Week Recap

It has been a beautiful week or so up here in Kugluktuk. The temperatures have been well above normal and I think it even went above zero for a day! Today it was back down to -20C, but still a pretty nice day. Matt was on call today, so he was stuck at home but I made it out for a couple of hours for a little skidoo ride. I think I shook the fetus up a bit- but it was great to get out! Here are some pictures from todays ride:

The Fort Hearne and a friends house in the background:

Self portrait:


Part of the Kugluktuk graveyard:

Me enjoying the sun:

A happy Kugluktuk dog:

Looking up the Coppermine River:

Me bundled up:


A little while ago the Northern Store brought in some beautiful flowers! This doesn't happen to often, so it is nice to treat myself! The price of the plant was $28.69. And yes, I did buy some cookies here too- but take note: They were 50% off.

Here is my plant. It is still nice a week later and it adds so much colour to my house!

And my husband is very happy! I ordered a new shotgun for him at Chtistmas, but it didn't arrive until last week. He has already taken out 6 ptarmigan with it, and is itching to do more damage to the ptarmigan population.

The tummy is growing!

Well for those of you pestering me to see how big my tummy really has gotten, here you go! Now before I got pregnant, it was the boobs that were bigger, but now the tummy is really sticking out. I went to the health centre yesterday to weigh myself after being sick for those few days. Well I have lost just over 2 more pounds! So I am now 5 pounds less than what I was at my first prenatal appointment in December. These pictures are from first thing this morning.

Now I know that there is a shadow in the way, but do you see my nice foot wear in the picture below? My kamiks are all finished and I have been wearing them. I love walking with them in the snow. I have always been a big fan of barefoot as often as possible, and it feels like you are walking barefoot in the snow- but warmer! I have had lots of compliments on them. And check out that beautiful carving on the wall behind me. It is one of our favorites and it is carved out of moose.

Home Sick

Well I am home sick and miserable. It started on the weekend with Matt coming down with some sort of wicked sinus/cough mess. And yesterday it started with me. And just my luck- I cannot keep any food down. I can barely hold water in. Since I got pregnant 6 months ago, I have had one day where I did not throw up- and that was just on Friday! It is a good thing I have a lot of extra weight on me- the baby is just sucking from those reserves when I am sick.

I was in for another pre-natal appointment a week ago and all is well. I have gained one pound, but I am still down two pounds from where I was at Christmas. But my tummy is really growing! My blood pressure and hemoglobin are excellent and I passed my glucose challenge test. I had been so worried when I got pregnant. I had just lost 30lbs and was feeling great. I was very concered that I would gain an excessive amount of weight and end up with high blood pressure and diabetes. I was also worried that I wouldn't fit into my parka all winter!! But all is fine. My health is good and the baby is really growing! I get the next ultrasound in two weeks and hopefully we find out if it is a boy or a girl!

I can feel the baby moving around a lot. It seems to prefer the left hand side of my body and for the first time, I saw movement on the outside of my tummy! I was sitting with some friends and I had a pillow over my stomach and the pillow was moving! So the baby is really getting big- but still making me so sick everyday!

So today I am sitting on the couch with water, crackers, kleenex, blanket, a cat and my barf bowl for when I just can't make it. I have watched The Price is Right, Oprah and Dr. Phil. I just checked out all of the northern blogs, which I am thoroughly addicted too! A nap will soon be in my future as well! I have to get the tv turned off soon- the food commercials are driving me nuts!! I want taco bell or McDonalds like nothing else. Ah well- in two months I will be out to have the baby and I can get my fast food fix.

Hopefully I have a quick recovery and can eat again soon!

Bought a family skidoo

Down south when you have a baby you upgrade to the family vehicle. Up here isn't that much different... but instead of the dreaded mini-van, we have upgraded to a two-up skidoo!

