The Longest Afternoon

Began a quick and early morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Teacher Harriet is upset when the class rabbit Snowball goes missing. Daniel, Miss Elaina, and everyone in the neighborhood help with "Looking for Snowball." "Daniel's Neighbors Help" when he's not feeling well. Lady Elaine takes him home from school and brings him and his mother chicken soup, while the kids at school draw Daniel a card.

Headed to work shortly after the episode ended. Everything went well early in the day. I came and went with no problems and spent most of the day sweeping and gathering carts. The trouble was, when I started to get tired later in the day, they had no one to help me out. I was the only daytime bagger. They had four evening and night baggers, but only me during the morning and afternoon. By the time I finished, I was so tired, I couldn't even find the broom when I accidentally left it up front. At least the weather was good for it, sunny, chilly, and windy again. Bought a container of no-salt tomato sauce and a sympathy card for Jodie, called Uber, and went home.

There was a mauled folder waiting for me when I got home. Turns out someone in the post office slashed open my food stamps renewal papers...which were due on the 7th. I would have had to completely re-do a lot of the application, anyway. A lot of my information changed this year, including my address and rent. I think I'll just put in a new application next week after the old one ends and live without the food stamps for a couple of weeks. 

Worked on writing after I changed and got organized. Betty and Sharon turn their sheets into tight dresses to pass themselves off as "ladies of the evening" escorting the sailors on-deck. They still need to get Brett from Goodson's, but she may be ahead of them...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had an omelet, then made Lemon-Coconut Muffins while watching Dick Tracy. Tracy (Warren Beatty) is a tough-guy cop in a primary-colored world filled with some of the most grotesque gangsters this side of a horror movie. He wants desperately to arrest the head of the gangsters Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino), but he he has the DA (Dick Van Dyke) in his pocket. His moll Breathless Mahoney (Madonna) wants Tracy to see her as more than a witness, while Tracy's girl Tess Truehart (Glenn Headley) wishes he'd settle down and make more time for her. There's also The Kid (Charlie Korsmo), an orphan who may also have witnessed several gangland slayings. When an unknown figure with no face kills the DA and blames Tracy, then kidnaps Tess and dumps her in Big Boy's basement, it's up to Tracy and the Kid to figure out where she's hidden and who this Blank is, before they both get taken down.

An old childhood favorite. Mom took us to see this when it came out in 1990, and we played Dick Tracy with our friends in the neighborhood for the rest of the summer. The eye candy is really the thing here, with the amazing candy-colored sets and costumes and the incredible make-up that turns an all-star cast into the wild and weird characters from the Chester Gould comic strips. I'm also fond of the great score by Danny Elfman and Stephan Sondheim's songs, including the Oscar-winning "Sooner or Later" and the touching ballad "What Can You Lose?" Highly recommended for fans of comic book-based movies or the cast.

Finished the night online after a shower with a trio of vintage New Year's sitcom episodes . It's "A Night to Disremember" for Oscar Madison in a second season episode of The Odd Couple. Well-meaning Felix brings Oscar and his ex-wife Blanche together to remember the anniversary of their divorce. Their New Year's Eve party turned sour when they accused each other of jumping into the arms of the guests, and Felix, as usual, wasn't as much of a help as he wanted to believe.

New Year's goes better in the 9th season episode "A War for All Seasons" on MASH. We see a year in the life of the 4077th, from General Potter dressed as Father New Year to Winchester and Klinger making bets on the World Series to Father Mulcahy's garden and what the thing Hot Lips is knitting keeps turning into.

I was never a big fan of The Donna Reed Show as a kid. She always seemed a little too perfect...except for in the first season episode "Have Fun." When  Donna Stone's teenage daughter Mary runs home from her first date in tears, she's sure it went badly. Donna and her husband Alex recall how awkward they both were on their first date on New Year's Eve...but like Oscar and Blanche, they both remember things very differently.