Dark Tales On a Rainy Day

It was just cloudy and damp when I got up this morning. I listened to the original cast album of the stage Newsies while eating breakfast. I didn't get to the first item on my list, my very large laundry load, until quarter after 11. It wasn't that busy, mostly older women doing their own big loads. I watched The Price Is Right and the local news and listened to the families who arrived later.

When I loaded my laundry bag onto the basket, I noticed that the front tire seemed a little low. It was fine yesterday! After I got home, I put everything away, then went downstairs and tried to pump it. It helped...for a few seconds. I figured it had a slow leak. I didn't have the time for messing with it at that point. I had to get to the Oaklyn Library. I headed out on foot.

I didn't get to the Oaklyn Library until past 1:15. The only people there were one guy on the computers and the librarian. For so late in the day, there was a lot to do. They've been getting a lot of new DVD's to organize. Many of those new DVD's still had their stickers on the top and sides. I didn't even have the chance to get them all of before the librarian started clearing people out at 1:50, so she could close for the afternoon at 2.

Since it's about three blocks or so from the Library, I had lunch at Amato Bros. They're a small deli and hoagie shop on the White Horse Pike. I had their "Big Papa" sandwich - turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, and sweet peppers. (It's also supposed to have roast beef, but I figured the turkey was enough.) Even at one fourth the size of a regular hoagie, it was still big and thick. It and a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies filled me up very well. I watched people come in and out, getting late lunch orders.

It began to shower lightly as I went to Family Dollar, then headed in the House of Fun to escape the weather. The House of Fun is the collectible toys shop on the next block over from Capitol Pizza. They're always jammed full of every toy, stuffed animal, sci-fi DVD, piece of Sanrio merchandise, video game, comic book, and book on pop culture ever made. A dad was even there with a few kids. It took me almost an hour to decide. I finally went with two DVD's. I saw a copy of The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen with a really neat, period-appropriate cover. The Brothers Grimm was under it; I love Baron Munchhausen and have never seen Brothers Grimm. I got both for a little under $10.50.

The rain was starting to get a little heavier. I made a brief stop in the comic book store next-door before walking home. I ran into my next-door neighbor Richard as he was coming home. I was just about to try to fix the front tire. He said he'd take a look at it.

I just went upstairs after that and spent the rest of a rainy afternoon at home. Finally got to changing the dolls into somewhat lighter outfits for early spring. Felicity's now sporting what was originally her friend Elizabeth's Summer Gown. It has a quilted petticoat; I really think of it as being more appropriate for spring. Whitney and Jessa wear modern green blouses and jeans. I paired Jessa's beaded jeans from the 2004 Ready for Fun modern "meet" outfit with the boots from the "meet" outfit Whitney came in. Whitney wears the turtleneck from the modern Girl Scout Uniform with the 90's basic jeans (they're too tight for Jessa!) and Springfield Collection sneakers. Josefina wears her Harvest Outfit. Molly's in a shamrock-print dress I found at a yard sale and the white t-strap shoes from her Polka-Dot Outfit. I have Samantha in her blue Play Dress and Pinafore; AG only just released her first green dress last month.

Richard came up shortly after I finished the dolls. He took so long because the tire was shot. He ended up replacing the tire and the tube. The bike is now totally fixed. I also asked him about when they're finally going to get around to doing the repair work upstairs. As of right now, it probably won't be for a while, maybe until summer. They found termites downstairs and are still trying to do a lot of major repairs on the kitchen. He did say I could stay at the apartment at the top of their house when the time comes. At this point, it may be my only option. Jodie said I could stay in Jessa's room at Dad's house, but I don't want to disrupt anything if Dad's recovering from surgery. Richard says they admire my spirit - they know I will take my bike or walk in most weather, and only ask for a ride when I absolutely have to. I hated asking Rose for a ride last week.

I went right into making Apple Strusel Muffins, then Bean and Vegetable Soup for dinner while watching The Brothers Grimm. Jakob (Heath Ledger) and Willhem (Matt Damon) Grimm are con men who go around creating illusions to get money off of local villagers. When the French catch up to them, they send the two to one local town that's having particular problems with supposed witchcraft. Ten girls have vanished without a trace, and the town's citizens are getting nervous, to say the least. The duo and a rather annoying Italian soldier venture into the woods to find out what's going on, with the aid of a young woman whose sisters are among the missing...and discover that some fairy tales are not only real, but more terrifying than any illusions they could create.

Whoa. This was a weird one. Director Terry Gilliam claimed this was for kids...but with girls' faces being pulled off and turning into gingerbread men, queens shattering like mirrors, old hags taking the life from young girls, and demonic horses running around, I seriously wouldn't recommend it for them. For teenagers and adults who like their fantasy on the darker side, this is an unusual look at how some of the world's most famous stories came into being. Damon and Ledger do especially well in the reverse of their usual roles, with Damon as the rational, roguish brother and Ledger as the sweet, slightly dorky scholar.

