Last Half 2022 – December

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am doing great. Up early so that I do not need to rush to finish the preparations for the second Christmas party that I am hosting tonight. Still really dark outside and I feel like it is still night. Not many lights on in the neighborhood but that is okay. I have lots to do and I would like to have some downtime before the guests start to arrive around 6ots to do and I would like to have some downtime before the guests start to arrive around 6:30 p.m. There are seven of my coworkers who have said that they are coming for sure. I guess time will tell. That number includes me. So a good number. We will have fun.

Countdown to Christmas: Saturday, December 17, 2022 which is exactly 7 sleeps till Christmas Eve Day. That is when my Alvin is coming home as well. Aspen and Milo will stay with us while Mom & Dad go to the Hobb’s side of the family for their Christmas celebration. I cannot wait. Alvin continues to surprise me with the updates from my daughter. He sure seems to have settled in – oh, dear, maybe he has forgotten me, possible?

I have changed my bedding, dusted the wall pictures/paintings upstairs, sprayed the toilets to clean when I am finished this post, and a couple of other little things. Might as well clean upstairs first and then it is done. Not much to do – a quick vacuum after cleaning the bathroom toilets and sinks and a bit of dusting and upstairs is done. Helps to keep on top of things for sure. Last night after work I took all of my winter coats out of the front closet and brought them upstairs to the office closet and moved my winter boots to the far right side leaving lots of room for all the coats and boots. I don’t like having a lot of boots sitting at the entranceway. I am shuffling and putting away all of my gadgets from the top of the kitchen counter (most of them, not all) so that we have room for food and refreshments and dishes and glasses. Garbage already emptied last night. I did quite a lot after work last night as I worked until almost 8:00 p.m. Whew!

We had some snow last night so I went out to shovel the deck and out front. Once back in the house, I was just taking a minute before going to shovel the driveway when the wind got up and the visibility was very low. It all happened so quickly. So I left the driveway until today. When I shovelled the deck I was just in a long cardigan and was not cold. The air felt so warm. It was strange. Weather!

Time to go and finish up here and then I can go and put on some coffee and have a little coffee break once the coffee has perked.

Have an awesome day.

I may not be posting early tomorrow! Depends on how late my guests stay!

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – December

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am doing well. Had a great long sleep. As I look out of the office window the sky is grey and I almost think that I can see the trees swaying ever so lightly back and forth. Today is Saturday. The weekend has begun. I am so grateful for the weekends. Time to relax, readjust, clean the house and do all those things we do on our days off from work. Almost forgot that there is some shoveling that needs to be done. I can see the deck has snow from a few days ago and I imagine the same could be same for the driveway. So shoveling is in my near future. In fact, I might get that done in the next little bit. Tonight my friends Gillian & Signe are coming over for our Annual Christmas party. I cannot wait. We will have a multitude of appetizers, sweet treats and different kinds of drinks. We girls laugh, sometimes “cry” but above all we treasure our time together. They are such good friends and I love spending time with them.

I have some things to get ready for the party. Food wise. There would be some vacuuming in my near future, washing of the floors, some dusting, cleaning the bathrooms. Odds and ends. Make sure that the house looks perfect for my company.

My daughter dropped by last night on her way home to pick up some things. I also made sure that she tooks some Christmas baking. We had a nice visit. Alvin seems to be settling in well as yesterday morning for the second day in a row he slept through the night. In fact, everyone else in the house was up yesterday except for Alvin which had an immediate concern for them. Amanda carefully went over to ensure he was breathing and he woke up. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. Two weeks till Christmas and the boy comes home. I do miss him but I also realize that it is good for both of us to have some time apart. This is the first time in years and never for this amount of time.

Countdown to Christmas: 14 sleeps till Christmas Eve. Time is flying.

Yesterday we had a Secret Santa & Christmas party at work for our immediate three departments. There are 17 of us in total. Everyone brought something whether appetizers or sweet treats. So good. Then we opened gifts. I became the photographer of the event as I happen to have my phone out. There were giggles along the way and deep roars of laughter. During the gift opening people started to throw down the tissue paper as most gifts were in gift bags and I made a comment about recycling the tissue paper and of course the bags. We had some fun with the tissue paper. Some people folded it up and gave it to me. I found that another coworker also reuses the paper so we shared the excess tissue paper. Everyone was happy with their gifts. We had a fun couple of hours. Then back to work (some of us). Always hard for people to settle down after they had a big lunch and gifts. Then it was time to go home and start this weekend. I almost forgot our Manager had this gift exchange where she had wrapped as many gifts as there were people in the group and had a bucket of numbers for everyone to draw one. The person with no.1 got to pick any of the gifts and then went from there no. 2 and so on. If you did not wanted to “steal” the gift from the previous person you could and then you chose a gift for that person and so on. The first person got to choose from all of the gifts or one of the remaining ones. It was great fun.

Okay time to get downstairs and get this day hopping. Lots to do before tonight. I need coffee.

Have an awesome Saturday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning All! Another smoky looking sky morning. Alvin and I were up and out for a walk earlier. The diarrhea had started to go in the other direction but then back again. We were in bed by 10:00 p.m. last night and then up at 3:00 a.m. to go outside (only pee), it was so nice out there. Clear sky. I don’t know if the bright shiny objects in the sky were stars or satellites or the space station but I could see them all the same. Then back into the house and settled down on the sofa for some additional sleep. I set the alarm for 6:00 a.m. as then is when Alvin needs his probiotic, the alarm went off and Alvin was still sleeping so I turned off and then got up a few minutes later. Today I can start mixing in his food with the chicken and rice. Now that is quite the mixture. I am quite sure that I am over feeding him by a bit but hard to measure them all to come up with 3/4 cup total. Oh well. After he ate we went outside, I was sad to see that the starting to firm up poop from yesterday was back to not being firm. I know, poop, poop, poop, poop. But it is my reality at this moment. We do not realize how important the state of one’s poop is in our overall health whether you are human or a dog. Any animal for that matter. The “stuff” that our bodies dispose of tells the story of how well we eat or not and our state of health. So it is a big deal and I take that very seriously. After that I had planned to stay up but the sofa was calling my name and I just laid there for awhile thinking about things, my things, what to do, what can I do, what should I do. Also thinking about how grateful I am for the life that I have lived thus far. I will say this it has not been dull. There have truly been incredible highs and equally lows. But that is life, right?

We were up just before 8:00 and I ran upstairs to throw on some clothes, because no one wants to see me out walking in my pj’s, I am quite certain of that. So once done and back downstairs, I grabbed his harness and put on him before filling his water bottle. Then grabbed my keys, leash and put on my flip flops (my Clark’s, which I absolutely love) and out the door we went (oh, I put on my sunglass clips), locked the door and carried Mr. Alvin down the steps. We did not come across anyone during our walk to our happy place. We just doddled along with Alvin smelling each and every blade of grass and me, taking in the morning air, admiring the trees, the ponds, the stones I could see in between the trees and the roses still blooming. We did not go into our friend’s yard but tomorrow we will. We both love it there and while Pauline’s flowers are blooming we want to enjoy them. I shall email her tonight to give her a head’s up, just in case she happens to look out the window and see us sitting in the yard. On the return trip home – Alvin stopped and pooped, yup still you know what. Not my favorite word in the English language or any language for that matter. I gave him a couple pieces of his hard food when we got home. Positive thoughts. His poop will get firm over the course of today. We saw a woman in the entrance way to the park and we both said hello. She told me that she was enjoying the area and that she was visiting from Vancouver. I said we live in a beautiful neighbourhood. Then we were off for home.

Once home, I removed our gear and put on the coffee to perk and then went out to water all of the plants. I read last night it is better to water in the morning than in the evening. So will give that a try. Alvin stayed on the deck like the good guy that he is while I watered the front. Then I watered the back and then took the watering can to water the Begonias on the front porch. As I walked across the lawn, I noticed a woman who then noticed me and we realized that it was a friend who lives in the neighbourhood who I have not seen in literally years. We chatted and caught up and remarked on how things have changed since COVID came into our lives. It was so nice to see her. I miss seeing her on a regular basis. She is a very sweet and nice person. Then we said our goodbyes and she continued on her walk. I finished watering the flowers and walked to the backyard where Mr. Alvin was patiently waiting for me. I actually was very surprised that he did not jump off the deck and come to find me.

Back into the house, poured some coffee and upstairs to make our bed and do some things. Now I am sipping on coffee and writing this post.

Oh, yesterday I accidentally clicked on my gmail – email on my phone and noticed that I had over 7000 emails. Yup, that many. So I started reading some of them and deleting others. I found emails from my daughter from 2016 with photos and videos of the original three amigos: Elton, Penny and Alvin. OH, my goodness such good memories. I loved reading the emails and remembering back before COVID and before we were that much older. I have to start deleting them. No one needs to have 7000+ emails and I have another email address as well but I do keep it more respectable, lol.

Life, this is my life. Trying to keep cool. Hoping that Alvin stays healthy. Sometimes thinking about miracles and trying to remain positive despite the curveballs that come my way.

I hope that you have a great Sunday. Time to head downstairs. Finish my coffee. Do a few things. This will be another quiet day. Tomorrow will be cooler so I can get some things done outside and in the house for that matter. I did vacuum the main floor yesterday and do laundry but hard to do much when it is 36 degrees outside as the more active you are inside, the more the house heats up.

Have an awesome Sunday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: thanks to my friend for picking up bathroom tissue and bread. Two staples in every household.

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning and Welcome to the last day of February 2020.

the 29th …. the extra day once every four years.

The sky is overcast so I hope that doesn’t mean the white stuff will be falling from the sky later.

Yesterday was incredibly warm, think in the +6 degree fahrenheit range.

So of course some of the snow melted from the backyard, front yard and from neighbours and has pooled in front of my house.

Well actually part of mine and Humphrey’s house.

It is a mess of ice and water.

I see some ice picking in my future today.

Last night after work I went for groceries.

It was ugly getting out and then parked back out front.

I wished that the City would have had the big grader come down and scrape the street.

Instead we had a mini cat come down and plough.

Helped some but not enough.

Last night before groceries, Alvin and I attempted to go for a walk but after getting splashed by cars/trucks driving by …

Because of course, no one wants to slow down for those of us on the sidewalks.

I had bumped into a neighbour who was walking with her puppy and she was frustrated as well.

We were chatting on the sidewalk in front of her house when two trucks went by and splash us.

When we raised our arms in protest, they looked stunned.

Then bless their hearts a couple of vehicles went by and crawled along to ensure we did not get wet.

I honestly do not believe that people plan or intentionally want to splash water and mud on anyone.

But into their own little worlds and not paying attention.

Anyway.

It was nice to get out and have some fresh air.

It was nice to go shopping as well.

Something not at home and not at work.

 

Tonight I am hosting a 5th Avenue Jewelry party.

So after this I am going to get the laundry going, make breakfast, have coffee, clean and do some baking.

Excited to see some bling.

To try some pieces on.

Always a fun way to spend an evening.

There will be a few of us.

Alvin likes having company once he calms down.

 

Well as I might be deicing out front as much as possible.

I better get going.

Funny how the night before last there was only a small amount of ice out front.

Warm temperatures are appreciated but then it takes time and effort to keep the ice away.

 

Yesterday was my second eldest nephew’s birthday.

I forgot until almost the end of the day.

Bad Auntie.

I apologize to him.

Happy Birthday Buddy to one of the best guys I know.

He is hard working, a good father and husband.

An all around good one.

We are grateful to have him in the family.

 

So on this overcast gray kind of day.

I wish that you treat yourself with kindness and respect and some quiet time.

Treating others with kindness and respect is a given.

 

Happy Saturday.

Enjoy the last day of February 2020.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 12th day of December, 2018.

The weather forecast is for plus temperatures for the next week.

Hopefully the ice will melt and dry up.

Hard to believe it is December.

But perhaps not.

Maybe this is our new norm.

If there is such a thing.

We have had a huge amount of snow followed by some cold weather interrupted by mild temperatures.

Well this morning I am running late.

I cut one finger on my right hand a couple of days ago while fixing supper.

Not serious enough for stitches but enough to keep bandaged while it heals.

Of course, I wash my hands a billion times each day and am going through the bandaids, like crazy.

Perhaps I should have thought to have picked up some “liquid bandaid.”

Now that would have been a great idea.

Also my fingertips are cracking.

Tis the season.

The air is somewhat dry.

So even though it is quite painful, it is more that they are tender making some of the easiest tasks, a pain.

I cannot wear bandaids on each finger or I would not be able to work.

I am on the computer all day plus handling lots of paper.

Anyway, I am slower this morning than usual.

So not great stories or words of wisdom for this Wednesday.

 

I hope that you are all well.

Keep your hands and feet moisturized.

I try.

Wishing you an awesome Wednesday.

It is a great day.

 

My day is always off to a GREAT start when Mr. Alvin lays his head beside mine when we snooze on the sofa.

Oh, I love the little guy.

Hopefully it will be good for walking tonight.

 

Wished that I had some pea sized gravel for the front sidewalks.

Just putting it out there.

 

Okay, time to go.

Special Hello to: all those folks who are a bit stressed between work and the holidays.  It has been crazy as our office is temporarily locating to an office down the street from our current location.

The office is being moved in stages.  We go next week.  In the meantime, it has been semi organized chaos.  We are busy on top of it all.  Our current building is being renovated.  That will be great.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 19th day of September, 2018.

I almost said June …. not sure what I was thinking about …. ???

It was dark but dry but when we got up this morning and nothing has changed thus far.

They are forecasting temperatures of about 14 degrees celsius, which would be BEAUTIFUL.

Last night Alvin and I went for a walk after work with our friend “P.”

We walked around the big lake to the north of us (first of all we walked to our friend’s house as we were ready more quickly than I first thought).

It was beautiful.

Some of the leaves are changing colour to hues of yellow and orange while the others are bitterly hanging onto to their greens.

Lots of folks out walking with loved ones both two and four-legged.

The SUN was shining and there was just the perfect warmth-cool mix to the air.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk.

We will be going again tonight.

 

After our walk and before supper, I decided to put away the remaining or at least the bigger pieces.

Leaving only the bistro table (which I should not lift into the garage) and its’ two chairs.

The deck looked so bare.

I decided as we only have a couple of days left without the forecast of moisture (rain & snow) to put the flowers back onto the deck.

I had placed a few pots into the garage last week.

Kept them watered and they lived.

The only pot that I left in the garage is the lavender plant as I want to dry the flowers and put it in the basement to winter there.

 

I decided mid point in the week is a good time to put up some photos.

The ones with the snow were from this past Saturday and the one with the flowers in the “sunshine” are from last night.

There was even a reflection on the fence by the sunflowers, do you see it?

All I can say is my poor Sunflowers from Saturday.

The one on the left, actually broke right at the base of the stalk and was just kind of there.

Poor thing

 

 

My friend P said that the Snapdragons are quite hardy.

The impatiens …. they were starting to get weak in the garage.

Anyway, that was last night.

I am glad to see some colour on the deck even if it is only for a couple more days.

 

I hope that you all have an awesome Wednesday.

Happy Birthday to my old neighbour who built a new house, and moved to a neighbourhood about 6 minutes away by car.

Happy Birthday “S” ……

 

Special Hello to: my sister and my friend V …… ladies you rock.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 31st day of July, 2018.

Alvin and I had a wonderful walk this morning.

Not a soul was out and about.

A few houses along the way had their lights on at 5:00 a.m., so we were not the only ones up and about.

Now just putting the finishing touches on getting ready for work.

I have the office window open and not quite sure what the neighbour was doing but it was loud.

He had taken out their trash and turned on the car.

I think he is putting air in the tires.

It is loud.

at 6:15 a.m.

 

Well today is the day.

The company arrives tonight.

The fun begins.

So excited to have a visit with everyone and some time with my sister.

I miss not seeing her on a regular basis (we lived in the same city and worked for the same company at one point before I moved to Edmonton).

The neighbour…

He just back out of his driveway and it sounds like he has some brake issues.

Just an observation.

Back to the company.

Tonight.

Not sure what will happen tomorrow with Alvin and everyone.

He will certainly wonder why I am leaving him with a house full of people.

I know that my sister will keep an eye on him for me.

 

Well life is full of surprises.

Like last night when the sky would cloud up and I was sure that it would rain.

Then the sun would shine.

No rain.

This morning there are some rain clouds in the sky.

Just felt a cool breeze wafting in through the open office window.

Feels so refreshing as it washes over my face.

I did not water flowers last night because I was certain it was going to rain.

Now the temperature seems cooler all of a sudden so perhaps we will get a shower this morning.

The sun is rising in the east and I can see the beams bouncing off of a neighbour’s house.

 

Thank you to everyone who read my poem yesterday.

I love to write and definitely should do more ….

Perhaps I will be inspired over the next week or so.

Family, vacation, Family …. did I say vacation.

YES.

 

Have an awesome day.

Tuesday it is and Tuesday it shall be.

Be kind.

Be generous.

Be wise.

Be gentle.

Be you.

 

Special Hello to: my sister ….. not long now.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 21st day of June, 2018.

DA DA DA …… (supposed to be trumpet) Today is the first day of SUMMER for 2018.

It is hot in the house unless you are sitting beside the fan or by the windows which are all open for the next bit.

Downstairs has cooled off so should be okay for me, Alvin.

 

Last night on the bus ride home the bus “broke down.”

We were only about ten minutes into the ride from where I get onto the bus when stopped at a red light; an alarm came on.

Sounds like a phone ringing.

Anyway everyone is looking at each other.

The back doors had come open.

The driver tried to close them to no avail.

So he called it in.

After turning the bus off and “resetting the computer” the alarm went off.

He managed to get the door closed but as soon as he drove the alarm went off again.

We sat for just over 15 minutes on a full bus in the HEAT with the alarm going off and on.

He called it in again and asked for buses to stop and pick up his passengers.

By this time people had escaped from the bus.

It was kind of funny one girl went to get off and the driver told her to get back as it was unsafe.

She in turn said well others have got off and he replied that she needed to sit down (nicely).

He was in the first hour of his shift when this happened.

I think he was hot and frazzled by that time.

Anyway we all climbed off the bus.

I along with 50 of my bus mates walked back to the bus stop (behind the bus) and waited.

One bus went by and the driver was out and managed to flag him over.

I could see the “100” which is the one that I catch (there are several at that time of day).

Some woman walked to be in front of me.

So I walked over and the driver of the 100 stopped right by me.

When he opened the doors it was my regular driver (he had been late and I had not asked if he turned into the 119 which takes me straight home from downtown with a few stops).

Long story short …. only about 20 minutes late getting home.

 

NOW for the cute story.

This morning as Alvin and I were out for our 5 a.m. stroll I spotted this black and white cat down in the trees by the water.

It was walking along as we were coming up to the benches and trash can.

As we approached it moved and sat under the bench which I thought was very odd.

It remained there as I steered Alvin away as not to start a commotion.

As we walked by the cat remained under the bench.

I looked down on the sidewalk and saw why?

There was his catch for the morning laying on the sidewalk by the bench.

Argh, a mouse.

We quickly continued on and as we turned the bend I looked back to see the cat jumping through the air and what looked like the mouse jumping, too.

Perhaps the mouse had only been knocked out or was playing “dead.”

OR the cat was batting him all over the place.

It was quite the sight.

So that was my morning.

Just about time to leave to catch the bus.

Have to close all of the windows.

 

Have an awesome Thursday and first day of summer.

We are having Teddy come for a sleepover beginning tonight.

 

Special Hello to: my daughter who is my pride and joy and who helps people in many ways.  Love you my darling.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 5th day of April, 2018.

YAY, today is Thursday.

We want to be excited for each day.

Always a good thing when you wake up in the morning.

Mr. Alvin is going for a sleepover to this sister’s house tonight.

I have a meeting right after work.

I have not mentioned it to him as I do not want to create anxiety for him.

He loves to see them but the car ride bothers him.

We did find out that he could have a small bit of GRAVOL to calm him.

 

Last night right after work we walked over to Alvin’s Doctor.

The final follow-up and cleaning of his ears.

Happy to report that they are all better.

No infection.

Thankfully all done.

 

I was shocked but not surprised by the amount of garbage on the streets and in the grass by the sidewalk.

GLASS.

Does not one SEE this?

I do not understand.

I can only imagine what their homes look like if they do not take the time to pick up the garbage.

It does not matter if you tossed the garbage we all need to be responsible.

We are always picking up trash.

Although Alvin does not actually pick up things, he does accompany me as we pick up items while we are out for a stroll.

In fact, I am going to start carrying my disposable gloves with me.

Soon when the snow and ice melts I can go and finish picking up those items that line the walkways and sidewalks in my neighbourhood.

It breaks my heart that people do not have any consideration.

 

Well almost time to go to work.

Carpooling is great.

Nice change.

 

Special Hello to: all those folks who take the time to keep their neighbourhoods free from trash.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 9th day of February, 2018.

Happy 41st Birthday to my eldest nephew “T.”

Hard to believe that you are 41 years old, where has the time gone?

Crazy ….

 

So happy that today is Friday and that I made it through this first week back to work after being sick.

Tomorrow is Mr. Alvin’s appointment.

The one that was post phoned from last Saturday.

He has to get his shots, nails trimmed, “bum squeezed” and I think that is about it.

Will be good to get those things caught up.

I do take him on a very regular basis.

 

Also this weekend I am hosting a belated 40 Birthday party for my friend.

It was supposed to have been last weekend, as well.

I am baking a cake tonight.

The party will be on Sunday.

Decorations, I want to come up with some new ideas.

Perhaps I should check out Pinterest.

Have the card and gift to finish wrapping.

 

Well I am also most happy about this …. the weather.

It is warming up one again.

Thank goodness.

Spring is also getting closer.

 

Well I guess I should get this show on the road.

I hope that you have an amazing day.

Oh, one more thing to share.

I met a young woman yesterday who gave me back my faith in humanity.

I cannot give details but suffice to say …. I have faith once again.

Not that I lost it altogether but it was failing.

 

Special Hello to: the birthday boy.

Always, Carol & Alvin