2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Great, I hope! Wow, only SIX more sleeps until Christmas EVE 2021. WOW. I am feeling like I missed a day here and there. Six sleeps. One more sleep till little Cookie joins our household for two weeks. We will have the most beings for Christmas ever, I think and it makes me so happy. I mean since I moved to Edmonton. Generally it has been myself, Alvin, my daughter and son-in-law and their two pups. Which is great, please do not get me wrong, I love my family so much and time spent with them is priceless. I do however, like to entertain and it will be great to have some extra people and pups in the house this Christmas.

I thought that I would share some random photos this morning as I need to shower and get this show on the road as this is a huge day – one more trip out to pick up last minute items and something for Alvin, Aspen, Milo and Cookie for Christmas, also laundry, cleaning which includes bathrooms, floors, vacuum, dusting and ensuring that the house is in order for our company’s arrival tomorrow and for next weekend. Lots to do. So one last big clean (although seriously my house is not really dirty, perhaps a bit of dust here and there, lol) to do so that I feel as though we are ready to greet our company whether four-legged or two-legged.

The temperature has warmed up quite a bit which is nice but still not warm enough for Mr. Alvin to go for any length of walk. Perhaps later, I might bundle him up and even if we only go a few doors down the sidewalk – it will be a walk. He misses those walks as do I. They are good for body, mind and soul.

ROSE AKA BETTY WHITE

GOLDEN GIRLS

Kobi

Teddy & His Momma

Kobi checking things out!

Kobi

Our Company

My Alvin

Love the Green

Christmas cookies for Dr. Karen & team

Alvin & Kobi from another visit

Teddy

Kobi & Alvin

I apologize right straight away for the photos that are not quite in focus, I hadn’t noticed until I was downloading them, I was so excited to see the pups and my friend a couple of nights ago that I wasn’t watching the camera / phone. Just a few photos. I love the Betty White “ROSE” mug that my friend gave me, I love giving treats and we love our friends.

Happy Saturday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvlin

P.S. oh, I order pizza from Royal Pizza in our neighbourhood last night as I just figured that I needed to have a treat. Honestly it was still hot when I ate it and was the best one ever. I was wondering if they changed owners or cooks? Anyway, I called Royal Pizza to thank them for the pizza being hot and so good. The person that took my order about one hour earlier was the same one that answered the phone, I truly think he was stunned and shocked. Don’t people ever call when something is extra good and it was genuinely HOT. It was still quite warm when I was removing it from the box to put in the fridge. That is my pizza story. Perhaps it is something to remember that we all need to give thanks to others so that when we do – it does not come as so much of a shock.

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

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

It is Sunday ….

Overcast and raining.

My nephew leaves later this afternoon and my sister arrived about 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

We have been enjoying our time together.

This is what my nephew and I did yesterday around noon.

Bright sunny day ….

The pergola came down.

At the end near the back door it was beginning to split and I was afraid it would come crashing down.

It was very poorly constructed as we found out once we decided to take it down.

The deck looks bigger and is so open.

There are the four corner posts remaining and I will remove them once I have a proper saw but for now they are solid.

 

We had pizza for supper …. nice and easy.

 

Well today is our family get together and belated birthday celebration for me.

So time to get cooking.

I am making potato salad and chicken (deep fried, chicken breast) and some vegetables and that cake.

That beautiful carrot cake.

 

Also I am going on a road trip with my sister and daughter leaving tomorrow morning.

My sister and I will take Alvin to my daughter’s where we will change vehicles.

Alvin will stay with my son-in-law while we are away.

So excited for our second annual girls road trip.

 

While I am away …. I will not be writing this blog.

So will have lots of stories and photos to share upon my return.

Have a great next few days.

 

 

 

Travelling along life’s path with kindness and respect, that is how I roll.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 18th day of March, 2019.

The sun is rising bright in the morning sky.

Today I am taking a vacation day.

So nice to be at home for another day.

We were up at bit later and then slept in a bit.

Whenever cars drive by in the back lane you can hear the crunch of snow and ice.

It is a massive rut back there.

We need some warm, warm days to melt this mess.

Would have been nice if the back lanes and the streets in our neighbourhood would have been plowed/scraped during the winter.

Likely not many were …. now we depend on the warmth of the sun to take away the mess.

Our sidewalk out front went from bare to a massive chunk of ice.

When it melts from the back yard it drains to the front.

Frustrating.

We valiantly scoop the water to the drain but then over night it return and freezes.

Not pretty out there and we try to keep it clean to no avail.

Walks are on the opposite side of the street, thankfully it melts faster and is easier for those neighbours to keep clean.

 

I have to share some photos from the birthday party yesterday of my grand-pups and the fruit pizza.

Apparently I must have taken the photos of the birthday girl with my tablet as there are none on this camera.

I was certain that I took them with the camera.

 

Miss Aspen and Milo with Alvin in the background of the above photo to the left.

We had a great visit.

Alvin was so excited when he saw them drive by.

We ran to the back door to watch for them to come in from the garage.

I had to let Alvin outside as he could not contain his excitement.

He waited patiently for the door to open and them to start coming out of the garage.

My son-in-law also commented on the back lane.

We ordered pizza from my new favourite pizza place “Royal Pizza” in the Hamptons.

Best pizza ever.

For dessert “fruit pizza.”

The fruit pizza was heavy ….. lots of fruit on that cookie sheet.

I had a vegetable platter as I figured might be a good idea.

We enjoyed the food and the visit.

 

Well I have a list of things to do today.

Finish laundry, make a big pot of chilli, make pot of oatmeal for this week and go for a walk.

Will work on putting together some orders for Steeped Tea and NORWEX.

I have one of each.

 

Just a lovely day to be at home with me Alvin.

I am so grateful to have such great company.

I am grateful to have a wonderful family.

 

Happy Monday.

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 16th day of February, 2019.

It is WARMER this morning than has been for a long while.

I just heard on the weather channel that this is the longest stretch of COLD weather in February for Edmonton in 30 years.

WOW, can you imagine that.

I was not living here at that time.

Anyway about 3-4 days and it we will have single digit temperatures for a couple of days.

It will feel like a tropical heat wave.

I can see folks out in their shorts for sure.

We are (not me) like that, you know.

Lots of snow overnight so have some shovelling in my forecast.

Supposed to snow starting at 7:00 a.m. however; it has not started as yet.

 

Yesterday at work I had a craving for a nice crunch cheesy pizza.

I had the taste in my mouth and when I mentioned it to a co-worker she had the same craving.

I asked her where the best pizza was in Edmonton and she said hands down “ROYAL PIZZA.”

So after I looked after Alvin after work – I set about finding a location which joyfully there was in my neighbourhood.

Not immediate but still close enough by.

So I ordered this – pizza sauce with pieces of crumbled Italian sausage, onions, mushroom and mozzarella cheese on top.

The CRUST was amazing.

I had to wait for one hour till about 7:00 p.m. as the driver said it hit 5:00 p.m. and all of a sudden they had 20 deliveries to make.

So they got behind.

The driver was so nice.

I will say this …. best $36.25 that I have ever spent.

Normally I do not order pizza or anything in for that matter.

But it was just one of those nights.

Perhaps all of this cold OR perhaps just a food memory that pushed me over the edge.

But well worth it.

So good, the taste was incredible.

A bit of crunch …. hard to explain.

But if you live in the Edmonton area …. I highly recommend this pizza place.

I was in heaven …. Alvin tried to join me but I told him “no pizza for you my boy.”

Instead he had broccoli.

This is the pizza that had me gaga …..

The corner piece, the first bite I took, actually was smaller than the photo shows.

But it was so GOOD.

BEST TREAT ever.

I am going to start treating myself once in awhile.

Of course, one cannot eat pizza every night.

 

Okay, time to get this show on the road.

Teddy and his Aunt J are coming this afternoon for a visit and staying for supper.

Aunt J is bringing the fixings for a TACO dinner.

So excited.

I am supplying the dessert.

It was supposed to be Maple Walnut frozen yogurt but sadly SAVEON was out so it is Dutch Chocolate.

Which is okay (I had a taste the other night).

 

Have an awesome day.

Always, no matter what, TREAT yourself.

It is especially important for us who live alone.

I know that I am not alone as I have Mr. Alvin but I mean without another human in the household.

Whether it is pizza or a movie or perhaps both.

Manicure or pedicure.

Treat yourself.

Take the time to pamper yourself within your budget.

Mine was pizza.

I loved it.

Feeling so spoiled.

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day to ME.

 

Special Hello to: my sister, my friend V and to all my girls out there and the boys, too.  Happy Saturday.  It is a GREAT day.

Always, Carol & Alvin