Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are doing great. Up at 5:15, (well up at 3:00 as both of us had to “go”) for the day. Alvin has had his breakfast and I have made our bed and had a shower. Now time to be creative! I love having the opportunity to write this post every day or most days. This post, this blog is meant to be light and fun although there are days when it can be very dark. Everyone has days where it is difficult to keep that bright light and positive energy and mindset shining. Today is a bright light kind of day. I hope that it is for you as well. There is a full moon. I am not sure how many folks out there have the belief that a full moon can play with people’s behaviors but I tend to lend toward “yes.” When you work with the public – you can definitely see it. The sky was beautiful clear with the moon up front and centre and stars scattered about. Happy Wednesday!

Last night I made the “Hamburger Quiche” for supper minus the ground beef and using the YVES Mexican blend “meatless meat.” It was a nice reminder of home, I mean Regina. Edmonton is home but Saskatchewan will always be my “home, home.” I was born and raised there until my early teenage years and spent most of my adult life in Saskatchewan, so it is home. Back to supper. The Quiche was good and I had peas for a vegetable. I usually do not have ketchup in the house or even use it but I bought the smallest bottle that I could as you just have to have it with this dish. Not sure why.

I was nervous when I opened the front door last night and Alvin was not there. Two second later he bounded down the up stairs. My heart deflated as I realized that I had not put up the baby gate to keep him downstairs when I am not at home. I had forgot. I think that our bed is one of his happy places as he can look out of the window as he no longer can get up on the chairs in the living room. A few years ago I would not have thought twice about preventing him from going upstairs but now in his golden years, I do not want him to slip and or fall and injury himself. Whew. Thank goodness he is okay. I will remember today. I will.

We had a good evening after supper and dishes were done. It was close to 7:30 when I sat down with a cup of tea. That is one thing about working at the office – the commute. Honestly I do not like it. We lose two hours each day commuting. That is two hours that I missing with my Alvin. I do enjoy the conversation with Michelle, my coworker and carpool driver. But I would much rather be at home. I can tell you when we were outside at 3:00 a.m. and I went to take a breath of air and my lungs hurt from the extremely cold air this morning, I just wanted to go back into the house and curl up under the blanket with Alvin. Which we did because it was 3:00 a.m., lol. You know what I mean.

Today and tomorrow at the office and then the long weekend. Remembrance Day, November 11th.

Have a wonderful day everyone! I hope that you are able to “shine brightly” on this day!

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: couple of things to do and we will even have some cuddle time before I leave at 7:00. We are leaving earlier because of the snow and ice on some of the streets.

2021

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to Friday, December 24, 2021. Are you excited? I am so excited. I am so grateful that I am off work at noon which will give me proper time to get ready for our company. I am close but there are some finishing touches that I like to do before receiving company. You know what I mean! Alvin and Cookie are doing well.

My Christmas Story

It was quiet in the house as I worked my office job from the kitchen table, no sounds of pups.

The tree was decorated and the fireplace ready for the jolly soul in the red suit.

All of a sudden there was clanging and banging noises coming from the living room.

I sprang from my chair to see what the matter!

There I found little Miss Cookie surrounded by Alvin’s toys,

Sitting in the big chair by the window.

How this little one had got those toys all up in the big chair, I will never know.

Alvin sitting nearby on the sofa, watching in amazement.

The pups settled in,

All ready for tonight.

They will be surprised by the treats in their stockings,

The gifts under the tree.

From Our House to Yours We Wish you a Merry Christmas.

May your New Year be filled with Good Health, Joy and Abundance.

Written by CYLewis on December 24, 2021.

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

Merry Christmas

Love Carol, Alvin and Cookie

P.S. we are all so excited for tonight. I cannot wait to see Alvin open his gift.

Thought for the day …

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 11th day of May, 2018.

Perhaps you may have wondered what happened to my post yesterday.

Well I had quite the morning.

Wednesday night my left ear plugged just before bed.

My little four-legged alarm clock woke me up at 4:00 a.m. – Thursday.

We toddled off downstairs so he could go outside (not raining yet) and have his breakfast.

While he was outside I always do the prep work for my breakfast.

Took the pre-cooked steel cut oats out of the fridge and placed in a bowl.

Placed the bowl in the microwave with a lid …. ready to be heated later.

Put a banana by the bowl to share with Alvin at breakfast.

Grabbed the water jug and lemon juice out of the fridge and made my lemon & water.

Poured a glass full.

