Wet World of Winter

Kicked off a damp and gloomy morning with a quick breakfast, then went right into taking down the Christmas decorations. I had a great holiday season, one of the best I've ever had, but I'm ready to move on now. Took down all the smaller items, the bell on the door, the Santa statue in the bedroom, and all of the little things like the porcelain Santa teddies and the vintage Santa and Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shakers and the wood "Falala" and "Hohoho" signs. After all that was finally shoved into a container, I undressed the bears under the tree. Put the ones that were Christmas-only back in the container, and the year-round ones back on my bed.

Finally got back to Downton Abbey as I worked. Mom loaned me her full-series set on Thanksgiving, but I got too caught up with the holidays and Christmas movies to watch much more than the first two episodes. Picked up right where I left off with Episode 3. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is enthralled by a handsome visiting Turkish diplomat from London, Mr. Kemul Pamuk (Theo James)...but so is Thomas (Robert James-Collier), one of the footmen. Pamuk shows up in Mary's bedroom, but he dies before he can get very far. Needless to say, Mary's mother Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) isn't happy when she and the maid Anna (Joanne Froggartt) have to cover up his death and her behavior.

Episode 4 skips ahead a few months to May 1913. The arrival of a fair in town has sent everyone, upstairs and downstairs, into a dither. Poor Anna is sick with a cold, but feels much better when Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), His Lordship's valet, brings her soup and a flower. Carson the butler (Jim Carter) is more concerned about the possibility of a thief after bottles are noticed to be missing from the wine cellar. Meanwhile, Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) develops her latent feminism, thanks to the pamphlets provided by a politically-minded chauffeur (Allen Leech).

Switched to Buzzr and Match Game while doing a few chores around the apartment. I really needed to make the bed, and not only because I just put a bunch of bears back on it. The blankets were starting to fall all over the place. Dressed my Cabbage Patch Kids dolls Dulcie and Carrie in regular clothes. Dulcie got a long-sleeved, red-and-white polka-dot dress with ruffly pinafore sleeves and a strawberry print on the skirt. Carrie's in her original yellow flannel dress with pink and green ribbon trim and a pink satin heart on her chest and an old baby sweater Mom put on her years ago.

Buzzr moved on to Classic Concentration by the time I'd started in on lunch. The same young man from yesterday just kept winning more main round and more prizes...but when it came to the bonus round, he just couldn't do it. He won pretty much everything you could get in 1987 but a car.

Headed out to run errands around 1:30. First stop was the banks. I needed checks. My rent was due. I just got two. The teller suggested I buy online from now on. She said she bought a box of 100 checks for 9 dollars. I may consider it next month, when I have more money after taxes.

My next stop, after dodging traffic on Cuthbert, was the Haddon Township Library. It was quiet when I arrived, but it must have been busy earlier. The DVD return cart was full. It took me over an hour to put everything away, and the TV set shelves are so full, I didn't even bother returning any of those.

For the first time in over three weeks, I took out DVDs. Had so much fun with the original Magic School Bus cartoon back in November, I thought I'd check out the third season. Also grabbed Scooby Doo: Return to Zombie Island and the drama Welcome to Marwen (about a man who recovers from war trauma by creating his own war-themed world with dolls based after the strong women in his life).

Stopped at WaWa on the way home. Bought an Eggnog Smoothie to see if my food stamps were in yet. I can never remember if they come in on the third or the fourth. They worked, so they're in. The Eggnog Smoothie was...ok. It did taste like eggnog, but kind of watered down.

Worked on writing when I got in (after dropping the rent in the McHughs' mail box). It's Princess Della who reveals what kept her and Patti awake - a tiny pea. She moved nineteen mattresses to get at it. Isobel doesn't believe her, until Della easily picks up her chair with her in it.

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Had leftovers while watching an episode of Sale of the Century from 1988. It was "End of the Summer Week," with high school kids playing for a computer and a jeep, among other prizes. I was impressed. A cheerleader, the captain of his school's basketball team, and a marching band member were really neck-and-neck the whole game, playing better than many contestants twice their age.

Took a shower, then finished the night with Scooby Doo: Return to Zombie Island. This one picks up a few months after The 13 Curses of Scooby Doo. Shaggy and Scooby are thrilled when they win a vacation to a tropical resort on Elvira's (Cassandra Peterson) horror show. The island, however, is more swampy than tropical, and the old mansion they're staying at is a dead ringer for the Moonscar Island plantation house. Shaggy and Scooby are tired of their vacations getting ruined by mystery-hunting and forbids them to check out the many strange occurrences...but when zombies turn up, even they admit that there's something strange here that requires for Mystery Inc to do what they do best.

Very disappointing. What I liked about the first Zombie Island was how unusually dark and mature it was for this franchise. Not too much, just right for Scooby. This is a ridiculous attempt to explain away the events of the first film as mere illusions...and as with 13 Curses, you really need to have seen the original film to understand a lot of what's going on here or why everyone's so frightened of zombies or cat creatures. I really don't recommend this one unless you're a huge fan of Scooby or the original film. Let's hope Warners does better with the theatrical Scooby movie when it comes out in May.

And I got incredibly lucky with the weather today. It was cloudy pretty much the entire afternoon. The rain didn't move in until I was online and chatting with Lauren.