Autumn Winds

Kicked off a far more pleasant morning with more Match Game. Kirstie Alley, later of Cheers, turned up as a contestant in three episodes from 1979...and her introductory episode was an especially good one. At one point early on, Gene gets so tired of waiting for another contestant to choose an answer, he lays down and pretends to take a nap! We also get some wild overacting on a New York-based question by Bronx native Charles, prompting Betty White to hand him tissues.

Headed out to get the laundry done shortly after the episode ended (stopping to drop of my rent and a birthday card for my friend Amanda on the way). It's a good thing they were mostly quiet when I got there. I didn't have a lot of time. A poor woman dropped a huge container of detergent while I was there. I did offer to help clean it up, but she grabbed a towel from her own bags and said she was fine.

Had enough time to hurry home, put everything away, change, make my grocery list, and hurry off to work. It was off-and-on steady at work, but other than ending up in the register briefly, I was mostly outside with the carts. It was too nice to be inside! The sun was out, the humidity was gone, and while it was crazy-windy, it was also warmer than yesterday.

My schedule next week is not only far better than this week, but the best I've had since early in the summer. More hours, mostly in the mid-afternoon. I do work early Sunday, but I get off with enough time to rush to Dad and Jodie's for the Eagles game. One relatively late day on Thursday, and I won't have the time for the Farm Market next week, but after this week, I'll take it.

Didn't really have much grocery shopping to do, but I did need a few expensive items. Tried a "fridge pack" of Dole fruit with an online coupon. Am almost out of olive oil. The Acme's generic brand was the cheapest. With barbecue season largely over, hot dog sales aren't quite as big as they were a few weeks ago. I still went with Nathan's Beef Franks, as I have another online coupon. Restocked butter, yogurt, apple cider, shaving lotion, tomato sauce, pudding, cake mix, vanilla extract, and brown sugar.

Put everything away and finished out the Kirstie Alley Match Game episodes when I got home, then went into writing. Gene pokes his head in next, telling the others that he just warmed up the crowd. Richard does his Maxwell Smart impression, jokingly calling Gene "Chief." Gene says he likes it, and leaves to think it over. Brett follows. Richard admonishes Charles for not being more aggressive with Ira. Charles admits that the producer intimidates him before leaving, too. Richard returns to his Bond novel, but his mind is really on wishing he had his own show, or something where he could put the producer in his place...

Finished out the third Match Game disc while eating roasted broccoli and home-made fries for dinner. Curtis returned for another 1980 episode, this time joined by Brett, Charles, Fannie, impressionist Richard Paul, and Bart Braverman from the action show Vega$. Braverman stuck around for a nighttime game from '80, joined by baseball star Don Sutton, Marcia Wallace, and fellow Vega$ cast member Phyllis Davis. Sutton's appearance prompted several athletic jokes, including one very interesting answer on a later question from Charles.

Ended the night with Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase. Having just moved to tiny River Heights from Chicago, a bored Nancy (Sophia Lillis) is constantly getting into trouble with her two best friends, shy Bess Marvin (Mackenzie Graham) and sporty George Fayne (Zoe Renee). Her father Carson Drew (Sam Trammell) is more concerned with fighting a train coming through and prompting the destruction of several historic homes. The owner of one of those homes, Flora (Linda Lavin), has been seeing spooky things going on in her house. Curious and excited, Nancy agrees to help her, despite disliking her popular niece Helen (Laura Slade Wiggins). As she gets to know the older woman and hear her stories, she realizes that there's something in her house that's a lot more real than a ghost...especially after a local thug (Jesse C. Boyd) threatens her and her father, and her father goes missing...

Very cute mystery of a girl who learns that there's a lot more to small-town life than old houses and quaint festivals...and that there's a lot more going on with a person than what you see on the surface. Ellis is perky and fun, even when the movie gets a little too kiddie for its britches and takes a left turn into action in the end. If you have young teens who have read the Nancy Drew books, they may enjoy this one more than I did.