Tennis and Book Club

   Tennis this morning - indoors of course - then we went to the Pickle Barrel for lunch. I was very good and only had a chicken and spinach salad - no bread. It was my chance to treat Carol and Hendrina for sharing their (free) tennis court with me for the last few winters. I'm hoping for a few more games before year end.

   I skipped Zumba class and went straight from lunch to Book Club and there were treats there too. I had another cup of coffee and two slices of very good pannetone. If you've never had it you should try it. Yummy!

    The book was "Quiet" a non-fiction about introverts and we had a very lively and interesting discussion. All being retired teachers we were mostly focussed on how being an introvert affects children's education and self-esteem.  

   After my tasty lunch I am just going to have a light dinner - fish and some cauliflower, and maybe a clementine for dessert.

Out And About

   I thought this was going to be a quiet day as Bridge class is over until the New Year. However, I decided to visit Bayview Village Mall for a few things. First I ordered the Christmas lunch bird at Pusateri's - I decided on a capon again, it's bigger than a chicken but not as humungous as a turkey, and also juicier. It has gone up a bit in price but still makes enough for the nine of us at a reasonable cost. I will pick it up on the 23rd.

   I found small gifts for the grandkids at Mastermind and Chapters to have under the tree on Christmas Day and finished off with a coffee and double chocolate brownie at Starbucks. Luckily I still had some money on my Starbucks card so it was a cheap treat.

   On the way home I stopped at the Bay for gift cards for the retiring coordinators at my dance group. We will be having a small Christmas and farewell party for them next Monday. They will still be dancing with us but someone else is taking on the organizational duties.

   I was home by 11:30, finished the newspaper, had lunch and a nap then went off to see a movie. "Roman J. Israel, Esq." with Denzel Washington - quite good.

   So it turned out to be a very busy day so I will have an early night.

My Sudoku Compulsion

    First off, the Christmas tree that the grandkids decorated on Friday. They did a great job from dragging it up from the basement to unpacking and hanging all the ornaments. I only had to put the angel on top and start the string of lights on the upper branches.

Don't know why it's so out of focus.

  My main topic for today is my compulsion with Sudokus. I jump out of bed every morning and dash to see how challenging the Sudoku in the Star newspaper will be. Usually it is easiest on Monday and gets progressively more difficult each day of the week. On Sundays there are three ranging from easy to hardest and I got all three today without having to resort to "helping" numbers (that's the little numbers I put in when there are two possibilities). I always do the puzzle in ink so sometimes it can get very messy. Look how neat today's are!

  Saturday always has a very different one but it's not as tricky as it looks and yesterday's was quite easy. You can see, no "helping" numbers or errors. I was quite chuffed with myself! The answers come out next week.

Overnight Guests

     Last night I had overnight guests, the grandkids! They were here because their parents were joining some friends in a progressive dinner. So it made sense for the kids to be out of the way and no need for a babysitter.

    I went to pick them up at 4:30, we were home by 5:00 and I had put a chicken in the oven before I left so it was soon time to eat. After dinner and an ice cream treat, they opened their first Christmas book. This is a custom Judy started when they were small -  a different Christmas story each night up until Christmas Eve. Yesterday's was appropriately called "24 Sleeps Until Christmas" and Elliot was in charge of reading it. It went down really well.

  

     They were really good guests, in other words they helped out and tidied up after themselves (with a bit of encouragement), and didn't even wake me up too early this morning. The boys helped with breakfast (pancakes and scrambled eggs) and Natalie mixed the orange juice so it wasn't too much work for me - except for cleaning up afterwards! Judy picked them up around 9:30 as James had a hockey game and, since then, I have had a restful day. 

  I walked over to the local high school this afternoon to register my vote for our new Federal M.P. Hope she is successful!

   I made a big pot of stew this afternoon but I will be eating leftover chicken and veggies from yesterday. The kids put away quite a bit of food last night (they have good appetites) but I saved some for myself for today. The stew will go in the fridge for the next few days. It's full of healthy vegetables.