Law & Disorder

Started off the morning with breakfast and more of the 1984 Muppet Babies. Gonzo becomes the "Weirdo for the Prosecution" when the others think he broke the cookie jar after a game of Red Light, Green Light got out of hand. They set up their own courtroom to decide what really happened, with Kermit as judge. Skeeter is the lawyer for the nursery. Gonzo tries to defend himself at first, until Piggy plays Perry Mason and brings in a surprise witness to prove that circumstantial evidence do not a crime make. 

Had my jury duty orientation on Zoom at 10 AM. It was really boring. Just a slide show with all the panache of a flat pancake. I didn't learn anything from it I couldn't have gleaned off re-runs of Law & Order and Night Court. At the very least, they did say we weren't needed the first day and I was free.

Fiddled around online for a while, then decided it was too nice of a day to hang out inside. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and it was much warmer than it has been, probably in the 70's. I took the bike out to run some errands in the area.

Rode around a little bit until I came out across from the Shamrock Deli on Cuthbert. I hadn't eaten there before, so I thought I'd try them. The main room is lined with coolers filled with bags of chips (I haven't seen Charleston Chips tins in years), soda, bottles of iced tea, and containers of salads and sides. They had a ten dollar lunch meal. I wanted the chicken salad with soup, but they were out of soup. I ended up eating an so-so chicken salad with iceberg lettuce and tomato, a tiny bag of Lays, and a can of Diet Pepsi in their cozy little dining area.

(Yeah, I don't think I'll be going back there. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great for the price you pay for the deal. If I do go back there, I'll skip the deal and go with one of their larger sandwiches.)

Next stop was Target. I really just needed yogurt. I'm almost out. (I forgot to look for the other thing I'm almost out of, coconut milk.) They have a ton of unique nut flavors and trail mixes. Thought I'd try "doughnut glazed almonds." Boy, am I glad I saw that in the wrong place. They were super yummy, just sweet enough. I could have eaten the whole bag in one go.

Headed to WaWa to get lunch for jury duty, but I didn't like the salads at Target or WaWa. I bought eggs and cheese and decided to make my own salad at home. Treated myself to a mixed berry dragon fruit smoothie. Ooooh, that was amazing. According to the list of ingredients for the worker who put it together, the "mixed berries" are actually blueberry and pomegranate juice. Oooh, also just sweet enough, and very tart. I will absolutely be trying their other fruit smoothie combos now. 

Went straight home after that. I'd had some trouble paying my phone bill on my phone, so I called T-Mobile about setting up an auto-pay. After I got that settled, I went down for a nap. I was dead tired, and I didn't really have any other plans for the day.

Got up around 4:30, still pretty tired. I went online anyway. I wanted to print out my 2021 tax return, before I forgot. Getting to it at TurboTax wasn't a problem. Darn thing had so many pages, I had to change the paper holder twice before it all came out. 

I also checked the NJ Jurors page...and thank heavens, I wasn't called tomorrow. It won't be as big of a deal if I'm called on Wednesday or Thursday. I'm off Wednesday for a job fair; Thursday I only work 4 1/2 hours. I won't lose as much as I would have if I were called on Tuesday. (And I'm wondering when Camden County started holding jurors for 4 days. I swear they only needed me one day the last time I was called in 2019, and they're one day in Cape May and Atlantic Counties.)

Thought I'd try making dinner while Tattletales was on. Buzzr's running shows featuring TV moms all week from 5 to 7. This came from a week in 1984 featuring mothers playing with their sons, in this case, Phyllis Diller, Isobel Sanford, and Shirley Jones. For all her goofiness, Diller and her boy wound up being the ones who came through in the end.

I found a recipe for a simple spinach salad in Cooking With Mickey. Not only did I use the spinach, red onion rings, and thinly sliced mushrooms called for, but I added a sliced mini-cucumber and cherry tomatoes for even more flavor and vitamins. (It also called for a home-made dressing, but I figured what was in the fridge would be fine.) Threw in simple boiled brown rice to go with the baked chicken thighs.

Let Buzzr run while I worked. Guich Kotch from the Match Game marathon last night returns here, along with Paul Williams (in his first week) and Debralee Scott. Betty White fields jokes about her lion-print shirt in the first episode. Debralee Scott deals with "Very __" on the Head-to-Head in the second.

(Oh, and dinner came out very well. A friend did the chicken, and it was very flavorful. The salad worked well together, even if the vegetables wouldn't toss and ended up on the bottom. The brown rice only cooked three-fourths of the way, but it still tasted good.)

Finished the night on Paramount Plus with The Love Boat. A young woman (Susan Blanchard) falls for a handsome soap star (Charles Frank), but her romance goes off the rails when "Soap Gets In Her Eyes" and her mother (Jayne Meadows) believe he's as vicious as the villain he plays on the show. It's "A Match Made In Heaven" when a sweet woman (Juliet Mills) falls for a kind gentleman (Bill Macy) who isn't what he seems to be...or even of this earth...