Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are doing pretty well. I will admit to feeling just a bit tired. Lights out at 10:00 p.m. last night and then we were up at 2:00 a.m. and then up to stay up at 5:30 a.m., so all in all not a bad night. I think that it will take a bit of time to get adjusted to this new normal and hopefully it will remain this way until I retire. Having some extra days at home is great and will be most appreciated come winter time. The coworker that I am carpooling with will be taking some vacation days in November and December to use up days before end of the year. I will need to secure another way to work for those days. Might be possible to take some of the same days off. There are others that have vacation time to use as well. So we will be even more short staffed for some time over the next few months. I was thinking about it being October 6th already and that I usually have my Christmas tree up and decorating the house starting on the first day of November, 2022,

I am excited for that time although I do not wish to rush the days away. Time to start hauling the “summer” ornaments/decorations to the basement and bringing up the rest of the fall items. My fall things go into Halloween. All works together.

Alvin did good yesterday. He could have drank more water but I understand. It was the first time that a “man” has come over to check on him. Usually it is a “woman” but as usual he was more interested in the food aspect than the actual visitor. Husam told me that he had been laying down when he arrived and after saying hello, Alvin led him to the kitchen and directed him to the top of the counter where his “treat” was waiting. I think it is going to take him a bit of getting used to different faces coming and going. Today my neighbour Sonja will take over the Alvin responsibilities for the rest of the week which is a change from the original plan. Whenever possible always better when it is Sonja as she knows Mr. Alvin the best. Also she is able to check on him more than once during the day which is great for my heart. It is difficult to leave your beloved pet home alone after he has got used to you being there 24/7. I am not sure how we did this before the pandemic but now he is almost 14 and that is a total different story. He needs to be able to go outside and pee, he needs to drink a certain amount of water each day. I will say this, I am so grateful to my friends in the neighbourhood for taking on this added responsibility. I do have the best friends and neighbours on the planet. This is a fact.

Alvin was even more clingy last night and I am sure that will be the case from now on.

Back to the office for the second day in a row for this month. I will say that the noise level during the day is too much, too many distractions, and listening to people coughing and such, does not give me a good sense of well being. Definitely going to take some adjustment but if this is what has to be, then I will just suck it up and get it done. I know that at least I do not have to work for too much longer which is good to know. I am grateful that we have two days at home each week and hopefully they will leave that the way it is.

The best part of going back to the office honestly is free coffee.

Time to head back downstairs and take Mr. Alvin outside for one last pee before I leave for work.

I am grateful that I am carpooling with a gal from work. That is so great.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: tomorrow ride home with my daughter and she will be staying for a sleepover which means I have a long list of things to do this evening, yay. I cannot wait.

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to Wednesday. Back to the office for today, tomorrow and Friday. Not my favourite place to go but I will make it work as there is no choice in the matter. We had a pretty good sleep last night. In bed by 9:30 and I read for a few minutes before lights out. Alvin woke up about 1:00 a.m. so we went downstairs. Surprisingly enough he did not want to go outside so we laid down on the sofa, next thing I knew the alarm was going off at 5:30 a.m. We were up shortly thereafter. I did lay back down waiting for Alvin to wake up first which he did. What a guy? Then it was preparing his breakfast before heading outside. The grass was wet as it has been for the last while but no heavy frost which is good. I was expecting it to be raining but perhaps that is supposed to happen during the day. The temperature is to be much cooler than it has been for the past week or more. I am so grateful for these beautiful fall days. Watching the leaves turn from green to gold and then falling from the trees has been delightful. The colours of fall warm my heart and make me feel warm inside. I do love this time of year. We have trees that are green still, some have turned gold and others variations of red and wine.

Alvin had a good appointment although he did fuss when his front nails were being trimmed. Poor boy. Since COVID, I have to wait in the exam room and they take the pets to the back area where they perform surgeries etc. So I can only listen to him “cry” and whine which breaks my heart. I stocked up on his toothpaste, glucosamine chews, small bag of treats and pain meds. You never know when things are not going to be in stock, so if I am able to, I pick them up before we actually need the items. It is sad that so many items in our everyday lives are becoming so difficult to secure. Between supply chain issues and staffing (which I do not understand) and soaring prices – it makes me sad and to wonder why?

