It's a Magical World

I slept in this morning and spent most of it at home. Met Jessa around 11:30-noon to head out to the Cherry Hill Mall for some serious shopping. Though there was no traffic going to Cherry Hill, the mall parking lot was filled to capacity. Thank goodness Jessa bought a much smaller car during the summer and was able to find a parking spot fairly quickly.

You also won't be surprised to hear that the mall was a mob scene today...but I don't regret the trip one bit. The sales were seriously worth it. We parked by Macy's and walked through there first, but most of their merchandise is a bit high-end for my taste. We finally ended up just walking out into the main mall.

The first sight that met our eyes when we got onto the main floor was not encouraging. The small FYE had closing signs posted. Unlike the Audubon FYE, they're not shutting down entirely, just changing malls - seems they're moving to Moorestown. Their loss was my gain. For the second holiday season in a row, a shuttering FYE meant big savings for me. Between the closing sales and my Membership Card, I picked up the TCM Classics Collection Busby Berkley set and the new Tom and Jerry Platinum Collection set for about $14.50 each, the campy 1980 musical Xanadu for $5, Fred Astaire's last major musical Finian's Rainbow for $10.50, and a used copy of Robin Hood: Men In Tights for just $3.14. It came to $51.98 all together...and thanks to the $50 gift card I had, I ended up paying two dollars for the whole lot.

I did even better at JCPenney. They were having HUGE sales all over the place. I had to stand in a long line at the women's department, but it was worth it. I picked up a new pair of loafers (the salesman gave me an extra 10% discount because they were a display pair), a lovely Liz Claibourne blouse in shades of red gradually fading to purple, a periwinkle blue v-neck short-sleeved t-shirt, a pair of light khaki corduroy pants for work, and two fat pillows to replace the very flat ones I'd slept on since childhood. Once again, with the help of major sales and a $50 gift card, I paid eight dollars for everything.

The only place I paid real money today was Lane Bryant. I bought a button-down white shirt there. At $30, it was the most expensive single item I picked up today, but I really need new button-down shirts. The one I bought in the fall doesn't fit. A quick stop at the Disney Store yielded no finds. Alas, all of the Animator's Collection dolls I wanted were gone. They only had Mulan, Aurora, and Snow White left, and just a bare few of Mulan and Snow White. I ended up ordering Tiana and Cinderella from the Disney Store tonight. We also stopped briefly at Journeys so Jessa could trade in some shoes that didn't fit.

If it was crowded when we arrived, by the time we left Lane Bryant, we could barely move around downstairs. It was literally elbow-to-elbow! There was more room in the more open area near Nordstrom's, but we'd really had enough of mall crowds. We decided to head out and eat elsewhere.

After we finally got out of the very busy parking lot, Jessa had a brilliant idea. She took us to Panera Bread, which is in front of the sprawling "town center" mall that's the home of Wegman's, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, and the Christmas Tree Shop, among others. I'm so glad she suggested it. Panera Bread reminds me a lot of Saladworks - a really high-end fast food place. However, the prices are slightly better, and the emphasis is on healthy baked goods (though they do have salads, too). My roll, half of a Sierra Turkey Club Sandwich, and half of a Apple Pecan Salad were absolutely delicious. (Though that supposed "half" salad was so big, I couldn't finish it.) Jessa had the Sierra Turkey sandwich and a cup of soup she seemed to enjoy.

After we left there, we drove across the parking lot and made our way to Barnes and Noble. Though they were busy, the Cherry Hill Barnes and Noble is gigantic, and there was far more room to stretch and wander. I was surprised to see a large section devoted to toys - in a book store? They didn't have DVDs, either, which was disappointing. That didn't stop me from finding things I wanted, though. Made some good Bargain Priced finds - the final Calvin and Hobbes comic book It's a Magical World for $8, the newest Carol Higgins Clark novel Mobbed in hardback for $6, and a new journal with a pretty blue butterfly watercolor on the cover for $5. And since Barnes and Noble carries min American Girl dolls to go with the boxed book sets, I bought a Mini Cecile to go with my Mini Marie-Grace. (I love her soft little curls. I wish my curls were that soft.)

