Musical Fiesta at Dad's House

I slept in this morning. It was well past noon before I made it over to Dad's with this week's laundry load. No one was home when I arrived, so I put the laundry in the washer and settled down on the soft new carpeting in the den. I ran several different Nickelodeon stations all afternoon, catching various shows.

The first up was Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids. The Haddon Township Library has several DVDs of episodes for this show, but I'd never rented them. As far as I can tell, a pair of spiders (including the title lady) has a very large brood of insect children of various species and teach them the ins and outs of a bug's life. In the first episode, one of the boys bring home a tiny mushroom, despite being told that spores could get into their tree home and grow everywhere. When mushrooms start invading Sunny Patch, he worries that it's his fault.

The second story was very sweet. An Australian lifeguard cricket whose job requires flight is devastated when a windstorm permanently damages one of his wings. I really liked how, instead of suddenly finding a way to fix the broken wing, the Miss Spider and her brood look for other ways for their Aussie friend to fly. I really enjoyed this episode and may have to try some of those DVD sets now.

Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go! both revolved around music. Dora, Boots, and their buddies travel to a small town that was about to have a musical fiesta...until Senior Shush took their instruments and locked them in a box. The box can only be opened when music is played, which brings in the kids and their adorable mini-orchestra. Diego and a pair of red-eyed tree frogs gather various animals from their homes and invite them to help with the Rainforest Concert his older sister Alicia is preparing for.

The next one was the brand-new version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'd only vaguely heard about this until yesterday, when I saw some of the action figures at the Happy Hippo. Most of the story seems to be the same. The Turtles are still four hip-talkin' teen mutants who live in the sewers under New York City with their rat mentor Splinter. Shredder is still a metal-covered villain who is backed by his band of Foot Soldiers.

Quite a few things have changed in the decade since the second, darker comics-based version debuted. The biggest change is April O'Neal, who was a reporter in the original and a tech geek in 2003, is now a teen not much younger than the Turtles who is looking for her father. And Krang, the pink alien brain who was the sarcastic main villain for most of the 80s series, seems to have multiplied into a whole race of genius pink alien brains in robotic suits. Oh yes, and this is in CGI...but CGI that's made to mimic both the feel of the comics and the anime that's become popular in the US. Characters get little rectangles over their heads when they're surprised, and tiny hearts around their heads when they're in love.

In this episode, Donatello, the mechanically-minded Turtle, is tired of the Krang aliens always managing to get around his staff. He creates a small but very well-stocked robot turtle he calls Metalhead to replace him in battle. That's all well and fine...until one of the Krangs get a hold of the machinery. Meanwhile, a restless April takes off in an attempt to find out more about her missing father.

I really liked it. The tone seems to be somewhere between the goofy 80s show and the tough 2003 incarnation. Raphael is sarcastic, there are jokes and wisecracks and spoofs, and Michelangelo is still a bit of a ditz...but the villains, including the Krangs, are a genuine threat. Love the new design for Splinter - he looks so regal. I'll have to look for more of this on Nick's site.

Of course, the biggest star at Nick is Spongebob Squarepants. Spongebob is Nickelodeon's numeral-uno, constantly-run cash-cow franchise. The trouble with Spongebob is, though the show is funny in small doses, it loses its charm and gets annoying quickly when seen in succession. I kept it to a very strange early episode about Spongebob falling in love with a Krabby Patty he'd made at work. No, really in love. He takes it on "dates" and treats it like a woman...at least until Squidward and Mr. Krabs point out that "she" is starting to smell a little nasty...

I had just enough time to get home, run some Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and get ready for work. In the double-length episode that opens the set, Peter Pan returns after exploring Neverland...but he's lost his shadow and his ability to fly in the process. The kids have to rescue his shadow from Hook and his crew and try to improve the gloomy Peter's mood. Other episodes involve the kids learning to not look a gift elephant in the mouth and pursuing a puppy who has run off with Hook's shoe.

One of the managers called me right before I went to Dad's and asked me if I wanted to come in an hour early. No problem. The laundry was the only thing I needed to get done today; I had no other plans, and I could use the extra hour. As it turned out, it probably wouldn't have mattered if I came in early or not. We were steady with rush-hour customers when I came in, quiet as can be when I left.

It had been damp and cloudy all day. It was sprinkling lightly when I got out of work. The rain was just starting to pick up as I made my way into Oaklyn. It thankfully waited to come down harder until I was already at home and online.

Raining In the Holidays

I had a lot to do today. It was showering when I got up this morning, but as I headed out around quarter of ten, the rain had seemed to putter to a sprinkle. I'm probably not going to have the time (or decent weather) the rest of the week for library volunteering, so I made two stops today. Did the Oaklyn Library first. I organized the DVDs, rearranged the young adult series, checked the kids' picture books, and pulled any remaining books on Thanksgiving for displays.

Thankfully, the weather held out as I made my way to the Haddon Township Library. Needless to say, the only people out in the dripping wet Newton River Park were Canadian geese poking around for an early lunch and a lone jogger ignoring the weather. It was just starting to rain again as I pulled up to the library and locked my bike at the thick u-shaped bike rack near the back door.

There was a bit more to do at Haddon Township than there was last week. I had a nice stack of both kids' and adults' DVDs to return, and there were some non-fiction DVDs that needed to go back, too. I went through all of the adult DVDs, removing children's and foreign titles that were shelved improperly. I put away a good-sized pile of children's picture books. Took out four titles for myself - Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure (I don't normally rent Dora the Explorer, but how can I resist her version of A Christmas Carol?), the Angelina Ballerina Christmas special that I rented last November, the musical biography With a Song In My Heart, and Catch Me If You Can again (I didn't get to it last week).

My next stop was the Dollar Tree across the street. I needed rubber bands (I discovered last week that mine had become brittle and hard), sponges, and a card for my sister Rose to congratulate her for passing the Bar. I also ended up buying three board books for Rose's 1 1/2-year-old son Khai for Christmas.

