Sunshine and Taxes

Began the morning with breakfast and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. "Who's Afraid of the Big Eclipse?" Everyone in town when Billy Dog forgets to give the local paper part of the article his astrologist mother wrote on the coming celestial event. Billy and the other kids in town hand out the other half of the paper to calm the citizens down. Greek sheep Toula and her father discover how to "Hold Your Breath!" when they go treasure hunting underwater in ancient Greece. Huckle, Lowly, and Sprout are "Pumpkin Heads" who have entries in the county fair's pumpkin contest. After their pumpkins get damaged, they have to put their heads together and decide what else they can enter.

Took my laundry downstairs after the cartoon ended, then spent the next 40 minutes doing my taxes. I always try to get my paperwork out the day tax season begins. It doesn't take me long using Turbo Tax. I have one part-time job, own no property, and have no dependents. I'm getting about $880 and $49 from the state after I pay them. That's far less than I got last year, but I made a lot less this past year, too. After I finished my taxes, I went through papers that accumulated on top of my printer and put those away.

Got my laundry in the dryer and took out the trash and recycling, then went for a walk. It was too nice of a day to hang out inside! It jumped into the lower 40's today, with sunny bright blue skies and a nice breeze. Perfectly normal and pleasant weather for South Jersey in late January. There were a lot of people out and about, including three women chatting on a corner while one walked her dog.

Stopped at Dollar General first. I'm almost out of laundry detergent. The Arm & Hammer stain fighting bottle came with slightly more per wash than Tide. Needed granola bars, too. Grabbed chocolate fudge cake mix and cherry pie filling for a recipe I wanted to try later. 

Strolled across town for lunch. I was in the mood for decent food, not greasy or fried. I ended up at Common Grounds Coffee House. Despite it being almost 2 PM when I got there, they were busy with older women chatting in groups and college kids working on laptops. I had a cranberry muffin, the last slice of spinach-feta-pepper quiche, and a "dirty vanilla chai." The last-named turned out to be a coffee chai latte. It was ok, though I'm still not a really big coffee fan. 

I realized as I strolled up West Clinton that I forgot two things at Dollar General, and one was important. I ran out of computer paper while printing my tax return. Headed to Family Dollar a few blocks down the White Horse Pike to pick up the paper and an aluminum pan for my cake project. Treated myself to Red Velvet Reeces Cups while I was there, too. (They weren't bad, but I tasted more chocolate and peanut butter than red velvet.)

Did a few chores when I got home, including taking the recycling down to the curb and bringing my laundry upstairs, then made my cake project. I decided to try a simpler "dump cake" after my orange soda cake didn't come out so well last week. "Dump cakes" are recipes that require dry ingredients to be dropped on the wet ones, rather than mixed in. I did use butter on the cake mix, and I really should have bought two cans of cherry pie filling. Other than that, my Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake came out very well, very chocolatey and just sweet enough.

Spent the next few hours finishing the Children's album inventory. Got in everything from The Rescuers book and record through Yankee Doodle Mickey, along with my only children's CD set, a 2-disc collection of fairy tale readings. Most of these go pretty far back. The Story of Johnny Appleseed book and record is one of the original 65 albums from my late first stepmother Kaye that Dad gave me in 2006. She was a huge fan of Dennis Day, and he sings all the songs there. Yankee Doodle Mickey, Mickey Mouse Splashdance, Robin Hood, and my Sword and the Stone with the cool pop-up book were yard sale finds in 2011. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. I might start the jazz and vocalists inventory, but I'm more likely to pick up that fairy tale about the young woman who tries to stop the Witch of Winter from ending spring. I've finally been getting some better ideas for it, now that we're getting closer to spring again. She now has a best friend, a half-human fire fairy who joins her. The rabbit who runs to Mother Nature isn't Sir Michael, but a feisty young prince the witch turned into a rabbit. Sir Michael was the prince's tutor, but he was bound to the shadows and stripped of his voice. 

Listened to records while I worked. The Gang's All Here is one of the many, many Sesame Street albums released in the 70's and 80's. I bought this one a while ago because I'd never heard of most of the songs listed here. In fact, the only number I was even a little familiar with is Cookie Monster's "If Moon Was Cookie." Cookie kicks off the album with "Me Gotta Be Blue," a hilarious spoof of bluesy Sinatra-esque anthems. There's also "We are All Monsters," Big Bird's sweet "Next to You," and my favorite, Bert declaring "I'm Square."

