Victor, and Mr. Foley from Once Upon a Time In the Land of WENN. We'd only just moved the kids back to the cafeteria when I headed out.

Watched Match Game Syndicated when I got home and had dinner. Jokes about height abounded the week towering gentle giant Richard Kiel, best known today as Jaws from the James Bond movies, sat in the male ingenue seat and diminutive singer-songwriter Paul Williams was in the fifth "smart guy" seat. It's a shame Kiel never returned. Cracks about his height aside, he seemed to enjoy himself, and he played really well.

Put on Remember WENN after I took the laundry downstairs to the washing machine. Scott wants to put on "The Follies of WENN" after an old buddy of his offers them $1,000 to stage a burlesque show on Sunday. Maple is more than happy to show the ladies how to bump and grind. Trouble is, she and Betty are trying to get nicer apartments in their women's boarding house, which is run by staid people who approve of neither show business nor burlesque. It looks like Betty may lose her home and Maple her chance to get one, until a certain Mr. Hardy (Mickey Rooney) not only approves of the show, but claims he might get it on Broadway.

Self-important awards shows and annoying hosts get skewered in "Pratfall." WENN is nominated for 16 Golden Lobes, Pittsburgh's radio award. Eugenia tries for truth in advertising and to actually exercise for her nominated aerobics show, while Jeff and Scott compete with each other for the same role when they're both nominated for Young Doctor Talbot. Meanwhile, Hilary discovers someone at the station is on the committee to nominate an actor for the overall excellence award. 

Finished the night after I brought the laundry upstairs with dating and romance-based game shows. Probably the most famous of these is The Dating Game. Three bachelors are questioned behind a screen by a young lady looking for a date. She takes out the one whose answers she liked best. Many actors turned up on this show prior to or just as they were becoming famous. Burt Reynolds is one of the bachelors in the first half of the episode seen here. Three handsome military cadets are the prospective dates in the second.

Tattletales throws the focus on the famous folk as it lets celebrity couples match stories about their love lives. While most of the 70's run and a good chunk of the early 80's run has turned up, only two episodes of the short-lived syndicated version from 1977-1978 are currently online. This episode from 1977 is one of the two surviving syndicated shows.

Relationship shows go back way further than even The Dating Game. Do You Trust Your Wife from 1956 has two of the most unlikely game show hosts ever. Edgar Bergen and his dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd ask married couples with unique stories four questions. The husband can answer himself, or trust his wife to help out. The first couple had traveled around the US without spending a dime. The second was comedian Joe E. Brown and his long-time wife. Honestly, hearing Brown talk about his genuinely fascinating life in vaudeville and burlesque and seeing his real affection for his wife was more interesting than the actual game play.

Perfect Match from 1986 is a lot less interesting. This is basically a cross between Match Game, Jeopardy, and The Newywed Game. Couples bet on how well they can answer saucy fill-in-the-blank questions. Other than giving Bob Goen his start, this really isn't all that exciting or different.

The Big Date from 1996 at least tries something slightly different and more complicated with the dating game format. One man or woman chooses between three members of the opposite sex to go out on a date with. Host Mark L. Walberg asks them questions and see if they can match. It takes two matches to become a couple. Along the way, the contestant could change their choice with someone seen behind a screen. When they have two couples, Walburg would ask "me or not me" questions to see if they were compatible. The bonus round had Walburg asking the winners true/false questions. If they answer four correctly, they're eligible for a sweepstakes to win a trip to Jamaica. I can see why this lasted a little over a year on USA. The whole thing is way too complicated and hard to follow.

Blind Date from the early 2000's actually shows us the dates. Cameras follow a couple on a blind date and see how it went, and if they think it worked out. "Commentary" on the date pops up on the screen during the episode. I thought this seemed a bit smarmy, but it was a 7-year hit on syndication that would later make a brief return on Bravo in 2019. 

Make a love match and find out more about dating in the late 20th and early 21st century with these romantic shows!

Do You Trust Your Wife? (1956)

The Dating Game (1967)

Tattletales Syndicated (1977)

Perfect Match (1986)

The Big Date (1996)

Blind Date (2003)

Big Game Matches

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and Jazz at the Olympics. The Ralph Sutton Quartet recorded this album for the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California. Most of the songs are winter-related standards like "Winter Wonderland," "Let It Snow," "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," and "Winter Weather," but we do get two originals from Sutton that end each side of the album, "Hot Buttered Rum" and "Squaw Valley Blues."

Called Uber soon as I finished breakfast. Thankfully, no trouble there, though it did take me a while to get rides both times. It took me almost 15 minutes at quarter of 11 and 11 minutes at 3 PM to get Uber drivers. Thankfully, I called early enough that I got to work just in time. No traffic or trouble either way.

