Good Morning ALL! Happy Wednesday. I am so excited.
Countdown to Christmas: THREE sleeps until Christmas Eve. THREE sleeps until my Alvin comes home. THREE sleeps until my family are here for Christmas. So excited.
Christmas photos from current over the years since I moved to Edmonton. Random shots.
Christmas presentsWrapping xmas 2020Close up of our treeand moreChristmas at my housePosting this just because “ALVIN” is so cute here….
I am word poor this morning so I shall leave you with the photos.
This Christmas, may your day be Merry & Bright and may this Christmas be wonderful. I was going to say “be white” but if you are living in most areas in Canada, there is no chance of this not be true. I cannot speak for the rest of the world. I just hope that everyone has a good, no a great Christmas this year.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this cold Monday morning? I am doing well. Up and dressed and all of that. Today is an office today. Although I am not looking forward to going outside and would rather be tucked under the warm blankets still in bed, it is okay. I am always grateful for the days that I work from home. With a 5 second commute from upstairs to downstairs, more in bed under the covers keeping toasty warm time, lunch break in my own home, drinking my own perked coffee, after work turn off the computer at the end of my work day and I am home. More time at home doing the things I love especially in the evenings. The work/life balance is perfection. We spend so much time over our lifetimes working and away from home. I get it, I understand, we need to work to earn a living to live our lives. Money does not grow on trees, well it kind of does, or at least paper comes from trees although perhaps our money is not made totally from paper anymore. Anyway you get the picture. So I am grateful, grateful that when Mr. Alvin comes home, I will be home. Thankfully I am on Christmas break until January 3, 2023. Perhaps the New Year will have me working from home more, I love being at home. Home is my happy place with the lime green painted office walls to the plants in the kitchen window, I love my house, my home.
Countdown to Christmas: today is Monday, December 19th, 2022 and that brings us to “5” more sleeps till Christmas Eve. 5 more sleeps until I have my family under the same roof for a time. 5 more sleeps until Alvin comes home. 5 more sleeps until we open our gifts. 5 more sleeps until we continue to eat lots more goodies. 5 more sleeps!
Oh, we are almost at the shortest day of the year which is Wednesday, December 21st. We will go to work and come home in darkness. Then the days will start to get longer once again. I hope that the sun will start to shine more. We all need that brightness to fill our daytime.
Well it looks like I have to finish this post and head downstairs to finish getting ready for work. Throw my snack/breakfast/lunch into my backpack.
I hope that you have a wonderful day. Yesterday was a nice day. I did a bit of work and I almost forgot that I had a little furry visitor. Cookie’s Dad reached out to see if she could stay with me while they went to a movie as they were celebrating their son’s birthday. Of course, I said “absolutely.” Miss Cookie came to stay with me. She was looking for Alvin and for her family as she kept jumping up on the chair and looking out of the window. We had some play time, she ate a bit of Alvin’s food and we just hung out. Cookie is an energetic little dog. Her Mom picked her up about 8:15 and we had a little visit. My friend has been working at her new job a lot as of late. An unexpected delight! I had a great Sunday. Bit of work, company and some downtime. Perfection!
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
Always, Carol & Alvin
P.S. Definitely need coffee at the office this morning. Something HOT.
Good Morning ALL! How are you on this Thursday? I am well. Receiving great report about my boy. Missing him but glad he is doing well. Still dark as night outside. We are nearing the shortest day of the year.
Are you ready for Christmas? Do you bake? Do you entertain? Do you wrap gifts in paper, bags or something else? What special dishes do you make during the holidays? Are you having a big crowd for Christmas? Do you put up an artificial tree or a real tree?
