Happy Birthday

 

(Above ~ Approximately 6-9 months old) – The photo that made me fall in love with “Mickey”. *Name was changed to Chakotay the day I knew he was mine* I saw his face on an animal rescue site and I was head over heels.  Chakotay has been my protector, and my best friend ever since. 

(Above) He was ours the second he walked into our apartment, he claimed us as his “people” and left his hair all over the place.  Needless to say that hasn’t changed.

  

(Above) He claimed my papasan chair from the moment I brought it in the house, the big comfy cushion was just too much to pass up.

(Above) He was very happy to  have a little sister join his family.

                     Happy 6th Birthday Chakotay!

Have a magical day!

I don’t know if I should or  shouldn’t be surprised that it took over a year for a parcel to go M.I.A.  I purchased Sekaya & Chakotay stuffed Disney toys for Christmas (yes I spoil my dogs)..A stuffed Bolt dog for Sekaya and a Dale (Chipmunk) for Chakotay.  According to UPS-Canada it arrived in Yellowknife on November 4th and left Yellowknife via an air service.  From that date -  no one knows where that parcel could be, it is like it disappeared into thin air. Although I have a hankering that it is wrapped under someone else’s tree.  (Although I definitely have NO proof of that). 

I have to say I’m very impressed with the customer service I received from the Disney Store Online.  I emailed them a generic “Help me” email at 2:30pm this afternoon and by 3:10 I had a reply.   They contacted UPS and it was deemed that my parcel was “lost” in transit.  Therefore they were issuing me a replacement order.   Learning from my first MIA mail I was smart enough (or not smart enough, as I should of done this the first time around) I’m having The Disney Store online send my parcel to my parents place on PEI.   Who will then stuff the presents in the generic brown box they will ship to me for Christmas.  There is definitely something to be said about being wished a “Have a magical day” that just instantly cheered me up after this ordeal.

The next step is to find my Yoga Mat that Hughie ordered me from Costco that should have arrived approximately 2 weeks ago.  Working out on my living-room mat leaves little indentations on my upper back/body…freaky looking but still annoying.

I look forward to Christmas 2010 when all I have to worry about is parking spots, finding a coffee shop and my Christmas list.

Spam

No not the lunch meat in a can but the Spam known as Email-worms.  This morning I log onto my hotmail account only to see approximately 10 “undeliverable emails”.  Excuse me?  The only time I use hotmail is to receive invoice and the occasional family response.  From what I can see and my limited experience I have been hit by an Email Worm.  Blasted!!  I wonder if  the people expect individuals to call the International #? If they don't, then why, is it just to slow down hotmail’s servers?

In all honesty, I’ve been a member of Hotmail since 1997 and this has been my first “hack” into my contact list.  I have to admit that is pretty good.  Lucky for me my husband has a knack for computers so he will figure this out. 

So, once again I apologize to all my friends & family that received this spam-email from my account.  It wasn’t my intent to make you purchase products that probably don’t work, smell bad or just cost too much money.

*Addendum
1:52pm
I can't believe how bad my grammar/spelling is when I write a post pre-coffee. Yikes!

Gingerbread

I didn’t see the sun rise today, however, as I look out my kitchen window I can just see the dim glow over our ‘mountain’ as the sun sets.  It is a blustery-snowy typical day here in Kugaaruk with one main difference, it isn’t –20.  I was able to take the dogs for a walk today in just my pants, no long-johns or ski-pants.  I enjoy the extra freedom, although jumping in the snow with Chakotay and Sekaya tends to be a little on the chilly side.

We are now more than half way through November.  Christmas is sneaking up on us faster and faster.  I have officially finished most of my shopping, although like I said in my last post I still have a couple more presents to go.  I wish I could make my days go faster, I love December and the Christmas season.  All the presents around the tree and the Christmas carols & cartoons on the television.  It is hard to be glum about the lack of sunlight when you have Frosty learning life lessons in his feature film “Frosty the Snowman”. 

In order to boost my Christmas spirit I ordered a Gingerbread House Kit from http://www.londondrugs.ca.  The rule of thumb if you want to order from London drugs is to make sure you first don’t go over 10lbs (shipping up to 10lbs is $29.99 – Over 10lbs is $39.99). The second rule of thumb is to use up your 10lbs of shipping weight to make it worth while to pay that shipping fee. They have a vast collection of Christmas Treats.  So I managed to wrangle Hughie into the chair and let him go shopping.  I’m not a huge Christmas Candy fanatic however Hughie is.  So with my Gingerbread House Kit we purchased the mandatory Christmas Nerds, Mint Christmas M&Ms and a few other things.  They also have a Christmas Decoration section, however most items are breakable.  If you do wish to look at their site, look at it daily as some products that “are not available at this moment for online purchase” do come available.

I’m just biding my time before I start decorating my house, now that Remembrance day is past I can officially start humming Christmas Carols.  I am even becoming antsy to wrap Christmas presents, and I HATE wrapping presents…. I know..surprising considering I’m a huge Christmas fanatic.

I’ve recently ordered a couple of presents through different sites that I normally wouldn’t.  Once they come in I will be sure to add my thoughts and opinions on their shipping and handling.  Until then…

Punch Buggy – No Punch Backs

 

I have fully immersed myself into the world of Christmas Shopping.  I started early this year, as my source of income is now dry and cracked beyond repair.  Although; with that being said, I do have access to other funds, I just rather use them on myself! I only have a ‘few’ more gifts to purchase (My parents & my sister and her “better” half).  I have a few things to send back East for my niece and nephews and then I can sit back and wait for the Christmas wrapping paper to be placed on the shelves at the co-op so I can start wrapping.  I still have a few gifts in limbo somewhere between point A & B so I’m not in any rush; and Christmas is still a month and a half away.  So no need to worry yet.

After a long process of thinking and dwelling over the what ifs and if nots.. I decided to get both the H1N1 injection and the seasonal FLU shot this year.  I think the deciding factor was that we don’t have access to respirators and ICU’s if the situation called for them.  So on Friday afternoon we all made the huge trek to the school gym (a 2 minute drive away).  After waiting in line for what seemed like hours – at one point I thought I was sitting in the same chair for two hours; and in retrospect was only an hour of my time.  (The clock in the gymnasium was not set back an hour).  It was finally my turn. The needles were quite painless, however my left arm where the H1N1 vaccine was placed feels like I played “Punch Buggy” while sitting at a beetle bug convention.  Nothing that a bit of Advil couldn’t cure, however for whatever reason I haven’t gotten up to get one yet, I call it a bit of laziness on my behalf.   It is funny though, that no matter where you live there will always be people complaining about the way things are run.  I’ve seen plenty of news broadcasts with regards to the way things were run in the south regarding the immunization clinics, I happen to think that things were nicely run in our community compared to those clinics down south; I much rather waste an hour of my life here in the north in a line up verses spending upwards to 5 or 6 hours in a line up down south. 

The weather along with the sun has been progressing towards the land of 24-hour darkness.  The air has turned dry and crisp, making you feel like a popsicle after only a couple of minutes outside; however, with two huskies you really don’t have much choice but to get outside…

Here are two pictures so you southern readers can see what I see when I look out my window. 

 

Oídche Shamhna

Meaning : The night of Samhain

Samhain (pronounced “Sauwain”) – The autumn equinox.  As Beltaine (May 1st)  marked the beginnings of summer, so Samhain recorded the end.  Samhain was celebrated with ritual bonfires and is the origin of Halloween.  The Celtic year began with Samhain at the end of October, a time of deliberate misrule and contrariness.  It was also thought to be a time when the dead could return to warm themselves at the fires of the living and when poets were able to enter the Otherworld. 

Halloween pumpkin lanterns may have originated with Celts’s customs of placing the skulls of ancestors outside their doors at this time.

“Decoding the Celtic. Revealing the legacy of the Celtic Traditions, Claire Hamilton & Steve Eddy.”

***************************************************

Last night was the beginning of Samhain.  On my bucket list is to go to Scotland, but if I could put an asterisk next to it, it would say “Go during the celebration of Samhain”.  I’m deeply in love with Celtic history with all of its lore and mythology and I have Michael Linkletter to thank for that.  He was my Celtic professor at STFX (6/7 years ago).  Since that class I’ve read everything that I can with regards to their deep history.  Someday I hope to return to study the Gaelic language and divulge my time into taking another Celtic History course.  However until then I will bide my time reading my Celtic Lore, History & Mythology books

Meanwhile Halloween in Kugaaruk is over and the kids are probably holding their bellies after consuming all their treats from last night.  We gave out suckers, skittles – starbursts, goldfish crackers and tootsies pops.  It was a great evening and over all we had approximately 110 kids, unfortunately we didn’t get to see a lot of costumes,  half the kids were out in their winter garb considering it was –35 with wind-chill.  We did get to see plenty of face paint that turned the kidlets into mice, cats, clowns and scary creatures.  We also had a couple of furry animals grace our door early in the evening; a  very adorable puppy & bear. 

We thought about heading over to the Hamlet for the Costume Contest however it was damn cold out, and considering we spent a considerable amount of time there last year we felt that we wouldn’t see anything different.  So Hughie and I decided to kick back with a couple of good “old” horror movies.  Pet Semetary and Night of the Living Dead.  Two classic horror movies that still had my skin crawling.  I’m just glad we don’t own The Ring.  It was a great spooky evening. 

I came to the realization that we must live in one of the safest Trick n Treating locations.  The whole town knows one another as does the kids and the chances of someone tainting the candy is not even thought of.  As a child I was never allowed to eat “homemade” candy that was given out the doors however here I saw fudge, popcorn balls and squares in the bags of the kids .  There are also no pumpkins in town for kids to destroy no hay bails to burn and eggs are so expensive kids don’t buy them to throw at doors and cars.   It is nice to wake up in the morning look out the window and see nothing; in Selkirk you would see Toilet paper, destroyed pumpkins and egg shells spattering the roads and sidewalks.

I hope everyone one had a safe Samhain. 

I’m not sure if it is too soon for this but…54 days until Christmas Eve.

Like it was yesterday.

                        October 31st, 2008 a very tentative and slightly nervous woman walked off a First Air flight onto the snowy tundra not knowing what the next two years would hold.

 

That’s me!! I was that tentative and slight apprehensive woman and today marks my one year anniversary in the GWN (Great white north).  I like to think the North hasn’t changed me, but I know that it has.  I’m not the same nervous apprehensive woman I once was.  I hate to say I’m more abrupt and abrasive but I do border on both of them, however, on the other end of the spectrum I’m more open and friendly towards people I hardly know and that is a huge change as I use to be very sceptical about new people; judging the book by the cover.

I also find myself thinking about things that I normally wouldn’t be thinking about if I was living down south.

1.  Water truck…In a happy good world the water truck would arrive like clockwork 3x per week.  The world we live in is not always happy and good.

2.  Sewage truck…will it arrive today; and must remember to flush the toilet in case they suck my tank dry.

3.  Wednesday = Fresh produce day; the best time to go is when school is in session and preferably when it isn’t the hamlets or the co-ops payday.

4.  Starting Christmas shopping in October because you never know how long you’ll wait for your shipment to arrive.

5.  How I can put on enough layers to keep out the –4o weather and still manage to get some outside activity.

6.  How long until my next IPA (Vacation)

I like to think I’m older and wiser and I’ve grown in leaps and bounds in the last year, but really I think all I’ve learned is that I can dust my woodworking everyday and there is still hair that collects immediately after.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about living in Kugaaruk.  I wouldn’t change a thing about the last year, well okay I would…but that can be saved for another time and place.  I couldn’t ask for a better hamlet to be living in for our two year posting.  We have beautiful landscaping and post office that runs consistent and clear open water with a fresh smell of salt that permeates the skin on a cool summer day. 

I’m  not going  to rush the next year, although I know without doing so that I will be.  I’m a Southern girl at heart and while I love living here and all that it entails I’m looking forward to being back in civilization where I can get my Starbucks with my Chapters with a side order of Futureshop without making do with perked coffee and the internet.

Losing the sun = October 30th, 2009 @ 2:00pm

Bring on the long stretched out winter, I think I may even enjoy this one.