The Next Chapter

Good Morning! I hope that this finds you well. I had forgotten that we changed the clocks yesterday as I wondered why I was feeling tired this morning. Also a bit anxious as this is the first full week at the new office. My life has taken a 360 degree turn over the past three weeks. Deep breath! I got this.

Darkness outside. But will lighten soon. Just as I said that a light came on outside (as I look out of my office window). Now it is off.

Did you watch the OSCAR’s, the 95th Annual Academy Awards? Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis won and I was happy for them. Great to see Brendon Fraser win an award. “Everything Everywhere All At Once. That is quite the name. I had to look it up so that I had it correct. Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees.

I had a busy day with laundry and moving photos to the hard drive. Disappointed that I am not able to send an email with some photos to my daughter. Will have to figure that out. Technology is a wonderful thing until it is not. Great seeing some photos that I have not seen in a long time.

I am going to make some coffee to take to work. We have a Keurig but I prefer perked coffee when I have time to make it. Cutting this post a bit short so please forgive me.

Happy Monday!

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)

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are doing very well! I think that Mr. Alvin might have an ear infection. He was thrashing his head about for what seemed like forever this morning. I gave him a tramadol (pain) and shortly thereafter he seemed to settle down. Anyway, looks like another trip to the Vet. I will be calling as soon as they open. Also hoping that the grey skies turn to blue by the time we go or at least it is nice out when we walk there. No sunrise this morning. It is happening without a view.

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I had coffee with my friends and took the treats. The hostess went just a tad overboard with a tray of fruit and iced butter pecan cupcakes. She also gave Gillian and I a spring coloured plastic bucket with a handle filled with all sorts of goodies. There was a sign for Spring, notepad and pen, chocolate, hand cream, fluffy socks (as we still have snow), more chocolate and a flower that is solar powered. I tell you she is one of the most thoughtful, generous people I know. Gillian and I were grateful. We had a great chat about everything and then more and ATE. So many goodies. Three hours later I was home. Mr. Alvin was happy to see me but I think by the way of his other end, he was anxious. We got ready shortly thereafter and went for a nice long walk. The rest of the day was quiet. I just putzed doing odds and ends of things.

We, I watched the OSCARS. I was happy to see that the movie KODA won all three of the awards that it was nominated for: Best Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur and Best Picture. If my memory serves me correctly. Congratulations. So happy for them. Jessica Chastain and Will Smith won the Best Actor. Supporting Actor went to Ariana DeBose. Other winners: Best Director: Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog, Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Branagh for Belfast, Best Original Score: Dune and Best Original Song: Billie Eilish and Finneas for No Time to Die. Dune won several awards. The show went over by about 35 minutes despite them dropping several categories from the televised show and having earlier. It was a nice escape. Even some drama.

Well I am running late so best be going.

All in all, Sunday was a good day and Monday is yet to be seen. So far we are okay.

Have an awesome Monday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Sunday morning? We are doing great. I totally forgot when I wrote the post yesterday morning that last night was EARTH DAY. How could I forget that? But yet I did. Last night at 8:30 p.m. – I was watching a movie with one light on. I guess I had it to a minimum but I could have been snuggling in the dark with Alvin and I did not. We were on the sofa, though. Alvin snoozing on his favourite place and me on mine (close beside each other).

Well of course, I was reading until late and even though we were up at 5:00, we did not stay up and yes, again, Alvin was up at 7:30 to go outside, but again we headed to the sofa. I had been dreaming and it was good, I wanted to go back. Not sure if it was the same dream but it was good. Then it was late, I won’t say what time when we finally got up. Wishing that I had stayed up because there was a beautiful sunrise and clear blue skies, not at 9:30 (ish) the clouds are rolling in and the sky is “white.”

I am on my way for coffee with the girls. I baked a coffee cake yesterday morning so will take some along with some of the energy bites I made last Sunday. So lots of goodies.

Last night one of my friends popped by a quick doorstep visit to let us know that they adopted a brother for her pup Carter. Now Carter has a brother, a companion. She was concerned about him as she has had to go to the meetings multiple days for meetings. We work for the same company. She has a different position where she has lots of meetings and such. I keep saying “how grateful I am to be working for home for both me and Alvin.” He would be lost and I just do not want to do that long commute everyday. I could not bear to leave him alone.

Tonight is the OSCARS. I watched “Spencer” last night. The movie was okay but I am not sure if I believe it is Oscar worthy or not. But that decision is not up to me. I have not seen but clips and trailers of some of the others but I think Jessica Chastain would be my choice for best actress in a lead role. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Time will tell. I remember when my daughter was young and at home, we would have a special supper and watch from the Red Carpet to the end of the awards. We would print off the list of nominees and each vote ahead of time to see who guessed the most right. It was a good memory and a fun time for us. That time seems like a million years ago.

Well I should high tail it as Alvin needs to go outside before I leave and I have to grab the treats and stuff before heading out. Thankfully the walk is less than 5 so I will not be late.

I hope that you have a great Sunday. I plan to.

Alvin and I will head out for a walk after my coffee visit with the girls. Yesterday we had a nice walk to the park and home. Most of the sidewalks were good. Thankfully.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. thank you for reading this post.

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Monday morning the 26th day of April, 2021? Alvin and I are well. We had pretty good sleep last night which totally sets the tone for the upcoming day. The sunrise was beautiful but now it appears that the wind has started to blow and there clouds in the sky. I don’t remember there being a forecast for any kind of moisture today as the temperature is to be a high of 13 degrees celsius. Time will tell.

Our Sunday was great. My daughter had a change of plans and will be coming tomorrow night which is perfect. Alvin and I had a slow quiet morning. I washed the last load of laundry, brought the clothes that were drying in the basement upstairs and put them away along with a load of towels that were dried waiting for me in the dryer. I watched my favourite Sunday morning show which I record and that is “Escape to the Country.” The show is filmed in the UK mainly in England but sometimes in Wales and Scotland. They always have some fun facts about the area so it is also a learning program, which I love. So I munched on some toast and drank some coffee and watched a few episodes of the show. Once done, I was moving a couple of things in the pantry and ended up cleaning it out completely. Looks great. Happy accident, unplanned. We went for a walk in the mid afternoon and it was gorgeous outside. My friend’s husband and grandpup Georgie were sitting on the patio when we were walking by so we popped by for a short visit. My friend had just left to the grocery store. After leaving we continued on our walk. The grass in the park and in the neighborhood is beginning to turn green. The renewal of spring. Upon getting home, I did a couple of chores before feeding Alvin. We watched the OSCARS, the Academy Awards from 6-9 p.m. and even a bit of the before show. I only saw one of the nominated films and disappointed that Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman did not win for their roles. But I did not see the other films so one cannot judge. It is the majority opinion. I was very happy that Chloe Zhao won for Director and that Youn Yuh-jung won for Best Supporting Actress and that the one movie I saw won awards for Best Costume and Best Makeup and Hairstyling and that was for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. All of the movies looked awesome from their clips/trailers so I will try and see them all over the next few months. One down. So that was our Sunday.

Looks like it is time to get downstairs and put on the coffee and then sign on for work. I cannot believe that today is the 26th of April already, where has the time gone. 1/4 of 2021 already behind us. 3/4 ahead and that is good.

Wishing you an awesome day. I hope that you are well and able to enjoy life. Alvin is calling me.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin with LOVE.

We appreciate you reading our posts. Means the world to me, to us. Alvin is proud of his Momma.

Never hurts to enjoy some beautiful photos……

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  Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

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  Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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  Photo by Mina-Marie Michell on Pexels.com

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you doing this Sunday morning? Both Al and I are fine and happy to have had a great night sleep. Bed in good time and up at 3:45 which is great and then I managed to coax him to stay on the sofa until later and that ended up being 6:20 a.m.. Of course, he had his breakfast then and we headed back to the sofa because why in the world would someone get up at 6:20 on a Sunday morning when they did not have to? Why? I suppose to enjoy the quietness of the early morning. But not this gal. I had done all the chores that I had planned and even a couple of more things yesterday so today will be chilling and we might have a visit from my daughter/Alvin’s sister. She mentioned about coming by today. That would be great. We love our visits. Yesterday was great. First thing after breakfast yesterday morning I gave Mr. Alvin a haircut. For some unknown reason it went faster and I was done his hair cut in 1.5 hours (a new record) and then gave him a bath.

I used my new Bissell Crosswave to clean the main floor and the upstairs including the area rug in my bedroom and the carpet/rug in the hallway. One thing it not easy to do steps with, just saying. Next time I will be cleaning the carpet in the basement family room. I might have to borrow a hand held cleaner from someone to do the steps. I did them but not as well as I would have liked to. After doing a couple loads of laundry and as the weather seemed to be nice, I decided to go for a walk with Mr. Alvin. We were just at the park entrance when I noticed in the distance a dog and his owner that we have have got to know over the winter/spring. I had not seem them in a while so we started to walk toward them which happens to be the more direct route to Master Teddy’s house. Well Alvin caught on to my oversight and after we humans chatted for a minute or two we were on our way to Teddy’s house. Alvin literally dragged me there. I was thinking all the way that I had work to do at home and that I don’t like to just drop in but we did. He did drag me there making the turn onto their street and right up the driveway. I rang the doorbell and he was just going to bark when our friend opened the door with a happy greeting for these friends who always show up unplanned. She is the most gracious person on the planet for unexpected visitors. I apologized as I always do and I meant the apologies. I love visiting with them and like to advise when we are coming which I do when it is planned but Alvin always has other ideas. So into the house we went. I had tea while Alvin “visited” which for him is checking to see if there is any food left out. Teddy and Kobi are always happy to see us as well. My friend’s husband came downstairs to say hello. We always practice social distancing and be careful in these covid times. I do not see many folks in person. Any visits these days are all done with social distancing and being mindful. I have friends that are my age and some that are younger. We all are cognizant of the restrictions and of being careful during these times for each other. Once back home, I grabbed the rake from the garage and a bag for the leaves and went out to rake the front lawn. Yes, I had done this a couple of weeks ago but it really needed it again. The last time it was windy and two hours later it snowed. I just read on the weather report that we are to have snow showers. ARGH. After the front was done, I cleaned out the basement window well. It was filled with leaves. Not to the top of course but there again was a heavy bed of leaves. I had pulled out the garbage that had blown in there the last time I raked but decided this was a good time to dig out the leaves. Actually some had been there obviously for awhile as they were composting. I had taken my handy dandy garbage picker upper from the front porch through the house with the rake and then out to the back where I opened the gate. I grabbed the bag of leaves that I had raked from the front and had thrown over the back gate, opening the gate; I went to work pulling out dark clumps of dead leaves until I had it pretty much down to the rocks that line the window well. Then I took the almost full bag of leaves inside the gate, closed the gate and went to work raking the backyard again. I have raked the back several times and the grass is beginning to turn green. Finally have all the leaves picked up. I hope that no more blow in back there from other neighbours yards. I don’t even have a tree in my backyard. Anyway all raked and looks great for that “snow shower.” Once done with the yard work, I gave Mr. Alvin his supper and then headed to the basement to start some more laundry. After that, I cleaned the toilets and did some dusting before deciding to order pizza from my favorite pizza place “Royal Pizza.” I decided that while it is expensive compared to picking up groceries that may last longer – it was a well deserved treat. So that is what I did. I also chopped some vegetables which is my favourite thing to have with pizza. I cleaned and chopped some carrots, red peppers, broccoli and cauliflower. Supper was divine. So good. After supper and cleanup and back and forth doing laundry. I decided to watch a movie or two. After watching some familiar ones I decided to watch a recent movie, one that was nominated for an Academy Award tonight and that was “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” I definitely see why Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman were nominated for awards. I hope that they both win. That was my Saturday night.

I am sitting at the computer with my charcoal mask on (multi-tasking) while Mr. Alvin is sitting in the hallway just staring at me. Not sure if he is checking out the charcoal mask or if he is trying to get my attention. Anyway time to get this mask off and get dressed and get this day really going.

Wishing you a great day. Also something to mention. While we were chatting at our friend’s house yesterday – I mentioned about having the furnace vents etc cleaned and he said that he was going to as well but would do so in the fall just before winter. He said if you clean them in the spring before the summer (when there is dust/dirt flying) they will just get dirty again. It has been a long time since I had this done but I will wait. The furnace will be off as soon as it warms up so I will wait. What great advice. I never thought of the dust/dirt of summer. Going point. Just wanted to share.

Continuing on this path we call life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.

Have an awesome Sunday.

Always, Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning and here we are Monday morning.

We had a great weekend.

We were able to walk, Alvin had a haircut and bath, did some, no all of the laundry, some cleaning and worked on my photo project.

I have over 30,000 photos on my computer.

There are duplicates and triplicates and poor shots.

So I am attempting to reduce the overall number so that it is easier to manage.

I could not even tell you how many that I have deleted.

I must get better when I use my phone at deleting the multiple shots and less than perfect ones.

Hey, it is a project.

It will happen over time.

 

Appears that we had some freezing mini snowballs land on the deck last night.

They were not there when we went to bed.

Hard to tell out front as my neighbour put down some “pet friendly” salt.

I also left snow snow on my front walk to the street so that I have some traction when out and about.

 

Did you watch the OSCARS last night?

My favourite gown was REGINA KING’s.

It was absolutely fairytale princess.

Pink and so beautiful.

 

My favourite speech was Joaquin Phoenix when he won for BEST ACTOR for THE JOKER.

The most surprising wins were for PARASITE, the South Korean movie directed by Bong Joon Ho.

I am going to make a point to watch all of the nominated movies over the next while as they become available for rental.

 

Well here it is time to get going.

I hope that you all have an awesome Monday.

May you be surrounded by loving, supportive kind and respectful beings.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 25th day of February, 2019.

Well appears that we are in for another cold spell.

With one day this week possibly in the single digits.

But time will tell.

In the meantime dress in layers, wear your toque or hat, scarf, winter coat (if you don’t have a heavy one wear sweater underneath), mitts (warmer than gloves) and BOOTS.

Always keep your heat, feet and hands warm covered when outside.

Watch your children and your pets.

Keep them protected.

 

Well the OSCARS, the 91st Academy Awards were on last night.

There were definitely some surprises but then again I am used to seeing that….

Green Book won for Best Picture.  My favourite was BLACK PANTHER.

Black Panther won for Best Costuming and Best Production Design (Doing the Happy Dance).

Roma won for Best Foreign Film.  I did not have a favourite in the category as usually I have not seen any of these films.  But happy they won.

BlacKkKlansman won for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Spike Lee’s first Oscar.  So well deserved.

Bohemian Rhapsody won for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.

Original Song – SHALLOW – Lady Gaga (very happy)

• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Mahershala Ali in “Green Book” 
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Regina King in “If Beale Street Could Talk” 
• BEST ACTOR in LEADING ROLE – Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody” 
• BEST ACTRESS in LEADING ROLE – Olivia Colman in “The Favourite” 

There were so many well deserving movies and people and I was pleased to see that a wide diversity of winners.

Really enjoyed all of the original songs performances.

Well done.

Most especially enjoyed Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performance of SHALLOW.

Even the Devine Miss M ….. well done.

Not just one sweeping each category.

I was a bit disappointed that some of my favs did not win but the winners were well deserving.

I will admit that I only saw BLACK PANTHER and saw it many times.

Definitely going to watch some of the others.

Footnote:  they went less than 30 minutes over, not bad.  I will admit that as soon as they announced BEST PICTURE, I went to bed.

But that was the last award for the night and that was about 9:10 p.m. – so likely not much after that but the credits.

 

Well looks like almost time to go and pick up the poop, yup one of my morning chores.

Somedays wished that Alvin could use the indoor toilet.

OH well, hope this poop story brought a smile to your face.

Thankfully it is winter and the poop freezes almost as soon as it touches the ground.

Making it easy to scoop up.

Another good use for my “ice pick shovel thingy.”

 

Whoops gotta go.

Have a wonderful day.

Keep warm and save.

Smile as often as you can.

Be kind to yourself and to others.

 

Special Hello to: all those who love movies.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 24th day of February, 2019.

