Friday, September 29, 2023

Happiness Is Cookies and Tigers

Started off a gloomy morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel Makes a Mistake" when he knocks the basket of rocks and feathers he and Miss Elainia are looking at under a microscope on the floor. Teacher Harriet assures him that everyone makes mistakes, and the important thing is that you fix it. Baker Aker teaches Daniel and Prince Wednesday how to make trolley-shaped cookies. They make several "Baking Mistakes," but Baker Aker shows them how to clean up after them.

Worked on writing for an hour after that. Joyce is finishing getting water for her and Rover the dog when Charles calls her over to the banks. He's found a short man made all of tin rusting there. Joyce realizes the "Tin Man" is rather familiar as they try to find his oil can.

It wasn't raining this morning. By the time I looked up from my laptop, the showers were out in full force. I figured it would be easier to take Uber and dodge the weather. The gentleman arrived in five minutes and got me to work in less than five. 

I actually ended up sweeping and pushing carts this afternoon. The head bagger wanted to be in a register. Fine by me. The rain slowed down even as I stepped into the Uber car. By the time I pushed carts in the parking lot, it had ended all together. We were a little busier than yesterday, but still not overwhelmingly so.

Oh, and I got my schedule. My only major concern is an 8 1/2 hour day on Sunday, likely due to the first Eagles afternoon game of the season and it being the first day of the month. Otherwise, it's all four and five hour shifts again. Monday and Saturday off, Saturday for the Collingswood Book Festival. 

Since I got off at rush hour, it took me a little while longer to find an Uber to take me home. I finally got one in 10 minutes. It wasn't raining by this point, and hasn't rained since early this afternoon. There was no traffic, and thankfully no flooding either.

Changed, then spent the rest of the evening working on a project I haven't tried in ages. Mrs. Miller gave me real maple syrup, and I have maple syrup from the Vermont Country Store. I made "The Vermont," butter sugar cookies flavored with maple syrup. They came out a tad crunchier than I hoped. I think I had them in the stove a bit too long. 

Wanted a nice, simple dinner. There was a quarter of a bag of shrimp in the freezer. I defrosted those, hoping to make shrimp scampi. Finally decided that the recipe was too complicated and threw together my own shrimp dish. I sauteed the shrimp in oyster sauce and Worcestershire sauce, along with onions and green peppers. Added a can of tomato sauce, red wine vinegar, Old Bay seasoning, and at the last moment, a container of leftover egg noodles. Yum! It was delicious, a delightful combination of flavors. Made for a nice, hearty dinner on a night that remained cloudy and cold. 

Put on Classic Concentration when I got home. It was a tie game when I turned on the TV. The young man won big, getting a ton of prizes. He just barely missed the car, but his fiancee said it was all right. They had more than enough prizes.

Let Buzzr go into Match Game '76. Debralee Scott appeared for the first time, with Scoey Mitchilll and Joyce Bulifant. Richard does his own impersonation of Charles in the first episode, to the annoyance of the latter. Everyone celebrates in the latter when the contestant, after six misses, finally matches Richard on the Head-to-Head with "Miss __." 

No clue why Buzzr went back to Match Game '79 during the 7 PM hour. In fact, they jumped all the way back to New Year's Day 1979. Gene stumbles into the studio draped with streamers from the previous episode, looking more than a little bleary-eyed. After he recovers, we have a bald contestant who apparently made a bet with his wife that a bald man couldn't get on the show. The second show had a female contestant who was taller than Gene, and Gene getting singer Jack Jones to perform a few brief numbers from Guys & Dolls

Finished the night at The Roku Channel after a shower with more Spencer For Hire. It's a "Discord In A Minor" when Spenser is fired from his job guarding a teenage girl when her boyfriend kidnaps her. Turns out there's a lot more to this than it seems. The girl's father is obsessed with her and her pianist career, while the boy is a son of a mobster who wants him home. Turns out the girl's father is a lot scarier than he seems at first, to the point where Spenser has to call in his psychologist girlfriend Susan Silverman to help sort things out. 

No comments: