Summer In the Fall

This time, I slept in and didn't roll out of bed until past 10:30. Started off my morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Daniel, Miss Elaina, and Katerina are at the Museum-Go-Round, working on their costumes for Dress-Up Day. Daniel wants to be Tigey the Adventure Tiger, while Elaina makes her robot outfit. "Katarina's Costume" ends up being more creative - she can't decide what she wants to be! O the Owl is excited to be dressed as a traffic light for the school parade on "Dress Up Day" and help people. He's upset when his costume rips, but Mrs. Tiger and the people in the town encourage him to figure out what else he wants to be.

Switched to DVD for a spooky episode of the rousing early 2000's swashbuckler spoof Jack of All Trades. Jack's alter-ego The Daring Dragoon is accused of desecrating sacred cemeteries and destroying monuments. Inventor Emilia takes a potion that makes her a "Dead Woman Walking" and will allow her to be in the tombs when they're attacked. Jack joins her and gets really hot under the collar when they're almost creamated!

Jumped over to Match Game '77 just in time for one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. In the first question of the day, Gene laments that the upper tier already matched, so the lower tier panelists play the ones on the upper tier. As funny as Richard Dawson was as Brett, Jo Ann Pflug made a hilarious Dick Gautier with a big white smile, and Fannie Flagg borrowed the appropriate hat and pipe to be a perfect Charles Nelson Reilly!

Headed out shortly after the show ended. It was cloud when I got up, but by 12:30, the clouds and mists vanished, leaving an utterly perfect sunny afternoon. Took the long way across Audubon to the Crossings shopping center. First stop was a brief one at GameStop to get ideas for Lauren and Skylar for Christmas. Next, went to The Shoe Depot. My poor errand-running sneakers were literally falling apart. Found a pair of nifty Reebox with reflective strips on either sides and rubber soles. I love them! They're sooo comfortable. Didn't see any winter boots I liked, though. I may end up ordering those online.

I've wanted to get my hair cut for months now. Thank goodness I last got it done in February, about a month before everything started shutting down. I meant to get my hair done in August, after I returned to work, but I discovered that the Hair Cuttery I was going to in Collingswood shut down. I've looked at places to get my hair done...but I ultimately just stepped into Great Cuts at the shopping center. The lady was sweet, trimming my hair to just above shoulder length. It looks really cute!

There's three cell phone stores in the shopping center. I talked to Metro by T-Mobile and Cricket Wireless. Cricket had slightly cheaper 1-line plans and let me keep my old phone number, but Metro's phone price was cheaper. Not only do I desperately need a new phone, I need an actual phone plan. I'm currently using a free line on Jessa's plan...which is in Dad's name. They're not going to keep a line for a man who is not among the living much longer. Didn't do anything today; I need to do more research.

Hit the Acme next for this week's grocery shopping. Made use of my accumulated rewards points to get free eggs and a chicken sale to pick up two packs of chicken cutlets. Acme's generic sandwich bags are buy one, get one. They're in the midst of their annual "buck a bag" produce sale. I bought most of my vegetables last week, but I did pick up a bag of spinach. The Acme may be one of the only places with plenty of disinfectant wipes. I grabbed a container to use on my hands when I come home from work and errand runs. Restocked bananas, apples, yogurt, milk, trash bags, toilet paper, tomato sauce, crushed pineapple, and brown rice. 

Not nearly as happy with my schedule next week. In good news, I did get Halloween off, as I asked for...but I don't have my next day off until next Friday! And except for Sunday, I work in the afternoon all week. It's starting to get dark earlier. Going home is going to be kind of scary. 

Headed home after that. Got in just in time for Tattletales. Comedian Max Adrian and his gorgeous wife Vonnetta were by far the big winners today, getting a double-money question in the end right. Press Your Luck was really exciting today. Everyone picked up money in the first round. They also did well in the second...until they kept hitting Whammies. The champ hit a Whammy and couldn't pass the one guy, who picked up a car and a trip to New Orleans.

Worked on writing for a while after that. Dick Martin comes over, looking for his cufflinks. Richard pops his hand out to give them to him. Dick just wishes Rich would get over himself a little. He's not nearly as much fun as when they worked together on Laugh-In. Richard angrily tells them he's doing what's best for him and Family Feud. Gene turns down his offer of appearing in the show, saying he'll never speak to him again. 

Broke for Asian Chicken Salad at 6:30. Pan-fried chicken fillets, then sliced them into strips. Put the strips on top of greens, shaved carrots, and tomato wedges, and topped it with sesame seeds and my own home-made Asian dressing. Oh, yum! Came out very well. Good and good for you.

Match Game '74 got almost as wild as the earlier episode. Gene introduced a comedy record Patti Deustch and several other comic actors made, and Richard complained about his chair breaking. A contestant who worked in a psychiatric hospital prompted several jokes on Match Game PM about who on the panel needed to attend one. 

No clue why Sale of the Century skipped ahead to 1988. The champ went back and forth with a young Asian man the entire game. The guy picked up at least one Instant Bargain and the Instant Cash and eventually jumped ahead in the Speed Round. He just missed the "guess the puzzle" Bonus Round, though.

Moved on to Mystery at the Wax Museum when I went online. In this spooky Technicolor thriller, reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) is almost fired on New Year's Day by her editor Jim (Frank McHugh) for not being able to find any news. She runs across a real scoop when she learns that the body of a model thought to be a suicide has disappeared. The model's not the only one. Many bodies have gone missing from the morgue. Florence's roommate Charlotte (Faye Wray) has a boyfriend who works at a brand-new wax museum, overseen by former sculptor Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) who was crippled and disfigured in the conflagration that destroyed his previous museum. Florence notices that the wax figure of Joan of Arc closely resembles the dead model. She's not the only one. Igor and his freaky lackeys may be hiding more than just wax under those statues...and Charlotte could be the next one who gets the statue treatment.

Two-strip Technicolor horror mystery proves that the pinks and greens can be as good dressing up spooky stories as they are musicals. This movie was one of the last major films made in the then-dated Two-Strip process. It was lost for years and only very recently restored to as close to its original glory as UCLA can get it. Determined Farrell, genuinely creepy Atwill, and some scary sets and special effects are the thing here. It was remade in the 1950's as House of Wax with Vincent Price, but this earlier movie is worth checking out, too. 

Finished out the night with The Facts of Life at the Roku Channel. Their "Halloween Show" was in the fifth season, after the girls and Miss Edna (Charlotte Rae) started Edna's Edibles. They're getting ready for their Halloween party when an elderly customer stumbles in with a spooky story about four sisters who were involved in a massacre at the building where their store's housed. Things get even creepier when sausages turn up with no explanation, and then Miss Edna walks around with knives and appear to be possessed. The girls try to get to the bottom of this mystery...but Natalie (Mindy Cohn) may know more than she's telling.