Spring Into Summer

It was too darn hot when I awoke this morning, already in the 70s at quarter after 9. When I headed out with my big bag of thrift shop donations around 11, it was at least 85, sunny, and windless. This is really crazy. It did get this hot last year in April, but not until later in the month.

I kept my running around quick. I just dropped the bag of donations off at the thrift shop and said "hi" to my friend Erica. The last thing I need is more thrift shop junk. Went to the Collingswood Library for an hour, then rode straight over to the Haddon Township Library for volunteering. I returned DVDs and kids' books at both places. Had a nice chat about my job frustration with one of the younger librarians at Haddon Township, too.

My next stop was the Bagel Shop in Westmont, my very favorite lunch spot. I had a Turkey, Swiss, Lettuce and Guacamole Sandwich on a Honey-Oat Bagel. They really overdid the guacamole, which made the bagel a bit difficult to hold. Other than that, it was quite tasty. I didn't get there until around 2, by which time the place was totally empty except for the TVs blaring CNN reporting about the mining disaster in West Virgina.

I went to the Dollar Tree next. I needed another basket, this time to organize the random items stacked on and under the shelf in my living room area closet. I went for a long ride in Newton River Park after leaving Westmont, partially to avoid the traffic on Cuthbert that made last week's library trip such a pain in the neck. Stopped very quickly at CVS; I was originally craving ice cream, but I didn't like their prices. I bought dried fruit and mouth wash, both of which were on sale.

Spent the rest of the afternoon continuing the spring cleaning, despite the heat. I'm trying my hardest to get rid of those darn ants. I swept out the areas under the sink where the pots and pans are and the "pantry," aka the two little shelves in the area behind the wooden partition, between the sink and the stove. It didn't seem to do a lot of good. I just found more ants on my bottle and can recycling canister, which I emptied and washed out.

And yes, I did organize my living room area closet. Both the living room and bedroom closets are a pretty good size, but I've just left them kind of messy until now. I used a larger round basket to hold the candles, wires, and other odds and ends that were on the shelf in the closet. Stashed the bucket with the cleaning supplies next to the basket, and the little sewing machine under them.

It might be just as well that I forgot to take out something for dinner, given how hot it was. An omelet with spring vegetables and pan-roasted Brussels sprouts worked just as well. I have a Jello-mold "salad" chilling in the refrigerator for dessert.

Down for the Internet

I spent early this morning cleaning the kitchen. It wasn't quite as bad as the bathroom, but I was hoping to prevent more ant invasions like the fridge incident on Tuesday. (Which reminds me, I've seen one or two ants in the fridge since then, but nothing like Tuesday morning.) To that end, I also swept the porch. I was going to wait until after I got that rotten tree limb cut down, but I have no idea when that's going to happen, and the porch was a mess. Squirrels and birds have left a trail of early nuts and acorns all over the place, and I haven't swept it since before I went on vacation.

I tried posting the Monkees Role Play later this afternoon, but the internet went down. I just spell-checked it and ended up sweeping instead. I did post it tonight. Look for our newest main story, "Return of the Planet of the Monkees," at our Dream World role play web site.

Work was off-and-on dead again, as it was yesterday, but there were a surprising number of huge orders. A lot of people must have used today to stock up after returning from vacation or heading for college. Some of the orders numbered into the $300-$400 dollar range.

The last customer was an annoying elderly woman who bought two 24 packs of Pepsi and even used the coupon for them...then whined because she thought they would come up $10 all together instead of $12.96 for two with the coupon. No, the 12 packs were 4 for $10. She just stormed off without buying anything. I couldn't understand half of what she was saying, anyway. Not only did the woman behind me take it well, but she claimed to have had the woman at the Golden Corral next to Pep Boys where she works and caught her taking food from the buffet in a bag...and the woman got mad when they caught her!