Work was a mess today, though not to the degree that it was on Super Bowl day last year. For one thing, the Eagles barely made the playoffs this year. The Seahawks and the Patriots were playing. For another, it was literally freezing. I don't think it hit the 20's, and that blustery wind just made it feel even colder. I would go outside and push carts for 20 minutes, then go inside and use the bathroom or wander around when it got too cold to be out there. Thankfully, the Sunday morning bagger was there to help out and take the inside chores. Another guy took over for him when he left, and they recruited still another college student to help me with the carts when they started to vanish.

With two younger guys pushing carts, I spent the last half-hour of my shift inside, putting away the few loose items around. I found a broken jar of onion dip on a shelf near the pharmacy and tried to clean it up, but I didn't realize how badly the jar was broken, and the dip went everywhere. It took me forever to figure out how to clean up that mess!

When I got home, I changed, finished Jazz at the Olympics, and spent the rest of the night watching the Match Game marathon. There were so many football-related questions on the show, this one started at 2 PM! Football was at its height of popularity on the networks when Match Game ran. If questions didn't joke about forward passes, husbands who were so obsessed with watching games that they'd call terminology even while doing other things, and just what players do when they're in a huddle, they were making fun of then-popular sportscaster Howard Cossell. Cossell, his toupee, and his big mouth were famous in the 70's and 80's when he was one of the announcers for Monday Night Football. As several panelists pointed out over the years, if you were stuck for an answer, you could write down chest areas, relieving oneself, or Howard Cossell. 

Two real-life football players turned up as panelists. Big, sweet Rosey Greer was on first, in April 1974. Alex Karras appeared over a year later in September 1975. Despite Karras not being much of a player and seeming bored for most of the week, he turned up on two memorable episodes anyway, when all the panelists changed seats, and when the winning contestant was woman wrestler Lola Kiss, "the kiss of death." 

Celebrate the Super Bowl with these touchdown-worthy questions on this extra-long marathon featuring two gridiron greats of the 1970's! 

Match Game Sunday Classics - Super Bowl Sunday Football Edition

Oh, and I didn't watch the game this year, due to it being on Peacock (and my not having that streaming service or NBC), but I did check the score. It was even more lopsided and less interesting than last year's game. The Patriots apparently got steamrolled by the on-fire Seahawks 29-13. 

Olympic Winds

The wind woke me up around 8:30 AM. It was fierce, shaking the pine trees outside and rattling the house to its core. My knee was still pretty sore, too. Between the wind, the extreme cold, my knee, and the snow on the street, there was no way I was going to work. I rang up the Acme and called out, then went back to sleep.

The wind continued to blow hard when I did finally roll out of bed. It must have blown the snow off the street, because Johnson was clear by noon. I hurried downstairs to move the recycling canister closer to the house and empty that...and it was so biting cold, that was the only time I even remotely went outside today.

Warmed up while eating breakfast and watching She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Three members of the Horde, Kyle, Lonnie, and lizard kid Rogelio, have been sent to pick up supplies by Catra. When their transport is damaged by an acid spore shower, they have to breach "Protocol" and figure out who should be the one to repair it. The same spore shower has also damaged Light Hope and the Crystal Castle while Adora is training there. Light Hope is far sweeter when she's rebooting, showing Adora how much she cared about the previous She-Ra, Mara, before Mara went rogue.

Switched to winter and winter-sports themed specials next. I go further into Frosty's Winter Wonderland, the sequel to the original Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman, at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Animation Celebration Saturday - Frosty's Winter Wonderland

Did the winter sports-themed specials next in honor of the Winter Olympics, which began yesterday. Peppermint Patty is hoping to become the next figure skating diva in She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. Snoopy is her relentless manager. Peppermint Patty has to fight local hockey players to get ice time and is convinced Marcie will make her a costume. Marcie can't sew, and Snoopy ends up doing that, too. We learn what Snoopy can't do when the tape for her music gets tangled, and Woodstock ends up bailing her out.

The Pink Panther is off to Lake Placid for the Olym-Pinks in this 1980 special. He's the star of the ski team, to the frustration and resentment of his long-nosed rival with the mustache. His rival constantly attempts to one-up Pink and only ends up with a cold and second place for his troubles. Meanwhile, Pink has his own problems dodging a piano that is determined to follow him everywhere, even onto a live wire.

Put up the Valentine's Day decorations as well as I could with my knee next. I put off putting them up because of my knee, but I really wanted to get them up before the actual holiday. I have two thick red and white tinsel garlands, one of which went in front of the TV on the media center. There were also two heart-shaped candy boxes that were too pretty to throw away, a pink bear-shaped tin, two vintage cut-outs from the 70's and 80's depicting a bear holding a heart and a Holly Hobbie-type pioneer girl whose puppy is giving her kittens, a giant cut-out cardboard heart, and three stuffed animals. Valentina the Love Penguin and Amoura the Love Frog are leftover from the WebKinz fad of the 2000's and early 2010's. Valentino is a Valentine's Beanie Bear. 

