Good Morning ALL! How are you today? Friday, bright and sunny where I am. There appears to be no breeze or gale force winds this morning which is great. I am getting ready to head into the office for the day. This just seems weird. Alvin appears to be wondering as I am doing a few things differently than our usual routine. In less than 30 minutes my daughter will be here to pick me up and Mr. Alvin will be alone. I feel badly for him as I love being able to be home with him. Here to open the door so that he can go out into the backyard to pee or just to lay on the deck by the back door to bask in the warm spring sunshine. He always makes sure he is as close to me as he can be and still do this thing. What a companion. Love my little four-legged guy. The sunlight on the trees gives them a red brown glow. One morning I will wake up and look outside at the trees and they will be covered in green leaves. The process seems to happen overnight. I love spring. I have a dilemma, whether to wear shoes or sandals. I will be sitting at a desk by a window facing east so I am thinking that perhaps I should wear sandals. The temperature is supposed to be +18 celsius today so will be warm enough to do so. Guess I will see what I feel like doing when I leave the house. Time will tell.
My neighbour will be coming over to check on Alvin and let him outside. Thank goodness for great neighbours.
This post will be a bit short as I am quickly running out of time and still have a few things left to do. I guess that I shouldn’t have hit the snooze button earlier.
Photo of my cute boy Alvin from a while back.
Photos of flowers to come and that fence will be painted this summer.
More Flowers
My Flowers
Wishing you a wonderful Friday.
Continuing to live with and in respect, kindness, compassion and patience.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this gorgeous bright sunny Thursday morning ( lol, I almost typed Wednesday)? Both Alvin and I are well. We got a good night sleep. Very grateful for the sleep. Always a great way to begin one’s day with a good night sleep. Alvin and I had a good walk yesterday and even though the temperature was in the single plus digits celsius it felt warm. By mid afternoon it was about 17+ celsius. Everyone was out walking. I had ordered my supper through SKIP THE DISHES. First time. I found out that between the delivery charge, the tip and taxes there was way less left on the gift card that I had received from my employer and I did not know how it all worked so I had to keep changing my order to have it fall within the “budget.” I thought by the charge of the food that some of the charges were included in the total but guess not. I am not sure that I would use this service again. Besides I am not one to order out for food. I do like ordering a pizza from Royal Pizza (best pizza place) once in awhile but other than that, I prefer to eat at home, something that I made even it was toast and eggs. Anyway, it was a nice change. At the end of it ….. I guess I helped give someone some earnings so it was worth it.
There is not much on our plate today other than regular old work. I am in the sixth week of training someone at work. Tomorrow I actually go into the office. My neighbour is going to check in on Alvin. He will definitely need to go outside to pee and need a treat during the time that I am away.
Saturday is supposed to be +18 or so and I have invited my two friends over for an outside coffee/tea visit in the morning on the deck. I have more than enough room to ensure that everyone is comfortable and is physically distanced from each other to keep within the restrictions set out by our health care professionals and government officials. I cannot wait. To share some stories and laugh, to laugh. Alvin is a pretty good story teller but laughing not so much.
Keeping on smiling and laughing and staying well. Take some time out of your busy day just for you. If you have to lock yourself in the bathroom to do so ….. do it. Just relax.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.
Good Morning ALL! How are you doing on this Wednesday morning? We are doing well. The sun is rising earlier each morning and although it normally gives me that extra boost to get up and go, not so much the past few mornings. Last night we were in bed a bit later about 10 p.m. and Alvin basically slept until 4:30 a.m. which was great. He did try to get up earlier but I instructed him to go back to bed and he actually did. So I did get a good amount of sleep this morning. There is something about just snuggling under the blanket that keeps me from getting up and going some mornings. Oh well, we up and after this post ready to get to work for the day.
I was wondering who do you admire? Who were your childhood heroes? Did you have any? What did you learn from them? Are you continuing to learn from those people? Perhaps they have passed. Did you learn life lessons? Did they make an impression on your life? on your future? on your personality? on what you chose as a career? So many questions.
The above questions were asked yesterday. Did you ponder them? Maybe you even made some notes. I was thinking since yesterday that I will just start with the first question.