It's Finally Sunny In Philadelphia

I was up late this morning and didn't really get going on today's laundry until around 11:30. I ran into Jessa watching the indie movie Everything Is Illuminated as I came in. I had to wait a while (Uncle Ken's laundry was still in the dryer), so I watched the tail end of the movie with her. We briefly visited my apartment and walked to CVS when I got my laundry in the dryer.

I'm glad Jess and I had that little walk today. She'll be moving into her apartment at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia on Thursday, and this is probably the last time we'll get to spend with just the two of us until after she starts school. She bought a cork-board for school at CVS. I bought Palmolive Dish Washing Liquid on sale for $.98, the soft tooth-brushing picks for between my teeth (I ran out yesterday), and an Entertainment Weekly. (I always buy their Summer Movie Preview, Fall Movie Preview, and the end-of-the-year issue.)

It was quarter of 3 by the time I finished doing the laundry. I didn't eat lunch until quarter after 3...and it wasn't until around 4 that I made it to the library for this week's session. I debated doing it on Friday, but I'm glad I went today anyway. They just got a third DVD/CD rack for the children's media, and I organized everything that was checked in into three racks, instead of the two they were originally in. The children's CDs especially needed it. I haven't organized them in forever, and they were a mess. I never even got to returning any of the other DVDs, and they were back to stacks of them.

It was after 6:30 after I left the Super Fresh (looked for sales on peanut butter and english muffins - saw neither) and headed home to make leftover Corn-Meal Battered Turkey Cutlets with eggplant Parmesan and romaine salad.

And ugh. I really need to find more effective ant spray. I actually had ants in my refrigerator today. I have no idea how they got in there. They must have been after the candy canes I keep for stirring my tea. Needless to say, I dumped those in a hurry and wiped the whole side of the fridge down with bleach.

Down And Dirty With the Simpsons

Began cleaning today. I put it off last month because of my knee, and no matter what everyone says, I just can't put it off any longer. The apartment looks terrible; the bathtub and sink in particular were bad, and I was starting to get tiny ants around the crack between the sink and the small counter next to the stove. (In fact, this crack is right above the area under the sink that gave me mouse trouble in the spring.) I ran to the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike to pick up some Raid before cleaning.

On my way home from Family Dollar, I stopped at the 7-11 for a Slurpee to combat the continuing intense heat. I've been getting their Crystal Light Passionfruit, which actually tastes more like Sour Watermelon than the flavor that claims to be Sour Watermelon and is probably sugar-free.

7-11's in the midst of a huge promotion for The Simpsons Movie. I don't care much about the Simpsons, but even I couldn't resist a promotion this big. As Matt of X-Entertainment mentions in this very breathless article at his site, some stores even converted into an all-Simpsons "Kwik-E-Mart" for the weeks surrounding the opening of the movie. The White Horse Pike store isn't one of them, but they still have a ton of Simpsons merchandise. I even bought a Squishee cup to go with my Superman Returns Slurpee cup from last summer. (It's the green one with Lisa, one of the few characters from the show I sorta like.) I saw a box of Krusty-Os on one half-price shelf, but despite the massive size, the front cover did not look appetizing.

Of all the Simpsons stuff 7-11's peddling this summer, the must-have would probably be the infamous pink-frosted donut. I hate donuts, but I figured today I'd have one anyway, just for history's sake. I like trying weird, unusual, and "limited edition" flavors of regular junk food. I think I'm one of the only people who liked that cinnamon-flavored Holiday Pepsi Spice they did two Christmases ago, and I was also big on Crystal Pepsi in the early 90s. I had to do it. I had to know what a pink frosted Simpsons donut tasted like.

I took a big bike the moment I walked out of the store. I managed to get through almost half of it before coming to the conclusion that, as cool as the Pepto-Bismol pink frosting was, it was TOO FREAKIN' SWEET! Blech. Like eating fifteen thousand pounds of sugar at once. I don't have THAT big of a sweet tooth. I ditched the thing without finishing it and concentrated on my Passionfruit Squishee instead.