A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are okay. Alvin still has diarrhea but it is less and definitely less blood. Sorry for the descriptive language this early in the day. But all in all it seems better than he was on Tuesday. He certainly loves the chicken more than the rice. It has been a bit of a challenge to get his medications into him but so far only missed one pill that ended up too mushy in his rice that he wouldn’t eat. They are intelligent creatures and likely his sense of smell is way better than mine or most humans. Yesterday worked out okay with me working from home. I was able to take him out whenever he needed to go as once he asks, he needs to get outside now.

I am grateful that the weather has been mild. Certainly has helped the middle of the night trips outside with the Alvin. I would go no matter what but has helped make it more bearable.

So grateful for all my family and friends who have reached out to check on his status. Thank you.

I am grateful that today is Friday and it is almost the weekend.

I am grateful that Amanda is coming for a sleepover. We are both always over the moon to see her.

I am grateful that I have a job where I can work from home.

Oh, Val, I am wearing my new green sweater this morning. So yesterday the doorbell rings and there, stands this guy with a huge box. As he hands it to me, he says, “it is a heavy one.” I said “thank you” and he was on his way. I quickly put the box down and went back to work. On my break I opened it up to find so many goodies (Christmas box) from our friend Val, who spoils us rotten. There was biscotti (my absolutely favourite), some dill pickle biscuits (had one with supper, so good), apple tarts, chocolate muffins, homemade treats for Alvin and other baking for me. There was also the most perfect GREEN sweater for the Momma, “me.” I am wearing the sweater now and it is the perfect weight and I LOVE the colour. There was also some Epicure items in my gift. Also in the box was my Epicure order and my daughter’s. There was a lot of things in that box. Filled my counter. I let Alvin open his gift but he found it a bit difficult this time around so I lent a helping hand and then he was in ….. I know he wasn’t supposed to have anything but what is on his “bland diet” but he was whining and crying and so excited, that I gave him one treat. I broke it into three pieces and he happily gobbled it down. We are over the moon grateful to have this amazing human in our lives. She treats me and Alvin like “rock stars” no better than that….. we are truly blessed. Thanks Val. We love our treats and I cannot wait to taste some of the baked goods tonight with Amanda.

Well it is almost time to head downstairs and get to work. Get that coffee plugged in.

Have an awesome Friday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – December

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.

Almost Christmas 2020

Good Morning ALL. Only two more sleeps until Christmas Eve and the fun begins. WE are all going to have some fun. Play some games, sing some songs, watch our favourite Christmas movies, eat delicious food and snacks and enjoy our time together. Whether we are alone or together with family and friends we can enjoy this time. I am blessed as I have Mr. Alvin to keep me company and he certainly enjoys some good food. The playing games might be a bit difficult but we could always play with his toys. He loves his new toy from his friend and pal down the street Miss Bailey. The point is, we all know that this Christmas is not going to be the same for a multitude of different reasons. Christmas will come and go much the same as most years. It is up to us how we handle each moment of this time.

This morning the white stuff is falling from the sky. The sky was overcast last night so we missed seeing the Conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. I was so looking forward to the possibility of seeing that rare point in time. In fact this has been the first time in 400 years that it has been close enough to see with the naked eye. How cool is that? Luckily it was not cloudy everywhere and others have shared those rare photos. Very exciting. “THE GREAT CONJUNCTION” it has been dubbed. Next time it will be 2080 before the planets align so closely again.

Yesterday my last tea order arrived at noon out of the blue. No email advising that it was even shipped but I will not complain as I am happy that my customers/friends will have their orders for Christmas as some were gifts.

Looks like shovelling will be in my future. Time to go and pick up those “packages” that Mr. Alvin so kindly leaves behind for me in the backyard. I am grateful that we had a nice walk yesterday. Hopefully the snow is at a minimum so we can walk at lunchtime today.

I hope that you are having the best Tuesday (ooops, I almost said Wednesday). It is a good day. We definitely will have a White Christmas. Take care and be in good health. If we only can live our lives with kindness, respect and compassion – what a wonderful world this would be.

Have an awesome Tuesday Everyone.

