Bad Tooth Rising

Began the morning with breakfast and Shirt Tales. "The Big Foot Incident" has a Sasquatch-like creature stealing gold and cash from banks all over the city. Pammy points out that the creatures are usually gentle and couldn't possibly be doing this on their own. As it turns out, she's right. It's being controlled by a magician who is hypnotizing it for their own gain. The creature chases them all over the magician's castle, but Pammy's the one who finally breaks him out of it. There's an "Elephant On the Loose" (Joe Besser), but he just wants to go home to the walk-around safari. The Shirt Tales help him get where he belongs, before Mr. Dinkel catches him for a reward.

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. I didn't think I'd be up to a bike ride after my tooth was pulled. The first driver arrived in 8 minutes; got there just in time. The second came in 5 minutes. 

As it turned out, my being on time was a moot point. I sat in the waiting room for a half-hour before they came for me. Honestly, though pulling the tooth was no picnic, the needles used to numb my gums hurt even worse. Not to mention, it cost a bundle, and may cost even more. The doctor gave me prescriptions for antibiotics to help with the infected gums and stronger pain killer to help with the swelling. At least I can eat real food this time. They just have to be soft and not too hot. 

I took that second Uber trip to the Acme to get them filled. Walked around, then sat for a few minutes while the pharmacy filled them. After I paid for them, I bought one of those new Powerade waters that are really on sale right now (99 cents!).

It was such a gorgeous day, I decided to walk home. Besides, I wanted to stop at Common Grounds Coffee Shop for lunch. I figured you can't get much softer than a blueberry muffin and a slice of mushroom and caramelized onion quiche. Tried their Strawberry Meadow Matcha off their seasonal menu. Not bad. Strawberry foam on top of green tea. Not sweet at all. The muffin was nice and moist, but it could have done with more blueberries. The quiche was much better, filled with soft veggie pieces and lots of cheese. They were really busy - they had to pull out a separate table so I could eat.

After I dodged road work on Newton Avenue long enough to get home, I went straight into The Persuaders! I hadn't watched this British action show about two wealthy playboys who solve crimes for a while. A "Chain of Events" leads Danny (Tony Curtis) to being accidentally chained to a briefcase intended for British Secret Service agents. While his partner Brett (Roger Moore) figures out what's in the case, Danny dodges Russian agents who will literally kill for its contents.

Left slightly early to drop the bag with my old winter coat in the clothes bin behind Dollar General. Even with that and dodging traffic on the White Horse Pike, I was still right on time for the after-school program. This time, they couldn't get a teacher to help with the older kids. They needed more than one, so the head teacher stayed with them. The 10 kids at my table left two of them and myself to do all the cleaning up, and they were pretty noisy in the bathrooms, too. The kids were worse in the cafeteria after snack time, running around, hitting each other, and tattling on it. Maybe they were all excited about the Book Fair this week. I'm just glad they still have book fairs. Several of them had new books they were more than happy to show me.

I'm glad we were able to get them outside slightly early. Like I told one of the girls later, it was too nice to stay inside for long. The weather couldn't have been nicer for late April, breezy, sunny, and in the upper 60's. Just warm enough to take off your jacket without boiling to death. One poor little girl nearly got run over by a boy who was too eager to go on a slide when she was trying to get her boot back on. I had to break up at least two fights, too. At least they all got to go on the swings this time. There were three teachers by quarter of 5, enough to keep an eye on the remaining kids and keep them from getting kicked.

We took them back inside around 5...which lasted for all of 5 minutes before the kids voted to go on the blacktop and play ball games. I was almost done at that point, anyway. I kept an eye on a couple of boys playing soccer and one poor younger boy who had smacked his back earlier and now had an ice pack on it. They were down to six older kids and two younger ones when I finished.

Took out the recycling, took my laundry downstairs, and took a shower when I got home, then had dinner while watching Match Game '91. Most of the episodes finished the week with Bill Kirchenbauer, Pat Musick, Jo Anne Worley, Charles, Bruce Baum, and soap star and singer Gloria Loring. Bill got the lion's share of the good lines that week, especially his reaction to a question about Vidal Sassoon! Vicki Lawrence and another soap star, Walt Willey, returned the next week, along with Ronn Lucas and Scorch and the hilariously sarcastic Pam Stone.

Brought my laundry upstairs as I watched episodes from various versions of Scrabble. This may be by far the best board game to have become a game show. It debuted on NBC in 1984 with Chuck Woolery hosting, and became a cornerstone of their daytime schedule. Two contestants play what is essentially Scrabble Crosswords. They choose numbered tiles that bring up two letters. If the letter is in the word, it'll appear. If it doesn't, it's considered a "stopper." Three stoppers, and the contestants now had to guess the word as letters appeared. The "Scrabble Sprint" was the bonus round. The winner has to guess words as quickly as they can. That determines the length of time they have to play the champ. 

Despite the slightly complicated game play, I can see why this was a hit right out of the gate and would be a mainstay of NBC's daytime schedule for five years. This is one of the fastest-moving game shows I've ever seen. They usually have room for at least two games. Woolery is just as charming her as he was on Love Connection around the same time. I have the debut episode here and the 200th episode from 1985.

Scrabble briefly returned to NBC in 1993. It was more-or-less the same format, but even with a snazzier set and Woolery returning, the life seemed to have gone out of the show. This version lasted six months. A pilot for a syndicated version in 1990 didn't sell.

Scrabble wasn't seen on TV again until 2010 as part of Family Game Night. This hit on the Hub (and later Discovery Kids) had four games an episode based on popular Hasbro board games. Scrabble Flash had families rearranging giant letter tiles to make words. The bigger the word, the more points they got. 