Switched to Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle at YouTube next. Drawing the WENN superhero artwork with the kids got me thinking of my ideas for my (hopefully) upcoming WENN superhero story Captain Victor, Man of Power. This three-part PBS documentary covers the origins of superheroes during the Great Depression, how they flourished during World War II, then vanished in the 50's once the threat was over and all comics became suspect to high-minded intellectuals. They made a comeback in the pop-art 60's when the Batman TV show became a sensation, and superhero comics began to embrace stronger themes and more diverse characters.

Finished the night at YouTube with the Match Game marathon. Match Game is also celebrating sports this weekend with the first of two sports-themed marathons. This one revolves around questions on Olympic sports like skating, track and field, and gymnastics. The vast majority of these questions occurred in 1976, when the Montreal Olympics were running, or in 1980 during the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. There were jokes about what Pinocchio used his nose for, about a warden who lamented that he shouldn't have let his prisoners do Olympic sports that involved jumping over walls, and involving the things gymnasts do. We heard sports questions during the week in late 1975 where Richard Dawson's then-girlfriend Jodie Donovan appeared, when Fannie sat in for Brett during the last week of 1977, when Brett Somers came in wearing a West Hollywood Olympics shirt, prompting jokes from her best female friend Marcia Wallace about what she actually won at said Olympics.

Celebrate the Winter Olympics with this hilarious Wide World of Game Show Sports!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Olympics Games Marathon

Before the Snow Came

Began the morning with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Adora wishes the Rebellion felt a "Pulse." The keep attacking empty transports. After Bow is hurt by a new, more powerful robot, Adora takes Spinerella and Netossa to destroy it. Frustrated at being left behind, Glimmer takes her magic out to help. Adora isn't happy that Shadow Weaver is teaching her magic...but Catra and Double Trouble are thrilled with their unraveling friendship.

Called Uber right after breakfast. I had trouble with them for most of the day. They took 10 minutes arriving this morning, and I was almost late to work. They took 17 minutes to get to the Acme at 2:20, and I was five minutes late to Thomas Sharp. I was surprised I didn't have any trouble getting home. I got a ride at quarter after 5 in 7 minutes.

It wasn't bad at the Acme when I arrived. In fact, I was entirely outside today. The head bagger did the sweeping and other indoor work. I even got to see men drop green salt on the sidewalks to keep them from getting too messy later when it starts to snow. Thankfully, it was just cloudy and cold when I was at work. It didn't start picking up until I was just about ready to leave.

Got my schedule at this point, too. It's pretty much the same schedule as this week with earlier hours on Sunday and next Saturday...but it's also easier than this week. I took Thursday off because the kids have a half-day then. The Collingswood School District is closed next Friday for a staff meeting, which means I'll only be working at the Acme next Friday. 

I found something on the bakery clearance rack called "celebration cookies" (M&Ms, white chocolate chips, sprinkles) I wanted to try. Changed, grabbed them, made my way through a rut in the snow across the street to Rexy's Bar and Grill. They were still pretty busy, despite it being quarter after 1 when I arrived. I had hot tea, a warm fried fish sandwich with Asian slaw, and crunchy onion rings for lunch. Picked up the Uber at the Acme after I ate.

The head teacher took today off, and the replacement ended up working with the older kids. We had the older woman who usually works with the older kids working with us, but she doesn't know our rhythm, and she certainly didn't have any music on her cell phone for dance parties. None of this was good. We had 25 kids today, all of them wild with cabin fever from being inside the last two weeks. At least my group of 7 was helpful cleaning up their own toys and not bad at the bathrooms.

The trouble started after snack time. Since reading The Gingerbread Man and one more book to the kids while they were playing before we went to the library seemed to calm them down a little (they kept coming at me with books they wanted me to read), I replaced the dance party with me reading The Bernstein Bears and Too Much TV and half of If I Ran the Zoo. When they were too noisy, I stopped reading to talk to them and ask them their feelings on the head teacher being missing and point out that, just because she wasn't there, didn't mean they shouldn't respect the teachers who were around. The kids spent so much time ripping the paper taped down for them to stencil on, I finally gave them regular paper to color on. There was arguing over books, too, including ones the kids could not have read at their ages. At least by 5 PM, it had cleared out enough that those who remained were big helps bringing everything back to the cafeteria.

(Oh, and it started to snow lightly when I was waiting for Uber at the school. It's snowed lightly off and on ever since.)

Watched Match Game Syndicated and had dinner when I got home. The first hour finished out the Robert Walden/Judy Landers week. The second hour brought in Gary Crosby, David Doyle, and the delightful Rita Moreno. I really wish Rita could have been on the show more often. She brought a spicy Caribbean flair to the show and was hilarious flirting with Gene. Down-to-earth Gary is a lot of fun, too.

Finished the night with Remember WENN after a shower. Frustrated when her agent Brian Wilburforce (Heath Lamberts) won't get her the lead role in a local production of Antony and Cleopatra, she fires him and becomes her own agent. Rex Noble (Daniel Benzali), who is producing the show, is so impressed, he wants to meet her agent. She literally plays "Hilary's Agent" to get the part, but ends up driving Betty crazy with her demands. The others try to make Hilary see that honesty is the best policy...but as Eugenia points out, Hilary does make a lovely couple.