I will have time to snuggle with the boy, make sure that he drinks more water and goes outside to pee again before I leave for work. With the price of coffee, I decided not to make coffee at home and take it to work, I will drink the coffee from work (it is free). Might as well take advantage of that as not much is free any more and who knows if that will change.

As I had taken yesterday afternoon off (vacation) for Alvin’s appointment because we cannot take time off in anything less than 1/2 days – I had time before the appointment to chop up more apples, which I did. Still have most of a large bowl left to do. That I will work on after work tonight.

I hope that you have a wonderful Wednesday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are okay! How are you really? Did you wake up on the good side or the other side of the bed this morning? I will be very honest and tell you that I woke up somewhere in between. Alvin was restless and woke me up at 1:30 but I coaxed him to go back to sleep. Then we were up about 4:45 which was okay. So I gave him his glucosamine chew followed by his breakfast. Then outside and then to the sofa where I reset the alarm to 6:45, that is where I went wrong. We should have stayed up but I just could not. I have to get my poop in a group as for the rest of the week I have to work from the office. So getting up extra early is not an option. I had a shower this morning so at least I am good for a couple of days. But still. Even though I do most of the prep work before bed, everything still takes time in the morning. Plus Alvin likes to dilly dally – like this morning. Outside at 6:45, he was sniffing at the fence (there was no one there) and just walk around and we did not have time. I raised my voice and I feel like crap now. I hope he knows that I love him and just did not have patience this morning but it was not his fault. I so wished that I could retire, I am not an early morning person and as I get older, it is getting more difficult to get mobile. Not that I am not able – just do not have the mindset to do so. Sorry for this negative stuff this morning. But it is the truth. I am sure that I am not alone. I just wish that they could have left me to work from home until I am able to retire. What would it have hurt? Okay that is enough of wa-wa-wa for this day.

I just had to get things off my shoulders. The sun is beginning to rise. It is 7:38 so I need to get this show on the road. The air was somewhere in between warm and cool this morning. The grass was wet with dew. What a lovely October we are having thus far. I am excited to have another long weekend.

So I have some things to work out. The only thing no matter what time I go to bed and set the alarm for, the one factor that I can not count on to be consistent is Mr. Alvin. Sometimes he wakes up at midnight, other times at 1:00 or 2:00 or sometimes he may sleep through until 4-5 a.m. That is definitely the hard part. Now I know that I sometimes get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom but I can do that with my eyes closed (no lights even come on) but when he needs to go – we need to go outside and that requires sweater or jacket and shoes and flashlight. I need to be fully awake when this happens. I am fully awake when we go outside.

Oh well, what can you do. I can apologize to Mr. Alvin. I am off work this afternoon as Mr. Alvin has a vet appointment.

I am glad that we are able to walk to the appointment. Never know how many of them that will be. Between weather and Mr. Alvin.

I hope that you have an awesome day.

I managed to get a few more bags of apples chopped and frozen while waiting for my supper to cook last night.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

I am very grateful that both Mr. Alvin and I are in good health.

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: loving the colours of autumn. I wonder when the time will change, our clocks go back one hour……… argh.

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Well it is dark out and not even that early as is just after 7:00 a.m. I guess we are into the beginning of that time of year when we get up in the dark and leave work in the dark. Thankfully we are not at the later part of that statement just yet. The shortest day is in December, 2022 – so a bit of time away. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous – actually the whole weekend was wonderful. This week is going to be nice except for Wednesday is supposed to be 11+ celsius which is cool compared to 20’s as of late. I am so grateful for this beautiful fall weather. Enjoying the leaves raining down and seeing the kiddos crunching on them as they walk across the lawns. I am one of those kiddos. Love to walk on the leaves. When I rake the leaves, I am going to spread some of them on my back flower bed. One of my friends gave me that idea so that they insulate and protect the plants. Great idea. Might be fun removing them in the spring but will worry about that later.

