Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are doing okay. Up first at 4:00 and then at 5:30 for the day. I woke up with a headache that I cannot seem to shake. Might have to take something. Back to the office today, tomorrow and Friday. Not too excited about that but it is okay. I have resolved my thoughts about going to the office. Sometimes you just have to get over it and do go ahead. Not much point in going on and on about it at this point.

The air did not seem too cool this morning and the morning sky was delightful with the moon still shining ever so brightly and what appeared to be stars, although I suppose some may be satellites. I have been using the feature “Siri” on my phone this morning. I had no idea that she would turn on the flashlight or could look up the spelling of a word in the dictionary. She is my new best friend. Very cool. I said “thank you Siri” and she said “my pleasure.” Who knew they even built ”manners” into the program. I am impressed.

My friend and neighbour from a few doors down is coming over to check in on Mr. Alvin for the next three days. She did not get booked for hours at her new job. Lucky us.

Yesterday my neighbour mowed the lawn before I had a chance to rake up the remaining leaves that had not blown away – the lawn has red and gold stains. Good fertilizer, I suppose. I had been thinking of putting some of the fallen leaves onto my back garden but did not get to it.

I heard from a friend that today is supposed to be cooler and windy. I thought that was yesterday, lol.

I suppose it is almost time to head downstairs and put the finishing touches on preparations to leave for the day. I shall miss my guy but I know that he has someone to check on him so that makes me feel a bit better in the worry department.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: coffee at the office

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

Living … One day at a time.

Good Tuesday Morning,

As we wind down the month of November, 2019.

Again, I say, time is passing way too quickly.

I try to live the most that I can in any one day but that does not seem to stop the hands of time.

 

Alvin and I went for a walk after work.

We started to make the bend at the entrance of the park and he stopped.

He looked both ways and turned toward home.

So that was it …. I tried but he wanted to go back home.

Thankfully we had a nice long walk on Sunday.

I think that perhaps he does not like to walk in the dark.

At the beginning of our walk just past the poop station it is quite dark.

It can definitely be off setting for sure.

There are houses that line the outside lines of the park and perhaps they did not wish to put too many street lights out there or it would be distracting and annoying for the

homeowners.

But then there is the public who walk in the park with and without their beloved dogs.

It is truly pretty dark.

There are street lamps but not enough to light the area.

If someone or something was in the bush/trees near the water you would not see them.

I have resorted to carrying a flashlight.

The main reason was to find Alvin’s poo …. as I always pick it up.

Unlike so many others.

Seems like in the winter people don’t care.

What is up with that anyway?

Anyway, the flashlight does help us feel more secure.

In the end we turned around and headed for home.

It was a bit of a walk and being a Monday I was not heartbroken to take a short walk.

We did have some fresh air and that was a good thing.

 

So guess what I did last night?

I had just finished supper and had made some tea when I decided to “quickly” go upstairs and check my email.

While doing what I had gone to the computer to do ….. I saw my most recent TELUS bill.

When I opened it to see the amount and to write it down, I almost fainted.

It was over $170.00.

My usual bill is somewhere around $130.00.

I know that I had not rented more than one movie.

So I checked the statement.

Low and below I found out why.

They had charged me for the PVR rental to the tune of $39.00 (and change).

So I called TELUS and the wait was up to one hour.

Really, is that anyway to do business.

Have you ever waited in line at the grocery store or bank for one hour?

The only exception is the hospital or Doctor’s office and I get that …. whole different ball of wax.

But your internet/phone/cable provider.

Really.

Really.

Really.

I was mad.

I do not get mad often but I was mad.

So as I was on the computer I checked out the online assistant.

Well after they said “put in simple terms” and still did not understand, I connected to CHAT.

There were 3 people ahead of me so I figured the chances of me getting served in the next little while were good.

Finally after what felt like forever, I was connected.

She identified herself and then asked for me to verify who I was and asked what the issue was.

So I explained.

After several minutes she ended up checking my bill ( as I suggested in the first place ).

Came back on and said that she would credit my account for the rental amount and ensured me that it would never happen again.

Anyway, my bill is back to normal.

After one hour on the phone/computer I went back to my cold cup of tea.

Not exactly the way that I had planned to spend most of my time for the evening.

I could also see that Alvin was annoyed with the whole being in the office bit.

Anyway I was happy to have my bill corrected and it only cost me “one hour of my time.”

So how much is my time worth?

I guess $39.35.

 

Well time to go back downstairs.

Grateful it is a new day.

Alvin is as well.

Tonight will definitely be working on those Christmas cards because that did not happen last night.

Happy Day.

 

Have an awesome Tuesday.

Remember with Kindness and Respect we will live our lives.

