Blizzards and Boneheads

We have less than 4 months until our wedding now so while we're stuck indoors due to the blizzard outside we are getting her done and I'm talking about all the crafts and crap. Before we came up I searched for gilded glass votives. The only ones I found were online at 3.95 US each, they happened to look cheap and tacky so it was a no-go. I wanted around 200 so I decided to make my own. They turned out awesome, after burning my hands several times making them I can say they were well worth the trouble. Towards the end on one of my trips into Costco my friend Dar helped me complete most of them. Thats one thing thats been checked off the list. Another is the wedding invites which I designed, well they are done as they are fresh off the printing press. I was going to finish them up here but with the clock ticking my friend down south is finishing them up for us. My printer friend Rob did an amazing job from what I've seen. If you happen to read this Rob, YOU ROCK! So now come the table linens. I have to say somewhere along the line I've come to very much dislike linens at any food/drink establishment, not all are bad but just from experience of seeing a napkin that was still dirty I've become finicky and a slight snob, or maybe a full out snob but whatever. So not last night but the night before we started to get all the sewing done. K had bought me a new Pfaff machine that does EVERYTHING, it has so many buttons its crazy! We still have a long way to go with the napkins we are at 18 with 132 to go and I will embroider them with our monogram once we're done the basic sewing. Next week I plan on getting started on the tablecloths and those will most likely take till the end of January. So while this howling wind which sounds like a locomotive blows through here the town is shut down, which means we are without water until the weather changes :( As well planes can't land so Special K went out and got a few things to last us till our food mail comes in. As for the Boneheads, Ralph and Deo have been playing. The other day we tried to take them both out for a walk which ended up in Deo running wild and Ralph chasing him, and then us chasing both of em..Ralph of course came back and I ended up chasing down Deo. Deo is still pretty thin but he has put on some weight so his ribs aren't protruding through but you can still feel him. He will accompany me when I head down to Vancouver and Ralph will come down with Special K. I know Deos new family will be happy with him. Anyways I need to get back to the sewing and to playing with the two boneheads. Have a great day people!

Merry Christmas

Our tree ready to have those presents opened underneath....

and heres Ralph in his typical look out the window and bark position...

Hey there all. I hope that everyone out there had a great Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. This was a different kind of Christmas for me. Christmas morning was not as rushed as it has been in the recent years. My Christmas mornings are usually spent speeding to get into the BC ferries line up, a quick drop by at friends and this is the first year of not stopping by Evergreen House to share a rum ball with my recently passed Grandmother who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. I have to say I was worried about how I'd feel on Christmas Day but yesterday turned out to be such a wonderful Christmas. It was nice to not have to get out of bed at 4, to blow dry and straighten my hair, down a cup of coffee and then load a car full of gifts. Last year I remember there was snow on the ground when K and I left the house and I was in damn heels. After reaching Vancouver we managed to fit 2 visits in North Van, 1 in Abbotsford, and 2 in Maple Ridge all in the same day. This year I woke up at 4:30, well really the kid in me did. I patiently waited till 6 to wake K, made croissants and coffee and started the water process of thawing out the rest of our turkey. We exchanged gifts and opened the ones sent to us. I was spoiled and shocked when K gave me some earrings he had custom made for me by Emily Illuitok a carver in Kugaaruk. Plus some wicked binoculars which apparently you can use to see the rings around Saturn. Which I had been wanting since our late summer nights of laying in our hammock staring at the endless sky of stars. Which work, well I didn't see Saturn but I saw the detail and all the craters in the moon last night. I was in awe. I can't wait to use them again tonight. Oh and another one of K's presents to me was the all to well known TV infomercial product the Slap Chop! Which made me laugh and we used it to chop the onion for our stuffing. K was spoiled with some shirts from the NBC comedy The Office...one being Dwight Shrutes...Shrute Farms Beets shirt, and also a film still from Forrest Gump autographed by Tom Hanks...one of K's favourite movies. I put the turkey in the oven some time before noon. With a tip from Anthony Bourdains Holiday special I did not stuff the turkey, I cooked stuffing on the side, with drippings from the turkey then baked it. Our turkey was super moist, and the stuffing was awesome good. From now on I will make all my turkeys this way. We had a full spread from swiss cauli bake, carrots vichy, mashed potatoes, home made gravy from reduction of home made stock.....so good! cranberry sauce, pickled beets and home made stuffing. While I was making our meal I was running on high octane eggnog and baileys with coffee, yes not coffee with baileys...baileys with coffee:) When the cooking was coming to an end I was able to take a break for myself and had a steamy bath in our soaker tub. After we sat down to a dinner that I was able to pull off even though much of our anticipated groceries never made it up from Yellowknife due to our recent blizzard and lack of landing planes. We had a wonderful almost romantic Christmas here in Cambridge Bay. We ended our evening watching a not so typical Christmas movie, Freddy versus Jason and then ogled the moon and its craters. Then with a combination of turkey and my high octane eggnog I was induced to a heavy deep sleep. What a great Christmas! To our friends, family and blog readers we hope you had as wonderful a holiday as we did. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

This past weeks pics

Throwing the ball for the dogs.

Amazing colours of the sky.

Special K's creepy mask.

Wind kissed snow.

Saturday night dance off.

Our X-mas lights and moving boxes.