The cool thing about that British 40 Walt Disney Originals set I picked up from Innergroove Records two years ago is the inclusion of many older songs you won't find on newer American collections. For instance, there's a jaunty Annette Funicello Sherman Brothers' number, "Dream Boy," I'd never even heard of before I found this set. There's also three songs from the rare animated-live action hybrid So Dear to My Heart, "Stick-It-Tivity," "It's What'cha Do With What'cha Got," and "County Fair," and three from The Rescuers, "The Journey," "Rescue Aid Society," and "Tomorrow Is Another Day." "Maggie's Theme" is actually "For You, For Always" from the original 1961 Parent Trap.

Watched Match Game Syndicated while I finished the inventory and ate dinner. I came in for the week with Scoey Mitchilll, Dolly Martin, and Debralee Scott. The panelists for the next week were all either currently game show hosts (Dick Martin, Bill Cullen, Peter Marshall) or would be in the 80's (Betty White, Elaine Joyce) except for Brett Somers.

Finished the night with more syndicated game shows, these made for the syndicated market. Syndicated shows go way far back to the 50's, when newly-minted independent stations looked to fill airtime with anything they could find. By the late 60's, there were dozens of shows out there filling that market. Most of them, like Win With the Stars, barely lasted a year. Allen Ludden hosted this musical show where celebrities sang standards to contestants and helped them guess the song. If viewers at home had the number of points that the two groups won on a card, they too might win prizes.

Later syndicated shows had way more fun. Celebrity Bowling is what it says on the tin. Two teams of stars play each other in a typical bowling alley to earn prizes for viewers at home. This is way better than you might think, especially if you are a bowling fan. Richard Dawson and Bob Newhart play Gavin McLeod and character actor John Ericson in the 1971 episode I have here. This wound up being a long-running success, going until 1978.

The Crosswits was another long-running hit in syndication, going from 1975 to 1980. Four celebrities help two contestants figure out the subject of a crossword puzzle in what amounts to Crossword Plus. I really think this one is a lot of fun and wish more of it was available online. Jack Clark was the gentlemanly host.

My sisters and I loved Dance Fever as kids. This began in 1979 as a competition for disco dancers, basically an early form of Dancing With the Stars with celebrities as judges rather than performers. The first few years were hosted by choreographer Deney Terrio. By the time of this 1986 episode, Adrien Zmed of Grease 2 was the host, and the dancing had diversified way beyond disco. I personally prefer the 40's jazz dancers here, but Pat Sajak, Joanna Kerns, and Wally Joyner seem more impressed with the country step-dancers. 

Split Second was the 1986-1987 Canadian revival of a game show from 1972. Monty Hall asks contestants a question with three possible answers. The contestants have to give the right answers. I found an episode from early in the run, when it was still largely being shown in Canada. I'm glad Buzzr picked this one up; it's a fun show that deserves more of an audience down here in the US.

Not all syndicated trivia shows went over that well or were as enjoyable as even Split Second. 100% from 1999 is about the driest and cheapest trivia show you can possibly imagine. A narrator (Casey Kasem) reads a series of yes and no or true and false questions. At the end of the episode, whomever has the highest percentage of questions right wins the most money. The contestants are told their score throughout the show, but not which one has what score. Though it did well enough in its native England, it came off as chintzy, silly, and mind-bogglingly dull in the US. No wonder it sold to seven markets and didn't last a year. 

Check out more of the best from syndication with these rare delights!

Win With the Stars (1968)

Celebrity Bowling (1971)

The Cross-Wits (1977)

Dance Fever (1986)

Split Second (1987)

100% (1999) 

Of Eagles and Pricing Games

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and Happy Holidays Vol. 28. This is the first Happy Holidays I bought, way back in 1993 when it was the only Christmas music I could afford. Besides, there's some unique titles here that I've never seen in any other collections, like "A Candle In the Window" by Alabama, "'Til Santa's Gone (I Just Can't Wait)" by Clint Black, and "It Doesn't Have to Be That Way" by Jim Croce. 

