Hot In the Summer

Got a quick start today with breakfast and Little Bear. He and his friends play "Follow the Leader" to get to Hop-Frog Pond, with each of them coming up with a different place they pass through. He becomes "Little Scarecrow Bear" with No Feet's help to scare the crows away, until he decides crows need to eat, too. Mother Bear is taking care of a baby raccoon. "Little Bear and the Baby" play with each other, and Little Bear reads stories...until they both end up taking naps.

Hurried out the door after Little Bear ended. I didn't hurry fast enough. I was one minute late, and had to help the dairy manager mop up a leaky orange juice cooler the moment I arrived. Fortunately, that was by far the worst thing that happened today. Not only were we dead again, but I had an older man helping me out with the sweeping and the carts later in the day. He didn't push many carts, and he only checked to see if the store needed to be swept, but he was still there. Neither of us really wanted to be inside on a decent day anyway. It was sunny, hot, and humid, but probably in the upper 80's, nothing like it has been of late. I did end up cleaning another leaky spot, this time by the bowls of sliced and cubed fruit, before I left.

Soon as I got home, I changed, made lunch, checked a few things on my phone, and watched Paw Patrol. In "Rescue Knights: Quest for the Dragon's Tooth," we return to Barkingburg as Marshall guards a very special Dragon's Tooth that will allow anyone who wears it to control a dragon. Ex-knight dog Claw wants to control a dragon and show what a wonderful knight he is, so he steals it. While Ryder and the others fortify Barkingburg castle from dragon attack, Marshall takes it on himself to retrieve the Dragon's Tooth and stop Claw.

After the show ended, I signed up at Clarifi - Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Philadelphia and Delaware Valley. They also serve South Jersey - they have an office in Cherry Hill - and they're probably the closest to my needs. If I don't hear from them by the end of the week, I'll call them.

After I signed up at their website, I went down for a nap. I had early work today, and I was still tired. I passed out around 3:30, got up at quarter of 6, and felt a little better.

Made a delicious dinner of cheesy grits with plums after I rolled out of bed. Watched Match Game '75 while I ate. This week was unique in several respects. For one thing, it was the only one during the entire 1973 - 1982 run to be announced by someone besides Johnny Olsen. Bern Bennett announced for Johnny while he was on vacation. It was also the only week to feature bass-voiced comedian Joe Silver and warm Good Times matriarch Esther Rolle. 

Finished the night, or tried to, with more Mystery Science Theater 3000. Munchie is one of the last relics from the "small ugly-cute creature either frightens kids or helps them out" genre of 80's and 90's family movies that began with E.T. In this 1992 comedy, Munchie (voice of Dom DeLouise) is supposed to be this hilarious monster-like creature who helps Gage (Jamie McEnnan) combat bullies, impress the girl he likes (Jennifer Love Hewitt), and show his mother (Loni Anderson) that the guy she's dating (Andrew Stevens) is a creep. Trouble is, Munchie is not only more annoying and obnoxious than lovable - even Gage calls him out on his antics wrecking havoc - but his design is flat-out hideous, and even terrifying. The evil Gremlins were cuter and less-scary than Munchie. Arte Johnson has some mild fun as Gage's mentor, but he's defeated by his material and lack of screen time. Honestly, don't come within five miles of here unless you're a true lover of bad 80's and 90's cheese and can really handle heavy camp. 

Hot Spring

Began the morning with breakfast and Little Bear. "Cat's Short Cut" proves to be anything but when Little Bear and Owl keep on getting lost and running into strange creatures on the path. "Little Bear's Bad Day" has him breaking his favorite toy boat and spilling everything in sight, but Father Bear reminds him that he's not the only one having trouble. "Captain Little Bear" leads his pretend pirate friends to the Lost Island, where they uncover a treasure. They lose the treasure when the boat fills up with water, but Little Bear does manage to keep one bit of it for Duck.

Spent the next hour and a half making the bed, changing the sheets, putting the summer sheets and quilt on the bed, and watching Hearts Beat Loud. I go further into this charming indie musical about a father who wants to form a songwriting duo with his college daughter at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy Father's Day! - Hearts Beat Loud

Switched to Paw Patrol while eating lunch and looking up questions about the law and house hunting to ask Rose. "Mighty Pups, Super Pups: Pups Save a Giant Chicken" brings back Ladybird, who regains her powers after snitching a piece of the meteor from the Rescue Tower. She wants to steal the extra-shiny town bell, but when Chickaletta pecks at the rock, she turns into a giant chicken! The Mighty Pups have to keep Chickaletta from wrecking havoc downtown and Ladybird from stealing the bell. "Pups Stop Harold's Deep Freeze" when he finds another meteor fragment and builds a machine that will freeze the entire town!

Since it was getting late when I called Uber, I spent a little extra to get priority. They did arrive in 7 minutes. I was right on time at the Thomas Sharp School. The driver going home surprisingly picked me up in 3 minutes during the height of the evening rush hour.

Though it was sunny when I got to school, it was also hot and incredibly sticky-humid. It was too humid for the kids to go out today. Things did not begin well. The custodians hadn't been able to put the cafeteria tables back down after gym class. After he did do that, my 8 kids were rowdy in the bathrooms. Three left without waiting for me and the others. Two of the girls messed around. I finally left them with the next teacher bringing her table.

On one hand, we only had 19 little kids all together today. On the other hand, they were noisy in the cafeteria, and even crazier in the library. I did read two of the kids in the cafeteria, and the head teacher read a book about a young boy taming his "elephants" (aka his feelings) by listening to them and whispering to them before we went in the library. They were even noisier in the library. The head teacher had just copied pictures of unicorns and KPop Demon Hunters. One of the girls cried and got very upset when she had to wait to use the black colored pencils. We're short on several colors, including black. It didn't help when the girl next to her drew on her picture. She drew on hers, they both got upset, and I got fed up with them and yelled at them. One of the girls separated herself and calmed down on her own. The other ended up sitting in the librarian's chair in tears before her mother finally arrived. The others danced to "Ghostbusters," "Try Everything" from Zootopia, and songs from KPop Demon Hunters, Descendants: The Rise of Red, and Moana 2. 

We finally got the kids back to the cafeteria around 5. I'm surprised most of them wanted to go outside. Despite some shade along the back of the blacktop, it was really hot, humid, and muggy, too much to be running around, though at least there was a nice, cool, strong wind. The boys played Monkey In the Middle and soccer anyway, while the girls talked and watched them. We were down to 3 younger kids when I left. One was on his way out just as the Uber driver picked me up to go home.

Put on The Price Is Right when I got in. Little Bear isn't the only one having a bad day. Neither of the contestants won the pricing games I saw. One contestant bid on a trip-themed Showcase. The other went for a movie themed one with a car...and alas, both just barely went over.

Things went better on Match Game '74. Most of tonight covered Charles Nelson Reilly's last week on the show before he went back to Broadway to direct a play. Brett went back and forth between claiming she'd cry the entire time he was gone and being glad he was leaving. Gary Burghoff made his debut in Charles' seat during the second hour. We also had the only week featuring Michael Evans, the original Lionel on The Jeffersons. 

Finished the night listening to one of Journey's biggest hit albums. Raised On Radio introduced the huge hits "Girl Can't Help It," "Be Good to Yourself," and the ballad "I'll Be Alright Without You." This was the definition of "power pop" when I was a kid, with chord-heavy numbers like "Once You Love Somebody," "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever," and the title song. 

(Oh, and it did finally rain...around 10:30, by which time I hope the kids were long in bed. It was a doozy, too, with buckets of rain and thunder and lightning and strong winds.)

Blowing In the Wind

Began the day with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The gang goes on a two-part "Super Adventure" when Power Pants Pete seems to be shrinking everything in sight, including the Clubhouse. Professor Ludvig Von Drake gives them all superpowers, but they can't seem to work together. They'll need to learn in a hurry when they find out that Pete's under orders from the real mastermind, an old rival of Mickey's who shrinks the clubhouse and Mickey too. 