The sky is clear and the sun is rising.

It is beautiful looking out the window.

Outside it is cold.

So dilemma, walk or not walk.

I will be giving Mr. Alvin a hair cut and bath in a little while.

So afterward I won’t take him for a walk not with a fresh hair cut and bath.

Will check the temperature before making a decision.

 

We had a great weekend thus far.

I did not realize just how many people I know have birthdays on February 23, 2019.

My sister, my sister from another mother, neighbour and friend down the street, a co-worker from SGI and I think that I am missing someone.

Popular day for birthdays.

Yesterday we cleaned the house, er actually I cleaned the house.

Mr. Alvin is a great Supervisor.

He follows me from room to room to ensure that I do it right.

After supper, I even whipped up a triple batch of RAISIN COOKIES.

They are so full of yummy raisins.

I love raisins.

We did start our Saturday with messaging my sister for her extra special day, followed by changing bed, hauling laundry to basement, preparing coffee and then going to the Vet

to have Mr. Alvin’s stitches removed from his eye area.

He was not too happy about the whole thing but then again if someone was coming at your eye with scissors, you might squirm and cry, too.

But they are out.

Dr. K said the incision has healed well.

They remarked too on how well he comes out of surgery, and wants to go home right away.

Oh, I started a tea order and will submit it shortly.

So few things to do before the OSCAR programming begins.

They have the RED CARPET and the PRE RED CARPET.

WOW, crazy hey.

The OSCARS or the ACADEMY AWARD program actually starts at 6:00 p.m. – Edmonton time but the “fashion stuff” starts at 2:30 or 3:00 p.m.

Oh, we love our MOVIE STARTS.

I sure hope that BLACK PANTHER wins for best picture.

I have seen that movie about five times, no six (including twice yesterday).

LOVE that movie.

 

Well I suppose it is time to get this show on the road considering I have been up for over one hour and most of the time has been spent on the computer.

Time flies when you are sitting in front of this magic box.

Doesn’t it?

 

I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing that you are in good health, warm and safe and surrounded by love.

Happy Sunday.

 

Special Hello to: ALL those folks who take the time to read these posts / my blog.  I am eternally grateful.  Still working on reaching one million readers/followers , have a bit to go.  LOL.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 5th day of March, 2018.

Happy Birthday to my Aunt “L,” who lives in British Columbia.

Wishing you a great day.

 

The snow finally stopped just after lunch yesterday.

Thank goodness for that …… six times I shovelled the deck …..

We had a nice walk yesterday but the park had not been plowed so we did not get too far.

 

I watched the OSCARS last night …. 90th Annual.

Very impress with 94 year old Eve-Marie Saint who presented.

She was in the movie “On the Waterfront” in 1954.

Her memory and voice was crystal clear.

 

Well I am running late.

I hope that you all have a great day.

I know that Saskatchewan was getting the snow that we had and I hope they are all okay.

 

Saw a bunny run by in the snow and he/she was still WHITE ….. ARGH.

 

Take care.

 

Special Hello to: family and friends.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 27th day of February, 2017.

How are you this morning?

I am doing well.

Just about ready to head out for another Monday work day.

Alvin and I had a great weekend.

Most of which was spent at home …. the rest was out running errands.

 

We watched the OSCARS last night ….. well rather I watched the OSCARS last night.

Alvin was not to excited about seeing who had the most beautiful dress or who won BEST PICTURE.

In fact, he was ready to head up to bed about 8:30 p.m.

He definitely is a creature of habit.

At least by going to bed later he did not wake up at 3:00 a.m. …. closer to 4:30 a.m. which was a nice treat.

 

The temperatures this week are single digits below zero which will be nice.

Yesterday was kind of cold.

We had a quiet day.

Somedays you just ignore the “TO DO LIST” and do your own thing …. which in this case was “not much.”

I always do the necessities, of course.

But sometimes it is nice to just chill and watch a movie or something.

Snuggle with me Alvin …..

 

Well here we are again time to catch the bus to work.

Have a great Monday.

I hope that you had a great Sunday and had time to chill.

 

Special Hello to: my family all over the world.

Always, Carol and Alvin