Time to get that coffee ready and get this day going. We are down to two out of seven from our immediate team. Lots of mail came in yesterday for myself and another team member who is on Christmas vacation. I am doing my best to ensure most or all of the mail is done before Christmas. Maybe today the phones will be quiet. Fingers crossed.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Second Half of the NEW YEAR.

Wow, can you believe it …. September 1st, 2020 today.

Happy to see the sun shining but there is a breeze once again.

Crazy to think that we are entering the ninth month of the year.

This has been such a year of unimaginable events, tragedy and change.

Who would have thought back in January or February that come September we would have spent the majority of the year working from home.

I have wished and hoped for a very long time that I would be able to work from home.

But never in a million billion years did I think that I would be doing this job from home.

Never, ever.

For that I am truly grateful.

Thank you Universe.

 

While a good portion of the working population were able to work from home many others were laid off.

Businesses closed their doors never to reopen.

Some people had to work despite the dangers to their health and wellbeing.

Those are the people who work in hospitals, fire and police, grocery stores and pharmacies, plumbers, electricians and HVAC.

Businesses that were/are deemed essential services.

It has been a long road for them with no real end in sight.

Schools closed down and children stayed at home with some doing online studies.

Many people worldwide have lost their lives to this pandemic.

Our lives may never be the same.

While schools are beginning to reopen and some folks are heading back to work; it is different.

We will be wearing masks when in public.

We will continue to wash our hands frequently and sanitize our work stations, doors, handles of cupboards etc and our hands and perhaps most importantly social distance.

I think that is most important.

 

So many people are ordering everyday goods online that we are seeing more and more delivery services in our neighbourhoods.

Some businesses are running out of products or the processes have slowed down.

I know that both the NORWEX and Steeped Tea products that I have ordered did not take the usual week to be delivered.

Anywhere between 2-6 weeks for delivery is the norm unless you have ordered groceries or from Amazon.

Our lives have changed and I think forever.

We will look at how we do things much differently than we did in 2019.

Going forward I think that we will make much better decisions than we did in the past.

Or at least I hope so.

 

Well it is now time to head downstairs, grab my coffee and get signed onto the computer for work.

I have so much to do and hopefully will have an extra productive day.

 

I wish you a great day.

Be safe and take care.

Be kind and respectful.

 

I/We shall remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

 

Living … One day at a time.

Good Morning and Welcome to Winter once again.

I guess that I always associate “SNOW” with winter.

When we were first up at 3:00 a.m. – there was a nice cozy blanket of snow covering the ground.

Covering the deck, the rooftops and just everything.

The trees have that layer of snow covering each and every branch.

The snow has that fluffy consistency that we love.

Well I know that we like to make snow creations when the consistency is sticky.

But I love the fluffy snow the most.

I love the way that the street lamps and the moon reach down and make the snow sparkle as though they were a billion diamonds.

Brilliant and beautiful.

Ode to Snow.

How about that.

Only in Canada, eh!

Just kidding.

 

Well today is Wednesday.

Last night the STEEPED TEA order arrived and I had it pretty much all sorted before we even went for our walk.

Most of the orders go to my office.

They are ready to go.

Also my new toothbrush heads arrived as well.

They were in a light envelope and I am grateful that they did not blow away.

I am excited to try some new tea blends over the next while.

 

We enjoyed our walk last night.

Funny story.

We were walking just past the poop station near the entrance to our park.

It is quite dark as you continue down the path.

They could use more lights that is for sure and also there is one that was removed.

Not sure about that.

Alvin stopped and I coaxed him to go a bit further and then he was done and turned for home.

I managed to convince him to walk up the hill to the sidewalk instead and go down the street toward Teddy’s house.

He actually kept going.

So we walked our path in reverse.

Worked out okay.

That will be the way we go for the rest of the winter months or at least until it is not quite so dark.

I had my trusty little flashlight with me shining as we went.

Lighting the path.

A little safety blanket of sorts.

 

Well today is Wednesday.

When you are off on the Monday it certainly speeds up the work week.

Tomorrow is Thursday. WOW.

 

Today is also the 14th Birthday of a very sweet young lady.

She is the niece to my son-in-law.

Happy Birthday E-K

Wishing you the best Birthday.

