The Next Chapter

Good Morning! I hope this finds you well on this Tuesday. The weather forecast for today in Edmonton is +1 degrees celsius or at least it was last night. I have not checked my phone to see. We will go with the plus temperature. I am grateful that our temperatures are moving in the right direction.

Last night I was home from work at 4:10 p.m. – what a treat. How great is that commute! After I got home, I switched out my shoes for my winter boots as it was a bit cool outside and also I did not know what condition the sidewalks were or the back walkway to the Vet Clinic. I wanted to drop off the cards for Dr. Karen and her staff. The sidewalks were not too bad and the walkway was most good but in the section where there are bushes, I actually had to walk behind them by the fence as the sidewalk was covered in snow and a massive amount of ice. Made it out and onto the sidewalk and continued on my way. I arrived at the clinic and pulled out my phone as you need to call them to have the door opened. Just as I called, Brenna called out “its’ Carol” and the door opened and there was Dr. Karen. She was just leaving for the day. We all went inside and I handed Karen the card. We hugged and chatted. Dr. Karen told me that her pup Tara, I believe was her name, had recently passed. I gave her my sympathies. The card was open and she handed out the individual cards to the staff. I wanted them to each have in addition to the main card, one of the memory cards of Alvin. Brenna said I am putting it right on my fridge next to your Christmas card. Ah, so sweet. We chatted for a few minutes and then Dr. Karen left as she had to stop by the grocery store before heading home. I ended up purchasing a couple of bags of treats so that I would have something on hand when company of the pet persuasion comes to visit. After that I decided to go the convenience store and cash in my $2 winnings from the lottery and buy a couple more tickets. I also grabbed some “good/bad” treats for me. Not a great idea to pick them up in the MAC store because they were at least 35% higher than in the grocery store. Nothing is cheap anymore. Then I was on my home. Once home, I put down my purchases and my purse and cleaned off the bit of snow that was remaining on my front sidewalk. I also returned the glass dish from Alyaa. I am so grateful for her kindness. She is a great cook. After returning home, I changed and took out the remaining garbage for pickup this morning. Then time to have supper. I used the microwave to warm the chicken. No oven, I remember! Another thing on my list for the upcoming weekend.

I had a nice cheese bun (courtesy of Costco bakery) with Dijon mustard, avocado and the chicken and some raw vegetables and a dill pickle. Great supper. Easy peasy.

Cleanup was easy and then I had a nice quiet evening. Watched a few shows and then to bed.

I love heading to bed in good time so that I can read. Every night I read a few chapters in whatever book I am reading at the time. I am reading a James Patterson book called “Princess.” I have several of his books and even reread them from time to time.

Time to head downstairs. I hope that you have a great Tuesday.

Mr. Alvin is in my thoughts this morning as he is every morning. I see him all around. He is always beside me. Soon we will be out walking together with his spirit beside me all the way.

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)

I had not realized until recently that the long Easter weekend is the weekend after this coming up one. I wonder if the Easter Bunny will come here? I hope so.

A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning All! I am writing this post from my smart phone, not sure how smart it is. Alvin is laying on the sofa beside me. I apologize for the font size, not sure why the default is not a bit larger. Break out your magnifying glasses, lol.

Last night it was late when we went to bed. Lights were out at 10:30 and next time we were up was 4:30. To be honest I got up once but Alvin did not. Then outside at 4:30 to pee and then it was 7:22 when we got up. I wanted to try something different with Alvin’s breakfast so I only gave him his wet food. He sniffed it and walked away. So clearly with no chicken, he won’t eat. I felt badly as he hasn’t eaten much the last day so I added chicken and he pulled out the chicken leaving his wet food in the dish. I have created a monster, a spoiled one. Yesterday I took an unplanned trip with my friend Gillian to Costco and upon arriving at home found a pile of semi digested food in the middle of the living room floor. That was the little bit of hard food that I have him a bit before I left the house. He still does his “downward dog stretches” morning. Okay, not sure how that means anything. Just to mention.

So not sure what to think. He does not seem to be in pain or uncomfortable.