"The Birth of a Station" was controversial online when it first debuted. A very pregnant young woman (Debra Wiseman) wanders dazedly into the station during a public transportation strike and promptly goes into labor, begging to see Young Doctor Talbot. Trouble is, he's a character on their big hospital drama. While Jeff plays him to keep her calm, we get a glimpse of Mackie on the road when he calls.

Pure Imagination

Started the morning with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. "Flutterina" is the young winged girl from the village of Alberon who admires Adora. She's there with her family when they attend a party after saving the village. Adora gets a swelled head, thinking she can do it all alone, but learns a very harsh lesson when she's lured away and the villagers and Bow are captured. Flutterina does so well helping She-Ra out, Adora agrees to let her join them...but Flutterina isn't what she seems...

Called Uber after that for my grocery store trip. No trouble with them, at least, not here. Waited 7 minutes for the driver to come, 10 minutes for them to go home. Once again, the weather helped. It was sunny and warm, at least warm enough to melt more of the ice and snow. It's getting a bit easier to climb around, though there's still a lot of snow around.

The Westmont Acme was pretty busy when I arrived. It's still too messy (and my knee is too sore) for multiple grocery store trips. Restocked apples, clementines, yogurt, cookies, probiotic soda, coconut milk, and sliced chicken. Grabbed a slice of red velvet cake on sale for a treat and a bag of blue corn chips to go with lunch. I'll turn the strawberry cake mix and white chocolate chips into cookies for Valentine's Day next week. Found a bag of bagels on the clearance rack for lunch next week, too.

When I got home, I put everything away and had a quick lunch while watching Jivin' In Be-Bop. I go further into this low-budget review featuring Dizzie Gillespie and His Orchestra at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Jivin' In Be-Bop 

I had a harder time getting a driver at 2:45. I went through two Uber drivers before one came in 10 minutes. Got me to the school just in time. The one going home thankfully took slightly less than the 14 minutes indicated on the app.

Actually, the trouble today was in the cafeteria, before we went to the library. I love reading to the kids, and they love bringing their books to me. Trouble is, they tend to attract a crowd, and my knee isn't up to five kids jostling to see the artwork on it. I stood up to read The Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmatians, and Clifford's Puppy Days: The Smallest Snowman so they could all see the pictures and not squash me in the process.

Everything else went fine. I only had 7 kids at my table today, and there were 25 all together. My group did very well in the bathroom. Other than some jostling at the door to the main hall, I was rather proud of them. I do wish two "best friends" hadn't spent all their time giggling and looking at toys during snack time when they should have been eating. They were the last ones done. 

Things mostly went better in the library. Enough kids had left by then that there were a few dancing, while the others played with magnetic tiles or colored with me. Impressed by one boy's superhero comics and another's rocket ships, I explained my own artwork of Once Upon a Time In the Land of WENN and Captain Victor, Man of Power and the importance of using their imaginations to tell stories. 

Watched Match Game Syndicated and had dinner when I got home. They started off finishing the week with Fred Grandy and Phyllis Diller (the latter wearing a very bright and rather unique purple hat). Robert Walton and Judy Landers made the next week a pleasure to look at. There were more jokes about a sweet young man with glasses and curly hair from Wisconsin, who was funny and cheerful even when he didn't win.

Switched to Remember WENN next. Hilary takes over WENN's proto-Love Connection dating show, "You've Met Your Match," to make Jeff jealous. After a mix up with ribbons on chocolate boxes, she ends up with a bruised Scott instead. Jeff tries to flirt with Betty to make Hilary jealous, but it backfires in the worst way possible. Not all of the matches turn out badly. Maple is thrilled to finally get to know Victor, Mr Eldridge and Gertie always enjoy each other's company, and Eugenia and Mr. Foley have so much fun on their date, they're late getting back!

"And If I Die Before I Sleep" gets really wild when Betty and the cast perform her 54-hour blending of Shakespeare's Italian-set plays on the air to break a record. Victor, Scott, and an ailing Maple discover there's chicanery afoot when the man from the newspaper sent to watch their feat (John Ratzenberger) and the nurse who came with him (Marceline Hugot) turn out to be more interested in sabotaging the broadcast than watching them break the record.

Finished the night with more Original Gold and more Rupert Holmes. There's some real classics on the third disc of this RCA Sessions record set, especially if you're a fan of crooners, R&B, or girls' groups. We get the Shirrells' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?," "Stagger Lee" by Lloyd Price, "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" by Neil Sedaka, "Twist and Shout" by the Isley Brothers, "I Saw Her Again" by the Mamas and the Papas, "One Fine Day" by the Chiffons, and "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips, among others. 