Scrabble Flash was dropped after the first season in favor of a full Hub show, Scrabble Showdown. This time, a parent and their child plays. Once again, we have a series of mini-games, this time all based on Scrabble. In "Scrabble Knockout," one contestant plays Vanna White and eliminates the letters on a huge board that the other contestant calls out. "Scrabble Babble" is basically "Scrabble Password." The adults get a three-letter word with a missing letter. They have to put a tile in and describe the word. "Scrabble Scream" is unscrambling words. Scrabble Slam has them replacing a letter in a four-letter word with another letter to make a new word. Scrabble Flash is retained for the bonus round. Really fun show, especially if you love words, and it's too bad it didn't last more than six months in 2011-2012. 

It wouldn't be until 2024 when Scrabble would return in something like its original form and for adults, this time on the CW. The game still revolves around crosswords, but this time, they're on a computer-generated Scrabble board. The current and returning champs once again play each other and guess words quickly in the bonus round. Raven-Symone hosted the first season of the show. Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson took over last fall, and he's the host in the episode from the CW's website I have here. 

Calling all word lovers! Challenge your brains and stump your reading skills with these fast-paced, heart stopping spelling extravaganzas based on one of the most beloved board games of all time!

Scrabble Premiere (1984)

Scrabble (1985)

Scrabble (1993)

Family Game Night (2010)

Scrabble Showdown (2011)

Scrabble (2026)

Tooth and Consequences

Began a cloudy morning with some needed comedy. Minako "Sailor Venus" Aino has taken up with two different guys in the fourth season episode "Storm of Love: Minako's Grand Two-Timing Plan." It may be a "storm of love," but it's also hard work to keep up with the deception when she accidentally schedules both of them for a date at the same time. Even when she finally comes clean, it turns out it was all a Dead Moon Circus plot...and they're both after her dream mirror.

Headed out to the dentist office in Westmont around 8:20. Got there with enough time to update my paperwork for them before I was called in. It only took one x-ray to reveal the cause of my toothache. The wisdom tooth on the bottom left jaw never grew in properly and had impacted on the others. Yes, they had to remove it. No, it wasn't fun. I also need three more extractions (two broken teeth and a broken wisdom tooth), major cleaning, and despite my brushing and flossing and using mouthwash and doing everything I can to stem the tide, my gum disease has gotten worse. And while the extractions (including today's) and cleaning should be covered by my insurance, seeing a gum doctor about my condition is not. It's just as well that he was so booked, I can't get in until June 11th. I'll actually have the money saved by then.

It's just as well that I didn't have too many other plans for today. My mouth was still numb and filled with cotton when I went over to the Haddon Township Library for this week's volunteering session there. I normally do it in the afternoon, but since the dentist's office is right across from the library and I had no other morning plans, I figured I might as well get it done. Besides, you don't need to do much talking in a library. I shelved and organized DVDs and tried not to talk much.

I did take a few movies out this time. The live-action Speed Racer came out about a decade ago. It was a flop then, but it's become something of a cult favorite in recent years. I thought it sounded like fun. After having enjoyed the last two historical epics from the 1960's I took out of the library, I thought I'd give A Man for All Seasons a try. I heard good things about Logan Lucky, a comedy about a family pulling a big heist, last year and have been wanting to check it out for a while.

Though my tooth was still numb when I left around 11:30, it wasn't going to stay that way forever. I dodged early lunch traffic and headed over to the Audubon Acme to pick up my prescription for antibiotics to help my sore tooth. Since I was there, I picked up a birthday card for Rose (she's April 7th), a combination Easter/birthday card for Mom (hers was March 20th), and yellow cake mix (which I forgot on Friday).

As soon as I got home, I took the antibiotics, then had lunch. (At least as much as I could, given I can't eat solid foods today.) Ran Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies while I got organized. The Easter Bunny is sick and can't deliver eggs, so he calls Granny to help him find a replacement. Her first choice is understandably Bugs, but he's swamped with work. They try to find a suitable Easter Bunny among the Toons regulars, including Daffy, Foghorn Legohorn, Pepe LePew, and Sylvester. Truth be told, this is really more of an excuse to highlight some of the best shorts Termite Terrace ever made; the special includes bits of "The Rabbit of Seville," "Hillbilly Hare," "Sahara Hare," "Robin Hood Daffy," "Bully for Bugs," and three Oscar winners, "Birds Anonymous," "For Scent-imental Reasons," and "Knighty-Knight Bugs," among others.

Went out for a walk after lunch, around 1:30. It may have been cloudy and blah, but I really needed to get out (and send out Mom's card). It's still a little chilly, though not quite as bad as it has been. It's still mostly a cold wind. That snow did more good for the plants than you might think. Brilliant yellow daffodils and velvety purple crocus have finally blossomed in every garden, bringing color to the drab straw yellow and faded browns. Some folks have Easter decorations, pastel eggs and bunnies lined up on their lawns. Most have settled for flower-strewn wreaths and banners.

Went right on the computer when I got in. Han, Leia, and Jyn are able to get rid of the bounty hunters, but they're surrounded by soldiers. Palpatine, the chancellor and an evil sorcerer, also appears, having flown there in the form of a crow. He throws out lightning at Leia, then binds Han with his magic and tries to bury his slowly re-emerging memories.

Jyn manages to help Leia to her feet, but the soldiers are advancing on them. Good thing they get help from Jyn's fiancee Cassian and his friend, the tall, black-clad scholar Kayton Twomby, as well as former soldier Bodhi Rook.