I will admit that last night I was not feeling very kind.

To say that I was not wholly respectful would not be a true statement.

But anyway !

 

Always, Carol & Me Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 18th day of November, 2015.

Well it has been quite the night.

I made the mistake of giving Alvin one of his chew treats later in the evening and of course, he chewed it in bed for about two hours.

As it happened before and I knew he would need some water (so he did not choke); I went to get out of bed to go downstairs and get his water dish.

Only thing is, I missed the light and me ever graceful tipped over my water glass all over my night stand and the floor.

So at 11:20 p.m. I jumped out of bed to wipe up the mess grabbing my books, watch, glasses, lamp and the phone.

All got wet to some degree.

After cleaning everything up and for about twenty seconds blaming Alvin (which by the way it was me who gave him the treat in the first place); I went downstairs and got his water dish.

He was almost done by then and drank a good amount of water so he needed it.

After that ….. it was a broken up sleep …..that was the course for the night.

This morning at 5:00 a.m. just before the alarm went off, we got out of bed.

Alvin is such a good alarm clock.

Went downstairs …. had my socks on only as I have been getting brave as of last night ….. until Alvin sniffed about.

I knew something was up.

So I grabbed my winter boots.

On the way to the bathroom I checked the pantry.

Appeared the trap was gone.

Walked to the bathroom where his food container is temporarily stored and got some food for the boy.

Placed in back in the living room …. another temporary placement.

After he ate … we went outside …. freezing cold …. and WINDY.

When we came into the house I grabbed my little flashlight and checked the pantry again.

Found the trap a few inches away from it’s original location but flipped over.

It is not laying flat on the floor so I do not know if it is under the trap or not.

The way Alvin has been acting I am going to say NO but I am hopeful.

The surprise will have to wait until after work as I am not going to CHECK.

I have already sent an early morning FB message to my friend to come after work.

Well it is time to go and have a shower.

I had fun at the Brownie Cookie Sale last night.

There was an amazing variety of cookies ( I ended up buying two dozen but how can you go wrong for $8.00) and PEOPLE.

Oh, there were so many people and CHILDREN.

I have not been around that many of the little ones as they ran about ….

Time to go.

 

Today is BE KIND Wednesday.  ( I named it )

I think we should all be extra kind today.

Let’s show each other that we can be kind.

 

Special Hello to: my siblings ….

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 9th day of October, 2015.

What a beautiful bright sunny morning here in Edmonton.

I am so excited to have today off as a vacation day.

Went to bed a bit later, read for awhile, slept in …. lazy.

Lots to do on this long weekend.

Some work but always tempered with some FUN.

One must always have FUN.

All work and no play …. you know how that old saying goes….

The coffee is brewing while I write ….

I love the smell of coffee percolating ….

 

Last night while Alvin and I were out for our nightly walk …. at 7 p.m. which was already starting to get dark.

After planting the bulbs that my friend gave me on Wednesday night.

We proceeded on our walk when we were almost half way around the lakes we came across this woman and her dog, a large collie.

Alvin walked to them and I followed.

We sensed that they were friendly ( sometimes Alvin is cautious around larger dogs and me, too ).

Alvin did his sniffing and so did the collie ….

We introduced our dogs “Lady ” to “Alvin.”

We had a lovely conversation about so many things.

A new friend.

Her name was “D” and I told her mine, Carol.

I was holding a “bag” from a few minutes earlier so we parted and we walked to the garbage and made a deposit.

I decided because it was already dark ( I did have my little flashlight and my whistle from the police ) that we would just turn around and go back home.

We then caught up with Lady and “D.”

The conversation just flowed.

It was funny when I got to the entrance and we went to part ways ….she asked me again what my name was and I said “Carol”  and I said yours is “D” correct?

She said “yes” and “that she had a brain injury so sometimes she forgets names”

I said “I just forget names …. never forget a face but names sometimes struggle with.”

We had a giggle and said good night and see you again, sometime.  Nice lady.

I am so grateful to have met “D” and Lady, the Collie..

It was a great night ….. planted some flowers and met a new friend and got some exercise ….

You never know when you will meet someone who you just have a connection with …… could be out walking or one the bus.

By the way, I have met so many wonderful people on the bus.

Mainly women but some men.

Looks like time to go and grab that coffee ….

The smell is drifting to my nose and my mouth can taste the glorious of the beans.

I hope that you have a grand Friday.

 

Be kind and respectful of all creatures.

That is something that we all must work on ….

What an amazing planet this would be, if we were all respectful and compassionate of all creatures, big and small.

 

Special Hello to: my sister …. SKYPE this weekend?

Always, Carol and Alvin