We had two Polaris 550 Supersports. Nice machines, however not very comfy for more than one person. So one of the supersports is being bought by some friends here in town and this is what we have coming up on the barge this year:
It is a Ski-Doo GTX 550 Fan. We decided to save some money and just go with the 2007 model instead of getting the newest 2008. This one is still brand new though and it is sitting down in Hay River. The dealership we bought it from will hold it there for us and put it on the barge in the spring. We got all of the bells and whistles to go with it as well. I am looking forward to bombing this around next winter.

And in other news- spring has sort of hit! Yesterday it went up to -23C with no wind! I was outside with no mittens or toque and it felt great. Today it is back down to -29C with a windchill of -40C, but I am sure that spring will come :)

The Kitty Coup

Three and a half years ago Tweak became our first cat. Three months later we got Freak.

Tweak is grey, lean, meowes constantly, is obsessed over kitty krack (cat treats), runs around the house like a wild animal and is paranoid.

Freak is white, fat, never makes any noise, is obsessed over any food, hates to move for anyone, and couldn't give a damn about anything.

Tweak has been the dominant cat since Freak arrived on the scene. Tweak steals the better part of the food (the gravy part of the food package), shoves Freak out of the good seat in the house, and general just beats the crap out of Freak.

A couple of week ago we started to see some change in the pecking order. Freak started to kick Tweak out of the tub to get the good spot for licking the drip from the tap. Freak wouldn't move out of the good seat in the house. And she finally became brave enough to face the front loading washing machine while it was running (her arch nemesis).

Last week it all came to a head. Freak snapped. She had had enough of being the docile, lazy kitty in the house. It was a full on Kitty Coup! It started late in the evening when Tweak did a sneak attack on her. Instead of laying down and taking it, Freak fought back! She yowled! She chased Tweak around the house. She hissed! She puffed up and became three times her size!

Poor Tweak didn't know what to do. Anytime she went near Freak, an all out war ensued! Nothing like this had ever happened before in our house. This went on for 48 hours. Seriously. The first night we hardly got any sleep. Anytime Tweak went into the sight of Freak- Freak would yowl and howl with all of her might. It became so bad that I opted to get out of bed for 3 hours and squirt Freak with a water bottle every time she went into attack mode. But nothing worked. I tried petting her and calming her down- but she wouldn't have any of it. We are unsure what went on during the hours we were at work, but the Kitty Coup was still on when we got home. On the second night, Tweak hid in the bedroom with us while we slept. Anytime she tried to leave, Freak would be waiting for her in the hallway. But finally after 48 hours, things have calmed down.

The pecking order has definitely changed. Freak is now the owner of the best seat in the house and Tweak hasn't even tried to get it back. Freak is strutting around here with more confidence than we have ever seen.

Now what is going to happen when we introduce our baby into this pecking order......

Here are the cats before the Kitty Coup, sharing the best seat in the house. A rare moment that had to be captured.

My view from work....

Here is a neat picture that I took a few weeks ago. Environment Canada said we had a blizzard warning in effect. It never really got that bad, but the blowing snow with the blue sky sure did make for a great picture. This was taken from the steps at the college. You are looking towards the Coronation Gulf with the Northern Store and the old college building in the way.

Fun around town

Well the Canadian Military is in town! About 100 men and women are up here doing some Arctic training. I believe they are all stationed in Edmonton. We did learn that a lot of them just returned from Afganistan about a month ago. These poor folks, they went from +50 to -50!! They have been working with the Rangers, sharing information back and forth. Good learning for both groups I would say! They put on a really nice evening for the community. They fed everyone and put out a lot of gear for everyone to check out. My husband fell in love with the packs that the medics carry around. The whole crew of them were very friendly and we enjoyed talking with them.


Here are all of the skidoos that they brought into town for the occasion. In the background is our complex where they are staying when they aren't on the land.




We watched these guys work their butts off trying to start the skidoo. From out the back door of the college, my students and I watched laughing a lot! This one poor guy must have pulled about 50 times trying to get his skidoo started. Then another guy came over and with one pull got it going. It was a lot of fun as well watching them all pile onto a kamotik. I have been trying to get a good picture of that, but no luck.
This group here was at the community night. We chatted with them and they seemed pretty interested in how we live up here. Surprisingly, none of them wanted to move here for good!




