Second Half of the NEW YEAR – last quarter.

Good Monday Morning All. Well this morning I head to the office. My daughter is picking me up as she has to work at her office downtown, as well. I absolutely refuse to take public transportation at this time. With the new active COVID19 cases in Edmonton and in Alberta, on the rise, the less people that I am around the safer I will be. At the end of the day who wants to be one of the statistics if they have a choice. No one really wants to be sick. I would like to remain in good health. Everyday I choose those thoughts, I am in good health, Alvin is in good health and all our family and friends. Trying to stay safe and healthy should be our number one priority these days. These are my thoughts on the subject for better or worse. It will be nice to see some of the folks that I work with ….. only a handful of staff are in our office everyday. Thank goodness for our support services staff who go to the office each and everyday of the week. I am so grateful that I am able to work from home. Full of gratitude.

Yesterday I had coffee with the girls in the morning. We had a blast. Chatting about world events (ie U.S. Election, oh my goodness), stats about COVID19, Christmas, baking, shopping for Christmas status, mail deliveries, Amazon, and so much more. In between the very serious chatter we did have some smiles and laughs. Not as much as we usual but that is okay. I am grateful that I am able to spend time with these two ladies. I am full of gratitude to have them in my life. They are the epitome of friendship, love and support. Truly I would not be able to keep any level of sanity if it were not for my friends. I have the best ones, some of which live next door and down the street and others live abroad and others a province or two away. Also my best friend on the planet is my daughter, she is the greatest. When you are surrounded by all this love and support how can you be anything but joyful and successful. It takes a village, they say and it takes a village to keep me where I am. To the UNIVERSE, thank you for bringing each and every ONE of these dear, loving, compassionate, supportive, kind souls in my direction. Then there is Mr. Alvin….. there are no words. Not only did I have coffee with the girls, Alvin and I bumped into Pauline and her grandpup Georgie on their last leg of their walk, so we continued with them, walking and chatting. I feel so blessed. The weather another blessing ….. so beautiful.

I had told myself that I was going to cut my hair. Even mentioned it to the girls. So when I do this …. there is no turning back. I have cut my hair dozens of times over the years but this time I was a tad bit nervous. For no real reason. So I watched several videos which made me more nervous until I saw this girl with different shades of blue hair. She had multiple piercings and was very young (well everyone is young compared to me at 63). Anyway she parted her hair at the back and placed the hair in two ponytails to the side with elastics. She pulled out “electric clippers,” the kind that I use to cut Mr. Alvin’s hair. Immediately I thought, I can do this and that I did. My hair turned out so GREAT. I love it. Once I sort the tea order tonight, I will call my friend “G” and she will come for her tea and I will ask her to give me a quick lookover. Unless it is bad (which to my eyes looks pretty good but my eyes are old and frankly everything looks good to me, these days, lol), I will leave it alone, if she needs to trim a tad, well that is okay with me.

So off to get this Monday underway. Poor Mr. Alvin, on these days, which has only been twice now since March, I feel badly to leave him home for so long. I have asked Humphrey’s Mom Sonja to come about noon and let him out for a pee and give him one of his cookies. Sometimes he won’t go outside for anyone but me. I hope that he goes out as I know he will have to pee. Mind you perhaps he won’t drink as much water when I am not at home. Fingers crossed.

Wishing you a great Monday. Keep spreading that kindness with love and respect. The world needs it now more than ever. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my words, my thoughts ….. I appreciate you. Hopefully I brought a smile to your face or even a bout of laughter. That would be so great. Happy Monday Everyone, Happy Monday.

Yes, I have multiple masks with me…… one for the car ride, one for work, one for after work and one for Shoppers – Post Office…….

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. I think that I am going to use the electric clippers from now on.

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 21st day of March, 2019.

Well we are officially on day two of SPRING.

Yesterday was gorgeous.

When Alvin and I were out for our walk with our friend; I actually was too warm with a sweater on top of a tank top.

How is that for the 20th day day of March 2019?

I say FANTASTIC.

We are so grateful for this change in the weather.

Long time coming.

Don’t get me wrong I do like, okay love winter but even too much of a good thing; can be too much.