By this time Alvin was ready to come back into the house.

I had already set the alarm for a 75 minutes which would have had us up about 5:20 a.m.

Opened one set of blinds in the living room.

We then headed to the sofa to have some snuggles and extra zzz’s till the alarm on the microwave went off.

I made sure that I slept with my right ear upward so that I could hear the buzzer.

At some point I jumped up and looked at my watch.

In sheer panic and disbelief, I noted that the time was 6:40 a.m.

A little over 5 minutes until my carpool arrives.

I ran upstairs like I was on fire.

Into the bathroom, brushed my teeth while grabbing my face soap – ready to wash my face.

Then the moisturizer.

Looking about 3 seconds into the mirror, I figured no time for makeup.

Some advantages of being “60” – I am not out to impress anyone.

No no makeup.

Luckily I always have my clothes laid out the night before so they were ready for me to put on.

I even took a second to put on earrings, my rings, and a necklace (which was laid out).

I even remembered to wear deodorant and underwear.

Check – pants and top on.

Although without having the thermostat turned on – it has been pretty cool in the house in the mornings – so unlikely I would forget my pants – just saying.

I am not totally without some sense of moral obligation – I grabbed my eyebrow pencil, lip stuff and mascara and took them downstairs.

Alvin looked confused as I flew threw the kitchen.

Opening the back door and now it was raining.

I left the door open to see if he needed to go back outside.

No time for breakfast, I grabbed the oatmeal out of the microwave and put into the fridge.

While in the fridge I grabbed my lunch and picked up the banana and placed into the lunch bag.

Somedays it pays to be prepared.

Alvin decided not to go back outside again.

Locked the back door and ran to the front door.

Opened the closet door.

Grabbed some shoes and threw off my socks.

Grabbed my purse, umbrella and jacket.

Managed to get my coat on …. set the alarm.

I remember Alvin looking dumbfounded as I said a quick good-bye, have a great day and was out of the door.

Luckily my ride was a couple of minutes late but I was already out of the house …. ready to be picked up.

When I explained my morning ….my friend just smiled and said “Next time, call me …. we are early enough that you could have had a few minutes.

Nice friend, right.

All the way to work I had to have my head facing toward her to hear what she said as my left ear is plugged.

ARGH.

I get to work and usually I am one of the first ones there so most times I make the coffee.

Not that day …. another coworker had stopped at Tim Hortons and picked up coffee and tim-bits.

My hero.

So I had a banana and tim-bits for breakfast.

What a morning.

It is amazing what one can do in a handful of minutes.

I am grateful for two things (actually a great many things) and that is being prepared in advance and the second being it is was not a shower day.

Thankfully my hair looked okay.

Did I mention that I quickly brushed it and put it back (at home).

At work I decided to forego the make up …. except for a wee bit of eyebrow pencil.

So that is it ….. my reason for no blog….. my reason for no writing in my gratitude journal and no breakfast at home.

Usually when my routine is disturbed that much – the rest of my day pays for it.

Not today.

I got so much work done.

Perhaps because I could only hear out of one ear and was not disturbed.

We are all connected to our routines, that is for sure.

Well I hope that this brought a smile to your face.

I am quite certain that I looked pretty funny as I played SUPERWOMAN zipping around the house yesterday morning.

NOTE to self:  remember you really are not old ….

Special Hello to: my daughter who is a reminder that life is certainly worth living

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

PS:  I managed to coax the boy to remain in bed until closer to 5:00 a.m. – we did have 20 minutes on the sofa – but I was really careful and did not fall back to sleep.

The sun is rising and the rain clouds have passed over.  We did get a great bit of rain yesterday – hopefully enough to help out the grass, trees, gardens and such.

YAY, today is Friday.  I am so happy for that …… enjoy, my friends, enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 15th day of August, 2016.

South view from my house there are rain clouds.

North view from my house the sky is somewhat clear as the sun begins to rise in the east.

Funny how different the weather can be from one end of the house to the other.

Well it looks like my vacation is over.

Where did almost two weeks go?

I kicked around home for the most part.

But did go to dinner and a movie with my daughter, lunch with my Steeped Tea leader and friend, had coffee with friends and lots of walks with Alvin.

Talked on the phone with friends from far away.

I purged things around the house so that is always good.

Starting to read again.

Worked on tea sales.

Did some yard work.

Snuggled more with Alvin.

Played with Alvin.

It was a good two weeks and I am grateful for the time off being at home with Alvin.

 

Lots of changes at the office and more to come next week so I guess that is good.

Change is good, right.

As good as a rest!

Then I should be conquering the world at that rate.

 

Well I thank you all for reading my blog.

I love to write about the things around me.

Love, life and Memories.

 

Have an awesome Monday.

Hold loved ones dear and always, always tell the people that you care about that you love them.

Time has a way of passing quickly.

You can put off dusting the living room until tomorrow.

You can put off cleaning out your hall closet until a week from now.

But always tell those people important to you that you care when you have the opportunity.

For that you cannot put off.

 

Special Hello to: my family, friends and new friends – thank you for sharing in my life.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Just a shot of me Alvin ……

 

Thought for the day ……

Good morning and welcome to Thursday the 23rd day of July, 2015.

The sky is dark blue to the south and I can see the sun peering over the houses and shining brightly on my neighbour’s garage.

This morning while I was putting on my makeup – Alvin stood by the register – looked down – barked – kept starring down.

Sniffed …. took his hunting posture.

He did this for a few minutes and then gave up.

Oh, please GOD that it only have been a bug …..

It is with a heavy heart that I write these words.

I have mentioned on several occasions about my neighbour’s cat, Miss Aussie.

Miss Aussie passed away yesterday.

She had some health issues, and in the end just stopped eating.

Miss Aussie lived a great life.

Her favourite treat was “halibut” ….. yes, her Momma would buy her that fish.

She loved it …..

She kept us all hopping, literally …..

She would always swat at me when I came to the house.

Alvin loved her even though he never was able to get too close to her.

I will miss seeing her sitting on the living room ledge watching the world go by.

She really was a beauty ….. so pretty.

Gorgeous long hair.

After six years of being her neighbour, she was finally starting to warm up to me.

One time when I was watching over her while her Momma was away, she jumped onto the sofa and sat about two feet away, I was so excited that I could barely sit still.  This was huge for Miss Aussie.

Another time she walked right up to me, and did not take a swipe.

She was definitely a one woman cat.

Her Momma loved her so much and will miss her always.

Me and Alvin will miss her.

All those who knew her will miss her, too.

We loved you Aussie ….. we love you.

Miss Aussie,

Born 1999 – 2015.

Rest in Peace our friend.

Special Hello to: all those folks who lost a beloved friend, a family member in their pet.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day……

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 6th day of March, 2014.

Snowed overnight and is snowing now.

It has been an interesting morning here in our household.

We were having a somewhat normal morning …. I was sitting at the kitchen table writing in my gratitude journal …. WHEN….

Something went flying across the floor to the living room with Alvin in hot pursuit.

Totally took me off guard and I “almost” screamed …… I went up in my “upright fetal position” ……

Alvin stood in his “hunter stance” at the end of our sofa.

OH great, I had felt relatively safe in the living room even though I knew the “mouse” was in the kitchen.

We have been trying to catch this creature since last Wednesday.

He has been tricking us by eating the peanut butter in the traps, pooping and going to the next one.

So they do not work.

Last night we stopped and picked up more traps and the “ultra sonic” sensor plug-in thing ….

Perhaps this is what is making it brave …… to run across the floor with all of the lights on with both of us here.

So now I have a dilemma ….. not much time before I have to run and catch the bus.

I guess I will be brave and set one of the new traps we picked up last night ….. in the kitchen of course ….. or maybe I will set it in at the end of the sofa …. although with us upstairs it is likely not there.

I even held open the front door with hopes that it might run out ( I had Alvin sit on the upstairs steps).

So exciting my life.

Well I had better go,

Round …. I don’t know …… feels like 147 ……

Me- 0   Mouse-6

This has been perhaps the worse eight days of my life ….. just saying.

All I can say “please stay inside the little box” …….

Special Hello to: all those folks with advice on how to catch an unwanted visitor.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day….

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 23rd day of October, 2013.

Another great day to be alive.

Good news our Miss Penny is feeling better, and we hope to have good news about her tests soon.

Last night I raked our front lawn.

Always amazing how many leaves can fall off one tree, and also ones blown from the neighbour’s yard as we have no breaks between our lawns.

Sure were beautiful colours.

The richness of the burgundy, the brilliance of the gold and the fun of the orange.

This is part of the reason why I love this time of year.

At the same time, I have a single red rose blooming in my back “rock” garden.

Amazing.

Soon we will be continuing onto the next season.

This also holds a specialness in my heart.

I love Christmas.