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon looking up mortgage brokers and finding out what they do. It seems they do the heavy lifting in house-hunting, dealing with banks and shopping around for the best loans. To be honest, this is all sounding a little complicated. I need to talk to a friend who was a realtor about home buying and Rose about the legal side before hiring anyone. I'd like to explore Cherry Hill further and get to know it beyond the malls and hospitals, too. I'll save talking to the big guns for mid-July, after Lauren visits and the furor over the 4th of July and the World Cup have died down. 

Listened to the Miles Davis album Milestones while I worked and as I cleared and organized papers laying on top of the printer. One of his most popular early albums introduced his own title song (originally "Miles") and "Sid's Ahead," but his best songs here were written by others. "Straight, No Chaser" was written by and is usually associated with Thelonius Monk, but he does a rather nice version of his own on side B, along with the traditional number "Billy Boy."

Left a little bit early to have lunch at Common Grounds Coffee Shop. They were busy, but not enough that I couldn't get a seat on the bench along the wall. Had a delicious slice of spinach-tomato-feta quiche, along with a Peach-Matcha Sparkling Refresher (green tea in sparkling water with peach syrup - not bad, actually, a little sweet) and a deliciously moist slice of banana-chocolate Chip bread. I did enjoy my lunch, but I got out later than I planned and was slightly late to the Thomas Sharp School.

Not a good thing, as we were pretty busy today. There were 23 kids, 9 at my table, and one of the teachers called out. We did borrow one of the college boys to help while the kids were eating snacks and we were in the cafeteria, but we were on our own after snack time and outside. They were pretty wild again today. I had trouble with one of the kindergartners at the bathroom. He would not stay in the hall, running on the steps and climbing on the banisters. I literally had to carry him off and put him down in the hall.

Things went much better when we finally got outside. For one thing, the weather was gorgeous, much nicer than I expected. It was off and on cloudy, and while it did spit very slightly at a few points, it was nothing like yesterday morning. It was also not as hot as the weather forecasts claimed. The strong wind kept it not only cool, but cold. I regretted not having brought a sweater. There was a little bit of arguing over the swings, but by and large, the kids seemed to have a great time outside, sliding cars down sides and dancing to "Zoo" from Zootopia 2, "The Pink Tiger Hunt," "I'm the Bravest Star," "Welcome to New York" by Taylor Swift, "Pup Pup Boogie" from Paw Patrol, the themes from Bluey and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and songs from Moana 2, Frozen, and KPop Demon Hunters. 

We had such a great time on the playground, it was past 5 when we took the remaining 4 younger kids to the blacktop to play with the 8 older kids. The kids went briefly inside to put their backpacks away, then went right back out. They were all still playing soccer and basketball when I finally headed out. 

Soon as I got home, I made pancakes for dinner with the last of that gluten-free mix. Oh yuuuum! I made banana-berry pancakes with banana and dried cranberries. Spread them with peanut butter and blueberry preserves and poured honey over them. I hadn't had pancakes that came out that well in years. Threw in some hot chocolate later.

Watched Match Game '74 as I ate. This was the hilarious week with McLean Stevenson in the first male ingenue seat that was probably the best from that year. Betty White, comedy writer Ann Elder, and slightly dazed singer Joanie Sommers watched as McLean complained about Brett never hearing the question, turned up in the contestant's desk, tried to kiss Richard when a contestant won the Head to Head, and chased Gene all over the studio.

Finished the night with The Inspector General as I organized my lotions and beauty supplies, cleared out old ones, and organized my shopping totes. I go further into this classic historical comedy with Danny Kaye as the mistaken title character at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

The Inspector General (1949) 

One Day at a Time

Began the morning with breakfast and The Pirates of Dark Water. "The Little Leviathan" is a baby sea serpent Ren rescues from the Dark Water. He becomes fond of the little one, despite eating Niddler's Mellons and annoying Ioz. All three are captured by Bloth, just as a family of leviathans turn up looking for their child. That baby may be the only way the trio can get free and find the next treasure, before the leviathans do a lot more damage.

