Onwards Upwards

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2011-01-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

These are my last two weeks in Nunavut. Due to medical reasons I'm moving home to be closer to my family doctor. Life here hasn't always been easy for me, or for us as a couple. It was hard for me to adapt to the cruelty that is done to dogs here. During our time I was offered to work in a position of authority over dogs and laws (you can guess what it is), which I accepted. I can now look back and be proud of the dogs and pups that I saved and relocated to homes in Yellowknife and other southern cities such as Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, I even sent a pup to a farm on Vancouver Island. When I first started this blog I had a woman, a southern woman somewhere in Nunavut tell me there was nothing I could do about the dogs. She said if I did anything people would shun me and drive me to flee the town or worse! I thought she was smoking some good BC ganja but then she carried on with this. She said my blog was too risque and that her RCMP husband had a problem with it. Oh no, I'm so sorry this is risque, obviously you haven't had much of a life then if this is risque to you and lady it's a blog, get over it. Geez I thought to myself, what a weak cowardly woman. I felt sorry for her and I still do. If you still read this lady I hope that one day you will posess the same integrity that I have, and if you want to change something for the better, guess what....YOU CAN!
I have to say I've never particularily been fond of Cam Bay, don't hate me I'm from BC, and it really is Beautiful British Columbia. I miss my organic coffee at the beach and I actually miss the rain and we don't have bugs aka mosquitos in summer(unless your in Chilliwack). What I have been fond of is the friendships and people who have touched my life here. I hope that I will see them again. There are some amazing people here and I will treasure every friendship I've made here.
Good Bye Nunavut.

Helpful shipping websites if you live in Nunavut

2010-09-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but we've been busy. We've enjoyed a beautiful summer full of vibrant flowers, warm days and annoying mosquitos. I'm working now and when I'm not working I'm usually playing with one of our four dogs. Yeah FOUR, I know it's totally CRAZY! If someone would've told me I'd have 3 dogs I would've said never, and now with 4 I almost can't believe it myself. Also I've been able to save some dogs. One of the hardest parts of living here was seeing how dogs are treated here. Not all are treated poorly but a lot are and I'm happy to say I've made a difference and plan on continuing to do so with my time here.

Anyways since our year anniversary of moving to Nunavut is coming up I thought I'd share the websites that have made my life easier since we started this journey last September. So here they are:

www.landsend.com Lands End was always my Moms favourite, but hey they ain't so bad and if you sign up for their weekly email, you'll most likely get free shipping and 10 to 40 percent off.

www.christmascentral.com Thank you Norma for this site. If you like Christmas and going crazy with the decorating, check this US website out...You can order a damn tree and it's 17.00 flat rate shipping!! My X-Mas lights just came. Awesome stuff.

www.well.ca Need a toothbrush, toothpaste, chocolate or laundry detergent? You can get it here and free shipping and a Flare subscription if you spend over a certain amount.

www.thebodyshop.ca If I remember correctly these guys have a 5.00 shipping fee. Who doesn't love their satsuma body wash?

www.oldnavy.ca Old Navy ships in Canada, free shipping over 50.00 and you can NOW shop online.

www.costco.ca I love Costco, I miss shopping at Costco but we still visit them online. Free shipping on most items. Our air purifier has so far been the best purchase we've made. Serious mud dust up here in Cambridge Bay.

www.silkroadspicemerchant.ca I love to cook and miss my visits to the Gourmet Warehouse in Vancouver but I'm sure glad I stumbled upon these guys. If you spend 150.00 they'll cover 20.00 of shipping, to Cam Bay it was 14.00 for a box of great, way too hard to find in Nunavut spices.

www.amazon.ca I like Amazon, some like Chapters but I find Amazon ships pretty damn quick.

www.victoriassecret.com Really do I need to say anything....It's Victoria Secret. Thank god they ship to Nunavut.

www.bestbuy.ca My husband wanted me to post Best Buy for their free shipping.

www.cuisinart.ca Hello Cuisinart, I love their stuff. Just ordered a new mixer from them. Free shipping!!!!

www.ebay.ca I love ebay when I'm down south and I love it when I'm up north!

www.llbean.com Not really my style but its free shipping!

www.bose.ca Hi Free shipping!!!

www.revolveclothing.com This site has purses and all sorts of stuff.

Loving the Light and Wedding Pics.

2010-05-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well after a few months away we've returned to the relaxing slower pace of Cambridge Bay. As well to the all day all night light, which I LOVE! I feel energized all the time with this light, and have no problem sleeping. While we were down south we tied the knot in Secret Cove at Rockwater Resort, which is next door to where we live in Halfmoon Bay. We had a wonderful wedding, and all the crazy crafting paid off. Heres some photos of our Special Day...ENJOY!

Here's a shot of Ralph, our ringbearer just before he went down the aisle.And here he is taking one of my bridesmaids down the aisle.
You wouldn't think it but these are Nike Air Pumps made by Cole Haan, but really they ain't as comfy as a sneaker.

I worked with our local florist to come up with some vivid, bright, LOCAL flowers and provided our mint julep cups which kept costs down.

Special K and I found these unique vintage goblets with an arctic scene etched in them. We had them cleaned up by our silversmith, and they were stunning....for goblets.

