Windy Leap Year

Started off a quick Leap Year morning with breakfast and Charlie & Lola. "I'm Just Not Keen on Spiders," says Lola. She's so scared of them, she won't even brush her teeth when she finds one in the sink. She feels a lot better about them when Charlie captures the spider and tells her about all the wonderful things they can do.

Soon as the cartoon ended, I went outside and waited for Karen. And waited. And waited. I waited for 20 minutes. Finally called Karen. I don't know why we've been having problems for weeks getting our texts to go through, but it turns out she had to cancel. She definitely had the flu. She sounded awful on the phone. I'll text her my schedule tomorrow and we'll try again next week.

No matter. Since I was already awake, I figured I'd just run errands early. My wrist felt well enough to take the bike out. It was windy and cold, barely in the 40's, but it was also brilliantly sunny. Rode down to Collingswood first to make a quick stop at PNC Bank. Their outside ATM machines were busy, so I went inside. Used the ATM, got my money, got out.

Took the back roads through Collingswood and past Newton Lake Park to Westmont. Since I passed by it on my way, I stopped at Rite Aid. The one on the corner across from Westmont Plaza is in the midst of closing. Normally, I don't like how Rite Aid rounds up your orders for charity without asking if you want it done or their high prices, but they do sometimes have good DVDs. 

I didn't get DVDs, but I found a lot of other things I needed. I've been searching for panty hose ever since my last pair got runs on Halloween, but couldn't find them anywhere. Not only did I find them at Rite Aid, they were such a good price, I bought four pairs. I have a slight cold right now. My temperature is normal and I'm not nauseous, but I do have a sore throat and a stuffy nose. A box of basic Mucinex usually cost $21; with their big sales, it came to $8.50. Also grabbed honey for tea and a drink, both of which were more than half-price.

My next stop was Sprouts, since I was already over there. The Olyra breakfast cookies were on sale. I picked up the blueberry yogurt and chocolate hazelnut sandwich cookies. Though they had samples of yummy Irish soda bread and pistachio muffins, I ended up getting caramel chocolate chip cookies on clearance. Wanted more of those delicious Cara Cara oranges. Grabbed a bag for $4.49. Ran into a display with creamy root beer and ginger ale Zevia cans 4 for $1. They must have overstocked those flavors. I bought my four.

Made my way across Cuthbert Road, and then through Haddon Township and down to the White Horse Pike. Stopped at a very quiet pretzel shop for lunch. They didn't have the stuffed pretzels out, but the young man behind the counter said they were in the warmer. I picked up a stuffed Philly Cheeesteak pretzel and was on my way.

Got home in time for the second half of Press Your Luck. It was all about the ladies. The one guy couldn't get a word in edgewise as the ladies kept amassing big bucks, losing them, and passing spins. One of the ladies only had $700, but she still passed her spins to the other. That proved to be a wise decision when she hit a Whammy on her last turn. The lady only took home $700, but that was enough to win.

Things were a little less wild on Split Second. An adorable young man who had gotten into a car accident after barely having his license for a few hours played very well, dominating the game. He didn't get the car and opted to come back, but was beaten by a sweet dark-haired woman who just barely got by him on the final Countdown round. She too opted to come back and try for the car when she didn't get it.

Finally got around to signing Netflix up on my TV (and signing back into Disney Plus and Hulu) so I could watch Roxanne Roxanne while I vacuumed, dusted, and swept my rooms. I go further into the biography of pioneering female rap artist Roxanne Chante on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Musicals On Streaming - Roxanne Roxanne

Switched to WKRP after the movie ended. There's "Changes" afoot at WKRP. Jennifer tries dressing Herb in a suit that's not violent plaid in order to attract better clients, while Venus tries to be more stereotypically black for an African-American publication. Neither works out - the man they send to interview Venus is white, and Herb's regular clients are expecting someone who dresses less stylishly. 

Johnny needs $40,000 in donations to repair a mission that was burned out in a fire. Jennifer offers her rich friends to help. "Jennifer and Johnny's Charity" runs into class conflict when Johnny brings the homeless people from the mission to the party Jennifer holds for her older well-heeled friends, and no one can agree on how to rebuild the mission.