Spent the rest of the morning doing more research on home-buying. Today, I went further into closing costs and terms like appraisal, escrow, and underwriting. I'm beginning to realize that I went about house-hunting all wrong. I should have done this months ago, probably over the winter, then talked to banks or the government about loans after I learned more about them and got help to please my case. 

Next week, I'll look into the human side of house-hunting and do research on housing counselors. mortgage brokers, and anyone else who helps you find a home. I may talk to Rose later in the week too and see what she knows about the legal side of things. Rose bought her home over a decade ago when things were a little less rigid and expensive, but she did buy it and knows what it's like to want a home of your own.

Watched Li'l Abner while I worked. I go further into this 1959 adaptation of the Broadway show and famous comic strip at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Li'l Abner (1959)

Watched two episodes of The Adventures of Superman as I ate my leftover fries and gyro for lunch. In "The Case of the Talkative Dummy," Lois and Clark investigate when a ventriloquist complains that his dummy seems to talk on his own. Turns out this "dummy" and what he says may be linked to gang of crooks and a series of armed car robberies. 

"The Mystery of the Broken Statues" doesn't seem like much of a mystery when Lois sees a pair of con-men breaking cheap animal statues. She and Clark later discover that the statues hold clues to the location of a valuable gemstone. 

Hurried out to the Thomas Sharp School after the second episode ended. Got there just in time, which was a very good thing. Though we only had 22 younger kids today, they were still pretty antsy, including the 8 at my table. I'm glad we got them outside earlier this time, especially given it's supposed to get really hot next week. Some of the kids chased the college-age teacher. Others gathered around the chain link fence and tried to call out to Mr. Softee in the hope that he'd stop so they could buy ice cream, but to no avail. Some of the smaller ones danced to "Zoo" from Zootopia 2, "I Like to Move It," the themes from Bluey and PJ Masks, and songs from Moana, Frozen, and KPop Demon Hunters. 

I did have to argue with them over the swings. One little girl accidentally ran into me with her head when she was laying stomach-first on the swing and I was arguing with her. She knocked into my bad knee, and I let out such a loud yelp that I was able to get her off. Later, when she and her best friend were legitimately allowed on, I apologized for the yell and explained that they'd scared me. I also told them that everyone has to wait in line, even adults in line at the grocery store or at the doctor's office. 

Went straight into Match Game '73 when I got home. These episodes finished out the week with Patti Deusch and Jim Bakcus. Probably the most notable moment that week was when Gene said "Can we get a little milk from Patti" in response to a question, and she took it a whole different way.

Finished the night listening to another extremely 50's musical on LP. Redhead debuted on Broadway in 1959 and was a huge hit, winning a Tony for the show and for its lead Gwen Verdon. Verdon played Essie Whimple, a plain young lady in Victorian London who works for her aunts' wax museum. Their latest display showing the death of chorus girl Ruth LaRue brings out policemen and her former co-workers, including handsome strong man Tom Baxter (Richard Kiley). Hoping to attract Tom's attention, Essie lies about knowing who the murderer is and even fakes attempts on her life...but the fakery turns real when the actual murderer believes her fibs and comes after her.

Without the lavish dances and the huge production that made this such a hit in 1959, this is...just ok. Verdon's obviously having a ball on big dance routines like "Erbie Fitch's Twitch" and "The Right Finger of My Left Hand," but Kiley's big ballads are dull, and as in Li'l Abner, the dance routines are more there for dance's sake rather than to move the story along. I suspect this is too lightweight for a major revival, but there's a few fun titles if you're a fan of Verdon or comic mysteries. 

A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel Asks What Friends Like" when he wants to give hi-fives, but his friends have other ways of greeting people. He doesn't like it when Prince Wednesday calls him Danny, even though Wednesday calls himself W. "Miss Elania's Space Restaurant" is open for business at the Merry-Go-Round Museum. Elaina wears her apron as an apron and is upset that Katarina wants to wear hers as a cape, until their mothers remind them that everyone has their own ways of doing things.