Miriam Haskell from New York, had these puppies made for ME! Thank you Joy!

Watching a slide show prepared by my friend Dar. Thanks Dar!

Our favourite place to kiss, Pier 17.

Here's some votives. I embossed them, well 160 of em. The glow was the perfect amount of light needed. I probably burnt myself 160 times too!

We danced to Dean Martins "Ain't that a kick in the Head"

Under the Apple Tree....Ralphs favourite place in hot summers.

Pier 17, Davis Bay....I love this shot.
Our friend Steph made our cake. I asked for Hazelnut Chocolate and she did an awesome job!!!

My bridesmaids, Shannon, Kassy...Maid of Honor Michelle, Jillian and Andy.

Wanna know how to drive yourself insane?....Handstamp 100 programs, 1 stamp at a time.

I got these done in a week.

Heres Ralphy again.
Another way of driving yourself insane is making tissue flowers...I made 80. I was making these before we came up North.

My flowergirls....Braelyn, Juli and Madison.
My Mom, Shannon, Andy and Kas.The Bridal Party.

Beautiful Weather to Wild Weather

2010-04-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of the weather we've had down here.....

And the stormy weather which I love just as much as the sunny weather we've had.

But it was a wild one. The wind was so strong against the side of my car I couldn't get my door open. Heres a few shots of that...

I've never seen the ocean so rough...search and rescue were out in helicopters searching for distressed boats...Trees falling...I had a branch hit the side of our house so hard I thought the roof was coming down. Power was out..The dog was afraid of the roaring ocean....but I loved it!

Missing the North

2010-03-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Its amazing beautiful day here in North Vancouver. I've spent the last week with a friend I've known since I was 2. It's been a rewarding visit. It feels like yesterday we were building tree forts, playing barbies and giggling about boys. I also have to admit I miss the North, but mainly for the fact here I feel swamped with things to do, not only with our wedding but just in general. Taking Ralph to a pet store we use to go to turned into an event, not only was Ralph taking things off the shelf, the owners couldn't believe he was 4 already. Stopping for sushi turned into a parking space pursuit, which lead to some road rage. The driving here is insane and my visit here has confirmed what I already knew, that I never want to live in Vancouver again. The North Shore when I was growing up was pretty clean (not so much anymore)and with Grouse Mountain and the Burrard Inlet, its a beautiful place. Just a little busy for me. It's lower lonsdale area is turning into a mini Yaletown and once where a house once stood, now a condo stands. My visit to North Van has been great, not only did I catch up and have some quality time with an old friend, I think this visit down south will make me appreciate the North a little more than when I left.

Loving The Weather Down Here

2010-03-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hey all. Wow, I'm so happy to be home. I miss Special K and all but damn I needed a break. I have been enjoying my visit home enhanced by visits from friends who have hopped on the ferry from Vancouver to come spend some time with me. On friday night my friend Michelle came over and I took her to one of Special K's and my favourite places in Gibsons; Smittys Oyster House. We devoured some Oysters Rockerfeller then Michelle had some Halibut fritters, while I had poached halibut. I must mention I've been in my sandals everyday since returning, its damn beautiful weather here.

Heres some pics...

I love this old building, an old ship building shop.

Fresh Oysters!!!!

The Poached Halibut

Halibut Fritters

The view to Trail Islands from the Backyard.

Ralph enjoying his vacay too!

Ralph at our favourite spot, Sargeants Bay.

Vancouver 2010

2010-03-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hey all. I arrived home in Vancouver yesterday just in time to witness Olympic mayhem, which was actually awesome. I say that being someone who was not excited to see the Olympics come to town, I lived below the Eagleridge bluffs in West Van at the time. Whenever they blasted for the new highway, stuff would fall of the walls. Anyways I've gotten over my hate of the games and turned it to love. YVR was crowded with people in Red and White, and you get that I'am Canadian feeling. People were singing "OH CANADA" everywhere you went. Its a good feeling and I'm glad to be here to witness the end of it.

The weather here is AMAZING! The apple and cherry blossoms are out in full swing, I couldn't have picked a better time to arrive. It sure was nice to walk Ralph with just a sweatshirt and not a parka on. My friend had her toque and mittens on, and I kept saying it's so warm! Like its sandal weather here. I'm going to keep this short because I want to get outside and enjoy every bit of this I can. Happy March all!!!!

Vancouver Bound Soon And Other Neat Things

2010-02-06T22:54:00.000-08:00

Hey there people...Well everything is good up here in the Great White North. I've spoken to quite a few people in the past 24 hours as most have received our wedding invitations. It was nice to hear some voices and to know that soon I'll be home devouring butter chicken with ya'all and sipping on my Timmy's coffee(not at the same time). I've been keeping busy with exercise, sewing and day dreaming about the shoe department at Holt Renfrew, which does not have online shopping like its American rival http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/ . I've discovered http://www.landsend.com/ is damn good for shipping rates to Nunavut and http://www.endless.com/ has some serious nice bags and shoes...thank you Mom for that last site. I can't believe I'll be back in Vancouver at the end of the month, just in time for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics:( And no I don't care for them, and really it's just because I hate traffic jams....If you've read this blog before you know I have OCD, OCD and traffic jams don't mix, so yeah I'll avoid downtown and just listen to friends bitch about the chaos. Vancouver already sucks with its lack of maintaining or upgrading infrastructure, I can only imagine what this week is like when they shut down a majority of main drags. Dad if you read this...just don't go out..stay home;) its better off for you and the tourists..Friends you should not drive unless you smoke one first...wait just stay home and smoke one. The time I've spent here has gone by fast AND slow at times. Being in Nunavut has its goods and its bads, but I think this experience has given our relationship a different kind of strength than what we had before, I actually think we wouldn't have learnt so much about each other this fast down south, its amazing what living in the North can do to you. Its not over yet, I will return to Nunavut in early May and we will continue to live here for a few more years. I think this place has its perks like if you want your food mailed to you, you have a thing for indented cans, almost getting run down by drunks on snowmobiles or if you like extreme cold:), no but really it is a neat place and definitely not an experience you'll get anywhere else. I do miss BC and everything that comes with it. I'm lucky that I have friends that send me movies they've made for me while they're half baked...THANKS DAR!!! As well I talk to some of you on a daily basis I kinda forget where I'm till I have to put that god damned parka on! Also I got that job I wanted...now I just wait for papers and approvals to be processed which in Nunavut can take a while. Its snowing like crazy here...yes I know, no shit I'm in the arctic what did I expect?! Anyways I'm going to go chillax and watch some Southpark. Hope everyone out there is doing well. I can't wait to see all of you down south! I miss everyone so much!!

The Glow of the Sun

2010-01-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots of my walk into town.
The sun was spectacular today!

General Happenings at 4am.

2010-01-19T00:40:00.001-08:00

Lately all I can think about is the backyard and the hammock, and how pretty soon rain or shine, I will be in it. SOON HOME SWEET SOUTHERN HOME:) I keep forgetting to take the time and write a new post...so here goes. All I've had on my mind is WEDDING. Wedding this, wedding that, honeymoon this, honeymoon that. So my grandmother Caroline was a big fan of the French Polynesian and I'd never been so that was my first choice..Ahh Bora Bora an over water bungalow..a butler...a glass floor to witness the action below the bungalow...alcohol that doesn't require a permit or a shitload for shipping..did I mention the butler that serves it to me on that silver platter?...ahh now that's my paradise. Then I needed to factor in travel. The areas I wanted to go were remote, dangerous, unsafe and 4 tiny plane rides away, after taking 2 big planes just really didn't seem right. Places you want to see before you have kids, but whatever my future off spring will learn to love adventure:)just like Mommy....Then we thought hmmm Hawaii 4 hours on West Jet whom we are fans of because so far they haven't lost my dog....Thanks Air Canada! and Dog the Bounty Hunter is in Hawaii...Special K so wants to stalk him. Anyways we were both totally into it until we realized we just wanted to chill in Halfmoon Bay and hit some of our favourite restaurants, have some quiet time together and stay in the most luxurious and most unique accommodations that BC's coast has to offer. No car rental as ours is at home. Ralph the dog has his Grandpa taking care of him for 4 nights and his Grandma for 1(Yes Mom that's you, I was going to mention this today had you answered your phone:) So this gives us time to enjoy our tent cabin at Rockwater Resort, where we are getting married. See tent here: http://www.rockwatersecretcoveresort.com/site/accommodations/tenthouse_suites.html That's just one of our luxe places to go without Ralphy. After that we are traveling North to a few different cabins and then sailing to Texada, Cortez, Copeland Islands Marine Park, Refuge Cove and just hanging out on the water in Desolation Sound. The more I think about it the more I like it. With guests arriving from all over the globe and even Vancouver it just didn't seem right to see them so briefly. So for those of you out there who are coming we will continue the celebration the next morning at Rockwater and have a scrumptious breakfast and just spend some quality time with people instead of running/rushing off to catch a plane. Then before you know it we'll have to head to our second home the Great White North, which hopefully won't be so damn white when I return. I plan on camping and fishing and god knows I'll do whatever I can outside before the winter sets in. Oh but I will be back in Vancouver briefly in July and again very briefly in December as we are doing Hawaii then.

This pic I took 4 days before I left for Cambridge Bay. You can see here why I miss BC and also why I was such a damn early bird. How the hell could I miss this? I remember being in the backyard in PJs, coffee, tripod and camera in hand trying not to step where Ralph had dropped one of his "morning presents" for me.

This pic was at Frances Peninsula. This is Ralph in being his typical self. We'd say 'ok Ralph time to go', and he looks at us and just sits in the water. What a jerk. Ralph having a moment.
I so can't wait to see how he reacts to being home. My chillaxing bestfriend.

On to other topics of interest. Baby Deo our foster dog is doing very well and I'm happy to say he looks amazing. I haven't mentioned him much on here because I found people reacted dramatically and a little odd to my posts. Its been a good thing not only for me to have Baby Deo here but for our dog as well, Ralph acts as if hes Baby Deo's Dad and protects him, plays with him and Baby Deo in return mounts Ralphs face and just gives it. Yeah hes a humper, but hes a dog humper, he hasn't once tried to mount my leg unlike other dogs that I've known or owned before. I'm so glad I stood up and did the right thing and didn't just pretend he was someone else's problem. At the end of the day I'm the one who gets to live with my actions. If you want to make a difference you need to start with yourself. Thats the only way you are ever going to make a change. He will be a great pet for our neighbours in Halfmoon Bay. I can't wait for them to meet him.

Ralph and Baby Deo playing tag. If I could only show you how much this dog has recovered from the suffering and abuse that no one should have to endure. He looks damn happy and probably mounted Ralph 10 seconds after this pic was taken.

So I'm back to school...Thank God! I've read books here so fast its crazy. I just can't get enough! So I'm taking on some history courses through http://www.athabascau.ca/

Hmm what else..oh my wedding gown just arrived in Vancouver from New York, now lets just hope I fit in it!

So its around 4 am here. For some crazy reason my sleep schedule is not on time and punctual as what it once was. I've been told that people when they move here have this issue/problem with sleep. Well now I'm officially one of them. I was told not to fight it but to just adjust with it so that's why I'm up writing a post at 4 am. Anyways I'm going to load up a few pics, post this, knock a pill back and hopefully pass out into psychedelic dreams that this tiny pill brings me.

Peace Out Ya'all! and Sweet Dreams wherever you are.

Cabin Fever to OCD

2010-01-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

Our led tealights on our INDOOR windowsil !

Hello all! I hope 2010 is treating you all well. Our 2010 has been somewhat interesting in good and bad ways. I myself have discovered cabin fever and wow it may be the weirdest fever I've ever had! It also brought some demons from the past roaring out. In my teens I was diagnosed with OCD obsessive compulsive disorder. The movie "As good as it gets" stars Jack Nicholson as a person who suffers(I hate the word suffers) from the disorder. His is different from mine where he has to open, close or lock doors a certain amount of times. My disorder deals with cleanliness, and I'm the type who becomes obsessed with cleaning, over planning and confirming things over and over again. I haven't used medication for it for 11 years now. I found the cleaning, the planning and in general making sure certain things were in order was a benefit to me. I stopped being medicated because at the time I thought the world was over medicated. This past week I've felt the frustration that comes with OCD, like when you do something but you don't know that you've done it right so you do it over again...well I do it over and over again until I'm tired, exhausted and mentally frustrated. Add the stress of holidays without friends and family, planning a wedding and my daily ritual of cleaning and I was a mess. Which only brought Special K and I to a war of the roses routine. After speaking to friends and family we went and met with a counsellor and a doctor, who found that the stress of moving here and all the other stress that goes along with it had brought my disorder out. I have kept this disorder a secret from most of my friends and family but now I'm sharing it just so you can see the negatives and the positives of my move to Nunavut. I can't really classify this as a negative, as I just don't see it that way. I like having a clean house, and I like things in order. I'm already feeling better as we have started to slowly switch to a new medication, which actually allows me to sleep!!! Yes a solid 8 hours of sleep! Wacky dreams do follow and that is an entirely different blog....but I'm glad because I don't feel as tense or as frustrated as I've been feeling. We had my birthday party here last night and it was nice to hang out with our closest friends in Cambridge Bay and I baked a black forest cake which turned out better than I thought it would! I took a few pics but I forgot to pull out the camera until the end of the night. Anyways heres a few pics...

Happy 2010!

2010-01-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

Ralph out playing on the tundra.

Ralph and I passed out.

Ralphy telling off our neighbours dog.

Happy New Years all! In recent years I haven't partied up on New Years Eve as much as I would've say ten years ago, and for good reason I just don't have what it takes anymore. On New Years Eve I had no intention of consuming what I did, (big sigh) but I did. My twenties were spent seeing how far I could go and in general living on the edge, complete with a variety of different drinking games, martinis on the go and all nighters that went on for days. I partied like it was my generations Studio 54 all over again. This past new years we bought tickets to Cambridge Bays New Years bash par-TAY and we had ourselves a great time over at the community center, which presented the first error of my judgement...all they had to serve was beer, which usually I would have no problem with but before our arrival I was sipping on crown....so here's my first mistake...mixing. I did hesitate and for a minute there and I could feel what the hangover was to be like the next day but its New Years Eve and really I'm in the arctic, I had no obligations the next day so hey why not drink it up? Six beers later in a dark gym with Fergie pumping the clock struck midnight and everyone waited for the balloons to drop from the ceiling, which didn't until some of the rowdies, Special K included tried throwing and reaching up to release the improperly hung tarp, 8 minutes later it fell and next all you heard were the popping of balloons. During all of this I was sitting with an elder named Ana having a very deep conversation about Kayaks, yes a deep conversation on Kayaks...Anyways the night was far from over, we ended up bringing the party home with us which included screwdrivers, rockband and eventually the night came to an end when we ran out of mix and K noticed I was resorting to mixing crystal light with rum....That would be another of my fatal mistakes. You know its time to go to bed when you mix anything with crystal light. So off to bed I went and I basically stayed there until today loaded on whatever our medicine cabinet could offer. Minus the hangover it was a wonderful New Years Eve. The one thing I did notice here which is different from a typical Vancouver New Years event is that everyone came up shook hands, embraced in hugs and wished each other a happy New Years and I'm talking about complete strangers. We both noticed how friendly everyone was and how that would never happen in the Southern towns we're from. Happy New Years to all of you out there and We wish you the best for 2010!

Blizzards and Boneheads

2009-12-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-26T08:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-24T07:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

Our yummy roast beef dinner and my corn squash chowder

Ralph the Santa dog

Ralphy

The painted kitchen, all done.

Seasons Greetings!

2009-12-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

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!!!!!

2009-12-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-31T15:59:00.003-07:00

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

2009-10-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-10-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

Halfmoon Bay to Cambridge Bay

2009-10-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

Good morning all. I arrived in Cambridge Bay yesterday afternoon and I have to say its beautiful here. Special K gave me a tour of the town and I met a few people and others were friendly and very welcoming. We took a drive down a road that leads to Mount Pelly where apparently theres several Musk Oxes hanging out and it was just spectacular but we saw no Musk Oxes:( We ventured to the local Co-op where yes I did notice some things are expensive and of course the produce is lacking some freshness but all in all it was pretty good. The Northern store was my favourite, their produce was how Superstores is in Vancouver so I ain't complaining and yes it is expensive and the prices are comparable to say Whole Foods but whatever. One thing that drove me crazy was theres no frozen spinach to be found here!!! Not that I need it that badly but Special K wanted me to make my spinach dip for his work potluck. A closer look at the Northern store opened my eyes to a fresh bag of baby spinach so I'm going to try and work with that. The meat was the same price as at home on the Sunshine Coast. A whole chicken for $12, 4 nice steaks for $30. It ain't as expensive as I thought it was going to be. We are still fully stocked on tons of crap from costco. We bought hockey bags from costco and then brought all of the food we bought in those, well Special K did, I dumped an entire hockey bag of ichiban noodle out, seriously who needs that much ichiban noodle? So Special K went back to work yesterday and left me here to absorb the mess that he had accomplished making in 2 weeks. He said theres housekeepers that come by, but wow, I don't think he's wiped the counters down once since he's been here...typical Special K behaviour. I was also tripping over his luggage spread about the house and also overflowing with stuff. He had like these luggage corners where there'd be a piece of luggage and then some stuff out of the bag surrounding it and then some stuff still inside so yeah. In a matter of an hour I unpacked all of my luggage, all of our food from costco and made the bed cleaned up the kitchen and made this place our home. I'm excited to start a new chapter of our lives here, and after the wedding I'm pretty sure we will start making a family, as everyone has 3 kids plus here. I don't know how long we are staying here for one day I'd like to have my garden again but I could stay here for a long time.
So Ralph and I were pulled off our West jet flight when we boarded in Vancouver. Apparently Ralphs crate couldn't fit through their cargo door. I of course was upset and told west jet I had called and confirmed the crate a dozen times in the past 2 weeks after what we went through with air canada. West Jet was awesome. They{Cindy, Jerry and Michael} stepped up to the plate and tried their best to solve the situation by locating a crate and putting us on the next flight which was awesome, also gave me an entire row to myself on a full plane so it was a sweet ride to Edmonton. In Edmonton when I arrived I had Special K's friend Wayne come and lend a helpful hand since I had 2 fully loaded carts and one flatbed cart for Ralphs crate that had one retarded uncooperative wheel on it. Wayne is from Special K's military days and the next day he came back in the morning to help again. Thanks Wayne you rock! The flight with Canadian North was wonderful and they kept giving me more coffee and a great breakfast and lunch, great service and the Pilot Richard was damn nice too. I'm very happy to be here, I really missed my Special K and Ralph was so happy to see him too. Today when Special K left for work Ralph watched him from the window and when Special K was out of his sight Ralph started howling and now he's passed out in an arm chair. I think I will get dressed and take a walk theres a store at the end of our street called the Arctic closet which I want to check out. I also want to take a ton of pics.
Have a sweet day peoples.

Moving day...check, Ralph Duct Tape..check, Air North Tix For Sale..check

2009-10-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

This past week and half flew by! This morning after what I like to call a non-sleep night the movers came. Now these guys cleared out what we referred to as the "pile" in an hour. Those of you who don't know what the pile was it was a heap that took over two car parking spots in our garage, that managed to get out of control and turned into chaos. Not only did it look like and actually still looks like the backroom of a party rental shop or Martha Stewarts crafts gone wrong space{wedding crap}, it looked like an episode of Oprah or Dr Phil when they go through hoarders houses and condemn them for their love of old china dolls or whatever their fetish is. My fetish was clearly Tide, Bounty and Charmin. Thank god for movers. I can finally open the garage doors and not feel ashamed or worried of what may be behind the doors. Seriously it was a mess. I tripped and launched and hurled myself into the not so soft cement floors several times this past week. Ralph also aided in the tripping and falling as whenever I turned around his head was almost, yes right at my behind and when I'd carry a box he'd somehow in a matter of a seconds bolt in front of me when I couldn't see then stop until I tripped over him and the contents of the box and I ended up on the floor. Speaking of Ralph the reject in so many ways from the RCMP to Air Canada....He and I will be flying West Jet. I'm happy about this and Boooo to Air Canada who lost my dog and were going to put him on a plane that was not safe for live animals or actually I should say did put him on plane not safe for live animals. Billed us twice and apparently their complaints department doesn't get back to us for 45 days, wonder how many complaints they have for it to take 45 days eh? Anyways things could have been worse and I was and am very happy to have my big bonehead here with me (No Special K isn't here, I'm referring to Ralph):) So my Special K is enjoying Cambridge Bay and he says I'm going to love it too. Though today when I was conversing with the movers Special K sent me an email saying that the sun was setting at 11am, and I was quite happy to take my coffee and sit on the ocean in my backyard and enjoy the daylight:) So this will be my last weekend here and my Mom who is visiting from Japan is coming to stay with me. My Mom has lived over in a very small fishing community on the sea of Japan for 10 years so it will be a good visit and I'll get to share the beauty of the Sunshine Coast with her and she'll see why I'm going to miss it....and she can put some hours in on some wedding crafts as I plan to put her to work on pure guilt, and thats a joke well not really. Oh I should mention how Ralph has learned to open the gate. The other morning while I was awaiting the pot of coffee I heard screams of girl and barks of a dog and then it occured to me in slow motion it was my dog. As I bolted outside to see Ralph chasing down our 13 year old neighbour I was confused at how our gate got open and was pissed at myself for being so careless as Tyra our neighbour is already terrified of the dumass dog of mine and can't wait till he won't be around to bark at her on her way to school. So this morning when the movers arrived I went out to show them the "pile" and of course Ralph ran back and forth from each side of the house to bark at the movers through the fence. His bark sound terrifying but really I think hes just saying "hello!hello! hello! wanna play!? wanna play!? wanna play!? hello !hello! hello!" He's actually having a big bark fest while I'm typing this at nothing. So the movers are backing up the truck when barking german shepherd comes a running down the driveway, so somehow the smartass got over the gate. I was puzzled because the gate was open and I clearly locked it, so I put the sprinkler on, which can occupy Ralph for about 30 mins like a toddler to tv and it was quiet for those 30 minutes.(My dog chases the water coming from the sprinkler, sounds funny but watching it live is a riot) So I get the guys some coffee and we are just chit chatting about how they can only find 3 boots because Special K must've thrown mine into the black hole of the pile since we never found it, when I notice Ralph the dog...I see him put his paws on the top of the gate, now he's on his hind legs at this point and then he drops his paws so that his body like what would be our arm pits are resting on the gate and he pushes down hard on it making the lock come unattached then he walks backwards pulling open the gate, jumps down and runs through. So I'm glad Special K bought that family pack? that doesn't sound right of Duct tape from Costco, because thats how I'm locking the gate now:)
So I wanted to mention when I was a kid I had an obsession with the Franklin Expedition and the book Frozen in Time was on my moms bedside table, anyways I ended up reading it and wishing I could go try to find Franklins ships. So I decided to pick up a book, I wanted something to do with the Franklin Expedition as I wanted to remember and feel those same feelings that I had as a child so I picked up a copy of The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton and I haven't been able to put it down since. If you love history and a good read I recommend this book. Did it bring back those same feelings I had as a kid?...sure did!
So we begin, well Ralph and I, our adventure up North on Tuesday night. We fly from Van to Edmonton then the next morning to Yellowknife then on to Cambridge Bay. I'm looking forward to getting there and am thinking all sorts of nice things about West Jet and just praying this time everything will go smoothly and there will be no lost dogs. Anyways I'm going to crash and burn but before I do Special K bought some tix for Air North at an auction up there they are Two Round Trip Tickets to anywhere Air North flys for 5000 or best offer, if you're interested then contact me. Nighty night peoples.

Ralph the dog denied boarding pass

2009-10-13T00:22:00.000-07:00

So where do I start? Hmmm....Well some of you know I love my dog, like a lot. I guess most people love their dogs....Anyways I've had an issue with putting Ralph on 3 planes ever since we found out that we were moving to the Great White North and apparently so does Air Canada! I can't really describe how exhausted I'am from today. My eyes hurt from crying, I'm missing my other best friend. Special K repeatedly told me not to worry and that I was stressing over nothing and he was mostly right. BUT when we arrived at YVR today to check in Special K and Ralph, Ralph was nowhere to be found on the manifest. It all kinda spun out of control from there. Ralphs crate was too big, then too small. Then I found him a new crate through Air Canada, and then the plane was the wrong plane. When we arrived to pick him up no one knew where he was. I'm so tired and I'm so glad that Ralph is with me at our good friend Darshans. We got a full refund plus a new dog crate.
Yesterday I was thinking of all the things I'm thankful for this year, and I have plenty to be thankful for. Tonight though I'm so thankful that Ralph is safe with me. I'll end this here. Sweet dreams peoples.

One week left till Special K and Ralph the Dog head North

2009-10-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well we almost have everything we need for the big move plus some. We even tackled the garage and now theres a clear path to one of the doors, and I say ONE of the doors. The other one is surrounded. It's a week today till Special K and Ralph the dog leave for Cambridge Bay, which also means its about a week until my mom arrives here from Japan. So we've been pretty busy but yesterday we took it easy and took Ralph up to Francis Peninsula Park and just enjoyed eachothers company. It was a beautiful day here and I will miss the beauty of the Sunshine Coast but I'm ready for another adventure. So the other day we hit Canadian Tire (my favourite store on the Sunshine Coast) and bought the aero garden. When I first saw this thing a few months ago I wondered who would buy this thing and now I have one. It comes with an english country garden package and we purchased the herb package so YAY I'm excited to grow some herbs in what is a modern day chia pet to me. We also went to Vancouver on I think wednesday or thursday and hit costco again. We found this blue light thing by Philips, I'd go grab the box and tell you what its actually called but it happens to be in the garage and even though its organised I couldn't tell you where anything actually is...I can't even see the lawnmower or the freezer. Anyhow the blue light thing, it's suppose to resonate blue sky. Special K, my special man decided to plug it in without much notice and face it directly at me while I was reading the instructions which read "do not face the blue light directly or stare at it", anyways I'm fine and the blue sky is back in the box till it reaches Cambridge Bay where I will position it and assemble it so it takes no more victims.
I have to mention my only fear of moving. Ralph flying. It terrifies me. I just am so worried he'll end up on the wrong plane and next thing you know he's like in Russia or something or that he's misplaced or forgotten about. I know he's young and my vet said he'll be fine and that we can give him gravol but I'm just dreading it. I think when Ralph leaves I will need to be sedated. I'm almost not kidding!!!I've decided to stay with friends while Special K and Ralph head to Nunavut just to keep my mind off of it. I even looked into driving to Yellowknife but yeah. We all know thats retarded.
Oh yeah and the bed, we found out where we'd be moving into comes with a double bed and that ain't gonna work. So we went to Sears where Special K who's always looking for a bargain(read cheap) (I love you luvbug even when you're cheap, mwah)found a bed that was 55% off so we have a new bed coming with us and I'm super excited because its a king sized bed. The queen isn't big enough for all THREE of us. Yes Ralph sleeps on the bed too. I attribute that to my father, he always told me when I was growing up to keep the dog off the bed and furniture. You must know when my Dad wasn't around my dog Kelsey at the time was lounging on the couch and sleeping at the end of my bed. Now that I'm an adult, sort of, I buy furniture to share with the dog. I know its bad and Ralph should know his place but for some reason I like getting up in the morning grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting down on the couch next to Ralph. He's a clean dog. I bathe him on a regular basis and he plays in the sprinkler as much as he possibly can. At this moment Ralph and Special K are sleeping side by side in our bed. So I'm looking forward to having a bigger bed.
So today we have to check our list and see which Nunavut stuff needs to still get done and which wedding stuff needs to get done. I'm thinking I should have all of the votive embossing done before I go that way the movers can take the embossing crap up instead of me. Anyways maybe I'll do some more of those before we head to Vancouver today.
Cheers!

Shopped Out

2009-09-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

I think I may be all shopped out. Today I spent mainly in bed, except for my walk and wubba throwing sessions for Ralph in the backyard I had an extremely lazy day. Yesterday we did another food shop at Costco and seriously I had troubles getting the garage door down after I unloaded the car. We also went to Ikea and got a few pretty lamps and some kitchen crap and the essential shower curtain that we were told to bring. We also had a visit to WalMart where we found our humidifier and some other kitchen thingys. Then it was the Sears outlet store which is like walking into Sears in the mid 1980's but not the cool 1980's. Then we went back to East Hastings to my favourite store the Gourmet Warehouse where we picked up all the spices and a damn huge bottle of olive oil. Later while in the ferry line up coming home I picked up that bottle of olive oil and thought wow this looks like a 60 pounder of rum, and at that very moment I think the guy in the car next to me had the same thought but I think he thought I was actually going to pop that baby open and drink it back, little did he know it's a bottle of extra virgin olive oil from Spain. Anyways we have most everything that we need to bring. I'm debating bringing my antique coffee maker since its all glass but I really don't want to buy anything else. We still need to pick up toilet paper, paper towel, the memory foam pad thing, binoculars(ask Dad) and more books on the stars.
We heard from the housing peoples today and apparently where they were going to move us isn't good now? So they are putting us up in Green Row Executive Suites, which I googled and it really is a green row of umm suites. After our stay at the green rows apparently we will be moving into a townhouse that has a view of the Bay which is nice since I know how much I'm going to miss my ocean view here and am already anticipating returning in spring when all of my bulbs will be breaking through the frozen soil....ahhh spring:)
So I want to know do they sell frozen turkeys up there? Anyone know? I'm thinking I'll buy one in Yellowknife and just carry it on the plane with me if nobody thinks there's turkey up there. That would just be so typical of me to be carrying around a frozen turkey...I have a funny story which involves me buckling a turkey into the front seat of my camaro but I'll save that story for another time. Oh and what about liqour? Should I bring my own Rum up or?
On a good note I applied for a job today up there and got a call back four hours after I applied. Yay me!!!I just don't want to get bored. I know I have 160 wedding napkins to sew and embroider and a bunch of new wii exercise stuff and some workout DVD's from London Drugs. I also want to contribute to our household and have money to buy food up there and carvings plus I want to go to Bora Bora for our Honeymoon. Anyways I think I'll go to bed and get an early night in. Night night all.

Back to Costco

2009-09-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

On saturday we went back into Vancouver and hit costco again, this time buying food. We also bought 2 hockey bags to load it all into and they're so awesome, they even have wheels on em! Mr K or actually Special K was told he can bring 6 bags with a maximum weight of 70 pounds so yeah we are heading back to Van to get more stuff and hockey bags. We also hit my favourite sewing store Dress Sew Supply and got some black vinyl to make some blackout curtain blind things and the fabric for our wedding napkins. I'm pretty sure I will be kept busy while Special K is at work.
Today we are heading back to Costco. See I drive a vw golf and theres quite a bit of space in there but when you put 40 pounds of pancake mix, 20 pounds of rice, 3 large boxes of cereal, a dozen cans of tuna, 6 flats of green giant canned veggies, 4 boxes of dehydrated mashed potatoes, 1 massive tub of beef stock, a crazy amount of chicken noodle soup, 100 pound german shepherd....you get the picture. So theres a point where we can't buy anymore because theres no room in the car and we have to travel by BC Ferries which ain't cheap but Special K says it cheaper than renting a truck.... So today we go in again! Yay! I'm actually totally excited because we're going to Ikea! Today we plan on getting some more food and some kitchen gadjets like a garlic press, and you know wooden spoons and some other handy kitchen tools since I want to keep what we have in our kitchen here so that when I come back in a few months I won't be searching for like a knife when I go to dice something.
We also hit our storage locker in Vancouver which has quite a bit of kitchenware that my grandmothers both had so I've swapped out some stuff from my kitchen and yeah we are good to go. We are taking most of our modern stuff up and leaving the 1950's kitchen here on the Coast. I figure when we eventually do comeback I'd like to not bring back so much stuff. So most everything that we're bringing we can leave, donate and not have to bring it back here. Did I mention our garage looks like we have a serious hoarding issue and I'm kinda wondering if I do considering all the crap that we, well I have in the storage locker.
So Special K and Ralph the dog head up on Oct 12 and I'm staying here till the end of October since my mom who lives in Japan is coming home for a visit for the last 3 weeks of October and then I will come up. I have to admit my fear of moving up has somewhat subsided with the thought of having a ton of stuff to do but I'm totally worried about Ralph the dog flying up there and the 3 different planes. Anyways thats all I can write since I need to get my butt in the shower. Cheers!

2009-09-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

2009-09-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

2009-09-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

2009-09-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Preparing for the big move

2009-09-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well here we go. Our first blog and our first trip up to the Great White North. Wow. We currently live in Halfmoon Bay in Beautiful British Columbia and I will be sad to leave but am looking forward to our new adventure in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. I have been religiously reading blogs of others that have gone North and am so happy to have their knowledge on what to bring, what to pack and what to smuggle (food).
My other half won't really be participating due to his workplace confidentiality agreement, but I'm sure he'll be over my shoulder at times with his input.
So we are both in our early thirties and we have Ralph the dog, we did also have Tippy the cat but after having her for 16 years, she decided it was time for her to move on and go to kitty heaven. So its kinda strange I think mainly for me because she has just recently gone (last week), so for me not to mention that we had a cat would be weird....I know strange...Anyways we have Ralph the German Shepherd who at this moment is too tired to move after chasing the sprinkler (a new fetish for Ralph) and has barked at the landscapers nextdoor enough for one day. Mr K, my other half was raised inToronto Ontario and I in Vancouver BC We both love the outdoors and new adventures so a move up North is quite fitting of us. We will be married back here in Halfmoon Bay in late April 2010 and I'm crazy excited about it. Before Mr K got the job all of my time was dedicated to making save the dates to embossing glass votives. Now my time is spent more so planning and making lists of everything we may need for the move and afterwards. Once we have moved I plan on sewing all of the tablecloths and making a few decorations and then shipping them back to our Halfmoon Bay address. I'm into photography, took some film school back in the day and am all about the leisure and enjoying life as much as you possibly can. I have to say my biggest hobbie is cooking, which reminds me to call Gourmet Warehouse to see what their shipping rates are to Nunavut.

I'm so excited but also kinda scared. We went and did the big costco shop and now have 3 years worth of floss, toothpaste, deoderant, body wash, nyquil, neocitren, advil, tampons, LAUNDRY DETERGENT....I say this in big block letters since I thought the back tires of my VW Golf were going to give out considering the detergent took up 70% of the back of my car, bounce sheets...when you have a 3 years supply in your car its great to get the dog smell out of it but I grew quite ill, maybe even possibly high from the intense mountain fresh scent that took over the car. People were also looking at us as if we were crazy, with 3 carts loaded, one just for the Tide. But hey it was fun as Costco always is.
This weekend we are heading back to Costco to get toilet paper and some paper towels and whatever else I can think of...oh tin foil for sure and if anyone can recommend stuff to bring pack or smuggle please let me know.
Other things we will be bringing is a memory foam pad. I've noticed quite a few bloggers have said they are glad they brought one and I'm pretty big on the whole sleep thing done in clean places so hey memory foam it is. Anyways if you have any tips or advice please give it.
Have a wonderful day.
Christina.