Thursday, February 18, 2021

A Snowy Day at Home

Awoke at 7 to a world covered in white. Snow fell hard on Hillcrest, making it difficult to tell where the road began and the sidewalk and lawns ended. I called the Acme and told them I couldn't come in; got one of the managers, who said that was fine. There's no way I'd get a ride in that mess. The call took less than five minutes, and I was back in bed within fifteen.

Went back to sleep for another two hours before I finally opened my eyes for good. Read the 1940's Connie Blair mystery The Clue In Blue, then worked on my journal. Rolled out of bed in time for Blockbusters. The father-daughter pair defeated the younger man, but only got four questions on the Gold Run. They'd just started playing a solo woman as the show ended. 

Not only was it pretty obvious the snow wasn't stopping anytime soon, by 11 PM, it was starting to mix with sleet and freezing rain, too. It was no day to go anywhere. I texted Jodie and asked her if I could do the laundry at her house today or tomorrow. Since she was fine either way, I figured I'd get it done today. Might as well get it out of the way sooner than later. 

Gave my new Story of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom record a shot after breakfast. And it is new. I found it factory sealed and in perfect shape at The House of Fun. It's what the cover claims, a recording of the score and some of the dialogue from the film. Oddly, considering it's supposed to be for kids, it does include some of the more disturbing scenes from the film like the hearts being ripped out of chests and isn't shy about discussing Willie and Indy's relationship. 

Thought I'd try making some kind of sweet roll with my unexpected free time. I've had mixed results with my cinnamon rolls, but a snowy day felt like the perfect backdrop to give them another shot. This time, I almost forgot the egg in the dough! I kneaded it in, which made the dough sticky. Just ended up adding more flour. Don't think I put enough cinnamon after rolling it out, either. Oh well. The rolls did rise nicely and smelled amazing in the oven.

Finally took the laundry over to Jodie's side of the house while the rolls rose in my bedroom. Jodie was watching something on The Hallmark Channel as I passed through. She had two important pieces of mail for me. I ordered a copy of the original American Girl BeForever version of Never Stop Singing, the other Melody book, off eBay last week; it showed up a day early. Also got my new non-driver's ID.

Put on Match Game '78 as I cleaned up from the roll mess. Tab Hunter of Damn Yankees and Grease 2 and Marilou Henner of Taxi join Brett, Charles, Fannie Flagg, and Dick Martin here. Tab got a surprise match for big money in the first episode; Gene manages to swat a fly that was annoying him in the second.

Worked on writing for a while after moving the laundry to the dryer and the rolls to the oven. Put on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood after the rolls cooled enough to cover in almond milk glaze. Considering how angry and frustrated I've been with all the lunacy at work lately, I thought two episodes on dealing with anger were more than appropriate. 

Daniel is "Mad at the Crayon Factory" when the box-making machine doesn't have enough boxes for him. His mother calms him down long enough to wait for Lady Elaine to put more paper in. He's even more upset when his baby sister Margaret breaks his rainbow crayon, but his mother reminds him that broken crayons still color. He and O the Owl are "Mad at School" after they can't get their "invention" to work. Teacher Harriett shows them how to calm down, so they can think and fix the problem.

(Oh, and the rolls came out incredible. I probably should have used more cinnamon, but the rolls themselves baked beautifully, smelled wonderful in the oven, and tasted moist and flaky.)

Broke to grab the laundry at quarter after three. Caught the second half of Super Password as I went back and forth. This time, Robert Walden was the one who got his contestant to the Super Password bonus round...but alas, they only got about half the letters right. Tough guy comedian Scoey Mitchilll and his beloved wife Claire were the big winners on Tattletales today, over Bill Macy and his then-girlfriend Samantha and William Gray Espy and Janice Lynde. 

Put the laundry away while running Press Your Luck. The previous champ ran headlong into Whammies in both rounds and didn't get much in the way of turns. The one guy also ran into Whammies, leaving the other lady to pick up a trip and squeal as loudly as her platinum blonde fishing buddy, who was contestant on the show earlier in 1984 but lost.

Resumed writing after the show ended. Added a sequence where Gene swings down, just as Goodson is about to send Tom Kennedy over the side. Gene duels with the amiable Goodson...who is a lot less pleasant when he's reminded that everyone, including reporter Robert Walden, could reveal his corrupt ways on land. He's about to take Gene down when Brett flies into him...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers while watching Match Game '74. Nipsey Russell joins Anita Gillette and Jo Ann Worley of Laugh-In, Gene, and the regulars for jokes about President Ford pardoning baseball players and what animal gets put in the mailbox to get back at the mailman. 

Tonight's episode of Match Game PM hasn't been seen since it originally ran in 1977. I understood why when they made a few dicey jokes about an Asian contestant that he handled well, but may not be taken at face value by audiences nowadays. Otherwise, this was actually a pretty fun episode. Eva Gabor and "Whisperin'" Bill Anderson joined in the jokes here.

It was a tight race for the third time this week on Sale of the Century. The champ said she'd just moved and bought a glass coffee table for her new house; the other lady bought a lemon dessert of the month deal and won two of the three Fame Games. The guy bought the Instant Cash. The champ was behind for the second half of the show, but she came back to win the Speed Round and just barely missed the Bonus Round money.

Finished the night watching The Cotton Club on Pluto TV's on demand service after a shower. I go into further details on Francis Ford Coppola's recut version of his 1984 gangster flop at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

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