Things you may not know about me

I was reading Only Half Nuts earlier tonight and she did a post about things you may not know about her and encouraged others to do the same. So here goes.

1.) I use the word "chummy" a lot. In place of words that I forget. It drove my sister foolish when I was home. For example, I just used it when talking to Rob. I couldn't remember the word for the scroll bar on the side of the screen so I said " I was hitting the chummy". During one conversation back home with Kassie I was trying to say "storage unit" and I used the word chummy instead. For the rest of my time back home, everytime I used the word chummy she replaced it with storage unit. Example: "Kassie can you pass me the chummy (meaning cup)?" "You want me to pass you the storage unit?"

2.) I can only find the other corner store in this community by driving one way. I have to turn down a specific road to get there, and if I'm anywhere else in the community such as Colby's school and want to go there, I have to backtrack to the road I know to get there. Yes, pathetic I know.

3.) When Rob is home, I have to sleep with our bedroom door closed. It drives me crazy if it's open. When he's not home, I can't sleep if the door is closed.

4.) I never walk barefoot. I always have socks and crocs on.

5.) I'm addicted to the news, both local and back home news. I read the local news online and watch the news from Halifax everyday.

6.) I never take my jewelry off. I can't remember the last time I took my earrings out, which is why I wear hoops in both sets.

7.) I always hated it when my mom and aunts called me Teenie as a child and even as a teenager, but when my neices and nephew were born I taught them all to call me Aunt Teenie.

8.) I can watch the same movie over and over and cry in the same spots everytime. Case and point? The escalator scene in Shall We Dance.

9.) I can't start my mornings properly anymore without coffee. I was never like this until I moved up here.

10.) I have to read before falling asleep in bed or I can't sleep. And, if I'm in bed for more than 5 minutes and I can't fall asleep I have to get up.

Just like OHN, I'm encouraging everyone who reads this to do this also, either on their blogs or in the comments of mine.

Things I'd like to share

I'm addicted to reading blogs. I'm comfortable enough to admit it, as many others up here are and freely admit it on their blogs. I was reading Jackie's blog and she has inspired me to do a post about where we live. I remember when we first moved here, all the questions we were asked. Jackie did a post about all the specifics of where she lives, and inspired me to do the same.

1.) The town we live in has had 3 names over the past 5 years. It was known as Fort Rae and Rae-Edzo. Edzo is the next community over, which is separated from us by Marion Lake. Marion lake is the lake that is in front of my house and I can see the lights of Edzo at night. The community is know known as the "blanket name" of Behchoko, which is a community name for 5 communities.

2.) The community has a population of approximately 1900, which includes both Fort Rae and Edzo.

3.) There are 2 schools here, one in Rae and one in Edzo. The school in Rae is from P-6, and the "high school" in Edzo is actually from Primary - 12. (Colby goes to the school in Rae).

4.) We live on an island, connected to the mainland by a 1 car bridge. The island has approximately 30 houses on it, 1 gas bar, 1 playground, 1 community centre, and the "old" Northern store.

5.) The mainland has approximately 5 playgrounds, 1 corner store, a gas bar, a restaurant, a hotel, the health centre, a daycare, the post office - recycling depot, an adult learning centre, a friendship centre, a healing centre (local AA) and the cultural centre, along of course the Northern.

6.) There is only 1 place in the community to buy lotto tickets, and although the store is open until 10PM each evening you can only buy tickets from Monday - Saturday from 11 -6. They do not sell scratch tickets on the weekend, and if the manager is not there and you do not show them the button you need to press (really, I lean over and say "just press that button) they will try to tell you that they do not know how to sell lotto.

7.) We have 4 skidoos chained to our front deck.

8.) Rob walks to work everyday and crosses the frozen lake to do so.

9.) The roads here are ice. The roads are "salted" with small gravel to give traction.

10.) Our truck is always plugged in. If I want to drive anywhere, we have to let the truck warm up a minimum of 10 minutes before we can drive it.

11.) I love shopping at the Northern store. This is not something you hear a lot up here, but since we work for the Northern we have the advantage of what I like to call "the magic swipe card". This card takes the place of money in the store for us. There is no other place here to shop, and although I don't like shopping, I do like grocery shopping.

12.) I love the slow pace of life up here. When we were home in November, I couldn't believe how fast everything is. Up here life is quiet, there are no cell phones, no traffic lights, no rush hour traffic. The closest we get to rush hour traffic is when 2 people reach the bridge on opposite sides at the same time and one has to wait.

13.) Yellowknife is only one hour away, but the drive feels like 2. When we decide we are heading in, we pack for a day. Each boy has a bag they bring for snacks and toys to amuse themselves while in the truck, and of course the portable DVD is a necessity. Yellowknife is also a very small city. There is only a Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Co-Op that carries a great line of newfie foods including Birch Beer Pop and Sunrise bologna, Extra Foods (there are 2 of them), Shoppers Drug Mart, McDonalds, KFC with the original bucket outside, Pizza Delight and a few other places. The biggest shocker for me? ONLY 1 TIM HORTON'S.

