The Next Chapter

Good Morning! The sun is shining and it is a bit later than usual but I decided to just lay in bed and rest. Cookie went home last night just after midnight. The house is once again quiet with the pitter patter of four little paws running about the house. Her Dad came to pick her up and she was so excited. I watched as they walked down the street with Cookie pulling at the leash to go faster until they turned into their house. She was excited to see her family. I get that.

Last night when I was eating supper, I found something small and hard in my food and put it off to a hardened piece of Brussel Sprouts, you know how sometimes in the frozen bag there is a little piece of something well later in the evening, my tongue happen to find its’ way to something that I had not expected. I am not sure why I did not think to look sooner but I know what the “hard piece of something was,” it was my tooth/filling. I found a gaping hole where part of my tooth/filling had been. Looks like it was an old filling and then the tooth broke off. Not a pretty sight for sure. I had been planning to make an appointment to go and have my teeth checked and cleaned in April and then other things came up. No putting things off now. So I will have to call them first thing in the morning and hopefully get in tomorrow morning. I will have to be careful about eating and drinking. So far the nerve does not appear to be exposed or I would be in pain. I am grateful about that for sure. The tooth is a molar on the upper side about half way from front. Feels so strange and looks gross. NOTE to self: do not put things off for another day. First it was the Pandemic and I put off dental and medical checkups and then it was the changes at work and Alvin and work. I am going to make all of my appointments over the next week. Spring is a good time to do this. Lesson learned. Well I guess part of the time, I could not help.

There is some cleaning and rearranging and laundry to do today. I will go for a walk later on.

Amanda has the day off tomorrow so Steven will have the car to go to the picket line. She will bring the pups here for Tuesday. I hope that they are able to settle the contract soon – never good to be in that position. Money and time you never get back.

I hope that you have a wonderful Sunday.

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)

Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Thursday morning? We are doing well. I/We were so happy to spend some time with our girl. The time we spend together is always great. I am very grateful to have her in our lives. We miss our boy and the pups and cannot wait until Christmas to see them.

Amanda picked up a floral/plant arrangement for me to take with a card and a special Angel pin to our friends Norbert & Irene who recently lost their youngest son. One of the hardest face to face conversations. Broke my heart into a million pieces. I feel so badly for them. To lose a child of any age makes no sense. We always as parents believe that we will go first and when tragedy strikes and changes the “natural order” we are beyond disbelief and heart broken.

We, me and Alvin got to see little Betty Ann who belongs to friends of Amanda & Steven’s. Her parents dropped her off as she will be spending a week or so with the kids while they are away on business. I truly have the best kids, they have the biggest hearts and always have an extra pup or two in the household. I do not know how they do it because I always think I have my hands full with Mr. Alvin, lol. We all had a short visit before Amanda and Betty Ann were on their way to Alberta Beach.

Overnight the temperature dropped into the high double-digits. It was chilly outside when we were out earlier. Last day to the office for this week. I am very grateful that I can spend tomorrow working from home with Alvin by my side.

Last night was a blur with one minute driving with Amanda to cooking supper to eating supper with her, to going to see my friends, to Betty Ann being dropped off to them being gone. It seemed to happen so quickly. Almost makes me wonder, did it really happen? Of course, it did but it was an emotionally charged evening from happiness to sadness.

Well it be time to head downstairs and finish getting ready to leave for work. I am very grateful that I have a ride to and from work with a coworker. She is awesome and we have really got to know each other over the past couple of months. Carpool will do that!

Have an awesome Thursday!

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: Amanda brought the tree lights and the toilet handle, so I have a couple of projects ahead of me. I think I shall wait until Friday after work. Should be fun.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? It is light out but not bright. The sky is a grey blue color. Does not appear to be windy this morning what a nice change. We are doing great. Today is the first day of my vacation so we happily slept in. Of course, as per usual we were up at 4:00 so that Alvin could have his glucosamine chew and go outside for a pee and then back to sleep on the sofa until about 5:00 when we were up and he had breakfast. I happily laid back down and then we fell asleep until 7:30 but that is not the end of the sleep story, we dozed until getting up at 8:30 a.m. The family will arrive around 10:30 ish so I figured that we had better get mobile. Not that I have much to do other than write this post and have a shower and bring up the larger round doggie bed from the family room in the basement for Miss Aspen to sleep on in our bedroom. I have not made any plans for my time off other than being here for the grand pups and one having Easter dinner with my friends down the street on Friday. The plan is to walk daily and just relax with the pups. I truly am exhausted, my job just pulls the stuffing out of me. I do like my job and sometimes even love it but it is a demanding job not physically but mentally. End of story as I am on vacation. Yes, I am. So excited.