Who do I admire? I admire a great many people. Topping the list are my daughter and son-in-law, my sister, my brothers, my cousin LL, my friend since we were toddlers Deanna, a dear friend Val, I call them my young friends G & S, teachers and another longtime friend LH. Really when I think about it there are way too many to write. I admire a great many people and definitely so many over my almost 64 years. There are also people that I do not personally know that I admire from afar. Also some folks that I worked with in Regina for many years GM, RH, RB, LE, and KS. So many more …… I admire them all for different reasons but mainly for being in my life and teaching me so much about the world and myself.
Who were my childhood heroes? I would say my grandparents topped the list for sure. They were the ones that were always there. My mother and father but for different reasons and people that know me will understand this. My best friend’s Mom who happened to teach me in grade 5/6. I would say Walt Disney from a distance for his vision and for creating the Walt Disney Show. Also I had some wonderful Aunts and Uncles and I treasure their presence in my life for all time.
Are you continuing to learn from these people? Absolutely. Life lessons all round. I have learned something from every single person that has entered my life and that includes my four legged friends.
Did you learn life lessons? I guess that I answered that above, yes, very definitely.
Did they make an impression on your life? on your future? on your personality? on what you chose as a career? Absolutely. I believe, well actually I know that every single life force that has entered my life has made an impression, some positive and some negative. But that is how you grow. The information, the knowledge, the incredible impressions, so much brought me to this place. On my personality, for sure. How can every person that you meet not help to form who you are, who you will be and what you will do in your life. It takes a village, right! I have found that certainly to be true.
There are so many folks that have help formed who I am today. I am grateful for each and everyone of you. If you read this post and were not mentioned it is not because I did not value you in my life it is because there simply is not enough room to write everyone’s name. I value everyone and for a multitude of reasons.
Well time to head downstairs and get this day going. I can almost smell the coffee perking (I have to turn it on, of course). Today we are celebrating our new company name, yes there was a name change. Shorter and that is good. Sometimes change is good. This is good.
Continuing to life my life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.
Always, Love Carol & Alvin
It is a rainbow kind of day …… bright …… positive …. time to celebrate!
Good Morning ALL! How are you doing this bright and sunny Tuesday morning? I, we are doing well. Alvin is patiently waiting for me outside the office door. The garbage truck is making the regular rounds. Just a soft breeze this morning. I can hear the hum of the traffic on the highway in the distance as people are out and about.
I was wondering who do you admire? Who were your childhood heroes? Did you have any? What did you learn from them? Are you continuing to learn from those people? Perhaps they have passed. Did you learn life lessons? Did they make an impression on your life? on your future? on your personality? on what you chose as a career? So many questions.
I would say that I admire those folks who do what they say and say what they mean.
I admire people who stand up for what they believe in.
I always admired my teachers growing up as I learned about the world from them.
My paternal grandmother played a huge role in my life. She gave us time, love, taught me to dance and was always there for me and my siblings. I could say so much more about my Gran Stella but it is almost time to head downstairs for work. These are big questions and I could write likely forever on them.
I want to continue this post perhaps on the weekend when there is time to delve into details.
Food for thought, though.
Wishing you a great Tuesday.
Continuing to live with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.
Good Morning ALL! How are you on this bright and sunny Monday morning? I hope that it is bright and sunny where you are. Alvin and I are doing well. We had a fantastic weekend despite Mother Nature’s spring snowstorm. As I mentioned before I got to use my brand new Bissell Crosswave. Yesterday I submitted a tea order and baked a banana loaf / bread. Did some cleaning and put away the laundry that was air drying from Saturday. I even did some shovelling and I enjoyed the day. Here we are again at Monday morning. Most of the snow has now melted. The sidewalks are clear. Front lawn still sporting a white blanket.
I wanted to share a daily affirmation that I came across on Facebook. It has become my new mantra.
Daily Affirmation – stand in front of the mirror and look at yourself and repeat daily
I am healthy. I am strong. I am powerful. I am happy.
I am grateful. I am wealthy. I am loved.
I am appreciated. I am lucky. I am prosperous.
I am divine. I am confident. I am proud. I am blessed.
I am beautiful. I love the person that I am.
Stating a daily affirmation is good for us to do.
It is surprising how quickly you begin to see a difference in your being.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Looks like Christmas outside or at least winter. Alvin and I are well. Yesterday morning when we got up the ground was bare and I raked the front lawn in the afternoon after our walk. This morning when we got up we have half a foot of snow covering the deck, the street, the lawn, rooftops and anywhere the snow could stick. Actually yesterday in the late afternoon when it was looking like a snowglobe outside and the wind was blowing …. Alvin had to go outside to pee …… when I opened the door, the snow blew into the house. The door was covered in wet sticky snow, the house was covered in snow, the lone broom that was standing against the back of the house was covered in wet sticky snow, my two wicker chairs that I had brought back out were completely covered in wet sticky snow, the trees were covered in wet sticky snow and even the doorknob was covered in wet sticky snow. I guess that I have painted a pretty thorough picture of how “sticky” the snow was as it clung to everything in sight. This morning the cars out front are covered in snow as well. Looks like there will be shovelling in my future and I just put away the shovels, argh. Oh well. It is spring in Western Canada and anything can happen with the weather. Just to give you an idea of the temperature on Friday it was plus 15 degrees celsius so a light jacket or sweater weather AND yesterday when we went for a walk in the early afternoon I wore a light jacket and was comfortable at 8 degrees celsius. I raked the front lawn about 3 p.m., I think it was, and I wore the same light jacket and it was windy and starting to cool down. My neighbor that share the front lawn with me … loves to feed the bunnies in the winter and the birds. So there was a massive amount of bird seed, bunny food and bunny poop covering most of her side (especially around her tree) and quite a lot on my side. I was careful and was wearing gloves when I scooped it all into a garbage bag along with the leaves that were covering the lawn. Every fall I rake and rake and rake until I can rake, no more. Usually I would say about 5-7 times. This past fall I raked several times and gave up because none of my neighbors were raking when the leaves fell off their tree(s) or not many of them. So throughout this spring as the snow melted there were leaves that freed themselves and blew around the hood in the wind. We have had a lot of wind this spring. Yesterday was windy as well. Guess what this afternoon is to be +4 degrees celsius so the snow will be melting. What an interesting last 24 hours. Poor Mr. Alvin was having quite the time last night. I told him to just pee in the snow. Poor guy.
Well yesterday I managed to get quite a lot of things knocked off my TO DO LIST. I got to try out my new Bissell Crosswave and it worked. I found that it used a lot of the cleaning liquid (water + cleanser). I filled to clean 350 square and only did the top of the stairs landings and the stairs and it was almost all gone. I cannot imagine that that space is 350 square feet in total. Anyway, the amount of hair that was in the water when I was done and cleaning out the machine was crazy. The water was dark so I know it was working. It was pretty easy to take apart and clean ….. now just putting it back together. I left the components out to dry on the counter as they have to be completely dry. The strangest thing just happened. Right in the middle of typing this post, the computer shut down as thought there was a power outage but the lights did not even flicker. Thankfully WordPress has autosave and I did not lose my whole post. WOW. I did lose some and I don’t remember what that was. So will just carry on. I think that I was about to mention that I decided to submit the tea order today, an executive decision. So I will do that this afternoon. I am also considering giving up selling the tea and Norwex. At this point in time, I would have to reactivate my NORWEX account and it is not worth it to me. I do not have any regular customers. The tea is another story. I love the tea so much but I have not had a “party” for a long time and was just selling to my regular customers and the odd new one. Sometimes I have had to place large orders myself just to keep active or maintain selling privileges. At the end of the day is it worth it? I am not sure. I would have to place an extra large order this time and I simply do not need that much product. So after six years this may be it. I guess time will tell. I do not have to make the decision at this moment. Life, right. Sometimes giving up things can be freeing as well.
Well after the seriousness of that last bit, it is time to sign off and go have a cleansing shower. I always feel differently after having a shower. Clears the cobwebs. Things have a way of working themselves out. I am giving these decision over to the Universe for guidance and will just go about my day. I want to bake a banana loaf this afternoon. Likely will be shovelling. Maybe if I remove some things off my plate it will clear the way for me to start writing more. Sometimes it is good to clean out your “closet” and if it does not “spark joy” as per Marie Kondo, then perhaps it is time to move it out of the closet. I think it may be time to do just that. I am feeling better already. Time to remove some old things and replace with new. Spring, time to grow!!