I had lunch at the Westmont Bagel Shoppe. Kept things simple with a toasted whole wheat bagel with nothing on it and a bowl of spicy beef chili. It was 1:30 by the time I was eating my chili. The high school kids and nurses were long gone. It was just me, The Chew on ABC, my bowl and bagel, and one other person enjoying their meal.

My luck ran out with the weather. The rain was coming down at a pretty fair clip as I left the Bagel Shop. I just shrugged and rode home. There wasn't much I could do about the weather. I wanted to get things done, and I couldn't put them off. I got a bit damp, but not soaked.

My timing was perfect. Less than 20 minutes after I got in, it started raining harder, and has continued raining hard for the rest of the day. I changed into dry clothes and worked on things for Thanksgiving and around the apartment.

First on the to-do list was the Cinnamon Strusel Bread to bring to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. Keefe loves that bread. It's just the Pilsbury Cinnamon Strusel bread mix made the way the box says, except I exchange the water for buttermilk for some extra tang and moistness. I started making Pilsbury bread mixes back in college, when I wanted to bring something home for Thanksgiving, but didn't have the time or the room in the stove in Stockton's dorms for anything elaborate. I now make the Cranberry Bread from scratch, but the Cinnamon Bread continues to be a mix.

I ran Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure as I finished the bread and started cleaning the bathroom. Dora and her pals are gearing up for their Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) Party when Swiper the Fox does what he usually does...swipe their gifts. Santa's not thrilled with him doing this on Christmas and puts him on his "naughty" list. For once, Dora feels bad for Swiper and offers to help him change his ways by showing him how he acted in the past...and what may happen to her, him, and their friends in the future if he doesn't learn to share.

As fond as I am of the Dora characters (especially big blue Benny the Bull), the show itself can be dull for adults without kids to watch, since it's an interactive program that involves endless repetition. This one, however, was a bit different. For one thing, I don't believe Dora has ever attempted anything quite like time travel before. For another, Map (and his annoying voice) comes into play only briefly at the end, and Backpack is never seen at all. The repetition is downplayed as well. It doesn't really have much to do with Christmas Carol, but it is a nice recent Dora special and an interesting way to discuss a child's stages of growth, from baby through pre-teen, with very young kids.

I put off finishing the bathroom to go online for my appointment with representatives of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Though I did end up applying, I really don't think I'll be taking classes there. They didn't understand that I'm not interested in becoming a student. I just want to take a few small non-credit classes to learn about business and web writing and upgrade my web design skills. All three of the people who talked to me were very nice and extremely helpful, but I think they're more interested in serious art students. They're also expensive. The one class that looked useful, Internet Marketing, cost at least 3 to 5,000 dollars more than similar classes at Stockton and Temple/Camden County College.

When I did finally finish the bathroom, I started Chicken Legs Poached in Lemon-Wine Sauce and steamed Brussels sprouts and cauliflower for dinner and watched the first half of Babes In Toyland. I always watch the Disney live-action version of this venerable musical fantasy in mid-late November, as it's probably the closest I'll get to seeing a British pantomime without leaving this side of the pond.

Unlike the 1986 TV movie, this is straight fantasy. Mary Quite Contrary (Annette Funicello) is engaged to marry Tom Piper (Tom Sands), but wicked Barnaby (Ray Bolger, having a grand time) wants her money...and is determined to get Tom out of the way. He hires lackeys to get Tom out of the way. Tom finds his way back, and he, Mary, and Mary's siblings end up in Toyland when they get lost in the Forest of No Return. They end up helping the bumbling Toymaker (Ed Wynn) and his nerdy assistant Grumio (Tommy Kirk) with making the toys for Christmas...but the toys themselves may help in another way when Barnaby follows them.

A lot of people prefer the Laurel and Hardy Babes, but I think this one is just as much fun. If nothing else, we get some nice numbers, including Bolger's solo "Castle In Spain" dance, the villains' hilarious "And We Won't Be Happy 'Til We Get It," and Funicello's imaginative "I Can't Do the Sum."

Family Matters

Today was laundry day. Uncle Ken and Dolores were the only ones home when I got in, doing paperwork and resting. Uncle Ken is still recovering from surgery that apparently took four hours and really left him hurting. Dolores says Samantha has been coming over every day to sit with him and talk to him, bring along her 3-year-old daughter Faith.

I had a lovely time with Faith. With Dad and Jodie taking a long weekend vising friends in Cape May, we were free to watch Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go!, and The Backyardigans. Dora and Boots looked for the source of a strange sound in the first episode (I guessed correctly that it was Benny the Bull's hiccups) and tracked down all the animals in an alphabet book in a mystery-themed second episode. Diego helped his African friend find two lost baby gorillas who were about to be crowned King of the Mountain Gorillas. The Backyardigans was one I'd seen before - in a spoof of Star Trek, Tasha, Austin, and Uniqua are galactic trash gatherers, searching for new frontiers in stuff people throw away. Klingons Tyrone and Pablo are determined to steal their garbage to run their ship!

Faith herself was adorable, especially when she got up and "tip-toed" along with Dora and Boots as they tried to get around the sleeping Swiper the Fox! Apparently, Boots is her favorite Dora character.

I went home with my laundry shortly after Samantha left to put Faith down for her nap. Most of my socks weren't dry - I had to hang them up while I got ready for work.

Work was very busy, especially for a Monday. The only real problem was when a lady's stuffed pork chops didn't come off buy-one-get-one-free. I thought she might have looked at the sign wrong, but it turns out they WERE on sale - the meat department hadn't fixed the prices so they were listed as being on sale! I did give it to her, and I felt more than a little embarrassed for not believing her. I went and looked myself, but apparently they were being kept closer to the seafood department, because I didn't see them with the other pork items.

Restless Heart

For some reason, I woke up at 6:30 in the morning after sleeping only about 4 and 1/2 hours. I was sweaty and my mouth was dry. I finally kicked off some blankets, got a drink of water, and tossed and turned for another hour before finally getting back to sleep and getting up at 9:30.

I guess I'm just restless. Or just plain scared. I wish I could transfer my success with losing weight into finding a job. Why can I lose 40 pounds, and not find a job? What's wrong with me? Why can't I make things happen? What is it about me that scares potential employers away? Is it my lack of skills? Or my distinct lack of experience? I wish things would just happen.

And when am I going to have someone to give me Valentine's candy, instead of buying cheap bags of Strawberry Dark Chocolate Hershey's Kisses the day after?

Today was (finally) laundry day. Dora the Explorer and her buddy Boots the Monkey travel to the end of the rainbow to find the last piece of a puzzle of a wizard - his wand. Isa the Iguana, Benny the Bull, and Tico the Squirrel join them, culminating in a ride in a rocket that takes them to the rainbow's end! This must be a recent story. Map's voice sounded a little different, less nasal and slightly less annoying.

Go Diego Go! took the world at a snail's pace today as he and Sammy the Three-Toed Sloth helped a mother sloth and her baby escape from the path of a mud slide.

The Backyardigans also had fun in the mud as Swamp Tour Guides Pablo and Uniqua take tourists Austin and Tasha on a trip around their gooey habitat. Tasha's not interested...until she hears about a possible moose monster under the waters of the swamp...

Work was surprisingly quiet for the Friday of a holiday weekend where most kids are out of school. I guess everyone's either saving their money for Monday or on vacation. My register froze about 20 minutes before I left and I had to switch, but other than that, this was a quiet night.

Dinosaur Disco Quest

I did not awaken to a terribly attractive day. It was gloomy and dark, and the rain came down in sheets. Though the rain was gone by the time I got up, got dressed, and made banana pancakes for breakfast, it was still incredibly windy. It was so windy, both of my plastic deck chairs blew halfway across the porch before I managed to grab them and stack them.

I did make it over to Uncle Ken's to do the laundry. Uncle Ken and his girlfriend Dolores were working on cleaning the big picture windows in the kitchen and living room area. I had to wait a little while to do my small pile of laundry due to the heavy, dirty curtains they already had in the washer and drier, but I did get to enjoy some shows in the interim.

Caught the tail end of The Wonder Pets first. They learned about levers and pulleys as they helped a baby elephant in Kenya get it's trunk out of the mud. (Baby Elephant's mama had a pretty Kenyan accent.) Blue's Clues was an early Steve episode dealing with musical instruments; cute, but not all that exciting, though I didn't figure the game out until the third clue.

Switched over to TV Land and encountered one of the most famous of the many beloved I Love Lucy episodes. After begging Ricky to stay in Hollywood just a little longer, a souvenir-happy Lucy and Ethel go after the ultimate take-home trinket at the Chinese Theater - John Wayne's footprints in cement! Needless to say, nothing works out the way Lucy wants it to. She spends a lot of time stomping around in buckets of cement, and we get to learn some more naughty Spanish words from her not-pleased hubby.

I got a bit of a surprise on my return to Nick - Go Diego Go! was early today. I found out why when Diego, Alicia, and Baby Jaguar were joined by Dora the Explorer as they browsed through a dinosaur museum. Yes, dinosaurs were the theme of this double-length Go Diego Go!/Dora the Explorer crossover. Our intrepid Hispanic trio (and their cub buddy) go back in time to help an adolescent Maiasaura get back to her family. Maiasauras were new when I was about Diego's age, and it was fascinating to learn about a lesser-known dinosaur. It was also nice to see how the formats of Diego's show (learn about animal traits and habitats) and Dora's (let's go from this obstacle to this one) were combined. (We did see a little too much Map for my taste, though...)

The Backyardigans were also on a quest today. In "Quest For the Flying Rock," Uniqua, Tyrone, Tasha, and Pablo go on a race to see who can get to the Flying Rock on top of the Steep Step Hill first, the girls going through the jungle and the boys trooping across the desert. Needless to say, everyone winds up learning a lesson in teamwork and cooperation, to the tune of disco and 70s pop.

Much to my annoyance, the wind continued into the afternoon. Despite the sunshine and 45-degree temperatures, I ended up asking Dolores for a ride to work. The last time I rode to work in gale-force winds, I almost ended up being blown into Peter Creek. Work was steady-to-dead, with some obnoxious customers and a lack of help (that kid who kept not appearing last week finally quit).

Snow On By

At press time, we STILL haven't gotten snow. It was cloudy all day, but it never snowed once. Not one flake. I heard that it snowed in Delaware and in Atlantic and Cape May Counties, but never here in the Philadelphia/Camden area. It wasn't even that cold; mid 30s, same as yesterday.

I did my laundry today and watched my favorite cartoons. Baseball was the theme of Dora the Explorer. Dora's buddy Boots can catch and throw well, but he's not much of a hitter. You have to get him and Dora past the Grumpy Old Troll (who is hitting balls instead of spouting riddles), a pond shaped like a mitt, and Swiper the Fox in a hot dog costume (don't ask) and get them to the game. A cute "Catch the Explorer Stars" arc episode; I loved the very useful "Baseball Explorer Star."

Go Diego Go! covered something a bit more delicate. The animal rescuing sibling pair chase an elusive Blue Muto Butterfly after Diego's buddy Baby Jaguar accidentally scares it away. A typical episode with an atypical animal. I've seen pictures of the real Blue Muto Butterfly, and it is beautiful but apparently just as hard to find in real life as it is here.

Today's Backyardigans was a repeat, but it was a fun one. Tasha the bossy hippo learns a lesson in manners from Uniqua and her guy friends when, as Princess CleoTasha, she and her retainers (the boys) must bring Uniqua the Sphinx gifts in order to find out why the Nile's dried up. I'm reminded here of why Uniqua and Tasha are my favorite members of the Backyardigans. Tasha is smart, logical, and a born leader...but she can also be one rude little girl, not only here, but in other episodes, and a tad lazy. I suspect Uniqua and Tasha are best friends partially because, unlike the boys, Uniqua has enough sense not to put up with Tasha's bull.

