Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "Mickey's Choo Choo Express" has a tight schedule as it picks up riders heading down the hill to celebrate Professor Ludwig Von Drake's snow that doesn't melt. Not only do they have to stay on a tight schedule, but there's Conductor Pete to deal with, and they have two surprise guests who know a lot about snow to pick up as well.
Threw on the vintage Donald Duck short "Corn Chips" while getting ready to head out. Donald tricks Chip and Dale into shoveling his walk for him, then accidentally lets them in. He learns a lesson in doing his own chores when the chipmunks steal his popcorn, and his attempts to smoke them out of their tree just makes more of a mess than he started out with.
Called Uber soon as the cartoon ended. No trouble getting to or from Blackwood today. The driver going to Dave & Buster's took 5 minutes. The one going home took 7. In both cases, all the traffic was going in the opposite direction. He pulled into their parking lot around 11 PM.
Spent the next hour and a half or so running from spinning pirate wheel to ring toss to spin the Monopoly dice to the giant Pac Man and Galaga. Got Princess Peach on Mario Kart Deluxe and came in second. Did much better on Crusin' Blast, coming in first on the Death Valley course. Their Lane Master was working, and the skee ball, too. They were busy, and I did have to wait a minute or two for the ring toss, but otherwise, it went pretty well.
I earned over 3,200 points, enough for another Care Bear. This time, I went with Togetherness Bear. This multi-colored girl has a rainbow heart as her tummy symbol. "Love All" is the saying on her tag, and apparently, she champions "acceptance, inclusitivity, and what makes us unique." She's one of the newest Bears, having only debuted in 2021.
Walked across the street to the Blackwood Outlets for lunch and to finish out my shopping. They were very busy, I suspect partially due to the gorgeous day. It was sunny, windy, and in the upper 50's, not quite warm like yesterday, but warmer than it should be in late December. Didn't get anything at Go! Calendars and Toys, but I did pick up two more pairs of sleep socks from Eddie Bauer for $8.99 each.
I was surprised when I quickly got a seat at Friendly's. They're the only sit-down restaurant left at the mall besides Starbucks. They were busy, but not overwhelmingly so. I had iced tea, a crock of broccoli and cheddar soup, and their turkey club as part of a three-item meal deal. Finished off my lunch with a scoop of Viennese Mocha Chunk under luscious hot fudge.
Was in and out of stores for the next two hours. I mainly wanted good brown shoes to wear with my brown, gold, and teal floral skirt. All I could find was a pair of brown loafers at Famous Footwear. Used a 10 percent off coupon on two t-shirts from Lucky Brand. One had Coca Cola Classic on the front. The other said Lucky Brand, but had beautiful flocked roses on the back. Picked up yellow jeans and 70's-style striped socks from Old Navy. Needed underwear at Lane Bryant. Found flowered and plaid ones on clearance 4 for $18.50, then grabbed two sold dark colors to go with them. Also grabbed a pair of khaki twill pants for work that will replace the jeans whose cuffs are too short for working in the cold. Looked at Rack Room Shoes, Adventureland, Toys and Socks, Hanes Brands, and Clarks, and a Christmas gift shop, but found nothing anywhere else.
I haven't had much luck with Uber drivers picking me up at the mall. It's too busy. They often miss me on the curb. I hiked back to Dave & Buster's and picked them up there instead.
The last of my Amazon gifts from Lauren arrived just a half-hour after I got home. I've been trying to find the soundtrack from last year's Wonka film on LP since it came out. I also picked up two books:
Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey (one of four Elemental Masters books I've had a hard time finding around here)
Finale by Stephanie Garber (I couldn't find the last book in her Caraval trilogy around here, either.)
Ran vintage sitcom episodes set on New Year's Eve while I got organized and did the laundry. It's "A War For All Seasons" on MASH as members of the 4077th get help surviving 1951 from a much-mauled Sears catalog. It provides the material for Father Mulcahey to start a garden, Hot Lips with yarn for her ever-evolving knitting project, and Hunnicut and Hawkeye to buy a wash basin for a liver transfer. Klinger convinces Winchester to put money on the Dodgers in the World Series, but it doesn't go like either of them hoped.
Felix is delighted to bring Blanche (Brett Somers) and Oscar (Jack Klugman) together on the anniversary of their divorce in "A Night to Disremember" on the original Odd Couple. Seems the duo broke up on New Year's Eve, though they both recall it very differently. Felix has his own take on the night, leading them to realize that some things are best left unremembered.
Donna Reed tells her nervous teenage daughter Mary to "Have Fun" when she's out on a date with a handsome and smart student (George Hamilton) on The Donna Reed Show. Mary runs home shortly after, certain that the date went badly and her life is over. Her parents tell her about their own disastrous first date on New Year's Eve, though like Blanche and Oscar, they recall it quite differently from one another.
A kindly old man needs "A Place to Die" on Good Times. Florida Evans is against the responsibility of him dying in her home, but she's voted down by her children, especially her youngest son Michael who has befriended him. She's more upset when her husband James is snowbound and unable to come home. She assuages her frustration by helping her children give the elderly gentleman the best New Year's Eve he ever had...and a way for him to go peacefully and surrounded by family and friends when the time comes.
Switched to Match Game Syndicated during dinner and after I brought the laundry upstairs. Gene praises Susan Richardson's unique hairdo that had pale blonde pincurls framing her sweet face. Charles and Brett are more interested in teasing Joyce Bulifant, while Charles jokes about the poker tips a contestant gives out. Ted Lange and Robert Donner join in here.
Finished the night with New Year's game show episodes. New Year's goes back a long way on game shows. What's My Line? celebrated the end of 1961 with no one being able to guess that the older man in the beginning was the owner of the Peppermint Lounge, the nightclub that inspired the hit song "The Peppermint Twist." Mickey Rooney was delighted to baffle them as well.
The panelists on Line weren't the only ones dressing for the occasion. Alex Trebek donned a tuxedo for the second High Rollers in 1979 as he watched a younger woman and a twinkly-eyed older lady roll dice and win prize packages. Peter Tomarken and Rod Roddy also looked snazzy as Whammy pianists wrecked New Year's havoc on Press Your Luck. The panel on Match Game '90 not only dressed the part, but the studio was decorated with silver and black balloons, too. Brad Garrett did a dead-on impersonation of an on-vacation Charles Nelson Reilly.
Of course, not everyone celebrated with fancy duds. Susan Richardson joined Bill Cullen and Tom Kennedy on Password Plus in 1980 to help contestants figure out the last Password Puzzles of the year. The Price Is Right honored the start of 2013 with a huge double Showcase winner who picked up both the prize package revolving around starting the New Year right and the one on recovering from New Year's Eve.
Friends and relatives came for the New Year's celebrations on Family Feud in 1988, which ended with balloons being dropped down on the winning family. Monty Hall saw 1979 in on Beat the Clock as comedian Jack Carter, character actors Ellen Travolta and Louis Nye, and soap star Eileen Barnett tossed balloons and poured enough champagne to flow over a stack of glasses.
Ring in 2025 game show style with these classic and often hilarious New Year's bashes!
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