I suppose this coming up weekend being Thanksgiving might be a good time to put away the patio furniture. Clean out the remaining flower pots. I have three and they are on the front porch. The impatiens might be done by then but not sure about the pot. Time will tell. I am glad that I decided to bring a good bunch of my plants into the house. Some are wintering in the basement and others are on the main floor and upstairs. All three floors have plants. Nothing like having green and flowers blooming in the deepest part of winter. When it is storming outside and there are flowers blooming – makes me feel happy. Flowers will do that.

Well tomorrow afternoon is Alvin’s regular vet appointment so I took the afternoon off. Wednesday through Friday it is off to the office. Found out yesterday on FB that one of our coworkers has COVID. ARGH. I have decided that whenever I am away from my desk that I will wear a mask and not get within close proximity to anyone. Better to be safe. Reminds me that I must go and get that fourth shot. I will phone and see if I can get in on the weekend. Maybe Saturday.

Yesterday I baked 2.5 dozen Apple Cinnamon muffins with some pumpkin and a loaf. Not sure why but I decided to double the recipe (NEVER DOUBLE A MUFFIN RECIPE) and then the consistency was out of whack so I added some pumpkin puree. They turned out great but would have been easier and less messy had I stuck to the recipe and made one batch at a time. I also chopped about 20 cups of apples for the freezer and have about 100 to go. Seriously might be close to that. I have two super big bowls full of apples to get chopped up. So everyday after work – I plan to chop some apples and then finish on the weekend. Will be so nice to have them in the winter time for some muffins or an apple crisp or even a pie. Mmmmm good.

I decided not to give Mr. Alvin a bath but did manage to trim his paws, just a little bit.

Well time to head back downstairs and put on the coffee. I really need coffee this morning. Last night we went for a walk after supper just before 7:00 and met up with Cookie and her Dad so we walked together. Went further than we have been for awhile. Nice to have company and someone to chat with other than Alvin. He usually never replies, lol.

I hope that you have a great Monday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus and possibilities and COFFEE.

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: my friend Gillian popped by in the early afternoon to drop off the coffee and freezer bags that she picked up from Costco for me. Coffee has now increased from $11.99 to $18.99. Time to cut back on the coffee, methinks. We had a nice visit and she liked the freshly baked muffins. I gave her some of the chopped apples for a crisp or muffins. People will be revisiting their monthly budgets.

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this beautiful October morning? Alvin and I are doing great. We are enjoying another absolutely gorgeous morning. Standing outside in the backyard in my pj’s is not uncomfortable on this lovely day. I did have a sweater on as well. Still feels warm. I believe the temperature is to be about 24 degrees celsius today.

We have been enjoying a great weekend. Yesterday in addition to some cleaning, putting away laundry, Alvin and I had an enjoyable walk, I went for groceries. This time my list included items that I would need to make specific recipes so that I am not without an ingredient. I am also going to bake some apple muffins this morning. The coffee is perking so when this post is finished, I will have a mug of coffee and bake some muffins. Muffins will be a good snack for me to take to work to have for breakfast. I cannot believe that it is time to return to the office three days each week. I miss the time at home already.

Last night after supper Alyaa, her husband and daughter came over to discuss instructions for looking after Alvin. I also found out that Alyaa did get the casual/part-time job. Good for her and I was worried for us. But for this week her husband who has to come home for his daughter at noon will come and look after Mr. Alvin. They are hoping that her hours will not be as many as this week. The job was supposed to be only a few hours each week, and is turning into more. So we will figure it out, I guess week by week. It may involved asking some other friends and neighbours to come and check on Mr. Alvin. I will definitely need to get more keys cut. It will work out but may require some further planning on my part. Oh, what an interesting life!

Definitely will get some of those apples used today that are taking up real estate in my fridge. The crispers are full of apples so I cannot put any vegetables in them. I will make a huge apple crisp as well. I was planning to give the boy a bath today and possibly with scissors just trim his paws (if I can get close without him freaking out).

Yesterday I was looking out of the living room window and with a big gust of wind, it was raining leaves from our tree. So pretty but incredibly sad. I would like the leaves to stay on the trees for awhile longer. There are still several trees that have not turned colours as yet.