"I'll Take Romance" is the name of a computer dating service that's currently being advertised on WKRP. Herb encourages Les to make use of it in order to get a date for a big dinner. The lady he's assigned is gorgeous...but he wonders if it's him he's interested in when it turns out the dating service is a front for a prostitution ring. 

Made my bed, then went online. I applied for a secretarial job with a plumbing company in West Berlin. It's kind of far, but I am interested in moving. It's something. It has health insurance, anyway. 

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Watched Match Game '77 while I ate. For some reason, they skipped ahead several weeks to well into 1977. Nipsey Russell and Arlene Francis join in as an audience full of local high schoolers cheer very loudly for Rich and Arlene happily flirts with Gene. 

Took a shower after I ate, then worked on writing while watching Match Game Syndicated. The jokes about the stunningly gorgeous contestant continued in the first episode, especially after she won. Brett starts in on Elaine about her hair not being natural, before Charles reminds her that other people's hair on the show isn't either. The second episode began with cracks about the fancy embroidered patch on Gene's jacket. Even after the beautiful contestant finishes her round, we have a second contestant who is even perkier. Big George Kennedy is more nervous about dealing with "__ Glands" in the Head-to-Head.

Finished the night with something different on Kanopy. Matthew Bourne's Cinderella was a unique version of the ballet filmed in England. Set during the Blitz in World War II, here Cinderella has three obnoxious stepbrothers (one of whom has a crush on her) along with two sisters. Her father is a World War I vet in a wheelchair; her glamorous but drunk stepmother throws herself at anyone who will give her the chance to put herself and her boys in the spotlight. The "prince" is an RAF ace who is downed near Cinderella's home. She kindly gives him shelter when he's disoriented after his crash, but her stepmother throws him out. The "fairy godmother" is a male guardian angel who protects Cinderella and her flyer from the Blitz, helps her get to the big party at the Cafe Du Paris, and reunites them at the hospital after Cinderella is hurt during one of the bombings. 

Slightly darker than usual for a Cinderella tale, but very well done. The setting gives it an urgency and sense of danger not often seen in fairy tale adaptations, while still retaining some magic with the guardian angel who can bend time and appear as anyone, including a psychiatrist helping Cinderella at the hospital. I also really like the idea of Cinderella meeting the "prince" and treating him kindly. It gives them a connection that explains why they fall so hard for each other later. 

If you love ballet, fairy tales, or the Prokofiev Cinderella, you'll want to hop on a magical motorcycle and check this out. 

Leaping Into Leap Year

Began my Leap Year day with breakfast and two quick episodes of Match Game from 1977 on YouTube. In the first, Brett has to do some explaining to tell Gene that Jane doesn't talk the way Tarzan did in the 30's movies, and everyone comes up with some interesting answers to "Put __." Gene has trouble with his shoelaces in the next episode, Charles gives his opinion on a question involving a man trading his wife in, and Elaine Joyce is even noisier about where Gene puts his hands.

Headed to work even before the episode ended. Work went pretty quickly for a relatively long day. I did go in for a cashier early in the morning, shelved candy, and swept the store once, but I spent the majority of the day outside with the carts. Not a bad day for it. While it remained windy and cold, it at the very least was also sunny and dry.

Ran into Rose loading up her car in the parking lot while doing the carts later in the morning. I finally told her about the landlady raising the rent next month. She's not terribly happy with her or me and insisted I call Jodie and Dad for help.

Picked up my schedule when I arrived. It's one of the better ones I've had in a while. Mostly afternoon and early evening hours, except on Wednesday and Thursday when the head manager is off and comes in late respectively. Same days off, Tuesday and Friday. I'll have plenty of time to talk to the family, work on writing and job ideas, and do my monthly cleaning.

Went straight into grocery shopping after I finished. Took advantage of more online coupons to get deals on Belvita cookies, a pint of Baskin Robbins ice cream, cranberries, honey, milk, cheese, and yogurt. My vegetable crisper is just about empty. Grabbed bags of green beans, carrots, and spinach to have with dinner this week. Since bagged Green Giant frozen vegetables were also on sale, I thought I'd give the butternut squash Riced Veggies a try to get more vegetables in my diet. Restocked canned pineapple, bananas, tangerines, cereal, and canola oil.

