A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! The sky is overcast but it is quite pleasant outside. Almost feels like spring. Mr. Alvin was up a few times during the night but I did have a stretch of three hours of continuous sleep so I am okay. The night before with seven hours of sleep seems like a dream. I guess it was!

Alvin was happy to see me last night when I arrived home from the office. I was so happy to see him, too. We took the bus route as it was on our way home from the office (my coworker and I) to see where I would get on the bus and off and to see the walk. Definitely the walking is longer than the bus ride. There is a bus shelter where I get on so that is great. I have about a 10 minute walk to the bus first thing in the morning and then when I get off the short ride there is about another 10 minute walk. All is contingent on the sidewalks being clear and not icy. Likely good idea to wear the ice picks for the first while. Not sure how long it will take me to get home because I will have to walk to the bus and I only hope that I don’t have a long wait. Somedays I wish that I had a car because it would be such a short distance from home but when you add public transportation it always adds much more time. I understand. Anyway, I have two weeks vacation coming up and I am focusing on that for now. Lots to consider and think about and do over that time. Isn’t life interesting! We all have our stories, our dreams and our nightmares. I am trying over all of this to remain mainly positive although it is difficult somedays – especially at the office because by oneself you can focus elsewhere but collectively it is not easy.

After I arrived home, I gave Mr. Alvin his supper and then we went for a walk. The walk was short but at least it was fresh air and a bit of exercise for Mr. Alvin. His poop was starting to look good again last night but not sure about through the night. Not bad though definitely on the upside. Oh, my poor boy. I feel for him and wished that he was well again.

I was supposed to be moving photos from the computer to the external hard drive every day and that has not happened. So definitely Thursday and Friday when I am working from home, I can do that right after work or in the early evening. Moving the photos will give me a chance to look them over and also to delete ones that are duplicates or bad shots. I love to look at the photos.

Well it is almost time to head back downstairs. Initially I had left Alvin downstairs and then he started to bark so I went back down and brought him upstairs. Carrying him up and down has been interesting. He is not light and I guess it is building up my arm muscles, lol! I understand that he wants to be with me especially when I am gone all day. I sure hope that I can work something out and be at home with him all of the time (soon).

I am getting too old for all of this drama. There is no way that anyone could have predicted this last “major change” but what can you do. New people want to make their mark and they do not think of the ones that are living all of the change. I sort of understand. We all know that the higher ups are not undergoing the change. They still sit in their offices with a door while we change up our entire lives. I swear if I hear the words” change management” one more time, I am going to …….

Okay time to grab Mr. Alvin and head downstairs to finish getting ready. You know that I am smiling after the above paragraph, I got it off my chest.

Happy Tuesday Everyone! Be safe and I hope that you have an awesome day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. definitely a multiple coffee morning and I must start drinking more water at the office.

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

A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! We are doing well. Alvin has an appointment this morning at 10:00 a.m. to get to the bottom of things. Okay perhaps that is a bit of a pun! I am working on bringing back my old positive self. She has been gone for awhile. I will continue to put out my gratitude to the Universe and keep my thoughts positive as much as possible. There are some things that you cannot change so why bother! You can only change yourself not others. So that is what I am going to do. I am grateful for our good health (good poop this morning). I am grateful for our beautiful home which is cradled inside a wonderful loving and support neighbourhood. I am grateful to be surrounded by amazing people, some family and some friends that are like family. I am grateful to have Mr. Alvin in my life, he is good company. I am grateful to be employed at a time when so many others are struggling. I am grateful for the sunrise each and every morning and the sunrise each night. I am grateful for the blue sky, the wind, the snow, the trees and all of nature. I am grateful for the continued warm beautiful weather.

I booked the morning off to take Alvin to the vet for his appointment.

We had a great Sunday. Quiet but wonderful. We had a nice walk. Did some laundry, cleaning and made a big pasta supper.

Time to head downstairs and make some coffee. I want to have a mug or so before we have to leave. I wish you a wonderful Monday.

Continuing to life this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilites and coffee.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are doing well. Alvin seems to be almost back to normal. This morning I started to reintroduce his regular food to the bland diet of chicken and rice. He doesn’t really want to drink much water so I just add water to his food. He drinks the water and then eats his food. I suppose now that I have started something but he has to drink! What a guy! Still keeping an eye on him. This morning I did not add water to his food as it was a mix of his food, pumpkin and the bland diet. But I will give him a snack later this morning and will give him water. Hopefully when we go for a walk – he will drink more than he did yesterday. I was reading if they do not get exercise, then they do not always want to drink much or can be any number of things. So I took him for a walk after work yesterday. We walked to our friend Pauline’s house and home. He only drank a small amount of water whereas he usually drinks almost the full container which is almost two cups. I did the test on his gums and they seem to be okay, so not dehydrated. We are going for a walk shortly. I had planned to get up earlier so that I wouldn’t have to rush but when we were up at 4:30 for a pee, then up at 5:30 so that he could eat and have his meds, get up at 6:00 was difficult. So here we are. Up at 6:40 and it is now just a couple of minutes after 7:00. We will have to leave soon so that we are back in time for me to get signed on for work. There is lots of time but I have a thing about being on time.

There is a cool breeze this morning so will be nice to get out for a walk. Perhaps the breeze and morning air will clear the cobwebs from my brain and get me where I need to be.

I am very grateful that Alvin is feeling better. Always a difficult thing to go through for him and me. He is getting older which I sometimes forget and he may not bounce back just as quickly as he once did but that is okay.

With gratitude in my heart, I leave you for today. Wishing you a wonderful day. I hope that you are able to get out for a walk and that your life has more positivity than the opposite. Why even say the word! or type it in this case.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: 19 sleeps till 65. It is getting close. I wonder if I will feel differently? My geraniums have so many buds and I am happy that they are blooming.

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this beautiful Friday morning. Alvin and I are doing great. Just had a refreshing shower. Going to write this post and then head out for a nice little walk before starting the last work of the week. I thought that I would share something that is most important to me. We all lead hectic, busy, sometimes stressful, sometimes anxious, lives and we sometimes need to be reminded of the words we say to ourselves.

This is the Daily Affirmation that I say to myself in front of the mirror every morning three times. Now of course, affirmations should be repeated multiple times and with meaning so that you believe what you are saying.

Daily Affirmation

I am healthy. I am strong. I am powerful. I am happy. I am grateful. I am wealthy. I am loved. I am appreciated. I am lucky. I am prosperous. I am divine. I am confident. I am proud. I am blessed. I am beautiful. I love the person that I am. I release my obstacles and make room for new opportunities. I love my life.

We all need to be more positive and this gives us a boost in the right direction. If we show love and love who we are, love what we have …. our lives will be filled with love.

Positive talk. Positive chatter.

Time to go for a walk with Mr. Alvin. Have an awesome day. Look after you. You are important.

Happy Friday.

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

Always, Love Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Hello Monday morning.

I enjoyed, we enjoyed a pancake breakfast with our girl yesterday.

Of course, Alvin did not eat pancakes although he really wanted to have some.

He did have some banana.

We had a great visit and even had time for a game of sequence and a game of JENGA.

Alvin and I enjoyed a walk after the visit.

We even had a visit with one of my neighbours as we passed along their home.

 

Yesterday my sister, one of my longtime friends and a new friend down the street, all celebrated birthdays.

I spoke to my sister on the telephone, my friend from back and I exchanged long emails catching up and the neighbour down the street, I walked over with a small gift.

February has been chalked full of birthdays.

Every single day had a birthday.

Busy month.

March is another busy month coming up.

This feels like a poem kind of morning.

Something to provoke thought and realization.

I am eternally grateful each and everyday for my life.

Would I change things, some things, perhaps.

But at the end of the day, it is the sum of all the parts, good and bad, that make us who we are.

 

I would like to share a poem that I wrote several years ago.

*******************************

“ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE”

There are many mornings when I rise,

That I draw a sigh and am grateful.

Am truly grateful for all that I have and all that I am.

I realize that no matter what, I am blessed.

Blessed with the realization that all things are possible.

I haven’t always been akin to this way of thinking.

But I would say that I have always been a positive being and a “hopeless romantic.”

Some days it is just a matter of putting one positive thought in front of another …

No matter what anyone thinks, life is work.

The work does not always require physical force but always requires “thought.”

Using your brain.

I believe that all things are possible.

Looking back over my life, I would tend to agree.

Think about it!

“All things are possible.”

 

Written April 11th, 2010 by Carol Y Lewis

 

I wish each and every soul, every being that I encounter on my life’s path; a great life.

I wish that for every boulder in the road that you are able to get over it or around it and come out for the better on the other side.

I wish that no matter what life may bring to you, that you are loved.

That you are able to find a way, your way, of course, but a way to be in every day, joyful and in good health.

May love fill each second and abundance fill each day.

Happy Monday.

 

Always, from me and 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

Living … One day at a time.

Well Hello, it has been a while.

My last post was August 18, 2019.

Today is my first day back to work.

ARGH, not quite certain how I feel about that but likely after a few minutes it will be like I was never gone.

I knew things were back to normal this morning when Mr. Alvin was scrunching up the bath mats after I had gone into the shower.

Life is as we knew it.

 

To Honor:

I would like to take this time to speak about two of my BEST guy friends that passed away.

My friend Les passed away the day before we left on the girls trip.

He had been battling multiple illnesses for many years but never let anything get him down.

Les was perhaps one of the most positive, happy people that I have ever known.

Always kind and generous.

Before life changed our geographical positions we would get together for coffee and sometimes for lunch or dinner to catch up.

We worked together for many years.

He was a good, honest, caring individual.

Les had a way of making you feel special.

I will carry his essence in my heart until the day that I pass.

His goodness and joy with me forever.

I miss him and will continue to think of him.

To his wife and family – I will always keep you in my thoughts and heart.

 

My friend George passed away earlier in the year.

I only found out when I went to call him as we were going to visit him during our last road trip.

He was another man that was always filled with joy, kindness and generosity.

I met George when I was 16 years old so I have known him most of my life.

He came into our lives and was an angel to me and my siblings.

George was a great man.

He was the big brother that I never had…..

He loved to joke around.

Again geographical position changed things.

It did not matter how much time had passed he was happy to see me/us and catch up.

Truly one of the best people that I have ever known.

To his brother and his wife – I will always keep you in my thoughts and heart.

 

I am grateful to both these men who came into my life and changed it forever.

There are no words.

I will truly miss them.

It is a hard reminder that we need to keep in closer touch with our friends and loved ones.

Life can be short.

We all know that life is not a forever gig.

So we have to ensure that we are better friends and family.

 

Les and George, I salute you both.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

Miss you …..

Hugs ….

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Time to go to work……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Tuesday the 5th day of June, 2018.

The sun is shining brightly in the morning sky.

It is a bit cool but that is okay.

 

The sky is filled with that glorious yellow sunshine and there is a bit of a breeze.

Alvin is laying on his blue blanket beside me and for this moment in time, my life is absolute perfection.

If we just go moment to moment and take the positive our lives will be perfection.

There always will be “crap along the way” and that is life.

But it is up to each one of us as to  what we do with that crap that will define us.

If we wallow in the crap then we will be miserable, bitter and unhappy.

If we chose to find that silver lining in every day no matter what is going on …. then we will have perfection.

As I get older I have found that worrying and stressing for long periods of time DOES NOT HELP.

In fact, it makes things even worse.

So you take that moment when the sun is shining, the air is cool, your Alvin is beside you and live in perfection.

It only takes a moment to define your day.

Think about it.

If you are in heavy traffic and someone cuts you off or you miss an exit.

Say you get ticked off and so mad that you want to literally scream or worse.

That one moment in time can define your whole day or even longer.

So why not take that glorious moment and let that define you …. define your day.

Try it.

What can you lose?

 

Moment to share from last night.

My daughter picked me up after work to make a run to COSTCO.

We arrived at COSTCO to find two staff out directing traffic and we had already guessed that the power was out as the traffic lights were not working.

So we went back to my house and looked after Alvin and had supper.

My daughter called COSTCO and after the power had been out for a total of 2 hours – it was back on.

We went back and picked up our things.

Luckily for us the store was not stuffed to the rafters.

After I put away the groceries and was taking out the garbage …. Mr. Alvin did THE THING.

This THING is the cutest thing in the world.

He runs and jumps as though we were playing MONSTER on the deck.

He ran …. not easy to explain.

But he runs and has this little jump and he lets out a little bark along the way.

Anyway it is so cute.

Makes me laugh.

I did have to watch as he wanted to go outside the garage.

 

 

Time to go for work.

Have an awesome day.

Special Hello to: my sister …. had a great night ….. talk soon.

Always, Carol & Alvin