It was getting late. Jessa called Dad to let him know where we were, and we went back to my place. Jessa helped me put my new pillows in the pillowcases, and I showed her pictures of the dolls. We chatted for a while, until Jessa decided she'd had a long day and wanted a nap.

Spent the rest of the night eating leftovers out of the fridge for dinner and watching Island at the Top of the World. This strange variation on Journey to the Center of the Earth has a well-bred Englishman searching for his son, who has vanished looking for the mythical title island, with the help of an archeologist who specializes in Norse history, an Eskimo guide, and the French captain of the airship the Hyperion and his poodle. Some nice special effects, especially the Hyperion and once they reach the island.

Where's the Storms?

I got up early today in order to volunteer at the Haddon Township and Oaklyn Libraries. I won't have time for the rest of the week! I work 7 hours tomorrow and 8 1/2 hours Friday and Saturday. This will be the last day this week I'll really have the time to get any regular chores and errands in. (Though I will be grocery shopping on Friday.)

When I headed for the Haddon Township Library around 10, it was warm, but a hard wind and pale gray clouds kept it from feeling as hot as yesterday and Easter. Perhaps this is why I saw so many people in the park today. I dodged dog walkers, elderly couples out for strolls, families pushing strollers, and joggers. The park is absolutely gorgeous this time of year. The daffodils are disappearing, but many of the trees are in bloom. Our trees are so amazingly green this year. I've never seen such a bright shade of pale green.

The Library was fairly busy when I got in, perhaps because of the iffy weather. Though there was a big pile of DVDs, they also had more volunteers than usual to put them away. A lot of teens who were off of school were around to help out. I concentrated on the kids' discs. Found three to take out - more Max and Ruby and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, along with a Rugrats spoof of "Jack and the Beanstalk." The only books I picked up were two more Calvin and Hobbes comics, Homicidal Jungle Cat and The Days Are Just Packed.

Next stop was a quick one at Dollar Tree. I needed sponges and a container for brown sugar. I saw that they had cheap bags of dried cranberries and grabbed one of those, too. Went down a few doors to the Westmont Bagel Shop for lunch. I had a Turkey and Provolone Sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes on a Cranberry Whole Wheat Bagel. I sat in the back, next to the Flyers' memorabilia, of course.

The Oaklyn Library wasn't nearly as busy. It was an hour before their 2PM daily closing when I arrived. I organized DVDs. I noticed that the young adults' hardback shelves had been massively paired down. This was a good and bad thing. Now I wouldn't have to strain to put anything away...but many of the ancient classic titles you can't find anymore were gone. I pulled some paperbacks that didn't have scan bars and will pull more next week.

The clouds were getting darker and starting to gather on the horizon. Between that and the library being very close to the afternoon closing, it was time to head home. The local forecast on the TV at the Bagel Shop had mentioned possible storms for this afternoon.

We did have a storm today, around 3...for all of five minutes. I did see some lighting and hear thunder, but it wasn't around for very long. It was mostly just warm. I put on the air conditioning again.

I started a crocheted skirt for Jessa. I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen. The bathroom really looked awful. The tub was so disgustingly scummy. I would have put it off until next week if the bathroom hadn't looked so bad. Since I had the cleaning items out, I did the kitchen, too.

Ran cartoons during and between cleaning. Minne's Masquerade let Minnie and Daisy solve mysteries and learn about shapes, days of the week, colors, and the importance of teamwork and being a good friend. My favorites were Minnie's Calender Pages and Super Spy Daisy. The Calender story had Minnie and the others chasing after pages of her calender after a strong wind blows them away and learning about the days of the week in the process. Super Spy Daisy spoofed James Bond tales. Daisy, the two mice, and Pluto chase Big Pete, who is after Clarabelle Cow's secret cookie recipe. Loved the car chase!

Once again, most of the Max and Ruby stories were repeats. The new ones were the ones I ended up enjoying most. In Max and the Three Little Bunnies, an annoyed Ruby tells Max the story of "The Three Little Bunnies and the Big Bad Max" after he blows down hers and her girlfriends' paper doll house. Ruby's Water Lilly is a pool-bound variation on the "Max inadvertently teaches Ruby to do something" plot with Grandma thrown into the mix. Grandma is the coach for Ruby's synchronized swimming team. Ruby and her friends are delighted to show Grandma their cute Esther Williams-esque routines...if Max and his floating toys will get out of the way!

Balancing Changes

Happy birthday to me! Mother Nature couldn't have given me a nicer birthday present. It was utterly gorgeous when I awoke this morning. The breeze was chilly, but the air was much warmer, and the sun was coming out.

I ran a couple of birthday-themed cartoons during breakfast. The very first 80s Strawberry Shortcake cartoon, The World of Strawberry Shortcake, is set during the title lass' 6th birthday. Disney did two birthday cartoons for their most popular character, Mickey Mouse. The first was "The Birthday Party," a black-and-white "everyone sings and dances" short from 1931 that featured Mickey and Minnie's adorable duet on "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." The second, "Mickey's Birthday Party," came out in 1942. This time, the emphasis is on Goofy's antics as he attempts to bake the cake, some really wild hoofing from Mickey, and a bit of Latin American dancing between Donald Duck and Clara Cluck that gets a little out of hand.

It was a great day for a ride to yoga class. I told Karin today was my birthday when I got in. She was so sweet. She had the whole class sing "Happy Birthday" to me...while doing their vinyasa exercises. It was a little embarrassing, but very kind of her and all of them. Talk about good karma!

My next stop was the Collingswood Library. There was a stack of DVDs to put away and file, and the shelves needed to be organized. I wasn't around for too long, though. I had other plans for today.

After I left the library, I rode over to the Collingswood PATCO and hopped a train bound for Philadelphia. I had so much fun shopping in Philly on my birthday last year, I thought I'd repeat it.

I got off at the 8th Street stop and went straight to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. It was quarter after 12 by then, and I was hungry! Alas, everyone in the entire downtown Philadelphia area seemed to have had the same idea. It took me two rounds of pushing my way through crowds before I found an empty seat at Pearl's Oyster Bar. I had a tasty lunch of cod sandwich with a delicious bowl of Manhattan Clam Chowder.

I had thought of getting cake, but Dad would probably have one for me later. I went a couple of booths down and got Bassett's Ice Cream instead. My two-scoop Cinnamon cone was sweet and wonderful; tasted like a liquid snickerdoodle. I took it across the street to the sculpture park next to the Marriot Downtown Philadelphia and enjoyed my treat while watching the people go by.

Headed for FYE after my cone was down to the last drip. I didn't do as well there as I did last year, but I did find some good stuff. I picked up the third volume of The Three Stooges Collection and found Yogi the Easter Bear in the used bins. The Road to Collection four-DVD set wasn't on sale, but at $14.99, it was a much better bargain than some of the other DVDs in the store that were going for that price for a one-disc set. I already have Road to Zanzibar, but my copies of Road to Morocco and Road to Utopia are on aging videos. I've never even seen the first one, Road to Singapore. FYE was selling Chicago for $5.99 with any purchase; that was another video replacement.

I didn't do nearly as well at Borders across the street. Alas, the Philly Borders is one of the many stores across the country that's shutting down in the wake of their bankruptcy announcement. I was hoping the location would save it. I bought a Felicity American Girl mystery, Traitor In Williamsburg. Asked the woman who rang up the book why the store was closing; I always assumed it was pretty popular. She said it was...but the owners of the building the store is in opted not to renew their lease after Borders filed for Chapter 11. Popular or not, they had to go.

The beautiful day and soft, fresh breeze lifted my spirits after my disappointment at Borders. I strolled down Broad Street, admiring all the wonderful theaters and art-related buildings. I took a turn and headed down Spruce, passing some wonderful old brick buildings converted into condos, and went into the heart of Washington Square to explore one of my favorite stores in the world, Russakoff's Used Books and Records.

Only now, it seems to be Russakoff's Used Books and DVDs. The store still has the same great collection of used books, videos, and posters, but the store is no longer quite as cramped and cozy. Much to my disappointment, the records were gone. The owner said he wanted to thin out his inventory after his parents retired, so he moved the records to his North Philly location and raised the price on them. Phooey. I still like the store, though. They did have a decent selection of used DVDs, and they still have good books (even though the prices seemed to be higher on them, too). I ended up with the Calvin and Hobbes collection Something Under the Bed Is Drooling and Leonard Maltin's volume on classic animated shorts, Of Mice and Magic.