Spent the rest of the morning doing research on basic house-hunting and what I need to do now. The rest of this week, and possibly part of next week, will be spent doing research into house-hunting on days when I don't have two shifts. Buying a dwelling is a lot more complicated than I thought. I have a friend I could talk to about more of the basics, and I need to call Rose and ask her about the legalities. I need to do more research on things like closing costs and housing inspections, too. 

But most of all, I need to see if I can find a housing counselor. I'll call about those next week. There's too much going on here for even just one or two people to deal with on their own. PNC and Camden County have already turned me down for loans. I need to learn more about the basics and find out who will accept good credit and savings without a perfect debt-income ratio.

Listened to jazz vocalists while I looked over websites, took notes, and had a quick lunch. Songs for Swingin' Lovers is one of Frank Sinatra's most famous releases for Capitol Records in the 50's. Every song here is among the best performances he ever gave. Probably the most iconic are "You Make Me Feel So Young" and "I've Got You Under My Skin," but "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me," "Old Devil Moon," "I Thought About You," and "How About You?" are a lot of fun, too.

Johnny Mathis' I Just Found Out About Love is a tribute to a songwriter who often crafted melodies for Sinatra as well, Jimmy McHugh. The title number and "Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow" are from a McHugh stage musical Strip for Action that apparently ran into major trouble for doing just what it said in the title before being shut down in Boston. Too bad, because the songs are really nice. "I'm In the Mood for Love" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street" are far better-known today. There's also the sweet "Warm and Willing" and charming "A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening."

This time, I got out on time and arrived at the Thomas Sharp School on time. They were in the library when I arrived. The music class was still rehearsing in the cafeteria. Once again, the 26 kids were really noisy. Even my 8 kids were noisy in the bathrooms. They were noisy when they got out of the bathrooms. I had to separate two girls who kept pestering one of the boys. One of the girls fibbed to me about the markers belonging to one of the kids. The pre-schoolers aren't allowed to use markers. They make too much of a mess with them. The girl ran out in the hallway in a fit. I coaxed her out by taking her to the bathroom to wash her marker-covered hands. Ironically, her father was waiting for her when we got back.

They were only slightly less noisy once I came back. They got so crazy, at least 10 kids had to be kept back so the head teacher could talk to them. Once we got out, I had to argue them off the swings at least twice before enough kids went home that they were finally allowed on. (Including the little boy who fell off yesterday. He's perfectly fine.) I did have to argue with an older boy who was outside to let the other kids have their turns. He threw a tantrum, but did get on before his mother came for him. Other kids drew with chalk (and got covered in chalk dust) while listening to "You've Got a Friend In Me" from Toy Story, "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" from Lilo and Stitch, "I'm Still Standing," "The Pink Tiger Hunt," the theme from Bluey, and songs from Encanto, The Lion King, and Frozen. 

At least the weather couldn't have been more perfect for them to be running around. As several parents pointed out when we were outside, this was about as nice of a spring day as one could wish. Like I told one of the littlest boys, the sky was bluey-blue, the sun was bright yellow, the wind felt nice, not cold, and it was just warm enough. It's awesome when spring really feels like spring! They were having so much fun, the other teachers were only just taking the remaining 4 kids to the blacktop to play ball games when I left.

Since it's two blocks down from the school on Magill Avenue, I had dinner at Zena's American Mediterranean Restaurant. Small but attractive blue-and-white painted space on the first floor of an older apartment building sells basic Mediterranean sandwiches, salads, and entrees. I had an enormous chicken gyro, a huge wicker basket overflowing with fries, two small pieces of baklava, and Turkey Hill iced tea. It was all tasty, but so big, I took half of the gyro and about three-quarters of the fries home with me.