Wow, that was freeing and rejuvenating. Thank you for listening and helping this girl out.
I wish you a wonderful Sunday. Take care and I hope that you and your loved ones are in good health.
Perhaps this is the day that you “clear out your closets.”
I am feeling a lot lighter at this very moment, thank you.
Continuing to live with Kindness, RESPECT, Compassion and patience.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this Saturday morning? Alvin and I are fine and are moving slowly. Went to bed a little later than usual for us and then he of course, was up and down several times. Oh well, we have lots of hours in this day to accomplish what needs to be done. Sometimes you have to change your plan. We never know what will happen from hour to hour. That is our case. So up a little later than planned and that is okay. The sky is a brilliant blue this morning and the trees from my office window seem to be just ever so waving ever so gently. Over the earlier hours I viewed the beauty of the sunrise from the back door, from a lying position on the sofa and from my bed. At one point when Alvin had us up …. I noticed a light in the back and wanted to make that no one was doing something they should not be doing. When I was certain all was good, I went back to lay on the sofa only to find that Alvin had gone back upstairs. So that took a few minutes to sort out. Lay on the sofa or go back up to bed. Never a dull moment.
Yesterday I was able to go after work and pick up both a case of wet food and a bag of dry food for Mr. Alvin and of course the glucosamine replacement (Movoflex), I believe. Also while I was out I picked up some lottery tickets. Just felt like I should have some tickets. You cannot win if you do not have tickets. I would love to win some money ….. pay off the mortgage and perhaps be able to retire earlier than later. A gal can dream. Dreams are what got me to this point so why not. Our walk yesterday at noon was fantastic. It was so warm and dreamy …. felt like a summer day. Life. There are moments we love and cherish and others that we would love to toss into the garbage bin. But we cannot have one without the other. Hopefully more great ones for sure. I am looking forward to using my new Bissell Crosswave and I hope that it does what I need it to do. Time will tell.
Oh, I watched the new show with Katy Sagal as REBEL, the lead character and also John Corbett and Andy Garcia. It was great and I will definitely keep watching it. Something just a bit different from everything else on television. Which is great. Some of the other shows I am now watching are 9-1-1 (which has been on for a bit and I am late to the table, and love the characters), still watching the NCIS shows all three of them, back to THE VOICE after not watching a season or two, Bob Hearts Abishola, and a few others. If I listed all of the shows that I watch, you may think that all I do is watch television and while I watch quite a bit, it is not all I do. LOL.
Well I guess time to change the bedding and get dressed. There are bills to pay and a pup that appears to want me for something. My needy guy. I love him despite the fact that sometimes he drives me a bit off the deep end. But that can be said for any relationship, right! Oh well.
Continuing to live this life with respect, compassion, kindness and patience.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this Friday morning? Alvin and I are well. I did wake up at 5:30 with a headache so I did take something. Not very often that I get headaches and not very often that I take any kind of medication. I am thinking it is due to the snow mold as I was raking grass last night. Might be a good idea when I do the front lawn to wear a mask. Never thought of that but it might just help. Anyway at the moment the tylenol seems to have worked. I am congested but then I spend most of my days in that state due to allergies. Oh well. I am alive and breathing and living in my own home with my trusty companion Alvin and am employed, so things are pretty great. The sunrise is beautiful this morning. Appears to be no wind, not even a little breeze. After work tonight I will have to run over to the vet and pick up more food and glucosamine for Mr. Alvin. I am grateful that the vet is within walking distance and that today is Friday and that they extended their hours past 4:00 p.m. and open on reduced hours on Saturdays. The weather forecast is for cooler tomorrow so I was thinking that I would go after work but may just go tomorrow. Will see how the day progresses.
What are your plans for the weekend? I want to try out my new Bissell Crosswave vacuum / wet cleaner tomorrow. See if it will clean the area rug and carpet although will start small. Maybe will try the stairs and landing tomorrow. Always there is laundry and the usual bathrooms and dusting. I am not sure if the front lawn will be dry enough to rake, so might leave for next week or weekend when the temperatures are warmer. I am going to submit a tea order. I also want to watch a new show with Katy Sagal that I recorded. The name escapes me and there are other well known actors in the show as well so looks really good. Some of the shows coming out now are extra good – not sure why. Has the Pandemic changing things, I do not know.