Holiday Spirit and lots of random stuff

Hey all! I'm recuperating as we partied it up last night at K's staff X-mas party. K even started break dancing and really I honestly have to say so far that's the best time I've had up here. I laughed so hard my face hurt. It was good to get to know people better and good to have people get to know me. I like a no BS party where there's no well BS and that's what it was. It was old school partying for me mixing 2 old friends with another, crown and vodka but I'm feeling great today strangely enough. While dancing I had friends on my mind. I was thinking how 10 years ago Friday, Saturday and Tuesday and actually sometimes Wednesday were the days we'd go clubbing. Those days of all nighters, afterhours and waking up in strange places are long gone for me now. Really though now I'm looking forward to the next party on New Years, Good times;) Oh and Arctic Char is amazing, it tastes like Salmon but better, you know how Salmon can easily dry out on the BBQ, well its like a fattier Salmon so it stays moist. I had it cooked and raw with soy sauce and I preferred the cooked of course because I've tried raw meat and sure I like my steak bloody but I never caught on to any raw fish fad. Gary, who I like to call my Inuit father had brought fresh ice from the lake and I had to take a pic because how often you have FRESH ice from the arctic crushed for your drinks, so here's a pic of that. We returned home at midnight which is late to me now, what the hell happened to getting home at 6am? Our dogs were happy to see us, speaking of dogs I have two vets considering coming up here to do neutering and spaying for the community. We put them up for the week and raise the money for the medications and it may aid in slowing down our communities growing dog population. As for our dog Murphy Baby Deo as we call him....long story...he is looking damn good and I'm following the advice of Animal professionals such as vets and trainers. We gave him a bath....and wow he changed colours and the filth and dirt that came off of him was crazy. I spent 2 hours grooming him and he looks completely different and get this his ears are coming up. Apparently its not such a rare thing for these dogs to just go out an adopt people, it happens all the time here from what people were telling me last night. Not everyone here is a jerk to their dog only some are. I also found out why people do starve their dogs, its easier to skin them, I know I was like WHAT? But yeah that's what happens here. Anyways I want all of you to know I'm doing great and that I do miss you during the holidays of course. I've got my family on my mind, and my extended families...The Jordans, The Andrews, The Blancks and The Prowses. Oh the Prowses, The brandy alexander Christmas eve tradition or was it Christmas morning? Go figure I can't remember;) I think of Christmas dinners at the Hart House when Mom grabbed the wheel of my car and nearly took my new car into a tree, the same year my uncle tried to..yeah we'll leave it at that....or the family dinner after Moms newly implanted assets kept popping out of her stylish tube dress and my Grandmother remarking that, You weren't born with those! or how about your mother sending you SARS masks at Christmas, because you can never be too paranoid or prepared....ahhh just more validation that my life is like a chapter out of Running with Scissors. My mother is reading this saying I didn't just send you masks and no she didn't there was other stuff, trust me. I remember opening packages from Mom and saying WTF? I love you Mom, I guarantee there's not many Moms like you out there. My Dad, he's great too just not crazy in the same way she is...crazy in the way that it cost him 200 plus dollars to send me my X-Mas gifts. I love you Dad you rock now take care of yourself, you have an aisle to walk me down in like 4 months.....FOUR MONTHS...till I give up single hood, well actually I gave that up a while ago but WOW I remember when I was like I'll never get married. I don't want to be one of THOSE people, I want to have options but now I'm damn happy and in LOVE with the best break dancing asian I know, Love you K. Back to Christmas, I hope all of you are having a good time gearing up, getting all your shopping done, finding parking spots at the mall...(I remember how trying to find a parking spot at this time of year use to seriously piss me off) getting baked or getting your baking done...I will call you Sue, who makes the bestest closest shortbread cookies to my grandmas.....I need your recipe! I hope wherever you are and whatever you are doing you are having a good time and weirdly because I'm not around the hustle and bustle of it all I can't believe Christmas is just in a few days. Listening to Bing Crosby's Christmas is a tradition my x step mom Lorraine gave me makes me feel like that time of year is here along with my regular morning coffee turning into egg nog lattes, and yes I'm having egg nog lattes in the arctic and damn they are good with some fresh grated nutmeg from a can:) Anyways I need to get out and get some stuff done as its getting dark and KOVIAHUKMILUH as they say up in these parts and MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HANUKKAH!

December photos

Our yummy roast beef dinner and my corn squash chowder

Ralph the Santa dog

Ralphy

The painted kitchen, all done.

Seasons Greetings!

Good day all.
I finished painting the kitchen yesterday and I decorated my tree in the tacky american style. Which means tons of ornaments and none of them match. Most of my ornaments were from both of my grandmothers you know all the old 40's and 50's german glass ones and mom...every year she stuck a new one in my stocking. As I decorated my tree I came across ornaments that I made with my girl friends...which brought back memories of listening to Adam Sandler sing his Hanukkah song, drinking rum and egg nogs while trying to decorate theses glass balls. Ahhh I miss you guys!!!I also came across one that my last german shepherd Kelsey had chewed...a smiling seal with a wreath wrapped around his neck. I wrote on the bottom of it chewed by Kelsey 199- either a 1 or a 2. That year she knocked over our X-mas tree, opened and ate a majority of the presents, barbies heads were chewed off and even a silver candelabra that was for my grandmother...she managed to chew the actual candle holder part off. She even ripped open boxes of chocolates, leaving the chocolates and eating the boxes. She ate poinsettia's and I remember the panic that happened afterward that our delinquent dog may be poisoned from the plants. She wasn't, and some how that dog who would take knives out of the knife block and chew the handles off never had a major accident or rush to the vet like my Ralphy has. Ahhh Kelsey I still miss you and your retarded ways. I also have my Dads bubble lights from the seventies which make this a complete retro tree. As I pulled stuff out of the rubbermaid bin I discovered Ralphs santa costume which he enjoyed strutting his stuff in, his tail wagged as soon as he saw it. So some of our stuff has not shown up, the movers are trying to locate it. I was pleased that a box of our brand new mec gear had shown though and the other half of K's bike.
Anyways I must get back to this chaos and try to post pics when its all done for now heres a couple of Ralph and our kitchen. Cheers and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Vancouver Bound

Hey all.
I'm heading home to enjoy spring in early February, its been confirmed. Yay! I will be bringing our furry friend to meet his new owners, who are excited to meet him. I know I can't save all the dogs here but I feel good knowing that I've helped one. Everyday I see an improvement from his looks to his confidence. As well I couldn't live with myself if I was just to turn my back and be OK with this, that's just not me. I spoke to my lawyer in Vancouver and I'm well within the law, laws are not that different here we are still in Canada. I really don't give a damn about a town blacklisting, the people who would blacklist are too drunk to show up to work so really I don't think they'll waste their energy on me. Special K can protect himself he's a big boy. As well I can always take a plane home, which is what we had planned for when we try to get pregnant. I've been to the Gaza Strip and lived through it, Northern Canada does not scare me one little bit. Enough dog talk...We are at the new place and our hotel still, as I so far have had to fix the toilet here since the plumber left on his holidays down south. We started painting yesterday and today I will be fixing all the light switches that are put in wrong... just damn strange...Everything else seems to be working fine and its actually quite a nice layout, although I miss my kitchen back home. So now I must get back to painting and making this place look purdy!!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful monday!

Mans Best Friend Update

Yesterday afternoon after posting my blog I updated my facebook status with a link to our blog. This attracted quite of a bit of attention and I appreciate all of the comments and messages I received. It really made me feel good to know that people do care and are willing to help. I'm happy to report our neighbour in Halfmoon Bay Nikee, and her three daughters Sage Hanna and Tyra want to welcome our starved furry friend into their home and hearts. As soon as our furry friend is healthy enough to fly we will fly him down to Vancouver, where a few of our friends have offered to help transport him to the Sunshine Coast. I will be contacting the airlines in Nunavut and BC on monday to see if they are willing to offer some free travel. I have to thank Sechelt Animal Hospital in Sechelt BC as they are offering some free services to make sure our furry friend is in good health. Also I will be speaking to a friend of mine Jenn Jones who owns a Vancouver based dog services company and she is the best dog trainer I know, she is as close as it comes to Cesar Millan, when she walks in the room the dogs listen and obey. I'm sure she will provide me with advice and tips for domesticating our furry friend. This doesn't stop here, I plan on spending more time aiding in the rescue and I will not tolerate and I will not not turn my head to the cruelty of animals in Nunavut or anywhere. Cheers all hope ya'all have a great weekend.

Mans Best Friend

I moved here knowing that dogs aren't for the most part considered companions as they are down south. It's the same way in other countries that I've been to, but here its different. Here I find the cruelty is brutal, and I'm done with keeping my mouth shut about it. As I have worked with animals and have always owned one if not two or more I find myself in these past few days disgusted with Nunavut and a majority of its people, did I just say that?? why yes I bloody hell did. Choke it down, swallow it whatever you need to do but I don't condone cruelty to any living creature. I may be a hypocrite because I eat meat, have a leather prada bag and own fur hats but what the hell I can't bloody handle what I've witnessed in Nunavut in these past few weeks. I have tried and I have tried to adapt but f**k it. A few days ago on my way home from the gym...actually wait that's go back to when I first got here. OK, I walk Ralph every morning. I've had comments like just tie him up outside. Which I've responded with a ahhh no. My dog is an indoor spoiled rotten brute of a shepherd. There ain't no way I'm leaving him outside 24 hours a day, at least not in this weather for Christ sakes, plus animals need some damn exercise. They like to run, play and oh live....Who woulda thought??? Living creatures want to live. Here having your dog tied to a 4 foot chain is normal, having it sleep in its own feces and then having to eat them the next day for food is NORMAL. What else is normal...how about beating a dog with a hockey stick, how about a puppy? And yes a puppy, a baby , a defenceless animal, I stopped some kids from hitting it with a hockey stick...and yeah I know you learn by example, Dr Phil says so therefore it goes. Oh and the RCMP doesn't get involved so you know, just call bylaw they say. Oh and bylaw they just come and take the dog and put him to sleep and the owners can go get a new dog the next day. It's true I was on the phone to both places in the past two days. One dog stood out to me over these past few weeks. Ralph acknowledges (barking) all the dogs as we walk by, this one could barely get up on his hind legs, he was and is super skinny, the malnutrition is obvious as well you'd be a moron to not know this dog is starving. I decided since Ralph was on a diet....(hes gained 8 pounds from the lack of not having a backyard here)....I was going to give Ralph's daily ration of duck bacon to this dog on our morning and evening walks. This dog also does not have a dog house to curl up in when the wind is harsh like most of his furry friends up here do. So I started out throwing the treats to the dog who couldn't get up on all four legs, then he started to try and get up and walk which looked bloody painful for him. His hips looked as if they were about to buckle but he slightly wagged his tail then he would fall to the ground. Now over the past while I've watched him get a tad better hes able to get up walk over and now when I raise my hand out to give him his daily treats he does not flinch and drop to the ground as if he expects a blow to the head. So back to the other day. I returned home from the gym, fully immersed in the snoop dogg that I had playing on my mp3, thinking about wedding stuff, moving, honeymoon...blah blah blah...when I looked down guess who was curled up at my doorstep? Yes the starving skinny as Kate Moss husky. I brought him in to my mud room, gave him some water which was gone in 3 minutes..in a kitchen aid mixer sized bowl... gone all of it not a drop left. I called Special K and he said we'll go by the owners later. As I ran my hands over this skinny bone protruding dog I checked his teeth and figure this dog must be between a year old to a maximum of 3 years old. He's young. So I called the RCMP and asked whats the protocol in this town, and he was sympathetic but he said they stay out of the dog stuff here. Uh huh OK so when do they get involved here anyways? He said never. So I spoke to bylaw and again their hands are tied but they can take him off my hands if you know what I mean(sleepy time for dogs). So we went and I told the owners we had their dog and where we were and they could come get him. So no one showed. Its been 3 days now. Our husky candidate for Americas next top model is happy and looking better, and not scared when we go to pet him anymore. For now he can stay with us until we find him a better home or until Ralph gets over himself and learns to share. So K just told me that a puppy was found in the garbage here at Green Rows, which made me snap just as I was about to write a blog about nothing I guess it turned into something. I also understand not everyone is cruel here but I'm going to wing it and say at least 80 percent are. I'm pissed and I plan on doing something instead of just adapting. You know what I say about adapting, I say f**k that.

