Never Again . . . probably.

Remind me never to do it again.

For a long time, I have played Sudoku twice in the morning, once for the daily challenge and once for an extreme level game, which they rate 2 notches higher than expert. Sometimes, I also play at night before trying to go to sleep. I do it to try to shut my mind down without listening to a podcast, for when I play a podcast, I will likely nod off, catch myself snoring*, and, therefore, will interfere with my attempts to fall asleep properly. (* I only snore when I am on my back in a listening sort of pose. I do not snore otherwise. Verified by Sue.)

What I do not do in the Sudoku game is play their contests and challenges. When I have entered the contests, I have found that some people play so often that they are hundreds of thousands of points in the lead. So, I just stick with my two games in the morning and maybe a few at night.

But I lost my mind and started the Winter Magic challenge. It was just a challenge and not a contest, so I decided to play it. The task was to decorate an alpine sort of scene. Each level always consisted of completing two games. First, a few decorations were added to the tree and then more and more. Houses appeared that weren't there before — the decorated ones near the centre — but they had to be decorated too. The stand to the right popped into existence, and then I had to decorate it: the same with the snowman and Santa's sleigh too. The final touch was the aurora borealis, which came  naturally decorated.

Days and days after beginning (I think 10 days), and being required to play multiple games per day, the picture was finally done. It came with words and scores and dates and things on the screen, which I eliminated in Photoshop. I might even add a Merry Christmas and use it as a Christmas card, so you just might see it again.

BUT! I hereby declare that I will never do that again, unless, perhaps, in a very weak and forgetful moment, I become seduced by the promise of another pretty picture next Christmas.

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Speaking of games, I liked the congratulatory message after a good result on OneWordSearch (link to game here, for the browser version). OneWordSearch is also offered as part of the Waffle game page (link here) that everyone should play.

I thought the message most appropriate for a Canadian who had recently posted a photo of a puck going into the net. I scored a 4 out of a possible 5, which is the best that I can do, for I will never find 10 words in a changing puzzle within a minute. I minute and 11 seconds was my best, but as you see above, I almost used up 2 minutes on that one. I would have then been down to 3 stars. If you play and can get 5 stars, please do not let me know.

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When I check on my loved ones on Find Friends, and they are home, I note that they are 7 minutes away. Twenty years ago, we lived 7 hours away. We undertook a very expensive move to a higher cost of living region in addition to paying the moving company a small fortune. We paid the price to live 7 minutes from Shauna instead of 7 hours. Despite the financial drain, it was already a good move, and then the grandchildren came along to make it even better.

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I did my grocery shopping early today (actually yesterday when I post this) and brought back Tims coffee. We brew Tims at home too, but the coffee that we bring home is so much better than the ones we brew ourselves. Maybe we should K-cups to eliminate the guesswork. We use a single-serve brewer now in which everyday becomes a guessing game about how much coffee and water to use. 

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Unforeseen — Poor Guy.