Made a really quick stop at CVS on the way home, mainly so I could use the bathroom. Finally remembered to get D batteries, too. My flashlight is starting to look a little on the dim side. 

Watched the second half of Match Game '73 when I got home. They finished out the week with Pat Harrington and moved on to Fannie Flagg's first week. It was the first of two times she was in the 4th "ingenue" seat before she moved permanently to seat 6 by early '74. Bert Convy, comedian Jack Carter, and comedy writer Ann Elder join in here as well.

Finished the night with Mystery Science Theater 3000. The Mole People is a B-sci-fi double feature flick from 1956 that's basically "underground Lost Horizon." After a rather dull and dry opening prologue where a real-life professor explains what you're about to see, archaeologists Dr. Roger Bentley (John Agar) and Dr. Jud Bellamin (Hugh Beaumont) take 20 minutes talking about their major finds, before they finally get under the Earth to prove their theories. They find a race of albino Sumerians living in a lavish kingdom, keeping the Mole People of the title as their slaves. Roger falls for a beautiful blonde (Cynthia Patrick) who has never seen sunlight while using his flashlight to keep the Sumerians at bay. They can't handle bright sunlight, and even sacrifice maidens to it. The flashlight has just gone out when the Mole People finally revolt, and an earthquake once and for all destroys both the kingdom and the maiden who decided she'd rather not see the sun...

It's too bad the first half of this is dull as dishwater and moves slower than the Mole People. The second half is honestly a not-bad Lost Horizon/Phantom Empire-style lost civilization yarn. The Mole People don't turn up until almost the end of the movie, the love interest is perfunctory at best, and the robots are right that people (especially Agar) spend way too much time talking and not enough time doing sci-fi stuff. I like some of the ideas, though, including sacrificing maidens to the bright sunlight. Worth checking out with or without robot wisecracks if you're a fan of lost civilization stories and can get past that lethally dull first hour and some of the plot holes. 

Winds and Games

Started off the morning with breakfast and Pac Man. Pac-Man and his Power Pellet Pickers are up against the Packensack Packers in "The Super Pac-Bowl." The game hits a snag when the Ghosts chomp the Packers and take over for them. Super Pac wants to help, but he's more of a pain than anything else...until he helps make the winning touchdown! Pac Man and PJ go on a "Journey to the Pac Past" when PJ fixes his washing machine and somehow turns it into a time machine. They end up in ancient Pac-Egypt, on board ship with Christopher Columbus, and teaching the Pac-Wright Brothers how to fly a jet.

After breakfast, I took my laundry downstairs, then worked up enough courage to call the Camden County First Time Home Buyers program and ask for help and where their application was on their website. It was scary. I don't have anyone walking me through this. I'm doing all this alone. I finally left the woman a message and sent her an e-mail.

Cheered myself up with the Naked Gun remake on Paramount Plus during lunch and after I brought the laundry upstairs. Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) is as oblivious, clumsy, and gung-ho as his dad was. He's investigating the suspicious death of a software engineer who created a machine that can rile people up to the point where they revert to their primordial instincts. The engineer's sister Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), a crime novelist, thinks there's a lot more to this than a car crash. Turns out she's right. Richard Cane (Danny Huston), her brother's former boss, wanted the machine so he can revert the population to their animal instincts, leaving he and his billionaire buddies to take over. Frank has to find the machine and keep it from going off, all while navigating his growing feelings for the equally goofy Beth.

Oh boy, was this fun. I wasn't expecting much out of this, but it turned out to be hilarious. I've seen Pamela Anderson do comedy (sometimes even intentionally), but who knew Neeson had this level of straight-faced insanity in him? Huston's even funnier as the villain with the evil with a capital E plan. If you're looking for a wacky laugh or two and just need to turn off your brain after a stressful morning, you can do far worse than join the all-new Police Squad with Drebin and his co-horts.

Went straight to the Thomas Sharp School after Naked Gun ended. I rode my bike despite the gale-force wind. It's been a week. My knee is a tiny bit sore, but not stiff anymore. Besides, I'm tired of taking Uber all of the time. I'll take it tomorrow because Jessa is picking me up later and on Wednesday because of my double-shift (and we're supposed to have rain that day), but otherwise, I should be fine to ride.