Baking in the oven is an Epicure Lemon Cranberry loaf. Smells good.

We walked over to Gillian’s to take some lemons as I bought a bag at Costco. Too many for me. I bought them to make the glaze for this loaf and to clean my glass stovetop. I saw a video on Instagram to use baking soda and lemons. Worked pretty well even removing some cooked on stains. Hsppy about that.

Once back home I thought that I would try to download some photos from my old computer to the external hard drive but ended up just looking at about 1500 photos, some I don’t remember even taking. So many memories.

Then it was tome to make supper. I baked a chicken breast and some root vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots & onions) snd boiled a chicken breast for Alvin. Again for second day in a row, he picked out the chicken. I also whipped some cream to top my chocolate pudding. So good.

Then it was cleanup followed by movie watching. I, we watched Ant Man & The Wasp. I have seen before but always enjoyed.

Now I am drinking coffee and writing this post while curled up on my comfy sofa with Alvin resting beside me.

I am going to get some photos onto that hard drive.

Happy Sunday.

The homemade chocolate pudding and Mr. Alvin, such cuteness.

Time to go. Have a great day.

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

Always, Carol&Alvin

Alvin, baking, chicken, cleaning, COSTCO, food, lemons, life, photos, smartphone

Last Half 2022 – November

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.

Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am happy to be working from home today. Alvin had a good vet appointment yesterday. No ear infection. Same weight as last visit. Anal glands not full. Had his nails trimmed. YAY. We are done for another 5 weeks. While I was at the clinic, I asked if they could put in an order for Alvin’s food and Michelle, the Vet Tech said “I already ordered it and it is here for you.” WOW, that was great. They ordered two cases of the wet and one bag of the dry food which is exactly what I wanted. So I paid for the food and his visit which was almost $500.00 but he will have food for awhile. He still has lots at home but I do not wish to run the risk of him running out. You never know these days. It would not matter so much but he is on a special diet and needs this special food. We walked to his appointment yesterday. I realized partway through the day that it was icy outside. A few minutes before leaving I went outside and cleared some of the snow from the lawn making a path to the public sidewalk where I tossed some snow which gave me some traction to the street. We walked on the edge of the street until we reached dry sidewalk. Unfortunately our whole side of the sidewalk until we arrived at the walkway was icy but thankfully once we were past our street it was good. I am grateful that Gillian and I picked up those ice picks for your boots at Costco. They worked like a charm. I left them on my boots. Guess I will need to take shoes to work from now on.

Looks like this morning we will have some cuddling time before I start work. Glancing about my office I see that my African Violet is a covered with rich purple flowers. So very beautiful. I love my home office space as it is filled with all of the things that I love and that help me feel creative. I have books, photos of family and friends, cards, cool window coverings and more books and more trinkets and ornaments. It is my happy space. I guess you could say that my whole house is my happy place, happy space. I love my house, each room for different reasons and am over the moon grateful to be living here.

Well it is almost time to head downstairs and plug in the coffee. I already prepared the coffee so just needs to be plugged in to perk. YAY, me. Alvin is resting just outside the office door.

Tonight I am going to sit down and make a list of all the people and events that I require baking/sweet treats for and calculate how many of each item is “needed.” I know that I am baking Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Fudge for three items. Likely not much as I need to make massive amounts of the cookies for sure. Then I will pull out my recipes and ensure that I have all of the ingredients to bake as the first weekend of December is one week away from this Friday. OMG, where has the time gone. I also need on this weekend to hit the grocery store and pick up some final items and go to the Bone & Biscuit to pick up gifts for Alvin, Aspen, Milo and Cookie.

Have an awesome Tuesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: always be prepared! Grateful for this weather. Thanks to our friend Gillian who is going to pick up Alvin’s food today. I could not live my life without such great friends such as her 🙂

Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? The sky is a beautiful mix of orange, pink, blue and grey white. Absolutely gorgeous. We had a pretty good sleep but as usual up a few times but that is our lives so that is it. This morning I am going to Costco with one of my girlfriends and then to the Dollar Tree to pick up some bags to put cookies in for Christmas. Only a couple more weekends until Cookie baking time. The days just seem to be flying by but I guess that is nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year. I/we were invited to Pauline and Al’s for supper this evening. I am debating on whether to leave Mr. Alvin home or not. Leaving him alone always gives me feelings of guilt and worry and anxiety. He will be home for a couple of hours this morning and then a few hours tonight. I know he will be okay. The neighbour that looks after him on most of the days that I go back to the office for work is beginning to get more hours at her new job. So there may be days that I have to ask someone ask to come over and check on him. I have to keep in my mind that there will always be someone available to come over but as the days and weeks pass this may be increasingly more difficult. I do not want to go there. Okay, enough. I will always be able to have someone come and check on Mr. Alvin. There will always be a neighbour that can come over.

Yesterday I gave Alvin a haircut and bath, he looks so good. Filled in the rest of the day with laundry, a walk and some tidying up. I will need to clean bathrooms after the shopping trip this morning and hopefully be able to get Mr. Alvin out for a walk. He will definitely need his sweater with his shorter haircut. Also yesterday my daughter put in an order with Costco online for some photo Christmas cards. I gave her some photos and she put them together for us. I am so excited. This will be the first time that I have used photo cards instead of cards with a photo tucked inside. I wanted to do something extra special this year. It will be difficult to decide which to send to who.

Time to head back downstairs and have a coffee or two before Gillian arrives. I am excited to get some shopping done. I added a few things to my small list but it is still not huge.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! We went to bed last night as my daughter stopped by after work and after her trip to COSTCO for a few things including some items for us. I bought a new vacuum. A Shark something or other. I cannot wait to give it a try – most especially on the stairs. It is cordless and has handheld for the stairs. Very exciting. We had a great supper. My daughter loves roasted root vegetables so they were a hit. YAY. Amanda had also picked up a pair of blue jeans from COSTCO for herself and decided to try them on here and found out they were too big for her and so she said “you try them on.” My first thought was they would be too small but guess what they fit. I have noticed that my regular pants are fitting a bit loosely lately, so I can now fit a size 12. Perhaps that sounds large to some people and that is okay but for me that is great. Always better when you are a bit older to lose some weight instead of adding to the number. So now I have two new pair of blue jeans which is great. I have not bought new jeans in a long time. They are high waisted and I LOVE THEM, they are skinny cut which I find laughable but they are very flattering, I must say. Who knew, I am feeling like a “semi sexy woman of a certain age.” LOL. Life is good. Between new jeans and a new vacuum, I feel like a million dollars. My order also included a box of poop bags (which should keep someone going for awhile), light bulbs (because you cannot see in the dark), some grocery items which included some red seedless grapes which are so yummy. I could have eaten the whole container last night and then decided not a great idea at 9:45 p.m. (I had just finished cleaning up and putting things away and did not realize how late it was). I am so grateful to have one of the BEST daughters on the planet. She also gave me a black skort (which happened to be the same one that I bought this summer except this one fits perfect) and a black skirt. The black skirt fit but was very short and I thought, we thought, not likely too appropriate. If I bent over – it would not be pretty, lol. So a great evening. YAY.

Today is bright, sunny and windy. I was looking out of the bedroom window and saw that the eavestroughs are full of leaves. OMG, perhaps I could get someone to climb up on the ladder and clean them out. Will have to see if that is a possibility or not. Yesterday late morning and into the afternoon, I spent almost 2.5 hours helping my friend Signe trim her tree. I supplied the tree trimmer and ladder (although we did not use it in the end). We managed to cut down most of the black rot from her tree. She is going to call the City and see if they can help her with the last branch which is several inches thick and not something we could do. I helped her with the cutting up and bagging of the branches so that she can dispose of. It was fun helping a friend and manual labour yet!