Holmes wrote the book and some lyrics for the 2008 stage musical Curtains after John Kander's long-time partner Fred Ebb died during its development. I wasn't a huge fan of this murder mystery about a musical-crazy cop (David Hyde Pierce, who got the show's only Tony win) who figures out the person behind the killing of a no-talent star when I first picked it up in 2008, but it's grown on me over the years. I'm especially fond of Pierce and understudy Jill Paice's "A Tough Act to Follow," "It's a Business" for hard-nosed producer Debra Monk, and "Thinking of Him" and "I Miss the Music" for the songwriting duo who have broken up, but are reconsidering their relationship (Karen Ziemba and Jason Danieley). 

Remembering Muppets

Began the morning with breakfast and two episodes of Bluey. Chili wants to make Bandit an "Omelette" for his birthday. She tries to make it quickly when he insists he's hungry, but Bingo's attempt to help slows things down. When Chili takes over the job herself, she sees how upset her daughter is and agrees to let her help out. "Unicorse" is a unicorn puppet Bandit's playing with who disrupts Chili and Blue while they're reading. They first try to change the annoying unicorn's behavior, then decide they're better off ignoring him.

I called Uber as soon as the second episode ended. The driver was supposed to come in 12 minutes, but...ten minutes passed, and it still said 12 minutes. I canceled them. Their replacement arrived in 7 minutes, but he missed the turn off for the Acme and had to go down the Black Horse Pike to turn around. Between those two, I ended up being 20 minutes late.

Thankfully, that was the worst thing that happened the entire morning. The Acme was surprisingly dead for the beginning of the month. Everyone must have come over the weekend. I swept the store and pushed carts with no trouble whatsoever. Nicer weather helped, too. It's still sunny, but I think it got into the lower-mid 30's today, closer to what it should be this time of year. I even found two bags of the super-expensive Michele's Granola on clearance - their Christmas flavor Cranberry Pecan. I bought two. 

Since it was nicer, I strolled to the shopping center in the back of the mall and had lunch at the Vietnamese Pho restaurant. They were pin-drop quiet when I arrived, too. I had shrimp and pork rolls in sticky clear rice wraps and a huge pho bowl with shrimp, rice noodles, sprouts, and scallions. Delicious and filling on a day that remained relatively cold.

Headed back to the Acme and picked up the Uber there. Had no more trouble getting a driver. The one going to Thomas Sharp School arrived in 7 minutes. The one going home came in 11. The one going home hit a little traffic on the White Horse Pike, but otherwise, there were no problems. Got to the school right on time.

That was a really good thing. We were crazy today. I had 8 kids at my table alone. They were noisy in the halls going to the bathrooms. Two of the boys threw Duplos at my back when I tried to read 101 Dalmatians to a couple of the other kids. The head teacher had to stop the music three times because the kids who were dancing kept laying on the floor and running around, things they weren't supposed to be doing. I had to separate a girl and a boy when she kept poking at him. I spent the rest of the time coloring artwork for Once Upon a Time In the Land of WENN at one of the tables with a couple of the boys once the girl got up and danced with the others. 

Went straight into Remember WENN when I got home. The fourth season kicks off with "Some Time, Some Station." After he accidentally shoots Pruitt, Victor thinks it's 8 AM and time to start their broadcast day. While the others trickle back in and Scott tries to keep Victor from finding out the truth, Betty attempts to find out who Victor's contact is from Pruitt and Jeff tells Hilary why he really married Pavla.

Mr. Eldridge is saying "Thanks a Lottery!" after he wins the Irish Sweepstakes. Everyone at the station has definite ideas of how he should spend the money. Meanwhile, though he's now in jail, Pruitt isn't done making trouble for the station. He's shunted WENN into another company that slashes the budget and insists on a mandatory age for retirement that Mr. Eldridge is long past. The others think his winnings go up in smoke when Hilary burns her letters from Jeff, but Mr. Eldridge is a lot smarter than everyone thinks he is. 

Watched Match Game Syndicated during dinner. Phyllis Diller and Fred Grandy joined in during the episodes I saw. Fred mostly protested the Star Wheel landing on his name three times in a row. 

Finished the night with the new Muppet Show special on Disney Plus. They've been advertising this to high heck online...and yeah, they were right to. It's the Muppet Show you know and love, with Kermit in charge, Statler and Waldorf in the balcony, Piggy angry that her number has been cut, and Gonzo's attempt at "performance art" going haywire. We even get some Muppet Labs. (I hope they found Beeker's eyeballs.) I don't know who Sabrina Carpenter is, but she had so much fun and played off Miss Piggy so well, I might have to look up her albums. Also look for Seth Rogan (who apparently executive-produced this) and Maya Randoph. If you're a fan of the original Muppet Show or the Muppets in general, this is definitely worth braving flaming rings for. 

