Last Half 2022 – December

Good Morning ALL! It has been a strange almost 24 hours. Yesterday morning I awoke with Alvin next to me and my daughter sleeping in the spare bedroom. This morning I awake to myself. Just me. It has been years since I have been alone in the house. Feels odd, strange and lonely. Yesterday at the stroke of NOON, Alvin left with my daughter for three weeks or so and will be home on Christmas EVE. Yesterday it was hard to see him go and I did shed some tears for my boy and then I got busy. I have lots to do and that was part of the point to get some things done and to have some downtime. Packing him up to go was akin to packing up a child to go away. There was his favourite blanket, I sent a bed for the car and in case he wanted his although Amanda said they have more beds than pups at home. I packed his food for three weeks which seemed like a lot but not really, his meds, his dishes, his toothbrush, toothpaste, ear cleaner and toys. Oh, his sweater, harness and leash. Although he did wear his harness in the car and was strapped in safely in the back seat while sitting on his favourite blanket and his bed so he was comfy although I am not sure he thought so. I think that I forgot something, oh and the pumpkin. There was food and pumpkin that was open in dishes in the fridge that was packed and went. They made it to Alberta Beach and Amanda reported that he is doing great. He did pant on the drive out but did not drool which is a step up for him. For the guy that seldom sets a paw into the motor vehicle. I am both pleased and very relieved. I wonder how last night went. I went to bed at 9:30 and read for a few minutes before lights out but did not fall asleep for a long time. How long I do not know as I did not get up to check the time. I woke up a couple of times during the night to go to the bathroom. I was laying thing trying to convince myself that I should get up and when I checked the clock it was 6:30 so I stayed in bed until just after 7:30. Yes, I should have likely got my butt out of bed but just to lay there with no one wanting me to move and do anything was great. I have all day to get things done.

Just after Amanda and Alvin left yesterday, I went to put something in the hall closet likely my jacket and before I knew it, I was cleaning it out. It was done at the end of fall but needed it again. Reorganized and cleaned the floor and proudly displayed my new winter boots. Following that I sat down and did some things on my phone before starting to bake.

Yesterday I made four batches of fudge which I am not sure how many pieces that will make, I am going out on a limb and guess around 100 pieces and then I baked 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies. I had supper in between the 5 dozen cookies mark.

I think it was about 7:30 or so when I finished cleaning up. So I enjoyed some Christmas movies while snuggling under our favourite red blanket.

Today’s schedule or agenda is SUGAR COOKIES. I am thinking about four batches but will see how many individual cookies I make. Each cookie will need to be iced and then there is laundry. I have already changed bedding, towels, gathered laundry and reorganized my bedroom clothes closet. Just will finish this post and do some online banking before heading downstairs where I will make some coffee and make the first batch of sugar cookies so they can be chilling while I start laundry. Whew.

I am glad that I booked tomorrow off as a vacation day. Tomorrow afternoon is also the funeral of our neighbour’s son. The service will be streamed so I will be able to attend via online. I also have to run and pick up toothpaste and movoflex for Alvin as Amanda will stop by on Wednesday after work to pick up. Going to be a busy week.

Have a wonderful day.

I just received a text from Amanda. Mr. Alvin was up at 4:30 to pee and then back to sleep until a bit ago and has just finished breakfast (8:20 a.m.). WOW. All is well.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin (even though he is not here at the moment, he is always with me in my mind, heart and soul.)

December 29, 2020 – close to a New YEAR.

Good Morning ALL. The sun is shining and I can imagine birds singing. The sky is clear. I can see a bird flying in the distance. Well here we are Tuesday, December 29, 2020. How are you doing this morning? I am doing well. I must admit that even though we were up at 4:10 a.m. we hit the sofa after that until quite late. Something in me, just wanted to lay there, I did really sleep in until after 9:00 a.m. but rather I laid there looking at our Christmas Tree. I had made the decision last night to take down the tree today. There is something about the stillness of the morning and the unlit Christmas Tree that is so wonderful. A vision to behold. So many of my ornaments can tell a story. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and look. Just one of those lazy, pondering kind of mornings. Then I am “mad” at myself for not getting up and getting things done earlier. I cannot please myself. LOL.

