A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are okay and very happy that today is Friday. The weekend is ahead. Full of promise and hopefully some good surprises. Who knows right? Another busy, long week but that is okay. Almost done. Alvin is waiting patiently outside my office door as I type these words. The air outside this morning and throughout the night has definitely warmed up considerably. Spring around the corner? I love spring. Soon the bunnies will start to turn brown! Am I being overly optimistic at this time as it is February 3rd today? Maybe, but being positive at this time and every day is all that I really have and I mean our thoughts are what we really have. They are all ours and it is up to us to use them properly. I will admit that I have definitely gone down the NEGATIVE path the last while and I aim to change that right here, right now. I am by nature a positive person. I like to give positive feedback and extend positive energy to those I met. So I need to get working on things. Nothing is going to change for me until I change me. So bye bye “bad thoughts” and hello “good thoughts.” I got this. I can do anything that I put my mind to. That I know as I have had to most of my life. Sometimes I procrastinate but I think that is the way most of us handle things that happen out of the blue unless it is life threatening …. then we jump into action. Perhaps it is different for everyone. I just know that I do what I need to do when I need to do it and sometimes I am a bit late starting. I guess something else to work on, right. Okay, I need to get going here.

I look forward to my first cup of coffee. I am grateful to my friends and neighbours for taking such great care of Mr. Alvin through all of this.

Have an awesome day. Happy Friday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee. Thank goodness for that liquid gold.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time

Good Morning and we are nearing Christmas and the end of 2019.

Thursday today.

 

Yesterday we had our Christmas Brunch at work, it was good.

We also toured our newly renovated old office space.

There were mixed comments and feelings as per usual.

Not everyone is going to be happy.

Me, well although our workstations are just that a place to work.

Mine is located by a window which is great.

Most businesses are going to small non-personal work spaces.

Some folks are feeling like a hamster on a wheel with nowhere to go.

At this point it is difficult to say what it will be like without actually spending time on a daily basis in our regular routine.

Will there be changes, yes, definitely.

We are going paperless and I think that “they” believe we should work with no paper at all.

Unfortunately it does not quite work that way but it will iron itself out as it always does.

I look forward to the New Year and will adapt as I always have.

There is no point “crying” or “stressing” or “losing sleep” over a situation that is not within your control to change.

Although we have control, we really do not.

There is always someone or something pulling at those strings.

You can change things to be more suitable.

I am not trying to be negative as mostly I am positive.

We have to find a way to pay the bills doing something that we love.

Now that may be doing a job that pays the bills but affords you a home life that you love.

I think that is acceptable.

Now that job has to be something that you can live with, of course.

You cannot or should not spend hours, days, months or years at a toxic environment just because it pays the bills.

I am not saying that ….

There has to be a happy mix.

Anyway I am listening to a BLAKE SHELTON Christmas song as I am keying these words.

Alvin laying on his blue blanket and the world is good.

One of my friends called last night to invite me to go with her next Monday (I am off work) to see the movie CATS, her treat.

How wonderful!

 

Well here we are …. almost time for me, for us to head back downstairs.

I had a hard time going to sleep last night and then Alvin was awake at 1:13 and finally after trying to convince him to go back to bed …. we went downstairs.

I gave him his glucosamine chew and he went outside to pee, which he did.

Then we laid down on the sofa and slept until about 4:30 and then up for him to eat and go outside, again.

Then back to the sofa and then up at 5:15 a.m. …… argh.

Might be a long day but I am going to stay positive.

I, we are going to have an awesome day.

Quiet in the office (meaning few phone calls) and my appointments on time.

That would be nice.

 

Happy Thursday.

Thank you Blake Shelton …. love your voice.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 6th day of September, 2018.

Almost one week into September.

Almost FALL.

YAY.

It is dark outside at 6:15 a.m.

No rain overnight and there does not appear to be any frost.

Last night Alvin and I had a nice long walk with our friend.

The temperature was warm enough for a t-shirt and capri length pants.

Love these days.

 

FEELINGS

Somedays it is easy to contain any negative or blah feelings.

Others the madness courses your through veins like a poison.

Your heart feels heavy and ready to explode.

Somedays it is hard to contain those ugly thoughts and words.

Somedays you just want to reach to the sky and pull yourself up.

Somedays you just want to scream.

 

Somedays you feel amazing, kind and beautiful.

Somedays you feel the positive energy surging through your veins.

Somedays, most days your heart feels full.

The love and joy that is your life.

The words flow on paper like a loving piece of poetry.

The blessings that come your way.

The gratitude you feel for all the days.

The people that come and go into your life, those that leave an impression with you, that make you feel something; good or bad.

 

Feelings, we all have them.

Most days we feel happy…..joyful.

We feel blessed to be who were are and where we are ….

Most days we feel love and compassion.

Somedays are grey, others are black and cloudy.

Feelings ….. a vast array of good and bad.

That is what we humans are made of ……

I hope that the good outweigh the bad.

But remember we need them all ….

May the bad or the less than positive feelings just be there in minute detail to remind you that life is GOOD.

 

Life feels good.

Life is amazing.

I feel good.

I feel great.

I feel joyful.

I feel the positive energy flowing through my veins like a good book on a cold winter’s night.

I feel blessed.

Feelings …..

 

Written by C. Lewis at 6:15 a.m. on this day, Thursday September 6th, 2018.

 

Special Hello to: all those folks who inspire me to be who I am …. and to all those folks who I do not know who inspire me in ways yet to come.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 20th day of July, 2018.

A bit cooler outside this morning and some beautiful cloud formations.

We had two walks yesterday which was great.

So grateful that it was cooler in the house last night.

Cooler weekend on the way which will be nice as my daughter and grand-pups are coming for a sleepover (actually two nights).

So excited.

 

I have some questions and I will provide my answers, what are yours?

1.  Favourite place to visit in the world – my country, Canada and I have another New York City, USA.
2.  Favourite season – Fall, love the colours of the trees and the smell in the air
3. Favourite food to eat – that is way too hard.  I am a foodie and love most things but if I had to narrow it down:  chocolate cake and potato salad (not together)
4. Favourite time of day – sunrise and sunset
5. Favourite companion – Alvin (my four-legged guy)
6. Favourite song – Don’t Stop Believin’ – by Journey
7. Favourite colour – periwinkle blue, purple, but most of all “Kelly GREEN”
8. Favourite thing to do – anything creative, walk or have coffee with my girl friends and my daughter and working in my flower garden.
9. Do you like surprises? – only the good ones
10. Are you a negative or positive person? – definitely more on the positive side, although I have my moments
11. Are you on-time or late in general? – definitely on-time but usually early.
12. One thing that ticks you off the most? – people that have total disregard for animals, people and the environment.

Well I guess that is it for now.  Almost time to leave for work.

Have an awesome Friday.

 

Special Hello to: my friends sprinkled all over the world.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 28th day of February, 2018.

The last day of February 2018.

What a great way to celebrate this day with the birthday of my nephew “D.”

Sending him out wonderful wishes for an amazing day.

The weather is supposed to be mild today.

 

I can feel it in my bones that today is going to be like the first day of the rest of my life.

Sometimes you have to stop and think about your life.

The manner in which you speak to people.

The way that you do things.

My work and home life are so different.

Time to bring my home life to work.

Time to be my true self.

Somewhere along this crazy journey I forgot myself at work.

You can get wrapped up in things and sometimes lose yourself.

That has been me.

I am usually a positive, happy, energetic human being.

I want to be that person during the day and not just at night and on the weekends.

Not that I am saying that I am miserable and mean and negative all the time during the day.

But I find myself more and more turning in that direction and it sucks.

Time to turn go back to me.

My true self.

Sometimes it is easy in different situations to get carried away and forget the things that mean most to you.

So today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I want to be fun, 99% positive (have to have the odd moment) and all the time retaining my hard work ethic.

I believe in working hard and earning my salary.

But after all we spend most of our waking hours at the office, at your job so we have to remember to have a bit of fun along the way.

Happy Wednesday.

I am back.

Thank goodness.

I remember.

Special Hello to: all those folks who struggle with the work and home balance of being there true self in the midst of it all.  I hear you.

Always, Carol & Alvin

COUNTDOWN: 60 Days to 60

Today is Monday, June 12, 2017 and it is the 59 day until my 60th Birthday.

I guess at some point one may ask these questions:

1.  What does it mean to be 60?
2. How are you supposed to be feeling as you turn 60?

To me it means that I have lived through six decades.

60 years – some good – some great – others less so.

It means that I have lived through major changes in technology.

It also means that even though the years and decades have come and gone – basically the human race has not changed.

We have not evolved past centuries of torturing and killing one another, and the world around us including other life forms.

The one thing that has changed dramatically over my sixty years on this planet is our less than stellar care and protection of this planet, we call Earth, our home.

Greed and Power remain two of man’s largest downfalls.

It is likely not to change anytime soon.

I think what makes me feel so sad, is, I am about to turn sixty years old, and I can clearly see that things have not changed much at all.

Now I am a pretty positive person and I am not about to spend these next fifty-nine days reflecting on things negative.

Just an observation from my vantage point as I near sixty years living on this amazing planet.

It is never too late to change and one person does make a difference.

 

Always, Carol

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 18th day of November, 2016.

Almost the weekend.

Busy and slightly stressful week almost over.

Looking forward to the weekend.

Somedays I feel we are better equipped to handle stress whether personal or professional, home or at work.

There are times I notice when I can shrug a stressful situation off, and just carry on.

Then the next time I feel like my world is crumbling beneath me.

Do you have these times?

Sometimes learning from the situation and other times it was just the way things worked out.

No fault – no blame.

We are all human and even though some may think they are perfect in all that they say and do, it is most times not the case.

I feel horribly when I make a miscalculation or do something wrong, it drives me crazy.

I do not like a person thinking that I am out to get them or to make life difficult for them.

That is never my intention nor will it ever be that way.

There are so many variables at work in the universe when there is stress.

I do however make a point to look for the positiveness in every situation.

So if you are having a stressful day – take a look at the whole picture.

There is always positiveness in any negative situation.

You can always go home and take your puppy for a walk.

If you have no puppy then just take yourself for a walk.

I also write this blog as a means of positive energy and release.

Every morning I also write in a gratitude journal.

All of this helps when you are under stress.

Well I had better get this show on the road.

If you at all wonder why somedays I am a little scattered in my thoughts it is due in part to the time of day, I write this blog just after 6:00 a.m. each

weekday morning and on the weekends a bit later.

Have a great day.

Special Hello to: all those folks who take the time to read my blog, thank you.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 11th day of April, 2016.

The sun is beginning to rise in the east and it is just after 6:00 a.m..

Soon it will be light when we get up at 5:00 a.m. and I love that ….

Feels like you have had a day when you get up with sunlight and go to bed with sunlight.

I heard that we missed some snow over the weekend.

We would like some rain …. it is very dry out there.

 

Well hard to believe that it is Monday already ….

We had a great weekend …. very busy.

 

I was thinking …..

Do you visualize your life with your dreams coming true?

Do you see the glass half full?

Do you see the glass half empty?

Positive or Negative.

How do you live your life?

Something to think about.

Even when life is screaming at me, I do try to see the positive.

I think that I see the glass half full.

I am mainly a positive person.

Now that is not to say that I have moments …. we all do.

But I try …..

Are you trying ……

 

Well here we are time to leave for work.

I hope that you have an amazing day.

 

Special Hello to:  YOU

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 7th day of March, 2016.

Well we have “winter” once again …… it was like being in a snow globe yesterday afternoon and into the evening.

Over those hours the ground is covered in a thick white blanket.

We will need the moisture so it is all good.

 

Well it did not help my friend find her way in a somewhat strange city.

The GPS system in the car was outdated.

Needless to say it was a long out of the way trip to my house.

But she made it, and we had a great visit.

Shared a cup of “Steeped Tea.”

Note: to self …. alway check directions even if you have a GPS system in the vehicle.

 

Wow, here we are one week into March.

Next Sunday we push our clocks ahead one hour.

That will seem odd …. we lose an hour which takes a bit of adjusting.

Alvin and his internal clock – well that is another story.

 

Lots of “thoughts” this weekend.

I need/want to get back to my old positive self, as of late I seem to have gone over to the dark side.

Not entirely that is for sure …. not even half but I want to be 98% positive.

Makes for one JOYFUL Momma when your thoughts are on a silver lining that lack of…..

It is easy to slip into that negative Nelly mode for sure.

Sometimes you do not even realize.

But I do and I will get myself back to where I want/need to be.

 

Mr. Alvin is quiet this morning.

Curled up on the piece of rug that my computer chair is sitting upon ….. he is so cute.

 

Well time to get this show on the road.

I am going to have a wonderful day and hope that you do as well.

So happy that my friend made it safe and relatively “sound.”

 

Special Hello to: friends near and far …… Hello, How are you?

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 24th day of January, 2016.

Another odd looking sky this morning however this one is blue but not the kind synonymous with sunny skies …. but blue all the same.

Both Alvin and I are super happy because my daughter, his sister is coming for a visit today.

I am pancakes for us …… so will have to get on that right away ….

I like to have them made and in the oven keeping warm when she arrives.

 

The weekend seems to be zipping along as per usual UNTIL ……

Another speed bump in the flow of our lives …..

Yesterday  I noticed when I was drying a load of clothes that the inside of the dryer window was fogging over and then I could smell something burning.

So I quickly turned off the dryer and unplugged it.

I googled it to see if it was something that perhaps I could fix.

But it is likely better that I call in something familiar with dryers.

Could be lint or could be the motor.

Hopefully it is something that can be fixed and doesn’t cost a truck load of money.

Somedays it would be nice to be married to an electrician or someone handy with things.

Somedays I think I should go back to school.

If truly things happen in threes …. I am done.

 

On the up side, I won $5.00 on the lottery.

At least some extra money coming in …..

Guess I will have to get selling lots of tea ….. likely good incentive …. right.

 

Well enough woe is me …. I apologize …. just had to vent.

I do not wish my daughter to come into the house and first thing out of my mouth is the dryer …..

Thank you so much for listening – I appreciate it.

 

Have a great Sunday.

I am going to enjoy my day ……

Things will and always do at some point get better …..

I will always look to the positive.

Sometimes I have to take the time to mourn the negative and get it out of my system.

 

Special Hello to: my friends and family all over the world.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

P.S. I did manage to give Alvin quite a lovely hair cut and followed by a bath.  I noticed of course well into the evening that I missed a small patch on his one side … about 1 by 1 inch ….. otherwise his hair cut was a success.  I even managed to get his paws trimmed quite well.  All in my life ….. of course.