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.

Second Half of the NEW YEAR – last quarter

Good Morning All. A much more quiet morning than yesterday’s. We had Teddy and his little sister Kobie here overnight on Friday as you know, and they went home about 5 p.m. yesterday. I always enjoy when the pups arrive at the house. Iris can put Teddy down on the sidewalk and he makes a beeline for our house and Kobie she has to hold securely and carry to the house. There is a feeling of excitement when they arrive. Alvin comes to life and well me, I love seeing them. Kobie wanted up. I picked her up and she just gazed into my eyes. She has the most gorgeous dark eyes with long lashes. As she looked in my eyes she put her nose right up to mine. Makes you feel liked you are the most special human in the world. Teddy was so excited to see his buddy Alvin and Alvin in return. Their Mum stayed for a visit before leaving as it was getting late (actually past our bedtime but it was a Friday night so that was okay).

We slept on the sofa Friday night. I was drenched in furbabies. Teddy curled up behind my knees, Alvin beside me on the pillow and Kobie basically on my head (she curled up on top of the pillow). I sure wished that I could have had taken a photo of that night time set up. Now it did not remain that way and there were lots of movement over the course of the night mostly from Alvin. I forgot to take the chew treat away from him, the ones that Teddy’s Mom had given them upon their arrival. Argh, it was up and down and down and up. Anyway we survived and with no defined time to get up we did sleep in a bit later, thank goodness. I do enjoy having the pups here. Alvin loves having them here although I will say this when we were having a sit down on the sofa yesterday afternoon both Kobie and Teddy were someone sitting on my lap and started to wrestle/play and at times would go back and forth on the sofa running on or over Alvin ….. that Mr. Alvin did not even flinch if it was Teddy who walked/jumped over him but when it was Teddy ….. he growled. Funny. The pups usually have a hard core play/wrestle match for about twenty minutes each day. Good exercise for sure. Most times the playing takes place on the floor.

Meal time is always interesting. Alvin is what I have deemed the “FOOD MONSTER” as he will eat almost anything, anywhere at anytime. Teddy could care less. He is a bit on the fussy side and seldom eats breakfast although he does like to chew on Alvin’s hard food and will usually eat some supper. Kobie is sort of like Alvin but not as hard core. She ate some breakfast and will eat supper. Last night I had just set up the feeding arrangement for supper when Iris arrived to picked them up. Alvin of course, gobbled his food down just as she got to the door and the other two ….. we decided to pack it up and they would have it at home. Like I said ….. food time in this house ….. with Alvin …. is you cannot get his food out fast enough. He does chew his food but eats so fast. Sometimes I like to feed him by hand to slow that process somewhat.

After the pups left for home …. our normal quiet takes over. I decided that I was going to check the ON DEMAND movie schedule to see if the new Kathie Lee Gifford movie “Then Came You” with Craig Ferguson was there yet. I was so pleased to see it on the listing. I have been waiting forever and hopeful it would come to Canada. Of course, after supper and clean up ….. we, well I watched her movie. It was so well done. Not often the lead characters are over 55. Elizabeth Hurley and Ford Kiernan were also in the movie. I really enjoyed Ford’s character. The movie ran the gamut of emotions but mostly it was funny. The chemistry between Kathie Lee and Craig is so evident and makes for a great movie. The music was great as well as was written by KLG and her writing partner Brett James. They even had a scene where they sang in the movie. Well done KLG, well done.

Well now it is Sunday morning. Today is the birthday of the gal that I used to carpool with so I must send her birthday wishes. Happy Birthday Candie. Hard to believe that I used to see her almost everyday and now have not seen her for months. Funny how life can change so quickly.

The girls are coming for coffee …. cannot wait. Have to jump into the shower first …..

I hope that you are doing great. Living with kindness and respect, that is the best. The sun is rising and the sky is that most beautiful pink orange at the horizon gradually turning to blue. Today is Sunday. YAY.

Happy Sunday.

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

P.S. Six sleeps until Halloween and seven sleeps until CHRISTMAS TREE GOES UP ….. I am shouting that in my mind ….. cannot wait. I will have to check and see if my daughter can help me erect the tree. I do need help setting it up …..