I am wanting a cup of coffee at this moment. Nothing like the first cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. I have changed the bedding and collected the laundry to be washed. Before heading downstairs I want to water my plants which are in the office and spare room. All doing well. Signe helped me move the plants from the main floor to the basement. I had a Canna Lily in a big ceramic pot and a Citronella in a small ceramic pot. They have to be winterized. Cut back a bit. But I want to check out exactly what to do with my “plant friend Pauline”. Also I will clean all of the blinds on the main floor and do the upstairs tomorrow. Oh and vacuuming with my new machine. So exciting.

Well I hope that you are doing great. Have a wonderful day. Hopefully the temperature is warm today. There was no frost last night.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: there is nothing like sharing a meal with your wonderful daughter, walking with your pup, receiving an unexpected new pair of jeans in a small size that fit and buying a new vacuum. Happy Saturday to me.

I almost forgot that I wanted to share something with you, the Health Properties of PUMPKIN. Some of you may have bought a pumpkin for Halloween to carve. Did you know that the flesh of a pumpkin can: help keep your joints limber, good for your eyes with the Vitamin A, Immunity booster Vitamin C, has Potassium, good for weight loss, skin saving antioxidants and helps with pooping (or at least it does with dogs). Eat some pumpkin. You can add to a stew or a sauce, make muffins or a loaf or just roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. So many great benefits.

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Well it is dark out and not even that early as is just after 7:00 a.m. I guess we are into the beginning of that time of year when we get up in the dark and leave work in the dark. Thankfully we are not at the later part of that statement just yet. The shortest day is in December, 2022 – so a bit of time away. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous – actually the whole weekend was wonderful. This week is going to be nice except for Wednesday is supposed to be 11+ celsius which is cool compared to 20’s as of late. I am so grateful for this beautiful fall weather. Enjoying the leaves raining down and seeing the kiddos crunching on them as they walk across the lawns. I am one of those kiddos. Love to walk on the leaves. When I rake the leaves, I am going to spread some of them on my back flower bed. One of my friends gave me that idea so that they insulate and protect the plants. Great idea. Might be fun removing them in the spring but will worry about that later.

I suppose this coming up weekend being Thanksgiving might be a good time to put away the patio furniture. Clean out the remaining flower pots. I have three and they are on the front porch. The impatiens might be done by then but not sure about the pot. Time will tell. I am glad that I decided to bring a good bunch of my plants into the house. Some are wintering in the basement and others are on the main floor and upstairs. All three floors have plants. Nothing like having green and flowers blooming in the deepest part of winter. When it is storming outside and there are flowers blooming – makes me feel happy. Flowers will do that.

Well tomorrow afternoon is Alvin’s regular vet appointment so I took the afternoon off. Wednesday through Friday it is off to the office. Found out yesterday on FB that one of our coworkers has COVID. ARGH. I have decided that whenever I am away from my desk that I will wear a mask and not get within close proximity to anyone. Better to be safe. Reminds me that I must go and get that fourth shot. I will phone and see if I can get in on the weekend. Maybe Saturday.

Yesterday I baked 2.5 dozen Apple Cinnamon muffins with some pumpkin and a loaf. Not sure why but I decided to double the recipe (NEVER DOUBLE A MUFFIN RECIPE) and then the consistency was out of whack so I added some pumpkin puree. They turned out great but would have been easier and less messy had I stuck to the recipe and made one batch at a time. I also chopped about 20 cups of apples for the freezer and have about 100 to go. Seriously might be close to that. I have two super big bowls full of apples to get chopped up. So everyday after work – I plan to chop some apples and then finish on the weekend. Will be so nice to have them in the winter time for some muffins or an apple crisp or even a pie. Mmmmm good.

I decided not to give Mr. Alvin a bath but did manage to trim his paws, just a little bit.

Well time to head back downstairs and put on the coffee. I really need coffee this morning. Last night we went for a walk after supper just before 7:00 and met up with Cookie and her Dad so we walked together. Went further than we have been for awhile. Nice to have company and someone to chat with other than Alvin. He usually never replies, lol.

I hope that you have a great Monday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: my friend Gillian popped by in the early afternoon to drop off the coffee and freezer bags that she picked up from Costco for me. Coffee has now increased from $11.99 to $18.99. Time to cut back on the coffee, methinks. We had a nice visit and she liked the freshly baked muffins. I gave her some of the chopped apples for a crisp or muffins. People will be revisiting their monthly budgets.