The 10th Street PATCO entrance is an almost literal hop, skip, and jump away from Russakoff's. I just went straight from there to the train station. However, instead of riding right home from Collingswood, I swung by Dad and Uncle Ken's house. Dad said they had cards for me.

They weren't the only ones home when I arrived. Jodie, Dolores, my friend Erica, and her mother Miss Helen were there, too. Poor Jodie was very, very upset. Her beloved black lab Max had to be put to sleep this afternoon. She kept saying he was in a better place...but I know how she felt about Max. He might as well have been another son to her.

Dad, Jodie, and I had sloppy joes and broccoli together after Erica and Miss Helen left. Dad bought the cutest little cake with Cool Whip frosting and pink trim. He and Jodie sang "Happy Birthday" to me. I got a card with a picture of me and a really sweet 30s-style graphic of women in garden party dresses enjoying a birthday party from Dad (who makes his own cards.) Dolores and Uncle Ken gave me a cupcake-themed card done in lovely shades of pink, turquoise, and yellow. I got $75 from the four of them all-told.

Nothing could really cheer Jodie up, though. She started crying half-way through eating the cake. I just held her. She held me when I was feeling overwhelmed at Rose's baby shower last year.

I went home around 6. Just messed around for a while. Watched The Three Stooges. The first short on the set, "You Natzy Spy," was a hilarious spoof of the Nazi regime...a year before the US got involved with the war. "A Plumbing We Will Go" was a lot of fun, too.

Mom called to wish me a happy birthday just as I was stepping out of the shower. She had just come from my brother's spring band concert. Keefe's played drums for his school bands since junior high. Playing the drums is one of his favorite hobbies. We're both going to miss him when he joins the Navy; he'll be signing up officially within the next few weeks.

And I think, if I can get off next year, I'll try something a little different. I still enjoy spending my birthday in the city, but maybe I'll go to South Street instead of FYE, or shop on Antique Row. There's a lot of city out there. The world's changing, and it's time I changed with it. I just need to figure out how to take it slowly...and make it stick.

The Day Is Just Packed

Woke up late and had a quick cereal-and-grapefruit breakfast before heading out for this week's library volunteering. I'd planned on spending a lot of time there today to make up for skimping last week and skipping the week before. The children's DVDs were looking pretty good, so I shelved children's books and DVDs for adults and kids.

I did a little exploring on my own later. It always takes me forever to decide on books! I've read a lot of mysteries lately, so I kept it down to one of the newest Amanda Pepper stories, A Hole In Juan, by Gillian Roberts. Amanda Pepper is a teacher at a fictional school in Philadelphia who often sniffs out clues among Delware Valley's high-society. I also found a trio of X-Men novels (not of the graphic variety - I prefer to imagine the characters myself when I read) and a really cool-looking novel about what might have happened if two real-life pulp fiction novelists examined the mysterious death of a third, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, by Paul Malmont. I also took out a Calvin and Hobbes comic book, The Days are Just Packed, and a cookbook on making light desserts with real butter and sugar.

It was still cloudy and cool when I left for the library around 11, but by the time I finally got out at around quarter after 2, it was mostly sunny and into the lower 60s, a perfect spring day if there ever was one. I ran to Dollar Tree for cleaner, sponges, and soap, then stopped at the Westmont Bagel Cafe next to Friendly's for a very late lunch. I had "nova" (which looked like uncooked salmon) very thin on a toasted salt bagel with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a Diet Pepsi. I took the long way home across Newton River Park, since the weather had gotten so nice, passing many kids on the way home from the five or six schools in the area.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at home, baking cookies, making dinner, and finishing up the Tiny Toons set. It's worth buying just for two classic pieces of Toons lunacy, Tiny Toons Music Television and The Return of the Acme Acres Zone. The spoofs of early 90s Madonna and "Downtown" Julie Brown on the former are dated, but it includes the inspired videos for a pair of hits by real-life rock group They Might Be Giants, "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man."