Oh, I got into this movie series yesterday while putzing in the house and last night: Fast & Furious. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the movies were and enjoyed them a lot. The amount of well known actors in this movie was crazy good. Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Paul Walker, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, and so many more. I only watched two or three of them and not in full but I want to for sure. The cast is long and interesting. There were about three of them on yesterday maybe four so I have recorded them to watch in their entirety at a later time. Looks like there are at least ten in the franchise so I will be playing catch up. Great story lines and if you like action, which I LOVE, you will definitely enjoy them.

Well time to head back downstairs. Have that first mug of coffee and start baking some muffins.

Enjoy this beautiful day. I will be bringing “BOBI” upstairs to vacuum as well. Definitely will have to stay upstairs with her.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to October 2022. The sun is shining brightly and the temperature for today is to be +22 celsius and 24+ for tomorrow and in the low 20’s for the following couple of days. Great weather for October and I love it. The sky is a great sunshiny blue. Is that a colour, well today it is!

Alvin and I had a quiet Friday. I was happy that he was able to go for a nice walk and did not appear to be in any obvious pain.

Today is the Birthday of a neighbour’s son who was 8 years old when I moved in back in 2009. Happy Birthday Kahlia. He is now a grown man. I cannot believe he is 21 years old. WOW, time flies. I have lived in this place, this house, this city for 13 years now and will be 14 next year.

Well I have been adding to my list with some final outdoor chores. I still do not want to put away the patio furniture but I do want to wash the deck and porch. Easier to do when they are bare. Perhaps I will look ahead to next weekend which will be another long weekend, Thanksgiving. Oooo, pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie.

I have lots of apples to prepare. Sounds like some apple crisps and apple muffins in the near future. Perhaps apple sauce? I need to go to the grocery store as I am totally out of brown sugar and a few other things some that are required to do this baking and others just need. On my TO DO LIST.

Alvin needs a bath. He has a vet visit on Tuesday afternoon so I will give him one tomorrow afternoon.

I love this time of year but I will admit that I have been a bit tired the past few days. Perhaps the years of getting up at random times during the night has caught up with me, maybe. Sometimes, I find that in the fall, when the weather starts to cool, that I feel the need to “hibernate,” to sleep more. So I am going to chalk sleepiness up to just that.

Photos out of our bedroom window this morning. The leaves are turning. Not as crisp photos as if I went outside but it is was a last minute idea.

Time to head downstairs and get this day going. I need coffee. Alvlin is bored.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

Continuing to life with life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and COFFEE.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! Today is the last day of September, 2022. Wow, how did that happen. We had a reasonably good sleep. Up late but Alvin slept till almost 4:30 and then up again at 6:30 and then a couple of hours later. The first time we were up we felt a few rain drops on our skin as we made our way back to the house and then at 6:30 the ground was wet. The sky remains overcast with the sun peeking through in spots.

Today is a day off from work as we remember and reconcile our Canadian history with our Indigenous peoples. A good place to start and build on a better future for all of our peoples. Each being is important and should be treated with respect and compassion. You never know what is going on with anyone until you walk a mile in their shoes or get to know and to understand them. We all have history.

Today is a day to reflect and of reflection.

Front Porch

Tree trimmed

View of tree from inside

The sky from our deck

a few days ago

I was able to upload a few photos. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of my fall wreath from the front door. This will be the weekend to finish off the fall cleanup. Our tree after my daughter and I trimmed it last Saturday, not even one week ago. This morning the tree is almost all yellow. Will have to have more photos. Mr. Alvin could not wait for me and came upstairs. I was not fast enough. Lately I have been trying to carry him up and down the stairs more often. The photos of the sky and the clouds were taken from our back deck in the morning, if I remember correctly sometime this last week.

Time to head downstairs and have another mug of coffee. Today will be a quiet one for us, perhaps a walk a bit later if it is not raining. I am so grateful to have my own home and to be with Mr. Alvin in his twilight years. We have been together since he was almost one year old. So much history.