I am ready for Christmas. Shopping done and most wrapping done except for a few items that have yet to be delivered, Christmas cards mailed and still have a few to hand deliver and that will be on Sunday, house and tree are decorated (I keep fussing with the tree, looking for perfection, lol. Yes, I bake every year. This year I made Sugar Cookies and iced them, Chocolate Fudge and Chocolate Chip Cookies. I will make some Mincemeat Tarts for Christmas, as well. Yes, a bit although this year I am hosting more (which is lovely). My daughter, son-in-law and pups mostly come here for Christmas although I have gone to their home a few times over the year. Sometimes good for a change. I wrap gifts in paper, bags and sometimes use brown paper, Christmas towels, and sometimes put a gift within a gift. I started making this Hot Cheese Dip for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as an appetizer. I like to make some different twists on the traditional Christmas Dinner meal. Like chicken instead of turkey and one year we had tofurkey. Homemade cranberries instead of out of a can. Garlic whipped potatoes instead of just whipped potatoes. This year we are having Chinese Food instead of the usual. My friend Lucy gave me some Chinese Dumplings that she made so I froze them to have at Christmas. Christmas is usually me, Amanda, Steven and the pups, Alvin, Aspen and MiMi. This year we may have a couple of friends. We also leave an open invitation to anyone who does not have a place to go to for Christmas. The thought of someone alone makes me sad. I am having what I call a big crowd this weekend for a Christmas party, the second weekend in a row for parties. YAY, me. I have been putting up an artificial tree as I had a tree lose all of its’ needles. But I used to put up real trees. I love the smell of a real tree.
So there are my answers to my questions. I hope that you have fun thinking about your answers.
Countdown to Christmas: OMG only “9” sleeps until Christmas Eve.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
Good Morning ALL! How are you on this Tuesday morning? I am doing well. Perhaps a bit tired as I seemed to toss and turn a bit last night. Went to bed a bit later than usual which seems to be a trend as of late. My friends Pauline and Lucy came over for a visit. Pauline brought some of her Christmas baking treats and Lucy made some Chinese Dumplings. I asked if I could freeze everything and they said yes. I thought Lucy’s Chinese Dumplings would fit into our Christmas Menu perfectly. YAY. We drank teas and they tasted some of my Christmas baking. Laughed, oh how we laughed. So much fun, these two wonderful friends. We exchanged gifts as well. Quite unplanned. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends. My friend Lucy is Chinese and last night we were talking about language as she learns something about the English language everyday. We decided that we will help each other. She is going to teach us some Chinese. I cannot wait. Always loved the Chinese language(s) and culture. Will be so much fun. Lucy says when she does go home she finds that her “mouth always hurts” and that is the different way we use our mouth in conversation. We are practicing to say her name properly as her name was changed when she came to Canada to make it easier for everyone. I cannot imagine having to change my name. We had a great visit. Thank you ladies.
Looks like another cold day ahead. Not much good for walking. I believe after today, it will warm for a few days before we head into another deep freeze. Hopefully by Christmas the weather is good for people to travel and for everyone to go outside and get some fresh air and walk. That means me.
I am mentally and physically preparing for the office Christmas party at my house this Saturday. By mentally – just wanting to ensure that I do not forget to do anything. Making sure I have enough seating, food and all of that. We will have a great time. Two out of three Christmas “parties” are already out from under the TREE. One more to go and then of course Christmas.
Countdown to Christmas: 11 sleeps till Christmas Eve.
Time to head downstairs. I have to grab something to take for my late coffee break snack as I only eat once before supper. I have leftovers for tonight so that is good. I should likely go and check the mailbox and deliver the last handful of cards tonight.
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
P.S. one of the gifts that I received from Pauline was the card game that we played at the “fish fry.” I cannot wait to play it with the kids. To the office, I go today.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this Wednesday morning? I am doing well. Happy to report that Alvin is settling in well with my daughter and her family. Countdown today is December 7, 2022 with 17 sleeps till Christmas Eve. Have you mailed Christmas cards? Do you mail cards? Contrary to popular belief “people” do love to receive something personalized in the mail other than a bill. Perhaps you have an elderly Aunt and Uncle who live hundreds of miles away. Send them a card and some photos. Nothing says “we are thinking of you” than a lovely card and some pictures. I love receiving cards in the mail. I think that I forgot to mention that I have received three beautiful Christmas cards. One from a friend and her family that live in Quebec, Canada, another from long time friends near Regina, Saskatchewan and the third from other long time friends about two hours outside of Edmonton. I am grateful that they took the time to send cards, letters, notes and photos. So grateful.