Dolls and Angels

Began the morning with breakfast and Beware! I go further into this charming "race film" from 1946 with bandleader Louis Jordan trying to save his old college from closure at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Beware! (1946)

Started dressing the dolls for February while the movie was on. The current Lunar New Year outfit at American Girl is too fussy for laid-back Jessa, so she gets Ivy's more authentic Chinese New Year dress. Whitney's thick pink felt poodle skirt with the long-sleeved white blouse and lace-trimmed slip is from eBay. I found her pink cardigan sweater with the pearl trim at a yard sale. Samantha's dusky pink Talent Show Dress is so historically accurate, it's based after a real-life girl's dress from 1904 in a museum. Josefina also wears a dress from eBay, a romantic magenta floral Regency gown with an elastic collar and a delicate lace wrap. 

The white and gold knitted Sweet Spring Dress from a decade ago is short enough to pass for a minidress for Barbara Jean. She wears a white Springfield Collection cardigan with satin ruffle trim over it.  Ariel is in Julie's flowered pantsuit and zipper turtleneck. It's way too cold for the sandals that go with that outfit, so she's wearing boots instead. Kit wears her red and blue Treehouse Cardigan Sweater and blue hat with the red pom-pom. The outfit I got on eBay didn't come with the skirt, so she's borrowing the navy-blue one from Molly's meet outfit. Felicity attends tea ceremony lessons in her Laced Jacket and Petticoat. Molly wishes she could wear something more glamorous than her plaid school jumper and blouse and the black strap shoes she borrowed from Samantha. 

Switched to Charlie's Angels during lunch. The ladies and Bosley meet at the end of the third season, not for a case, but to celebrate their third anniversary as a team. Their memories and reminisces of the previous three seasons' worth of cases turns into "Angels Remembered." Yeah, this is a clip show, likely intended as a transition between Kate Jackson's last season and Shelley Hack's first.

I hadn't even finished dressing the dolls when it was time to call Uber. Thankfully, despite my late start, I had no problem getting a driver. The one going there arrived in 7 minutes and got me there a few minutes early. The one going home took 9 minutes at the height of rush hour. There was a little traffic on the White Horse Pike going home. Otherwise, no problems.

None with the kids, either. We had far fewer children today, only 20 pre-schoolers and kindergartners. I had 8 at my table today, and they did get a tiny bit rowdy in the bathrooms. (I had a hard time getting the boys out in particular.) I read a Clifford's Puppy Days story to the kids playing with Barbies and brickle blocks and talked to an upset young lady who was missing her parents after snack time. The kids loved seeing me draw Scott, Maple, and Betty as superheroes and Pruitt as an Joker-style super-villain when we moved to the library in a scene from the sequel to Captain Victor, Man of Power I have planned. By the time we moved the kids to the cafeteria, there were only three "littles" left. The last younger kids went home at the same time I did.

I brought my trash outside and carefully picked my way around snow and ice to drag out the trash bags and cans before Jessa picked me up around quarter after 6. Between the weather and the snow that was still piled up despite the warmer weather, I figured this was no time for fancy meals or going further afield. I picked the Legacy Diner in Audubon. They were a bit busy when we arrived, but cleared out quickly as she had pepper steak on rice, and I had a "Brooklyn Dodger" omelet with Swiss cheese, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes, hash browns, and rye toast. She said she snacked at work today, but I didn't have a big lunch and got a slice of a delicious, moist Chocolate Fudge Cake.

Finished dressing the dolls while watching the remaining third season episodes of Remember WENN when I got home. "The Ghost of WENN" appears as a spooky voice in the halls during a thunderstorm while the cast is performing a horror show. Hilary is terrified that it seems to target her specifically, Betty is terrified that they'll lose the transmitter, and Mackie is just terrified.

"Caller ID" tells us more about the magic of radio than any episode of the series. Mackie's playing DJ for their late-night musical show Dreamland Dance Floor when a woman (voice of Alice Playten) calls and claims she's going to jump off a near-by building. Mackie and the others end up putting on a massive crossover of most of their major shows to keep her from slipping...and show her that the real magic of radio is what our own imagination makes the characters out to be.

"Happy Homecomings" are anything but when Betty hears a Jonathan Arnold who is definitely not Victor on the radio. Worried, she turns to sweet lawyer Doug Thompson, who recommends that she finally opens that strong box Victor gave her. What Betty finds is hardly what she expects...and it turns out to be anything but true. Meanwhile, Hilary is less than enthused at Jeff's return, Scott's found more codes going out over the airwaves, and yes, Victor comes home...but seems to be more than a little out of it as he, Scott, and Betty end up confronting a gun-wielding Pruitt in the finale.

This is the infamous cliffhanger that left everyone in the WENN fandom screaming at the top of their lungs for six months straight. Longest six months of my life until the housing mess in 2021-2022. All I wanted from December 1997 through June 1998 was to pass my college courses and find out the end of those blasted cliffhangers! They're a big part of the reason I love the third season so much. This is far and away my favorite season of the series. Many fans complained when the show was on that the third series gets too dark. I love it because it gets so dark, because it goes places most sitcoms wouldn't dare to go even today. However, changes at AMC were on the horizon during those six months, not all of them pleasant or welcome, as we'll discover in the fourth and final season...