Yesterday I went and picked out frames. It was definitely different from the past when I would go and have my eyes checked and then pick out my frames and then be on my way. This time I had the eye exam on December 11, 2020 and then on December 28, 2020 went back to pick out frames. There was lots of hand sanitizer involved, social distancing and mask wearing happening. I pointed to several pairs of frames and “Kelsea” grabbed them and once I had a tray full we went back and sat down. She gave me a mirror and I tried each one on. She advised to have two piles, one that I liked and the other that I did not like, so that is what we did. It was easy at first once I tried the frames on. The front of the office is all windows so it was very bright. The brightness really made me look pale even though I had put on my makeup. I narrowed it down to a few and then snapped photos to send to my daughter who was “waiting” to see my choices and to help me make the decision. In the end, it was down to two and we both liked one pair more than the other and Kelsea thought the same. It is nice to have photos of your choices as it used to be you picked out frame and then waited until they came in before you really remembered what they looked like. Technology is a good thing for sure. I will say that after looking at them later although I am happy with my choice there are three that I really did like. Oh well. I chose the ones that reminded me of a pair of glasses that Kelly Ripa wore on Live with Kelly & Ryan. Anyway it is done. They are paid for and I just have to wait for them to arrive. Kelsea said it would take about three weeks at the latest. Everything is taking just a bit longer than preCovid. I am happy that I was able to get this done before the end of the year.

Well it is now 10:00 a.m. – can you believe it. I guess we should be going to bed at our usual time, I forgot to say that we were up later last night watching of all things ….. Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. There are so many that I did not see or did not watch in its’ entirety. Oh well, I guess this is a week off and time to just do what I can do or not. Just turned my head to see the sun shining so brightly that the snow on the garage roof appears to be a massive lot of diamonds. So beautiful.

Yesterday morning on Live with Kelly & Ryan …… the Story of the Day was about this family from Calgary, Alberta. The Williams Family who make reindeer lawn / outside ornaments and then give the money to homeless shelters. The City of Calgary is just south about 2.5 hours of where I live in the City of Edmonton, Alberta. So excited to see Canadians making “the news” for good work.

I hope that you are doing well on this Tuesday. Mr. Alvin is ready to go back downstairs. I will get some photos uploaded to WordPress for tomorrow. Or is it downloaded?

Enjoy this Tuesday, December 29, 2020. Be well. Be safe. We shall all continue to live with kindness, respect and compassion.

I am grateful this day to have some time off from work with pay. I am grateful to live in a beautiful country. I am grateful to live with my best buddy Alvin. I am grateful for good food, good friends and family. Life is good. May 2021 be even better. I am grateful that so many folks are reading my posts. I am overjoyed.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time.

Good Morning and it is the first day of time change for Alberta.

We turned the clocks back by one hour this morning.

Nice too have it bright at an earlier hour for sure.

Happy November.

 

Well time to share yesterday.

As I realized Friday evening when my daughter I erected the Christmas tree and turned on the lights that they would have to be replaced.

Last year I had “YouTube” to see what suggestions others had regarding this subject.

There was really nothing that I had not thought of so I grabbed my trusty tin/metal snips in the morning and set to work.

In between was working on the laundry.

I had checked the weather to see what the day would bring and there was rain in the afternoon forecast so I set the timer for one hour and at noon,

we headed out for a walk.

It was actually quite nice.

Upon arriving back at home I checked on the laundry once again before setting back to snipping the lights from the tree.

I worked on the lights for a total of over 7 hours between morning and afternoon.

You never really appreciate how much “lights” there are on a prelit Christmas tree but there are a great many.

It was a painstaking process.

Snipping the little holders and in some cases the electrical cords.

Yes, they were unplugged.

My hands were cut and my arms scratched.

I wore a sweater but then got hot so off and on.

I had to stand on the ladder to do the top and found my ankles and feet sore after a time.

My back was throbbing at the end of it all.

I am most grateful that it is done.

Poor Alvin was whining throughout the time.

He was verbalizing how I felt.

Once done, I stopped to have supper and of course before I ate, Mr. Alvin had his supper.