The forecast for the next couple of days is cool but then it is starting to warm up which will be great for us to walk. I will be spending lots of time walking as we usually go twice for per day and then I need to take Aspen separately from Alvin and Milo. Four walks. We shall see. Definitely Aspen will get two and the little ones even one will suffice. At the end of it all it will depend on the weather. Aspen is okay when it is cooler – she just likes to be outside. Oh, I just took a peek out of the office window and noticed that the trees are moving a bit. I sure hope that it remains calm as it gets chilly with the minus temperatures and gale force winds. We did not even walk yesterday. Even just going outside into the backyard gave me the chills and took what seemed like forever to warm up. I am glad that I did not give Mr. Alvin a haircut last weekend. He will be okay for a little while longer. If it jumps in temperatures, I will give him a trim. I wonder if having the pups here when he had a haircut would calm him down or not?

It is so quiet here in the house with just the click clack of my nails hitting the keys. Alvin is laying on the floor in the hallway. I took his other bed downstairs as I am not working upstairs now. He likes laying on the carpet in the hallway anyway so that is okay. I can hear him breathing in between hitting the keys. So quiet in our house. I love it. Much easier to calm one’s mind when it is quiet to begin with.

There is not much else new with us. I am thinking that I will work on making some jewelry while the pups are here as I have my supplies in the kitchen. I rearranged my ikea shelves and put the beads and things there and have some items on the counter. Because that is what you do when you are by yourself in the house except for the Alvin. I have room and can do what I like. There are definitely perks to living with no other humans. I also have my workstation in the kitchen. The good old kitchen table. Now it is packed up and put away out of sight.

Well time to head for a shower and then enjoy a mug or twoo of coffee. I hope that you have a wonderful Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. my office looks so empty without the work laptop, monitor and stuff. Makes me feel less cluttered and more creative.

2021

Good Morning ALL. Well it is a quiet time in our house this morning. Everything happened so quickly. As you know Mr. Alvin had ultrasound testing yesterday. It was early afternoon when they called to say that he was ready to be picked up. He wouldn’t go outside to go pee because I was not there. So I hustled over to get him. As the ultrasound technician had to send the report to the vet – it would be awhile before knew the results. He was happy to get outside and go pee and then pooped a few times on the way home. I was glad that I had taken a roll of bags with me. I gave him his breakfast which was actually a late lunch. He gobbled his food down and had quite a few sips of water, poor guy. A few hours later the vet called to give me the report. It was pretty intense, I will say. Please forgive me as the words are not coming as quickly this morning without him here. He has stones in his bladder and in his urethra. Possible to flush out but likely would require surgery. Was on the phone with the vet when the hospital called about him. So I called them back. The plan to take him to the hospital to be assessed as soon as possible. My son-in-law came as soon as my daughter got home from the office as she worked downtown. We had him there around 6:30 p.m. With covid the restrictions are apparent everywhere. Anyway after a time and we all waited in the car and and talked to the hospital via cell phone, I took him into the triage area to drop him off. Long story short ….. we waited in the car for them to assess him … before talking to the hospital vet who was so nice ….. and then I left him there and we went home. The house is so quiet this morning. They wanted to see if they could push the stone from his urethra into his bladder and it was successful. The vet called about 10:00 or so last night to let me know. He will be having surgery today at some point to remove the stones from his bladder. I am grateful to my kids and to the vets and I know that he will be fine and back home hopefully tomorrow.

Continuing to live with gratitude, kindness, respect, compassion and patience.

Alway, Carol & Alvin …..

Welcome to December, 2020

Good Morning ALL. How are you doing this Thursday morning? I am great. We are in serious countdown mode to Christmas. As one week today is CHRISTMAS EVE. Sometimes I forget that I am 63 and think that I am 8. Waiting for Santa to arrive. Believing that good will prevail is what always gets me through each day. Positive thinking – faith – believing that I can force change. We all can. So back to Christmas. Are you watching your favourite Christmas programs and movies? I am over the moon happy to have this 58 inch television hanging on my living room wall. So grateful to my kids for giving it to me as they have a new one. I thought that my other t.v. was great, the colour was great, picture was sharp or so I thought. But I have noticed things on the bigger screen that I never saw before …. it has been wonderful. Definitely going to be spending some time watching more movies over the Christmas break.