I know that you enjoyed your brother’s hockey game with Auntie A (my daughter) at REXALL PLACE.

 

My daughter sent me a photo of the two girls all smiles.

 

A sunflower for the Birthday GIRL.

 

Well time to go out and play find the poop in the freshly fallen snow.

Luckily for me I was paying attention to Alvin when he was outside.

Time to do some shovelling as well.

 

Have an awesome Wednesday.

This day will be filled with pleasant surprises, I have a feeling.

Remembering to be filled with kindness and respect.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 12th day of January, 2019.

The sun is beginning to rise in the east and I can see a beautiful array of oranges and pinks filling the horizon.

So excited to have a bright sunny day and warmer temperatures.

Up to stay for about 1/2 hour now and first up at 4:00 (give or take a few minutes before 4).

Oh my Mr. Alvin, what a guy.

We have a busy day ahead.

Master Teddy is coming at 9:00 a.m. to spend the day with us.

I always love having him as we brings more joy to our house.

If you were having a less than stellar day well Teddy would change your mood, definitely.

Alvin has his 2nd treatment this morning at the Vet.

So will have both the boys in tow on the walk over.

As I sit here the colours have expanded and there is so much colour on display.

So beautiful.

I can now see yellow in with the pinks and oranges.

It is going to be a beautiful day.

Beautiful, perfect.

 

I was listening to one of the morning shows that I record last night.

It is an American show and they were discussing a wide variety of topics.

SICK DAYS came up.

They were staying that there is talk of doing away with sick days.

Too many people have taken advantage.

Interesting and scary.

 

I wanted to mention this.

My daughter ordered something for me on AMAZON after Christmas.

The order was shipped out in several deliveries.

The first two arrived at my house while I was at home.

My daughter let me know that there had been a delivery only I did not receive that package.

I suppose someone decided that they needed that item more than me.

There are always comments and posts on Facebook and News Reports that packages delivered by Amazon and other on-line companies are stolen

I was grateful that my daughter contacted AMAZON and guess what – not only did they send a replacement but they placed it in CANADA POST.

This time I received the package.

Now I have the full order.

I had been worried and they have restored my faith in humankind.

Thank you Amazon.

Still kind of mad about the fool that stole the package from my front porch.

What kind of people do that?

If you needed the money, why did you not ask?

 

Well time to go and have a shower before Master Teddy arrives.

I am so excited to see him as is Mr. Alvin.

 

Have an awesome Saturday and if you are reading this while the sun is rising …. it is glorious.

As each minute passes it becomes more beautiful.

So beautiful.

 

Special Hello to: my friend V who is so helpful, thank you my friend.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 10th day of December, 2018.

Well back to getting up in the dark once again (back to work).

The weekends seem to fly by most especially at this time of year.

I had a GREAT Sunday.

Thankfully I was able to push ahead of the incident from Saturday and accomplish the things that I needed to do.

I baked a double batch of SUGAR COOKIES and iced them.

Also made a double batch of FUDGE.

YAY…..

We even had a walk in between.

Not a long one but we got outside and enjoyed the fresh air.

 

I am so grateful to be surrounded by such thoughtful, generous, kind and supportive people.

I am so grateful to be in good health and Alvin, too.

To be in good health and have such great people around me/we; I/we are truly the luckiest on the planet.

Even in my darkest moment and I had that on Saturday, one of my neighbours came to my rescue.

I am and ever shall be grateful for them.

Thank you.

 

On a “sweet treat” note, I packed up “17” packages of cookies along with a personalized Christmas Card for my closest co-workers.

Well I guess it is almost time to go to work.

So glad to have two of the biggest jobs finished and that is BAKING and CHRISTMAS CARDS.

Not just to deliver them all.

 

Happy Monday.

Special Hello to: my sister who loves us and gives her ever ending support from a distance.  Thank you.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 4th day of May, 2018.

Happy Birthday to one of my dear friends back in Saskatchewan.

She has always treated me like a sister, one of the family.

Truly a great great family so kind, generous and loving.

 

Looks like the sun is beginning to rise in the morning sky.

There are some clouds but perhaps they will dissipate in the next few hours.

