Tuesday, October 06, 2020

Trouble In the Fall

Kicked off my morning with breakfast and Blockbusters. Came in just as the older former All-American Women's Baseball player beat a brother team. She had a slightly shaky start, but eventually breezed through the Gold Rush round. She was working on beating a pair of sisters when the show ended.

Switched to a couple of mildly spooky episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh while making the bed. Piglet becomes "A Knight to Remember" when he's looking for a chess piece and somehow ends up in a world where his friends are all royalty, and he's expected to fight a very odd dragon. Piglet is so frightened by his nightmare in "Rock-a-Bye Piglet," he refuses to go to sleep. The others try to show him that nightmares aren't real, and are nothing to be afraid of.

I originally intended to head out after Pooh ended. My bike seat got a little loose again. I tried tightening it...but to my horror, the bolt holding the pieces together broke! I tried finding other bolts to use, in my apartment and in the garage, but to no avail. Even Jodie, who turned up after taking a phone call, tried to help. Nothing worked. We just didn't have the right bolt.

She eventually drove me to drop my clothes off at the laundromat, then to the Audubon Hardware a few minutes away. Despite its small size, the store was jam-packed inside and out with every possible thing you could ever need or want from a hardware store. Even when things were normal, I doubt most people could get more than a few steps in the door. They had just the right size bolt, in black and silver. I went with black.

Unfortunately, even when we got home, I couldn't figure out how to the pieces to stay together on the bike seat. I tried to make them stay for almost an hour. Nothing worked. No matter how much I held on or screwed or screamed or yelled, it wouldn't stay. I finally gave up and opted to walk the cart back to the laundromat instead. I'll try again with it tomorrow. At least it was a nice day for a walk, breezy and sunny and warm.

Stopped quickly at Dollar General first. I wanted a gift card for my friend Amanda, but I didn't have the money to pay for it. I'd buy it at the Acme. Had more luck at the House of Fun after I put the laundry in the dryer. Bought a birthday present for Lauren, a Christmas gift for Amanda, and the novelization of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie for me. 

Put on Tattletales when I got home. Today, we had a tie between hilarious comedian couple Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill and shier musicians Bobby Troupe and Julie London. Press Your Luck was even more exciting. Everyone got money in the first round...but then two of the three contestants were hit hard with Whammies. In the end. the champ got just enough money to win and put her over the top for their "Hall of Fame."

Put the summer clothes away while Luck was on and afterwards. Though it may get into the 70's a few times this week, I think we're really done with summer. It'll likely be May before I need the tank tops or my bathing suit again. Got rid of my old summer purse, too. It's so worn, it's not worth keeping. I'll replace it sometime in the next six months.

Switched to one of my eBay purchases while I worked, and then as I did writing. Lost In Boston III is the last of the Versase Saraband "Lost In Boston" series that I didn't have. These are songs from hit musicals that were cut out of town, like the touching "Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10" from Sweet Charity and bouncy "When I Got Out Walkin' With My Baby" from Oklahoma. Other good numbers here include "Mama's Talkin' Soft" from Gypsy (the first time I heard kid actors sing this song, as per the original number), "Big Fat Heart" from Seesaw, and "Older and Wiser" from Bye Bye Birdie

Did manage to get some writing in. King Allen, now restored to his human form, explains to Betty and the others that Malade told him he could only become human again if he ate from his wife's plate, drank from her cup, and kissed her as a frog...without either being pleasant to her, or telling her who he was. Betty admitted she'd suspected it all along, but Malade's magic cast doubt in her mind.

Jodie knocked on the door twice while I was on the computer. She's still clearing out holiday decorations and gave me a pile of Thanksgiving stuffed animals (including a pilgrim teddy bear) and mini-figures. For some reason, there were two of the same floppy rag-doll pilgrim women. I put one in a bag to go to Goodwill, but kept the others. 

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers while watching Match Game '74. Gene gets hot and bothered over Louisa Moritz' fur-covered halter top, then showed off his stage prowess with a little soft-shoe routine. Match Game PM was even wilder. Not only was the audience especially noisy on this one, but when his answer "of Arms" was the 100 dollar selection for "Code ___," Charles ran down and tore his name off the Star Wheel!

Sale of the Century didn't get quite that crazy. The two women went back and forth today, but the one guy did manage to win two prizes on the Fame Board. In the end, the woman champ won the Speed Round decisively and picked up a sweet musical pocket watch from the Match the Prizes Board.

Made Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp while Match Game PM and Sale ran. Should have cut more apples. It tasted like I put in more crumbly topping than apples, though at least the whole thing baked well, without burning. 

Ended the night with Show Girl In Hollywood on the Watch TCM app. I go further into this glimpse behind the scenes at an early talkie musical at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

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