In other news! I got ahold of some funding at the college to have some great elders come in and teach my class and I how to make caribou kamiks. It was a wonderful five weeks and I learned a lot. The elders showed us how to scrape the skins, cut them, sew them and yep, even chew them once in a while! I loved the whole experience.

Here are three finished pairs of kamiks. The elders laughed at me a lot. I have really fat calves so we kept having to add strips to make them big enough. I think everyone had a great time with this project!

The Baby is Moving!

It has been a exciting week! I felt the baby move for the first time. I have to admit it actually felt pretty creepy!

Has anyone out there seen the commercial where the two Grandpas keep buying bigger and bigger stuffed teddy bears for the brand new grandbaby? Well that sums up the excited grandparents-to-be. Over the last week we have received two parcels from both! I am only halfway through my pregnancy and I think I already have nearly everything we need. My sister in law also sent 2 parcels of stuff my new nephew has already grown out of. We are already pretty damn spoiled!

Work is going good for both of us. It looks like I have about 3 more months of work left before I start my Mat. leave. Matt is also going to take a lot of leave with me. He will be off from mid June to mid September. I am really looking forward to us having 3 months together with our new baby!

And some none baby updates:

Matt was lucky enough to see two wolverines over the last couple of weeks. I think it is time for him to buy a license so he can get one the next time! The poor guy, while chasing the last wolverine, managed to get himself pretty stuck with the skidoo. It took him and a friend an hour to dig it out! Glad I didn't go! We have had no luck with the skidoos lately! Needed a new belt for one and the other one died on Sunday. Looks like we have to replace some chain thingamajig. Luckily the Co-op had the part we needed for a measley $150. Hopefully we get it up and running this weekend.

We are selling one of our machines and we are looking to buy a new two-up. Anyone have one that they could recommend? Right now we have Polaris 550 SuperSports. Not really a family machine. We will keep one of them though- the one that has electric start!

Well I think that is about it! Nothing much exciting going on around here at all!

Have a great week everyone!

The First Look At Fetus Went

We got our first look at little Fetus Went on Monday at our first ultrasound. It was great! The baby was kicking and moving its arms a lot. Everything looks good, but the doctor did say that this baby is going to be very tall! It already has a very long femur. We get another ultrasound in April. I have found an obstetrician in Edmonton and I will be out for the whole month of June. Our due date is July 3rd, so we will see what happens!

It is hard to see what is what in the pictures! But this is baby, face down and a little arm going from left to right across the body.



And the skeleton! Again, baby face down, but you can see the little spine! Head to the left, butt to the right.

And the super creepy picture of my baby!! It is a little Skelator! This is the face, facing us, and a look at the skull! You can see the little eye sockets! I cannot believe there is a baby in me!

January Pictures

Well it is another beautiful January in the banana-belt of Nunavut! Matt and I went for a nice ride last weekend. My husband- the over protective nurse- didn't want me skidooing out of town until I was out of the first trimester. So our little Fetus got to go on a good rip. I didn't go far from town, but it was still nice to be out. The sun is back up with just over 5 hours of sunlight now a day. My plants are happy to get some real light again! Enjoy the pictures!

Here is Matt and his kamiks standing on the thick sea-ice. There hasn't been a lot of snow this winter and there are many spots that you can see the ice. It is so beautiful!

Hey Clare- your boat looks great! I want to go for a ride with you one day when you come and pick it up!

My super cute husband! We are enjoying our last winter on our own. Next year there will be a cute baby in all of the pictures!

The East Coast Vacation

Here are some pictures of our Christmas in Cape Breton. Highlight #1 was telling our folks that we were pregnant. Highlight #2 was poking at a dead whale. I know, I am a little odd, but that whale was great!

Here are the parents opening up their picture frames. It took them a few minutes to get the clue!

And highlight #2- Dead Whale!

So this whole pregnant thing....

Well being pregnant is interesting. We had been trying since last Christmas, so when it finally happened we were very excited! However, right from about week 5 I have had morning sickness that is actually all day and night. At one point I was at home for a week! I was just too sick to go to work. That made it interesting as we were keeping it a surprize for our parents for Christmas. My mother asked why I wasn't at work so I got to make up stories like the furnace wasn't working, blizzard, wild attacking hikhiks, etc. Soon though my great nurse husband put me on some wonder pills that make the nausea much more bearable. I still manage to throw up at least once a day though, but this is better than it was! For some reason the cold really seems to bother me. As soon as I go outside I start to throw up. It makes for a miserable walk to work and back. Perhaps I should go on a 5 month vacation to a nice hot country. It would be a nice change from the -50C windchills we have this week!

Other than that, everything up here is good! Honestly all I think about is having a baby. I now have a one track mind. We are probably going to head to Edmonton to have the baby. Since I will be out for the whole month of June, I can shop and then send everything I buy to Hay River by a trucking company just in time for the barge! If anyone knows of a good doctor there please let me know! I have to get one lined up sometime.

Oh, something almost as exciting- the computer guy for work is arriving on Sunday and guess what he is bringing me! McDonalds!! Yaaaahhhh!! I know, the stuff is crap, but I just love a cheeseburger and mcnuggets. And I only eat the stuff twice a year, so I feel okay with it. mmmmmmm I cannot wait for Sunday!

I have another request from someone in the real world- please send me fuzzy peaches, blue whales, red lips, red feet and coke bottles. I am craving gummies like mad. I will send you money! Please send me gummies! I am desperate!

Now to go outside and face those wild attacking hikhiks (siksiks for those of you out east)

:)

Now we can share our news...

Happy New Year Everyone!

We had a great Christmas over with Matt's folks in Cape Breton. My folks from BC came out for a week as well. Fun was had by all!

On Christmas Day we shared our news with our parents.... we are pregnant and due in early July!

We had kept it a secret from the parents so we could tell them in person at Christmas. It was so hard to hold in! I am pretty sure I told everyone in Kugluktuk that I was pregnant because I just had to share my news with someone!

We gave both sets of parents a frame with pictures of baby items out of the Sears catalogue and baby stickers. It took all of them a few minutes to figure it all out- I will post pictures on the weekend.

So far it has not been a fun pregnancy! I have been so sick I have missed a lot of work. The nausea and vomiting became so bad I have to be on medication for it. But it looks like everything is going well! I will be getting my ultrasound in about 3 weeks when the traveling ultrasound team is back in town. That will also give us a better due date.

So life up here in the North is going to change as well know it! However, a couple of elders here in town have told us we are having twins..... now that would be a shock to the system!

Out for the Holidays

Well today is the day!

We are headed to Matthews home- NewWaterford, Cape Breton!

And as a bonus, my folks from northern BC are flying out there as well.

This is going to be a hoot!

We will be back early in January.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Husband!

On Sunday it was Matt's 31st birthday. Last year we had a big bash for him, so this year we were pretty laid back. Poor Matt was actually nurse-on-call the whole day and had to spend most of it at work. However, we did find the time to go to a friends house for cake. This is the same amazing friend who made me my Musk-ox cake for my birthday! Check back a few entries to see the pictures. This cake was amazing and just perfect for a nurse!

What a piece of ass!

Here is my happy husband with his cake!

What a birthday cake!! And complete with thermometer!

Off to the Christmas Bazaar!

So I keep hauling a bunch of the stuff from my sewing store down to the bazaars and craft fairs. Well it is a hoot now that winter is here. I thought people would get a kick out of these pictures.


Here is our sled full of my supplies! My husband does a wonderful job of filling it up and tying it all in.

Here is my skidoo hooked up. The vehicle in the background belongs to the Health Centre, but it sat dead in our driveway all weekend.

I am an Auntie!

How exciting! My little brother Travis and his wife Corrienne just had their first child! He was born in the morning in Fort Nelson, BC on November 23rd and was just over 7lbs. His name is Damon Riley Hunter. What a cutie! I am a very excited Auntie! He has a great sense of timing as he was born on his Daddies birthday! Happy 25th Birthday Little Shit (also known as Travis)!!

I am a little sad because I won't be able to see them until next summer. But maybe by then he will be ready for his first drum set!!



The next generation of Hunters makes his appearance!


My amazing sister-in-law Corrienne and her new little boy:

Proud papa Travis and his little boy. I wonder if the kid will grow sideburns like his daddy one day!

Beautiful Berries!

In August and a bit into September I went berry picking a couple of times with some friends. I got about 10 cups of berries. I am sure I ate at least that much while picking them! I mixed them all together. I have cranberries, blueberries, bear berries, and lots of this little black berry. I spent time this long weekend to turn them into jam! I really love making jam and jelly. When I lived in Hay River I picked pounds and pounds of cranberries and make a lot of jars of cranberry jelly that I gave away at Christmas time. It is funny, I really hated berry picking when I was young, but I love it now!



Beautiful Colourful Berries!



The 10 cups of berries all ready for mashing. I missed a few twigs and leaves, but I think that just adds some extra fiber to the mix!

The finished product! 11 jars of "Nunavut Jam"!! Hopefully I pick a lot more next year!

End of Honda Season

Winter is here! Well it has sort of been here for a while, but over the last few days it snowed a lot and we had great wind! There were some drifts around town that were over 4 feet high! Today was the first sunny day in quite a while. So we went out on the last ride of the Honda for the season. The temperature tonight is -19C with the windchill at -30C. Definitely time to break out the skidoos!

I have to say that I really dislike daylight savings. I grew up in Dawson Creek, BC and we did not change time there! I know, odd, but it was great! But now I am inept at changing clocks. I like this time of year because I feel like I am getting ready to hibernate, but it is so hard to say goodbye to the sun! Time to break out the happy light.

Enjoy today's pictures!



Winter ready willow:


My poor Honda! It will spend the winter under the house hibernating.

The ice is starting to form. Weird though, last year in the third week of October I was out icefishing. And now the Coronation Gulf is still open.

The boats are slowly being put away for the winter.

Has your husband ever said this to you....

So my husband comes home from work the other day, runs into the house and says this line as he grabs his quad key:

"Honey, I am going to the dump to get you a present!"

Then he runs out the door, hops on the Honda (well Polaris Honda) and I watch him through the windows head to the dump with the wagon in tow.

I am left sitting at home with fond memories of going to the dump with my dad. We would come home with great stuff and always had a chance to poke at a dead bear, cow, etc while there. Mom would always be a little upset that we came home with more than we went with! I loved growing up in the boonies of Northern BC.

So about 20 minutes later I see him coming home, wagon full. Well I really lucked out! The Coop store decided to throw out these great storage doohickies that hold embroidery floss. There were two, but with the bit of damage from the dump, I only ended up with one good unit. But another bonus- in the bottom of one unit were these mini-yarns, about 20 of them, and still in great condition! So I shall now sell them in my store- I am very opportunistic!

Matt got the heads up about the priceless dump goodies from a great friend! The dump here is actually referred to as Canadian Tire. It is splendid!

So thank you husband for my great "present from the dump"!

Life up here is such a hoot. When people from the South ask us how we do it, I just smile and say it is easy. :)

Kara's Sewing Supplies

So two months ago I started my little business on the side selling sewing and craft supplies out of my porch. I spent a whopping $12 000 getting myself set up. I bought a little bit of everything. Until yesterday I had sold about $3500 worth of supplies. Not bad for two months.

But yesterday blew me away. I put about 1/3 of my supplies into rubbermaids and filled my quad trailer, my quad and my husbands quad and went down to the Complex for what was posted as a flea market. It was $20 a table to set up. I went down thinking that if I sold $300-$500 worth of supplies I would be happy.

So I set up my tables and was instantly busy! This wasn't even a big sale, it hadn't been very well advertised and not a lot of people came. In November the community starts having Christmas Bazaars and those are packed! Well I was blown away by the amount that I sold. I was set up for 3 and a half hours and I sold almost $1400 worth of supplies!! And I really got my name out there. People were pretty excited when I told them I had way more stuff in my house!

So far I have been able to sell my supplies cheaper than the Northern Store and the Coop. I still have a ways to go before I turn a profit, but I am learning quickly what people want. I am going to have to order more supplies throughout the year, which will cost me a bit more since it will have to be brought in on the plane. But I should be able to put together a really good barge order for next year.

I also had a lot of Elders purchase items from me at the complex. It so so cute to see the old women excited about the fabric!

So thank you Kugluktuk in making my little store so successful in only two months!

Got one for you Jaime!

Alright, I finally figured out my blog! Thank you Jaime for your help! I just could not seem to make that map work to follow my blog! Ah well.

So thank you Jaime for your help- I finally got the map off.

Now I got another one for you Jaime! So you won $500....

WELL I WON $1000!! Well it is a Canada Savings Bond... but that still counts! And I really did win it just recently!

I entered a contest in my Macleans magazine. The fine print said that there would be a one winner in EACH province and territory! So I figured I could be a shoe-in! How many people in Nunavut would enter. I made Matt enter so I would have some competition- and I kicked his butt! So I had to write a little letter saying how a $1000 Canada Savings Bond would help me live my dreams. Well I wrote the sappiest thing I could think of! I don't think I will be giving Clare a run for his money on his great writing, but $1000 isn't too bad of a start!

ps. Clare- I got to visit with your boat last weekend- it sure is pretty! I will try and get a picture for you!

Here is my story along with other winners:
http://www.csbstories.ca/winners.asp look under my name: Kara Went

I must warn you- I am not that sappy in real life. I am a professional bullshitter. I am sure that my BSc that I earned over 5 years at UNBC really stands for Bull Shit Certificate.


By the way- winter arrived here a couple of weeks ago. We have enough snow that the skidoos are out. I am going to give it a bit longer before I put away my quad. Today the temperature was -12, but the windchill was -21C. Matt finally made me put my sandals away. Although I have to admit my little toes were getting chilly even with woolies!

I will try to get some more pictures put up soon. Have a great day everyone!

Well it has been a while!! But the house looks amazing! My mother was up for two weeks and we worked her hard!

So we worked our butts off for two weeks and got a lot done. We put up new kitchen cabinets, new countertop, tile backsplash, wood wainscoting, installed a new dishwasher, stove fan, finished the floor in the kitchen, living room, hallway and master bedroom, built a new bed frame and rearranged my sewing supply store! Man oh man! What a tonne of work! And in between my mom cooked cookies, meat pies, cinnamon buns, homemade sausages and other goodies. I love my mom!

I do believe the value of our home has just gone up! Check out all of the pictures! We are still working on a bunch of little stuff and when I have the house put away I will post pictures of my clean, finished house!

Old kitchen, fridge view:

Old kitchen full on:

The start of the new kitchen. I didn't get any pictures of us taking out our old cupboards. They were the metal ones and had faux wood doors. They were rusty and had a lot of perma-dirt/grease that even a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser couldn't take off. The new cupboards are just the pressboard kind, but they have a nice maple laminate on the front. That is my mom in there with Matt. People here in town loved her! They kept commenting on how much we look alike, how young she looks and how handy she is!



Here is mom hard at work with the jigsaw.

My mom and I working on the wainscoting in the living room.

Matt and mom in the kitchen again working on the sink. We had some technical difficulties with the plumbing- but it all came together and it even all works!

Mom working on the tile backsplash. I am sure she is cursing at me here for taking her picture! doesn't the tile look amazing!

Matt working on our new bedframe. 6 rubbermaids on wheels slide in underneath it for even more storage. Notice our little helper cat? That is Freak and she was pretty upset that we took the bed apart!