This morning is my eye appointment. Appears that it has started to warm up temperature wise overnight which is good because I am walking. Also with the warm up came some snow. My daughter texted me a few minutes ago to let me know that she will not be coming into the city for work this morning but will be working from home. The roads are extremely icy. I am debating whether or not I will need my ice picks on my boots. If the snow is sticky it will provide traction but might be a good idea to wear them all the same. I can always take them off if I do not need them.
Yesterday at my lunch break I slipped over to my neighbours to pick up a couple of baskets for gift wrapping. I had a quick coffee and visit. Then back outside into the cold. It was so cold yesterday. Always great to have a visit and coffee with a friend. Thanks Gillian. After work and supper, I wrapped the gifts in a basket. To be honest it did not quite turn out the way that I had imagine it but rather looks like a large wrapped hard candy. You know the ones, lol. Anyway, it fit nicely under the tree and perhaps the other way it would not. I am officially done. Done. Done. Done. YAY, me and today is December 7, 2022.
Well I suppose it is time to head downstairs. Did I mention yesterday that I figured out why my sleep is not the best? I do miss Alvin but usually we are up and downstairs to the sofa anytime between 3-430 a.m. so we never spend the whole night in the bed. I guess my bed is not quite as comfortable as I once thought. The sofa however is very comfortable. Perhaps I should set the alarm for 430 and then head downstairs to the sofa! Food for thought. Although last night the quality of sleep did improve. All in the life of ……
Time to go and make coffee. Turn on the Christmas tree lights and check out the weather forecast.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee. Thank goodness for coffee.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We, I am doing well. So used to saying “we”……. I will say that I thought that I would sleep better if not getting up at all hours of the night but that has not been the case. Likely will improve in a few days. Report from my daughter that Alvin is doing well and adjusting to the new surroundings. They do not have an upstairs which is great for him. Will give him a reprieve from climbing up and down the stairs. I do miss my partner in crime and all things called “life.”
I do not remember if I reported the countdown to Christmas yesterday or not but today is Monday, December 5th and that leaves “19” sleeps until Christmas Eve.
My hands are cracked from all of the hand washing done over the past couple of days when I was baking. Baking done. 10 dozen or 120 chocolate chip cookies, 155 pieces of fudge and 215 iced sugar cookies for a total of 490 pieces of baking. That should do it. I actually ended up with more than I originally thought. So grateful that it is all done and ready to be packaged and delivered to some families and then rest is for Christmas parties and home.
Last night after the sugar cookies were iced, the fudge was cut into pieces and I had cleaned up my mess, I hauled up the wrapping paper and bags and tissue paper from the basement, brought down from upstairs all of the gifts that I had bought. Including were all of the items from my gift drawers. The things that I purchase extra when on sale – just to ensure that I have something for all of the people on my list. So the table is filled with items awaiting to be reviewed and wrapped if needed. Once I am finished this post, I am going to have a shower, get dressed and head downstairs. I will make some coffee and then start wrapping. I am excited to see Mr. Alvin open his gifts. He does such an amazing job of opening presents and he loves it so much. I have enough time today to do all of my wrapping.
This afternoon at 2:00 p.m. I will be attending the online streaming of my neighbour’s son. Hopefully most of the wrapping will be completed before the funeral. I have a few other things on my TO DO LIST for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is back to work and I am working from home for Tuesday and Wednesday and then to the office for Thursday and Friday. Lots going on this week.
Well time to head to the shower, I need some coffee this morning. Hopefully tonight is a better sleep as I get into a routine without my boy. I miss him but I do believe that it is good for both of us. Amanda said that they are loving having him with them. That does help.
Happy Monday.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
Always, Carol & Alvin (he is with me in spirit and I when I close my eyes I can see him lying on the carpet outside the office door)…..
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.)
Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am more relaxed this morning than yesterday and had a bit more sleep than the previous night. I reached out to one of my friends and to my daughter and both did not reach the same conclusions that I had about the piece of something that I found on my kitchen floor. So I am going with their conclusions and am resting a bit easy.
Another cold morning and it is snowing. I am going to the office today and our neighbour will come and check on Mr. Alvin. Would be nice when the temperatures were cold that we could just stay home. But not the case. Oh well. Snuggling with Alvin is much more appealing than going outside.
Two more days and I start the Christmas baking. Getting prepared and a schedule worked out in my mind. I will start on Friday night and have done early on Monday. The list of items contains Sugar Cookies, Fudge and Chocolate Chip Cookies. I also picked up ready made tart shells and a jar of mincemeat to make some tarts. Not really baking as the work is already done but I am making them for us for Christmas. I may make Raisin Cookies should time allow. But definitely the first three items will be done this weekend. There is also organizing of all my storage containers for the cookies as I will need to freeze them for a bit before handing them out to friends and neighbours. Some are required for different Christmas parties and for Christmas time. I am excited. Will be busy but fun.
Can you believe that tomorrow is December 1st, 2022! Where has the time gone. Soon we shall be in the countdown to Christmas Eve / Day and the New Year. 2023 that is just unbelievable.
Well I suppose I should head back downstairs. I need to go outside and pick up the poop from earlier. Finishing touches on things to take to work. Snuggles with Mr. Alvin. That is the most important thing that I need to do between now and when my ride arrives.
I hope that you have an awesome day. Keep warm and stay safe.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
I am looking forward to coffee this morning. Thinking that I should make my own and take to work.
Good Morning ALL! Happy Friday. Wow, today is November 25, 2022. Happy Birthday to my niece “D”, we wish you a wonderful day. Weather is good today. They are forecasting some rain sometime around the time we are starting work. Yes, we are going to the office today.
I was so happy that Alvin and I were able to get out after work last night for a walk. We had just turned onto the public sidewalk from our house when I thought that I heard my name. Of course, it is almost dark so I had to really look and there behind us catching up fast were our friends Alison & Bailey. B was pulling so hard when she saw us and then started her “squealing” excited sound. They are great friends. Bailey is such a cutie. She is two now, I think. Whenever she sees me she always jumps up and gives me a kiss. What a lovely little pup. We walked to the park and up the street beyond the park before turning around for home. I think that Alvin thought we were going to see Teddy and I did not wish to have him disappointed as they are not home. Alison is now a proud Aunt to two little ones. She caught me up on all of their stories. Emily is two and James was recently born. I love when we see friends on our walks and can have a little visit.
After we got home – I was only able to remove Alvin’s leash before he ran into the house. So I decided when he would not come to me to have his harness and sweater removed that I would just go and pick up the mail and I am so glad that I did. There was a parcel. It was the Christmas Card Photos that I had ordered – I know what I will be doing this weekend. Writing up cards and letters. YAY. So this weekend will be cards and wrapping and the usual laundry and I need to pick up things at the store. A few gifts and a gift card for the Secret Santa gift exchange at work. I know not exactly a brilliant gift but that is what she wants and the other items on the list I am not able to find within my neighbourhood shopping sources. I also have to go to the Bone & Biscuit to pick up gifts for Alvin, Aspen and Milo. The following weekend is baking, the following is our Girls Christmas party and the next is the office Christmas party at my house and then it is Christmas. No time to dilly dally now. Time to put the pedal to the medal as they say. I have things to do but I can get it done, don’t we always?
Hopefully we are able to get another walk in after work tonight. My daughter is picking me up after work to bring me home. We can have a visit before she heads to COSTCO. I want to stay away from there. Always look forward to catching up in person with my girl. I think that I am going to take her, them up on their offer for Alvin to go to Alberta Beach and spend some time with them. They have been asking.
I hope that you will have a great day. Few hours from now we will be chilling on a Friday night! YAY. We did it ….. okay, almost did it.