Not too long and I will be putting up my Christmas Tree.

OH yeah…

Take one Saturday, my wonderful daughter and a couple cups of cocoa, a few decorations or so, and you end up with a Christmas tree all done up in the middle of my living room.

So lots to look forward to in the near future.

Halloween just around the corner.

Life continues to be amazing.

Special Hello to: my friends Les and Gwen who travelled to Edmonton and tried to see me but alas I missed them.  I am sad that I missed seeing them.  Thank you friends for thinking of me.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday, the 26th day of July 2013.

How are you this slightly cooler, overcast morning …. well at least that is my reality this Friday morning.

How much are your feelings and moods driven by the weather?

If it is sunny, are you automatically happy and glad?

If it is rainy and windy, are you feeling a bit sad or not quite happy?

Or does it even matter to you?

Some of us folks definitely feel the changes in the weather.

I do love the rain but when it is overcast and raining for days I can feel my usual happy energetic self drift away and replaced by one that is a bit moody, and definitely less energy.

The sun does provide us with energy and that natural boost.

I can see the sun through the clouds so it will shine today.

I hope that whatever your weather you are feeling good.

I have found that when the sun doesn’t shine if I take the time to just focus on positive energy it helps.

Also Vitamin D …. which reminds me I am out and should get some.

I have enclosed a photo of a “rainbow” I have in my living room whenever the sun shines through my living room window.

ENJOY…… a bit of sunshine and colour is always nice …..

Special Hello to: WRITERS ……. take a chance …. I am….

P.S.  read the second line of my story …… every day I shall write one more line until the story has been told.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Rainbows in my House

I haven’t figured out the logistics of doing this so bear with me.  But here we go…..FIRST LINE …..July 25, 2013

As we walk along the water’s edge the coolness leaves my skin with goose bumps and prickles, as if there is someone behind me.

July 26, 2013

Alvin pulls on his leash and brings me back, the fragrance of freshly cut grass fills my nostrils; my heart beat quickens and I am unable to shake the feeling.

Thought for the day……

I was going through my 3000 + emails in my hotmail mailbox this morning,  and was re-reading comments from my friends and family about my BLOG, some about Facebook and some just life.  For some reason, I tend to think of emails as letters, and have a hard time deleting them.  So I made some folders and “saved” the important ones.  The others I deleted.  I only got through about  maybe 300.  It is a big job.  Being a sentimentalist is a FULL TIME job.  Really it is.  As I read all of the kind words and stories that were brought on by the stories on my blog – I realized that “I AM TRULY THE MOST BLESSED PERSON ON THE PLANET”.   When someone tells you that your words brings tears to their eyes or a smile to their face or laughter to their soul, you know that you are truly blessed.  The night before last I was having a “small pity party” …. for one.  Unfortunately Alvin had to listen to the rants and raves and tears of a “semi depressed woman”.   But I am pleased to report that it only lasted for a short time.  It happened just when I went to bed.  You know when the house is quiet (because I forgot to turn on the dishwasher) and the furnace had not cut in just yet ….. anyway it happens.  All is well – great in fact.  I am back on track.  Just wanted to share that with you.  To prove that I am human, too.  We all are.  If you are extra blessed, and have a companion that speaks your language (not Alvin, he speaks dog and I have yet too figure it all out, LOL) you can bounce things off that person (I do not mean, like a vase or anything) but your thoughts and feelings.  I have Alvin in bed beside me at night and although I love him to pieces – he has not figured out how to articulate “it will be okay, Mama so please just go to sleep” ……  He is pretty smart so perhaps one day he will.  Okay, I got off track here.

The thought for this day is really that if you are surrounded by friends and family whether they are down the street or a province away …… you are not alone.  There is email, Facebook, Skype and the good old reliable “telephone” so no excuses not to reach out.  Even if it is 10:00 at night – if you need someone – remember to call.

Have a great great great day EVERYONE.  You are all so important to me.  I shall meet you in my dreams.  We will hook up at the BIG log cabin in the mountains – in front of a roaring fireplace – laughter filling the room and we shall all be sipping on hot cocoa (or baileys) as we gaze out of the wall sized windows onto the most incredible scenery in the world.  So until then, I am going for a cup of coffee.  As I sit on the sofa sipping on my coffee, I shall gaze out my living room windows to the street where the snow banks are higher than the rooftop of most of the cars that are parked across the street from my house…..and I shall think ……. isn’t life GRAND.

Love Always, Carol