Reading Material

Well I don't know if I've mentioned it but the only kind of magazines you'll find here are tabloid ones like the enquirer, hunting ones and the occasional copy of Time. So yesterday my Lee Valley Catalogs arrived and I was mesmerized by them till I fell asleep last night. I love hardware especially old stuff and Lee Valley makes a ton of cool replica hardware and their catalogs are free!Now for my package...my books arrived from Connecticut. If you happen to read this Thank you Emmy! They are Arctic Explorations In Search Of Franklin VL. 1 & 2, from 1856 by Dr Kane, whom I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and now I'm falling in love with his sketches as I knew I would.

Now for my other piece of reading material, which I find amusing, is a portion of our one page newspaper here The Cambridge Bay Connections. Yep, read it and you'll see what I mean. I've witnessed the almost accidents between snowmobiles and trucks here almost everyday. Almost how pedestrians and cars go together down south. Snowmobiles just tend to go without warning here, or they go around the other side of the pole of the stop sign?!? Like guy that doesn't make a difference jackass, its a stop sign. Anyways I read that and found it funny so I thought I'd share it with ya'all.

Northern Store, Co-op and Food mail

Hey guys. A few of you wanted to understand about our food situation up in here so here it is.

This is what $135.00 looks like from the Northern Store...theres is a $25.00 Roast, and $15.00 chicken breasts, and a family pack of ground beef $15.00 and of course a delissio pizza at $15.00 in there.

Now the box full of bread below is $35.00 and I get our bread at the Co-op, theres 4 bags of bagels, 1 loaf of garlic bread and some whole wheat bread. The Co-op is nextdoor to the post office, hence the package jammed in there. I will get to that package on my next post.

And now our Food Mail, with some sourdough bread and some frozen spinach (SPINACH DIP YAY)and uh-oh more bagels. My freezer is now jam packed with bagels.

Our house is ready!!!!!

Some pics of our caribou antlers:

Ralphy likes em!

Good morning all. So I'm completely excited to move into our house. I've enjoyed my stay at the Green Rows but its a damn hotel! It's a good one at that, the staff here are friendly and they even brought us a box of chocolates for Xmas which I of course devoured.( I know that when my mother reads this she'll be thinking about how is she going to fit in her wedding gown? LOL. Those of you who know my mom will get that.) I want my home:) I'm looking forward to getting our stuff and settling in. I've even got the graph paper going and figuring out the furniture lay out and what will be hung where. I can't wait to see what we actually brought with us. In the weeks before moving here I had so much going on from having my mom visit from Japan to making sure all our wedding stuff was ready for when we returned, I can't really remember what we've brought up from the pile of chaos that sat in our garage. As well we had to purchase new stuff so that we left our kitchen in Halfmoon Bay loaded with everything for when we came home or if any friends and family felt like having a little vacation. Back to the excitment of moving into the house....I've picked the paint colours and I'm all ready to go. I've asked Santa #1 (Dad) to send me some stuff from Ikea. Like a pendant lamp to replace the fake late 80's brass one thats hanging there, tormenting me with its reminders of the bad late 80's designs and of what the early 90's fake brass fad was going to bring. Guess who likes it???.....Special K of course, but we all know he'd be happy with a showroom created by zellers, whereas I want the mod italian contemporary home;) I've figured out a timeline for paint and I'm going to do something a little different in the bedroom I just haven't figured it out yet. Gross, the pump truck just came by and all I can smell is sewage....reminds me of the open sewers in Japan....yucky. Speaking of Japan I spoke with my mom last night and apparently theres a chance she may move back to Canada if a healthcare bill of sorts is passed. I couldn't really understand what she was talking about but it would end up costing thousands and thousands of dollars a year and she would have to pay back for previous visits which was what I really didn't understand. I hope for her sake nothing is passed as I know Japan is her home. Though I did tell her of Nunavut being a cash cow and how her education would land her a great job here. Yesterday I finished playing with the antlers for now and Ralph was all up in them, smelling like crazy and watching them like a hawk. Especially when I put them on my head and did a little dance, he seemed quite confused by this and he was growling and wagging his tail at the same time. I will mount these ones once we've moved and I have the space to do so. Apparently theres a free wood working shop class here on Wednesday nights so K and I are going to go. Its free and it gives us something else to do. We received our first package by foodmail and it was all of our produce, our milk exploded apparently so we will be getting another shipment later today. I have to say what a damn difference, the produce was like what I'd buy at Claytons or Marketplace IGA in Sechelt. From now on its food mail all the way. After paying some crazy prices for red and green peppers here I'm happy we have discovered foodmail. Foodmail is pretty basic, we send a fax of what we want and credit card# to sunspun and they get it at the Extra Foods, we place the order on a monday and it arrives thursday, at very little cost for shipping, thanks to the Department of Indian Affairs, I curse them for making it hard to buy booze but hey I love em if my fruit ain't moldy or mushy. From now on this is the way we will go. We also bought 2 heads of romaine and they are so fresh. We've had only iceberg as it was the only lettuce that is actually fresh here but unfortunately has no nutritional value. The head of romaine I bought here was 10 bucks and in the end it wasn't worth eatting. As well I found out my favourite spice place in the US http://www.penzeys.com/ will mail me my spices!!! Yay!!! To save on the shipping I will not be ordering their jarred spices but the bagged ones which are actually cheaper in the long run. So for those of you who like to cook check em out, and I recommend BBQ 3000. Now that its light out well like twilight I'm going to take the beast out for his walkie. Have a great weekend all. Oh and Happy Holidays! and Kassy answer your damn phone, even if it says private! I've tried to call you for a month!!! You call screener you!

Always be prepared

Hey all. We had a hilarious day yesterday as we got the truck stuck out in the middle of nowhere, it didn't seem so hilarious then but now it is. Driving down a road that really doesn't go anywhere we hit an area that K thought was unsafe but I told him to go for it...typical me...but all of a sudden we came to a jolting hault. Getting out we noticed the snow was actually pretty deep and the back tires weren't touching the ground. Ooopps! After a ridiculous attempt to dig out the truck, drive out, and push out we gave up before all daylight was lost and decided to warm up in the truck before setting out to walk back to town. Unfortunately I was not dressed for the elements and it was quite a painful walk to town. My knees from kneeling in the snow to reach under the truck were so cold they were burning and the closer to town we got the more pain I felt. As soon as we reached a road that the backroad runs into we spotted a truck coming towards us in the distance and we eagerly flagged this man down. Willy, the man who saved us in my mind was happy to help us out. I was so happy to get in his damn truck. Special K wasn't as hard up as I was. His military training I think really comes in handy in situations like these since hes had to live out in the elements in -40 weather before. And me with my spoiled west coast weather had no idea of what cold was before I arrived here. Almost how I had no idea of what heat is until I got off that plane in the middle east. It was COLD yesterday, teeth chattering, shivering, burning hot cold from winds that slapped us in the face when we reached the tops of hills kind of cold. Once Willy returned us home it took so long for me to warm up. K went back with a tow truck and they managed to pull it out. We definitely made the right decision to start walking back then, the tow guy and K almost didn't get the truck out but eventually with the help of a chain and some sheer determination they pulled it out. Anyhow K brought home some antlers and I just had a guy we know here Chris show me how to remove the scalp and meat so that I can hang up my antlers. All is good and I've gotten over my Christmas blues as our renos should be finished by the 7th and I will be able to decorate for X-Mas and move into our new house. Yay!!

Christmas, Inuit Art and PMS

The weather here has been pretty mild at -9. We've had a bit of snow in the past few days and after reading some of the blogs we follow we are pretty lucky with these mild temperatures. Though I have found myself missing home lately. Especially at this time of year with the back to back commercials reminding us soon Santa will be here, the colourful strings of lights hanging in windows and that feeling that I want to decorate my tree. So yesterday I had a bit of a cry and called my father. My Dad couldn't understand what I was saying and got me to calm down and take big breaths and I was finally able to tell him I was having a bad day. Special K and I are different in the way of friends and family. I'm attached and need the emotional talking bonding feeling ways of those relationships. He doesn't need that from his. So when I start missing mine he doesn't get it or he takes a weird approach that I can't even explain. Anyways Christmas when I was growing up was a big deal, not in a religious sense more in a family dinner everyone gets together way. It was a big deal and my family went overboard on me every year. Since my parents aren't together I'd wake up at one house do the stocking thing, have breakfast, open presents and then go do it again at my other parents house. This would usually happen in the evenings as well I'd go and be with one side of the family then I'd go to my other side. I was spoiled completely rotten. I was lucky. Towards my teens my moms side moved to Kelowna and around that same time my other Grandmother was in the mid stages of alzheimers disease. Soon after mom moved to Japan, Dad worked Christmas and I was lucky to have friends like Kas, Dar, Andy and Kari let me crash their family Christmas parties. So no matter what I've always had that Christmas feeling on Christmas day. So yesterday with the daylight lacking and PMS in full throttle I had a big cry fest. Special K didn't apparently grow up with the kind of Christmas spirit that I did so he honestly doesn't get it so it was hard for him to be symathetic and thats why I had to call my Dad and got me over the feeling sorry for myself stint I was on. So yeah I'm all good now and some things you have to sacrifice and these are one of em. I miss my Salamagundi stocking stuffer store in Gastown. An old antique store with a basement full of old chinese medicine cabinets filled with different trinkets from funny as hell stuff to beautiful ornaments to just damn strange. I was about to say I miss the shopping but really as I think the one thing I really hated was the line ups and the busy overcrowded malls so I won't even go there. We thought we'd find some inuit art to send home for Christmas here and off we went to the Christmas bazaar which happened to basically be a bunch of white people selling stuff. I picked up a few things and K was like ummm thats says made in China on it....so yeah. The next time the door to door guy comes I'll take a look at his stuff. I grew up with a mother who collected inuit art and as a child the paintings were scary to me. I didn't understand why my Mom liked them. This group of 3 paintings done by the same artist had owls and different birds that had these dark freaky looks in their eyes. I really didn't like them and I actually remember asking my mom why she liked them and that they were weird and she should take them down off the wall. The same went for the sculptures, but things have changed and now even I'am liking the darkness that some of the sculptures show. Still not liking that kind of art that my mom had hanging up. Freaky looking bird, actually the more I think about it the person who painted it may have been trying out some of the good ole acid of the 60's and 70's, as I speak to a friend on the phone now she just referred to one of the paintings as the acid trip owl. Oh there goes the daily siren marking noon. Anyone remember the airhorns in North Van they put in for the cold war? They lined up and down keith road...they took them down 15 years or so ago but its the same chilling sound of a war siren and it reminds me of when they'd test them when I was a kid. Awful sound. So I wrote my mom this morning asking her to bring bonsai supplies back this spring, as I've decided to learn about bonsai plants and actually take the time in cultivating one. I miss my garden big time. I also miss my neighbours Nikee and the kids. Its funny I actually miss hearing her two youngest practice playing whatever brass instrument that was that they attempted playing. I also miss hearing the girls stories from elementary school and miss b.s'ing with my best neighbour ever, Nikee. I do like it here but I do look forward to spending some time in my backyard listening to those waves crashing against the bluff. Can't wait.

Dreams and stuff

Have I ever been having some weird dreams. Partly due to my mix up of reading my prescription wrong, I'm just guessing. I had a dream that I was with My Aunt and Uncle, Tracy and Paul and I was like 8 and their dog Fred (Fred passed away ten years ago) was there and so was Ralph and we were in a mall and apparently there was aliens invading...yeah..and I was more concerned with the dogs being off leash in a mall than aliens invading...Then another dream of swimming around a lake and I know it was a bizarre dream I just can't remember all the details. Last night was another weird dream, it was also scary but I wake up just so weirded out by the dream, it was no longer scary it's just weird...like I was downtown in the Eatons department store and its been gone for a LONG time now. So after I fell back asleep from that dream I woke up from another one that something bad happened to Special K and my friend Kas was there with blue hair. BIZARRE! I just got off the phone with my Doc in North Van and she thought the dreams were brought on by the mix up. Also she figures thats why I'm feeling sick today. I woke up feeling ill and extremely tired. So yeah...exciting stuff eh? Anyways I'm not up to much today, I even denied Ralph his morning walk. I'll have to take him out before 2 so that at least he gets a bit of a run. Oh and as for the lump, it is a reactive lymph node. So I'm feeling better about that. Anyhow since I'm feeling under the weather I'm going to sign off and hope all of you have a great weekend. Also I will leave you with some pics of Yellowknife. One of the pics is the giant beaver skull that once lived in the Yukon Basin, I can't believe how big the skull is! You can compare it with our regular sized beaver skull in the background. Have a great weekend!!!

Home Sweet Home

Hello all. Yellowknife was good. We arrived finding weather that reminded me of BC winters. The snow was falling but it was nice and warm. We ended up switching hotels and had a great stay at the Explorer Hotel, not only was the service there excellent the hotels restaurant Traders Grill was delicious and while you sit in a sultery dim lit atmosphere you view out over snowcapped trees. We shopped for things like kidney beans, chick peas and dog food. While we were there I decided it was best that we find a vet since Ralph had been cleaning his penis so much that it was bleeding:( Poor guy. I figured that the vet would tell me what I already knew, hot compress with some hibutane, and a topical cream for the healing and he said exactly that. For those of you who don't know my german shepherd Ralph he has had a few trips to the vet over the past 3 years for issues with his private parts. Three years ago he managed to impale himself on his butt on Christmas Eve. Then this past summer I decided to have him neutered. His scrotem was so swollen the vet took pictures saying I've never seen anything like this before. Special K and I were told to hot and cold compress his jewels, and as well to massage them to increase the blood flow which would aid in his healing. This time the vet said Ralph has very sensitive skin and the climate change had made his stuff very dry, hence the licking. Anyways hes doing better now and theres no more bleeding.
I want to touch the subject of religion one more time as I've read the comments on my last blog. To each their own. I said I was shocked, and I'm human and from a liberal family and from a big city. As well I'm not dissing anyone. I have read up on the history as I'am a history buff and understand how Religion has shaped these communities, in both negative and positive ways. As well I'm not a guest here as this is home now. As for the rapist dude and his victims I wish them the best in rehabilitation. As a victim of rape myself I feel for the women who may have to face their offender one day. I can't imagine that. As for locals reading my blog I welcome that it doesn't worry me one bit. While waiting at the airport a man took an interest in Ralph and Ralph took an interest in his wolf boots. We spoke a bit about our dogs and my experience here and about how he hunts still with a harpoon and I told him about K's and my background and my love of history of this area. We boarded the plane and we find the three of us are sharing the row. He recommended the Prince of Wales Museum in Yellowknife to me and how the main exhibit was the 'We were so far away' exhibit which is about the residential schools program. We had a great time talking with whom I will call 'J' and 'J' is married to the woman who said grace at the event that inspired my last blog. Anyways I need to walk the dog and myself. Hope everyone is having a great day oh and a Happy Birthday to Shannon! HAPPY 30TH!!!WE LOVE YOU!!!

Religion and Rapists

Yay today is the day we go to Yellowknife! Well I hope we do, the plane hasn't been able to leave for the past few days due to the blizzard we've had. I'm looking forward to Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire and the Dollar Store. I'm so excited to get a few things that we can't get here and that would be too much of a pain to have someone send up. I've been looking at online flyers, writing lists, and taking notes on everything I need to make sure we have it before we get on that plane to come home. We are picking up our Canada Goose jackets, YAY! My Northface jacket has been fine but I'm looking forward to having a thicker coat with a big hood to protect me from those -36 windchills. This week has been different. Not in a bad way, it's just opened my eyes up to this life in a hamlet that I'm living in. I'm very much enjoying it but there are a few things here that are completely strange to me. One is religion. I've noticed that a majority of the caucasians in this town are extremely religious. Not that I think there is anything wrong with that. I'm down with all religions but I do not agree with forcing religion on anyone. My mother was all about culture and learning about different cultures and religions. The woman moved to Japan because she loved the culture! She raised me to be open to all religions, and to respect others beliefs. We went to this charity event this past weekend which was for the daycare in town. The candidate for mayor who was speaking said "all rise" and Special K and I glanced at eachother as she started to say grace. Special K closed his eyes and followed along but I couldn't help but wonder what if someone wasn't Christian here, someone like me and apparently most of our table was not. I want to make it clear I'm not hating on religion. I have friends that are catholic, buddist, jewish, jehovah witnesses and islamic. I'm not offended just bewildered that she didn't choose her words well and welcome all faiths at dinner that evening. Later Special K said he didn't care and that at a work conference they had to pray at a water treatment center, and I was like what the @$%#! Again not hating just shocked. Another odd topic about this place is how apparently theres a convicted rapist returning home to Cambridge Bay. This guy broke into 4 houses and assaulted 4 people in 2003/2004. His last victim escaped him by running outside barefoot, yeah in December, in the nice chilly arctic snow, after he held her down with a butcher knife. Like ok why is he being released? Our justice system is lacking. This community is small and the chances of the victim, who yes is scared about her rapist returning to town, is going to run into him. The bank, the post office, or maybe in an aisle by herself in one of our two grochery stores. Can you imagine? I'm just appauled and adding a security alarm on to our list for when I hit Canadian Tire. I've heard about the triple homicide here and the poor mountie who was gunned down in recent years. Also about the gas huffing that goes on behind our hotel and the homemade brewing operations of the locals because a 60 pounder of rum sells for $300 illegally. For those of you that I haven't informed yet...You must apply for a permit to get alcohol here. Which is a good thing since drunk people tend to do stupid things. Trust me I know, I've done a few stupid things when I've been drunk. Okay I will rephrase that I've done stupid things when I've been drunk. Anyways for those of you who are wondering why I haven't called or wrote you our power, phone and internet has been on and off due to this blizzard. I will get in touch once we return from Yellowknife. I'm so looking forward to this trip. I really want to check this town out, it may be where we move to after our adventure up here. From what I saw when I was there last its a truly beautiful place. Oh yeah and I'm a substitute teacher now. Hilarious I know. Oh and I've finished my X-Mas shopping for Special K, and once again I've got him some awesome hilarious good stuff. I must say thank you Ebay. Anyways I should pack or try and take the dog for a walk since our flight leaves in a couple hours HOPEFULLY!

Remembering

Hmmm what to write about....Well yesterday was Remembrance Day so I had my grandparents on my mind. My Grandmother Caroline, went against her father and joined the RCAF when the war broke out. She told the story that she went and enlisted and was about to get on the train from Vancouver to Montreal when her father showed up. She heard his voice shouting out her name so she ran and hid in the ladies washroom, in a stall, perched up on the toilet. He eventually ran into the ladies washroom and when he saw no sign of her left. My grandmother nearly missed the train but she ran kicking off her shoes and she managed to jump on the train. She said it was the best thing she ever did in her life. My other Grandmother Ione, it would've been her birthday yesterday. She passed this past year and my Grandmother Caroline passed 5 years ago. Both of my Grandfathers were in the war but unfortunately I was not as close to them as I was to my Grandmothers. I do have my Grandfathers mug, darts and binoculars from WW2 along with the buttons to my Grandmothers air force uniform. We live in a great country and I'm glad they fought for our freedom. That Hitler guy had major issues. I still cannot believe people followed him and that there are still nutters out there that believe in Hitler. We recently watched Band of Brothers, a series which I had not seen. Its one of Special K's favourites and I saw why. If you haven't seen it I recommend you do. It's the best WW2 series made. Today I had my appointment at the hospital to find out what the heck this thing is under my collar bone and they don't know so they are sending me to see a doctor. So I have an appointment next week. I'm not going to lie, I'm actually scared now. I thought they'd be like oh its okay, and I'm wishing I would've noticed this thing before I left Vancouver so that I could see a doctor today. Anyways I'm having a beautiful morning. Ralph and I just had a nice walk and we were followed by a sweet husky puppy which I just wanted to bring home with me but Ralph has this hate on thing for puppies. Ralph barked furiously as the creamy fluff ball approached with his tiny tail wagging. He was just SO CUTE! So I have an interview for a good job here today and thats what I'm looking forward to, and also Special K returns this evening after being away for 4 days. Thats all for today. I hope everyone out there in blogland is having a great day!

Caribou Antler Lamps

Hey all. It's friday and I've just returned from walking the dog on this chilly -26 day. I'm completely tired and I think its due to drinking too much tea before bed and having a very restless sleep, so as of today there'll be no more tea in the afternoon or night. I also think I should buy Special K and Ralph the Dog some of those nose strips, you know the ones that stop snoring because seriously one snores than the other. At one point I was trying to figure out who's snore was who's, than I just gave up and eventually fell back asleep to wake again and this time I just got up and made coffee and pancakes. For the rest of the day I've just been fumbling through it. One of those days where instead of putting the milk back in the fridge I'm sliding the box of Raisin Bran into the door and putting the milk in the cupboard. I've tried to have a nap but I'm not much of a day sleeper so I just ended up forcing myself to take the dog out. Now I thought I'd write something so that my friends and family know I'm all good, just a little retarded as usual.

So today while kind of in my own twilight zone Special K calls and says the movers screwed up and our stuff is underweight, not overweight. They had said our stuff was 4700 pounds when actually it was 3700 pounds, their bad, and our stuff will be on its way to Edmonton next week. So I'm quite happy, because I wanted all of our stuff and it saves us and our friends back home time. Special K was having our friends go return the stuff we had bought at best buy and ikea, and it was just so complicated and retarded. Anyhow its all good now.

So this week Special K will be traveling to a few different Northern Communities to look at some projects. So I've decided while he is away I'm going to make something. I have this idea, of making a lamp out of caribou antlers...yeah yeah I know I'm strange. But really like a chandelier sort of lamp. I have a picture in my head and I'm gonna run with it and make us a caribou antler lamp. I see so many antlers laying around this town I'm sure someone can spare a few. I know that usually electricity and I don't mix well but until I have a job I have to have something to do.

Speaking of jobs in this town, my god I've already had like half a dozen offers and they are good offers. Like substitute teaching, government jobs and well paying at that. Yesterday I went to the hospital because as I was sitting down having my coffee I felt a lump in around my collar bone, and at first I thought it was my collar bone moving so I totally freaked out and was like GROSS!!! Then I realized it was a lump and I was still like GROSS!!! So we headed over to the hospital. I've had cervical cancer and I was just rechecked and I'm all good now but when I find a lump the size of one of those bouncy balls you'd get in a .25 machine as a kid, I freaked. The nurse on call and our neighbour(Kelly)was awesome and started telling me how I should come work at the hospital and then I met the head nurse and she was like yeah come work here we need people. Back to the lump, she said its most likely a lymph node doing something funky and that I shouldn't be worried but we will re-check the situation in a weeks time. I have to say that was seriously the nicest hospital I've ever been in, everything was brand new and state of the art. Oh and there was no line up.

Tonight is our friday night out at the Elk Lodge. I'm looking forward to it since its the one night of the week I don't have to cook and I'll get to ask, well more like harass our new inuit friend Gary about helping me get some antlers to make a lamp out of. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a damn crazy southerner already, wait till I tell him my lamp idea:) Oh and I have to say a Happy Birthday to my how do you put this my x stepmom Lorraine!! I hope you have a good birthday and that you guys do something special for it. I will leave it at that and ya'all have a wonderful weekend!

Out on the Tundra Pics

Here are a few pics from our venture to the plains of the Arctic. We ended up seeing muskox, cariboo and an arctic hare which Ralph took a liking to and chased the hare until we couldn't see him anymore. Thankfully Ralph became tired and gave up chase and came back.

Flu shots and Cariboo

Hello all. Yesterdays crazy blizzard has gone leaving us with a beautiful sunny day. Thank god. I tried to go out yesterday and made it about 3 blocks until I slipped and fell on my butt and the camera went sliding down the icy street. After that I decided to come home and cuddle with Ralph till Special K came home. So yesterday wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.
This morning Special K and I went and had our H1N1 flu shot and our regular flu shot. I was kind of afraid of having the shots since I haven't had a flu shot since I was in my early teens but Special K reassured me and so far so good. The nurse said I may experience some pain in the arm that the H1N1 shot went into but I have none as of yet.
Now I'm just waiting for Special K and one of his bosses to come get me. They are apparently taking me to see some Cariboo and maybe some Muskox, and over to the historical side of Cambridge Bay that I'm dying to see. Roald Amundsen an explorer of the arctic, known as the first to traverse the North West Passage. One of his ships lay shipwrecked across from where I'am. Now the ship at the time it had sunk had been bought by the Hudsons Bay Company and was no longer in Amundsens possession, but it was once his, therefore I need to go see it. The Maud was her name when Amundsen had her. Amundsen is known for his openmind and immersed himself with the Inuit culture and learned arctic survival skills from the Inuit. He must've been a very interesting man to talk to.
A few of our friends have inquired on what the daylight is like here, so every morning we lose I think 15 minutes of light and same with the evenings so like right now its 1:30 and the sun looks like its going to start setting soon. It will be completely dark here by 4. Some have inquired about our house, its hopefully going to be finished by the first week of December and I love our house. As soon as its done I will post pics! I'm enjoying our stay here at the Green Rows Executive Hotel. We have a housekeeper here and its quite nice and strange. I'm so use to cleaning up after myself and doing stuff and they won't let me. Very nice people.
I also have to say I went out with one of Special K's friends from work. Carla and she is awesome she took me to this Partylite/ Epicure? party, where Imet a wonderful group of ladies who filled me in on some of the town gossip and tid bits of things I should know if I plan on living here a while. I do love it here and can see us staying here for a long time. The Arctic is the last frontier and I'm loving it.

Our walk this morning with Ralph the dog

We had a nice cold cold walk this morning but I loved every minute of it. Here are some pics.

Creams and Crap I'm glad I brought

I thought I should make a point to recommend a few products I've brought up with me. I have very sensitive fair skin and I suffer from eczema so moving up here in to the dry cold caused me to be concerned. See I have a type of eczema that is fairly common that happens on joints and it mainly shows up on my hands, in between my fingers and sometimes all over my fingers. It can be pretty painful especially when the skin splits open and it hurts to touch just about everything, folding laundry fresh from a dryer is one of the things I dread most. There is no cure for eczema, Doctors recommend zinc creams and cortizone treatments but cortizone is only temporary and can thin the skin so much that the next time you have an eczema breakout the skin can split open fast, Ouch! Anyways here are a few products that have helped and that I cannot live without.

1. Elizabeth Ardens Eight Hour Cream, this is a thick almost vaseline like skin protectant. I've used this product since I was 10 years old. Its awesome and I'm pretty sure its one of Ardens cheaper products selling for around 25 bucks. The tube lasts me a 8 months to a year, and I use it everyday on any major dry areas and on my lips. They also have 8 hour cream in a lipstick form which retails for 18 bucks.

2. Roc's Enydrial Hand Cream, this is the best hand cream around and its a decent price at 10 bucks. Roc's hand cream seriously Rocks.

3.Elizabeth Arden's Extreme Conditioning Cream, this is a new product from Arden and wow it works. It has an SPF 15 and I don't go outside without it on. Thanks Mom! It retails for $52

4. Lacome's Juicy tubes lip balms, they last a long time and come in all different colours. At this time of year Lacome puts out a Christmas Package of 8 mini tubes for $48 and its the best deal around. Single regular sized ones run around $19

5.Roger and Gallet Soaps, Talk about a wonderful soap to have as you soak in a hot steamy bath after a walk in -20, lathers and doesn't make your skin dry at all.

6.Roc's Enydrial Repairing Lip Care, if you don't want colour or sparkle like Lancomes I suggest this at $8 bucks its a sweet deal.

7. Bain De Terre Recovery Complex Anti Frizz, Retails at $29 and it helps with frizz and you don't need much.

There's my list and most of this stuff can be found at The Bay, Shoppers, London Drugs or Salons.