I know we need rain but at night would be perfect.

Tomorrow I must get out and do the Neighbourhood TRASH pickup.

It has to get done soon before the street sweepers come out.

Then some of it gets pushed into the storm drains.

Tomorrow morning NO MATTER WHAT, I will be donning my gloves, old jacket and shoes, a supply of garbage bags and my handy dandy trash picker uppers.

 

Alvin has now made lying on the blanket beside me in the office part of the routine.

I drape the blanket over my office chair and just before I sit down I place it beside the chair for Alvin.

Such a cutie pie.

 

Well it appears to be coming up to be busy weekend.

Lots of work to do.

Regular laundry and cleaning.

The TRASH pick up.

 

The weather forecast is nice for tomorrow and Sunday.

Excited for that.

 

With all of my idols writing books, movies and the like – I am inspired to get my head out of the sand and write more.

There are always those old tapes playing over and over in my mind.

Am I good enough?

Can I do it?

Would anyone read my book?

Stuff like that.

Typical.

But sometimes you just have to get off the pot and DO IT.

Right.

You will never know until you try.

This can be said for most of us.

There will always be that dreaded speech, writing project or deadline of any kind that DRIVES US MAD.

Stop playing those tapes, they have been erased.

They have been replaced.

They no longer exist.

You and I are free to DO and BE whatever we chose.

Go forth …. give ’em something to think about.

 

Well almost time to get going … finish up the finishing up.

My tea order arrived last night and I am delivering to my friends/co-workers today.

So grateful to the folks that help support my business.

 

Special Hello to: the Birthday Girl ….. Happy Birthday Sis.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday, December 15th, 2015.

Ten days until Christmas Eve.

A bit cooler here this morning but certainly not bad at all for this time of year.

Last night I was greeted my the delivery of my TEA ORDER.

YAY ….. so stayed up late putting the order together.

Today delivery ….

Most of the orders were from my office so that makes it easy.

My neighbour has graciously offered to drive me to my work so that I do not have to take it all on the bus.

Frankly, if it were the only choice …. it would take me four days to get it all to work.

Just not an easy task.

Well how are things?

Are you doing okay today?

Ten days away ….

I know I am so EXCITED.

 

Last night one of the two orders that were not from work was from a neighbour and friend down the street.

She has patiently been waiting for the order to arrive.

So I gladly delivered it and one hour later I was back home.

It would seem that I cannot go anywhere taking me a few minutes.

Just as I was leaving another friend and neighbour of ours dropped by.

Tis the season.

Poor Alvin I left him at home thinking I would be quick.

We did do a walk earlier but he loves to visit.

 

Well time to get this show on the road.

I hope that you have an amazing day.

 

Special Hello to: all those friends out there …. sharing their lives.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day …….

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 3rd day of June, 2015.

The sun is shining and there is a breeze.

This is going to be an awesome day.

Last night after supper we delivered the last of the invitations to our Steeped Tea party.

Of course, we stopped and visited with our neighbours as we made our deliveries.

On one of our stops we were invited in …… this particular neighbour of ours has a cat.

We met when she used to walk her beloved dog who passed away one year ago this August.

We miss her.

Now the cat is alone.

The cat is so cute and is also partially deaf.

Alvin loves cats but they do not always love him.

He spent the first several minutes squeaking with excitement and wanting to run.

Finally “clued in” and let him go a bit on the leash and found all he wanted to do was snoop.

Not sure why I didn’t realize ….. slow Momma.

So he checked out each nook and cranny (looking for what I do not know).

The cat (so cute) started to follow him as he walked about.

They even went out in the back yard.

No secrets with Mr. Alvin about …..

I told my neighbour and friend that I should change his name to “Snoop Dog.”

He loves to visit.

At one point after they did so well …… Alvin walked by and got into her space.

She gave him one swipe.

He yelped and I screamed and my friend jumped.

We were startled.

No one was injured, and all was well.

It was an interesting visit.

Another adventure of Mr. Alvin and his Momma.

Well it is getting close to leaving time.

I hope that you have an amazing day …..

Special Hello to: all my friends new and old …… you are awesome.

Always, Carol and Alvin