Monday, December 06, 2021

Winds of Change

Read in bed and worked on my journal this morning until around 10:30. It was closer to 11 when I finally got moving. Had pineapple pumpkin muffins and made cranberry sauce while watching Family Feud. The previous champs continued on, wiping the floor with the other family. They had far less luck with the Fast Money, missing it by one measly point. 

Spent the next hour and a half on my computer, catching up on apartment-hunting. I e-mailed a bunch of apartment buildings in mid-November I hadn't heard from yet, so went with the closest one, Oak Terrace in Audubon, first. The manager kindly explained why I haven't had any luck with the apartment buildings. Apparently, a law called the Fair Housing Act doesn't allow them to take my six months to a year ahead of time offer, and it doesn't matter if I have money in the bank. They have to go by my actual income. 

At least she was nice about it and took time out to clarify things for me. I called the Oaklyn Villas next...and got the same terse young woman. They apparently processed my application last week, and it's the same deal. I don't make enough money. Wish she could have called me last week and told me. 

Next phoned an apartment in Collingswood that's very similar to the one I lost on the White Horse Pike, though a bit more expensive. It was listed as being available "soon." Turns out the apartment still has a tenant who won't be out until the 15th. The agent said she'd call around then.

After a little more research, I broke to run errands. Strolled down to Family Dollar for another bin. They were surprisingly busy for Monday, with a long line. Fished a few decent boxes out from around back, too. It was crazy-windy, but sunny and too warm for this time of year, into the lower 60's. Wanted to take a longer walk, but I had a hard time controlling the bin and boxes, even on my cart.

Went straight into lunch when I got home, then packed my TV DVD sets, remaining nonfiction books, and anything from the bathroom and kitchen shelves I won't need for the next two weeks. Half-watched, half-listened to Very Merry Christmas Songs while I worked. This is an expanded DVD version of the 80's Sing-Along video of the same name. Along with the original songs, we get four from direct-to-home-media productions ("As Long As It's Christmas" from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, "The Best Christmas of All" from Snowed In at the House of Mouse, and the title song from Seasons of Giving) and four more older ones, including the Bing Crosby "White Christmas."

Switched to Tattletales after the DVD ended. I saw the episode they did today before, but it was a fun one. Jack Albertson and his elegant lady Wallace won easily over TV favorites Ken Berry and Jackie Joseph and kooky Donald Ross and Patti Deustch. Press Your Luck started slow, with everyone getting money in the first half and no one really hitting Whammies. They hit just enough in the second half to assure that the champ would win again, this time picking up a trip to Seattle for his trouble. 

Worked on writing for a while after the show. Brett's annoyed when Fannie seems to be inspecting her, but she has her reasons. The only way Brett will get her and her sons home is to play the "game" the Red King keeps talking about and travel across the Looking Glass Land chessboard. If she and the boys make it to the end, she'll become queen and make her own rules...and help push the Red King out.

Broke for leftovers at 6:30. Carolyn Reisner became the Match Game '79 all-time champ when Brett helped her win over $30,000 with "Snug __." That brought in two new contestants for the last (originally unseen) week of the show's CBS run to hear about the ball that the caddy can't get into the cup. Suzanne Sommers joined in for Match Game PM...and didn't like one of the answers to "__ Bunnies" one bit!

Slid pans of lemon-cranberry cookies in the oven while watching Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus. This retelling of how little Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to her local newspaper the New York Sun asking them if there is a Santa and editor Frances Church put out one of the most famous replies in editorial history basically looks like a historical Peanuts special with more adult characters. It's done in the same style and has a lot of the same child actors. It's too bad this doesn't show up more often nowadays. It's really very adorable. 

Finished the night online with more holiday Mystery Science Theater 3000. The low-budget Mexican Santa Claus gets off to a very slow start as Santa introduces all of the children of the world playing songs from their country. Things pick up considerably in the last half-hour, when Santa has to dodge the Devil's antics and deliver gifts to every child in Mexico. The genuinely funny second half makes it a slight improvement on Santa Conquers the Martians, and Mike and the robots seemed to enjoy riffing it. 

No comments: