Sunny Spring Days

Slept in a little bit this morning before awakening to an absolutely gorgeous morning. Began the next Rick Steves disc while I ate breakfast, and then while making Coconut Crisps from that Duncan Hines baking book I found a few weeks ago. His side trips from Paris and into the Loire Valley mostly concentrated on the stunning palaces and chateaus built by French nobility before the Revolution, including the wonders of Versailles.

His trip into Turkey was even more interesting. Turkey is a fascinating land, with a diverse culture of Arabs, Muslims, Christians, and many others living in one small country. I enjoyed seeing Rick visit several holy sites and talk with an actual family of Muslims.

(By the way, the cookies tasted pretty good, but I really made them too big. Plus, the first batch got a little burnt, though they're not inedible.)

Spent the next two hours online, writing, messing around, and waiting for Camden County to call. I didn't hear from them until 2:30. Same deal as the last two times they did this - they asked me how much money I make and said they'll send me a packet with the rest of the paperwork.

It was such a nice day, I went out for a walk after a very quick lunch. Left the bike at home and struck out on foot. My first stop was the House of Fun. They were pretty busy with kids and young adults off school and college. I browsed around, but eventually decided I'd wait for Lauren to visit.

The next stop was more important. I really needed to talk to Dad and Jodie. Dad was napping when I arrived, but Jodie was there. Yes, she'll drop Lauren off at the train station in Cherry Hill, and she'll tell Rose to pick her up. She and Dad are mostly fine. She went out to a family member's house for Easter. Dad stayed home. She wasn't happy when I told her that Rose is trying to find another doctor. She said she'll either get on Rose's rear and tell her to call the first doctor again, or get the paperwork and do it herself. (I hope either them do it. Jodie says she thinks the doctor will be perfect for me. Whatever. I just want a second opinion and someone to help me with my anxiety problems.)

It was too nice to go straight home after I left Dad and Jodie's. I treated myself to a Frozen Chocolate from Dunkin' Donuts on the White Horse Pike. It obviously came from a hot chocolate mix - it was kind of grainy - but it tasted pretty good. They were a lot busier on the drive-through than inside. The girl took my order while helping another customer at the window!

When I did go home, I briefly resumed writing, partially to drown out Charlie working on the siding. Luke does manage to rescue Leia...only to be nearly knocked out by a wall of water. Vader flooded the room and tried to drown her. Once Luke frees her, she manages to use her fire powers to (accidentally) knock out the computer consoles. Harris hands them his homemade weapons that shoot sticky gunk at people or freezes them.

Made flounder cooked in vegetable stock with steamed asparagus for dinner. Had it while watching the remaining Rick Steves episodes. Turkey, Isreal, and Palestine are all fascinating countries...but Rick doesn't shy away from a short discussion of all the trouble the latter two are having with their border disputes. The Dead Sea and the Jordan River are both gorgeous areas - no wonder people insist on being baptized in the latter.

Returned to Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga after dinner. Thought I'd give this one a third shot. Got through the first three Phantom Menace rounds in a little over an hour. Got True Jedi on all three, but the only one where I found a lot of pieces was the second that introduces Jar Jar. Didn't find much on the other two.

Finished the night with something totally different. I was looking up some game shows I used to love as a kid when I noticed that a lot of them were now run on a channel called Buzzr...and that they stream for free online. Got to see one episode each of Press Your Luck, Match Game, Password Plus, and Card Sharks, and two of Supermarket Sweep. Password is the only one that's totally new to me. I watched Press, Supermarket Sweep, and the later CBS version of Card Sharks when they first ran, and I'm pretty sure I saw at least a little of Match Game in re-runs.

This brought back so many memories. I used to watch game shows all morning when I was home, and then catch them in re-runs on the USA Network later. It annoyed the heck out of Mom, who would have rather I been outside, but I loved learning all kinds of crazy trivia and getting to make fun of bad fashion. If you want to relive some fond memories too, here's the link:

Buzzr