Friday, November 22, 2019

Rainy Day Blues

Started a cloudy morning with breakfast and one of my favorite rare holiday specials, The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas. Ted E. Bear (Tom Smothers) is curious about Christmas. Most bears hibernate from December through spring and have never experienced it. Every bear at the Honey Works, including his girlfriend Patti (Barbara Felton) and his sleepy roommate Honey (Michael Bell) thinks he's crazy, but he's determined to stay awake and see Christmas. He wanders into the city, where he finds noise, toys in a window, and a Santa Claus (Robert Holt) who leads him to a home where he finally discovers what the holidays are all about.

Headed out to work shortly after the cartoon ended. It was on-and-off busy, not as bad as I thought it would be. I couldn't mop the floors in the bathroom because they were out of the cleaner - they weren't really that bad anyway, and I was able to do everything else. I mainly swept floors and gathered carts in the rain that began somewhere around 11.

Wasn't happy with my schedule next week. I switched with a teenager who didn't mind working holidays to get Thanksgiving off, but turns out I couldn't replace the hours. I'm surprised I didn't have more hours. At least I'll get to see the Collingswood Christmas Parade next Saturday.

I figured I deserved the best for lunch after all that, so I went to Tu Se Bella Pizza. Got a slice of mushroom, a slice of shrimp and broccoli, and a bottle of Orange Vanilla Coke Zero. They make the best pizza in the area, with the most creative toppings. I needed something hot and creative at that point. While it had stopped raining by then, it remained humid and gloomy.

Wanted to get as much grocery shopping done today as possible. I don't want to contemplate how busy the stores will be from now through Wednesday! I was thrilled to find Belvita's amazing Gingerbread Cookies. There was only one box left, and I had an online coupon. Had a free coupon for 18-count eggs from Acme's Grocery Rewards Program and another online one for Talenti Gelato. Dug Crest Pro-Health toothpaste off the clearance shelves. Needed milk and orange juice for the cranberry bread I'll be making next week. Red pears were on a good sale. Restocked tangerines, cranberries, conditioner, jam, oranges, cheese, yogurt, butter, chicken drumsticks, cake mix, cereal (the Acme's generic Corn Chex), and sugar.

Cheered myself up with two Match Game episodes while I put everything away. Brett, Charles, and Betty White all debuted together during the third week of the show in 1973. Brett teased Charles right away, reminding everyone that he doesn't (and apparently, never did) wear socks. Charles wasn't around for her to make fun of in an episode from a few weeks later, so she teased Richard (whom she was sitting next to at that point) instead.

Worked on writing for a while. The girl they found awakens...and reveals she can't talk. Even so, Donald swears she's familiar. She tries to make her legs look like a fish tail, but Charles and Brett don't quite understand.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers, then made Ginger Cookies from that one-bowl cookie cookbook Lauren sent me a while back. I burnt the first batch, but not so badly that they weren't edible. The second came out fine.

Finished the night with The Nutcracker: A Fantasy On Ice. I dubbed the version from the early 80's with Dorothy Hamill as Clara and Robin Cousins as the title character. Lorne Greene narrates the story to his granddaughter. This version ran frequently on cable in the early-mid 80's. It was likely the very first version of The Nutcracker I saw, well before I knew it was a ballet.

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