Busy, Busy Spring

I got up early enough to be able to have breakfast, make the bed, and tidy up in the back room and around the apartment before Charlie arrived. Watched a couple of Peanuts specials in honor of the start of baseball season while I worked. Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown, since she's the worst player on Chuck's team. Trouble is, no one will take her. Peppermint Patty wants Snoopy, but the kids she trades for him won't play on Chuck's team. Even when she does finally take Lucy, she gives Chuck Marcie. Marcie is a very sweet girl, but she's no good at baseball and only plays because her best friend does.

Chuck has even less luck in the second Peanuts special, Charlie Brown's All-Stars. The only way he can keep the kids from quitting all together is by telling them a local businessman promised them uniforms. Trouble is, he won't sponsor a team that features several girls and a dog. It takes a tongue-lashing from Linus to remind the others that, no matter what Charlie Brown's failings are, he was looking out for them.

It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown from 1992 is basically the same story, only this time, in order to get the uniforms, the kids have to win a game. This time, help comes in the form of Freida's little brother Leland, who has decided he's good enough to play with the big kids.

After Charlie arrived, I spent the next few hours working on writing in my room. Ben hands Luke his father's Khyber Saber, Blue Fire, which he'd used to help take on the Nazis and Sith during World War II. The moment Luke takes it into his hand and holds it under a sun beam, he manages to blow every comic in the place off the shelf and take out a substantial chunk of Ben's counter with a sun ray. Luke's apologetic, but Ben's delighted. He seems to have inbred abilities of his own, much like his father...

Headed out around 11:30 to run errands. First stop was the Oaklyn Library. They were pretty quiet. It was just me, the librarian, and one or two people on the computers. They have several of the Pink Panther and Friends collections; I took out the one focusing on the Inspector. I also grabbed Bohemian Rhapsody for review on my Musical Dreams blog onTuesday.

I was originally going to hit Sonic for lunch. It was cloudy and a little cool, but warmer than it has been. A large crowd of chattering teenagers gathered around the outside ordering intercom at Sonic scratched that idea. I wondered what all the kids were doing there during school hours when I noticed two yellow buses from schools in Camden across the way in the parking lot between Sonic and Arby's. They must have been on their way back from a school field trip. Well, that killed that idea. Not only had they invaded Sonic, but Chick Fil'A was mobbed as well. The last time I had anything from Arby's, I spent the next few days with severe heartburn.

Ended up at Tu Se Bella's by default. I hadn't had pizza out in a while, anyway. Had a slice of cheese and a slice of mushroom, spinach, ricotta, and tomatoes. Washed it down with that new Orange Vanilla Coke. Thankfully, they weren't so busy that I didn't get my pizza in less than five minutes. Everything was delicious, as always. The vegetable pizza was amazing. Loved the orange Coke, too. Tasted like a creamsicle.

Grocery shopping was next on my list. I was mainly there to restock and buy things for dinner tonight. Picked up shredded Italian cheese, Parmesan cheese, and pasta for my meal They were having a good chicken sale; I bought ground chicken and chicken tenderloins. Citrus fruit had gotten so expensive, I opted for low-sugar strawberry applesauce to go with breakfast. Grabbed pears, skim milk, bananas, yogurt, white and brown sugar, and peanut butter.

Mixed feelings on my schedule next week. On one hand, it's a bit closer to normal, with the days off more spread out (and one on Monday). However, I have slightly fewer hours, and early hours on Sunday.

Put on a few Inspector cartoons while I got everything organized. "The Great DeGaulle Stone Operation" is a plan to keep the diamond out of the hands of the three-headed thief the Maxi-o-Reilly Brothers...but the Inspector just can't seem to keep it away from them. (One of the brothers is pretty much an annoying Asian stereotype.) The Inspector and his Spanish partner Deux-Deux go after Captain Clamity and Crab Louie, but their attempts to "Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat" just keep giving the Inspector that sinking feeling. The Commissioner becomes "Napoleon Blown-Apart" when the Mad Bomber keeps tossing explosives at him wherever he goes, despite the Inspector's best efforts to keep him safe.

Headed back out after the groceries had been put away. This time, I went straight to the Haddon Township Library. They weren't too busy, either. It showered lightly earlier in the day, but by 2:30, the rain was gone, and while it remained cloudy, it was also warmer. I mostly shelved quite a few DVDs. Limited the DVD rentals to the last Daniel Tiger set I hadn't seen, Daniel On the Farm, and another new release I really wanted to see, First Man.

They finally seem to have finished rebuilding the McDonald's on the hill under the library. It's boxy and "space-age," though the gray and yellow paint is a bit bland. (From what I could see when I passed it, it also no longer has an indoor playground. Khai is going to be so disappointed.) I was now able to take the long way home across the park again. I wasn't the only one. With the rain gone and the sun trying to come out, I dodged dog walkers, joggers, kids walking home from school, and members of Haddon Township High School's spring track team.

Made a very quick stop at Dollar General on the way home. I needed eggs, and they're a lot cheaper there than they are at the Acme. I went in, I bought them, I got out.

Headed straight home after that. Made baked pasta for dinner; a layer of tomatoes and sauteed onions, then a layer of browned ground chicken, then a layer of pasta, topped with Italian cheese and Parmesan and tomato sauce. Yum! Other than the sauce was too thin and didn't stick to anything, it came out very well, nice and flavorful.

Moved on to making Lime Cookies from that one-bowl cookie cookbook Lauren sent me a while back after dinner. They came out just perfect, even though I used lime juice instead of lime extract (which I didn't have), nice and chewy.

 Ran the Daniel Tiger farm-themed episodes while I ate and worked. Daniel's thrilled to introduce Margaret to the farm where the duck his school hatched now lives in "Daniel and Margaret Visit the Farm." He sees Chrissie there, riding her horse Peaches, and wants to try it too...until he's on the horse and realizes how big it is. Daniel Sr. holds his son's hand until he's used to riding. Dan has to hold Margaret's hand when she's nervous about feeding the ducks birdseed.

It's "Clean-Up Time" for Daniel and O the Owl when they keep leaving toys all over while they play farm. Mrs. Tiger has to remind them to clean up...until Dan loses his favorite watch, and they have to pick up everything to find it. "Daniel Uses His Words" when he's so mad at his mother for moving his farm toys, he just sputters. She reminds him that there's a better way to express his anger. Daniel loves helping his mother with "Margaret's Bathtime." He enjoys taking care of his little sister and making sure she gets scrubbed clean and is happy. (The two of them playing together is sooo precious!)

Played some Angry Birds Star Wars after a shower. This time, I did manage to get three stars on at least two of the rounds, and two stars on another. It's really hard to figure out how to get the Han birds to shoot just right, or where to aim the Luke red birds and their lightsabers. I'll be starting out in space the next time I play.

Finished the night with a couple of episodes of The Flash. Wells is the one in trouble in "The Sound and the Fury." Hartley Rathaway, aka The Pied Piper, had once been one of his brightest assistants...but he was also an arrogant rich jerk with no social skills, and no one at STAR Labs was unhappy when he was fired. Angry, he uses sonic blasts to decimate his targets, including Barry. Wells and the others have to find a way to put him out of commission...but he claims that he knows where Ronnie, now Firestorm, wandered off to...

Which leads us to "Crazy for You." While Barry and Wells chase down a woman who uses her teleportation powers to help her boyfriend pull off a heist, Cisco tries to get Hathaway to tell him what he knows about Ronnie. Barry does manage to catch the girl, but Hathaway reveals that Ronnie merged with well-known scientist Martin Stein (Victor Garber) during the particle accelerator explosion before he escapes.. Meanwhile, Barry's started to date a girl named Linda (Malese Jow) who works at the newspaper with Iris.

Things get really hot under the collar in "The Nuclear Man." Turns out that it's Stein's mind in Ronnie's brain, to Catalin's horror. Stein agrees to a series of tests. To everyone's horror, it would seem that the atoms of the two men are in conflict, and if they don't do something soon, he'll explode and decimate the entire city. Stein flees outside of town before that can happen, but Barry and Cisco think they may have a way to separate the men...

The "Fallout" is difficult for both men. Turns out their minds have melded into one. What one feels, the other feels, too. The crazy General Elling from "Plastique" now intends to grab both men for his experiments. Catalin just wants to live a normal life with the man she loves, but Ronnie knows that isn't possible with Elling on their tale and finally leaves with Stein. Meanwhile, Wells - and his psychic gorilla - have their own ways of dealing with the mad military man.