Broke for dinner at 5. Ran the short movie Sailor Moon R: The Promise of the Rose while I ate tomato soup and an Italian cheese wrap for dinner and had chocolate pudding for dessert. Usagi, Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, and the girls have an unpleasant encounter with a young man who claims to be a former friend of Mamoru's. Fiore is actually an alien who befriended Mamoru when he was orphaned as a child...but now, his mind has been taken over by an evil flower who wants to drain all the energy from the Earth. When he kidnaps Mamoru, the girls follow him to an asteroid covered in energy draining flowers...seeds that are ready to cover the Earth!

Played video games for a couple of hours after dinner. Started off with Wii Sports. I didn't do boxing today, since I got a walk in earlier. A vigorous game of tennis and some target practice on golf, along with another Wii Fitness examination, were almost as good.

Moved on to Lego Star Wars after a 40-minute workout. Was able to get the last pieces on "Secret Plans" and "Bounty Hunter Pursuit" and True Jedi on the latter and "Ruin of the Jedi." Found the red brick and the remaining pieces in "Death Star Attack." Didn't have as much luck with "Invasion of Kashyyak" ; I still haven't figured out how to get the last piece there.

Finished the night with The Shape of Water. It's 1962, and mute cleaning woman Elisa (Sally Hawkins) works day and night helping fellow cleaner Zelda (Octavia Spencer) scrub the halls of a top secret laboratory in Maryland. The government's latest discovery is more than a little fantastic - a fish-man who was found in South America and was considered a god by the locals (Doug Jones). Nasty Colonel Strickland (Michael Shannon) is supposed to be studying it, but he's really more abusing it. He plans on cutting the creature open to learn more about it. Ignoring his commands, Sally makes friends with it. When their relationship evolves into something deeper, her friend and neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins) helps her and Zelda break it out and bring it to her home. She wants to release it into their local canal. A Russian spy posing as a doctor (Michael Stuhalberg) wants to kill it to keep the Americans from getting it. Strickland just wants to know which strike team stole the damn thing. There's a lot more to this little fish-man than meets the eye, as Giles discovers. Will Sally be able to help him, or will Strickland get there first?

This unique "Beauty and the Beast" story was one of the most romantic movies I have ever seen. The relationship between Sally and the fish-man despite all the ugliness around them is truly touching. Hawkins and Jones stood out as the improbable lovers; Jenkins and Shannon were also excellent as the kindly neighbor who faces another type of prejudice and the mean bully of a military man who thinks anyone in the world who doesn't walk, talk, and think like him isn't worth bothering with. The special effects, especially on the fish-man, were incredible, too. And the lovely score by Alexandre Desplat won the movie one of its four Oscars. (The others were for Best Picture, Best Director for Gulliermo Del Toro, and Best Production Design.)

If you're interested in unusual romances or modern fairy tales, this strange but sweet tale of two of the oddest lovers to ever grace the silver screen is a must-see.

All Work and No Play Makes for a Frustrated Emma

Figures. I was looking forward to having today off...and I got called in, of course. Someone called out, they needed help with big Saturday orders, could I come in at 11:30? No. I wanted to run to the bank and the farm market this morning. I went in at 12:30. They said I didn't have to do it...but I really can't turn down the extra hours. I need money. My rent is going to be late.

This, of course, meant I had to rush my morning chores. The bank was my first stop. I vented my frustration at a sympathetic teller, who kindly suggested I look into gettin a cat - she was single and owned one - and start putting myself out more and be more approachable. I didn't realize I wasn't approachable. It's easy for someone to say that when they're not painfully shy.

The farm market was as busy as ever this morning. It was perfect weather for the first appearance of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes, blustery, cool, and partly sunny. I actually didn't need a whole lot today. Just picked up cheddar cheese, corn (loved the corn I had last week), peaches, tiny apples no bigger than my fist, a cucumber, and tomatoes.

There were yard sales everywhere today! One street, East Haddon Avenue, had a whole side filled with yard sales. I made some pretty sweet deals, too. Picked up two Disney Golden Books that retained their 50s-era illustrations, Peter Pan and Alice In Wonderland Meets the White Rabbit, for 50 cents each, and two Disney videos, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and Fantasia 2000 for $2 each. (The DVDs for both films are long out-of-print. I also saw the video for Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving, but I read that's supposed to be re-released on DVD next week.)

Rode over to the area behind the Oaklyn Public School next. Picked up two records at a sale on West Holly Avenue, the soundtrack to the Doris Day movie Love Me or Leave Me and a Johnny Mathis album. The records were $1 each.

I made my best finds on Kendall Boulevard as I headed home. A middle-aged couple had a nifty spread of items ranging from toys to trinkets to stuffed animals. I dug around in the toys and came up with...a WebKinz Chocolate Lab, complete with her tag! I'd seen other WebKinz for sale that morning, but none that still had their tags on. There was also a lovely shelf that looked like the heart one I picked up at another yard sale two weeks ago, only darker-stained, heavier, and a bit wider. The owners were saying "make us an offer." I picked up the shelf for $3 (same I bought the other shelf for) and the Lab for 37 cents, all the change I had on me.

I barely had time to enjoy everything when I finally got home. I quickly gulped down a lunch of yogurt, tomato slices, and home-made corn bread (I was still eating the corn bread as I dressed!), grabbed an apple and a granola bar for a snack, and hurried out to work.