Good thing I got there just in time. We had 28 kids today, 10 of them at my table. I need to talk to them tomorrow about not helping to clean up the Duplos. Two of the boys and I had to do all the work while the others waited in line. I also talked to them in the halls outside the bathroom about using their words when one of the girls reported several kids calling each other names. They were all pretty crazy in the cafeteria too as two of the girls ran around and tried to hide behind the dry erase board and two of the boys threw magnetic tiles everywhere.

Thank heavens we were able to get them all outside today with no trouble. It was just starting to cloud over as the kids ran around and chased bubbles. One of the mothers used to be a teacher and knows how to play with kids. She pretended to be a monster and chased the kids and her son around. They even put her in "jail" - the big old tree on one side of the playground. When we were down to six kids, we let them on the swings. I got to push them, but also had to argue them off when their friends wanted to ride. This was also when the clouds and cold, strong wind finally took over. By the time I left, the other teachers were just taking the remaining 4 kids inside. 

Stopped at CVS on the way home for cough drops. I'm almost out. They had huge bags on sale buy one, get one 50 percent off. I bought family-sized bags of their own honey-lemon and eucalyptus. It wasn't terribly busy. I was in and out with no trouble.

Took a shower when I got in, then grabbed dinner and watched Match Game '90. It's nice to see celebrities like Bill Kirkenbauer, Tom Villard, and Rebecca Arthur of Perfect Strangers whom I remember so well from my own childhood. I wish I remembered Ronn Lucas and Scorch - those two are some of the best things about Match Game '90. Slightly ditzy soap star Jacklyn Zeman can be a riot, too. 

Finished the night with games featuring children, parents, or whole families playing in honor of Easter next Sunday. Games featuring kids or parents go a long way back. The Parents Game was Chuck Barris' attempt to expand his Newlywed Game empire in 1972. Here, it's parents or newlyweds who want kids answering parenting questions. Basically, The Newlywed Game with parents. It is interesting to see how parenting has changed over the years...and how it hasn't...

The kids get to shine in the short-lived Child's Play from 1982. Adults try to guess words from descriptions given by kids. I have an earlier episode here with the original bonus round that had the champ trying to figure out six written descriptions of words from the kids. While the game play isn't easy, the kids themselves are often hilarious, and host Bill Cullen had real affection for them.

Family Feud is the defacto family game show champ. It started in 1976, and while the original run ended in 1985, the 2012 revival is still going strong in syndication today. I have two original daytime episodes here from 1978 and 1980.

Families had a lot more fun playing against each other in wacky stunts. Family Double Dare is the same as the all-kid game, but with parents and their children competing in stunts and daring each other over questions. Family Challenge from 1995 is more-or-less the same idea, but it's now an hour, and is all messy stunts, no questions. Family Game Night replaces the wild stunts with goofy mini-games based on popular Hasbro board games like Monopoly, Yahtzee, and Connect 4. I have an episode from the last season with the later format that called up many families to let them play various games, then see if they could keep going on the Monopoly number board to win a car.

Families took part in quieter shows, too. The original US version of Blockbusters had two family members or friends playing against a solo player. Bill Cullen would read questions from a letter on a hexagonal board. Whomever won would go on to the Gold Run, where they had to pick two or three letters on a hexagon and answer questions in a row. I wish this had lasted longer in the US! Maybe it would have done better as a trivia show for teens, like the far longer-running British version. (Look for host Tom Kennedy making a cameo to plug Password Plus in the episode I have here.) 

Have fun with your family watching these wacky parents, kids, and families get dunked, take on the Obstacle Course, and play the Feud!

The Parents Game (1972)

Family Feud (1978)

Family Feud (1980)

Blockbusters (1981)

Child's Play (1982)

Family Double Dare (1992)

Family Challenge (1995)

Family Game Night (2013)