Acme Acres Zone may be the single weirdest episode the Tiny Toons ever did. How many kids' shows include takes on Blade Runner, old haunted house movies, and end-of-the-universe sci-fi? (The last named is the only episode of the entire series to reference "Duck Dodgers" and feature Marvin the Martian and his protege Marsha.)

I also watched three more Good Eats episodes, all on maligned veggies - broccoli, celery, and Brussels sprouts. I've never tried the last named, not because it's bad, but because it ain't cheap, either. The other two are long-time favorites of mine. I eat a lot of celery in particular, especially in the winter, when it's often one of the few affordable fresh vegetables one can find in the supermarket. Alton's braised celery dish came out quite nicely and made for a great dinner with a turkey burger and Roasted Apples and Honey.

Cats and Dogs and Kids and Nerds, Oh My!

Rose and I were supposed to go to Yogawood this morning, but she wasn't feeling well (something about her medication) and called it off. I just made a trip to the library instead for this week's volunteering. It was a nice day, still chilly and windy but not nearly as bad in either respect as yesterday, with a sky as blue as a robin's egg. The Haddon Township Library wasn't too bad when I arrived around 10:30AM. I mostly shelved DVDs and children's books. It was starting to pick up around quarter after 12, so I headed out after taking out two Calvin and Hobbes comic books (Weirdos From Another Planet and the 10th anniversary book) and the two newest Garfield comic books.

I made a quick stop at Super Fresh for aluminum foil, which I was out of and had forgotten to get at work yesterday. I ran into Dad doing his own shopping while I was there. Dad had apparently spent yesterday painting in his room, which is why I never saw him while I was doing the laundry.

The blue cruiser bike wasn't behaving today. The chain stayed on, but it made the most ghastly squeaking noises. I don't know if it needs oil or if the chain's on the verge of coming off again, but I'm getting sick of this. I really wish I knew which gear or lug nut I'm supposed to be fixing to tighten the chain!

After I got in, I had a simple yogurt-and-kiwi lunch, then did some baking. I ran out of the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies I made yesterday. I was still craving chocolate, and I wanted to get rid of the last of the coconut, too. I ended up using a simple fudge brownie recipe and making Fudge Coconut-Chocolate Chip Brownies. They came out soooo good and very chocolaty. (I used cocoa powder instead of baking chocolate. It's lower in fat, and I like the texture better.)

After the brownies came out of the oven, I decided I was bored with reading comic books and watching Sailor Moon episodes and went for a walk. It was still a very nice day, in fact even nicer than earlier. It felt a bit warmer and less windy around 4:30. I walked down to Kendall Boulevard, then to the park behind the Oaklyn School. Everything was looking so green. Some trees had huge flower buds that looked ready to explode into color at any second.

I wasn't the only one out and about today, either. Packs of kids and whole families walked down the street, taking in the sunshine. People walked their dogs. Pre-teen boys and slightly older girls played on the playground behind the schoolyard. I was almost reluctant to go home and make the baked chicken legs I'd planned on for dinner, but I didn't really feel like eating out. (And I'm glad I didn't. The chicken legs came out really well. I just rubbed them with the basic garlic-salt-and-pepper and cooked them in water, red wine vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. The sauce will make an excellent chicken stock for soup later in the week.)

Lazy Kind of Sunday

Spent a lazy Sunday morning just hanging around. I slept in (though not as long as last week), made Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes, listened to the Beatles show on WOGL ("B sides of singles" was the theme today), read Calvin and Hobbes comics, and messed around online. I tried to get through to Mom several times, but I kept getting a busy signal. I assumed she was having a long phone chat with either Rose or her sister Terri and decided I'd call back after work.

Calvin and Hobbes is a recent thing with me. I was about Calvin's age when the strip first came out and, despite many of my peers' fondness for it, steadfastly resisted reading it regularly until I found Attack of the Mutant Snow Goons at the thrift shop two years ago. I laughed so hard, I ended up buying it. I've bought two more, the first one and Yukon Ho!, since then, and have taken out three other collections and The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes from the Haddon Township Library. (Thank goodness for their massive comic book section!)

Calvin brings back a lot of memories for me. While I did have some things in common with Calvin - I was a decent student except for math (which I would have gladly hidden from...and still would), I had trouble with bullies, I thought the opposite sex existed to drive me bananas - in other things, he reminded me a lot more of my sisters.

