Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Getting Ready For Spring

It was still very warm when I got up this morning - so much that I opened the windows for the first time in months to air the rooms out a bit. I ran spring-themed cartoon episodes and movies as I scrubbed the kitchen, starting with two Backyardigans episodes. Tyrone and his fellow explorers Tasha and Pablo "Follow the Feather" to mystical Tibet in order to find the Flying Polka-Dot Pony. Uniqua becomes a springtime superheroine when she gains "Flower Power" and uses her newfound abilities to rescue Garden City from the nefarious Gloom Meister (Austin).

Switched to Sailor Moon for an hour long "movie" based around their second season. The Promise of the Rose has the five Sailor Soldiers fighting an alien flower that wants to drain the energy from every living thing on Earth. She's brainwashed another alien who was once a friend of Darien's to do her bidding. The alien wants to renew his friendship with Darien, but that doesn't sit well with clingy Serena. When he kidnaps Darien and takes him to an asteroid filled with evil flowers, the Soldiers follow in the hope of putting his and the flower's plans to bed for good.

When I finished the kitchen, I hit the bedroom to work on my story for a while. I just started the third one. I'm hoping to make this a series of fantasy-oriented stories about the queen and her adventures, some comic, some romantic, some epics. I'm just sort of writing and seeing where it all takes me.

I went downstairs around 12:30 to see if the mail had arrived yet. Yes, it did...and it brought three packages with it. The smaller ones were new eBay finds for the American Girls. I finally picked up the the Ready For Fun "meet" outfit from 2004 after bidding on it for years. This is one of the most coveted AG modern outfits for its versatility and looking like something a real kid would wear. It consists of a t-shirt with flower in the center, nifty beaded jeans, white sneakers with blue elastic laces, striped socks, and the reason I bought it, a nice reversible windbreaker in bright pink, purple, and turquoise. My modern dolls Jessa and Whitney could both use a light jacket. I also got Felicity her second accessories set, the one that matched the lavender dress that the doll wore as a "meet" outfit from the mid-2000s through her retirement in 2011. It comes with a round-eared cap with a lavender ribbon, an embroidered purse, a stretchy lavender choker, a cute little lace-edged handkerchief, and a replica "bit" coin.

My favorite find, though, was an Effanbee doll. I know I said I wasn't going to buy any more of those, but I found a truly unique doll. When the International Line was revamped in the 80s, some dolls looked exactly the same (like my Russian doll Sonia), while others got completely new outfits. Miss USA, who seems to have originally just worn a red, white, and blue version of the same fancy gown the other dolls sported, was now dressed as a cowgirl in a red checked shirt and a "denim" vest and skirt. The 80s Miss USA dolls seemed to have been released in both Caucasian and African-American versions. The African American Miss USA is very pretty, with her soft black hair and amber eyes. Maybe I'll find her a little lariat or six-shooter somewhere.

I ran Silly Symphonies shorts as I had leftovers for lunch and got ready for work. "Spring" is your basic "animals frolic in time to classical music" early music video. "Playful Pan" has the title character playing to bring out the sun...and then helping the animals flee a fire in the forest. Two adorable cubs only want some honey, but inadvertently get help from the bees when a bigger bear steals their find in "The Bears and the Bees." A baby bird falls from the nest and runs into a heap of trouble on the ground in "Birds In the Spring." And Disney turns the Greek myth of how Hades took Persephone into the underworld and brought winter into being into a full-blown opera (and a mini practice run for Snow White) in "The Goddess of Spring."

Work was busier than yesterday, though still not overwhelming for most of the night. In good news, I got a 50 dollar gift card from the Acme, thanks to my "great customer service" card being chosen from the box in the back this week. In bad news, my customers were rude and annoying all night. Mother Nature didn't help. It started pouring somewhere around 3:30 and was only just starting to let up as I arrived at the apartment. At press time, it's dry but very windy.

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