It was so late when I finally got downstairs, I ended up calling Uber. And of course, they took 8 minutes to arrive. Even with the rider coming right on time and no traffic, I was still a minute late for work.

Things mostly went well after that. I spent the first half of the afternoon doing carts. When the afternoon bagger arrived, I was pulled to do returns. It took me longer than they thought it would to get the second cart done, but the second cart was filled with small shampoo and cleaning items that I just couldn't find the places for. I got called to go outside ten minutes before I was supposed to be done. I shouldn't have gotten upset, but I don't know why they couldn't have called me before that, or why I didn't tell the afternoon bagger I was done at 4. Thank heavens the Uber driver going home only took two minutes to arrive.

Once I got in, I changed and checked to see where the Eagles game was playing, then finally got my printer working. It wouldn't print the chocolate truffle recipe I wanted last night. Turns out it was just out of ink. I replaced the black ink, and it printed fine. 

(I continually checked the score throughout the afternoon. Though the Steelers started to catch up in the second half, the Eagles ultimately out-ran them 27-13.)

After that, I jumped in the shower, then had dinner. Listened to Christmas With the Platters while I ate. This is the album I picked up from On the Record in October. It's late 50's-early 60's rock group the Platters singing holiday standards, but some of them are very nicely done. Their "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" is hilarious.

Switched to YouTube just as the Platters ended. We finished our Bob Barker's birthday week with a selection of Price Is Right Christmas episodes made between 1979 and 1998. I really enjoyed seeing how the show - and Bob - evolved over the years. The marathon began in 1979, when Bob still had dark hair and Johnny Olsen was announcing. By the time I was 11 on Christmas Eve 1990, Bob's hair was now its natural white and big Rod Roddy of the flashy suits was the announcer. Some of the showcases that had the models as little girls sitting on Santa's knee or that showed them excited to receive prize package "presents" were especially funny.

Come on down and celebrate the holidays with Bob and The Price Is Right!

A Bob Barker 2024 Christmas - Featuring The Price Is Right Christmas Themed Episodes

Finished the night with The Perry Como Christmas Album. I've had this one for almost two decades now. I think it might have been one of the earliest holiday albums I found. I like it much better than my other Como holiday record. The warm and friendly opening number "Christmas Eve" is my favorite, and there's also "There's No Christmas Like a Home Christmas." Other good ones include his renditions of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Toyland." 

(Oh, and it finally started raining hard around 8 PM after having been chilly and cloudy all day. It's continued raining, sometimes hard, off and on for the rest of the night.) 

Harts and Heroes

Slept in so long, it was 11:30 before I really got going and nearly noon before I had brunch. Watched Match Game '76 while I ate. They finished up the year with sweet George trying to get help from Charles with "Nail __." The last episode of the year featured Charles catching an egg with "Match Game '77" printed on it from a giant "Goody-Toddy bird." Balloons and streamers rained down during the finale after a speech from their boss and head producer Mark Goodson. 

Worked on my laptop for a while after that. I want to make covers for the DVD cases that don't have them, the ones I switched to slimmer cases. Tested the scanner with the Hogan's Heroes cover. That worked...but the actual printing gave me more trouble. Turns out printing out six covers and printings of the lists of episodes took up nearly all the black ink. I printed the episode lists, but eventually gave up on the cover. I still need to make covers, but I'll make them simple Photoshop affairs instead, with typed-in titles and maybe a picture pasted from Pinterest or online. 

Finally broke for a Summer Fruit Smoothie while watching the end of Rosie the Riveter on the TV Time Roku app. I go further into this low-budget World War II morale-booster with Jane Frazee as a woman riveter who has to share a room with three other people at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Rosie the Riveter

By 4:30, my feet were freezing, thanks to the heavy air conditioning in my apartment and the abundance of shade over it. Decided to warm up with a walk to Dollar General...and ended up getting a ride from a neighbor. I mostly went for chocolate chips, which are cheaper there. Also picked up a children's tea set and a card for my niece Finley's birthday on Saturday and a bottle of Dole Lemonade for a treat later. 

Surprisingly, the walk home was fairly pleasant. It was hot and sunny, into the mid-90's, but not at all humid. A lovely breeze kept it from feeling much worse. In fact, after being stuck in frigid air all day, I very much enjoyed the stroll.