Our City has serious restriction protocols in place at this time until into January so we cannot have company other than the people in your “bubble” and my bubble is two extra people other than myself. So my kids are my “pod” for this time. There are so many new words or old words have new meaning in this pandemic. Like pod and bubble to name just a couple. But at the end of the day I am grateful that our government and leadership are listening to the scientists and medical professionals and clamping down. It is not ideal at this time of year for sure but it is for the best, so that we do not have spikes and lose even more dear souls. We also have to remember to reach out to those folks who are struggling. If you have a neighbour who is alone, seniors who live down the street or you know someone who needs help, please reach out. Even if you do not have the financial resources to help, perhaps you can give them information that can help or even just to listen. Now I know we cannot go into houses to help but you can talk from the sidewalk or facetime or phone. We still have phones you know. Please make this Christmas about more than you and your family. Make it about helping someone who is struggling …. you never know what a phone call can do to lift someone’s spirits, to give them hope. Besides I truly believe that we are all here to help one another. If we were meant to be alone …. there would not be 8 billion or so people on this planet. Reach out. Please. Let this be the part of 2020 that brings lightness to what has been a dark year for so many. We can do this.

With kindness, respect and compassion we will get through this pandemic.

Always, Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning All,

Welcome to a bright and clear blue sky on this Sunday morning.

Our time changed.

We flipped our clocks ahead by one hour here in Edmonton, Alberta.

I just returned from shovelling once again out front and going to look after Humphrey and Cynder.

Changing food, water, litter box and so on.

Then I gathered up Mr. Humphrey as he was happily waiting at the door for me to do so.

I carried the shovel in one hand and Humphrey in the other arm.

I am so happy to see that the snow has stopped falling.

We have so much.

I will have to shovel the driveway as well.

My driveway is at the back of the garage.

This morning I did some on the deck as well.

We have lots of ice build up so where there is ice, I left some snow cover.

Especially out front.

Gives a bit of traction when walking and less chance of falling and hurting oneself.

Thinking about all those folks including me that are out walking with their pups.

 

Yesterday was a great day.

My daughter, her husband and grand pups dropped by for a visit.

We had coffee and I share the chocolate chip cookies and no bake energy bites with them.

I also sent the remainder of the cookies home with them.

Less for me to eat.

 

Later on, Alvin’s best friend Teddy and his Mom are coming for tea and a visit.

Then we gals will head on over to the grocery store.

I am a bit anxious to see if our nearby grocery store still has bathroom tissue.

Some of the people I work with were telling stories that the places they had gone were out of bathroom tissue and Walmart actually had bare shelves.

If so, the worries of the Coronavirus have hit home for sure.

There are more and more reports on the news from around the world of shortages, closures of businesses and schools.

Hospitals are crazy busy.

I am going to remain calm in this storm.

Wash my hands as often as I usually do (after bathroom, after being in public and so on).

Covering ones face when coughing and sneezing and then washing hands is so important.

I even notice at work people taking great liberty with coughing and sneezing.

Forgetting that is how germs are spread.

We are cleaning our desks and workspaces with wipes.

When on the bus, I am wearing my gloves and not touching anything.

One night on the way home a teenager was on his cell phone, wiping his dripping nose with his hand, arm and sleeve and then going on his phone.

ARGH.

He was old enough to know better.

 

Anyway I am looking forward to seeing our friends later on.

Humphrey is downstairs.

Alvin is of course at my side.

Going to head to the shower, need to feel some refreshing water hit my body.

 

Thursday night we are going out for supper to celebrate my daughter’s 40th Birthday.

So excited to celebrate my baby’s birthday with my kids.

Tuesday is the birthday of my son-in-law’s brother.

Happy Birthday D (early).

 

Okay, time to get going here.

Lots to do.

Have to have some toast and coffee.

I think I have worked up an appetite.

Happy Happy Sunday.

 

Be kind and respectful always of everyone and everything in your path.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Living … One day at a time.

Good Morning, Yup still the A.M.

What a lazy morning.

Except for picking up Humphrey and looking after Cynder ….. it has been a morning of staying in pj’s and drinking coffee.

Now as the morning is evaporating I am thinking that I should get my act together.

Write this post, have a shower and get this day on the way.

The sun is shining and it feels warm outside.

Alvin is laying on his blue blanket beside me and Humphrey is under the desk by my feet.

Funny how they ALL feel the urge or need to be with me at all times.

It is groovy.

I think that I will share some more of our Christmas photos and a couple of stories.

 

MILO, Alvin and ASPEN

CHRISTMAS DAY – Kids took the pups for a walk while I prepped items for our supper.

CHRISTMAS with HUMPHREY

Alvin lent a paw as he is the gift opening expert in our family (and always eager to help)!

Humphrey and his gifts …. now I know why he was interested in the bag under our tree.

I read the label and there was “catnip” in some of the toys.

Not your typical Christmas Dinner but it was requested.

Everyone was happy …..

BOXING DAY shenanigans ….. Humphrey decided to be a WINDOW SILL LIVING ORNAMENT.

Alvin’s best friend Teddy, his little sister Kobi, their Mom and her sister, Aunt J ….. paid us a visit.

We had gifts for Teddy and Kobi but for some reason I only had one photo and there was a human in the photo so I decided not to share.

Teddy’s Mom handed me this huge box for Alvin.

So I placed it on the sofa and Alvin set to work opening it.

It took him a long while and I lent a hand here and there.

The gift was in a weed/grass trimmer box.

We had the box exposed when Teddy’s Mom handed a smaller gift to me and said “this is for Alvin.”

I was confused.

It dawned on me that the gift was in fact for me, not for Alvin.

Teddy’s Mom recorded the whole opening.

I was shocked and surprised at the gift.

It was actually a weed/grass trimmer for me.

I have wanted my own for a long time but never making it into the budget.

Teddy’s Dad wanted to get this gift for me, he researched the brand and bought it.

What what a crazy Christmas 2019.

Full of surprises.

 

One shot of all three of the pups …. Kobi dropped the chew treat a split second before I snapped the photo.

It would have been darling to have had all three of them with a chew treat in their mouth.

 

My daughter texted me yesterday to let me know that “my big gift” was still at their home.

She had mentioned Christmas Eve when we were opening the presents that something seemed to be missing.

Yes, something was missing and was home on their kitchen table.

She asked if I would like a picture of the gift and I said “No, thank you, I would like a surprise.”

This truly has been the season for surprises.

 

Well I had better hop into the shower before it is afternoon.

Feeling lazy but that is okay ….

Lots of time to do things…..

 

I hope that you enjoyed your holidays, your Christmas as much as I, we.

Humphrey managed to take over Alvin’s blue blanket and Alvin is patiently waiting in the hallway for me.

 

Happy Friday.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin & Humphrey ….

 

Living … One day at a time.

Good Monday Morning.

Despite my non-intentional attempts to throw a wrench into my weekend, the weekend turned out to be success.

Now mind you I was not able to give Mr. Alvin a haircut or a bath.

I was not able to wrap the few gifts that I am exchanging.

I WAS ABLE TO FINISH THE CHRISTMAS BAKING IN ONE WEEKEND.

The Mincemeat tarts (don’t really count them) will do closer to Christmas or really anytime.

Just open the tart shell box and the jar of mincemeat and bake.

Does not get much easier than that.

I could not make the mincemeat for the price of the jar from the store.

Well for some reason I was off my game this weekend and forgot to take photos of all the baking.

It would not have fit on the table.

The missing item was the CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

FUDGE = 76 bite size pieces

SUGAR COOKIES = 18 dozen – (5 of which were earmarked for the girls, the young friends) = 13 dozen for home and work.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES = 10 dozen

= TIRED and SO HAPPY it is done.

 

We managed to get some walks in over the weekend which was good.

I spent pretty much all of my waking hours this weekend on my feet.

Between baking, laundry, baking and walking.

No time to sit around.

But OMG so happy to have it done.

I believe that Mr. Alvin is happy as well.

He spent most of the weekend going in and out to the back yard.

He could feel that I was not going to have time for time.

I didn’t have time for me.

So grateful that I can do what I love.

I do love to baking.

Not always in these quantities but I love to bake.

 

Well, okay time to stop writing.

Time to go downstairs and finish getting ready.

Pick up the poop from earlier this morning in the backyard.

I like to keep it done.

No surprises in the spring when it melts.

That can be down right nasty.

 

I hole that you had a great weekend.

This weekend deliver a few cards to friends in the neighbour along with some treats.

Wrap presents.

