The Next Chapter

Good Morning. The sun is shining and it is early for a Sunday. Both Cookie and I woke up just before 7:00 this morning and up to start the day. I think the temperature is to be +14 or so today so we will spend some time out in the backyard.

Yesterday ended up being a busy day. Worked on the laundry. The grocery order arrived with a few minor glitches which ended up being my misunderstanding – if they say buy one get one free who knew you had to say two items and if you are ordering 2/$11.00 – order 2. Anyway I got that straightened out when I called the toll free store number. My friend that I was keeping her just found stolen car from the night before that was in my garage for safe keeping came to pick it up. My friend Pauline texted with some plant pots that she was giving away and wondering if I or Amanda would like them. I said yes and she came for a visit. We would have gone for a walk but I cannot take Cookie as her harness is too tight and it was cool without her sweater. We were having a good visit when the phone rang and it was the friend that had kept her car in my garage overnight and she was back to take me to Save-On to pick up the items that I did not receive from my on-line order. I decided that it would be nice to have the actual buy one get one free and the other 2/$… items (I now have lots of items to last me for awhile). So Pauline left and I got ready to leave for the store. Very quickly. Never fails when you are in a hurry, you cannot locate the cards you need in your wallet. I finally after an anxious couple of minutes my Save-On points card and you need it to get the deals. Pauline brought the flower / strawberry pots which are safely tucked in my garage. Amanda and I will have to draw straws to see who gets what, there are three of them. What a busy day! Especially the afternoon. Good busy for the most part.

I made a stir fry for supper last night and will have leftovers tonight.

I can hear Cookie downstairs as I type this post. Hopefully she is staying out of trouble. She likes to keep busy.

My coffee has been brewed and smells yummy from up here. She is whining so I had better fly.

In all of the excitement with Miss Cookie, I forgot to mention EARTH DAY which was yesterday. I kept the lights off and things to a minimum and went to bed early. I sure hope that we humans get this environment stuff all figured out quickly. We are definitely not great “keepers” of anything.

Happy Sunday everyone. I sure hope that the snow is melting in Saskatchewan.

Looking forwarding to summer! Flowers and sunshine.

They cleaned our streets – looks so good! I cleaned the garbage at the perfect time. YAY, me. Sometimes I have good timing.

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

Always, Carol, Alvin (My Forever Angel) & Miss Cookie

Last Half 2022

Good Morning ALL! I hope this finds you doing very well on this Monday morning. Both Alvin and I are doing great. For now the second day we had 7 hours of consecutive sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian Family & Friends here in Edmonton, back home in Regina and all over the world. The sunrise was so beautiful this morning. We hope that you have a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends with good food.

Flowers still blooming

Our Door

Surnise this morning

Beautiful colours

The sky was amazing

Clouds rolling in

OUR TREE

Earlier this morning the sunrise was amazing chalked full of oranges, pinks and yellows. Absolutely breathtaking.

Yesterday when Alvin and I were out for our walk we came across Jamie and Sadie. We chatted for quite a long time before heading back towards home together. I had planned to put away the patio furniture today but will wait until next weekend. The remaining outside work to do is putting away the furniture (will honestly will take about 15 minutes), clean our the remaining three plant pots, and that is it. Today I am going to give Mr. Alvin a trim and a bath, put away laundry that is air drying in the basement, wash one load of laundry, sweep where BOBI (robot vac does not go) and then later make my own Thanksgiving Dinner with roasted sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, stove top stuffing with cranberries with pumpkin pie for dessert. I walked to the store yesterday at noon and cashed in my winning lotto tickets (free plays), picked up a pumpkin pie, cucumbers and strawberries.

I am grateful for this day at home with Mr. Alvin. I guess tomorrow is garbage day as well.

I hope that you have a great day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: also have to drop off house key to my friends who will be watching Mr. Alvin on Wednesday-Friday.

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Well what is there to say about the weather.

Really it has been sunshine then overcast ….. overcast then break with bit of sunshine.

Repeat …. repeat and repeat.