Work was on-and-off busy. There were a ton of huge orders, some numbering into the $400s. If there's one thing people are still paying money for, it's food. You can cut electronics and cars and houses out of the budget, but people have to eat.

I finished at 4:30. It had quieted down enough by then for me to leave with no problems and no relief. I looked for a few more yard sales in the development across from the Acme known as Audubon Park, then went home. Spent the rest of the evening setting up the new shelf. I moved all my holiday DVDs and any videos that fit to the shelf, which I put between the baker's rack and the coat hanger. Moved children's videos I didn't watch as much to the 80s video shelves where some of the holiday videos were, then moved the animated DVDs, sets and movies, to the big rack. That freed up a LOT of room.

My day was not helped by the return of my toothache. I haven't called for a root canal because my tooth hasn't hurt in a long time. Today, of course, it had to start again. I'll have to see if I can get in this week and if my insurance will cover the whole thing. I really don't have the money in the bank for extra anything right now.

Oh, and meet my Chocolate Lab! The last of the three retired Labradors, she'll move in the Lab House with Nelson the Yellow Lab and Max the Lil' Black Lab. Haven't decided what to call her yet, though.

The Tale of Miss Redmer and the Rainy Day

Watched Miss Potter this morning while I had a quick breakfast of banana muffins and a half of a grapefruit. The "Miss Potter" in question is famous children's book author Beatrix Potter, she of "Peter Rabbit" and "Jemima Puddle-duck" fame. Sweet-natured but sensible, Beatrix scandalizes her upper-crust Victorian English family by refusing to marry in her 30s...and then becoming a published author. She falls for the handsome young publisher who pushes for her books, but tragedy leads her to return to the English countryside she loves.

This was quite charming, with a lovely performance by Rene Zellweger as Potter, but way too short and a bit disjointed. I would have preferred to see more of Beatrix and her "friends," her animated drawings and stories, and telling her stories to those she loved, and less of her love life. The story is at it's best in the beginning, when Beatrix is first being published and we see how books were made in the Victorian era, and less when she retreats to the country and becomes involved in preserving her beloved farmland.

Miss Potter ended just in time for me to leave for counseling, my first session since early March. Scott and I discussed my recent up-and-down hours at work, my battle with my weight, and my upcoming vacation, but we mostly discussed my job options. As much as I love baking, it's really more of a hobby. Trouble is, I can't leave the Acme until I can find something else, especially given what the current job market's like. I'm just not sure if I CAN find something else. It's been seven years since I've worked another job, and the job market wasn't nearly as bad. If I couldn't find something when jobs were plentiful...how will I ever find something when they aren't?

The weather had been cloudy and muggy all morning, but it hadn't rained. The clouds started to grow heavier as I sat down to two slices of vegetable and cheese pizza at Cafe Antonio II. By the time I rode out to the library, fat drops were falling rather heavily. It thundered on my way there, but not nearly as bad as the noisy storm we had last night.

The library wasn't too busy when I arrived, rather surprising considering the weather. The children's books were literally overflowing on the return racks, so I spent the hour and a half I was there doing those. I just took out a Strawberry Shortcake DVD I hadn't seen this time. I took out enough books last week. It was still raining pretty good when I got out, but I didn't feel like waiting all afternoon for it to stop, so I just rode home in the rain and got wet. And of course, the sun came out an hour or so after I came home.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Big Adventures and messing around online. In the first story, Strawberry and her buddies Angel Cake, Ginger Snap, and Orange Blossom hit the road to visit their pal Tangerina Torta and see a special flower that only opens once a year. Peppermint Fizz joins Strawberry for a much longer trip in the second story, a take on Around the World In 80 Days. A bragging Ginger Snap bets the Peculiar Purple Pie Man that Strawberry can't get around the world in 80 days. Strawberry takes him up on the offer and, with the help of a pessimistic Peppermint Fizz and several of the international characters, proves that nothing is impossible if you stay optimistic and work on a way around obstacles.

Wish I could say the same. Looks like I'm going to have to go to the dentist and stop putting off that root canal whether I want to or not. I chipped a tooth while eating a turkey burger and steamed asparagus dinner. Guess I didn't clean the spinach as well as I thought. And of course, it's the tooth that needs the root canal and had to be fixed last year.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

Arrgh. I had my dentist's appointment late this morning. The scaling and cleaning went well...but that one molar on the lower right side is STILL sore. It's been sore for months. I was hoping it would only need to be bled until the swelling went down, but the ladies took photos, and it would seem it's infected. Again. After it was infected last spring. It doesn't hurt as much as it did last spring, thank goodness...but I still need a root canal. Even though the ladies in the dental office were nice enough to recommend a dentist who is on my insurance plan's listing, I still hate the idea of needing a root canal at all. I'm wondering if I should do it now or wait until after the holidays. I might not be able to get an appointment anyway, at this late date.

Actually, I'm just really mad at myself for needing a root canal at all. My teeth have NEVER been this bad. I've never needed this kind of surgery on anything. My eyes have gotten worse, too. Why don't I take better care of myself? Why did I wait seven years to get my eyes and teeth checked? Why didn't I just spend the money? Why did I put everything off? Why didn't the infection go away after the first time?

My financial situation is little better. I made enough to pay off the rest of my rent, but not my bills, and I barely have any left in the bank. I wish I knew more about how to handle money. I tried starting a savings account when I lived in Wildwood, but I never had anything to put in it, and it eventually closed. I haven't even bothered here. Why start a savings account when you never know what you're going to put in your checking account from week to week? My paycheck varies with my hours, making it very difficult to know how much to put away and how much to put in it from week to week. I'm wondering if there's someone at the bank whom I could ask for advice about how to handle money when I don't have a lot of it. Everyone I know is either retired or broke themselves (Mom's always complaining about how Dad spends his money the moment he gets it).