Went straight into writing when I got home. Jack tries to drag Brett off, but first her boys protest, then Richard. Richard isn't as successful in saving Charles the Mad Hatter, who is surrounded by the Red King's men. Richard encourages Brett to flee with the boys before they try for them again; he'll hold them off.

Broke for dinner at quarter of 6. Made Cincinatti Chili while watching more Match Game '76. Mary Wickes, today best known for appearing in White Christmas and the Sister Act films, turned up on the panel for the first time in this episode. Gene gave her a welcoming kiss, which she very much got into! Later, the others compared a handsome white-haired contestant to Password host Allen Ludden.

Had a lemon ice cream float with lemonade and lemon cheesecake ice cream as Match Game PM came on. It was double your 70's drama hunks, as Lou Grant reporter Robert Walden and wisecracking Vega$ detective Bart Braverman joined Connie Stevens, Marcia Wallace, Bill Daily, Gene, and the regulars to greet a contestant from my native Ft. Lauderdale. He didn't do very well, though. Bill Daily ended up trying to help the female contestant with "Opening __" on the Head-to-Head.

I had trouble with dropouts and buffering all day. Opted for DVDs instead. In the first season Hogan's Heroes episode, Hogan finds out why you should "Go Light on the Heavy Water" when London tells him they have to destroy a seemingly innocuous barrel of H20. Turns out "heavy water" is used for nuclear weapons. Hogan, of course, first tells Klink it can grow his hair back, then outright replaces it with regular water. 

Finished out the night online with Hart to Hart. "Always, Elizabeth" is the second-to-last episode of the fifth and final season. Elizabeth (June Allyson) is Max's rich pen pal. He's been telling her he's a millionaire, and Jennifer and Johnathan are his staff. When Elizabeth comes to visit, the tables are turned in order to keep up the illusion. Max's romance derails quickly when Elizabeth's sleazy nephew first steals from them, then leads his nasty boss (Robert Davi) to them in order to pay off his debts.

Moving Into the 21st Century

Slept in so long, it was past 11:30 when I had breakfast. Watched Mickey Mouse Mixed Up Adventures while I ate oatmeal and applesauce. It's "All Aboard the Hot-Dog Express" when Mickey and the gang fix up a historic steam engine. Everyone in town wants a ride...but that mad scientist steals the train so he can be the engineer first. Big Pete's bulldog Spike has "Flea-bee Jeebies" after running through the park and picking up fleas while dirty. Pete, Daisy, and Minnie show him how much fun taking a bath can be.

Switched to Match Game '74 while doing the breakfast dishes and getting organized. Jack Narz of Concentration made his only appearance on the 70's version of the show this week, joining Elaine Joyce, Fannie Flagg, Gene, and the regulars. In the first episode, they did a vert goofy question about what the first McDonald's at the North Pole serves and a few wild answers to "Plum __". The second joked about Brett wearing her own hair for once and Fannie's tie-print t-shirt. 

Headed out shortly before the second episode ended. I needed to get the laundry done today. It was a great day for it. Sunny, breezy, cold but not outrageously so for early January. Sat on the concrete border and worked on story notes while my large load was in the washer. After I tossed it in the dryer, I strolled a few blocks down and treated myself to a S'mores Frozen Hot Chocolate and a pretzel at WaWa.

When I got home, I put away the laundry, then set up my new printer. It's an HP Envy 6000, a long, sleek, and brand-new model and my first with scanning capabilities. My previous printer never wanted to sync with either laptop I owned while I had it. Thankfully, I had a harder time figuring out how to get the ink cartridges in the machine than syncing it with the laptop. Tested it by printing the first 20 pages of Fairy Tale Blank. They came out perfectly. My only complaint is it doesn't hold much paper, which will be a problem when printing out long projects. Otherwise, it's exactly what I wanted.

Half-listened to Buzzr while I worked. Milton Berle and his witty wife Ruth were joined by chatty Orson Bean and his very sensible wife Carolyn and Amanda Blake and her animal-tamer husband Frank Gilbert on Tattletales. Things got even wilder on Press Your Luck. The champ kept hitting Whammies, especially in the second round. The eventual winner hit no Whammies and won a Caribbean windjammer cruise along with a ton of money.

