2021

Good Morning ALL! We slept in a bit later than usual this morning. The sun is shining brightly and it is brrr cold outside. In fact, Mr. Alvin didn’t go out after he ate his breakfast a few hours ago and had it not been for Cookie braving the cold a few minutes ago, I doubt he would have gone out. He likely would have waiting until he could wait no more. It is so cold outside. I feel for any folks and animals and birds that are outside in this weather. I see some people out walking with their dogs. One couple has these two huge dogs, I think they are labs. They have coats and boots on them. The dogs seldom miss a walk and they usually go twice per day. Another woman walks her dog who is not quite so large but with no coat or boots. The dog has a shaggy coat and I pray the pup is okay. Unfortunately as much as Alvin needs or may like a walk, I will not take him out in this weather. He barely can tolerate going out to the backyard (actually to the deck which is covered in lots of snow). Anyway, please if you have a dog or cat, keep them in the house. Our pets can not tolerate these deep freeze temperatures.

Alvin was sawing logs much longer than me and Cookie this morning. She got up and was pulling toys out of Alvin’s toybox. She found out than she dragged up onto the big chair by the window. The toy was about 1/2 her size. She is a strong little thing. We are over the halfway point until her family returns to home to Edmonton. We have been texting and they are having a great time. I am thinking that upon their return, I am going to carry Cookie and her things back home, masked of course. Likely a good idea. Her stash of pee pads is dwindling quickly. I may have to reach out to one of my friends down the street and see if I can borrow some.

Alvin is laying outside the office door as he always does. I have noticed that he is playing a bit more than usual and I think it is always more fun to play when you have a playmate. A human is not quite the same as another four-legged. Next month, Mr. Alvin turns 13. I cannot believe it. WOW.

I truly have been lounging about, relaxing, and unwinding these past few days. It seems like I should be taking down the decorations and the tree but I have decided not to as I am afraid that Cookie will get underfoot. Perhaps or not. We have been just hanging out. I did some laundry yesterday so not totally lying about on the sofa watching movies. It has been great watching some movies that I have not seen in awhile. I also started to read one of my new books. JOY by Debbie Travis. It is great. I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I also have been enjoying coffee every morning. When you are at home in the house and it is bitterly cold outside, something hot just tastes so much better. I have heard that when you are cold you should drink something cold and same in the summer when it is hot, you should drink something hot. I can see that making sense. But when you are warm and it is cold outside, a mug of hot coffee tastes all the more sweet. I am almost finished the second bag of Starbucks “Christmas Blend” and am sad. I do so love that coffee. It is not bitter, not sweet but somewhere in between. There is no after taste in your mouth when you are finished. It is the perfect coffee and I love it. So this morning I will definitely enjoy one of the mugs of that blend for this year.

I finished the leftovers from our Christmas dinner last night. So great to have leftovers. Now to get through all of the chopped up vegetables. Perhaps a stir fry would be nice.

Today is Wednesday, December 29, 2021. We are only two days away from New Year’s Eve. Are you celebrating outside your home this year? I will remain inside with the pups. The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday is almost tropical compared to the days leading up. I will definitely be taking Mr. Alvin for a walk. It may be too cold for Cookie and trying to get outside without her escaping will be interesting. But I will try.

I wish you a great Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol, Alvin and Cookie

P.S. Miss Cookie just walked up to Alvin and started to lick his face. He turned his head and she kept licking. He did not jump up or growl at her. WOW. I think he may be enjoying his new temporary room-mate.

2021

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to Tuesday, December 7 and we are “17” sleeps until Christmas Eve. WOW. I missed the boat doing the daily countdown. I would imagine most of you do not need me to tell you how many sleeps it is until Christmas, lol. For sure not. How are you today? I clicked on the SNOOZE twice this morning. Last night was like a Sunday night and I tossed and turned and turned and tossed and then Alvin was up and it was 3:00 a.m. Downstairs we climbed. He had a glucosamine chew and outside to pee. Then back to the sofa for some more sleep. Pretty much right away into a deep sleep. It was about 4:30 when Alvin woke up and wanted his breakfast but I coaxed him back into the sofa and we then slept until almost 5:30. He ate and went outside. Then back to the sofa. I know that I was dreaming but I have absolutely zero recollection on what. I had good feelings when I woke up and wanted to continue to be in that place. But where was it? Do you ever wake up and want to go back to wherever the dream place was? This was the first in a while but I felt so good there, in that place, so relaxed and joyful. I will try and keep in that zone for every minute of this day. When I find myself going to the “dark side” – I will simply close my eyes and feel GREAT.

I sure hope that the temperatures are warmer this week so that Mr. Alvin and I can get out for a walk or three. We haven’t been out since last week. I think that he misses them for sure. My trusty companion is laying on his belly on the hallway floor. He is so darn cute. I noticed that usually once a day he grabs one of his toys and tosses it around and then carries it either to a resting spot on the sofa or onto his dog bed. What a guy! Sometimes I wished that I had been able to have a companion for him. In hindsight, it is always 20/20. I guess I just have to try to be a better companion for him. Play more. I am a good snuggler but playing hasn’t always been my thing. But for his sake – it needs to be. Now that being said if I am in the same room when Alvin grabs his toy, I do play tug with him and then toss the toy if he will give it up. So I guess I do play. Just have to play more. Likely good for me, too. Right. We all need to take life a little bit less serious. I know that I am way too serious. How about in the next 17 days – we have fun. Each day. Laugh more. Toss that doggie toy about. Do some funny dancing. Maybe I could dance with Alvin. We used to dance. Dancing was me holding him in my arms with his head at my shoulder and swaying to the music and there were some good steps in there, too. But he is a solid 30 pounds so makes it a bit more difficult. But I need to bring my core back. Just like in the summer when he had his surgery and I had to carry him outside and everywhere and then carefully bend over and place him on the ground. I found my core but over the last month or so, it has been misplaced. So I am on the hunt to bring my core back. Oh, that CORE!

Well it is time to get back downstairs. Work is calling in a bit and I have to put on the coffee pot. I can smell that STARBUCKS Christmas blend calling my name. It is so yummy. My favourite blend of all time.

Have a wonderful Tuesday! Remember to LAUGH and if you have lost your core, start looking for it.

Continuing to live each day with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding and gratitude.

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. my lips are chapped and I used Burt’s Bees Lip Balm everyday. How can that be?

AND I iced 18 dozen sugar cookies yesterday and wrapped some Christmas presents. Alvin was sniffing around under the tree looking for something for open. Will have to watch the boy.

2021

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to Saturday, December 4, 2021. OMG, not many days now less than three full weeks until Christmas EVE. Can you believe it? Time flies. The sky is clear as the sun rises this morning. Mr. Alvin is patiently, impatiently waiting in the hallway for me. Every so often he stands up and looks at me as if to say “Are you done yet?” Just like a small child travelling on vacation or to Grandma’s house. I will say that PATIENCE is not something that either Alvin and I have a lot of but I am working on that, daily.

At my lunch break yesterday at noon, the arm was quite warm so we happily set out for our walk. So excited until we we reached the public sidewalk in front of our house to find that the once crunchy layer of snow had now become a sheet of ice with patches that were safe for walking. I took the smallest steps that I have taken since first learning to walk while Alvin boldy rushed along slipping and sliding as we went. He did slow down when I pulled on the leash a bit and said “Slow down Buddy.” We walked past one of our neighbours on the other side of the street who was out putting down salt on his driveway. They live on the corner so he has a long piece of sidewalk that he has to maintain. Not everyone around is as meticulous as he is about looking after the snow and ice removal during the winter. I am grateful for him. They also have the most beautiful yard in the summer. His wife has a super green thumb and is always working outside during the summer days, weeks and months. Anyway, we stopped momentarily to chat with him and then carefully carried on with hopes to reach the park and then turn back once again for home BUT after a few houses, I decided it was not worth the risk of Alvin slipping or pulling something or me falling and breaking something. So we turned around and carefully made our way back home. We said hello again to our friend who was then pouring salt on the long piece of public sidewalk and continued homeward bound. I am happy to report that we made it safe and sound although I had one frightful moment. Oh, the joys of winter. I must get out my “grips” to put onto the bottom of my winter boots. Most of the time they work but when there is only a layer of thin black ice – they do not. Anyway, we are home safe and luckily other than going for walks we have no need to leave the house and I am grateful to have a backyard for Mr. Alvin to access should he need to go “you know what.”

Last night was the first of three LIVES on Facebook for the Fifth Avenue Jewelry Collection that I am hosting with three others and they are called MEGAPARTIES. New words all the time. It was fun. I missed the first couple of minutes again and not because I was not there but because apparently “I did not refresh FB” which I am pretty sure that I did, anyway, let us not go there. Yesterday was not my best day on planet earth. I found myself impatient with people that I work with (not my direct coworkers) and then to miss the first couple of minutes of the LIVE when I was there, did not help my anxiety. Yes, we all have a bit of anxiety from time to time. Anxiety – impatience, call it what you will, it happens to each and every one of us from time to time. Anyway, I believe I ended it on a high note. My lotto ticket was not a winner so that was disappointing – I guess deep down or even on the surface did I think that I would actually win a large sum of money. I have to work on that for sure. There were so many pieces of beautiful jewelry. I guess my favorite was this long silver chain with this huge round kelly green crystal bead and two clear crystal beads and a FAC charm. It totally reminds me of Christmas and I have admired it for a long time. It is a bit more money than I can afford but a girl can dream. At the end of the day it is nice to sit and admire the beautiful jewelry. I have several pieces that I have acquired over the last thirty years since I started to buy Fifth Avenue Jewelry. I have so much jewelry period that I have accumulated in my 64 years. Most of what I acquire these days is for gifts. Once in awhile I pick up something for myself. Not too often. Tonight at 7:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) is the second FB LIVE for the weekend and then tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. (Mountain Time), I believe is the last one. So I had better get going.

This is my Christmas baking / Fifth Avenue Jewelry weekend plus I have laundry and some cleaning to do. I have reduced the different things that I am baking to Sugar Cookies and Fudge and a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies for my son-in-law. Also I had a great idea last night when I could not sleep because silly me thought it was a good idea to drink coffee all evening. My beautiful daughter stopped by after work and brought us MacD’s for supper (usually I am not a huge fan of fast food but once in awhile I enjoy it and I had a craving for those salty fries). This was the second time in as many months. I am turning into a FF junkie (fast food junkie). Anyway, that is okay. Alvin and I loved having her here for a visit. We quickly caught up on the latest before she was on her way to COSTCO. Did I mention that she brought me some small donuts from MacD’s, who knew that they sold donuts now. I had a couple last night after she was gone. They were yummy. Anyway.

Time to get going. I have some FB messages to send to some friends regarding the Fifth Avenue Jewelry party and then laundry and COFFEE.

Have the most wonderful Saturday. Be safe and enjoy!

Continuing on this path, in this life to live each day with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, understanding, laughter with gratitude.

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS, one of the splurges I made at the grocery store was a small bag of the ground StarBucks Christmas Blend Coffee, the one in the red bag. I had that last night. My daughter had about 1/2 a cup but me, I drank the rest of the pot. I enjoyed it but I was up all night thinking about everything that happened yesterday and things that I will be doing this weekend and even came up with a great idea to package the Christmas baking. YAY, me.