My errands didn't go that well, either. I went to FYE to see if they had The Chronological Donald, Vol 4 on the strange chance I actually get the money to buy it. Nope, they either never got it, or it sold out. They didn't have any of the new Treasures sets at all. I'm so disappointed. That FYE's always had such a good selection. I was sure they'd get the Treasures sets! Maybe there was a mix-up with shipping similar to the one that delayed the arrival of The Sword In the Stone in June.

The weather didn't even cooperate. It rained all day, a fine, misty rain that did no more than make me damp, but was still annoying. It misted all during my dental appointment, during my walk home, and while I was running to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. The mist didn't stop completely until I was on my way down the White Horse Pike to the bank to drop off my paycheck, WaWa for milk, and Doria's Deli for turkey lunchmeat. It hasn't rained since, which I hope bodes well for tomorrow. Yahoo!Weather says we're supposed to get thundershowers, then get very cold on Sunday...and maybe even get snow on Tuesday!

I even burned the gingerbread cookies I made with the Limited Edition Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cookie Mix that came out last week. I made those all last holiday season and was looking forward to seeing them again.

Bat-ting A Thousand

It was a gorgeous Indian Summer day when I woke up. Couldn't be a more perfect day in October, with a bright blue sky and a sunny, windless day. I ran to the Acme quickly this morning for my paycheck and to pick up unbleached flour, yogurt, and eggs (the first and last on good sales). I stopped at FYE afterwards to see if they had the new WebKinz and the new Christmas Classic Collection set I'm looking for. They did have the new WebKinz but not the set, so I just headed home after that. I put the yogurt and eggs in the refrigerator, refilled the flour container, and headed out again, this time to the White Horse Pike to hit the bank (and finally pay my rent) and for my dental appointment.

It wasn't nearly as bad as last time. I guess my right upper side isn't as grimy as my left. There weren't nearly as many needles this time, and not as much done. It didn't take as long for the numbness to go away, either. I was in and out in a little over a half-hour.

I went over to 7-11 for a pretzel (just to see how numb my mouth WAS), and waited for Amanda to arrive. Amanda's a good friend of mine from college who lives in Vineland, NJ, about 45 minutes away from Oaklyn. We get together from time to time, usually at Christmas, but sometimes for our birthdays. Amanda's birthday was last week; I gave her my present to her, one of the Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater DVDs. (Amanda loves cats in general and is a huge Hello Kitty fan.) Amanda gave me the cutest gray stuffed sheep from Bath and Body Works.

We took the White Horse Pike down to the Voorhees Town Center. Formerly the Echelon Mall, the Town Center is one of four major malls within driving distance of Oaklyn (and not counting the ones in Center City Philadelphia). (The others are the Moorestown Mall, the Deptford Mall, and the Cherry Hill Mall.) The Town Center is in the midst of a major remodeling project, and while it's left the building cleaner and in better shape than some of the other malls in the area, it also means there isn't as much there as there is in Deptford. This isn't helped by the Town Center being more-or-less in the middle of nowhere, with few other major stores nearby (which is one of the reasons the Echelon Mall was having trouble to begin with) and Amanda wasn't willing to go prowling around looking for more.

We both had Grilled Chicken Sandwiches and Carrot and Raisin Salads and shared Waffle Fries at Chick-Fil-A, then walked around the mall. I bought the WebKinz Bat from Hallmark. She bought a candle from the Candle Scents store (not the one she wanted, Chocolate Cupcake, but Vanilla Cupcake smelled real nice too) and a book from Borders Express, and we both admired the gowns we'd never have a reason to wear at Boscov's.

Figuring we weren't going to find much else, we headed back to my apartment and spent an hour there. Amanda had been to my place in Wildwood, but she's never visited me when I've lived in Oaklyn. I haven't been able to talk her into coming this far up the Pikes. We spent a pleasant hour as I showed off my place and we had chocolate cake and watched Hello Kitty. I'm hoping to talk her back up here for New Year's Eve, now that she knows where I am and that I'm not hard to get to.

Oh, and meet my WebKinz Bat, Boo! Naturally, Boo lives in my first Halloween room. I'm hoping to do at least two more rooms with the Halloween theme (a small pub-type restaurant and a bathroom) before they take it away for the year.

Fighting Tooth and Nail

I had my first dental appointment since late May today. Alas, it won't be my last. As it turns out, I still have so much carbon and tartar build-up left in my teeth, they're going to need a few more one-hour sessions - yes, with needles - to get it all out! They just did the upper left side today. The needles hurt and I did cry a little, but the dentist doing the cleaning was nice - she hates needles, too.

I went next-door to the bank to cash a small rebate check after my dental appointment, since the bank is just a block over from the dentist's office. They were having a hot dog spread for their Customer Appreciation Day (though not cooked over an open grill this time). I ended up with a hot dog (no bun), two brownies, a small water bottle, and some chili. Not that I could really chew much, given my numb mouth, but it was a nice gesture anyway. I spent the rest of the afternoon before work editing the five or siz short stories Lauren and I have written over the past month. (Look for them over the next few days. Lauren went on her annual weekend bus tour with her parents, which should give me time to finally catch up on editing.)

Work was steady-to-dead, no problem at all and likely to remain so as long as this gorgeous 85 degree weather holds out. I did my grocery shopping for the week after work and got a larger-than-usual paycheck (good thing, given I just paid for my LAST dental appointment and need to pay for my glasses and contacts).