It was still cloudy and cold when my laundry was done, so I ended up getting a ride to work. Work was steady when I came in during the usual after-work rush hour, stone-cold-dead by the time I finished at 9.

Christmas Fantasia

I did my laundry today instead of trying to fit it in tomorrow before work. I've seen the full-length Dora the Explorer episode that ran today before, but it's a cute one. Dora must become a "true princess" in order to break the spell a mean witch (guest star voice Chita Rivera) cast over her monkey buddy Boots. Some folks online had reservations about the giant-and-the-puppy game, but other than that, Dora's second hour special and her second excursion in to fairy tales is a great deal of fun. I'm particularly fond of that catchy "Calliente" song that turns the winter into spring, and of helping Dora, Isa, Benny, and Tico catch the Explorer Stars!

Steve and Blue introduced the concept of maps on Blue's Clues today while Blue maps Steve's way to the place she wants to go for their afternoon outing. This was one of the tougher clues - I didn't get it until the third one.

I also began my holiday baking today. I make five kinds of cookies:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Italian Biscotti
Cherry Coconut Bars
Peanut Butter
Merry Christmas Molasses Roll-Outs

And three kinds of breads:

Cranberry Bread
Pumpkin Oat Bread
Cinnamon Strusal Bread

Today, we did the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Bread. The Oatmeal came out fine, if a bit sticky. I'm experimenting with using less butter and shortening (and lighter butter when I can), and with using part sugar/part sugar substitute (the Acme had a bag on clearance for $4.40, cheap for sugar/Splenda blends). I'm not the only one trying to lose weight, and I know several people who are diabetic. Unfortuantly, I forgot to chop the cranberries for the bread. The batter ran over, but thankfully, it didn't make too much of a mess.

I enjoyed the original Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer this morning during a wheat pancake breakfast. I actually didn't see this until a few years ago, when I broke down and bought the video in my last year of college. It's a little dated ("We have to get the women back to Christmas Town"), but cute and touching, with great characters and songs so good, three of them are now holiday standards. My favorite character is Yukon Cornelius. In a place where even reindeer are obsessed with conformity, Yukon is truly one of a kind. (Not to mention he and Hermie get some of the best lines. "Didn't I tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce!" "I got me a peppermint mine!" "Fog's as thick as peanut butter." "You mean pea soup." "You eat what you eat, and I eat what I eat!")

Speaking of one-of-a-kind, I ran two true Christmas programming oddities while working on the cookies and bread. Here Comes Santa Claus is a French musical fantasy from 1986. A little boy named Simon is so determined that Santa Claus should bring him his missing parents back from Africa for Christmas, he and his friend Melody visit Santa himself in Lapland, taking a plane there after separating themselves from their class on a visit to an airport. In Lapland, they encounter a beautiful fairy who helps Santa Claus with his work, the usual elves...and an evil ogre who eats children, dogs, and fairies! While the kids try to escape the clutches of the ogre, Santa and Mary Ellen the fairy rescue Simon's parents from an all-too-realistic Senegal.

First of all, this is dubbed into English. While the lip syncing is often off and the dubbing is obvious, the dialog itself is pretty good (except for some stiff pep talk towards the end). The music is 80s synthesizer pop; catchy and pretty if you like 80s music. I enjoyed Mary Ellen's ballad "Land Of the Midnight Sun" when she's out looking for the kids, and the kids' teacher's (the same actress who plays Mary Ellen)
number "'Cause There's a Father Christmas."

Second, this gets weird. How often do you see Santa Claus in a very real Africa, being chased by crocodiles and arrested by African military groups? According to the end credits and the Internet Movie Database, this was actually filmed on location in Finland and Senegal, an odd choice for a musical fantasy. Those are real African natives working the salt mines and helping Santa and Mary Ellen.

For all the authenticity, this is also a fantasy. Mary Ellen and Santa have a cute episode with a family of monkeys that has nothing to do with anything. The kids somehow manage to get the stewardesses on the plane to believe they belong there with no questions, and their teacher never notices they're gone. The ogre's alter-ego, the nasty school janitor, locks children who break his windows in a broom closet, and actually throws something at Simon at one point. There's also the whole idea of a fairy helping Santa in the first place, instead of the American Mrs. Claus. Even with the plot holes, the movie has real charm, the kids are good, and the sight of Mary Ellen and Santa bickering in Africa is just classic.

One thing I do like about Here Comes Santa Claus is learning about modern French Santa traditions. Kids leave their letters to Santa with their teachers. They leave their shoes out instead of stockings. The kids and the teacher gather in the community church to sing a carol on Christmas Eve. When the kids and Santa deliver presents, they aren't wrapped; Santa covers them with tinsel garland instead.

1986 was not a good year for holiday musical fantasy. NBC's big Christmas production for that year was Babes In Toyland, featuring the music of Anthony Newley and an 11-year-old Drew Barrymore as a rather adult young lady who finds herself traveling to the title fantasy land to help Jack Be Nimble wed Mary Quite Contrary and defeat the evil Barnaby.

While not QUITE as horrible as most people have made it out to be, it's not even near the level of cute bizarreness that Here Comes Santa Claus achieves. There are three big problems here. A) I don't know what got into Newley, but his music for this is just awful. B) Despite some colorful sets and costumes, the special effects are sub-par even for TV and definitely compromise the fantasy effect. C) The only cast member who can actually sing, Eileen Brennan, doesn't.

Brennan and Richard Mulligan do have some nice moments as dithery Old Mother Hubbard and nasty Barnaby, and Drew Barrymore does as well as she can under the circumstances. There are some nice touches and gags; Mother Hubbard carries a list around to remember every single thing she says or does, Barnaby lives in a bowling ball, and everyone drives around in cute little multi-color cars like something out of an amusement park. For the most part, though, the cast is as stiff as much of the script. Lord only knows what Keanu Reeves is doing here - he looks like he'd be happier in The Matrix, or at least Bill and Ted.