Worked on writing for a while after the show ended. Bill Cullen is more than happy to show Gene how to find Brett - just open the door like a normal person. He's there because Jack Narz is his good friend and brother-in-law, not because of any personal problems with Goodson. As it turns out, Brett holds a knife on Goodson as the others storm the room. Goodson is more amused than terrified, even as the others join her...

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Had a tasty dinner of chicken cutlets and sautéed onions and mushrooms in lemon sauce with Brussels sprouts sautéed in olive oil while watching Match Game '75. Bill Daily, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and a pigtailed Patti Deustch wondered who stole Bill's "water" in the opening and helped a lady answer "Gin ___" in the Audience Match. Opera singer Diana Soviero became the only panelist from that rarefied world to play Match Game PM. Meanwhile, Betty White and Charles Nelson Reilly complained about Brett's insistence on being in a cranky mood.

The champ on Sale of the Century bought two more Instant Bargains, but she couldn't hold onto the Speed Round this time. She missed by one question to a charming, quick-witted older lady. The woman won a trip to Jamaica on the Match the Prizes board. Apparently, she'd been there before but would be more than happy to return.

Finished the night online with The Glass Slipper. I go further into this lovely version of Cinderella featuring Leslie Caron as the famous put-upon waif at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Cult Flops - The Glass Slipper

A Glorious Day In the Neighborhood

Started off a hot, sunny morning with breakfast and Split Second. This time, there was no contest. The woman champion did have a bit of a run from the other woman, but she blasted through the speed round before the other two barely had time to answer. They seemed to have reworked the bonus round a bit as well. Instead of just picking boards and either taking the car if you get it or what you get if you don't, contestants now get money if they don't win the car. They can keep the money, or keep coming back for the car and to win more money...which the champ ultimately did.

Spent the next two and a half hours wrangling with the darn printer. It just won't hook up to the internet. I have no idea how to do it. My laptop keeps recognizing it as a different model and won't show the actual one, no matter how hard I try. I keep typing in codes on the back, and it won't recognize them. I think I might see if I can pick up a new one somewhere along the line instead of continually fighting with this one.

Finally gave up again and called the Cooper Orthopedics office. After waiting for 15 minutes or so, I told the lady on the phone about my problem with the printer and that I was hoping to e-mail the paperwork to Dr. Ramerez. Turns out, all he needed was a state ID number from the top of the paperwork and he'd easily receive it and be able to send it out.

Had a quick lunch of blueberries, yogurt, and celery with peanut butter while watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood at PBS Kids. Dan's excited about "The Family Camp Out" with his dad. Katerina wants to come too, but it's supposed to be for kids and dads, and she only has her mom Henrietta. Henrietta and the dads remind the kids that families come in all shapes and sizes, and that moms can be dads, too. O the Owl has a similar dilemma in "A Game Night for Everyone." The library holds a game night for moms and kids, but his mother is his uncle X. X also insists that families are different, and they have no problems joining in the fun.

Went for a long walk around the neighborhood after lunch. Summer has finally started to make its way to New Jersey. Gardens are in full bloom now, helped by the tons of rain we've had and the many people who have more time to tend to them. The trees shading the street are brilliant shades of emerald, and the sky was a deep, soft blue. No wonder there were so many people out walking dogs, kids throwing basketballs in their yards, and teens biking with their siblings.

Rested my arm for a couple of hours after I got in while crocheting a dish rag and watching shows on Buzzr. On Password Plus, Elizabeth Montgomery of Bewitched set a record by getting her contestant through the bonus Alphabetics round in a little less than 30 seconds, twice as fast as anyone else. Orson Bean and Jo Ann Worley lent their own brand of odd wit to Super Password. There were some pretty strange couples on Tattletales today, including one - Fannie Flagg and Dick Sargent - who were actually gay buddies rather than married. Ever-nervous Bill Daily and his sensible wife Pat ended up being the big winners.

Worked on writing for a while after Tattletales ended. Orson, now twice his regular size, is happily wrecking havoc in Holly Woods. Gary and Sarah help him by setting a barrel on fire, then taking longer than they should to put it out. Debralee the water fairy sends Ira into the river to keep him out of trouble before sending Clifton and Charles on their way.

