Miss it?

Since returning from the GWN, I’ve been asked the same question over and over again. 

Do you miss it? 

I usually just nod, and say I feel “bittersweet” about the move south.  Basically, just so people will move on from that dreaded question.

What I would love to say is NO!! I don’t miss the North but  I miss aspects of my life up there; the simple way of life;  Not having to worry about bills or car payments…or putting on makeup, wearing comfy clothes 24/7, everyone waving at each other…..

Although the more I think about that question I realize the one thing that I found since I moved back South and didn’t realize was missing when I lived in the North was ME.   Only now as I sit here I only truly realize that for the last two years living in the North, I was missing ME.  I’m a very independent person, that is one of the things I love about Hughie and I. We are individually independent and co-independent all at the same time.  Up north, I was dependent on Hughie.  While there was a good many reasons why that was a good thing, but the one dark- thing was that I lost my independence.  I didn’t have a “out” a place where I could go willingly and freely to spend some “me” time.  I was stuck in the land of ice and snow.  I only realize now how much that was eating away at my soul.  I was not the person that people know me to be.

With all that said, when and if I get asked that question again; which, I know will happen – I can honestly say No I don’t miss my life in the North because I found Me again when I moved South 

Don’t misunderstand me, I enjoyed living in the GWL, I have stories and pictures that will last a life time, and god willing when and if I have children/grandchildren I want to sit them down and tell them about the two years I lived in the North amongst the Inuit.  If I could go back in time I would do it all over again.  Although if two years down the road the opportunity presented itself again, I’m positive  I wouldn’t be so willing to jump at the chance at another adventure North.

So there you have it, Do I miss the north…. No… I honestly don’t miss the North, however I do miss certain aspects of my simpler life, just not enough to do it again.

Tidbits

I feel like I haven’t posted in forever, I find it hard to find a few minute or two to sit down and fill you all in on my life amongst the trees.  Things have been going very well for Hughie and I, so well that I would hate to mention about all the good things just in case karma comes back around and kicks us in the ass… So for that reason I’ll rant on about random life happenings:

Work:  Work for Hughie and I for the most part is fantastic, I’m enjoying my job and the people I work with; and who would thought the amount of “interesting” people you’d run into during a shift at a medical clinic.  Hughie has the same thoughts as I do, unfortunately or fortunately he deals with them in a whole different way that I do.  The only negative is our lack of time together, things are much better than they were when in Selkirk, but it is hard to get anything done when we are working opposite shifts.  Lucky for Mr. Fidler, I’m a pro at cutting the grass, painting and cooking – so all he has to do is to keep his man-cave organized and clean. 

Life:  Hughie and I spent his birthday hanging out with the whales.  We drove the 75 minute drive to a 5-minute crossing ferry, then drove another 25 minutes to yet another 5-minute crossing ferry to arrive on Brier Island – a cute little Island were everyone knows everyone but at the same time caters to non-locals.  While we were hanging out in a frigid arctic, Hughie’s mom sent us a book  “things to do in NS”.  One of those things was a Whale Watching tour (Brier Island Whale Watching Tour).  We studied the area and ask questions to our friends that have been there before, and the more we heard about it, the more we wanted to go!  So go we did this past weekend.  Hughie celebrated his 32 birthday out on the Bay of Fundy and the Ocean amongst sea creatures 100x the size of our little zodiac.  It couldn’t have been a better day.

Cameron –aka Car:  I finally got my car officially registered for the NS roads – for the last month I was driving with a temporary license plate.  While we were unpacking all our worldly-goods from storage we came upon my old Sunfire license plate (2007). I thought how funny and nostalgic it would be to see if they can put Keileigh’s plate on Cameron….they had NO problem with it, and it also saved me $$$ that I would have paid for a new plate! Crazy and comforting at the same time.

Chakotay & Sekaya:  LOVE NS.  They relax for hours outside in the shade rolling around on the grass.  Playing with each other and shed like they are going to be bald tomorrow.  This has been the longest shedding ever.  I think they shedded their arctic coat months ago, and now are shedding the hair they would have shedded if they didn’t have a arctic-coat.  Sigh!  So much hair, I’m constantly walking around with a swiffer.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I love my fur-beasts.

There ya have it, not a lot of information but enough to keep you going.

A few other notables.

1. Love my clothes line.

2. Love my dishwasher

3.  Not a fan of recycling, something to be said about sending your garbage to Kugaaruk’s dump.

4.  Love the sun, heat and humidity – I’m no longer a pasty white – I’m actually almost a light almond!!! Which is a huge stepping stone for me.

Relaxation

I have found a new kind of relaxation – one where I can sit back with my feet up on my deck and just listen to the sound of nothing floating around my back yard.  I hear no Hondas’ or sleds’, no kids yelling and crying, no one asking “Do they bite”…..it is peace and quite at its best.  The area we live in does have their fair share of kids – although I have yet to see them, every now and again I can hear a splash and giggling coming from a house kitty-cornered to us in the back and that is all.  I sat outside yesterday afternoon for almost 2 hours, and besides getting a slightly redish burn, I didn’t hear a peep.  Now when I say I didn’t hear a peep I don’t mean I didn’t hear the odd bird flying by or Greenwood’s Air Force base doing their formations – but to me that adds to the charm of my back yard. 

Our home is finally coming all together.  We finally received our Fridge & Stove from Futureshop and we determined that we will never purchase big ticket appliances from them again.  Our bedroom is finally organized, minus one big box of clothes and a slightly disorganized closet (but that is mostly my better-half’s mess….lol).  The living-room set we ordered has arrived, and we will pick it up on Tuesday and our guest room is all set up and just awaiting visitors.  [Just call ahead so I can take the dog’s blanket off the bed and remake the bed with the “good” linen].  The only two rooms that look like a tornado has hit them is the basement aka Hughie’s Man-Cave and Hughie’s office.  The only reason being is that we are wanting to paint them prior to organizing the items in there.  Although the more I think about it, it may be beneficial to organize the office and throw drop sheets over the items verse the way the room is looking now.  It shouldn’t take much to paint the upstairs office, but the basement is going to be a bit of a chore.  Should be fun either way; I enjoy painting. 

I look forward to the near future where my house is all in order, so I can sit back and take a breather from reorganizing and cleaning and get ready for a trip to the States, Christmas and best of all the huge BBQ party we are going to throw.

Cameron

There are times when I forget all about justification processes and wants vs need.  In this case ..I both wanted and needed my latest purchase.  Last Thursday, July 22nd, 2010; Hughie picked me up from work, and weirdly we turned left out of my workplace instead of the required right to drive home.  After a few minutes, and when I finally saw the Dodge dealership looming in the distance I finally knew where he was taking me.

I have been looking for a vehicle for the last 6-8 weeks, dealing with a Dodge dealership out of town and after weeks of not getting what I wanted I was starting to get frustrated to say the least.  I could only say so many times that “No I don’t want a Journey or a Honda Civic, I want a Dodge Caliber”. So as we pulled into the dealership  I saw a beauty… a black 2009 Dodge Caliber.  After looking up close, and with Mr. Fidler looking over my shoulder, we deemed the black Caliber a misfire (there was over 50,000 KM on her and there was no cruise control) then I looked closer to the Dealership’s main office and there he was – a Sunburst Orange Caliber glistening in the ….well dang there was no sun, but to me he was glistening in the sun.  Walking up to him, I thought there is no way I can afford a 2010 Caliber – and as I looked closer I was realizing that I may have to go back to the Black Caliber that I just said was a “misfire”.  This orange Caliber has everything….and I mean everything, even a nice little button to turn my volume up and down and the channels on my steering wheel and a IPOD jack!  After Hughie nodding his head in approval, he said “Take him for a drive” .  Needless to say after 2 minutes in this car I was ready to jump off the nearest cliff for this vehicle.  So I did the march into the office, where I realized HOLY CRAP I could afford this, and it was only going to be $70.00 a month more than what my OLD Sunfire was costing me when I financed Keely….I jumped on that deal faster than…..[well my analogies suck today so I got nothing]..so I just jumped on the deal.  So after all the financial fun was all figured out, and I signed the paperwork – Cameron the Caliber came home with me on Monday Evening.  He is sitting pretty at 295Km just waiting for a nice long drive….Bay of Fundy here we come!

First Day

I felt like a kid walking into grade one all over again.  Walking slowly but full of purpose, yet at the same time anxious and a little bit nervous.

Today was my first day at work – my first day back to work in 2 years.  I woke up super early this morning, yet at the same time I was rushing to beat the clock to get out of the house on time.  I haven’t found my morning stride.  For the last two years, I woke up – made Hughie coffee and then spent the morning cleaning, organizing, reading blogs and Facebook.  Now, this morning I found myself running around trying to put my retainer in my nose (for my nose ring), get the dogs outside and then…inside, Sekaya in her kennel and Hughie out of the shower so we could take off for work.  By the time I got to work I was already exhausted. 

I know once I get into my routine things will be tickity-boo but until then I may just have to wake up at 5am!  (I don’t work until 9:00am)

Oracle

             

(The Trash Heap, a wise being (referred to as an "oracle"), serves as the garbage dump of the Gorgs. She and her heckling heralds live near the Gorg's garden, and she gives the Fraggles guidance and advice, which the Fraggles regard with reverence, although they do not worship her.) – Wikipedia.org

                      

Yes this is exactly what you think it is – a pile of garbage, or what I kiddingly named “Oracle” and it grew by leaps and bounds as we emptied box after box of items that I haven’t seen in 2 years.  Our long-term storage stuff arrived on Tuesday, a great set of guys who brought along his significant other (wife, girlfriend…I didn’t really ask) and there 4 month Great Pyrenees, who was the size of Sekaya.  Such an adorable little pup.    There was approximately 50 boxes, a half munched on couch, a peed on Papasan chair and about a dozen odd little items that I honestly thought I had threw out many many moons ago.    We did realize that we both read A-LOT!  I believe we must of kept Chapters in business during our stay in Manitoba consider the amount of boxes that were labelled “Books!”

However, I’m now sitting at my dining room table (very carefully I may add  - our tool box is enroute from Kugaaruk) looking around at my ever changing house.  We now have more stuff in it than we did when we moved in.    We also finally got an answer from Future shop with regards to our appliance order:  RANT ALERT!

So on June 30th Future Shop comes out with this crazy 36hour or 15hour I can’t really remember Canada Day Sale, and one of the sales that caught our eyes was the 15% off all Appliances – now we love Futureshop because of their product service plan and all the great service they gave us over the years.  So we jumped on that sale like you jump on grapes during  St. Martins Day Celebrations.  However, weird as it may seem we didn’t receive a “Congrats you have purchased….” email like you usually do.  However, we did not worry as we thought it was normal because they were big ticket items.  Days went by, and we could see the Order Number on our History page – but it wasn’t pulling up our order.  After spending a week calling Futureshop (3 different occasions) receiving the same “We will take your email address and get back to you with an answer”..Hughie snapped – giving the lady his ‘Bad-dog’ voice…..FINALLY after 8 days of waiting for an answer they decided to honour the price that we were suppose to get….  We then decided to ask for a little pain and suffering discount – I mean we are without our fridge and stove, and considering they are now delivering it within a week – I’d be cooking up a storm right about now , if the order wasn’t lost in limbo..so their idea of  pain and suffering is …….offering us $20.00 dollars off the total price… I was shocked to say the least…… But we filled out a form, and received the same “Give us your email…….”So we are not holding our breath – all we ask for is free shipping…I don’t think that is so much to ask for…. But regardless, our Fridge and Stove will be arriving Thursday!

So, with that above rant said and over with I can continue – we now have a guest bedroom that is all outfitted with the required “guest” bedroom materials – although Chakotay & Sekaya have called that room as their own.  Don’ t worry though, the bed is nicely protected from their hair and paws…and the floors are hardwood so Swiffers take care of the fur quickly.

I can’t believe we’ve been living in Nova Scotia for almost two-weeks so much has happened in that time my head is still swimming.  I’m very much looking forward to working in Middleton in the near future.  I did have another job lined up in a town ~35 minutes away but after driving that highway more than once over the last two weeks I’m very happy to be car pooling with Mr. Fidler for the time being. 

Final Talley of Garbage bags:   5 with about 10 bags of Recycling…a big half munched on Couch, a peed stained papasan chair with the added bonus of chewed up wicker, a old television stand and a couple of half broken items that don’t need a claim…. all and all, not as bad as I thought it would be.

The Difference between the South vs North

 

1.  I don’t know my neighbours or my neighbours kids.

2.  Smiling at random kids may have me arrested.

3.  I don’t know where everything is located in my grocery store.

4.  Shopping in my Pj’s while drinking coffee may have me committed.

5.  Too many have alcohol that shouldn’t, instead of just a few.

6. I have to pluck my eyebrows, wax face, shave legs, apply makeup, shower and wash my hair on a daily basis.

7.  Summertime darkness.

8.  HST.

9.  Recycling (Although we love to contribute to a healthier sustainable environment).

10. Humidity. (For the sake of the argument, I love the humidity, although I know not everyone agrees with me.)