Here Come the Kids

Started off the morning with breakfast and A Walt Disney Christmas. I dubbed this collection of vintage Disney winter and holiday shorts off an old white clamshell tape a decade ago, and though I now have all of these on Disney Plus or Treasures sets, it's still nice to see them all in one place. The tape was so old, it used the uncensored versions of "Santa's Workshop," "The Night Before Christmas," and "Donald's Snow Fight." It was the first time I ever saw those shorts complete and uncut. 

Moved into the bedroom for an hour or so send Rose the list of groceries I'll need when I house-sit Christmas week and call back the guy who owns the apartment buildings down the street. Got his answering machine, so I left a message. Checked for apartments after that, but had no luck. Most apartments either aren't available until later this month or January, or they're outside of my budget, or they're apartment buildings. 

Broke around quarter after 1 to make a quick Dollar General run. Mainly needed Liquid Plummer. The tub's started to run slow again. Looked for the refills for my Spinbrush, but they were out of them. Found tons of that Ginger Snap'd Mountain Dew in a small cooler used for limited edition sodas, so I grabbed another one. I also fished a few boxes out of a couple of metal bins in the back used for boxes on their way to being recycled. 

At least it was a nice day for a walk. Chilly and sunny, but not windy or really that out of line for this time of year. Good thing it wasn't windy. I had a hard enough time carrying four boxes, the soda, and the Liquid Plummer home as it was! I knew I should have brought the cart.

Made a cranberry banana smoothie for lunch when I got home, then moved my DVD cases to a box and packed most of the supplies kept in the kitchen dresser. Watched Here Comes the Girls on YouTube as I worked. I go further into this comic murder mystery vehicle for Bob Hope, Rosemary Clooney, and Arlene Dahl at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

A Salute to Arlene Dahl - Here Comes the Girls

Rose texted, then called as Tattletales began and asked me over for dinner. She wanted to show me where everything was in the kitchen, so I'd have a general idea of where to find things when I house and cat-sit. She said she'd be there in a half-hour, but it was closer to an hour when she finally pulled up with a sleepy Finley in the back. At least it gave me the time to admire a radiant molten red sunset glowing behind the trees around the train tracks.

Finley resumed watching Monsters Vs. Aliens with Khai when we arrived home. I joined them, giving Cider and Kelsey nice scratches on their heads. On the day of her wedding to weatherman Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a meteorite from a destroyed planet. The radiation causes her to grow nearly 50 feet tall and wreck the church. She's subdued and brought to a top-secret government hanger where other monsters - a friendly blue blob named B.O.B (Seth Rogan), a scientist named Dr. Cockroach who was turned into an insect by his own experiment (Hugh Laurie), a prehistoric creature defrosted in the 21st century (Will Arnett), and a mutated caterpillar (Conrad Vernon) - reside. There's also the insane alien lord Gallaxhar (Ranin Wilson) who destroyed his own planet and not only wants to take over the Earth, but needs the very substance that made Susan grow to do it. 

I could see why the kids were into it. I got a big kick out of it; the great cast and some amazing animation, especially during the cloning sequences in the alien ship near the end were a lot of fun. I can't help but wonder if the real audience for this one along with kids might be sci-fi and horror fans who'll get the many references to and spoofs of vintage horror and sci-fi films and tropes.

Rose wrangled with the government's app on her cell phone while we finished the movie. Apparently, there was only a certain window of time when she could certify her unemployment. Not only did she have to get it all done in a half-hour, but for some reason, the government accidentally erased all her certification through April, and she had to re-do that. She did get it done, and it sounds like she may get a very tidy windfall.

After she finished with the app, we had turkey meatloaf, egg noodles, and applesauce for dinner. I ate it all. Rose used leftover stuffing in the meatloaf that made it a little mushy, but it was still tasty. Khai ate all but a little of his meatloaf. Finley ate her applesauce and noodles (the latter with her fingers), but had to be coaxed to eat even a little of the meatloaf. (In her defense, it wasn't the most attractive food, and as I said, was kind of mushy.) 

She showed me around the kitchen and basement as we cleaned up from dinner. Her house is a 1920's era-bungalow and the kitchen is pretty small, so figuring out what was where wasn't hard. My main concern is the baking pans are under the gas stove. I hope I don't knock anything out! The cats' litter boxes are next to the washing machines in the basement. They need to be scooped out every other day, for obvious reasons. She also rounded up empty boxes and an unused bin for packing.

(Oh, and no, Rose hasn't heard anything. She's still waiting on hearing from the new owners of the house.)

Finished the night with Bugs Bunny's Christmas Tales while I wrapped the presents for my nieces and nephews. Bugs and the Tunes host this half-hour collection of three original holiday shorts. Yosemite Sam is Scrooge and Bugs is Nephew Fred in the first short, a parody of A Christmas Carol. The second has Wil E. Coyote chasing his holiday dinner up into the cold, snowy mountaintops. Bugs returns for the third as he tries to keep the Tasmanian Devil in a Santa suit from wrecking too much havoc.