The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Dark outside as I write this post. How are you feeling this morning? I am doing okay. Yesterday as four of us were leaving the office, I took a tumble. Our front door has a cement slight rise pad to the door with a few inch drop off to the side, I had turned around for some reason and forgot about the drop off and went down. I had on my new spring lilac coloured jacket and lilac colour pants. To my surprise I did not rip or stain or anything to my clothing. I landed part way on the sidewalk and partway in the snow which had not melted and broke my fall. I am a bit stiff and sore this morning but otherwise only my pride. Distracted. When I am walking as I am used to with Alvin, I usually always look down but this time I was distracted by the girls and not paying attention. My laptop went flying and I had my purse with its’ cross body strap on me. The girls reacted very quickly, and assessed the situation to ensure that I was okay. They would not let me get up too fast and then helped me up. One of the girls made note that there should have been a guard rail there and we need to fill out an incident report in the morning. She said it takes 24 hours for the initial shock to wear off. I am okay, just stiff and a bit sore. Thank goodness. Be careful.

I did not go for a long walk last night but carefully walked to some friends and neighbours to drop off Thank You Cards and Memory Cards. Supper was cooking in the oven so I made sure that I did not stay too long and was close to home. Also mailed some cards, as well.

Last night was a quiet one. I took a muscle relaxant last night as a preventive measure and I believe that it helped. I might take another one now just to keep my muscles relaxed so that they can heal. Life in the fast lane. My right hand is also a bit sore. In the days of writing it would not be an issue as I am left-handed but with typing on keyboards it could be.

Weather forecast for today is +7 degrees. YAY.

The gal that I carpool with and also work with, texted me last night to check on me and to see if I needed to go to the Doctor. She is such a good friend and person.

Okay time to head downstairs. Have a wonderful day. Happy Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

Last Half 2022 – December

Good Morning All! How are you this Wednesday morning? I am grateful to be working from home today. We had a small amount of snow last night, actually I think before I went to bed. So the once cleared sidewalk now has a light sheet not even a blanket covering.

Last night right after I arrived home from work, I set my backpack and work things inside the house, locked the house and then carried on for a walk. It was so nice last night that I thought it would be a great idea to get out for some fresh air and exercise. On the way home, I stopped by the mailbox and picked up the mail. Inside were some Christmas cards from family and friends. I was doing an internal happy dance as I love to receive Christmas cards in the mail. I love to receive them period but most especially in the mail. Once inside the house, I took off my boots, set down the mail and carried on to the garage where I brought in the garbage bin as yesterday was trash pickup. Back in the house, I had a few things to do before supper so got them out of the way. Then supper (leftovers from Saturday’s Christmas party) went into the oven to warm. Once supper was done, I sat down on the sofa and munched away at my delicious supper. Missing my boy thought, it is way too quiet in the house and I have no one to snuggle with and not having him to go to bed with or to wake up to, seems very odd. My daughter sends pictures and videos often and he is definitely thriving in his new temporary surroundings. I think he is loving having two friends (Aspen and Milo) with him all the time and of course, his sister and brother-in-law. No stairs. New toys. Someone home all of the time. Good setup. One more week from Saturday and he will be back home. It was a good idea as I believe that we both needed a break but I will be SO EXCITED to have him home.

After supper, I did the dishes and turned on the dishwasher to wash the load that had been accumulating over the past couple of days. Then I just relaxed and watched some t.v. Quiet evening.

Countdown to Christmas: 10 days until Christmas Eve (and Alvin comes home with Aspen and Milo while the kids go to St. Albert for Steven’s family’s Christmas.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. have a wonderful Wednesday ……..

