Yet Another Journal

Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans,
cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of.


 Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net

. . . . .
. . . . .  

 
 
» Saturday, March 09, 2013
Sleepy Near Smyrna

No Farmer's Market items needed. Sleeping late: priceless.

After walking the dog and having breakfast, James headed out to the model show that was being held at a local lodge. A few minutes later I headed downstairs with my keys, but first went on the porch and took down all the winter decorations. Easter's only twenty days away now, and it's supposed to be almost 70°F tomorrow, so I guess it's time. I put the wreath back up but need to take the artificial birds off; they are spoilt and faded by the sun. The spring flag with its tulips and all the sheep and cow figures are back on the porch as well. Since I was in the garage anyway, I swept the empty half. Still have to get the inside stuff.

Then finally I could go off to Office Max to look for something that would make tiny cubicle life a bit easier. Unfortunately all OM seems to have is stuff to put on your desk, and I don't have a lot of horizontal space left. I did get some cubicle clips, which are sharp pins combined with plastic clips which can be used to hang things from the fabric of the cubicle walls. I did find a small surge protector on discount that we can use when going on vacation.

So I went out to Wally World. Folks say "Oh, you shouldn't go to Walmart; they chase out small businesses." "They use all Chinese stuff." But Walmart never lets me down, either. I found a nice little whiteboard I can put on the side of the cubicle to show when I am off on a compressed day or annual leave, and also another board that I got cheaply because it was dented. They also had more cubicle clips that were combination clips/hooks. The rest of my shopping bag was rather eclectic: two pants hangers to replace ones in the closet, a finch thistle seed sock, a new tube of toothpaste for work, and some kettle chips as a treat. I was looking for over the door hooks, but when I found some, I didn't know if they'd fit snugly over the side of a cubicle.

I also need something to put my carry bag and my lunch bag on, since I wasn't allowed to take my second rolling file cabinet, which I previously used for that task. I thought about a small bookcase or a short DVD tower, but didn't want to spend that much, and also of a wooden TV tray. I have decided I will take the TV tray that is downstairs, the one we use to put Schuyler's cage on when we go on vacation. If it works out I will just buy another one.

James called to say he was on his way home as I left Walmart. I stopped at Kroger for gasoline, then went home myself.

For the rest of the afternoon we went out to East Cobb. I was looking forward to stopping at Trader Joe's to get some of my favorite chicken salad, and was dismayed to discover that they have quit making it. They still have the Wine Country chicken salad, but not the one with the currants and almonds. Phooey. We did get some chicken and apple sausage, a dinner for James when he works Saturday in two weeks, some dessert treats, oyster crackers, and a can of clam chowder that I intended having for supper tonight. But after we left Trader Joe's and stopped briefly at Michael's, where I used my coupon on some cheap dry-erase markers, we went up to the Johnson Ferry Walmart in a fruitless effort to see if they still carried the Hood's Calorie Countdown chocolate milk, which we had not been able to find at our regular Walmart the last two trips. I did, however, find some Greek yogurt that is coffee flavor with dark chocolate chips in it. Okay. Willing to try anything once, especially as Greek yogurt is supposed to be better for you. This Walmart was next to an IHOP, so we had dinner there instead. We tried the senior pork chop dinner, which was a little disappointing. Ken's Hometown Grill has a better pork chop dinner for not much more money and you get two chops, not one. We also would have gotten toast instead of (ick) garlic bread. James decided to stick to the senior sampler and I to the senior French toast next time.

I'll have the clam chowder tomorrow night. James stopped to get some Jamaican to take home for tomorrow before we arrived home.

I'd left TCM on—they were playing an old Perry Mason movie this morning, with Perry as a tall, suave mustachioed character, a far cry from Raymond Burr's stolid character, who even planted a big kiss on Della Street at the end!—and when we got in Schuyler was watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Roy Neary was building Devil's Tower in his living room. So we stopped to watch the rest of the film, even if for an HD station the print TCM was showing was terribly muddy! I remember this being so magical when it was released, and also that this was the only movie that my dad ever paid a second time to see! He loved this movie. Unlike many of his blue-collar buddies, he believed there was life on other planets.

James headed downstairs to model once I put on Journey to the Center of the Earth (because I'd been thinking about it most of the day). I guess it's heretical, but I really like this film better than the Jules Verne novel, except for the stupid "dinosaurs." It's just a big grand adventure story, and I liked the way Arlene Dahl's Carla didn't take any guff from the misogynist Oliver even if she did scream a couple of times. It's got some goofy things in it, like Hans having a pet duck and taking her along, but Gertrude is welcome comic relief. It also made me a lifelong fan of James Mason.

I followed the movie with a "chaser" of fifteen minutes of resetting fourteen clocks and timers, and thought it was appropriate to follow that up with Fantastic Voyage. Again, very sexist attitude toward Raquel Welch's Cora Peterson, but she acted like a professional and didn't get all girly moony over the Grant character and didn't have to wear pink or high heels. And I have always loved William Redfield as the captain of the Proteus. Pity he died so young. He did one of the earliest police television series, Jimmie Hughes, Rookie Cop, and also appeared on CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

Labels: , , , ,