It was getting late, but I really did have grocery shopping I couldn't put off. I called Uber. They took 12 minutes to arrive, not bad at noon, and 8 minutes to pick me up at the Acme. No trouble on Cuthbert, thankfully.
I started with lunch at the Westmont Bagel Shop. I didn't know they made such delicious blueberry pancakes! They were the lightest, fluffiest pancakes I'd ever had, with big, juicy blueberries. The bacon was melt-in-your mouth crispy. Unfortunately, I got blueberries on my good Lands End paisley shirt and tried to use all-purpose cleaner in the bathroom to get it out...not realizing it had bleach in it. Of course, I ruined a shirt that cost me a bundle.
Grocery shopping went slightly better. I didn't really need a ton of Sprouts anyway. I was mainly there for golden raisins from the bulk bins and because their coconut milk is cheaper. I like their cookies better than the Acme's, too, and they have flavors the Acme doesn't, like snickerdoodle. Got two cans of soda on a good sale.
It was cloudy, chilly, and blustery when I hiked down the hill and back up past the Haddon Township Library, McDonald's, and Haddon Township High School to the Westmont Acme. They were even less busy than Sprouts had been. I had no trouble restocking soda on sale, yogurt, cheese, chicken, and granola. Two slices of carrot cake roll were cheap compared to every other treat in the bakery. I had online coupons for granola bars and strawberries.
I had just enough time to put everything away when I got home before I had to call Uber again. They arrived in 12 minutes. I thought I had enough time, but...of course, they went in the wrong direction because I pushed the wrong button. Again. They were going to the Acme. This time, I caught the mistake, and the guy was able to turn around and get me to the Thomas Sharp School right on time. (And yes, I gave him a big tip for that.)
Things went a little better inside. I only had 6 kids at my table, and they did clean up fast once they found out they had to hit the bathroom first. No trouble in the bathroom, either. Things were wilder in the cafeteria after snack. We only had 20 kids all together, and it still got kind of crazy. One poor miss was upset because she lost the bag with the toothbrush and bubble wand she'd gotten from the "tooth fairy." (If the papers in the bags were any indication, I suspect a dental office in Voorhees talked to them about dental hygiene.) She did find the bubbles, but we never turned up anything else, no matter how much we looked.
Despite the chillier day, we did manage to get onto the playground. They generally had a wonderful time chasing each other around, dancing to "The Wiggle Dance," "The Jungle Dance," the themes from PJ Masks and Bluey, "I Like to Move It," "Try Everything" from Zootopia, and songs from Moana, Tangled, The Little Mermaid, and Frozen. There was some arguing over swings later, once it thinned out enough that the kids could use them without running into anyone else, but most of them loved it when I gave them "big boosts!"
This time, it was too cold to stay out all day. When we were down to six kids, we went back inside. They built with Duplos and played with the older kids while I sharpened colored pencils. We were down to four younger kids and five older ones when I headed out.
It was still nice enough by 5:30 to walk home. I stopped at Speedy Mart for a treat, then continued down the White Horse Pike. It was chilly, yes, and breezy, but frankly not all that out of the ordinary for late March. The sun tried to break through the clouds, leaving an eerie golden glow on the rippling waters of Peter Creek as I passed near the CVS.
Watched Match Game '90 as I ate dinner when I got home. It started with the last two episodes of that wild week with Marines in the audience and as contestants. Karen Wittier of One Life to Live proved she was no dumb blonde by getting the Head-to-Head right twice in a row. Fiona Hutchinson spent the week flirting with Ronn Lucas and his dragon puppet Scorch. Charles stuck around for the next week, joined by veteran voice actor Joe Alasky and Sally Struthers. (Sally mentioned playing a dog on a cartoon. That would be Tail Spin, where she was the voice of Baloo's boss Rebecca Cunningham.)
Got my schedule at this point, too. It's...pretty much the same as this week with more and earlier hours next Saturday. This should change once we get to Easter week, when I suspect a lot of people will be on vacation.
Finished the night with another 80's cartoon, The Secret of Nimh. Widowed farm mouse Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman) is horrified when she learns her little son Timmy (Ian Fried) is sick with pneumonia. They have to move out of the fields soon, as the plow will soon be coming through, but he can't get out of bed. The Great Owl (John Carradine) directs her to the rats who live in the rose bush near the farm house.
Turns out these are no ordinary rodents. They're a highly developed society of extremely intelligent rats and mice who escaped from a government testing facility years before. Mrs. Brisby learns from the head of the group Nichodemus (Derek Jacobi) that her husband had been one of them. He gives her a special amulet and arranges for his rats to move her cinder block home, before they leave the farm to create their own home in a distant valley. Scheming Jenner (Paul Shenear) has no desire to upset the rose bush and causes the moving to fail...but he didn't count on Mrs. Brisby's courage or her strong devotion to her children.
This is one of my favorite animated movies, and possibly the best animated film of the 1980's and Don Bluth's strongest solo effort. The animation is stunning, Jerry Goldsmith's score is gorgeous, and the Paul Williams ballad "Flying Dreams" is one of the loveliest end credit numbers of the decade. Hartman stands out as the touching mother mouse, but the entire all-star cast is solid. Highly recommended for older elementary-school and pre-teen animal lovers who can handle the violence level and the mature themes of death, grief, and animal testing.
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