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are well. We slept through till 3:00 a.m. and then at 5:00 a.m. from the sofa, I heard this low noise and jumped up as I realized it was the alarm clock on my phone. When I get to the office I turn the sound for notification and such, all the way down so that I do not disturb anyone should the phone “ring.” I must ask my daughter if there is any other way to do this function. Remember I am not the most tech savvy person on the planet. Not even remotely close! Anyway, I reset the alarm to 5:15 for an extra few minutes and then we were up. Mr. Alvin had his breakfast and then we went outside. Once back into the house, made our bed, brushed my teeth and then hit the shower. That felt good. I stopped showering everyday a while ago as I found that my skin got dry and who likes dry skin. When we were outside around 5:25, I noticed that the stars seemed to be more bright and noticeable than usual. I wonder if there are more satellites in the sky now? Perhaps not even stars but man made objects taking up space above us. The moon did not appear to be anywhere in sight? I scanned the sky with my eagle eyes (lol) – with my glasses on. I did attempt to take a photo with my phone but all I got was black. We are having a great morning thus far.

Yesterday when I arrived home from work, I unlocked the door and called out to Mr. Alvin. He did not come and I called him several times. I thought that I saw him standing at the window but wasn’t sure. My heart sank to my toes for a brief moment or three. Kicking off my shoes, I walked into the living room and over to the chairs by the window and there he was standing looking out the window. I thought he would have saw me or maybe I made it to the door as he was going to the window, not sure. Anyway, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw him standing up and breathing. My mind went to a place that I was scared to even think about at this time. Anyway, all is well. Perhaps the boy’s hearing is going. I noticed that when he was in my bathroom this morning waiting for me to get ready. He was laying on one of the small rugs and when I spoke to him, he did not move. When I lightly touched him he jumped. I walked around him so that he could see me from the front and he did not immediately jump up. Today I am noticing his age. My poor boy. The joys of getting older! We had a good night. I took him outside right away for a pee and then fed him his supper before we head out for a walk. OMG, it was so beautiful outside last night after work. I am getting home by 4:30 which is early. When I carpooled before, it was usually 5:00 or later. Definitely helps catching a ride with someone you directly work with that is for sure. I am grateful that at least at night I am only losing 1/2 hour of personal time. The morning well that is a different story and time away from Alvin a total other story. Yesterday my neighbour Sonja popped by a couple of times to check on him, make sure he goes outside, has something to eat and to drink and then she has snuggle time. I appreciate that. We are like family and she feels like a daughter to me. We both love her very much. She is a kind-hearted lovely human being. I am so grateful that I am surrounded by good people. Very grateful.

Tonight after work, my daughter is picking me up from work. We are going to get some keys cut as I want to ensure that everyone looking after Alvin has a key so that I don’t have to play “chase the key” when the schedule changes. Amanda is sleeping over and I am so excited. Last night I made a huge apple crisp with some of the apples from my friend Pauline. I had to try some even though it was late to eat at 8:07 p.m. Turned out pretty good, I must say.

Well time to head on downstairs so that I can take Mr. Alvin outside again. He will need to poop (yes, I am talking about that subject again, lol) again before I leave for work. Remember p-o-o-p is important to keep track of – it can tell you so much about your health.

I hope that you have a great Friday. Another sunny warm fall day on the way. I am so happy.

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

Thank goodness coffee is free at work especially with the soaring prices.

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: thank you for this day and I am grateful it is almost the weekend.

Second Half of the NEW YEAR – last quarter.

Good Morning All. How are you on this beautiful Thursday? I can only imagine the day as we are still in darkness as the sun does not rise until later and if there are clouds it may be dark longer. Oh well, that is winter in the province of Alberta, Canada. What can you do? Alvin is chatting about something so it would look like my story shall be cut short.

Yesterday I was on the phone with one of my clients. We were disconnected and then another call came in and I happened to notice that the ringtone was different and looked to see that it was my friend Iris, Alvin’s best friend Teddy’s Mom. So I picked up and she was wondering if she could stop by in about 1/2 hour, I said sure as I could take my lunch break then. She had called earlier on the house phone but I was working and did not answer. So I worked away until the doorbell rang. There was my friend with her hands full of something. She had been out shopping for something unrelated and happened across a great sale on sweaters and winter coats for dogs. I had mentioned to her at one point that Alvin much needed a new winter coat as his really did not fit him and that I would love to have a sweater for him for those less than frigid days. So she was out and found some. She bought matching winter coats for her pups and tried to get same for Alvin but could only get a warm cream tone with brown latches up the back. Anyway they are the cadillac of winter coats for dogs. So beautiful. Alvin’s completely covers him and even has a nice warm hood lined with fake fur of course. We tried on both the sweater which is a mix of red, black, grey and white and the winter coat but Alvin was not really keen on either of them. They fit and I was/am one happy Momma. Alvin is not so good with new things unless it is FOOD and then he is all over it. We visited for a few minutes. I could not believe the deal that she got, more than 50% off. Basically two coats for the price of one. How wonderful. The Universe was truly listening when I made that remark. Thank you Universe and Iris. I will pay her of course for the sweater and jacket and am happy to do so.

We were supposed to have Teddy and Kobie for today, tomorrow and Saturday but something came up so they will not be coming over. That makes us sad even though I did not tell Alvin or he would be looking out the window for them.

One more quick story to finish off the new sweater and coat story. As we did not get out for a walk at noon as we had company, I thought that we would go for a walk after work and try out Alvin’s new sweater. Not cold enough for the cadillac of winter coats just yet. So with due care and attention I slipped the sweater onto Alvin. He was not really happy about the whole process. In fact, he stood in the middle of the kitchen floor not moving at all except for the quivering/shivering that he was doing. I tried to coax him to come but to no avail. So I picked him up and carried him to the door and set him down so that I could finish getting dressed for our walk. He just stood there. When I opened the door, I had to gingerly move him out the door. I locked the house and he stood on the top part of the porch. Just stood there. Not moving at all. I tried my best to convince him to come down but he would not. So after a few minutes I decided to go into the house and perhaps try to get him to walk around the deck before trying to go on our walk. Into the house. He did not walk very fast and in fact, I had to guide him and pull slightly on the leash (he wears a body harness) to get him to move toward the back door. After we got outside, I slowly walked about and finally he walked in his new sweater. I could tell that he was not very happy about the whole experience. After a few minutes we headed back outside. I managed to get him down the steps and outside. He walked very slowly. The wind was howling and it was cold so after a miserable few minutes for the boy we turned and headed home. My poor Alvin not so good with change or something new.

Last night I thought that it was cute that he walked up to where I had laid his new winter outerwear on top of a square container and started to sniff it. Perhaps I should have thought of that.

Well time to head downstairs. I think you get the drift of what happened. Oh me Alvin.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day. Take care and Be safe. Walk through your days spreading love, kindness and respect for all.

I/We shall remain, As Always, Carol & Alvin

Soon I hope to share some photos. Technical difficulties.

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 4th day of January, 2018.

Our weather for the New Year has been wonderful.

So grateful for these warmer temperatures.

Alvin and I went for our walk after work last night.

We were not quite at the half way point and he started to turn around for home, I coaxed him once again to keep going.

We only made the half way point and there was no changing his mind.

He made a run for home and I had no choice but to “run.”

If you called that running.

He was pulling and running (thankfully he wears a torso harness and not around the neck) for home.

I was so grateful that it was not icy.

Or it could have been a real show.

At some point I was able to get him to slow down.

What a guy!

He does not seem to be in pain or anything but when he wants to go home, he wants to go.

Maybe he can sense something.

Maybe he does not like the dark.

Thank goodness each night stays light a bit longer.

Anyway made for an interesting walk.

Oh, my boy.

What a character.

When we arrived home and removed “our” outerwear – he ran like a crazy guy from one end of the house to the other.

He keeps me entertained.

 

Well here we go once again, time to leave for work.

Special Hello to: all my fellow bloggers.

Always, Carol & Alvin