Finished the night honoring Black History Month with jazz great Wynton and Ellis Marsallis' Joe Cool's Blues. Father and son are at the top of their game with this delightful tribute to the Peanuts specials of the 60's and 70's. While there are nice covers of classics like "Linus and Lucy," "Little Birdie," and "Christmas Is Coming," the real interest here are the Marsallis' original compositions. "Why Charlie Brown," "Wright Brothers' Rag," "Snoopy and Woodstock," and the title song fit in perfectly with Guaraldi's original music and sound like they could have come from the specials themselves. 

Sporting Games

Started off the morning with breakfast and Bugs Bunny's Cupid Capers. Bugs is annoyed that an Elmer-like cupid is trying to pair off the Toons. He shows him sequences from various shorts to prove he's much better at it than some Cupid.

Headed out for a walk to WaWa after the Toons ended. I needed rent money and wanted to use up some of those gift cards from Christmas I still have on lunch. I ended up walking in the street a lot. The sidewalks were mostly clear...from homes and businesses that are frequently used. Some sidewalks on the White Horse Pike haven't been shoveled. Snow and ice scraped against the edge of the street often made it hard to get on the sidewalk. I had to drop off three books in the kiosk on Johnson Avenue, so I just dodged ice on the street until I turned and crossed the White Horse Pike to WaWa.

WaWa was surprisingly not that busy at quarter of 1. I ended up with a chicken cheese steak junior hoagie on a whole wheat roll, broccoli-cheddar soup, a peppermint mocha hot chocolate, and a soft pretzel. The hot chocolate was more sweet than it was minty or chocolaty. The chicken cheese steak was tasty. I'd added spinach and tomato for more vitamins. Neither the lines for the register nor the ATM machine were all that long.

I was almost home when I stepped wrong on a crack on a driveway and bent my bad knee back. Owwww, that hurt! I let out a long yell when I did that. Thankfully, it didn't hurt so much that I couldn't walk the rest of the way home, but I did need to put it up and put a heating pad on it when I got in.

Watched Remember WENN when I was home and having lunch. Hilary is "Courting Disaster" when Jeff's supercilious lawyer Drake Stanley (Andrew Seear) claims he wants $100,000 in damages. Scott acts as her lawyer and Mr. Eldridge takes the stand on the WENN court program Tell It to the Judge. Betty, Maple, and Gertie trick Stanley into appearing on the show, then manage to ring up Jeff to get his side of things.

The cast is thrilled in "And How!" when they're chosen to broadcast an episode of the network western The Strange Loner. The show's notorious playboy star is leaving to appear in films and turns up at the station drunk and unconscious right before it's supposed to begin. All of the men argue over his role, while Betty talks to Joseph Grayhawk (real-life Native American activist Russell Means), who is the voice of the Strange Loner's sidekick. Eugenia's more interested in her food discovery from Italy - pizza!

Called Uber soon as the show ended. Thankfully, no trouble there again. In fact, while still not where it should be at this time of year, it was much warmer than it has been in the last week and a half, sunny and breezy but not blustery. I got the first in 10 minutes, but had called early. The one going home came in 7 minutes. Got me there on time in less than 5 minutes.

The kids honestly could have been worse. They did get rowdy at the bathrooms, and the custodian scolded them a bit for blocking the door to the boiler. (Which is rather important at this time of year, especially in a 120-year-old building.) We also had a new kid, who was thankfully pretty quiet and not any trouble. After snack time, one little girl brought me an old 101 Dalmatians book from what had been a book-and-cassette...and then, another brought me another book. So many wanted to sit on my lap (and my sore knee) and see the pictures, I stood up and read it to them instead. 

I did have to separate a girl and a boy when we were in the library. The girl kept shoving her chair too close to her guy friend, and she has the habit of drawing on other people's artwork. She threw a fit when I told her he wanted space. Thankfully, the head teacher brought in the speaker at that point, and she joined the kids dancing to "Pink Pony Club" and the soundtracks from Lilo and Stitch and Trolls while I colored with the boys. They really loved the artwork I did of my (hopefully) upcoming superhero based Remember WENN fanfic Captain Victor, Man of Power, depicting Victor, Jeff, Ceila, and Grace Cavendish in superhero and villain costumes.

Took a shower when I got home, grabbed dinner, and put on Match Game Syndicated. Gary Collins, Susan Richardson, Richard Paul, and Joyce Bulifant finished out their week in these episodes. Joyce had a tendency to ramble on about her answers. At one point, she talked for so long, all of the panelists got up and left! She ended up in (mock, I hope) tears.

Finished the night with sports game shows in honor of the Super Bowl next Sunday and the Winter Olympics on Friday. The granddaddy of all sports-based quiz shows is Sports Challenge from the 70's. This is what it says on the tin, a long-running syndicated sports quiz show that pit two then-popular teams against each other. It's a battle of football titans from opposite ends of the US as the New York Giants take on the Los Angeles Rams in the episode I have here.