Half Year 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? The sun is shining brightly and the sky is blue. Not much of a breeze this morning. We have company this morning. Amanda and Mi-Mi slept over. We had a great time. They arrived in the late afternoon, we left the pups together and went to Costco. After returning home from a busy Costco, we put groceries away and I boiled the potatoes for the potato salad for supper. I baked some chicken breasts and boiled the eggs for the salad earlier. My daughter was able to download/upload those garden photos that I have been wanted to share with you all for the past couple of weeks. I won’t have time to do that this morning as she will be leaving in a few minutes. Tomorrow will be photo day.

We have come to the realization that my computer is too old for some things. It seems to be only uploading a few photos at a time. At some point, I will need to get a new one. My computer will no longer take updates. So my phone and computer at not in sync. Or at least we believe this to be true.

Mi-Mi is staying with Alvin and I for the day. I will take the boys for a walk at my lunch break proving it is not too warm.

Coffee is ready and I will make a to go mug for my daughter to take to work.

Earlier this morning while juggling two bowls for the pup’s breakfast, I dropped one of Alvin’s large ceramic (glass) bowls and it broke into a million pieces. It served him well. I bought it shortly for him when I adopted him in January 2010. So it has lasted. I have another one similar but different pattern on the outside of the bowl. I am glad to still have one of them. He has other dishes but I did love those bowls. They are just the right size for him. I no longer have a spare while the other is being washed. Oh well, I guess I do have others but I loved these particular dishes.

Yesterday Alvin and I went for another full walk in the morning. It was so beautiful out.

My neighbour cut the lawn yesterday. He has been working on it and it is looking great. This is Sonja’s boyfriend. He is such a good guy. I think that all the rain that we have been having has definitely helped, too. But his patience and hard work is paying off.

Okay, time to go. I hear that someone is ready to go back downstairs.

Have a great day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: only 29 sleeps till 65.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! Well looks like the New YEAR 2022 is officially half over. Can you believe it? Not me, seems like we just celebrated New Year’s, the snow kept falling till it stopped in April or was it May, and then it was raining and now the sun is shining! Oh well, today is Thursday, June 30, 2022.

Yesterday at my lunch break Alvin and I walked over to our friend Pauline’s house and hung out in the yard for a few minutes. Just to be zen, just to smell the fragrances and to be still. Yes, even Mr. Alvin who usually tears around the yard sat in the grass and held up his nose to take it all in. It was glorious. Not a bad way to speak a lunch break that is for sure. Then we hurried off home so that I would not be late for work. Even at home over the last two plus years, I almost make it a point to be on time. Not that this is anything new. Being late is not in my DNA. I mean I always try to be early or at the very least on-time. Now sometimes the Universe has other ideas but over my life time there have been very few times that I was late to work, to an event, to anything. Gillian, if you are reading this perhaps I have been a couple of minutes late for coffee on our girl’s coffee dates but usually that boils down to me just under estimating the time as we live so close. Anyway, we all have those times. You apologize when you are late and move on. Right! Right! The roses are still magnificent at the entrance to our park. I must carry my phone with me and take some photos, they are so pretty and so full of glorious fragrance. Remember I was go to get up and go for a walk, well this morning was strange. Last night it was just after 10:00 when I put my book down and turned off the bedside lamp. We both stirred but Alvin did not get up until 4:30 and then after having his glucosamine chew and going outside, we hit the sofa and we did not wake up until the alarm went off at 6:30. I am so impressed with him. If he could just sleep until 5:00 ish or a bit later, then we could stay up and I could function. Anyway, I, we stayed up at 6:30. Happy about that.

The wind is blowing this morning and as the sun rises in the morning sky, there are some clouds rolling in and I hope that we are able to walk at lunch time. We have had a lot of what appeared to be rain clouds during the day lately resulting in no moisture so fingers crossed.