- I never had any problems reading. For me, it was an escape. For my sisters, unless it was R.L Stine or comic books, it was a pain. (At least until Rose became a fantasy fanatic in high school. After that, she was reading as much as me. Anny and Keefe still aren't big readers, though.)

- I almost always ate what Mom put in front of me, partially because I'm really not a picky eater, partially because Mom's a genuinely great cook. Keefe to this day has no problem eating anything living, dead, or in between. Anny and Rose, however, have always been much pickier. One famous incident involved the time Mom made spinach crepes for Dad's birthday. He adored them. I loved them (and have repeatedly asked Mom for the recipe). Anny and Rose loathed them so much, Mom never made them again, much to my annoyance.

- Rose and Keefe are big fans of organized sports. Anny and I are not. This made any attempted games of soccer, softball, street hockey, volleyball, badminton, croquet, or football look more like "Calvinball" than any known version of those games.

- We had our own anti-boys club for several years when we lived on Maryland Avenue in Cape May. "The Tiger Lilly Girls' Club" was named after the large plot of said flower in front of the old guest house used as a clubhouse by us and our girlfriends. We'd meet a few times a summer and mostly ended up playing dress-up or making plots against the neighborhood boys we'd never really carry out. Later versions of the club did made half-hearted attempts to integrate males, mostly by request of Rose the tomboy who had several guy pals. ("The Tiger Lilly Club" would go on temporary hiatus during the fall and winter, partially due to school, but mostly because the guest house wasn't heated and smelled of dust and mold.)

- My sisters were more overtly rebellious than I was. They were the ones who stayed out too late, went places they weren't supposed to, climbed trees, got dirty, played with their toys to death, and drove Mom and Dad up the wall. The only way I did that was by being the opposite. I was a homebody who never really wanted to go anywhere, to the point where, by the time I was old enough to be going beyond the neighborhood on my own, Mom's usual answer to my "I'm bored" was "Why don't you go outside and amuse yourself?" This is when I began my rambling walks, in this case all over Cape Island, though it would inevitably include a long stop at the Cape May City Library.

(Keefe fell somewhere in between. He was more likely to go out and about than me, but he tended to get into less trouble than either of the girls when he did. In later years, he was usually accompanied by a posse of his neighborhood friends, all good guys who rarely got into any really major trouble.)

- Calvin would be surprised by the way the girls and I used to amuse ourselves. Yeah, we did all the girls' stuff - house, school, tea parties, dress-up - but we also created elaborate save-the-world plots with toys ranging from My Little Pony to Star Wars, from She-Ra to Thundercats, from stuffed animals to model planes. We raced Hot Wheels and built with Legos and wooden blocks (and Keefe inherited all three when he got old enough). We made whole communities with Little People, long after we'd grown out of them. We had plastic cats, dinosaurs, and little green army men. We built tents from sheets and fortresses from boxes. Anny's old baby tub made a great sailboat. Mom was a big feminist in the 70s, and she encouraged her daughters to do whatever they wanted, play the way they wanted to play, regardless of gender.

Thank goodness, work was still really busy but not as bad as yesterday. I figured out why it was so busy this weekend, too - there was a really huge 3-day sale going on (including that $1.99 Edy's I got on Friday).

And I did eventually get a hold of Mom. She WAS on the phone with Rose for a few hours this morning. Both seem to be fine. Mom was in a great mood - I could hear Keefe eating and Skylar yelling and Dad getting ice for his tea (he'd drink all ice if he could) in the background.

Running On Ice

I'm dead tired. I spent most of the day on my feet. I tried fixing both bikes this morning. I'm not sure why the gears are skipping on the mountain bike, and I discovered that not only do I not have a large enough wrench to tighten the blue stationary bike, but the tarp, the bike, and the bike basket were frozen to the back wall of the house by a huge icicle! I didn't really want to mess with the mountain bike, either. That's too complicated for me. I just left both bikes at home and walked to Collingswood for today's counseling session.