ESPN isn't the only network that runs sports-based quiz shows. Baseball IQ from the MLB Network pit coaches and players against each other in a test to see who knew more baseball trivia. This tournament-style show only ran a month in January-February 2012, making me wonder if it was just intended to be filler programming during the off season.

Bowling was at its zenith of popularity in the 60's and 70's when Jackpot Bowling debuted on syndication in 1961. Host Milton Berle's jokes fit rather awkwardly between rounds of semi-pro players competing for a $30,000 pot. Berle had more fun introducing the celebrity who bowled for charity between games. British bombshell Diana Dors was the celeb donning bowling shoes in this episode. Keep a close watch out for her then-husband Richard (then "Dickie") Dawson in the audience. 

Baywatch was the most-watched show in the world when Sandblast debuted on MTV in 1994. Two couples compete in a series of beach-based mini games and obstacle courses to see who is top dog of Disney World's water parks. I can see why this ran for two years. The games are honestly a lot of fun, and the energy is electric. Swimmer Summer Saunders was the host in this episode.

50 Grand Slam was a unique stunt show/quiz show hybrid from 1976. Eight contestants competed on the show, two at a time, and were matched up based on their expertise in a certain category. One contestant would be asked questions while the other was in an isolation booth. Whomever answered more questions correctly usually had the option of taking the money or facing an opponent in the next episode. Although we don't see it here, some episodes had a sports theme or a game played. We have the finale here, one of only three episodes known to exist.

ESPN didn't just do sport quizzes. They occasionally had the sports personalities playing stunts, too, as in Battle of the Gridiron Stars from 2005. Football stars of the mid-2000s went up against each other in games based around other sports besides their usual one. If you remember football in that time period like I do, it's actually kind of fun to watch these big guys attempt tug-of-war or dodgeball.

Celebrate guts and glory in all their forms with these delightfully sporting games!

Jackpot Bowling (1961)

Sports Challenge (1972)

50 Grand Slam Finale (1976)

Sandblast (1994)

Battle of the Gridiron Stars (2005)

Baseball IQ (2012) 

Sweet Treats Matches

Started the day quickly with breakfast and Original Gold. This oldies-based RCA Sessions album from 1975 is a lot more eclectic than the similar collections from K-Tel. Just the first disc alone features "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez, "Sweet Little Sixteen" by Chuck Berry, "Chain Gang" by Sam Cooke, "Rebel Rouser" by Duane Eddy, the original version of "Little Honda" by the Hondells, and a rather unique rock version of "Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz by Fifth Estate. Disc 2 gets into bubblegum pop with "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by Ohio Express, "Simon Says" by 1910 Fruitgum Co, and "Born Too Late" by the Poni-Tails and country with "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash. 

Called Uber just as the disc ended. No trouble here today. The driver going to work arrived in 7 minutes, surprising for quarter of 1. I got there right on time. They did take 14 minutes going home, but that was at the height of rush hour. No traffic either way, not even around the entrance to the Wal Mart.

Work was much busier today than it had been yesterday. Today is the beginning of the month. There's probably a lot of people using government money to restock after the messy and frigid weather we had last week. It's going to get a little warmer this week before going right back to being Antarctic, and today certainly didn't help. It was sunny, like it's been all week, but the strong wind made it feel far colder. I didn't have any help gathering carts that kept vanishing until they finally pulled a college boy out of cashiering in the last hour and a half. 

Did the second disc when I got home, then put on tonight's Match Game marathon. Ice cream was frequently mentioned as answers to questions on some of the best episodes of the entire series. It came up on an episode of the week in 1974 where Brett drooled over Anson Williams, who sat next to her, and later that year when the entire panel wished Charles Nelson Reilly good luck on the opening of the show he directed on Broadway, The Belle of Amhurst. There was also the week with Larry Hovis, Peggy Cass, and Rip Taylor sitting in for Charles, and the one from 1978 that introduced a towering young man with a cherubic face whose massive bulk screamed "wrestler," and the one from 1976 where Scoey and Charles switched seats and claimed they'd had the first "race change." 

They brought up ice cream in later episodes, too. There was an ice cream answer on another episode from 1978 where Fannie Flagg dressed as Greta Garbo and even did her questions in her idea of a Swedish accent. Also in 1978, we had an answer on the infamous episode where Charles moves Jack Klugman to the upper tier to sit next to his by-then ex-wife Brett. They ended up in each other's laps before the others held a mock wedding for them in the last few minutes. Ice cream came up as late as a 1990 episode where Marcia Wallace encouraged Jo Anne Worley to show off her still-trim legs (encased in the requisite sleek spandex tights of the time). Phyllis Neuman argued about Brett's constant teasing in one of the last episodes of 1974. 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream sundaes on Sunday in this sweet as can be marathon!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Ice Cream "Sunday" and Treats