Granola Thins

Welcome to August!

Some friends are in town and we went to a sushi restaurant a couple of nights ago with a gathering of 13 people.  It is always great to see how much the teenagers, young adults have grown and changed.

I went for a haircut yesterday.  My hairdresser was telling me he enjoys the Olympic volleyball, ping pong and swimming sports.  L will join her university health and dental group plan this year.  When she turns 21 next April, she will no longer be covered under M's work plan.  (Thanks to comments from Gigi and Laurie, I checked and she is actually covered until age 25 as long as she is a student.  So we will get the paperwork in place. )  We also have to get our passports renewed at some point this year.  I'm not one to wait for the last minute.

M and I saw the new Spiderman movie.  K told us what time the movie was playing, but maybe didn't notice it was the 3D version.  Anyway I didn't get a headache and it worked well for this movie I thought.  Spiderman is very cute as is his girlfriend.  Oh, I remember reading they are seeing each other in real life.  We enjoyed the movie although it does have a lot of destruction, what else would you expect right?

I had a coupon to redeem these Granola Thins for free. They turned out to be amazingly delicious and only 90 calories per thin:

Lunch Talk (At Christmas Time)

I went for a haircut a couple of days ago and took a bottle of wine for my hairdresser, in honour of the season. He gave me a big hug and kisses on both cheeks and told me I shouldn't have. He mentioned he is 63 years old, with no plans to retire. Either way, sooner or later I'll probably need a new hairdresser, I'm thinking.

Before going for my workout, I decided to have lunch at the mall. There was a new (and busy) Mediterranean restaurant in the eatery, so I decided to try the chicken shawarma sandwich which was on special. It was nice although a bit too 'garlicky' for my taste. I'll try the falafel sandwich next time anyway.

It was crowded in the eatery, but I spotted a couple of seats next to an older couple. I asked if it was okay for me to sit there, and the lady said brightly 'you are most welcome to do so'. She sounded like a teacher, I thought. Her husband left the table but she remained seated, finishing her meal. She asked how my Christmas shopping was going. She had happily made a lot of progress that day.

It turns out she has 3 grown sons and some grandkids who live at other ends of the city. She hosts the entire family on Christmas Eve and also on Christmas day (overnight, I think). She said it was a lot of work, but she'll do it as long as she can. I continued messily eating my shawarma sandwich, there's no way to eat it neatly, not me anyway. I said, 'Maybe if you had a daughter, she would take over the celebration.' She said, 'Well, I have a daughter-in-law that would probably do it, but she's Serbian and...she'd probably serve pork. And my boys and I are so used to having Turkey, it wouldn't be the same.' I said '...I like pork'. She said 'You know, when the time comes, it will be her celebration, and I'll support whatever she chooses. Family is what's important.' I agreed with her.

We discussed the weather and she told me she had grown up on a farm and watched the animals all the time. She knows this is going to be a hard winter because the squirrels seemed extra busy this fall ferreting food away. And their coats are extra thick. There is a red fox in their neighbourhood sporting thick,lustrous red fur this year when he's usually like a pale orange shade. I said I would most certainly pass this information on to my husband, so he could get the snowblower ready! Then she went off to finish her shopping and I went to do my obligatory cardio workout. I told her she was a good mother and she told me she was sure I would do the same if I had to.

Our mailbox was frozen shut that evening, even the lock de-icer wouldn't open it. Maddening. This happens every year. The next day, a lady at the gym told me to try WD40 oil and I did and it seemed to work, but maybe the mailman did something.