Broke for dinner at 6. Had pan-fried flounder, steamed broccoli, and pasta while watching more of the Match Game Misspelling Bee. Allen Ludden, of all people, was the one who misspelled the word in an episode from that classic week in 1975 where he and his wife Betty White appeared on the same panel. The second episode turned into something of a game show crossover, with Bob Barker of The Price Is Right and Arlene Francis of What's My Line? catching a spelling mistake from Fannie.

That musician champ just keeps right on rolling through the competition on Sale of the Century. He bought a washing machine Instant Bargain, but seemed nervous during the speed round and would have tied if the other guy hadn't missed a question at the last second. Instead of taking all the prizes available, he decided to do something no one else had done before and return tomorrow for the huge cash jackpot, too.

Finished the night braving the camp lunacy of Can't Stop the Music at Amazon. I go further into one of the most notorious cult flops of all time at my Musical Dreams Musical Film Reviews blog.

Cult Flops - Can't Stop the Music

All American Weekend

Began the morning with Banana Oatmeal Pancakes and my Rainbow Brite kids' album to cheer up the blah weather. There's some surprisingly good songs here; my personal favorite is Rainbow's insanely catchy country-flavored ode to her flying horse, "Starlight-Rainbow Brite." The opening "There's a Rainbow In Your Heart" also isn't bad, and Rainbow's fuzzy buddy Twink gets the Irish-inspired "In the Twink of an Eye."

Spent the next few hours wrangling with the computer. I did get the ink, and it went in fine. After that...it just wouldn't print. The laptop kept coming up with the wrong model, no matter how much I tried to change it or make it come up right. I kept entering numbers to get it synced with my internet, and it wouldn't take any of the numbers. It printed the diagnostics fine, so it wasn't the printer itself. The printer is a decade old, and has never synced well with any laptop I've had in that time.

Finally gave up on it around 1:30. Had yogurt with blueberries and strawberries for lunch while listening to another kids' album. Yankee Doodle Mickey is a patriotic Disney release from the early 80's. Like with the Rainbow Brite album, there's a few gems. The Disneyland Glee Club does a rousing "Liberty Tree" from their movie version of Johnny Tremain. A very young Molly Ringwald gets "God Bless America" and "This Is My Country." My favorite here is the Armed Services Medley, with Mickey singing for the Air Force and the Marines, Goofy for the Army, and of course, Donald for the Navy.

Cleaned up while starting my other patriotic album. America the Beautiful is a 2-Disc set released in 1986 in time for the remodeling and 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. I remember it being a huge deal that year. They broadcast the reopening on the networks and everything. I listened to the first disc, which was the only one to feature some vocal music. Along with the title song, we heard "This Land Is Your Land" and Kate Smith's famous version of "God Bless America."

Went for a walk to WaWa after I finished the dishes. It suddenly got too nice to be inside. The clouds from this morning vanished by noon, becoming a gorgeous, warm day. I wasn't surprised to see lots of people out and about, from kids throwing balls in yards to families on bikes to young couples out walking their dogs.

WaWa was as busy as it's currently allowed to be. I decided to treat myself to a Peach Banana Smoothie. Drank it on the way home as I passed people working in their gardens and mowing lawns that had suddenly grown long again after the rain we had this weekend.

Took a nap when I got home. Lauren's been on shorter hours at work, and I've been up late with her for at least the past two weeks. Not to mention, I've just had a long couple of months, up to and including the broken elbow. One of the things I'm very much looking forward to doing in the next six weeks is catching up on my sleep!

It was past 5:15 by the time I rolled out of bed. No matter. Still got some writing in. Charles asks the head of the group of musicians, Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, if he'd mind having another performer. Not at all, says Jon. They'll even cover for Charles when he helps the others rescue Brett, Bill the Wolf, and Brett's sons from the dungeon basement.

Moved onto the rest of America the Beautiful as I had leftover chili for dinner. There's some classic material on these discs, which is why I always listen to at least the first record on every patriotic American holiday. Side 2 of disc 1 features The Grand Canyon Suite and a live medley of George M. Cohan songs you can clearly hear the audience singing along with. "American Patrol" kicks off disc 2, while side 2 boasts the theme songs of the various branches of the Armed Services, including "Anchors Aweigh" for the Navy and "The Army Air Corps Song" for the Air Force.