14.) Colby is now using Dogrib more and more everyday. Masi Cho means thank you, and now when I give him something he automatically says "masi".

Playing around

Joey's newest facination is his winter boots. He is able to put them on by himself, which is very impressive seeing that we have a hard time putting them on him. This is him in his jammies and winter boots.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day

" A truck just for me!" He broke the wheel off 10 minutes later.

Overflowing stocking. "A Honda S2000 remote control car! WOO HOO!" This is what happens when your tree throws up. The Schwartz Family Christmas 2007

Baking cookies for Santa. "T'was the night before Christmas" story by Gramma. Gramma started this tradition of reading this story to the kids on their very first christmas. We couldn't let a meager 2000kms get in the way of tradition, and thanks to the web cam we didn't! If you look close you can see Gramma reading the story on the screen. Thanks Gramma! Fresh cookies, chocolate milk and enough carrots for all the reindeer. Colby also left a personal note just for Santa. Merry Christmas and lots of love to all our family and friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

We're spending the day tracking Santa. I'm sure I heard him take off in the wee hours of the morning. According to Santa Tracking by Google Earth, he's just over China right now.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

A walk around the island... literally

This is the opposite view I have from my livingroom. If you look in the backround, you can see our house with the 2 gas tanks around it, and the gas bar.

This dog followed us all the way around the island and then went home again. This picture was taken at 1:30.

This picture was taken on the other side of the island. We had a great view of the moon.

We took the boys for a walk today around the island. We walked on the ice all the way, literally around the island. The boys had a blast.

Winter wonderland

This is what we call "The Edzo Highway". This is the lake in front of our house that is completly frozen. The town of Edzo is in the backround and people travel back and forth from there to here by skidoo.

The stocking were hung

When we unpacked our christmas decorations, we realized we had somehow forgotten our christmas stockings. I was really upset because our stockings are all hand made with our names on them. I was looking on YKTrader.com, which I love, and found an ad by a woman who was offering "Hand knit newfoundland stockings". It was my answer! I called her and when we got chatting, we realized we were almost neighbours back home! Although she is from central Newfoundland, her and her husband moved to Timberlea and lived there for 2 years before moving here last year. She also said that she was a frequent shopper of the Winners that Rob was the manager of! So, I had to go to Yellowknife to get stockings from a Newfoundlander from Timberlea! Small world! (For those who don't know, Timberlea is where Rob grew up and his family still live, and we lived there for 2 years.)

Me and my boys

A rare look "behind the camera", since that is where I normally am!

I FOUND IT!

This is my all time favorite commercial. Even though I can't find it in english, it really doesn't matter.

We're taking a vote

I wanted to find the other commercial but can't find it. There is an ongoing "discussion" about which commercial is funnier. It's a tie between this commercial and the new commercial for Scotiabank with the little girl in the tiara asking the bank guy why her mom wants a "second onion". The commerical ends with the mom walking back in the office with the guy wearing the little girls' tiara and says "We were just talking onions".

Which do YOU think is funnier?

Artsy fartsy stuff

Just a few of the shots that I love taking.

Why I sometimes hate my sister

She bought this pig for Joey. It sings "This little Piggy" when you press the hand. He loves it.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy Birthday to the best daddy in the world, and in mommy's opinion the cutest!

Santa hat

Does anyone else see Kevin from "Home Alone"?

Random pics

Colby's teacher has a reward system to encourage good behavior. For the kids that are good, their name goes in a draw for a prize on Fridays. This is Colby's prize for the week. He always seems to pick either a journal or something new to write with. He's always with a book in his hands to write things down. I should keep them all and publish them someday. Joey has become Colby's mini -me. Whenever Colby is writing or reading, Joey is now doing the same. Colby was writing in his journal and this is how I found Joey. This Baby Einstein book is his current favorite. Thanks to a new blog I found and a recent acquirement of a fabulous new-to-me kitchen appliance, I've been baking up a storm. Gramma always bakes this time of year and we always ended up with a bunch of christmas goodies. Since the commute is a bit too long for Grammas, I figured it was time for me to try it. I still can't make her "Maids of Honour" but I'm trying.

I nearly peed my pants

I stole this from OHN's blog. Normally I don't copy other people's entries on their blogs, but this had to be shared. This is a conversation that would happen in my house, and I can certainly hear this conversation between my parents.

The following conversation happened this morning in my house....

HIM: Hey honey have you seen my dickie?

ME: It's right between your leggies.

HIM: Very funny, have you seen my dickie?

ME: Not in a very long time.

HIM: Never mind.

Someone woke up without his sense of humor this morning. (For those of you that may not know, a dickie is a fake shirt that only has a collar, so you can wear a shirt or sweater and LOOK like you have another shirt on underneath but really you just have 1/3 of a shirt with no body or arms, only a collar). Do they even make these any more????

Ladies night at the Northern