Tooth Talkin'

I had my dental appointment today. I had a few fillings put in and a cleaning. Other than I needed those blasted needles again, it was no big deal and didn't take very long. I was in and out in less than an hour. It's also my last appointment until late August. Dr. Hyder gave me a toothbrush-like tool with a rounded brush that sticks out like one of those individual floss things you buy in bags at the store. She says it's for cleaning around the really bad molars on my right side and to help them heal.

It was so gorgeous (and I was feeling so good about being done with the dentist for three months), I went for a walk after I got out. The sky was a beautiful blue, it was warm but not humid, and it was windy enough that it wasn't killer-hot. I had a pleasant walk down to Manor and up Kendall Boulevard, all over my neighborhood.

Not surprisingly, given the gorgeous weather and this being the end of the month, work was steady-to-dead, with no personnel problems. I had one very annoying older woman who had almost every single item in her cart in produce bags and kept fussing about double-bagging her groceries. (Her son was a big guy. I'm sure he could have handled it.)

Oh, and I just posted this month's Monkees Role-Play story, the comedy "The Car Trip." We'll hopefully be starting the next one on Tuesday and will try to be more on schedule with the stories now that Lauren is settling into her new home.

Water Bagels and Water Elsewhere

I'm going to do this while my Internet is behaving. The weather today was absolutely miserable, damp, dreary, and raining. It poured this morning...right when I had to go to my dentist appointment, of course. I showed up in Dr. Heider's office literally dripping wet. (And yes, I do own an umbrella. A very good one from the 70s that I got in a yard sale two years ago, shortly after moving here. I was even wearing my red sweater with the hood. The dentist office is just a few blocks from me and I saw no reason to ask for a ride.)

Today, I finally got that tooth I broke last year filled. I never did anything about it because it didn't hurt. Turns out that there was some decay in there, too. Other than the needle needed to numb my jaw (I HATE needles!) and the fact that one of the drills was so noisy, I had to resist looking to see if a herd of elephants were charging down the White Horse Pike. When all was said and done, the broken tooth was filled, and Dr. Heider says the other teeth appear to be on the mend, including the one with the really bad gums.

I spent the rest of the day at home, baking and doing yoga and stuff online. I'd originally planned to get my paycheck at the Acme, then run a few small errands in the Audubon Commons shopping center behind them, but I finally decided I've done enough running around in the rain. My remaining errands could wait. I e-mailed Verizon about my phone and Internet troubles (I was going to call them, but I wanted to borrow my landlady's phone, and by the time she came home, I didn't really feel like going out in the weather) right after I got in. The Internet went down three times, but never for more than a minute or two each time, so I'm hoping that bodes well for tonight.

I tried something a little different with my bread-baking this evening. Despite the disaster with my pretzels, I decided to try another popular bread snack. Bagels are surprisingly simple to make. They only need to rise for about 40 minutes all together, and you actually let them boil in water for a few minutes to give them their chewiness and shiny crust. Unlike my pretzels, they came out perfectly. I was running out of regular flour and made them with part-wheat flour, and that gave them a nice, nutty flavor and a deeper color.

Good Times, Bad Teeth

I had my third dentist appointment this morning. She had to drill in the big molar on the other side. I didn't think it was as bad because it didn't hurt, but apparently it was also broken and fairly close to the nerve. Not only that, but the other tooth was infected. Swell. At first she said I would need a root canal, but she and her assistant took another look at my X-rays from the last time and decided to do a good cleaning on my other teeth to help out the woman who would be scaling and polishing them. For now, they just ended up giving me an antibiotic in the gums around the bad tooth on the right side and cleaning the others very well. I can't eat hard, crunchy, or sticky foods for a week and I can't floss for ten days, but hopefully this will help the gums enough to avoid that (expensive) surgery.

The rest of the day was far more pleasant. It started out in the 60s, but by the time I got home, it was in the 70s and climbing. (The weather is much appreciated after the clouds, storms, and chilly wind we've had all week!) I put my red sweater away and switched my old jeans for my new jean capris. After lunch (two soft Strawberry Muffins and a Strawberry-Banana Smoothie), I went to the Haddon Township Library to return the DVDs that were due and finally due this week's volunteering. (I was going to do it on Tuesday but got called into work and didn't have the time.) It was so nice, I went for a ride afterwards, stopping to say hi to Bob at Abbie Road and buy a really cool 20-CD set of old-time radio sitcoms and a Bing Crosby collection.

I listened to two of the discs while I made dinner. Blondie and A Date With Judy are early examples of typical family sitcoms. (Blondie comes from the still-running radio strip, which pre-dates both the radio show and the popular movie series.) I had more fun with Blondie, where Dagwood Bumstead comes off as a more nasal Fibber Magee with a kid (his tall tales to Alexander about how he would swim in the river in January were hilarious). Date With Judy was a bit more dated. While sitcom plots haven't changed (substitute "garage rock band" for "orchestra" and "local access TV" for "local radio" in the second episode and it could almost be set now), teenagers sure have. Breathless Judy and super-nerdy Oogie Pringle don't sound like any kids their age I know. (Hard to believe Oogie was played by Richard Crenna. I wonder what Rambo would say if he knew his drill sergeant was an uber-nerd as a teenager?)

Underneath It All

I had my second dentist appointment today. It was spent getting x-rayed and having my teeth cleaned as well as the ladies could without the spraying machine that wouldn't work - they did it by hand with a pick.

