Spent most of the morning dressing the dolls. Molly, Samantha, and Josefina wear their original "meet" outfits. Molly is in her blue argyle sweater, blue felt skirt, the white dickey with the rickrack trim, white socks, and strap shoes borrowed from Sam. Josefina wears her red "meet" skirt with the brown flower print with her long-sleeved nightgown camisa, as the shift that came with the outfit is short-sleeved and too chilly for November in New Jersey. Sam wears her mauve checked dress. I have a really hard time squeezing Felicity into her blue and gold brocade dress (the outfit the most recent version of the doll came in), but she looks so pretty in it that it's totally worth it.
Jessa's ready to do art inside on cold November days in the late 90's Artist Outfit with the lime green t-shirt, fringed overalls, and splatter-print button-down shirt and matching high-top sneakers. Ariel wears the beaded flared jeans from the 2004 modern meet outfit, the boots Whitney originally came in, and a square-necked turquoise and teal peasant blouse Lauren sent ages ago. I love the soft white dress with the red flower print and attached red cardigan I found for Whitney a few years ago. I wish I could get a human-sized version of the dress without the attached cardigan. Kit's in an eBay find, a hand-knitted burgundy sweater with a brown, yellow, and green plaid wrap skirt. Barbara Jean looks elegant for class at Cherry Hill High East in her black and magenta mini-dress with the white satin top, black velvet collar, and soft magenta jacket.
Switched to the Donald Duck wartime shorts as I cleaned up and ate a quick lunch. From 1942 to 1944, Disney did a series of shorts that had Donald as a frustrated soldier in the Army. These honestly came off more like mini episodes of MASH than the surreal lunacy they were doing over at Warners and Famous Studios in the early 40's. "Donald Gets Drafted," and he thinks he's going to be a big flying ace. He ends up dealing with cranky Drill Sergeant Pete instead. He does manage to get in the air during "Sky Trooper," but Pete puts him in with the paratroopers. Their attempt to push away a missile while in the air has explosive consequences!
My favorite of the Donald Duck wartime shorts is "The Vanishing Private." This is the only time in the entire series that Donald gets the better of Pete. When Pete tells Donald to make the cannon "hard to see," he covers it with an invisibility paint. After Donald gets the paint on himself, he leads Pete on a wild chase after "the little man you can't see" all over the base.
"Fall Out, Fall In" is more typical. Donald wants to eat and sleep after a long, grueling hike, but first his tent won't cooperate, then his fellow bunkmates make too much noise for sleeping. "The Old Army Game" is more disturbing today. Pete chases Donald around the base after he's gone AWOL, but it has what Donald thinks is more drastic consequences when he's hurt. "Commando Duck" is the last Disney war short, and the only one to get Donald into actual combat. Donald goes to a (heavily caricatured) Japan, where he proceeds to wipe...no, wash...out the enemy.
Speaking of caricatures, the most famous Disney war short is probably the Oscar-winning "Der Fuhrer's Face." Donald's surreal nightmare about dealing with the Nazi's control of Germany is one of the most imaginatively animated pieces of work Disney ever did. Even the jaunty title song became a hit for comedy orchestra Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
Rushed off to school just as "Commando Duck" was ending. We did get outside for about 40 minutes around 3:30-4 PM. Admittedly, it wasn't the nicest day for running around a playground. While we never got the snow other parts of the northeast reported, it was cloudy, windy, and very cold, in the mid-40's. I did have a lot of fun hopping with one of the little girls in the leaves blown up against the chain link fence around the playground. There weren't enough leaves to jump in, so we hopped in them instead. We had so much fun, some of the other kids did it, too.
Once again, after we got in, we split up the kids. Half stayed and colored and played with toys in the cafeteria. The others played Heads Up 7 Up in the library. That started out all right, but the older kids kept picking the same people, and the younger ones were often too shy to pick anyone. I was actually kind of grateful when we eventually gave up and moved the kids back to the cafeteria.
Jessa was at home and waiting for me when I got in. We had dinner at the Olive Garden in Cherry Hill near the library. I was feeling the need for comfort food, and I haven't been to Olive Garden since college, when my ex-boyfriend Max would occasionally take me to the one in the Hamilton Mall's parking lot. There was a long line when we arrived. Tons of veterans were taking advantage of a special menu. At least it didn't take us that long to be seated. We both had salad, bread sticks and the Endless Bowls of Pasta. I had angel hair, meat sauce, and Italian sausage. She had rigatoni, meat sauce, and meatballs. Oh, yum! That really hit the spot. Even the salad was incredible. And the bread sticks were so soft and salty! We both took our second bowls home, and I got the remaining bread sticks as well, since Jess said she didn't want hers.
Finished the night with 4th season episodes of MASH on Disney Plus. "It Happened One Night" as the surgeons deal with heavy shelling from the US side, a freezing cold night, a young man who keeps going crazy every time he hears the shelling, Klinger trying to run off, and Radar's nervousness around their new Colonel Potter. Poor Radar is still nervous around Potter, which the older man notes when he writes his "Dear Margaret." It takes a horse Hunnicut and Hawkeye saved to show the young man he has more in common with his new commanding officer than he thought. Father Mulcahey has to deal with his own commanding officer (Ned Beatty), which Hunnicut notes as he writes to his "Dear Peggy."
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