Have a wonderful day.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love,laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! Today is September 29, 2022. Second last day of September for 2022. This month seems to be flying by although at this point in my life, I could say that honestly for most months. Yesterday was at the office. It was the office as I would prefer to be working from home. I love working at home. I missed Alvin but had comfort that someone was checking on him. Next week we are back to three days per week and I hope that this schedule will remain intact. At least that way a person has some time at home with no commute. Now that the days are getting shorter, it will be dark soon by the time we get home from work making it harder to go for walks. We can manage until the white stuff arrives but after that it will be difficult. I am grateful for all the days that I can work from home and be with Mr. Alvin. Did you know that 14 in dog years is 98 in human years? He does very well for that age and then some.

There are some days when you receive news that really puts your life into perspective. Sometimes those situations that one has been stressing / fretting about – just do not seem to be that important any longer. So in the grand scheme of things, in life – I am so grateful that I am alive, that both Alvin and I are in good health, that I live in this beautiful home in this great neighborhood in this wonderful Country, that I am surrounded by loving and supportive friends and neighbors, that I can see the beauty in the leaves as they change colour all around me, that I can hear the music playing on the radio, that I can dance if I want to, that I can sing if I please, that I can walk and talk and do things, that I have time. So when someone or something whether at work or in your personal life gets you down or feeling stressed, just remember we all have a limited amount of time on this earth. DO NOT SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF! Words to live by. I am going to do my best to stop with Alvin and smell the “roses” not to be worried about the time. I am going to reach out to my family and friends on a regular basis. I am going to do my best not to listen to gossip or to respond to that “silliness.” I am going to do my best to think of all the GREAT people in my life. I realize that I have in fact, a very great life. I am going to laugh more and play more. I am going to do my best to just live my life!

So on this Thursday, the last day of work for me this week, I wish you a great and wonderful day. The sky appears to be hues of pinks and blues, so pretty.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are doing great. Last night we were in bed by 9:00 p.m. as I am working from the office today. About 11:50 p.m., Alvin wanted to go outside so downstairs we went. He had a pee and then we were back in the house where we laid on the sofa. Thank goodness for a comfortable spot. We were just settling in when I heard a noise coming from the front porch, as I was half asleep, I did not think too much of it. Maybe a cat. Then a little while later I heard my phone ping several times, notification of someone texting me. Did not think much of that either. Then off to la la land. Alvin wanted to get up a couple of times before the alarm went off but I managed to coax him to lay back down. We were up to stay up at 5:00 a.m., after I gave Alvin his food, I checked my phone to see a text from the neighbour in the other half of the duplex. She had texted me at 12:33 a.m., she had heard someone on our front porch but did not know if I had company that was just leaving so she did not go outside. Now that is so funny that Mr. Alvin did not bark or make any kind of movement toward the front door. Very strange. Whomever it was did not try the door handle or I would have heard so what were they doing on the porch? I did turn on the porch light once I had read her text to see if someone had walked off with one of my potted plants or the wreath from my door but they were all there. Kind of gave me the creeps. Definitely will ensure every night that I lock the front door. I do but there has been the odd time where I noticed it unlocked in the morning, especially when I had watered the front flowers in the evening. Anyway, that was my excitement. NOT.

I am starting to get a bit anxious about next week as that is the start of three days each week back to the office. I do have someone to watch over Alvin but it is not the same, it is not me. Although I am very grateful that I have such amazing friends and neighbours who are helping me out. Soon, I hope I will be retiring and then it won’t matter. Soon cannot come soon enough, lol.

This weekend we have to go over the schedule with my friend and neighbor who is helping with Alvin.

Well I am going to go downstairs and outside with the boy and ensure that the main floor is as cool as I can make it. I will close all of the blinds so that it keeps the coolness in as it is supposed to be another hot one today.

I hope that you have an amazing day. Sure cannot believe this weather but am grateful for it. Last year when we were out to see the kids for Thanksgiving it was nice out as well.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin.

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL – Fall is upon us as the leaves turn colour and the air begins to crisp. Although this week our temperatures are anything but normal as they are into the mid 20’s.

There is something warm and inviting about fall.

A time to take a breath after the excitement of summer.

Preparing for the next season.

Who shall remain nameless.

In the meantime, we have:

FALL

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Kadri Vu00f5sumu00e4e on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Soon the leaves will be an array of colour.

I cannot wait.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin