From Bad to Worse

Kicked off my morning with oatmeal and cranberry sauce for breakfast and Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper. Yogi and Boo Boo hopped on a bus to the big city to visit the other Hanna-Barbara funny animals. Not only did their buddies go to Yellowstone looking for them, but they encounter a little girl at a department store who claims to be all alone. Turns out she's the daughter of a neglectful rich man who's been paying more attention to his work than her. The other Hanna-Barbara characters go out looking for him when they do finally make it to the city.

Rose called while one of the episodes from that 1982 Family Feud beauty pageant winners week I saw last July ran on Buzzr. She was going to talk to Jodie's lawyer nephew and try to get them to pay for my moving, my lost week and a half pay, and my first month's rent, or if I couldn't find a place, at least let me keep my furniture here and my things at Rose's. 

Spent the next hour packing DVDs and CDs into smaller boxes, the board games and photo boxes on the top shelf in the living area into a larger box, and the self-help books into a crate. Watched Match Game '79 while I worked. Charles did a bit of Mario Lanza's hit "Be My Love" for the Audience Match "__ My Love," but Brett got the big answer for that one. For some reason, they skipped the next two episodes, taking us into the middle of the next week. Audrey Meadows proved she was no dumb blonde by giving a good answer to the Head-to-Head round "__ Cold." Meanwhile, Patty Duke by far has the best answer to the question about the what the farmer's son is plowing that he shouldn't be. 

Switched to The Cat In the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas! at Tubi as I made a banana-chocolate smoothie for lunch and continued to pack. Nick, Sally, and the Cat want to take Ralph the Reindeer home to Freeze Your Knees Snowland for Christmas Eve, but the Thing-a-Ma-Jigger keeps breaking down. They're helped along by elephants, dolphins, and red crabs, all of whom teach them how different animals find water sources, travel, and stay together. 

Headed out after the cartoon ended. Wanted to get some grocery shopping done. I don't really need much anyway. I've been eating out of the fridge a lot lately. I mainly bought fruit and vegetables. Picked up a bag of green beans for turkey soup tonight and took advantage of a good sale to get broccoli. Bought dried cranberries for a cookie recipe. Found the cutest little pears for a good price, too. Restocked yogurt, milk, butter, honey, bananas, garlic, shampoo, conditioner, and fresh cranberries. 

Put away the groceries while watching Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales. This is another series of skits made to fill a half-hour with A Charlie Brown Christmas...but as such, it's pretty cute. Sally writes to Samantha Claus and hopes to "fall" down a Christmas tree, while Lucy has Linus write her letter to Santa. 

Rose called again as I did dishes. She did manage to get in touch with Jodie's nephew. While he is open to paying for the move (more than Jodie is), he's apparently being cagey about showing Rose the actual deed for the sale of the house. And Jodie told him the house wasn't sold. It is, or that's what she keeps telling me. 

As soon as I went online, I checked my e-mail. I checked it all day, hoping to hear from Sue Bromley. I did finally hear from her around 4:35. I was rejected yet again. They went with someone who has a higher income than me. She was nice about it and said she'd try to help find me a place, but...that puts me at square one. Yet again. I wish someone would negotiate with me or give me a chance. I know it looks bad, but I honestly and truly will pay, and I will look for a better job and get schooling when I've settled down. 

I was checking the listings again when I heard Jodie chattering on the phone at her side of the house. She cursed Rose out, complaining about her possibly losing the sale of the house, and that if she did, she'd sue both of us as much as possible for damages. If she just TALKED to Rose back in September and not avoided her, or set me up as a real tenant with an actual lease last year, a lot of this likely wouldn't have happened. 

Also heard her insist that Rose and I are after the house, have always wanted the house, and are trying to keep her from selling it. Um...no. Rose has a house, and I don't want this house. I want a house, all right...a nice, quiet little cottage somewhere far away from all of these people. I don't want this monstrosity, either. I know it's too big to take care of. 

She was still complaining when she brought a guy in to hang a fire extinguisher on the wall and a carbon monoxide tester in my room. I don't know why those things weren't there when Jesse and Dana lived here! I kept my back to them and ignored them...but I did hear her tell the guy that the internet is being shut down on the 19th. Apparently, movie producers and their wives don't use the internet. 

(Oh, and I texted everything to Rose. If Jodie doesn't want me to report this stuff, she needs to either lower her voice when she talks on the phone in the den or talk upstairs.)

Made turkey soup from the garlic and green beans, along with onions, the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, and the last of the celery, carrots, and brown rice. Watched more Match Game '79 as I chopped and sauteed vegetables. The second-to-last week of the CBS run brought in Carolyn Reisner, who became it's all-time champion with over 30,000. Orson Bean helps her here, even as he dodges a playful kiss from Gene.

Had my tasty and filling soup while watching Match Game PM. Richard Dawson made one of his rare goofs in the Head-to-Head, mistaking "Pall __" for "Paul __." Meanwhile, Dick Martin, Brett Somers, and Charles Nelson Reilly pretend to play cards on the upper tier when they already matched a question. 

Finished out the night on Paramount Plus with the animated movie How the Toys Saved Christmas. Granny Rose (Mary Tyler Moore) usually delivers the toys for all of the children in her neighborhood at Christmas, but this year, she's sick with a cold. Mr. Grimm (Tony Randall) claims he'll take care of the toys, but he really wants to sell them to rich kids. The toys decide to deliver themselves to the poor children who really need them. Meanwhile, orphan Christopher (Michael Caloz) writes that he wants "one special friend" for Christmas...but Grimm's claim that only rich kids get toys and his encounter with thieves make him wonder if there is someone out there for him.

I had no idea this was actually an Italian production, but it makes sense. The story of La Befana, the witch who delivers gifts while looking for the Three Wise Men, is an old favorite of mine and is very popular in Italy. I had this video for a while in the late 90's-early 2000's, but got rid of it ages ago. The story is charming, but it can also be a little depressing before Mr. Grimm gets his comeuppance. Still, it's worth seeing for older kids who know a little more about Santa and his helpers, or wonder if there's anyone besides the elves helping Santa handing out toys.