Shout out this morning to my siblings ….. my sister and brothers. Miss you all and I hope that in 2023 we are able to get together. I did see my youngest brother in 2022 which was great. Time for us all to get together for a siblings weekend.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
Always, Carol & Alvin
PS: when I came into the house last night with the mail and the box, Alvin got so excited. He thought it was from Val with something for him. I am not sure how this Christmas is going to go. He seems to always be thinking anything in a box or wrapped is for him. Time will tell. Fingers crossed.
Good Morning ALL! Well today is Saturday and I am happy about the weekend. We were off to a rough start last night as Mr. Alvin was not happy about something and spent a considerable amount of time whining and going in and outside to the backyard. In the meantime, I had taken the ornaments off the tree, removed the lights and unpackaged and tested the new lights for the tree. It was well after supper (we ate very early and I had the dishes done before 5 p.m.) that our “fun” began. I had taken five of the six strands of new lights and plugged them in end to end, I had miscalculated a step and stepped on one strand of lights which broke one of them. Right away I picked up all of the tiny pieces and threw them into the garbage. Then I unplugged that strand from the line and went to see if I could remove the remainder of the bulb. I decided as the instructions were clear about only plugging in five sets of lights in one plug so I decided to just use the five strands for now. It took awhile to get the lights on and then I started to decorate the tree. I was not happy with how it was looking and Alvin was still miserable about something or other. At one point and it was just a few minutes after 8:00 p.m., he barked and then went upstairs, I had to follow to ensure that he made it up okay. Up on the bed he went while I turned on the bathroom light so he would have some light upstairs. I went back downstairs to continue decorating the tree. A few minutes later, very few, guess who was back downstairs. He was not having a good night. He was whining and barking and it is very hard on a person, “me.” Anyway, no matter what I did he was not happy and I was growing more miserable and mad by the minute so I made an executive decision to just stop and watch a bit of television without even the tree lights on. We say in semi-darkness watching television for a bit. I checked my messages and found one from a neighbour. Apparently they had accidentally sold me their Mom’s good hand blender at a garage sale a couple of months ago and were wondering if they could buy it back. I really had to laugh as I had wondered why someone (who cooked and baked a lot) would give up a KitchenAid hand mixer at a garage sale. I replied “of course.” I guess it was a good thing that it was me and not someone that they did not know. She offered me $30 but I texted back that I only paid $18. Definitely not taking more money for something – that would not be fair or even good on any level. We are friends. Sometimes accidents happen. I am just happen that they had not sold it to an unknown. We were in bed by 10:30 and I did not even read. It took me a long time to fall asleep because of the evening’s events but that was okay. Lucky for me, I did fall asleep and Alvin slept through until after 4:00 a.m. and then we were up at 7:00 (I was wondering why he kept bugging me and then I saw the time, well of course, he was hungry). Anyway, I removed the ornaments that I had put on the tree before I went to bed so this morning, I played with the lights and branches, rearranging and such. I reached a point where I was moderately satisfied with how the tree looked before starting to redecorate. I carefully placed the ANGELS all over the tree before starting to put on other of my favorite ornaments. When I looked at the clock and due in part to Mr. Alvin whining once again by the door and realizing that Humphrey & Bogart were outside and that is where he wanted to be with his friends. Even with a fence between them, he wanted to be out there. He is giving me that look so I suppose it is time to head back downstairs and finish the tree. It will likely take me another couple of hours or so. There be laundry to do and cleaning. A walk with the boy later this afternoon.
The sunrise is beautiful. Pale colours fill the sky. I am once again calm and laughing at how I stepped on and broke a light and then this morning I plugged the strand in and only some of the lights are working. Also this morning or was it last night, oh, last night, while removing the decorations I dropped one of the smaller red round ornaments. Back out with the broom. Okay two things have been broken and that is enough. Wish me luck. Perhaps it was not such a great idea on a Friday evening after a full week to be redecorating the tree. I should have just taken the ornaments off and left until this morning but oh well, would a, should a, could a.
Wish me luck again.
Have a great day.
I think that I will wait for awhile before attempting to fix the toilet handle, lol.
Need coffee.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee.
My New Life @ 51 