It turns out my teeth are in worse shape than I thought, probably thanks to not having been to a dentist in 8 years. There were copious calcium deposits under my teeth that were causing the gums to bleed. The tooth that was filled last time is still sensitive and sore, and there's still the chipped tooth and at least three other cavities. One of the dentists cleared the calcium deposits off, but I'll have to go back in another month for the rest and for a more thorough cleaning. In the meantime, I'll be brushing with a toothpaste and toothbrush made for sensitive teeth and using a gel for hypersensitivity. I stopped really quick at the bank after I left the dentist (the bank is less than a block from the dentist's office), then went home, had a quick lunch, and went back out to work.

Work was on-and-off busy, nothing major other than some obnoxious beginning-of-the-month people and we just didn't have enough help assigned later in the day. (For some reason, I finished my shift at 5:45 and there wasn't help coming in until 6.)

I picked up yogurt (on sale), ant bait (I've been seeing them around the kitchen and bathroom sinks again), light bulbs (the big light in my bedroom blew out - again), and milk, then made a quick stop at FYE to pick up The Illusionist. This month's Monkees role-play is based after the idea of the boys going up against a magician with real powers. Lauren saw the movie and liked it, so I bought it to get some ideas.

"March Goes In Like A Lion..."

...And out like...well, if not like a lamb, at least a bit more like spring. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon at work. Today was a rare early day, 8:30AM-2:30PM. Thankfully, it was steady enough for most of that time that it didn't drag. Most people were either stocking up for the week or preparing for tonight's Phillies home opener against the Washington Nationals. (Who creamed them, BTW, 11-6.)

It began to sprinkle slightly while I rode to work, and it sprinkled slightly on my way home. It apparently showered on-and-off in between, though it was dry enough for me to run some errands after I got home and changed my shirt. I dropped Sailor Moon R off at Dad's for Jessa, went to the bank, and headed down to CVS for some OralGel and, since they had them cheap, ended up getting eggs there as well. It started to rain harder on my way back from CVS and has been doing so on-and-off for the rest of the evening.

Yes, my tooth is acting up again. While not sensitive to heat or cold this time (I can drink my morning tea and eat chilled fruit with no problems), I can't bite down on that tooth without pain. I'm scared. The dentist said if the tooth still hurt when I went to my second appointment with her this Saturday, I may have to get a root canal. Painful and expensive (even with insurance). I would prefer to avoid that. I'm just hoping my gums are sore or maybe something's wrong with the filling.

Oh, and I tried something different tonight. I made yeast rolls for the first time, using a Wheat-Molasses-Oat Bread recipe from my Live Longer Cookbook, adding the last of the maraschino cherries leftover from my Pineapple-Upside-Down Cake mess. I'll make a glaze tomorrow and serve them as a mildly sweet roll for breakfast. Unlike the cake, they came out just fine and smelled divine when they were in the oven.

I also finished off More Silly Symphonies while the rolls were in the oven. My favorites will always be the holiday classics The Night Before Christmas and Santa's Workshop. I'd had both uncut on the Walt Disney Christmas video I picked up from the Blockbuster in Wildwood, but the video is so old and in such lousy shape that it's nice to have better copies. Mother Goose Goes Hollywood was another rare stand-out. I've NEVER seen it uncut, certainly not on the Disney Channel, so this was a rare treat. (I kinda liked the Marx Brothers playing piano with Fats Waller.)

Good Old Fashioned Swashbuckler

Ran a few errands this morning. Brought my information to the dentist office for them to process. They can process it...but they can't fit in a second appointment until April 5th! Oh well. I've learned my lesson about brushing, flossing, and using mouthwash every day. There is a cavity on the other molar, but it doesn't hurt (yet), so hopefully it isn't in as bad of shape as the right side. The right molar is still sore, but the dentist said that should last for a few days. I also hit the bank and made a quick stop at Doria's Deli for turkey lunch meat.

Work was slightly less of a pain than yesterday, but there were still a lot of obnoxious people out. An on-and-off day did not help matters. I wasn't terribly happy with my relief, either. She sat around for ten minutes chatting with one of the teenage boy cashiers waiting to go in. What's wrong with going in a few minutes early? I do it all the time!

I was so happy to get home, make gingerbread, eat a Salisbury Steak Smart Ones meal for dinner, and watch the first half of The Black Swan. This is your typical 40s-50s swashbuckler, with Tyrone Power as a former buccaneer sent by Jamaica governor
Sir Henry Morgan to stop a renegade former comrade from bombing British ships. Maureen O'Hara is the feisty noblewoman he loves. Gorgeous, Oscar-winning color cinematography (and imaginative use of the 20th Century Fox back lot) and a fairly intelligent script (from a Rafael Sabatini novel) make this one of Tyrone Power's most memorable action vehicles.

Tooth and Consequences

I finally made it to the dentist this morning. In fact, it turns out her office was just down the street from me, a block from the PNC Bank on the White Horse Pike in Oaklyn. Both the dentist and the assistant were pleasant, cheerful young women, and their chatter helped me through what turned out to be a bigger deal than I'd originally assumed it was.

What I thought was a cavity and sore gums was a very, very large cavity in a fractured tooth that was poking into the gums. The cavity was so big, it was getting close to the nerve. Yes, I had to have anesthesia. Yes, I had to have it drilled. Two drills, in fact. She used a small one I barely felt and a larger one that made a lot of noise, hurt somewhat, and reminded me of the trains passing by across from my apartment. It took forever for the right side of my mouth to numb, too.