Last night my daughter picked me up after work and we went for a trip to COSTCO. I figured after a “meeting” that I needed to get out of the house. I am finding that I need to get out and do some “things” other than walking with Alvin. It was great having the garage sale as I saw people and had a change to chat with people. It is not that I have been locked up but I have not really done anything for me in a long time other than eat and that kind of thing. I mean I have not gone anywhere for leisure or vacation. So my mind has not had a chance to slough off the crap. Perhaps I should set up a home spa and just spend a whole day doing relaxation type things. Might be a good idea.

Food for thought.

Costco was busy but that was okay. I actually decided not to wear a mask. I asked my daughter and she said that she has pretty much stopped now. So I braved up and did not wear a mask. I was not close up to people so I didn’t feel any anxiety. It actually felt a huge sigh of relief. Kind of like when we used to go to Costco and shop pre pandemic. Anyway, caution is good, too. I think that there may be times when I would still wear one so I will always take one with me until I do not. Some places like my vet still require a mask upon entering. That is okay. I get it.

Oh, I bought myself a few new things at COSTCO last night. Feeling pretty special. Sometimes a bit of retail therapy is a good thing. I seldom buy new things, once in awhile as I try to pick up what I need from thrift stores and the like. Reuse. Trying to help the Universe and then my friends give me lots of things. It works. Anyway, I am happy to have some new clothing items.

Well time to sign off for another day. Wishing you a wonderful last day of June. Oh, I did give Mr. Alvin his supper before we left for Costco as it was close to 5:30 when we left and he went outside. Don’t worry, I always think of him. My daughter always laughs as he is such a Momma’s boy and so spoiled. He rules the house and we all know it. But I don’t mind most days but there are times when I just want him to settle down. Okay, he is pretty good. I am working on him drinking his water again without me giving him pats. OMG. Yup that pup of mine is spoiled.

Going now.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: only 40 days till my 65th Birthday. Sky actually appears a bit hazy. I hope that there are no forest fires.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are okay. Today is my day to be at the office. I am a bit anxious about leaving Alvin at home even though he will have our friend Gillian coming to check on him, he will still be alone. Much different than his usual routine. This is not the first time that I have had to go to the office but I will admit that each time it gives me more anxiety. He has not quite been himself for the past week. He still eats as much as I give him and would eat more if had the opportunity, drinks lots of water, pees and poops without noticeable pain or anything. It is the sleeping that worries me. He seems to wake up even more than usual. I think the arthritis in his paws is giving him grief. I have been giving him tramadol (pains meds) for the past few days and last night I have him a portion of a Robaxin pill to see if that would help him settle down and sleep. It was lights out a bit later than usual and he was still up at 3:00 and would have been up sooner if I had not coaxed him to lay back down. I will see what the weekend brings and then likely make him an appointment for next week.

Last night my friend Gillian texted me and then when I did not reply, she called. She was in COSTCO and found the Sketcher slip on shoes were on sale for $39.99. Now that is my kind of price. Thankfully we wear the same size of shoes so if they fit her, they would most likely fit me. She wanted to make sure that I still wanted a pair. YES, I said gleefully. So happy especially after my Clark’s fiasco. I am trying to sell the Clarks’ slip ons and so disappointed but oh well. I have new shoes to wear today. Now I just need a pair of runners. I have my eyes on a pair of ADIDAS. Just like them. Never had a pair of them before but I like the look and cleaness of them. Simple but elegant and look so comfy. Gillian came over and we had a Thursday night “drink” which is not a thing but thought I would make it sound that way, lol. We had a great chat while Mr. Alvin laid between us loving the attention as we took turns giving him back rubs.

Almost time to head downstairs so that I can ready my coffee to take and take Mr.Alvin outside for another pee before I leave. My ride was 15 minutes early last time so I want to make sure that I am ready just in case, she is that early again.

Have a wonderful day.

Looks to be nice out there. Was sunny earlier but I see that the sky is beginning to cloud. Oh well, rain is good. I should put the cushions back into the garage from the deck furniture.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Yup, I did not forget that today is in fact, Friday the 13th day of May, 2022. Yes, it is.