Wow! What a storm!

Friday night I was woken up by something thumping the underside of our house. The power was out and the house was rocking. We were in the middle of a crazy rain and wind storm. I've seen a few storms since we've been northerners but this was by far the windiest I've ever experienced. Apparently the gusts were upwards of 130 kms an hour at times. That's as fast as a category three hurricane!

We found out the next morning that the banging I heard was a piece of our house that had pulled away. Our yard is also littered with wood from the construction site across the street. The other side of town didn't have power restored till late on Sunday. Several people lost their boats and one guy had his truck overturned. Several oil tanks were knocked over too and one of them was leaking in the fiord. The worst was the two houses that had their roofs ripped off. I'm thankful I only had to deal with a little noise and a weekend without internet.

Saturday the town had a meeting to decide on strategy to clean up and help anyone who needed it. Nick helped getting fuel to people that didn't have power so they could at least run their stoves. The one thing that actually worked in everyones favor was that it was very warm all weekend. When I got up on Saturday morning it was +7 out! The warm temperatures at least kept everything from freezing so the clean up crews could get out safely.

Today they are forcasting a heavy snow fall so it looks like our snow will be replenished after it all melted again. Will this time be the last? Has winter finally come? It's still above zero so I'm thinking probably not. But I'm still not complaining.

Mr. Mom

O's latest thing is nurturing his parental instincts.
 

I'm Envious

One of the things I find most endearing about kids Oliver's age is the way they forgive and forget. Today O had a serious temper tantrum when I put him down for his nap. I went in several times to let him know I was still there, tried everything I know to get him settled and finally just left him. He was playing games and I refused to play.

Well, he freaked. He trashed his room. He screamed for a looooong time. Then he finally fell asleep.

When he woke up and I went to get him, he happily said 'HI!'. We had our usual post-nap snuggle and all was good between us.

I sure I wish an hour of sleep would make me forget how angry I just was. I'm sure Nick wishes that too.

Outsmarted

The biggest problem we're having with Oliver and his new bed is keeping him in it after we say goodnight and leave the room. I know, shocking news! What I didn't expect was for him to learn that he could move the chair across the room, climb onto it and flip he light switch. Once he does that he'll play quietly so we he doesn't get caught being out of bed. The first time, he was so quiet that it was 10pm before I noticed the light under the door. There he was, just hanging out like it was 10 in the morning. Since then we've had to move the chair back, turn off the light and put him back to bed three to four times a night before he'll actually give up and stay in bed and go to sleep.

I decided the other day that I'd had enough and rearranged the room. I moved the chair into the corner and wedged it in between the wall and the bed so he couldn't move it. Or so I thought. It worked for one nap and maybe one bedtime till he figured out it wasn't wedged very tightly and could maneuver it with a little work. Then I moved his toy box over to block up the space between the bed and wall so there wouldn't be room for him to get the chair through. Still no luck. I hadn't planned on his apparent super
toddler strength allowing him to push the heavy box out of the way. 

Last night Nick came up with this ingenious way to stop the problem.  

 

Yup, it worked. He can't move the chair. So the problem is fixed! Yipee!!!!

This morning when we went to get him, he had once again foiled our attempts. Look Mom! The activity table works great as a stool.

Post Script: We have been trying really hard to get around the chair problem because we really want to leave it in the room. We don't have room for it anywhere else and it gets used every day for story time and watching O jump on his bed as he insists you do. I think we are going to have to take the chair apart and take everything else out of his room. I hate to do that cause there just isn't room to store it in the this small house.  

Damn smart kids!!! 

Pangnirtung Warming?

I'm not going to speculate about if Global Warming is the cause of the heat wave we're having because whether I believe it is or not, I don't want to get into that debate. What I can say is that today it's +3 and raining. The little snow we have is melting at a rapid pace and there is not a cube of ice in the fiord.

As per Environment Canada, normal temperatures for today in history range from a high of -12 to a low of -20. It's only been a few years but my limited northern experience tells me that we should be knee deep in snow by now and well on our way to ice fishing instead of seeing boats in the water. Nick told me yesterday that the word around town is that they are worried that the fiord won't freeze enough to make it safe to cross this winter.

While I'm sure the arctic winter we know and 'love' will show up eventually I'm going to enjoy the above zero temps they are forecasting through the rest of the weekend. There is just enough snow to make the mountains look amazing. I don't have to bundle Oliver up within a inch of his life to go to the store. For the moment, I'm choosing to not think about the long term consequences and just enjoy.

Favorite Things - 2010 Edition

A few weeks ago one of my readers suggested that I do another Morena's Favorite Things post. Since it is coming up on that time of year again I thought it was a great idea. I hope some of these ideas help you with your shopping.

Aveda Smooth Infusion

This summer I went to a fancy spa to get my hair done and the great stylist suggested this product to me. I don't usually fall prey to these suggestions because the few times I have, I have found that sure, the stuff is nice but it's not like it works 400% better than the stuff I pay 400% less for. I guess I was feeling loose with my money that day because I went ahead and bought it and am I ever glad I did. Smooth Infusion is supposed to help with frizz, especially frizz brought on my humidity. Anyone out there with curly hair knows the frustration of the great hair day that turns into a finger in a light socket type look 20 minutes after leaving the house. I promise, you won't be disappointed in this stuff, it really works. The only drawback is that it costs about $35. However, you only need to use a little so it does last a long time.

Tuffy Dog Toys

Tuffy dog toys are the only toys we've been able to give Tank that he hasn't completely destroyed within a day. They are rated on the Tuff-Scale from 1-10, ten being the toughest so you know what you're getting. They have a wide selection, grouped in series' like Barnyard, Sea Creatures and Zoo that are all  really cute. They also have a line of rubber toys that Tank loves and make really nice dog beds too.

I'll be honest, anything rated less than a 10 has been easy pickings for Tank but I've known other dogs that do very well with sevens and eights. If your dog is a destroyer I suggest the Mega series. We gave Tank the two megas shown above over a year ago and while they don't look as good as new anymore, they are still in great shape.

One shopping tip: The links I gave are for the Tuffy's website directly and they charge an outrageous amount for shipping. I've found that many of the styles are available on Amazon.com who has much more reasonable shipping costs.

The Dyson Ball

I'll put it right out there. This vacuum is not cheap. It's not exactly the ideal gift but it is my favorite purchase of this year so I thought I'd include it. The ball makes pushing it a dream... so easy you can let your one year old kid do the cleaning! LOL! I got mine at Costco with free shipping to the north.

My Brest Friend

If you or someone you know is breastfeeding this is a must have. There are lots of pillows out there but this one is second to none. It has a wide shelf like surface so there is lots of room for baby to lay on. It clips around you so it stays in place and doesn't slip. It has a handy pocket for the TV remote, bottle of water or phone, whatever you need handy. And if you need to wash it, just zip off the cover and throw it in the washer. It won't be the least expensive pillow you find at around $50 but trust me, it's well worth it.  

Shopping note: Sadly, the only place I've been able to find to buy online is Amazon.com and Destination Maternity. Amazon won't ship this item up north and Destination Maternity charges more than the cost of the pillow. I bought mine while down south at Toys R Us.

Anything from the Uqqurmiut Center for Arts and Crafts

Just like Cape Dorset is known for it's carving and prints, the Uqqurmiut Art Center here in Pangnirtung is famous for it's weaving. They do lots of different items but my favorite is the winter gear. The 'Pang Hat' is known all over the north and is seen in a million different color combinations. This link is for their catalogue where you can see all the goodies they have to offer. The best thing is that if you want, you can email them the color combinations you are looking for and they will custom make your items for you. I highly recommend the mitts. The are just gorgeous with warm and fuzzy fur (faux) on the inside. This picture doesn't so them justice. Oh, and the price list is a little outdated. Believe it or not, the most of prices have gone down by $5 or $10.

Glysomed Food Balm

Glysomed Foot Balm is my new favorite pedicure item and I use it every night before bed. It's nice and thick and has a great peppermint smell. It even gives your feet that cool minty sensation. I actually love all the Glysomed products and use the religiously. I have a real problem with my hands from the cold arctic air and their creams work great on keeping them from cracking. Of course you can buy it and all their other products at Well.ca.

Weeds

The series Nick and I are really into right now is Showtime's Weeds. If you don't already know it's about a suburban house wife who starts dealing marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly. It's a very funny and well written show and the characters are really memorable. I also love that the episodes are only half an hour so you don't have to commit alot of time for a little entertainment. Disclaimer: Being that it's from Showtime, there's lots of swearing, sex and obviously in this case, drug use.

Stacy's Pita Chips

These are truly my new munchie obsession. They are thick, super crunchy and have just enough salt. Add a super yummy artichoke dip or something like it and you've hit snack heaven.

Bounce

The other night Nick wanted to get Isaac into the Jolly Jumper for the first time. We had Oliver in it at just about 8 weeks which is a little early but he had freakishly strong neck muscles and could hold his head up right from birth. While his neck did ok, Isaac wasn't nearly as enamoured with it as O was.

Then Nick got an idea.... long story short, he still loves it.

Sadly, 2 is enough.

Today Isaac is 7 weeks old. He's practically busting out of his 0-3 sleepers and I'm putting them away to sell in the spring. Earlier this week I went for my postpartum appointment where we discussed long term birth control options. Sniff! My baby years are behind me.

 I find it strange that I'm sad about that. I was never the girl who dreamt of having kids. It wasn't till I went through a pregnancy with my friend Tracey that I thought. "I need to do this"... but at the time it was only because I felt the need to know what if felt like to have the baby move inside me. Once it was my time, I realised that I was a natural baby maker. I know I complained alot during the last few months but over all, being pregnant was the time in my life that I felt the best. I loved my baby belly so my self esteem was way up. The labours where easy and extremely short (6 hours and 3 and half hours if I can brag) and my kids are great sleepers so even a few weeks in I feel fantastic and relatively rested. And you KNOW I cook some really beautiful kids. It seems like babies are the things I do best in life and now that's over.

Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly happy with two kids and have no desire to have another. Most days lately I feel like I should have adopted 5 year olds so I wouldn't have to deal with the frustration of dealing with the terrible two's. I'm absolutely sure that we're done but I mourn none the less. There are lots of things to look forward to but I can't help but be sad. But just a little.

Big Puppy

Big Puppy was a purchase made by my lovely husband who insisted the boys needed it. And let me say this wasn't a spur of the moment buy. He actively went looking for a huge stuffed animal that we would then, somehow, have to get back to Nunavut. My mom ended up mailing back to us it after we left NB so I have no idea how much it cost to send. I'm guessing it may have been more than we paid for the dog itself. Having said that, O loves him and it's made a really cute prop for Isaac's one month photos.

Purging and Acceptance

Today I cleaned out my closet on a mission to purge clothes. I'll admit to being a bit of a pack rat in that department always hanging on to things that don't fit, that aren't in good shape or that I just haven't worn in forever. I think I still have every sweatshirt that I've owned in the last 15 years regardless of the shape they're in. I'm not kidding when I say I had 17 pairs of comfy/pyjama pants. And don't get me started on the tank tops in every color. And all this is after I supposedly purged the closet last winter before we moved to Pang.

The event that brought this on was an episode of TLC's What Not To Wear. The other day there was this woman on there who was 35 and her entire wardrobe consisted of Tshirts and jeans. As usual Stacey and Clinton ripped her apart talking over and over about how she should be dressing her age. All I could think of is if you add several sweatshirts to her wardrobe that woman is me. I've known for a while that I'm seriously style challenged and not dressing 'age appropriately'. Living up north has done nothing to help it. I live 95% of my days in comfies and dressing up for dinner means putting on my good hoodie and jeans.

My lack of style doesn't bother me at all until we go on vacation down south when I always feel that I have nothing to wear. To fix it, I go shopping and end up with whatever fits at the cheapest price. Being that I'm a bigger girl, and a cheap one at that, I end up with alot of stuff from Old Navy, aka: junk. I wash it the first time, it shrinks, it pulls out of shape and I'm back to square one. And yet, those clothes are still in my closet 5 years later!

So I've decided to finally accept that I'm not going to be THAT size again any time soon. I'm accepting that I need to dress my body for what it is and find a tailor that can custom fit things I find so that they fit me well and look right. I grudgingly accept that I'm going to buy more expensive, quality, classic pieces even if it means getting less. In the long run, it'll be more because they'll last longer than one or two washes. And finally, I accept that I'm a month away from 37 and I should dress like it. I'm expecting a slow turn over as I do still live in the north where comfies rule. But in two years we move back down south and I'll need a decent full time wardrobe. It may take a while but I pledge to get there.

I'm going to make Stacey and Clinton proud. And I'm going to look fierce :)