Alvin was so muddy by the time we got home.

Took a while to get him cleaned up but we did.

I am so grateful that the sidewalk in front of my house is slowly starting to resemble something one can walk upon.

It has been brutal the past week or so.

To think that it was clean except for a bit of snow, well that is just crazy.

There is a rim of ICE about four inches thick that is on the bottom of the snowbank that covers the lawn.

I have never seen such a thing on our lawn until now.

That is going to take some time to melt for sure.

Okay perhaps enough about snow and ice.

I am very happy as is Mr. Alvin that it is SPRING.

 

After we got home from our walk and I got Alvin cleaned up; I walked over to pick up Humphrey.

Was I ever surprised when I unlocked the door to see the patio door open and his Momma and him out on the deck.

We startled each other.

She decided to work from home last night.

Humphrey joined us so that his Momma could get her work done.

We had a great night.

 

A quick Alvin story.

One of my colleagues from the office recently lost her dog.

She asked me if I would like all of his dishes, toys and stuff.

I will clean it all, she said.

I told her with gratitude that “Alvin” would love to have his things.

For some reason, I fail to remember his name.

Anyway she brought these two huge bags to work yesterday and I brought them home.

Well Mr. Alvin thought it was Christmas …… he found a duck and was so excited, a new toy.

He grabbed that duck and threw it up into the air.

Grabbed it again and ran with it.

He went to the back door wanting to take it outside.

I said “Alvin, your duck has to stay in the house.”

He dropped the duck and went outside.

In the bags there was a sleeping blanket for pups, a hand-made quilt from pup’s Grandma, two sets of dishes with stands, toys, a big stuffed dog pillow, two stainless steel water dishes, did I say toys!

We, Alvin hit the mother load.

There were two jackets which are so cute but they are not the “proper cut” for Mr. Alvin (it has been a long winter)!!

Alvin is so lucky.

We can share some of the items.

I wrote up a nice “thank you” card for my colleague to show our appreciation.

 

Well appears that it is almost time to leave for work, yet again.

My the time zips along quickly.

Alvin is resting on his blue blanket beside me.

He loves that blanket.

He actually has three blue blanket.

There is the one that came with him from his Foster Parents and then two light blue blankets that I bought from my neighbour at a “garage sale.”

He has so many blankets now.

So lucky.

 

Have a wonderful Thursday.

Hoping for  a quiet day at the office.

Special Hello to: you and you and you and you…….take care …… Happy Thursday.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 1st day of May, 2015.

Well I was off to a great start this morning.

As I was writing the first line in my gratitude journal about 5:00 a.m. …..

I wrote “I cannot believe that today is the first day of Easter”

I looked at the words and then started to giggle.

Really, no idea where that came from but it was funny.

What a great way to start a Friday.

Laughing.

Laughing at oneself, no less.

I know that today is going to be great.

Alvin likely thought his Momma had lost her senses.

On top of being the first day of May and one month closer to summer ….. I noticed that it was starting to get light out at 5:30 instead of 6:00 a.m.

Note to self: remember to flip all of my “paper” calendars to May.

They are forecasting some rain and that would be so nice.

Oh, I must share a few of the most wonderful things that happened to me on my first day back to work from being sick:

– a co-worker had written me a hand-made thank you card in appreciation of “me” and two home baked cookies

-another co-worker had returned all of my phone calls from the past couple of days

-others showed appreciation by making sure that I was okay

-others took on a few tasks to help me out

-my daughter picked up a jean jacket from a swap that they are having at her work (she is always thinking of her Momma)

-after work while waiting for the bus I noticed a gal that usually catches the bus with me and who lives in the same neighbourhood …. she waited for a couple of lights to come over and ask me if I wanted a ride home.  She had driven to work.  So thoughtful considering she had to walk the total opposite way to her car.

WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY ….. it was so wonderful.

It is the little things that make a person glad to be alive.

I wish you only grand “little things” today to make you feel as great as I did yesterday.

Have a great Friday.

Gotta go.

Time to catch the bus and of course, snuggle for a couple of minutes with me Alvin.

Special Hello to: my sister ….

Always, Carol and Alvin