Mele Kelekimaka

I couldn't believe how warm it was when I got up this morning, especially for the first day of winter. It was probably in the 60s by 9AM! I was fine in a t-shirt and light pants, even as I made breakfast and listened to the American Top 40. This week's episode was a holiday special covering popular Christmas songs from the 40s onwards. Among the songs we heard were Gene Autry's version of "Here Comes Santa Claus," Johnny Mathis' "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," the Ronettes' really swinging version of "Sleigh Ride," and Nat King Cole's cozy "The Christmas Song."

I spent the next hour and a half or so working on the icing for the Swirled Peppermint Cupcakes for Dad-Bruce and my landlord and his wife Andrew and Linda. I made "Daisy's Vanilla Cream Icing" from The Mickey Mouse Cookbook again this year, replacing the vanilla extract with peppermint extract and topping the cupcakes with crushed candy canes.

Ran a couple of holiday episodes of favorite animated and comedy shows and characters as I worked. The Monkees spread holiday cheer in their own way in their only holiday episode, "The Christmas Show" from the second season. Thinking they're going to be playing a Christmas gig, they find themselves babysitting an obnoxious rich boy for the holidays instead. The kid is unamused by their attempts to give him the Christmas spirit...until Mike Nesmith figures out what it is that he really wants.

"It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas," as you can guess, spoofs It's a Wonderful Life, right down to a familiar-sounding rabbit guardian angel named Harvey showing Buster what his life would be like if he was never on the show. They even have a black-and-white "clip" from the film. I wish I could have seen this when it came out in 1993, but we didn't have cable by that point. It's the last episode on the Tiny Toon Adventures Volume 4 DVD set; definitely worth a look if you're a fan of the show or of Wonderful Life.

The Pink Panther has less luck trying to earn money for a holiday meal in A Pink Christmas. He does everything from playing Santa to catching a robber, but never gets any money or food for his efforts...until he befriends a puppy and learns that kindness is its own reward.

The Backyardigans are also on the trail of Christmas thieves in "The Action Elves Save Christmas Eve," from their fourth and (to date) final season. Uniqua, Tasha, and Pablo are called by Santa Claus (voice of Conan O'Brian) to retrieve his magic sack from the goofy Abominable Brothers (Tyrone and Austin). The two didn't even know they took Santa's sack - they thought it was just something they could use to carry snowballs.

I went for a quick errand run after finishing the cupcakes. First off was a few present deliveries. My next-door neighbor Richard didn't appear to be home. I just left the bag with the card and Cranberry Bread for him and his family on their front door. My landlord Andrew was home, and I was able to give him the cupcakes for him and his wife Linda in person.

Rode over to Family Dollar next for a few things I forgot at the Acme yesterday. I'm out of soap, and Family Dollar had a huge bag of cough drops for two dollars. They were also having a buy one Christmas item, get the second half-off sale; I bought bags for Dad's cupcakes and Jodie's pudding pie. (Dad's bag ended up being fifty cents!)

Speaking of Dad and Jodie, I made a short stop at Dad's house on my way back. Jodie was working on the computer. Dad's still on a cruise ship job in Florida (he's a freelance cruise ship captain), but Jodie says he'll be home in time for their party on Christmas Eve.

When I got home, I swept the porch (which needed it badly - this is the first time I've seen most of the porch in weeks), then ran A Disney Channel Christmas while working on the Christmas coasters I'm crocheting for my apartment. They're going to replace the coasters I made as a child, which are by now dirty and gunky. I dubbed Disney Channel Christmas about two years ago, when Mom gave me the tapes we made in the late 80s. This is a combination of Disney's two earlier TV specials, Jiminy Cricket's Christmas and A Disney Christmas Gift, with some additional segments. (There's a sequence from Mickey's Christmas Carol that says it's "now in theaters," which dates this special's debut to about 1983.)  I always get a lump in my throat when Jiminy sings "When You Wish Upon a Star" at the end, surrounded by most of the Disney gang in the 60s.

I went to work an hour early, so I could enjoy the Acme's Christmas luncheon and bring my two boxes of cookies without having to rush. It's pretty much the same deal as the Thanksgiving Luncheon, only with red-and-green tablecloths and holiday-themed wrappers on the candy. As I did at Thanksgiving, I stuffed myself silly. I enjoyed the noodle casserole again (this time with the addition of shrimp), slices of Mexican-spiced cheese and turkey melts, Hershey's Special Dark mini-bars, a tasty black bean and corn salad, and a slice of Pineapple Cake for lunch. What little dinner I could fit in during my break included tortellini-spinach salad, turkey and gravy, and a half a slab of pumpkin bread.