On the upside ALL is green but now we do require some of that bright lovely sunshine.

Alvin and I had a glorious long weekend.

Most of it was spent with each other however there was a sprinkling of family and friends at times.

Despite Mother Nature’s many attempts we did manage to walk at least once each day.

 

I must admit that I spent quite a lot of time this weekend thinking about life.

Thinking about where I am at this point in time.

So where is that exactly?

Well I am good in my own skin so to speak.

Comfortable with the day to day decisions.

Comfortable with my voice.

Comfortable knowing that I do the best that I can most days.

 

I feel relatively good.

Sometimes with all of the rain, I feel a bit drained not as energetic.

 

I work full-time.

I write part-time.

I am surrounded by great people.

 

But somehow there seems to be something missing.

Something is not quite right.

Quickly approaching 62, next month.

 

I remind myself not to compare myself to others my age.

Because we do not all have the same stepping off place.

Life is not the same for us all.

Food for thought.

 

So where do I want to be?

What do I want to be doing?

Good, no great questions.

Definitely I need to be doing some hard thinking to uncover that piece of something in my life that seems to be missing.

 

I shall do just that.

 

Well my carpool is on vacation so will be catching the bus today.

As it is cooler, I am wearing long pants, shoes and socks.

Yes and a top, you silly.

Coat and carrying an umbrella.

The house is cool this morning so I feel the need to bundle up.

Temperature to be only 17 degrees today.

 

Happy Tuesday.

I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing that you know what you want at this stage of your life.

Life is complicated …

Better to simplify.

That is for sure.

 

I love this planter from outside my office.

Sometimes you just need to see something beautiful…….

 

 

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Morning started out bright and sunny and the clouds are now rolling in.

Mr. Alvin had us both up most of the night in and outside.

This morning he was sick to his stomach.

A little while ago he ate his breakfast and seems better now.

I feel like a zombie.

Clicking away on the computer.

 

This morning was/is our girls coffee date.

I am going to pop over to see them for a few minutes.

Need some coffee….

Alvin seems fine.

Perhaps he will finally settle down and sleep.

I am going to sleep like a baby tonight.

But if I lay down any later this morning …. I am afraid that I will be awake tonight.

That would not bode well for working tomorrow.

 

Thankfully I did all of the cleaning, some yard work and laundry yesterday so today is an easy day.

Oh and I transplanted all my house plants except the big one in my office.

Into the nice new plant pots from IKEA.

Just have to bring up the laundry that is hanging to dry in the basement.

Go for a walk later.

 

Do you have a pet?

Alvin has been with me for over 9 years now.

He is family.

When he is not well ….. it hurts my heart.

I try to do the best for him.

HE goes to the Vet on a regular basis as you know.

Yesterday he actually went for his regular 5 week “pedicure” and “anal gland check.”

I will say that he was a bit more mellow when his nails were being done ….

 

The house phone rang a bit ago and I jumped up from the sofa where we had finally fallen asleep but did not see who was calling because I did not have my glasses on.

A few minutes later Humphrey’s Mom was a the door.

We chatted and she said that Humphrey was a bit off his game as off late so perhaps it was just a bug or something they ate.

She had popped over to see if I had any of her boy’s treats as she was out.

Yes, I did.

 

Anyway, never a dull moment.

I am going to go and see my friends as my mental health is important as well.

He seems fine and I will not be away for long.

Also need coffee – although I could easily make myself some.

 

At the end of it all ….. it is always a good thing to treat your four-legged companions with love and respect.

They are just as important as we are …. maybe more.

He brings me such great joy and is such a good companion.

All he asks is for food and me.

He doesn’t gossip or treat me ill.

He is always here.

 

Well I am going to go downstairs and wait a few minutes to see how he is…..

Then pop over to my friend’s house where the girls have congregated.

 

Happy Sunday.

Always be kind and respectful of yourself and others.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Sure is great to wake up to SUNNY SKIES.

Quite the change from the past few days …. going on a week.

There is rain in our future according to the weather channel.

Only time will tell.

