Thursday, December 29, 2022

Mall Madness

Got a quick start slightly earlier today with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Many people clear out old things to make way for new either right before or right after Christmas. The Neighborhood of Make Believe is no exception. "Daniel's Rocking Chair" is too small for him. He has a hard time letting it go at first, until he sees how much his little sister Margaret really likes it. "Prince Wednesday Gives Away His Book" on rock crystals when he sees how much O enjoys it. 

Headed out after Daniel Tiger ended, around quarter after 11. I planned on carrying things home, so I called Uber. The gentleman arrived within 6 minutes. Took less than 10 to ride in a straight line down the White Horse Pike to Barrington.

I enjoyed my birthday trip to the Barrington Antique Center and Deptford Mall so much, I decided to repeat it. The Barrington Antique Center is a huge old house stuffed full of every bit of vintage bric-a-brac in existence, from genuine antique china and glassware to DVDs from two or three years ago. Unlike my birthday visit, I didn't see anything I couldn't live without and walked out with nothing.

Picked up the largely empty bus about a block from the Antique Center in front of the Old Rail Tavern, taking it to the Deptford Mall. It lets you off right around the corner from Red Robin. Thought that would be a great place for lunch, but...the line was literally out the door. The college kid host said it would be a 20-30 minute wait. I decided I'd wait on lunch instead.

Since Boscov's is two doors down from Red Robin, I started there by default. I love Boscov's. They're a real old-fashioned department store, with a candy counter and a toy section and a furniture section. Stuck to the clothes upstairs this time. They also are the only department store I've ever seen with a Plus section for Juniors. I found a nice teal sweater from the regular adult Plus and two cute t-shirts from the Juniors, one in a bright blue, one bright red with the Cherry Coke logo on it. All three came to $35, with the sweater being $20.

Peeked at FYE twice, once right after Boscov's, and again shortly before I left. They have some DVDs and records, but not to the degree of larger stores. Considered the sets for the last season of Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon Stars, but decided to see if I could find them cheaper on Amazon. 

Hit Round 1 Entertainment next. This is the combination arcade/bowling alley/bar on the other side of the mall from Boscov's. They still haven't fixed the skee ball machines, but I had a great time with everything else, including giant versions of Pac Man, Space Invaders, and Bust-a-Move. I actually got the most points on a game where you pull back a big ball lever as hard as you can to send a ball down a track. What points you get depends on how far the ball goes and where it stops. I hit the jackpot the first time, getting 500 points! Did pretty well with the bean bag toss and the spin-the-pirate-wheel game, too. 

I got so many points, I picked up a medium-sized Beanie Baby dragon named Grindel with a gold horn, soft ebony fur, and glittering scarlet wings at the counter and only used half of them. I also finally, after over a year of trying, won a stuffed toy from a Round 1 crane, a small stuffed Luna from Sailor Moon. And I had to play that three times before I got the cat to stay in the claw!

Since it's pretty close to Round 1, I hit Macy's next. They were a little picked-over, but I did manage to come up with a pair of cocoa brown jeans, a long-sleeved henley shirt with the same maroon flower print I found on a short-sleeved blouse in Albany, and a white button-down shirt for when Abilities Solutions finally starts getting me to do interviews. Their sales weren't quite as good as some of the others I've run into over the last few days. Mom's gift card covered the jeans and the henley. I bought the button-down shirt.

Peeked briefly around Box Lunch and Hot Topic next, but by then, it was past 3:30. Went back to Red Robin to see what the line was like. Thankfully, by that point, it was gone. Since it was so late, I just had a tasty if messy Teriyaki Grilled Chicken Sandwich with pineapple rings, lettuce, and tomato, and their thick steak fries with an unsweetened iced tea.

On my way to Macy's, I noticed a booth for Hershey's Ice Cream. I've seen them around, but I've never tried their wares. They had a couple of really nifty-looking flavors. I dodged a large family looking for treats long enough to order two scoops of banana pudding - banana ice cream with crumbled vanilla wafer cookies and marshmallow swirls. Oooh, yum! Very sweet and very banana. The crumbled cookies added just the right crunch. 

Unfortunately, all the tables around Hershey's and Starbucks were taken. After buying a Diet Dr. Pepper from a nifty soda vending machine that dropped the soda into a plastic holder, I opted to take the elevator upstairs with my ice cream to save my feet. Three pre-teen boys standing with me weren't nearly so patient. They kept yelling at the elevator and shoving at the door, even though it didn't really take that long to come. Once we finally got upstairs, they gave each other piggy-back rides down the corridor. 

By the time I emerged from my second trip to FYE, I was dead tired. Time to go home. Called Uber to take me straight to the house. They took 16 minutes to arrive, but it was also a little after 5 PM, the height of rush hour. It took them a little over 20 minutes after that, dodging traffic on the Expressway.

Worked on writing for a bit after I put everything away. The Mouse King vows revenge on the Nutcracker for killing his mother. The Nutcracker demands that he restore the Princess, but he reminds him that the conditions of the curse haven't been met yet.

I had such a late lunch that I didn't break for dinner until past 7. Ate while watching Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration on Disney Plus. I go further into Disney's second live action-animated hybrid stage show at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.


Finished the night with The Love Boat on Paramount Plus. The Pacific Princess goes to the dogs during their 90 minute "Dog Show Cruise" in season 6. Dog owners hoping to win a $10,000 prize take their talented pooches to Acapulco to show them off. The wealthy owner of the dog food company sponsoring the show (Gordon Jump) assigns a mail room clerk (Ray Buktenica) to explain that he'll be late in joining the cruise. The crew thinks he's his boss and give him his stateroom. He's thrilled to take his boss' responsibilities, until first he falls for a gorgeous passenger (Heather Thomas), then his boss' wife (Jo Ann Worley) arrives. 

Issac and Gopher buy a dog for 8 dollars, but sell her to Vicki when they can't train her. Vicki turns out to have no trouble.  Issac's Aunt Tanya (Isobel Sanford) treats the tiny dog she bought like her own child, neglecting her husband (Mel Stewart) in the process. A woman (Catherine Bach) and a man (Dirk Bennedict) argue over a dog she lost that he took in. 

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