Really, I don't recommend either of these unless you're 80s fans or into cheesy movies or fans of Barrymore, Brennan, or Reeves. Neither are available on DVD, though the videos should be on Amazon.com and eBay. (I got Here Comes Santa Claus from the North Cape May Acme in 2005; Babes In Toyland came from a mom and pop video store in Collingswood that was going out of business last year.)

I'd heard of the special Annabelle's Wish when I was in college, but I never had the chance to see it until tonight. It covers one of my favorite Christmas myths - that farm animals are given the ability to speak on midnight at Christmas Eve. Annabelle is a sweet calf born on Christmas Eve who is given to Billy, a mute boy who lives with his grandfather. Grandfather and grandson live with the horrifying death of Billy's parents in tragic barn fire that also cost Billy his voice. Neither are having an easy time of it. Grandfather is being hounded by a snooty aunt who thinks Billy could regain his voice under her care in the city; Billy is tormented by two bullies and their father, who's suffered a holiday tragedy of his own.

After meeting Santa, Annabelle has only one wish. She wants to fly with Santa and his reindeer. She wants to so badly, she ties branches around her head for "horns," and dreams of flying in a lovely sequence. She is given to Billy, and the two become fast friends. But the bullies and snotty aunt continue to plague them...until Annabelle makes the ultimate sacrifice on Christmas Eve to give Billy his one wish.

A gentle, moving tale of simple people dealing with trauma during the holidays, of friendship, and of sacrifice. Country fans will be most interested; Randy Travis narrates and sings at least one song, and there's a few other famous country stars on the soundtrack as well.

Here's more at the Internet Movie Database about these productions.

Here Comes Santa Claus
Babes In Toyland (1986)
Annabelle's Wish

Oh, and I started a small office/storage room in WebKinz World. I want a place to put the Christmas stuff after the holidays and clear out my dock.

A Good Mail Day

A package arrived while I was finishing breakfast this morning. It was from Linda Young again, and this time, only one present was "do not open until Christmas"; it's in the back room. Everything else was awesome - a Mini Julie American girl doll (she's sitting by the printer until I can find her another place), a video copy of the movie The House Without A Christmas Tree, more of that fun Voyagers! show, and another WebKinz, the reindeer.

I named my new friend Clarence. I love the movie It's A Wonderful Life, and I debated "Bailey" (I already have a bear named George), before settling on "Clarence." Like his siblings, Clarence has one "cool" outfit (a maroon hoody and worker boots that look exactly like mine), a t shirt, a polo shirt, and a good outfit (an argyle sweater and the same penny loafers his brother wears). I did his room in a mix of the ice (the light, the toy box) and country (the bed, the wardrobe, the bed table) themes. Clarence had the honor of picking our first strawberry crop.

I also began a new room tonight, my first "theme" room, a cross between the candy and diner themes based after The Fudge Kitchen candy shop in Cape May.

Today was Laundry Day. Blue's Clues went for the gold, as Steve and blue demonstrated various ball games, from bouncing to a full obstacle course.

The Munsters learned a lesson in jealousy when Gramps and Herman find a treasure buried in the backyard and decide they can't trust each other with it. It's Lilly and Marilyn who finally dispatch the treasure...and show the guys how silly they were acting.

Dora the Explorer went from doctor to postal employee as she and Boots delivered letters to Tico the Squirrel, Benny the Bull, Isa the Iguana...and yes, they made their second trip to Blueberry Hill to deliver a letter to Swiper the Fox. A simple and very early adventure that introduces Dora's basic buddies and sometimes-villain Swiper.

Go Diego Go!'s Alicia and Diego have fun with Ollie and Oscar, a pair of inseparable river otters, until a wave created by the ever-careless Bobo Brothers washes the otters and human siblings onto different river paths! From here on in, it turns into something of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure tale as Diego and Alicia show off their own skills and that of the otters as they try to find their ways downstream. Otters are another animal I have fond memories of from the Cape May County Zoo. The goofy otters were a prime attraction for years, and the otters' pond is probably still there today.

Uniqua, Tyrone, and Pablo played Coast Guard rescuers on The Backyardigans. Tasha, on the other hand, tries to ignore their attempts to help her as she goes fishing for "the big whopper." The ever-bossy hippo continually ends up in increasingly dangerous waters, only to be saved by Tyrone and Pablo when all she wants is a fish. It's Tasha, however, who eventually saves the boys, as all four kids learn lessons in staying safe and helping out, to the tune of funky 70s urban rock.

Work was steady-to-dead tonight, especially as the night wore on, with no problems beyond some obnoxious people. The wind was still pretty bad when I left, but by the time I got out of work, it had gentled down to a chilly breeze.

Sharing the Joy Of Christmas

After my heavy bout with self-pity yesterday, I woke up this morning deciding that this couldn't continue. I love Christmas. I love the hullabaloo of the holidays. I always have. Just because one side of the family is busy and not too happy with each other, I barely know the other half, and most of my friends don't live in the area is no reason not to celebrate. It'll be hard for me to remember this. I get so down sometimes. I've never been very good at changing or doing things differently, but I'm working on it.

I cheered myself up with some Nick Jr. and TV Land while the laundry was running and Dad put up the lights on their house. (He's going on a work trip next week and the lights seem to be his responsibility. I offered to help. He said he was fine.)

Dora the Explorer played doctor today and administered band-aids and lollipops to friends with sniffles and booboos, including helping my personal favorite of her pals, sweet blue big guy Benny the Bull, learn about allergies. We also learned how to treat other minor injuries and illnesses, from cuts to thorns (I felt for that poor crocodile who had seven thorns in his tail - ouch!).

Go Diego Go! headed back to the ocean for a fairly typical tale of how Diego helped the King of the Humpbacked Whales get out from under a shipwreck. Obviously, Humpback whales were the featured animal of the day; the finale, in which you call a group of whales to help the king by "singing," was really fun.

The Backyardigans went on one of my favorites of their adventures, the hilarious Cops and Robots. Galactic gumshoes Sergent Tyrone and Officer Uniqua pursue "bad bots" Pablonater and T-900 (Tasha) in a great spoof of buddy-cop programs and space operas. If the "bad bots" make their way into the Robot Factory, they'll turn all the robots bad...but you really can't stop those cops! The jugband music in this one is some of the most infectious of the entire series. I'll probably be singing "Can't Stop the Cops" for days. "We're the best in the galaxy!"

I decided to perk up my flagging holidays by inviting my teen stepsister Jessa over to my apartment to help me decorate my tree. It was one of the best ideas I had in a long time. We both enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Quiet, artsy Jessa was not only an enjoyable companion, she was a BIG help with the tree and dressing and putting up my Christmas bears. We did both in half the time, and other than the lights got a bit bunched up around the bottom, they look fantastic. I'm just glad the lights work at all. I could have sworn one set blew out last year, but maybe it was the other one...

A word about the bears. Every year, starting in the mid-80s, Mom would pluck about five or six stuffed bears and holiday-related stuffed animals from our rooms and dress them in old scarves, hats, and Christmas baby clothes. (One elf-like costume is Mom-made, from the year Anny was in the West Cape May Christmas Parade.) She set them up on her old hope chest next to the tree, and they'd remain there for the whole of the holiday season (including New Year's, when the woolen hats would be replaced with cardboard and aluminum tiaras and top hats).

By the time I was in college, however, Mom had largely stopped doing the bears, or would only pull out a few. She no longer had the time or the patience for a fairly elaborate display, so she gave the holidays-only bears and their trappings to me. I loved the idea, but not having a hope chest, I had no idea where to put them...until I realized the area under the tree seemed a little barren. The bears have sat under my tree every year since.

I'll continue my holiday decorating spree tomorrow with the rest of my decorations, including the mini-tree and Winter Cinderella doll who stands with my Sailor Moon collection and the doll/Santa display on top of the big bookshelf in my room.

Running the Gamut From A Drive to E Drive

My detachable A drive has been giving me trouble for the last week. It keeps saying certain files are write-protected when they aren't or just plain not opening, even files it never had any trouble opening before! My stepfather gave me the A drive when I bought my current computer in early September 2005. Apparently, he'd had it but never used it. I still had a lot of empty floppy discs at that point, and all of my files were on floppies.

I'm giving up on that darn A drive. Instead of spending twenty to forty bucks to get another one, I'm just going to do what I should have done all along - transfer my files to CD. It'll take a while, but I'm sick of this "write protected" stuff.

Spent most of the morning doing laundry, doing pilates, and watching Nick and TCM. In addition to The Adventures of Mark Twain on TCM ("artists and writers" being the biopic sub-theme of the day), I caught a couple of cute Nick Jr. episodes. Wonder Pets was the favorite this time around. The globe (and storybook)-trotting school pet trio Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming headed for the woods to help a baby bee gain enough confidence to fly and make honey, and to Coney (not "corny," Tuck!) Island to help a baby squirrel find it's way to the only tree on the boardwalk. The latter reminded me of why this show has been growing on me - it can be pretty weird sometimes, but incredibly imaginative, too. And someone did their homework - the baby squirrel's mother actually had the appropriate Russian/Brooklyn accent. (She sounded like a fuzzy Gertrude Berg.) (I also wonder if that tree growing in a Brooklyn boardwalk was intended as an in-joke...)

I also saw Blue's Room for the first time on an actual episode. Blue's Room is a puppet/live action segment of Blue's Clues where Blue talks to the audience (as opposed to the puppy sounds she makes in the actual show) and interacts with her "toys," various puppet dolls and furniture. Not unlike Elmo's World on Sesame Street, I think it's cute, but takes away from the actual show - finding clues with Joe.

I also enjoyed the Dora the Explorer episode today, because it revolves around one of my favorite past-times - storytelling. Dora reads "The Three Little Pigs" to Boots, who keeps asking what happens next, even after the story ends. To appease her monkey buddy, Dora concocts a sort-of sequal that somehow involves her and Boots helping the goofy king of the land find his mother by the end of the rainbow and turns into a trip through several familiar fairy tales. This was one of the better stories from Dora's "Catch the Explorer Stars" arc. King Juan El Bobo and his mommy proved so popular, they both turned up in several later stories.

The Acme was a bit of a pain today. We were still short on help, and there weren't even any call-outs this time. We just didn't have enough people scheduled.

Small Pleasures and Huge Frustrations

Most of today went well. I got the laundry done and did pilates while watching two Dora The Explorer episodes, a Joe Blues Clues, and a new episode of the rather odd-but-cute The Wonder Pets. The last-named involves a trio of bold and daring elementary school animals - Ming Ming the Chick, Tuck the Turtle, and a hamster whose name I can't remember - who dress in little costumes and go out on various adventures to save a baby animal in distress. Today, they helped their first fictional animal, a unicorn whose horn was stuck in a tree in a storybook. They also lent paws, wings, and flippers to one of the most popular animals of recent years - a baby penguin who looked like he'd just stepped out of Happy Feet

Dora's two episodes were as straightforward as can be - in the first, she and Boots traveled to the Monkey Bars so she could find out if she can climb them all the way. In the second, Dora and Boots are joined by Diego, as all three help a baby brontosaurus get back to his mother, and learn about other dinosaurs and their mommies.

Though the dinosaur episode was very cute (especially that baby bronto giving his mother the flower at the end!), I found myself preferring the earlier adventure. I can relate all too well to Dora's determination to cross the Monkey Bars. Even now, I have difficulty on monkey bars and am still a little afraid to cross very high ones. I could barely get past the second or third rung at Dora's age. I applaud her effort and determination!

(And a side note on the dinosaur episode - Diego seems to be a lot older in Dora the Explorer than he is in his own show. In Go Diego Go! he appears to be a year or two older than six-ish Dora; in the dinosaur show, he seemed more like eleven or twelve, complete with a much deeper voice.)

I did try TCM, but no interesting biographies today. One looked like one of those very old George Arliss vehicles from the early 30s, either Alexander Hamilton or Diserali; the other seemed to be about Christopher Columbus and, from what little I saw, was a poorly-scripted snore. (No good movie has EVER been made about Christopher Columbus.)

I did catch an old favorite on TV Land, though. I always got a kick out of The Munsters as a kid. How many TV shows can pull off being macabre and sorta sweet at the same time? Everyone freaks when they see Herman, but he's really the biggest doll around; he just happens to be a Frankenstein monster with the world's largest stitched-in heart. As with the Addams Family, it's the details that matter here - Grandpa sleeping upside-down, their kid being a vampire who sleeps with a wolfman doll and has what looks like a pet dragon who lives under the stairs, Herman working in a funeral home. To be honest, the show was, far more than the genuinely weird Addams Family, a sitcom with gently ghoulish trappings. Today's story almost seemed to come from the 50s - Lilly gets mad at Herman when he comes home late from an office party, and Gramps, the kid, and niece Marlyn have to get them back together.

I didn't work until 4PM, so I decided to use the extra time to bring out my winter clothes and sort things to donate to the thrift shop. A few of my drawstring and elastic waistband pants would be genuinely too big for me now. I could live with the rest. I also got rid of two sweaters with horizontal stripes (makes me look bigger) and a spring dress with too-busy print. Everything else but two heavy sweaters it is genuinely too early for were either put in the containers in the back room or in my dresser. I also got some story work in.

A few annoying customers at work, but I was only there for a few hours and it was mildly steady, nothing like last night.

I had problems with Netscape again tonight; that's why this post is so late. I'm working on downloading NetZero as I type this. Forget this messing around. If Netscape is going to give me trouble (this is the second time I had to cut a chat with Lauren short because they were being a pain), forget it. I can't even remember my darn screen name!

Reach Out Of The Darkness

Today is (now) my only day off this week. I did the laundry in the morning, as usual Caught some enjoyable Nick Jr shows. Today's Blue's Clues was one of Steve's episodes, and involved the things some of the characters love to collect. For once, Miss Blue and her stripes-loving human pal actually had me stumped until the last clue!

Dora and Diego both had interesting and fairly unusual episodes that dealt with memories and remembering. Someone at Nick must have read my blog entry from last Tuesday that complained about the sameness in Dora's episodes, because there was a mild format change this week. Dora recalls at a big family dinner how she first became an explorer and met her animal buddies Boots, Isa, Tico, Benny, the Fiesta Trio, and the infamous Swiper The Fox. I believe this is also the first (and only?) time the music-playing bugs and frog known as the Fiesta Trio, who normally herald the end of a game sequence, are in the spotlight. Also, Map and Backpack only make cameo appearances; Dora herself announces the game locations. (And given I find Map's voice to be annoying, I kinda like this better.)

Diego was once again at a beach, this time helping his whole family (including his rarely-seen parents) clean up garbage in preparation for a group of leatherback turtles to lay their eggs. Diego himself recalled how he'd once helped one of the mother turtles when she was young and helped her again when she and her friends became caught in a net, while Alicia and their folks stopped the careless Bobo Brothers from redistributing the trash. Another episode I can relate to. I've lived by the beach for most of my life, and many elementary school and junior high school kids clean up trash on the Jersey Shore for not only the same reasons as Diego and his family, but because they're the lifeblood of South Jersey - they're ecosystems, they provide seafood for locals, tourists, and fish-lovers around the world, and they attract millions of tourists a year.

I stuck around after the laundry was done for The Backyardigans. Superheroes and action films were the affectionate parody of the day. The mambo tunes were so infectious, I found myself dancing along as weather-controlling Uniqua and master builder Austin chased mad scientist shrinker Tyrone and goo-creator Pablo as they raced to the Tower Of Power, which held the Key To Rule The World! I especially loved how the kids' powers were, frankly, a lot more sensible than many real-life superheroic creations...and I REALLY loved Uniqua saving Austin and the key in the end. (And they must know Edna Mode - only Pablo had a cape.)

I did make it to the Camden County Library later in the afternoon for this week's volunteering session. Worked on the world and US history sections, which were a mess and took me the majority of the two hours I was there, then spent another hour looking for books on job hunting and college graduate degrees. Didn't see anything I liked about the former, but I did find a book about adults going to back to college that may be helpful. I also picked up a book of Weight Watchers recipes, a couple of Walt Disney Comic Books (I do love me some Donald Duck), and a Calvin and Hobbes comic book I haven't read yet.

I've had bike trouble for the past few days. The back tire keeps deflating, no matter how often I pump it. It was so deflated when I came out of the library, I had to walk it home. (I peeked at AC Moore for about 10 minutes, but while they had lots of fabric, they had no books or patterns for clothes for 18 inch dolls like Samantha, and only books on knitting clothes for fashion dolls, not sewing them.) The small bike shop on the White Horse Pike where I had my pedals replaced twice last year on the old bike was closed on "Teus" (the exact wording on the sign) and mostly seemed to be opened at the proprietors' convenience...which, of course, is in the afternoon and evening later in the week, when I usually work.

Sigh. I'll go to Uncle Ken tomorrow and borrow his or Bruce's bike until I can get an inner tube and get to the shop to have it fixed.

How To Not Make Up Your Mind

Darn it. The Acme called me in twice today. The first time was when I was doing my laundry at Uncle Ken's. Did I want to come in around 3 and go until 7:45? I called them to say "yes"...but they told me they'd already gotten it filled. When I came home from volunteering at the library and running errands, they'd called again and asked me to come in. Seems the guy who called out changed his mind and decided to come in...then called out again! By that point, it was 7:30. I did not call back.

Caught cute, if typical, Dora The Explorer and Go Diego Go! episodes today. As adorable as it was to see Dora and Boots find out whose birthday it was, it was Diego's episode that really resonated with me. He traveled to the ocean to help a baby humpbacked whale that got stranded on a rocky island. I grew up at the Jersey Shore, where real baby whales (though not rare humpbacks) have been stranded and helped by real animal rescuers, some as young as Diego's sister Alicia.

Also ran into an amusing but somewhat bland Blue's Clues. It must have been new. I could have sworn Joe's sweater was orange, but here, it looks red. Shapes were the theme. I guessed right on the first clue; a supermarket IS a good place to look for shapes, as I ought to know.

TCM highlighted popular comics of the 30s this morning. A Night At The Opera is one of my favorite movies. I was glad to catch the final 15 opera-wrecking minutes. The slightly schmaltzy Joe E. Brown vehicle that came after it, Fireman, Save My Child was less interesting.

I did my library volunteering today. Reorganized the CDs, which needed it badly. They've always been a mess, at least in the year and a half I've been going to the Haddon Township Library. They are now as alphabetical as I can make them. Doing the classical CDs was a special challenge, as I know little about that music genre, but I think I got it worked out. I also organized the historical American Girls series books, from Kayla to Molly (no Julie yet, and not much Kit, either - LOTS of Addy).

I was a bit disappointed to find that while the librarians understood my wanting to be a children's librarian, they couldn't do much more than recommend local schools to look at. I was really, really hoping they could point me in the direction of a good library or bookstore-oriented job.

Mom's crazy if she thinks I'm going to look for another grocery store job. That's defeating the point of a job search. I don't want the SAME job in another store. I want a NEW job, something I feel more comfortable and useful in. Something a college graduate should be doing. Nothing would change by changing companies. I'd still be getting bad hours, dealing with stupid people, and doing a job I hate.

No Swimming

Last night didn't go as well as my midnight shift did last week. We were busy all night - we still has big orders at midnight! - and I was dead tired.

I slept in and went somewhat late to Uncle Ken's to do the laundry. It may have been just as well. It rained on and off all morning, sometimes heavily. I spent the whole morning inside. It was strange. Uncle Ken was outside (when it wasn't pouring) closing down and covering the pool area. Dad was at work (where he'll be for 2 1/2 weeks), and Jessa was at school. Uncle Ken's girlfriend Dolores came by briefly with her grandson Blake, but for the most part, it was me, the book I'm reading, and the TV.

I got lucky and caught some good shows today. TCM was having a morning Broadway movie musicals marathon; caught the last 20 minutes or so of My Fair Lady (from "Get Me To The Church On Time" onwards) and parts of Guys And Dolls. Neither are the best adaptations of a Broadway musical ever (Lady tends to be long and ponderous; Dolls lost some music and has casting problems), but they're both a lot of fun in their own right, and I got to see some of the best parts. I've always loved Lady's uproarious music hall numbers for Eliza's dad, and when's the next time I'll get to see Jean Simmons more than hold her own in a bar room brawl in Havana (and doing better than Marlon Brando)?

Uniqua, the pink bug-like tomboy of The Backyardigans, also wanted to prove her mettle this morning. In a big band/swing-fueled medieval fantasy, Queen Tasha sends Uniqua the Pink on a mission to bring a letter to King Austin. On the way, she meets Tyrone of the Misty Woods and Guardian Of The Gate Pablo, who aid and abet her on her way to King Austin's castle. The story was cute, and I LOVED the swing, not to mention admired Miss Uniqua's pluck and her encouragement of her male companions. (A scene in a "stinky swamp" did go on too long, but that may have to do with the main audience's fondness for jokes about nasty smells.)

(And interestingly, I discovered from Amazon.com that this was The Backyardigans's pilot episode.)

The Dora The Explorer episode was more typical - Dora and her monkey buddy Boots help an adorable little crab get a seashell necklace to his mother. Nothing you haven't seen in the show before, but it WAS fun to pretend to "move like a crab," and that baby crab was just such a cutie!

Go Diego Go! tried for something a little more out-of-the-ordinary. Instead of profiling one jungle animal, Diego covered four very different ones as he crosses various terrain in order to help his big sister with some sick penguins. Diego tends to be more action-oriented than Dora, and it succeeds in this episode - the ride over the mountain by llama was my favorite!

And yes, I was correct in thinking my swim last week would be my last of the year. As I mentioned, Uncle Ken started closing the pool area yesterday. It'll be warm here probably well into November, but not warm enough at night to keep the pool temperature bearable. With the kids in school and many adults concentrating more heavily on work or other pursuits, there's less time for lounging around the pool, too. It's a shame...but life and seasons roll on. The pool will be open again next June. I'll just find other ways to work out and other things to do while the laundry's going.

I waited a while after I got back from doing the laundry before heading over to the library to finally do my first day's volunteering at the Haddon Township Branch. The rain had stopped only an hour before, and the library was surprisingly quiet. I organized the travel books section and the mysteries, ironically some of the books I know the most about. I don't know why Pat, the woman in charge of the volunteers, said the job could be tiring; I would have stuck around longer if I hadn't wanted to drop by Super Fresh really quick and get dinner!

There's three options for dinner in the area around the Library besides the two fast food joints. I opted for the only one I'd never tried before, Nick and Joe's Pizzeria in the Westmont Plaza across from the Library, next to Friendly's. I had a Chicken Broccoli Wrap, Raspberry Iced Tea, and French fries, and boy, were they all good! They were delivered hot and fresh, and they tasted soooo delicious, warm and toasty and dripping with spicy teriyaki sauce. The waitress seemed a bit tired, but her smile was wide when I praised the food. I'll definitely be going back there.