Scott and I mostly discussed the events of the last month. I told him about my big tax return, about Uncle Ken coming home, talking to Scott about switching to the bakery, about weathering the storm earlier this week, and about the compliments I received for how I handled that annoying customer and his attempt to clear our sale inventory yesterday. My - and his - only problems is my continuing attempts to deal with my anxiety. It's not going well. My putting myself down is so ingrained, it's automatic. It's very hard to stop doing something that's been a knee-jerk reaction for most of your life. Even when your mind says it's not that big of a deal, instinct and fear tell you if you were normal, you wouldn't have made that mistake.

I spent the rest of the day running small errands in Collingswood and Westmont. I visited Erica at the thrift shop and said "hi." I had pizza at Cafe Antonio II in Collingswood. I bought one of the 60s Firestone Christmas records from the Collingswood Library. I made brief stops at Walgreens (no new WebKinz, just Lil' Tigers and Yorkies), the Dollar Plus next to the Westmont Acme (no more cheap holiday DVDs or videos), Super Fresh, and WaWa. I did this week's library volunteering and took out three books (two cookbooks and a Calvin and Hobbes comic book) and bought three children's books (a Strawberry Shortcake fairy tale, a Mickey Mouse hardback storybook, and a genuine vintage early 60s Yogi Bear Golden Book).

It was late when I finally got in. I watched The Big Broadcast of 1938 and read Calvin and Hobbes. I taped this one off of AMC when I was in college (probably one of the last genuine "classic" films they ever showed). It's more-or-less a goofy Paramount semi-revue - two cruise ships compete in a race, though we only focus on one, the S.S Gigantic, owned by WC Fields. Bob Hope is the radio announcer who's fondness for wives and gambling has him desperate for money. Dorothy Lamour is a guest on the ship who ends up in Hope's show, Shirley Ross is Hope's ex-wife, and Martha Raye is Fields' accident-prone daughter who breaks mirrors wherever she goes.

Not much substance to this one at all, and some truly weird "specialties," but necessary if you're a fan of Hope, Raye, and/or Fields. Fields and Raye have some nice moments (including Raye's amazing acrobatic dance with a group of sailors and Fields' airborne motorcycle), and Hope and Ross introduce what would become Hope's theme song, "Thanks For the Memory."

Market Street Ho!

I did finally make it into Philadelphia this morning. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and it was windy but not wet at all. In fact, it would appear that beyond a quick random shower, we received no precipitation last night, frozen or otherwise.

I finally used that $100 gift card from Christmas at the Lane Bryant in the Gallery Mall. Much to my dismay, the winter stuff was already gone and the new spring fashions were largely hideous. What's with the gaudy, gauzy peasant tops and neon polyester button-down blouses? What is this, 1976? I want to wear sensible clothes I can ride around in, not yards of fabric that makes me look like the member of a gypsy caravan. Oh, and breathable fabric would be nice. I don't like shirts that gather around my chest, either. I try to de-emphasize that as much as possible!

Even so, I ended up spending the whole gift card and over $30 more. I wound up with two bras (my non-underwire ones are stretched beyond endurance), a really cute pair of cocoa-brown pants, a new plain white t-shirt (another too-stretched item that needed replacement), a heart-print cotton nightgown that was leftover from Valentine's Day, and a turquoise false-layered top with a Swiss lace undershirt. The last I bought mostly to get a buy a pair of pants, get a top 50% off sale. We'll see if I actually wear it.

I didn't have much money after that, and it was such a nice day anyway that I headed out to Market Street and down 10th. I stopped at my favorite used books and records store, Ralstoff's, to see what they had. I didn't get any records this time around, but I did find some more Calvin and Hobbes, Yukon Ho!. Reading Calvin and Hobbes reminds me so much of all the crazy stuff my sisters and I did when we were Calvin's age.

I stopped in a coffee shop by Thomas Jefferson Hospital a few blocks down from Ralstoff's and had hot chocolate and a very tasty Strawberry Belgian Waffle while reading Yukon Ho!. I had to work very hard not to burst out laughing and disrupt all the medical students around me. ;)

Since I was practically broke, I went straight home after lunch. I spent the rest of the afternoon baking gingerbread and cake for tomorrow, doing yoga, and watching this year's first Easter special, The Easter Bunny Is Comin' To Town.