I am sorry that this will be short as I needed a few extra minutes to sleep this morning. How about some pretty photos? I love sharing my new found wealth of photos.
Take care and have an awesome weekend.
Continuing to live with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.
Always, Love Carol & Alvin
P.S. thank you to all of the folks who take their precious time to read my posts, I am over the moon grateful.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this Thursday morning? Alvin and I are doing well. We had a reasonably good sleep last night which was awesome. There is a breeze this morning and the skies are filled with rain clouds. The ground outside is wet. We definitely could use some rain at this point. No complaints from this gal. I love that word. “Gal.” Please note that I have no idea if there is a deeper meaning other than when referring to a girl. Oh, the wind is getting up as I watch the trees sway back and forth. Yesterday we had a lovely walk around our “ponds” over the noon hour. We saw some of our neighbours out and about. After work I thought after our long day “at work” that perhaps a walk would loosen me, us up. So off we went. We were only a few doors down when we came across our friend Crystal just parking her car after arriving home from somewhere. She had the youngest son with her “Zane.” He is the sweetest little guy and loves Alvin with a quiet passion. As soon as he saw us, he was over like a rocket. Giving Alvin some kisses and hugs. He wanted so badly to come for a walk with us and hold onto Alvin’s leash. Well Alvin could easily pull the little guy over but I was there for support. I asked Crystal if okay and she said of course as she had to go and pick up the mail from the community mailbox. I said that we would just walk to the park and back which would only be a few minutes. Well Mr. Alvin was definitely not certain of what was going on. He kept looking for me even though I was right there. I had to jump in once in awhile as Zane was definitely not he pack leader between him and Alvin. But we managed and Zane was happy and Alvin was just confused and not really happy that I was not holding the leash. We got to the park and back to their house with no boo boos, thank goodness. Alvin does not like anyone other than me holding the leash. He will tolerate his sister and brother-in-law but that is it. He is a one human …. dog. For sure. Anyway it was cute and a fun way to start my evening.
Yesterday my place of employment officially changed their name from Capital Region Housing Corporation to CIVIDA. It did provide some issues yesterday with all things computer, if you know what I mean. But those issues will get fixed and life will go on. I like the name, it is shorter for one thing. I am certain that I will mess up the name or say the old name from time to time. Change always takes a bit of time for adjustment. That is okay. I have been through so much change with this company over the past ten year.
Last night I watched a movie that I had recorded. It was amazing. Malika the Lion Queen narrated by Angela Bassett. She was the perfect choice to narrate this movie. The story of a lioness from Africa. If you have an opportunity to watch it …. please do. It is happy, sad and really runs all one’s emotions. Not only was the story interesting but I learned so much about lions. I will never forget Malika.
Well it is time to hop off of the computer, get the coffee perking and hop onto a different computer for work. I wish you a wonderful Thursday.
Living this life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience. Always working on the patience. Some days it is easier than others.
Good Morning ALL! How are you on this beautiful bright and sunny Wednesday morning? Alvin and I are okay. For some unknown reason he was up starting from midnight and every couple of hours until I am up for the day. I am feeling a bit on the tired side but hopefully it does not affect the day too much. Perhaps some caffeine soon will perk me up and I hope that night we sleep through the night.
I was looked through my posts back to near the beginning of this blog and found one that I thought was pertinent today and always and will share it now:
April 2010
I have been thinking lately of family and friends. About how easy it is to lose track of people. Recently I have connected with old friends on Facebook, and am thrilled to hear about their lives. I find people fascinating, and it pleases me a great deal to hear from them. To hear their stories.
My thought for this day is: send an email or SKYPE someone you care about, do it right now. Time is of the essence. It can get away on you. Take advantage of this new technology.
Make someone’s day……. you just made mine.
I am not sure how many people still use SKYPE now, likely more TEAMS or ZOOM but the idea remains the same. There is also INSTAGRAM in addition to Facebook and other Social Media platforms.
The point being reach out to family and friends. They might love to hear your voice over the telephone.
Whether you phone, use messenger, FB, Instagram, SKYPE, Teams or ZOOM or something else, the point is our family and friends need us more than ever.
Time can pass so quickly and it is very easy to say “I will call her or him tomorrow.”
Reach out today.
Continuing to live with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.