Well folks guess what?

When I signed into iPhoto on the computer to download the photos that I took this morning; lo and behold there were the photos from Thursday.

The ones that I wanted to show you yesterday morning.

The first ones are of the plant pots outside my work office.

The plant pots are gigantic.

Possibly the largest ones that I have ever seen.

I love the flowers and am going to track down the names.

Followed by photos from Friday morning in the rain.

This morning Sunshine ……

Well Mr. Alvin has just thrown up and I got things cleaned up and managed to get him into the office where the floor is laminate and easier to clean.

Poor boy.

Likely due in part to something he ate last night and because he hasn’t eaten breakfast yet.

His food bowl is out but he doesn’t like to eat before me.

Not sure why.

He appears to be okay now.

Alvin has his regular Vet appointment in just over one hour.

So time to get this show on the road.

COFFEE and food for the boy.

 

So happy to see the bright blue sky this morning.

The grass and plants are a brilliant green and the TREES.

 

Last night after work my daughter and I picked up a shower gift for one of her friends followed by a trip to IKEA.

I picked up a few smaller plant pots, couple of clips to hang things with and some serviettes.

The shower gift was handmade by one of the gals at the ART SHOW last weekend.

Home a bit later but my neighbour watched over Mr. Alvin.

We had time to walk before another patch of rain set in.

 

I wish you a great Saturday.

Catch you tomorrow.

 

Remember to be kind and respectful.

First to yourself and then to others.

If you are good to yourself it is shown to others.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Argh, I cannot remember or find my voicemail password!!

Thought for the day……

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 24th day of September, 2014.

Wow, here we are the second day into fall …… I am in love.

I love the colours of the leaves on the trees.

All of the oranges, reds and yellows.

I love watching the geese gathering in their “V” formations.

It is like they practice all summer long for that big day.

Some of the geese stay here for the winter but most I believe still fly south.

I love cutting the grass for the last time.

I love the smell that only fall brings to the air.

I love watching Alvin’s coat thicken …. if that is possible …. as it is already very thick.

I love cleaning out the plant pots, putting things away…..

I love cleaning out the closets and bringing out fall/winter clothing and outerwear.

I just simply love everything about fall …..

I love watching the bunnies each week their coats gradually changing from brown to white.

I love the changes in nature.

I am starting to adjust to the darkness, and do not feel as tired in the morning.

I love fall……

 

Special Hello to: all those who love this beautiful season.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day……

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 14th day of September, 2014.

Oh, what a gloriously beautiful sunny warm morning.

It feels like summer again but with a hint of coolness to the air.

You know the feel that you have in early fall.

It is so nice outside.

I spent a couple of hours outside yesterday (it was beautiful, too) mowing grass, pulling weeds, trimming back my roses (which I am going to pull as they just are not doing well), emptying most of my plant pots (a few were not affected by the recent frost) and just general tidying up.  It was glorious.

This is truly my favourite time of year.

Oh, I hear the geese honking up a storm as they are preparing for “winter” or travelling south.

Some stay for the winter ….. others do not  ….. I should google to see why.

Anyway …. they were flying by and saying hello.

I certainly have enjoyed this weekend.

How much better than this does it get:

-started Saturday morning off with coffee at my friend “G’s” house.

-then home and Penny had gone to the Vet with her Momma & Dad so decided that me and the boys should go for walk.

-we did, it was so nice out.

-then home mowed grass and did yard work ….

-laundry and some cleaning.

-made supper.

-went for groceries after supper.

-then had tea and watched a Star Trek movie or at least part of one. (I have already seen them all a million times, so I know how they end).

-then to bed …. snuggles with Mr. Alvin ….

PERFECTION.

I hope that you had a perfect weekend thus far.

Today I am off to work at the store.

Just enjoying a cup of coffee and some quiet time before I leave.

Have a great Sunday.

Do something fun today.

If you have sunshine ….. go outside and enjoy ….. no boots or heavy jackets …….

Special Hello to: my sister back in Regina ……. HELLO ……

Always, Carol and Alvin