Surprisingly, work wasn't that busy. It was steady early on, and some of the people who worked the early shift said the morning had been crazy. It began to die out even by the 4PM rush hour. By the time I left, it was quiet. There were no problems whatsoever coming or going.

Since it was still pretty warm when I left, I took a short ride to look at lights as I headed home. This time, I cruised around the neighborhood between the ramp onto the Black Horse Pike and the Oaklyn School. While most of the displays up there are smaller and not quite as elaborate as the ones on the other side of the School, many of them can do something the side down by the School can't - decorate their back porches and patios so that the lights reflect on the river.

Waiting for the Snow

I awoke to see absolutely nothing on my porch this morning but a few sticker balls and a squirrel. It was cloudy, but there was no snow, sleet, or even rain. On one hand, after all that fuss yesterday, it was a little disappointing. On the other hand, I really had errands I wanted to run today, and I've had enough of wandering around in lousy weather of late.

I didn't have much luck with shopping in the stores today. Wal Mart did have a CD/Cassette player, but it was $49.95, and I was hoping to find one for more like 20 or 30. They didn't have any bike baskets or brakes, either. FYE had nothing of interest. I debated getting cheap sneakers and snow boots at Payless and the Shoe Dept, but decided it could wait until my finances are better. I did mildly better at the Acme, where I picked up grapefruit, a large bag of apples, bananas, light yogurt, deodorant, shampoo, peanut butter, and a few other necessary items.

Though the bank was closed by the time I went home, I still needed to deposit my paycheck. I used the ATM machine at the PNC Bank down the street from me in the White Horse Pike, then ran to Family Dollar to check out their end-of-the-season sales. I wish I hadn't. I really don't like the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike. The clerks are nasty, the customer service non-existent, and the shelves are never stocked. I heard the clerks yelling at each other and customers across the store, including using profanity with a half-dozen customers in ear-shot. There was a long line and only one slow and rude cashier to handle them. One fellow bought a cartful of sodas. I don't know why the cashier didn't question this; he was likely buying them for chop shops. He actually pulled his car right up to the front door to load them, nearly knocking a woman over in the process! I was going to buy those new, energy-saving florescent bulbs, but needless to say, I didn't end up buying anything. I don't think I'll be returning to that Family Dollar anymore. I'll just go farther afield and use Dollar Tree or Dollar General Plus when I need things really, really cheap.

Went across the street to WaWa for a Pumpkin Spice Latte after that. I was going to stop at Doria's Deli for brown sugar, but it was closed by the time I got over there. I just went home instead. I spent the rest of the evening using the Vermont Country Store and Barnes and Noble gift cards Lauren sent me for Christmas. It was so hard to decide on something I could get that I really wanted AND needed. I finally bought a pint of maple syrup from the Vermont Country Store and three books from Barnes and Noble, the other two Melendy Series books I didn't have and the Ethan Mordden Broadway musical history Beautiful Mornin' - The Broadway Musical in the 40s. Mordden's opinions and writing style can be insufferably snobbish sometimes, but his grasp of the history of the theater in general and musicals in particular is invaluable.

It finally started to snow as I did my online shopping. The snow was fairly heavy but, as I suspected, didn't last for long. There was a little rain after that, but it didn't last long, either. Right now, it's once again not doing anything. There's still a bit of snow on my porch, but it'll likely be gone by the time I go to work tomorrow.

Surprises and Disappointments

I ran some more errands this morning. I've been wanting to head to the dollar stores for some small items, but I only had the time for Family Dollar. I don't really like the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike near my apartment, but I use it when I need to (read-when I can't get to the dollar stores in Westmont). It's not as well-organized as the lovely little Family Dollar in North Wildwood, and the staff is often churlish and usually doesn't seem to know what it's doing, behind the register or while stocking. I also had to stop at Doria's, a deli down the street from me, to pick up some Provalone cheese.

I stopped at the Oaklyn Library between Family Dollar and Doria's, since it's on the way. I shouldn't have been as disappointed as I was to discover the tiny, three-room library doesn't need help of any kind. No, they don't need more employees. No, they don't need volunteers. No, the director runs the children's programs, and she doesn't need help. Of course they don't need help. They're a tiny, small-town library that's not even attached to the Camden County Library System. They don't know me, other than my occasionally checking out books. Why would they want MY help?

Work was a bit better. It was steady in the afternoon, reletively quiet by the time I left, which was a bit earlier than I thought. I'd written down the end of my shift as 8:30PM, but it turned out to be at 8. Even the main schedule in the break room said so. Cool. Some mistakes aren't so bad.