A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! Happy Chinese New Year’s Eve to all my friends who celebrate this day. How exciting. The sky is clear with some happy clouds as the sun begins to rise in the morning sky. Thank goodness today is Saturday.

I am sorry that I did not get a post done yesterday but I was feeling under the weather and took a sick day. Partway through the afternoon, I felt very good, with a calm and with energy so I started some laundry, vacuumed and washed the main floor. Not long later, Alvin had to go outside and, I noticed that he once again had blood in his poop. This is the third time stopped and started over the past few weeks. My heart crashed to my the ground and those feelings of goodness and calm melted away. So I made a quick phone call to his Doctor for advice knowing that he will need likely “poop tests” and perhaps even blood tests. She suggested the first so we have an appointment for Monday morning. Another perfect way to begin the work week. Some of you may know that last Monday my employer made an announcement that shattered my plane of existence, literally. So there is a lot going on in my life and most of it crappy, very crappy. I will and am having to make some very major life decisions which is never fun. Tonight I had been planning to go to my friend Lucy’s house for supper/dinner celebrating Chinese’s New Year’s Eve but honestly now after Alvin’s change once again, the wind that was remaining in my sails that left and I feel very deflated. I know that he would be okay with Maddie for a few hours but I just cannot leave him so I have to confirm that I will not be attending which means that Maddie will not be required to come over to stay with Alvin. I know it meant some extra money for her and she will be disappointed. I should likely just give her the money. I wished that I could stay wrapped up in the cocoon of this weekend and that our life would be perfect but alas it is not realistic to dig one’s head in the sand. I know in my head what I need to know but honestly I have no energy to what I need to do. I have no idea what will happen on Monday and I am scheduled to go to the office Wednesday through Friday. The gal that was helping with Alvin the most is now working a lot. Oh in addition to the big announcement we are back to work five days per week starting March 13, 2023. So big question, what happens with Alvin. What? I have no answers.

I am going to have a shower and perhaps the warm water will wash away some of my despair and energize me again. I have been up and down all week. Just when I think that I have made a decision, another thought or comment comes rolling in and I am at a loss again.

Alvin was alone on his birthday, this 14th except for the neighbour that stopped in to check on him. I was not home until almost 5:00 p.m. and we had a little “party” between the two of us. A quiet night.

I must note on the upside that I did not see blood in his poop last night or this morning. But it is back to being very loose once again. I know not the news you may want to be reading.

When we were outside earlier the air was so warm and we both could have stayed out there forever. I would like to take him for a walk but will have to see what the poop situation is …..

My new eyeglasses are causing me some discomfort so I will need to run over to the Optomotrist as luckily they are open from now until 4:00 p.m. It will be a quick walk and Alvin should be okay while I am away.

Time to hit the shower. The bedding has been changed.

I hope that you have an awesome Saturday. I do know that things will work out for us, they usually do but like anything it usually takes time.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! I hope that this post finds you doing well. Hard to believe today is Monday, November 28, 2022. Almost the end of November 2022. Where has the time gone? Almost time to start the countdown to Christmas. Do not want to start too early, lol.

Yesterday I borrowed my neighbour’s car and went shopping to the nearby strip mall where I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and Bone & Biscuit and Save-On-Foods. The first place that I went to at Shoppers was the Post Office to mail a small parcel and Christmas Cards, what did I find, CLOSED sign. I was grateful to find out from a clerk who happened to be walking past that the Post Office would open at Noon. This was about 10:45 am, so that was okay. I had some things that I wanted to pick up at Shoppers so I consulted my list on my phone. Sometimes I bring a paper list but this time it was more efficient to have the phone so that I could delete the items that I bought without carrying a pen. After that I headed to the Bone & Biscuit to pick up Christmas gifts, possibly a new sweater and harness for Mr. Alvin, only to find that it was closed until noon. What is this new business, lol? So I took my purchases and placed them in the car and was off to the grocery store which I knew for a fact that it was open. When I arrived inside the store I grabbed a cart and consulted my list. There were a number of customers in the store but it was not too bad. The cashier was young, friendly and I really appreciated the way that he packed my groceries. I almost forgot to drop off the batteries that I had placed in the bags provided (they were in with my bags that I had brought to the store). Old batteries dropped off. Another items off my list but in hindsight I forgot to grab more bags! OH well, next time. I checked over the receipt to ensure that nothing was charged incorrectly as he had initially charged the wrong price for a non-food item that I had picked up for a gift. Who knew that I would find something that was requested on my pick for Secret Santa. Loaded up the car and then back to Shoppers to mail the parcel and Christmas cards including one to Sweden to my longtime “pen pal” Ingrid. No lineup, how wonderful. Then I was off to Bone & Biscuit where I checked my list for the items that I wanted to purchase for Mr. Alvin, Aspen and Milo for Christmas. I found a sweater, new leash and toy for Alvin and then a toy each for my grandpups. Success. I even received 10% off my purchase due to the points that I had accumulated. Then back to the car, loaded up and on my way home.

Once I was home, I unloaded the car with a few trips and then returned the car keys to my friend. She was down with something and had been resting on the sofa. Poor girl. Her boyfriend was relaxing on the sofa, just having a quiet lazy day. He drives long distance trucking. Alvin was enjoying sniffing around the bags. I had to put the bag up that had his Christmas present in it. They must put something inside those items or else just the scent from the store lingering, I do not know because I semi hid the bag in the spare room behind a large rubbermaid which is containing other Christmas presents and he keeps going in and sniffing. He cannot get to the bag with his gifts but he sure knows something is in there. Funny. I unpacked and as I was putting the groceries away, I realized that one item was not there. I looked back over everything and not there. So I texted my friend to see if I could borrow her car once again and before you know it, I was on my way, back to the store. ARGH. Back at the store, a young man who had just come back from bringing cards into the store, came back to Customer Service and asked if “he could help me,” I said yes and explained the situation. He said that he remembered one of the cashiers had a list of the items that were left at cash and had returned them to their places in the store. He just had to find the list. He found the list and then another clerk came to Customer Service. They were able to secure another item for me and then I was on my way. YAY. Normally, I would have not bothered but this item was almost $10.00. Too much money to throw away. After I put everything away, I got Mr. Alvin into his harness and sweater (not new ones, although I did try them on and they fit perfect) and we went for a walk. I was so fast trying them on that I think he will forget what they looked like, lol. We enjoyed a walk. Then back home. I decided to bring up the ladder and change the light bulbs and clean the light fixture by the back door. Could not get it down so I texted another neighbor’s son to see if he could come and help me, he said yes. In the meantime, I replaced a bulb in another fixture. I am so blessed and was happy to get these chores done and for the help. I e transferred him some money for helping me as this was the second weekend in a row, I reached out to him. I cleaned out and rearranged the back cabinet / pantry before starting supper. After supper it was a quiet evening.

Whoops time is slipping away and is almost time to start work. I have the coffee ready to plug in.

Have a great Monday. Stay warm.

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

I am grateful to be surrounded by great people.

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am great. Alvin is whining because he has anxiety crossing from the hallway across the laminate floor to his bed in my office. Poor guy. Now he wants me to hold him while he has a drink of water. He is getting some pretty odd behaviors in his old age. I am certain that he can see so that is not the problem. Just has a problem with different textures. He is so darn cute even when he is not happy. Hard to be mad at him.

Well this morning it is snowing. More snow. I was speaking to my sister from Saskatchewan last night and they have so much snow and unbelievably COLD temperatures. We just go from being bitterly cold to warm and snow and then rain. She did say that it warmed up overnight one time and then it rained. Freezing rain. Froze the doors on her car, shut. Oh my goodness Mother Nature has a dark sense of humour to bring us rain in the middle of our coldest temperatures of the year. Why oh why? I guess I cannot really blame her as look what we are doing to the environment. All of this strange/odd/weird weather is more than likely a result of what is happening to the environment. We have to do better and sooner than later.

Another thing I wanted to mention was learning to say “No.” I have a problem with that. Over the years I have become a bit better at using the “No” word but clearly not as much as I should says my dear sister. I love her. Her sense of humour is over the charts. Back to the No. I do have a problem with saying No. I guess I have always been a people pleaser and it makes me feel like people won’t like me if I say no. But I made a personal promise to her to “just say no.” I am practising. Mostly it is to do with having parties or selling something and sometimes when they come to the door with fundraisers. When you have a senior dog as a companion, it can be expensive. So I will be watching more closely. I do pay my bills on time but the saying no directly affects my after bills budget. So that is where I have to be more careful. Whether it is saying no to yourself or to someone else. Always make sure you look after yourself first before saying yes to someone else. Just like the flight attendant who says if the oxygen masks comes down – put yours on first before helping others. Makes sense right. I am not saying to say no all of the time but we have to be more aware of when we do. It is okay to say no. It really is.

Well on that note. It is time to getting prepared for work. Slide over to the next desk and get signed into everything. Oh, Alvin is looking at his water dish once again. Better go.

Have a wonderful day. Be safe and careful.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. You do not have to feel guilty for saying no. That is what I am struggling with and will learn to get through it.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Sunday morning? Alvin and I are well. I guess that I really cannot drink coffee any longer later in the day because I was awake for hours after we went to bed or at least it felt like it.

Funny or strange story. So we were up at a reasonable time for a Sunday. I put on the coffee and went to clean up the early morning – middle of the night poop from the snow bank on the deck then came upstairs turning on the computer for it to start up while I made the bed. When I came back to start this post, I found that the screen was GRAY, I thought, now what. I did not get too bent out of shape. At first I did think that my computer had “died.” Grabbing my phone I googled “gray screen when starting up a MAC” and it came back with a list of things to do. Most of which I had no idea of what they meant. I would have google the suggestions. Anyway, I decided to turn it off and then went to brush my teeth, wash up and get dressed. When I came back I turned the power button on again and voile the computer was on and you will never guess what was displayed on the middle of the screen over top of the screensaver? You will never guess in a million years. I was dumbfounded. Big time. There was a long statement about MONEY. Money is magnetic energy. You are a magnet attracting to you all things, via the signal you are emitting through your thoughts and feelings. To become a power money magnet: and then it listed a bunch of things to do. How did the Universe know that I was thinking about money, actually the highlight of my thoughts last night was the “lack of money.” Perhaps it was more about the money aspect in my current situation than the coffee that kept me up last night. When I read the words, I could not believe that it. I think that the Universe was telling me that I need to change my focus, change my thoughts and definitely change my feelings. Does not get anymore clear than that. Really. Of all the things that would come up on my screen after the computer would not start, it is eerie and strange but comforting and wonderful. I am grateful for all that I have, truly I am. I have a beautiful house, I am in good health, I have wonderful family and friends, I have a pup who keeps me company and on my toes, I have a job and can work from home to be with him, I have so much in so many ways. So time once again to change my thoughts and feelings about money. Yesterday and for the past little while I have been concentrating more on the lack of than all that I have. Time to clean up my thoughts and feelings. Right! I am so excited. What a blessed way to start the day and who would have thought it all happened because my computer would not start, the GRAY screen – ended up being a GREEN screen. Wow, there are no words right now to explain how I am feeling. Alvin is quiet because he knows.

Yesterday was a busy day. I did laundry. We actually went for a bit of a walk as it was so warm out. We got as far as one of our friends houses and saw her across the street picking up her mail, she crossed back and we chatted as she walked to her house. She invited us in and we ended up having coffee together, Alvin had a couple of treats and we saw her dog, Jaz. Jaz is 17 years old now I believe. She is deaf and going blind and has a heart condition but otherwise does pretty good. I don’t think that Alvin is old at 13. Anyway, we had a good catch up and then were on our way. We walked across the street and up the street going north where the sidewalks were pretty dry and did a quick walk before picking up the mail and going home. I actually had mail – my home insurance policy. I was a little nervous about opening it as one of my friends had mentioned that hers had gone up considerably and that was all that I needed was one more increase to my monthly budget. When I opened it up and did the math, I found that while it had increased, it was not quite $20 per month. It is still an increase but not too much considering. It would be wonderful if our income increased with all of the other increases. It will. I also saw two other neighbours while we were out and about. It was wonderful. People were out chipping away at the monstrous amount of ice that we have out front of our homes. I have some but not as bad as it was.

I was figuring out how much money I had for groceries when I saw that my friend had texted saying that she was going to COSTCO and did I want to go or give her my list? I had to recalculate my budget because of course, the home insurance increased payment was coming out at the end of February. We texted a couple of times before she called me. I ended up going to COSTCO which was great. It was nice to get out and have a little visit with another friend. We have fruit and veg again. I was down to a few pieces of chopped up carrots, a few grapes and two oranges. When my fridge is full, I really do feel rich.

Last night I hostessed another Fifth Avenue Collection Jewelry online party. My friend that sells FAC does all the work actually as she does the LIVE on Facebook. This time because we lost track of when the party was supposed to be, she did one LIVE for two hours. Kind of a nice change from the weekend long party with three LIVES of about one hour each. I was happy to have a few people join me. So much beautiful jewelry. I have so much but I love it all.

Well time to get this day going. Changing my mantra, writing up a cheque to myself for the money that I would like to have. I am rich. I am wealthy. I love money. Money comes to me easily and effortlessly.

I hope that you have a wonderful Sunday. Time to go and have that first cup of coffee as my coffee has perked. I am going to give Mr. Alvin a haircut and bath this afternoon. Tomorrow will do a bit of cleaning and then Tuesday back to work.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, gratitude, understanding, focus, possibilities with all the money that we need and want.

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you on the second day of December 2021? When we went to bed the sky was clear and I could see the stars. At 3:00 a.m., stars, at 4:30 a.m., overcast and now at 6:30 a.m. it is snowing. That wet sticky stuff. At least it does not appear that we had freezing rain – so hopefully the roads are okay for everyone when they are out and about this morning. It is still dark outside as the days quickly approach the shortest day of the year and then like magic they will start to lengthen. Alvin is patiently waiting for me outside the office door. Yesterday we thoroughly enjoyed a couple of walks to the park. I long for our walks around the neighbourhood but if Alvin can or only wants to walk to the park and home that will have to suffice. He does not appear to be in pain. This afternoon he has his regular vet appointment and will have his long nail trimmed.

Today is payday so I was up a bit early to pay bills and as I was on the computer anyway, thought that I would do my post before heading into the shower. So grateful for three pays this month. It is nice to have when it is a more expensive than usual month.

This afternoon I am borrowing my neighbour’s car so that I can pick up Alvin’s food, mail my Christmas cards and get groceries. We can walk to his appointment later but so nice not to have to worry about carrying things or catching a cab. Not sure that I am ready to catch a cab just yet. Today is a busy day for sure. Lots to do. I hope that I can find everything on my list.

Do you think about how all the flooding and fires will affect the food chain? When crops fail inevitably prices increase and also some things may temporarily be off the shelves. How does it affect the economy, the money that people have to spend. How do the farmers manage? Pretty intense thoughts for this early in the morning but that is where my brain went. I think of all the farmers in British Columbia who have had not only their lives and that of the animals threatened or harmed but of their livelihood threatened or destroyed. I always marvel at how farmers seem to carry on despite so much uncertainty. This morning I am thinking of the farmers in British Columbia and everywhere. Thank you for all that you do. We appreciate you. I hope that you and your families and the animals are safe and well.

On this Thursday, be safe and well.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Just a random beautiful photo of farm land. Not sure where it is but is very beautiful.

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Pexels.com

2021

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to Friday, November 19, 2021. Wow, Friday almost the weekend already. Man the time seems to fly. You know how much I love technology. Looks this morning the spacing on my post is different and I did not touch it. What the heck?

This weekend I will be writing up the remainder of my Christmas cards and letters so that I can post / mail them on my next payday. I am also waiting for my photos to be delivered so that I can add our “Christmas Photo” from Thanksgiving into the envelope. Once a year around Thanksgiving, usually in the fall, my daughter takes our (Alvin and mine) family photo. Now that seems strange to say family photo and only for me and Alvin but we have been saying it for years that way. This will be our 12th photo for me and Alvin.

Yesterday I took the afternoon off to take Mr. Alvin to the vet and sure enough he has another ear infection. He has one ear that seems to be more prone than the other but there was a bit of an infection in the other ear so we just had the medicine put in both ears (proactive). The bill was $335.20 between exam charges medicines. Yikes. He hasn’t been rubbing his ear or shaking his head so looks like the medicine is working. I am grateful that we have a vet so close by that we are able to walk. Yesterday afternoon was actually quite nice so we enjoyed the walk.

I cannot think of any wise words this morning or anything witty to say. I think that I am still in sticker shock about the vet bill. Seems like I can never get ahead and feel like I am slowly slipping behind. Also my pay cheque was about $20.00 less than usual due to increase of benefits. So our pay becomes less and everything else increases. I am not alone in this. I turned the thermostat way down in hopes it will help my next heating bill. Time to buckle way down. Way down. When I heard on an U.S. television channel that Americans would be spending records amounts of money this Christmas and holiday season as they saved money over the pandemic, I was shocked and surprised. How can this be? But I guess the prices of things in the U.S. has only recently started to increase. Here we have had high gas prices and other things such as food for a long time. Budgeting, budgeting and budgeting. I will be on a more strict one for sure.

Time to go and put on the coffee. Which reminds me, I am low on coffee and it will need to last until December 2nd, so I am going to make enough for two cups.

Have a great day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I had a slightly difficult time wanting to stay up this morning. Their were plans to be up earlier but ended up just before 8:00 a.m. Are there folks out there who are like me, who would love to be an early morning person but someone cannot bring themselves to get up at let’s say 6:00 a.m.? I manage to get up for work although now that I am at home, I push that time to the latest that I can and still able to fit in our morning routine. I have tried staying up later so that Alvin will sleep past 2:30 a.m. and most times he has been waking up at 4:00 or a bit earlier. Not quite sure what to do. I know that consistency is the key and I guess we have to find out groove, our place. I believe that part of “our problem” is that he will nap in the evening while I am watching television or whatever it is that I am doing unless I am outside working on something and then he is right at my side. I guess I have to spend less time on the sofa and more time doing things. Likely I do spend too much time on the sofa semi watching television and the rest of the time checking things on my smartphone. Here I am falling into the groove that I did not wish to when I first got the phone. On the bright side or upside, it is almost summer. There are many things to do outside so if we are busy and are in bed at/by 10:00 and then could sleep until 6:00 a.m., that would be perfection. 8 hours sleep or close. In a row would be ideal. Not sure how that would work with both Alvin and I be “older” and sometimes a full “bladder” wakes you up. Oh well. Life in the fast lane.

Yesterday I took a vacation day. What a great day I had. We were up fairly early and had a quiet morning. My daughter had a bit of a late start but she was here by noon and that was great. She brought the pressure washer so that I can clean the deck (hopefully) this weekend. Then we were on our way. I brought along a to go mug of freshly brewed coffee for her and I brought water as I had already drank way too much coffee. Always have to think of the bathroom thing. LOL. We decided to drop off her groceries that she had picked up from COSTCO on her way to my house to her house. She also picked up new eyeglasses which looked so good on her and had very “fancy looking” frames. At her house, I said hello to my son-in-law and to my grandpups who were excited to see me. I spent a few minutes giving Miss Aspen a belly rub. Soon we were on our way to a nearby community that was hosting the free cycle and I made an error in my previous post(s). It was Stony Plain that was having the freecycle weekend and June is when Spruce Grove (my daughter’s home) is hosting this event. We drove around and admired homes looking for people who were participating in the freecycle. The first thing we found was what looked like a garden hose and was very soft and flexible and two battery operated garden lights. We also pulled up to this house and we both spotted three vases. One was a dark copper, tall and cylindrical and the other were glass and beautiful. I was in love with the copper one and luck would have it my daughter loved the other two, most especially one that was greens and yellows so pretty. Another person pulled up right behind us but she stayed in the vehicle until we were finished. WE got lucky. We also found a bit later a bunch of medium and small Christmas tins which I love to use either to give baked goods to during the holidays or to wrap a small gift. We stopped at a garage sale and my daughter brought a brass bathroom towel holder stand. It was heavy and well made and worth the $10 that the woman asked for when we asked how much it was? We decided to drop off our finds at her home. At my daughter’s I got to meet the infamous pup LUNA who lives next door, formally met Luna’s parents and gave Miss Aspen more belly rubs along with Luna who kept giving me kisses when I rubbed her back. Mi Mi he would come for attention and then leave. The car was unloaded, a snack was had and bathroom breaks and then we were on the road once again. This time with stops to Canadian TIRE and then a greenhouse/nursery. I was able to pick up several items that I had wanted and a few extra things. It started to rain when we got to the greenhouse. We were standing in line. I said we would only wait 5 minutes or so and then leave as I did not have to buy flowers this time around. Before you know it was raining hard and people were starting to move inside. The young male employee was trying valiantly to keep people outside as it was against health regulations. No one listened. One older woman did not want to stand outside and basically just “pushed” her way into a corner and then when her husband came he just said he was with her. Some people. Most people moved into the entrance way which was frustrating the employee who was trying to keep people outside. Another employee came and told everyone that they could be shut down but no one seemed to care, they just did not want to get wet. We stood at the entrance, as we were third to go into the nursery. Anyway, there was chatter while we were there. Some laughs. No one seemed to remember the order except for me. Then we had a cart it had been sanitized and we were in the greenhouse. So many beautiful flowers and plants. While my daughter went to check out the succulents, I went to the other side. First find was some impatiens plants that were 6/$6.95 so I grabbed a couple of them. That was the last time that I looked at the price. The name of the game was to pick up some flowers and get home to Mr. Alvin. We were already later than I had originally planned. Although he had not been alone for very long as my neighbour had gone over around 3:00 p.m., I did not want to stress him more than necessary. I caught up to my daughter and we went around and picked up flowers that appealed to us. I picked up some many and was really excited. We were both excited as we love to plant flowers. I may need more for my front flower bed but it was a good start. Considering I had not been paying attention to the cost, I came in way under budget. So it goes to show you that if you pick out only the items that you love …. that you may just come in under budget/cost. Happy as a lark, I was. By the time that we got out of the greenhouse, the rain had stopped. We loaded up the car and were on our way to my house. Thankfully it is a short drive and we were home just after 5:30 p.m., so not too late. Mr. Alvin did let me know his feelings on the subject though. I let him out right away followed by his supper. We unloaded the plants and my shopping items and then my daughter was on her way. Once she was out of the garage I moved the flowers/plants into the middle of the floor. We are going to be busy this weekend. Pressure washing the deck and the house, planting flowers, the Fifth Avenue Jewelry lives which we had one last night at 7:30 p.m., laundry (that load I put in a while ago will be long since washed, a walk and some cleaning and whatever else I can squeeze into today and then tomorrow. I had better get this show on the road.

Oh, one more thing. After I fed Mr. Alvin last night I decided we should go for a walk before the rain. The sky held some big dark clouds. We did not get the rain shower that Spruce Grove had while we were flower shopping. We got to the park and Alvin decided that was far enough, I tried to convince him to go further but he would not so we headed home. I remembered as we got closer to the mailboxes that I had not picked up the mail recently and I had heard that the census had been mailed so decided to stop and grab the mail. While we were walking I noticed two woman and a medium size dog on the same side of the sidewalk as we were on and we had to cross to pick up the mail which we did. It was then that we were close enough and one woman had her back to us and I thought that she looked familiar. When we grabbed the mail we were crossing the street but there was a car in between us and when we came around the other side I realized that I in fact knew this woman. Surprise of all surprises, this is my new neighbour. The people that were moving out said a “woman” had bought their duplex and who knew that it would be someone that I knew. How cool is that? Very cool. We chatted for a few minutes. WOW.

I had better get going. Get dressed and get that load of laundry hung up and the next one into the washer. Lots to do this day.

I am excited to try out my new garden hose.

We wish you a wonderful day.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.

Always, Love Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Hello, Good Morning Everyone.

Yesterday was a crazy day for us.

Started out Monday night with very little sleep for me and Alvin.

He is/was/has/had diarrhea.

Needless to say that I was not in good condition to work or to write my blog.

Poor little Alvin.

Monday night and Monday day were the absolute worse.

Yesterday I was able to pick up some medicine for him (don’t remember the name off hand).

These pills are to help stop the diarrhea.

He remains on the bland diet of chicken and rice.

Also at the same time we (my neighbors and I) are working to get our shared fence fixed.

