In 1878, this magnificent mansion was built for successful businessman Charles Smith Hyman.  His political ambitions included Mayor of London and the prestige of serving as a Cabinet Minister with Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier. 

An athlete at heart, Mr. Hyman was the captain of Canada’s most successful cricket team and won the men’s singles tennis championship seven times in his professional athletic career.

Maryann and her sister Janet were my partners in crime as well as

Maryann’s beautiful daughter, Shelli.

Derek, our gracious Guest Services Representative

showed us the elegant private diningroom

and the rustic guest rooms authentically furnished.

We couldn’t wait to get to the diningroom for our 5:30 dinner reservation!

The table was beautifully set including

a special “Women Rock” menu skillfully designed by one of the Inn’s talented and acclaimed Chefs.

Katherine, our awesome server presented us with

exquisite cuisine from the menu prepared especially for us!

We’re so stuffed from eating our amazing dinner that we can hardly make it up the stairs

to our tastefully decorated room on the third floor that at one time, would have been the servants’ quarters.

Instead of going to a club in Wortley Village we chose to have a quiet night in playing Scrabble,

a game of complete concentration

and bitter defeat!

But Monopoly is Maryann’s game of choice

where she managed to snag Boardwalk AND Park Place but ultimately lost the game to Shelli.

Morning came quickly after staying up so late

and we’re back in the diningroom for our delectable breakfast

of French Toast with fruit

and fluffy omellettes with homefries! 

As the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end.”  But we’ll be back to this historic gem next year!

See you next Tuesday here at MySaggyButt!

Happy New Year!  I’ve got a feelin’ it’s gonna’ be a good year.  At the end of the Christmas holidays, I usually struggle with the thought of taking down the Christmas tree and putting away the decorations.  Packing up all the fun memories, happy feelings and kindness that everybody shows at Christmas time into a box and putting it on a shelf until next December.

But not this year my friends!  Bob Hope once said, “My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”  Every so often, I find myself coming back to Bob’s words.  I know we can have those magical feelings all year.  Although, I wasn’t very gracious the day after Boxing Day when the old saleslady at Sears told me the Jockey socks were not “Buy 2 Jockey Socks Get One Free” and that Jockey was exempt from the sale. 

I don’t think she had any appreciation how hard it was for me to climb up the display and bring her back the metal sign that read, “Buy 2 Jockey Socks Get One Free.”  She sniffed then pointed her bony finger to the infinitesimal fine print in the right hand corner of the sign that read, “Sale ends Dec. 24/09.”  Well who knew?  I told her that next time I’d whip out my handy Martha Stewart pocket magnifying glass so I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Guess I’ll have to loosen the lids on those boxes a little bit more.  See you next Tuesday.   

PROGRESS REPORT:  My new healthy lifestyle begins today!  I have a frig full of leafy green vegetables.  Check out Dr. Oz’s Blubber Busting Workout.

Every year I drag out my Christmas pants, you know the kind that look like 70’s palazzo pants made of black crepe paper?  Well when I tried to squeeze my larger-than-last-year body into them the song, I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred came to mind but the lyrics had changed slightly to, “I’m too fat for my Christmas pants, too fat for my Christmas pants, they’re too tight for me!”

So my friends, I can no longer use my summer ankle injury as an excuse not to exercise (obviously my mouth wasn’t injured because I’ve been frantically feeding it)!  With my Tuesday posts I’ll be giving Progress Reports on my new “lifestyle changes” (God help my poor husband)!  I’m sure I’m not the only one whose hips have expanded this year so feel free to join me and add your comments to my posts.

But before I say farewell to fat, I’m including another fast, easy recipe for your Christmas baking repertoire to slap onto each hip before the year ends.  It’s my Super Smooth Bailey’s Fudge.  Indulge!  Fat pants rule!

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for reading MySaggyButt.  I’ll leave you with a little ‘food for thought’ (no calories) from Charles Dickens, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”  See you the first Tuesday in January!

Super Smooth Bailey’s Fudge
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
¼ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

Grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan with butter.  Melt the sweet and condensed milk, chocolate chips, vanilla and Bailey’s in a pot over low heat stirring constantly until smooth.  Remove from the heat and spread in the pan.  Refrigerate a couple of hours.  Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again when you have to attend your spouse’s proverbial work Christmas party.  I’d rather have needles stuck in my eyes.  But someone at my husband’s office was on the ball this year.  She suggested a gift exchange – with a twist. 

Each person had to make a gift or bring something “tacky” that you already owned.  On the night of the dinner, everyone had to pick a gift from the centre table and unwrap it but the next person could steal your gift instead of selecting a wrapped gift from the table.

Herb Tarlek , you would have been proud!  I have never seen a more diversified collection of resurrected relics in my life.  I thought I’d stepped into a K-Tel wasteland.  Where have they been hiding all of this stuff?  Here are a few of the more memorable gifts exchanged that night:

1. The Slap Chop as featured on those late night infomercials along with concoctions that melt away cellulite and psychic readers with big hair.  I’ve never seen so many men fascinated by a simple kitchen appliance!  Sorry ladies, no Rachel Ray food processors for Christmas this year.  The Slap Chop’s making a comeback!
2. The Santa Garden Knome.  Poor Santa!  I’ve never seen him looking so grotesque!  No sleigh for Santa…he’s sitting on a big old red tractor!  Even the squirrels would think twice about hiding their winter stash under this scary Santa.
3. And my very favourite – the gift my dear hubby chose – the plastic portable clothesline.  Looked like a twisted pink umbilical cord!  And still in the original box made in Brooklyn, New York.  If anything belongs in a museum it’s this!

So have fun at your spouse’s Christmas party this year and remember good things don’t always come in small packages!

All the pre-Christmas chaos makes me crazy!  I don’t know about you but I think holiday stress bends your brain.  You get caught up in the frenzy of it all – especially the shopping.  And I can’t even blame my old friend perimenopause for turning me into a bit of a she-monster!

My husband and I took our annual Christmas shopping trip to Canadian Tire last Sunday.  I was so excited I had visions of Clark Griswold dancing in my head.  We found the aisle with all the colourful Christmas lights and heavily congested with assorted customers but the vultures had picked the shelves clean.

“Blue lights,” my husband hisses loudly in my ear.
“Blue lights?  We’ll be lucky if we get any lights.” 
We spot the section of blue spotlights.  To my husband’s dismay, there are only two boxes left.
“We’ll never get them,” he whispers in a panic.  “You wanted the cart and there’s a guy standing in the way.”
I silently size up my opponent.  Swiftly darting through the zigzag of carts, I snatch the two boxes from the shelf in front of him.
“Hope you weren’t looking for this colour.  Have a lovely holiday!”
Poor man.  Didn’t stand a chance. 
Before he lifts his jaw from the floor, I’ve propelled my husband from the Christmas lights aisle to the nearest checkout. 

Nora Krank would have been proud, I think to myself as we race to the car.  I love the holiday movie, Christmas with the Kranks. I cried when her very expensive Hickory Honey Ham was pulverized under the wheels of a passing transport truck.  I’m praying for a great big old transport truck to come by right now because I can’t imagine what my husband is going to say when he finds out I just bought the last two empty boxes of blue floodlights.