Returned to Match Game on YouTube while I unpacked everything. Jumped back to 1975 for two of the earliest nighttime games. Richard Dawson and Clifton Davis made a few racial jokes that you'd never get away with today in the first episode. William "Captain Kirk" Shatner and Lee "Catwoman" Merriweather helped liven up the second.

Worked on writing after I finished. Marcia and Gene attempt to attack Malade, who sends spiny rose vines after Gene and knocks Marcia back. Bill's terrified the witch will muzzle him and try to force him to work for her again, and Charles is still surrounded by fire...and even more scared.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers and made Chocolate Chip Muffins from Alton Brown's Old School Muffin recipe while watching the Cannon Movie Tales version of Beauty and the Beast from 1987. I go further into this surprisingly charming retelling at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Family Fun Saturday - Beauty and the Beast (1987)

Finished the night after a shower with two Match Game "premieres" on YouTube and Charlie's Angels on The Roku Channel. "Angels On Wheels" take the women into competitive roller derby after a star skater dies in what seems to be an accident. Her sister believes otherwise, despite what the police say. Jill gets into the sport and becomes a skater herself, Sabrina poses as an insurance agent looking into phony claims, and Kelly claims she's a woman reporter while searching the deceased's apartment. Someone, however, doesn't want the Angels finding out what's really going on with those phony claims and are willing to blow them out of the ring (and Kelly's car) for good.

Mouse Monster Mash

I was a bit surprised to see rain outside when I awoke this morning. I hadn't seen rain in the forecast. Thankfully, by the time I got moving, it was long gone, and the world was just wet. I ran Jason of Star Command while eating breakfast. Though technically listed as a spin-off of Space Academy, this is really a whole different show. The school for kids with magical abilities and the typical-but-cute edutainment stories have been replaced by an ongoing plot involving Jason (a supposed "soldier of fortune," though he seems to have more in common with James Bond than Han Solo) and his fellow members of Star Command and their war against the evil Dragos. It feels more like a sci-fi serial from the 30's and 40's - there's even two fifteen-minute stories per episode.

Did the laundry around 10:30-quarter of 11. They were pretty quiet for a Monday morning. I saw a few people when I came in and maybe one person when I left. Otherwise, I worked on story ideas and half-listened to Rachael Ray and The View in peace. I really didn't have a very big load, anyway. I was out in less than an hour.

As soon as I put everything away, I went right back out. By this point, the sun had come out, and it was in the 50's and sunny as could be. It was a great day to eat out and run errands. Started with lunch at the Westmont Bagel Shop. I hadn't eaten there in a while. Surprisingly, given it was the tail end of the lunch hour when I arrived, they were quiet. I had a spinach and provolone grilled chicken sandwich on a whole-wheat bagel with macaroni salad and pickle chips. It was tasty, with a ton of cheese, even if the bagel was probably too thick to eat it on.

Headed to the Haddon Township Library next. There wasn't much going on there. The librarians still wanted me to leave the piles of adult DVD titles for the kids to return. I organized the children's titles and shelved the few new releases that were in. I did find a couple of new kids' titles I wanted to see, including brand-new collections for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Doc McStuffins, last fall's Barbie movie Rock n' Royals, and the first season of Star Wars: Rebels.

Made a very quick stop at Thriftway on the way home. I forgot to buy an onion on Friday. Sugar was on a good sale, and I was just about out. They have far better prices on individual toilet paper than the Acme does (69 cents, as opposed to a dollar). They were a little steady, but nothing really bad.

Spent the rest of the afternoon writing at home. Han deals with Jabba, telling the fat, ugly ogre he has the money he owes him to buy his way out of indentured servitude. Jabba pretty much says "you'd better, or I'm sending more of my hunters after you." (I know this scene isn't really necessary, but I love Han stepping on Jabba's tail and the "You're a wonderful human being" line.)

Meanwhile, Luke is back at the ball, wondering what became of Ben and Han. Leia storms in, still mad as heck at being abandoned by and kissed by Han. She agrees to dance with him, and Luke is in seventh heaven...but they both quickly realize that something's wrong...

