Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Getting Ready for Vacation

It was gorgeous when I got up this morning, hot and sunny. It was a wonderful day to tidy up the apartment! After breakfast, I aired out the rag rug in the bedroom and the welcome rug in the kitchen, vacuumed, covered the loveseat cushions with a sheet (Lauren sleeps on the loveseat when she's here), scrubbed the bathroom sink and toilet, and went over everything that showed with a dust rag.

Ran Summer Rental as I worked. Jack Chester (John Candy) is a burnt-out air traffic controller who is pretty much forced to take a month's vacation with his family after causing a mix-up at work. At first, everything seems fine - their house is gorgeous, with a private beach. Things start going wrong even before they realize they're at the wrong address. Jack gets sunburned badly, the actual house is a dilapidated hulk on a noisy party beach, and he gets into a feud with stuck-up local big-shot Al Pellet (Richard Crenna). When Pellet ends up owning the house and tries to throw them out, Jack insists they can beat him at the town's regatta. He turns to his friend Scully (Rip Torn), who has been teaching him the ins and outs of sailing. Scully and his crew own a parked boat/restaurant, the Barnacle, that's perfect for the race. The rest of the family finally joins Jack, Scully, and his renegades in restoring the boat and entering the race, proving that the family that works together, kicks snob rear together.

Very 80's comedy that's evidently based after a real-life bad beach vacation producer Bernie Brillstein had. While not as horrible as critics claimed at the time, it's nothing you haven't seen in countless other comedies about summer adventures or "slobs vs snobs." Necessary if you're a fan of Candy; decent time-waster for anyone else.

Switched to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA as I moved outside to sweep the porch. The fuzzy seed pods - and the pollen - have been absolutely dreadful this year. I got a big tumbleweed of the things off the porch, then pushed another off the sagging side, climbing around the railing as best I could with the bad hand.

Had lunch and got ready for work while watching an episode of Moonlighting. "Money Talks - Maddie Walks" in the early second season when Maddie finds out that her accountant who stole her money ran off with his ill-gotten gains to Buenos Aires. She follows him to his new casino, hoping to win her money back. David goes after her.

Work was even quieter than yesterday. We weren't even busy at rush hour. For one thing, at that point, it was still a beautiful day, sunny, humid, and really too warm for this time of year, in the upper 80's. For another, we're between holidays. It probably won't get busy again until Memorial Day weekend. I did a few returns when I came in, but I spent the majority of the day outside gathering carts.

Got lucky a few times, too. One of the grocery managers had a birthday today. There was a cake with wonderfully sweet icing for him in the back lounge room that we all got to share. And the woman in charge of the self-checkout registers didn't want the other half of her turkey hoagie and offered it to me, as she'd been eating outside and I was still doing carts. That was perfect. I wouldn't need to cook dinner on a hot day when I was dead tired from being outside for so long.

(The only fly in the ointment today, so to speak, was that pollen. I spent most of the day sneezing, with watery eyes and a runny nose, even after I took allergy medicine.)

Grabbed a box of tissues on the way out, then headed home. Watched Garfield In the Rough while eating the hoagie and two strawberry muffins. Garfield is less than thrilled when Jon announces that they're going camping. Where's his TV and lasagna? He's no sooner gotten used to the idea of communicating with nature when they learn that there's a panther loose in the area...and they could be its next victims if they don't evacuate soon!

Spent a few hours writing after dinner. Everyone separates into different carts. Leia rides on Luke. Wedge and his men lead the groups that will invade Solo Castle. Ahsoka and the Rebels crew will create a distraction in the marketplace to keep the guards from the castle. Lando and his men will fight the guards at the castle's entrance.

Jyn asks Leia about Han. She sadly explains that he was kidnapped by Palpatine and taken to Solo Castle, and that he was the prince they were looking for. Leia can no longer feel Han's energy in the Force, and she and Luke are very worried about him. Chirrut, Baze, Cyril, and Artello (via flute) all agree that they'll help her find the missing prince, no matter what.

Broke at 8 for a shower, and then to watch The Great Muppet Caper while going online. Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo are reporters and a photographer for a big city paper who are sent to cover the story of London fashion designer Lady Holliday (Diana Rigg) whose diamond necklace was stolen. Kermit almost immediately runs into Miss Piggy, who is hoping to become a model. She lies about being Lady Holliday at first to gain Kermit's favor. He takes her out to a fancy nightclub (supper club)...where there's a second jewel robbery. Piggy is framed by Lady Holliday's dastardly brother Nick (Charles Grodin), who has an odd crush on her. It'll take all the Muppets' creativity and ability to work together to save Lady Holliday's "Baseball Diamond" from being stolen by the real thieves!

My personal favorite Muppet movie along with Muppets Take Manhattan is one of their funniest, with enough four walls broken to start a brick store. Grodin's especially having fun as the obvious bad guy with a thing for pigs. If you love the Muppets, comic mysteries, or are just looking for a good family movie, this is one of their better ones.

Thankfully, the dark clouds didn't arrive until almost a half-hour after I got home. It's thunderstormed for most of the evening. Lauren is worried about downed branches on the New York-Albany track. She doesn't leave until 11 - hopefully, they'll have them cleared by then.

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