Finished the night online with Now You See It at Buzzr after tonight's Match Game premiere on YouTube. The blonde lady champ had no problems beating out two other women and getting to the final round...but that final round always seemed to make her too nervous. The most she won off the final round was 700 dollars.

The Warmth of Springtime

Began a sunny, breezy morning with breakfast and Split Second. Three new contestants graced the stage today after yesterday's champ apparently opted to take a vacation instead of trying for the car. It was another neck-and-neck battle, mostly between the two women. In the end, the lady who won also decided she'd rather go to Miami than try for the car again.

Spent the next few hours trying to sign up for temporary disability money. You'd think the state of New Jersey would have learned to make this easier after all the trouble people have had over the last few months with unemployment. It took me 20 minutes just to find where the application was...and then, after I applied, they told me I had to print out the application and give it to my doctor to approve of! My printer has been acting weird ever since I got it. It never wanted to sync up with my old laptop. Ironically, it synced with my new laptop just fine, but was now almost completely out of ink. I ordered ink from Amazon and decided I'd try again on Saturday (when the ink is supposed to come) or Tuesday.

It was nearly 1:30 when I broke for lunch. Watched two Good Eats: Reloaded episodes while enjoying oranges and banana muffins. Alton originally worked with ground beef in "A Grind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste"...but while I like his idea of frying his burgers instead of baking them, there's still no way I'd do it. His meatloaf is closer to my style, sans some of the hotter peppers. (Incidentally, I only use ground poultry. People complain that ground turkey is too dry, but it and moister ground chicken can be equally tasty as meatloaf, burgers, and in casseroles. Pork gives me indigestion, and beef is bad for you and makes a mess when you cook it.)

As a fellow southerner, "True Grits" is closer to my heart and palate. I love grits and sometimes buy containers at the Acme when they're on sale. I've never tried the Italian cornmeal polenta, though I may have to try it after this episode.

Headed out around 2:30-quarter of 3 to get my laundry done. I really didn't have very much, but I wanted to test a few things. First of all, I did want to clean the last work clothes I'll need for a while. I also wanted to see how doing the laundry one-handed worked out and test the cart I bought years ago for hauling items during walks in the neighborhood.

The walk went very well, even though I ultimately found it to be easier to pull the cart behind me instead of pushing it. Though the laundromat wasn't too busy when I arrived, I still went across the street after the clothes were in the washer to treat myself to a strawberry-banana smoothie from WaWa. It was too nice to be inside the entire time! The sun was out, the sky was a searing blue, and it had risen to the lower 80's despite the gusty winds. WaWa was a little busy with people picking up treats as they went for their daily walks or on their way home from work, but far from overwhelming.

The laundromat was busy when I came back in. I stood outside to finish my smoothie, and it was still busy when I came in. I guess it's gotten too hot for most people to sit in their cars while the laundry is in the washer. I worked on story notes and tried to stay away from people as much as possible.

Did some writing when I got home. Joyce makes Fannie look like a princess in a blue and green ball gown and crystal (not breakable glass) slippers. Richard is enchanted by her and wants to be her escort, but she heads him off. Jo Ann creates an equally lovely purple gown for Elaine.

Tried something different for dinner tonight. I had half of a bag of small sweet red and yellow peppers and a container of leftover chili in the fridge. I was originally going to fill the peppers with cheese and bake them...but why not fill them with chili and cheese? The result was amazing, sweet and savory and slightly spicy all at once. I think I'll do it again tomorrow and get rid of the last of the mini-peppers.

Buck Owens and Gloria DeHaven finished their run on Match Game by helping to break a tie after two episodes. The musician champ continued his run on Sale of the Century. A college student got ahead of him at first, but he jumped ahead by the half-way point and blasted through the speed round. Once again, he opted to return and try for a vacation to the Bahamas.