Ran Barbie: Rock N' Royals while making my favorite Cake Mix Peanut Butter Cookies. This is the Barbie series' third variation on The Prince and the Pauper, and their second to make it royalty vs pop singers. In this case, Princess Courtney and rock star Erika are looking forward to two weeks at cultured Camp Royal and vibrant Camp Pop. There's a mix-up with their boats, and Courtney finds herself among the up-and-coming pop stars, while Erika is hob-nobbing with the royal kids. The two heads of the camps don't really get along. One bets the other that their group can't beat them in a sing-off - loser closes down their camp. Though Courtney and Erika don't feel like they fit in at first, when they discover what's going on with the talent show, they bring their new friends together. In the end, they discover the importance of teamwork and how stepping out of the box can help us discover new talents.

Another musical episode, this one was kind of fun. It did have the same problem as the previous Barbie royal life vs pop life story The Princess and the Pop Star - the mild magical angle with the royals feels forced and necessary. Otherwise, this was, while not great, better than the rather dull Princess and the Pop Star. Fun for girls who love Barbie or pop music.

Did the first Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode while making a jelly omelet for dinner. Mickey is also involved in an unusual musical, in this case the tale of how Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto broke down outside an old mansion and find themselves among monster versions of the usual gang. Mickey is Dracula, Goofy is the Frankenstein monster, Professor Ludvig Von Drake is his creator, Clarabelle is the Phantom of the Opera, and Donald and Daisy are ghosts. They keep hearing a strange clanking noise throughout the episode and search every room, talking to the "monsters" on the way.

Finished out the night with a bath. Ahhh. That felt absolutely wonderful, especially after yesterday. I read the Star Wars FAQ and listened to Ann Murray's greatest hits.

Oh, and I hope you enjoyed your extra Leap Year day! Hope you got a lot done, too!

Farewell to the Daydream Believer

This is a tough one for me to write. I would have done it earlier, after I found out, but I didn't know what to say.

Davy Jones of the Monkees Dead at 66

He wasn't my favorite Monkee (that's Micky Dolenz), but he sang my favorite Monkees song. I'm not as big of a Monkees fan as I used to be...but that doesn't mean this isn't still a shock.

The day generally went pretty well before I went online and saw that sad announcement in my e-mail box. It was only sprinkling when I rode my bike to work around  10AM. Now I'm glad I did take that extra hour. It started raining harder about an hour later, and wouldn't let up until late afternoon.

Probably thanks to the weather and the end of the month, work was mostly quiet all day, and never more than mildly steady at rush hour. Once again, the worst problems had to do with the remodeling. Now they're working on the women's bathroom, which means yes, we still have a unisex bathroom, and we still have to lock it. They're redoing the walls on the break room, so we still can't use that, either. I parked my bike back in where they keep the large cleaning supplies.

I got incredibly lucky with the weather. By the time a manager came in for me at 5PM, the rain had calmed back into sprinkles. I was perfectly dry when I rode over to Lucile Roberts. They were very busy; I had to make my way through a large crowd waiting for the 5:30 kickboxing class so I could change in the bathroom. I did the elliptical machine today, but given that my ankle is still sore from Saturday and the weather hasn't been kind to my knee either, that may not have been the best idea. I did better with working on my arms on the machines and with hand weights.

I briefly debated eating out, but I have plenty of leftovers at my place. I went home and watched Tales of the Gold Monkey instead. In "Black Pearl", Jake and Corky deliver an American scientist to Boragora. On the way there, Jake rescues a native afloat at sea, carrying a canister and dying of unusual burns. Sarah thinks there may be a connection between the scientist, the canister, and the natives. Meanwhile, a group of Nazis are creating a huge atom bomb seven years early on another island. When Sarah drugs the scientist, Jake takes his place, while she and Corky follow to keep tabs on him and the natives who have been enslaved by the Nazis.

For the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed your extra "leap" day in February.

Looking For Snow In The Camden World

Camden County's been getting snow warnings all day long, anything from rain to two inches. All I've seen all day long is clouds. I went to Uncle Ken's and did my laundry with no fuss. I had a nice little chat with Uncle Ken's girlfriend Dolores and her sweet grandson Blake. Blake's about four, and he's a really sweet kid. Dolores invited me to a neighbor's baby shower; we'll see if I can get home from work in time on Sunday.

Work was busy for most of the evening. Between beginning-of-the-month customers and the snow forecast, we had long lines for much of the night.

Oh, and I hope you all enjoyed your extra Leap Year day. I'm just happy knowing I have an extra day before I have to pay the rent. ;)