We found out yesterday that not only is one or likely multiple posts are rotted away so is about 20 feet of the fence.

So unless I change the deck, any future boards will rot as well.

You see on the other side is a backyard made of stone.

Without getting into too much detail as I am running late (I am sorry for this), moisture gets trapped and the wood cannot breathe, so it rots.

We are looking at the possibility of using vinyl instead of wood.

 

Anyway, I/We are missing our walks.

I long for the time when Alvin is back to his old self.

Has been a week today since this started.

 

The next few days are to be rainy so no work could be done.

At least we know that 20 feet of the fence has to be replaced.

My deck might require some changes or NOT.

Life ……

 

My mind is running like mad between Alvin and the fence.

So much …..

 

I hope that you are all well.

Continuing to live your life with kindness and respect.

 

I/We Remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

 

P.S. oh how I need coffee this morning.

 

Living … One day at a time

Hello,

There is nothing quite like being ripped out of a deep beautiful sleep than by the loud crack, crash of THUNDER and the room lit by LIGHTNING.

Well that is what happened to us in the middle of last night.

WOW.

Being both wide awake we decided to go downstairs and hit the sofa for the rest of the night.

Luckily it was quiet.

I love my sofa …. always get a good sleep …. no matter the length of time.

Looks like the sky is beginning to clear.

They are forecasting some rain showers for today.

Decision on what to wear for footwear as I am catching the bus for my last four days of work before my vacation.

I don’t want my new shoes to get wet …. argh.

The carpool is on vacation starting yesterday at noon.

Lucky girl.

So excited for mine to begin but at the same time I do not wish to rush it.

Teddy comes tonight for a couple of days.

So will be nice for Alvin to have company during the day tomorrow.

Our office closes at 3:00 p.m. so will be home earlier than normal which will be nice.

 

Last night after work my daughter and I hit COSTCO.

Man did we ever hit COSTCO to the tune of over $700 …. largest amount ever spent there between the two of us.

Not like we bought anything much out of the ordinary ….

Unless you call the one package of underwear that I picked up.

Love the JONES NEW YORK ones.

Okay, perhaps that was a bit too personal but what the heck.

Just between me and you, right.

Gotta have a sense of humour otherwise what does it matter.

My daughter also picked up some moisturizer.

It was one that only ever comes to COSTCO a couple of times a year.

Sold at one of those kiosks.

It was more than the underwear.

Anyway.

 

We even managed to get out for a walk before it rained which I will just say this:  the forecast was way off …. it did not rain at 7:00 or even 8:00 p.m.

Our walk was perfect.

We even saw our friends out for a bike ride …. of course, we stopped and chatted.

Also had time to mow the back lawn (which takes less time than it takes to take the mower out of the garage).

Cleaned up the front flower bed.

There was one flower that was getting a bit straggly.

 

I hope that I made you giggle just a tad on this wonderful Thursday morning.

Alas I must sign off as there are windows to close and have Mr. Alvin go outside one last time before I leave for work.

 

Happy Thursday.

 

With kindness and respect you WILL be joyful.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Mainly sun filled skies for this Wednesday morning.

Breezy.

Alvin my trusted companion once again on his blue blanket.

Keeping me company.

I guess he is my muse!!

 

How many of you out there are over 50?

How many of you have a spouse?

How many are single?

How many of you out there are on your own and over 50?

How many of you out there are over 50 and retired?

How many of you out there are over 50 and working full-time?

 

As many as I know that are over 50, likely more so are over 55 and retired – there are as many still working.

There are a dozen reasons for both.

The main reason is MONEY.

Isn’t that always the way.

I guess health could play a large role as well.

 

I was just thinking of all the folks that I know that are retired and of all of us that are working.

Sometimes working is a means to an end.

If you want to have a house, pay your bills and have food on the table.

Then working is what you have to do.

 

Kind of a heavy topic for this time of morning.

But as I am in this moment.

That is what I was/am thinking about.

 

I do like working but then again I would love to be at home with Alvin.

What can you do?

Write a book?

Working on it.

Yes, I am.

 

Well almost time to leave for work.

Where does the time go?

Time is a fleeting thing ….. oh my.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin