Wednesday, November 03, 2021

Dolls and Apartments

Badly needed to sleep in today. Went online to check something...and got so caught up reading, it was past 11:30 before I had breakfast. Watched Muppet Babies while I ate. The kids want to try Gonzo's "Moon Muffins," but he says they have to find special ingredients across the galaxy. Rizzo the Rat would rather goof off than help gather everything they need, until it turns out what they made isn't enough to make muffins for the whole group. The Muppet Newscaster has a cameo in "News Flash." His story inspires Piggy to start her own all-news channel. Summer and Kermit (the latter in his familiar trench coat and hat) compete to see who'll get the honor of covering Gonzo's new stunt. They keep coming up with wilder and wilder stories, until Piggy starts to question if anything they're covering is true.

Headed out for a quick errand run around noon. Canned pumpkin, crushed pineapple, and mandarin orange cups are all cheaper at Dollar General. Since they didn't have my favorite pecan log, I treated myself to a Winter Spiced Cranberry Sprite instead. 

At least it was a gorgeous day for a walk, sunny, windy, and chilly but not as much as I figured, probably in the lower 50's. I wish it looked more like fall here. The leaves are either dropping off the trees after being brown, or not falling off at all. I think we were too wet and too warm for too long. 

When I got home, I tried calling Mom, but she was on her way into the Shop-Rite in Rio Grande. I'd call her back. Typed that letter, then sent it to the realtor. Tried calling Main Street Realty again and talked to the owner this time. Honestly, she wasn't much of a help either. Basically said "try Parkview or other places that might take low-income rentals." Oh yeah, and people might not take me, even if I pay 4 to 6 months ahead of time, because they don't know if I'll be able to pay after that.

Parkview is out of the question. It's the big high rise hotel on the border of Oaklyn and Collingswood, across from CVS and next-door to the park. It's also rumored to be the home of drug addicts and other shady lower dregs of society. Their reviews online are mediocre at best. I'm not even thinking of moving there. Plus, despite what she said, their rents aren't really that cheap. 

And no, I don't know anyone I can roommate with, either. I don't know anyone around here well, and none of my friends either want to move out, or have the money to. (And one doesn't even live in South Jersey.) The few people around here I do know either have family they live with, or are married. 

The truth of the matter is...I want out. I want out of the Acme, and South Jersey in general. I have for years. As I've mentioned here, I'm not sure where to go next. I've never lived outside of South Jersey. I don't know what would work for me, or where I really belong. The closest I ever came to fitting in was in college. I wish I knew where all the single people like me lived. Oaklyn is mostly families, or if they're single, they're older than me with kids and families and exes. 

On a whim, I looked up cabins in the Poconos. I'm still ready take a tiny little cabin up there and stay there for the rest of my life. It has to be better than dealing with all of this. Anything has to be better than dealing with all of this. For the first time in my life, I want to figure out what I want. Not what my wallet dictates, or what my family says I should do. I know what I enjoy, but not how to turn all of my strange and scattered interests and obsessions into a real career. 

Broke around 3 for a late lunch. When Buzzr kept going in and out, I put on You Can't Do That On Television on Paramount Plus. The kids deal with "Crime and Vandalism" when someone keeps stealing equipment and personnel from the studios. Ross even loses his beloved headphones. Meanwhile, we get a lot of gags in the prison as the kids trick the executioner into letting them go and wonder what they're even doing chained up in the dungeon.

Mom finally called back as I finished my smoothie. She's having her own problems. Her tiny house in the Villas is fairly expensive, and she worries that the landlord might sell it out from under her. She can't even move down to Virginia with my brother, like she planned. Housing's even more expensive down there. 

However, she does agree with the realtors that, despite what Rose said, I need to focus on finding an apartment, not on job hunting. A better job would earn me more money, but a roof over my head is more important. On the other hand, she does say I should probably look for a job as soon as I move. I've tried to tell people for 20 years that the Acme's been terrible for my confidence. My customers are often hard to deal with, and my co-workers are frequently negative and have nothing in common with me. 

Wish I was more like Rose. Apparently, despite having not paid off her law degree, she now wants to be a junior high or high school teacher for history or social studies. She and Craig apparently have money put aside, even after buying a new car, and he's working like crazy. (And I would love to know why my siblings keep buying dogs, even when they don't have the room. Rose has two, plus two cats. Anny has four huge dogs and a snake. Keefe apparently has three, Jesse and Dana bought two more after Nala, TJ has a husky, and Jessa has Midnight. I'm the only one with no pets...and though I did think of getting a cat last year for companionship during the worst of the pandemic, right now, the last thing I need is another body to deal with. I would like to get a cat or fish or something somewhere along the line, but let's figure things out a little more first.)

Did something I am good at after I got off with Mom and dressed the dolls. Put Molly, Samantha, and Josefina in the outfits they originally came in. Josefina wears her brick and brown print meet skirt with her long-sleeved night shift. The shift that originally came with the skirt is short-sleeved, not a good idea for November weather in New Jersey. Felicity wears her most recent meet dress, the blue brocade with the yellow quilted "petticoat." 

Jessa 's sporting the original 1995 modern meet outfit with the magenta leggings, white button-down shirt, and jean vest; added the blue-violet woolen clogs and striped socks that looked like something the human Jessa would wear. Whitney gets a white and maroon Our Generation dress and shrug that's cut like a 60's sheath, but is actually part of the modern line. Lauren sent Ariel's turquoise square-necked floral tunic; her beaded jeans look 70's, but come from the 2003 modern meet outfit, and her boots came with Whitney. 

Had a little bit of time for writing after I put the dolls away. The Cheshire Catwoman poofs to the ground, just as card guards swerve around her. She poofs out again, letting them all clatter to the floor before reappearing in front of Sir Richard and freeing him. 

Buzzr worked well enough for me to watch Match Game '77 while making Italian Stove Top Casserole for dinner. Richard Dawson reveals another reason he started to have trouble with the show when he and Fannie Flagg argued over the answer "filling station" matching "gas tank" with judge Ira Skutch. Meanwhile, Brett almost literally falls over laughing at Charles' answer "Beanery" to the same question, Gene briefly swaps roles with the contestant, and Scoey is happy to finally get the top answer - and a kiss - in the Audience Match.

Rita Moreno always had fun on the show, and tonight's Match Game PM was no exception. It started off with the men arguing over who has the best suit, only to decide that a hard-working brush firefighter has the best suit of all. Meanwhile, we get some racy answers, especially from Patti Deustch, on what a modern version of the Three Wise Men would ride, and Rita's thrilled to help the contestant with "__ Ladd" on the Head-to-Head.

Finished out the night after a shower back on Paramount Plus with The Love Boat. Spurned by a boy she likes, Vicki thinks Gopher is "Burl of My Dreams" when he gives her flowers intended for another passenger. Julie's publisher friend wants to "Meet the Author" of a best selling tough guy mystery, a former cop, but he ends up falling for the real author, his sweet niece. It's "Rhymes, Riddles, and Romance" when two competitive passengers keep trying to cheat the other while looking for a treasure on-board ship. 

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