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
My New Life @ 51 