Finished the night after a shower with The Gang's All Here. I go into the last musical vehicle for Alice Faye, featuring surreal numbers by none other than Busby Berkeley, at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

The Gang's All Here

Organizing the Fall

I slept in again this morning, then read Peril at End House and wrote in my journal until nearly noon. Maybe it was just as well. When I did poke my head out, it was hot and humid as heck! It's not supposed to last this time, thank goodness. The weather reports pretty much say it'll be nasty hot today and tomorrow, then it'll rain and cool off considerably.

Spent what time I had washing the windows, then doing a few things on my laptop. I completely redid my reading list. There's only two more books left in the apartment I've never read at all. The list now consists mostly of books I have read, but not in two or more years. I'm going to start with lighter children's books, like Alice In Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Charlotte's Web, and the Winnie the Pooh stories, this month. I'll then move onto swashbucklers - The Pyrates, The Prisoner of Zenda, the 50s pirate novel The Sword and the Shadow, The Scarlet Pimpernel books, Wings of the Falcon, and the first three books in the Amelia Peabody series.

After I finished that list, I reorganized the list of things I either wanted to get done this fall (like dental appointments and repainting those black shelves), or just want to keep in mind (don't buy as many DVDs new, try to eat better, try not to get so crazy about job hunting). The printer had been acting weird ever since I got the new laptop. I thought I synced it, but it appeared I hadn't. I got that fixed and printed out all my lists.

Work was relatively quiet when I came in. It got much busier later, to the point where it was just starting to slow down when I left at 8. This time, most people were in a decent mood. There were no major problems, and I was in and out.

And I do remember what today is. I was in college when 9/11 happened. I went to an early class, then upstairs to the library to take some books out. When I came out, one of the media center secretaries announced with a pale face that the World Trade Centers were being bombed. I got there in time to see the second tower fall. It was a crazy day. I don't even remember much about that week. It was scary.

Stop the Printing Presses

I ended up spending most of the morning trying to get the printer working. It wasn't a matter of getting it hooked up to the computer. I did that just fine. It was getting it online where I had problems. I tried all morning. I connected it six times, counting tonight...and it wasn't until tonight that I got it to print online as well as offline. Otherwise, the thing worked fine. It even came with ink cartridges, which I appreciate - ink cartridges aren't cheap.

While I was cursing at electronic devices, Mother Nature was doing her own work. By the time I headed for the Acme, the snow was half-gone from anywhere exposed to direct sunlight. I was able to ride to work on the street once I got off of Manor, which is still covered with packed snow.

Work wasn't a problem. It was on-and-off busy, and I filled in the slow times with candy stocking. My relief was on time, and I was in and out quickly.

Watched Three Stooges shorts when I got home and made steak with fried mushrooms and onions and roasted Brussels sprouts for dinner. Some classic material here, including the boys' attempts to sell medicine in "Dizzy Doctors" and save their father (Curly in a double role) from a conniving blond after his money in "Three Dumb Clucks."

I work early New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so I decided to make special dinners both days to make up for it. Tomorrow, I'm going to finish my after-Christmas shopping at the Audubon Crossings Mall tomorrow and have lunch out. I'll make ground chicken lasagna New Year's Eve with Whipped Syllabub from Felicity's Cooking Studio.

The Cooking Studio will also provide a New Year's Day Colonial dinner - chicken pudding, sweet potatoes and apples, Sally Lunn Bread, and baked pumpkin pudding. This will be in honor of Felicity's retirement on the American Girl site.

Getting So Much Better All The Time

Today was an improvement on yesterday. Given how lousy yesterday was, that's saying a lot. I really had nowhere to go but up. Work was busy but painless. The credit card system went down for about a half-hour early in the afternoon and caused a few headaches, but there was nothing on the order of the cranky patrons we had yesterday.

I stopped at Staples really, really quickly after work to get a new ink cartridge for my printer. The old one finally died, and the Acme doesn't sell the size required for my printer. My printer is a couple of years old, a nothing-fancy Hewlett Packard. I don't print photos, only text and very rare online pics, so it's fine for me. I'm so glad there's a Staples right behind us, across the parking lot from the shopping center building that contains FYE, among others. It makes shopping so much easier. (And the layout of the store makes things easier still - the ink cartridges are the first things you see when you hit the computer section.)

I needed the ink to print out my tax return and send a signed copy to the IRS. That'll be going out tomorrow, which will finish my taxes for the year.