Monday, June 15, 2015

A Walk On the Mall Side

Got an earlier start today at around 10:30. We were in Westmont at quarter after 11 for brunch at the Westmont Bagel Shop. There was a line when we arrived, but it thankfully turned to mostly be kids ordering sandwiches to go. Lauren had a Chicken Caesar Wrap with chips. I had an omelet with peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach, and cheese, home fries (which I didn't finish), and a French toast bagel.

Explored a few stores in the mall next. The big Game Stop is right next door to the Bagel Shop. We saw a few things we liked, but decided we'd look around and see if we could find cheaper prices. Lauren bought glow sticks at Dollar Tree for a rally she'll be participating in on Friday. We browsed around Tuesday Morning but found nothing we couldn't live without.

We picked up the bus on the hill across the street from the Haddon Township Library. The bus to the Cherry Hill Mall wasn't full, and there was no traffic and no problems getting there. We were in Cherry Hill by quarter of 2.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was a new video store opened on the second floor across from the exit, Jay Street Video Stores seems to be a chain that, unlike Game Stop, sells older games going back as far as Atari in addition to new titles. Lauren said there's a larger one in her local mall.

Our next stop was JC Penney. I got a coupon for 10 dollars off an order of 10 dollars or more. I really needed one more bra. Playtex bras were on sale for $24.99. The coupon bought a gray-brown bra down to a far more reasonable $14.99.

Checked out the toy stores next. Lauren picked up a Yankees baseball uniform for her bears at Build-A-Bear. I found the cutest little stuffed flamingo on the clearance rack for five dollars. We marveled over the enormous stuffed food and wonderful wooden sets at Toy Genius (and one of the clerks admired my flamingo). She bought t-shirts for her parents at the Disney Store. I just looked over the Princess dolls.

After the Disney Store, we headed towards Nordstrom's and out to the pedestrian bridge. Our first stop there was Target. They had no new Ever After High dolls (much to my disappointment), but I did get some food. They have great peanut butter prices - I bought Jiff's Chunky Natural. For some reason, Target always gets the really nifty limited edition seasonal baking mix flavors. I've never seen a Tropical Mango cake mix before. And they had some of those flavored marshmallows I loved so much a few years ago - I went with Toasted Coconut.

Kohl's was next. We looked over appliances, but I ended up with a new pink and aqua floral sleep shirt that was on sale for $18. Once again, the toy area yielded no finds.

It was still hot and humid, and despite the local weather warnings to the contrary, the sun had come out since this morning. We cooled off at the Dairy Queen/Orange Julius in the food court. Lauren had a green Arctic Slush and some small slider-sized wraps for a snack. I had one of those Jurassic Smash Blizzards Matt talked about at Dinosaur Dracula (not in the themed cup, alas) and a huge pretzel from the smoothie booth next door.

Game Stop proved to be a disappointment. They were a very small store and only sold the latest games for the most recent systems, no original Wii or Nintendo DS, or even much Wii U. We had more luck at Teavana. I tried their Samurai Chai (tasted like hot cinnamon candies), the Wildberry/Orange Blossom iced tea, and the Oprah Chai. Lauren had the Samurai Chai and Pineapple Berry Blue Iced Tea. Had even more luck at Old Navy, despite some very long lines. I can't really wear their pants, but they do have shirts I fit into. We both picked up tank tops. Mine were blue heather and tan heather. She had the blue heather and mint. Took a brief look at Macy's before we decided it was past time to head home.

The bus was a few minutes late. You'd think it was a few hours late, the way people were carrying on! We listened to people whining and complaining because oh, they were going to be late, and oh, they just couldn't wait for the bus, and shouldn't the driver be suspended for not starting the bus when they wanted him to? Sheesh. Thankfully, there were no problems when the bus did finally appear. We did have to stop to take on a person in a motorized chair, but that only slowed us down a little. We got off near TD Bank on the White Horse Pike and hiked home from there.

It was past 7 before we got in, and 8:30 before I got dinner on the table. It was worth it, though. I made turkey burgers with farm market fresh Colby cheese and steamed snap peas. The burgers in particular came out very well and very tasty.

Ran a few movies as we went online. John Candy's Summer Rental seems to be a bust at first - the house is on a busy party beach, it's falling apart, and control-freak Candy gets in trouble with the local big shot (Richard Crenna). When it looks like they may lose their summer spot, Candy makes a bet with Crenna for the rent, then turns to the crusty old sailors who have been teaching him about boats for help.

Martin Short doesn't have much better luck with Captain Ron. He hired Ron (Kurt Russell) to pilot a boat he inherited though the Caribbean. Ron proves to be less-than-trustworthy, but his stories and goofy ways are a hit with Martin's wife and kids. Now Martin has to learn how to command a ship and get the attention of his family, before the pirates of the Caribbean do some real damage!

Finished the night with more Red Skelton. By far my favorite of this batch was Leslie Parrish, Peter Palmer, and Stubby Kaye of the film version of the musical Lil' Abner (along with Abner's creator Al Capp) appearing in a sketch that has Skelton's resident hick Clem Kaddlehopper almost marrying Daisy Mae (Parrish). We even got to hear my favorite number from that show, "Jubilation T. Cornpone."

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