I'll be going back next week. I have to get my dental forms sorted out with the Union, and I still have a chipped tooth and another cavity that needs to be done. (And I should have done the chipped tooth last year, but I put it off because it didn't hurt...) My mouth is still a bit sore, and I can't bite down too hard on things on the right side, but the pain isn't nearly as bad as it was. If anything, I feel that needle jab in my gums and the side of my mouth more than anything.

I watched El Dorado to cheer me up before and after my appointment. El Dorado is one of John Wayne's most popular vehicles. A gunfighter rides into town, followed by a young man new to the area, and helps out a drunken sheriff and his deputy when a local family is hounded by a corrupt shipping magnate and his hired guns. The cast (including Robert Mitchum as the sheriff and a young James Caan as the kid) and the script (written by Leigh Brackett, who also wrote Han and Leia's classic banter in The Empire Strikes Back) makes an otherwise slightly cliched movie work. (If the story seems familiar, El Dorado is a color remake of an earlier Howard Hawks/John Wayne movie, Rio Bravo, and was remade as Howard Hawks' last film, Rio Lobo, in 1970.)

Thankfully, after all that, work was steady but not too bad. I rode to and from work in the rain, since I had some grocery shopping to do and I didn't want Dad to have to pick me up after his surgery.

The Tooth Of The Matter

Sigh. First of all, I really don't know anything about health care. I didn't know you had to send away for some form to be able to do an insurance claim, though I really should have thought of it first. I never had health care until I had enough years in the Acme. My stepfather is a commercial fisherman who has long been listed as "self-employed," and he and Mom have long paid any medical expenses themselves, out of their own pocket. Hopefully, I won't have to have too much done at the dentist's office tomorrow. I shouldn't need a tooth removed or anything fancy. I just need a check-up and something to sooth sore gums and fix a chipped tooth.

I ended up spending most of the day at the thrift shop. My older friend Erica called a few days ago and said the current manager really needed extra help putting out all the spring items and bagging the winter items to be put aside for a company that pays the store for piles of clothes. The store was busy, especially towards the end of the day.

I felt a little awkward. I was the only person my age there. There weren't even many younger customers today. It was all older ladies and people from Camden. As much as I like the thrift shop, I don't really want to do more volunteering there beyond helping out every now and then. I like getting cool cheap stuff, but it gets monotonous doing it all the time, and it's not really what I want to do with my life.

Erica and I stopped at the Collingswood Variety Store on our way home, and yes, I did get a new WebKinz. Meet Chester the Alley Cat! Ches is a tough-talkin' city boy with a big heart under all that ego. I thought a garage seemed right for a city kitty, so I built Chester his own Garage Loft that's also a storage space for various vehicles (the scooters, skateboard, and AT V Wheeler).

The Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth

I finally decided this morning I'd had enough. I've had a toothache for several days now. I think it's my gums from a hard-bristled toothbrush coupled with I haven't been able to afford a check-up since 2000. I called the nearest dentist's office and made an appointment for Friday morning. Now, I just have to call the union and find out exactly what my insurance covers. There shouldn't be any surgery; nothing's loose, though one tooth is chipped slightly. (I never got it fixed because it didn't hurt.) I didn't tell anyone on or offline I had a toothache because I didn't want anyone to worry...or tell me to go to a dentist and stop acting silly. I hate doing paperwork. I can never remember everything that needs to be written down. (That's why I haven't had an eye exam since 2000, either.)

I spent most of this gorgeous, 60-degree day at work. Work was on-and-off busy and fairly annoying, with lots of obnoxious beginning-of-the-month people. I also discovered why I have so many early days this week. Another woman who had to come in very early said many older employees who haven't gone on vacation yet are taking them before the cycle starts over again in May. (I, of course, take my vacation time in late July-early August so I can visit my best friend Lauren. When I lived in Wildwood, I took it during the week of my birthday in April.)

My tax return was waiting for me when I got home. Thank goodness. I don't have much in the bank after paying my rent; I'll deposit it tomorrow.

It was such a nice day, I decided to go for a quick walk to Family Dollar and get a few items I needed (including OralGel). I also stopped at WaWa and bought a pretzel. WaWa's pretzels are doughy and not very good, but at least they were easy on my teeth.

I watched Weekend at Bernie's while eating leftover mashed potatoes and meatloaf for dinner. Weekend at Bernie's is one of those goofy 80s comedies you would have never gone to see in the theater, but never missed when it was on cable. Two slightly goofy guys insurance workers discover a discrepancy in the account that's costing the firm millions of dollars and tell their boss, Bernie. Naturally, Bernie invites them to his fabulous beach house in the Hamptons to further discuss the matter. Turns out Bernie is not only behind the scam, but is a sleazy, skirt-chasing jerk with mob connections, and it's those "mob connections" who kill him before the guys arrive. Wanting to score with a hot local girl and not lose their vacations, the boys decide to act like Bernie never died...and most of the sloshed locals don't seem to notice much anyway. The mob's not thrilled, though...

Yes, it's all as silly and strange as that description sounds, but it's also a great deal of fun if you like your comedy very broad and your acting very over-the-top. Terry Kiser is great as the titular stiff, and Andrew McCarthy has a ball playing against type as the more party-hearty half of the two guys.

Long Story Short (Too Late)

...I was up so late last night reading those Disney sites, I got up too late today to do much more than eat, watch the "Sondheim: A Musical Tribute" video I got from the thrift shop, take a quick shower, and go to work. Work was off-and-on busy, with no major problems.

I really, REALLY need to clean this week and make an appointment to fix the chip in my tooth I got last November. It doesn't hurt, but it's annoying and I don't want it to get infected.