Hopefully will be able to pick up the blade for Alvin’s clipper this weekend so that he can have his long overdue haircut on Saturday.

That will be enough.

Oh, tonight place a NORWEX order.

 

Happy Monday.

With kindness and respect I shall get through another year.

2019 has been quite the year.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Living … One day at a time.

Wow, welcome to Monday and the actual calendar date of Thanksgiving.

We celebrate yesterday with our family.

The wind is blowing and the sky is grey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

I was chatting with my friend G yesterday morning.

Catching up.

She mentioned about going to COSTCO, so I asked her to keep any eye out for casual, around the house, sweatpants.

G said that she would.

She texted me from COSTCO as she found sweatpants for $14.99.

G picked me up two pair one charcoal grey and one black.

I must say they are the most comfortable pants that I have had in a long time.

Wished I could wear them to work.

Will be great for walking with Alvin.

My other pants will be tossed with a small ceremony.

They served me well.

So appreciated them but the holes can no longer be sewn, time for them to go.

These dear old pants are over 10 years old.

Wore them everyday.

YAY, thank you my friend for the new pants.

 

 

My four charges from yesterday.

The kids had to make a trip to COSTCO so dropped pups off.

Miss Aspen, Baby Milo, Master Teddy and Rockstar Alvin

How I managed to get them all looking to the camera was an achievement.

Oh my babies.

Thanksgiving

I forgot to take a photo when the food was served but the buns that my friend made were under the tee towel.

The turkey platter was filled with desserts.

One would think we were feeding twenty people, nope just three of us.

I provided my friend’s homemade apple pie and I bought a pumpkin pie (cut into wedges).

The kids brought some cake that one of their friends had made.

So we were surrounded by loving hands.

We had a great time.

Well we went to bed late and got up at 5:00 and then back to the sofa for a few hours.

So it is now after 9:00 a.m. ……

Guess it will be a quiet day.

I might have to work on the photos.

Just noticed that the total of photos I have on the computer is now over 33,000 and almost 1,000 videos.

ARGH.

OR may be a project during Christmas holidays.

 

I hope that you all have an awesome day.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Living … One day at a time.

Hello, Welcome to Sunday the 13th day of October, 2019.

We had rain overnight but now the sky is beginning to clear.

Last year at Thanksgiving it was raining and I believe it turned to snow.

Argh, I surely don’t like to say that word before Halloween.

It would be so wonderful if it would remain “brown” until November.

 

Change of plans, Alvin’s friend Teddy is arriving this morning instead of for a sleepover.

He should arrive in 30 minutes or so.

Yesterday we had Humphrey over for a bit.

We enjoyed a beautiful walk but were sad to leave Humphrey here at home.

I decided to take my phone so that I could snap some photos and am happy that I did.

My family are planning to come for supper.

We are always happy to have them over.

 

Keeping this short this morning.

But I wanted to share some photos of our walk late yesterday afternoon.

It was so lovely.

I also raked the front lawn as it was covered with a thick blanket of leaves.

Also cleaned out the middle area that has stones as it was covered in leaves as well.

So many leaves.  I filled two big black garbage bags.

Alvin and Humphrey watched from the living room as I cleaned away.

 

Here are some of the shots from our walk yesterday.

In the park not too far from our house.

Alvin sniffing away.

The fountain still running.

Leaves covering most of the trees but so many different colours.

So beautiful.

 

 

One cute story to share from near the beginning of our walk yesterday.

We had just arrived at the park when a car slowed down and pulled over.

I realized it was some neighbours.

Mom and three small boys.

The boys were screaming with delight at the sight of Alvin.

The older boy was out of his seatbelt and trying to get his head out of the window.

Mom and I were trying to speak to each other but all I heard her say was “I can’t hear anything but ALVIN.”

The boys were all screaming his name.

It was at that exact second that I came to realize something.

“Alvin is a ROCK STAR.”

Everyone loves him.

Everyone knows his name.

The kids get so excited to see him and even some adults.

So I have a ROCK STAR living in the house.

Doesn’t get better than that ….

Unless he had the finances of a Rock Star …. but I am happy that he is so loved and adored.

Makes me proud.

Now I also realize something …. he does have that mindset of a celebrity.

 

 

Okay almost time for Teddy to arrive.

Time to get that coffee perking.

I need a cup.

 

Happy Sunday and if you are celebrating Thanksgiving on this day …..

Well Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Enjoy your day.

 

 

Always, Carol & Alvin