After supper and cleaning up, I spent a couple of hours putting on a couple of strings of lights and the decorations.

Once sitting back and relaxing having a cup of tea, I realized something was missing from the tree.

My box of ANGELS and berries and such.

I was too pooped to go and find the container.

Located it this morning and will finish that later today.

In about one hour I am going to have coffee with the young ones.

My young friends.

So enjoy catching up with them.

Well that was my weekend.

It was a test of patience which I failed miserably.

As Mr. Alvin can attest to ….

Well failed miserably is likely a tad to strong as I did have time where I just settled into the work listening to Christmas movies.

Life.

I am happy that my tree is up and mostly decorated.

Looks pretty good.

 

Sometimes it is the little things that can test your patience.

Yup, the little things.

Time to get this show on the road.

I have laundry to put away.

Then time to get out of pj’s and go out for coffee.

Am looking forward to the break.

 

Have an awesome Sunday.

Sending you much kindness and respect for your day.

 

Always, Carol & Al

I

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday, the 21st day of July, 2017.

This is what happened last night.

The skies got so dark just after 8:00 p.m. and luckily we had made it from our walk with a few minutes to spare.

I knew something was coming.

Well when I was thinking about watching one of my Christmas movies this weekend, perhaps I was not far off the mark.

Part of the deck looked like it had snowed as the hail stones huddled together creating quite the sight.

Like diamonds …. in the sky or on my deck, actually.

I am by no means a photographer and I only have a small Canon PowerShot so some of the photos are out of focus due to the flash and lightning and what not.

But I think they turned out quite cool.

It was hailing on the deck which is on the south side of the house and when I ran to the front which faces north there was no hail and the water was flowing like it was a small river.

I am so grateful for the drainage in my yard as it quickly runs down the middle of the front lawn between my house and the neighbours out to the street and down the storm drain.

It truly looked like a small river running to the street.

There was quite the lightning show and a bit of thunder but not too much.

My poor lilies out front took the brunt of the wind and heavy rain while the flowers in the backyard were pelted by hail stones.

I hope that they survive as I want to show them off to my company in August.

Well Happy Friday.

We are so lucky at my office as we are having a pancake breakfast at 7:30 – 9:00 and then we get to go to the parade for K-Days (Exhibition-Fair) or go home.

I am helping serve the breakfast so will be leaving home extra early to be there before or by 7:30 p.m.

I love pancakes …… which reminds me that would be a good thing to make my company for breakfast a day or two while they are visiting.

Special Hello to: my Sister and my Brother who are coming to visit us, soon.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 23rd day of October, 2015.

YAY, today is Friday ….

The weather has been great this week and we have enjoyed our evening walks (me and Alvin).

Slowly but surely the last of the leaves have made their way to the ground.

Some still covering the ground making a multi-coloured blanket.

Others raked up right away.

Kind of sad but not the turn of the seasons.

I am so excited for the next week ….. both of my favourite times to decorate the house.

Halloween and Christmas.

Christmas you might say!

NOW …

Well next Sunday the 1st of November is the day that I take down the Halloween stuff and put up my CHRISTMAS TREE.

Hands down one of my favourite days of the years.

Since I moved to Edmonton, it has been a Mother and Daughter time sharing a mug of hot chocolate with one of our favourite Christmas movies playing in the background, as we haul up the decorations and the tree from the basement and begin the holiday preparations.

I love the lights and looking at all of my ornaments, some new others I have had for many years.  All have meaning and all are treasured.

The decorating of the tree marks the beginning of preparing the house for the season.  Usually it takes a couple or three days to get all of my inside the house decorations and ornaments up.

I take down virtually every ornament from inside the house and pack them in the Christmas containers.

This way the house does not have that “cluttered” feeling.

This takes more than an afternoon/evening.

Also my neighbour and I decorate our halves of the duplex with the same decorations and usually we do that in early November while the weather is still relatively warm.

One week from Sunday …… so excited.

Well before that excitement begins I have a weekend and a week of work.

I hope that you have an awesome Friday.

Almost time to fly once again.

Special Hello to: all those folks out there who put their tree up early to enjoy …..

Always, Carol and Alvin