my little bingo player

An occupational hazard of mine is to try and find ways to make learning fun for Joe. Well, I have found another one. We are working on numbers with Joe right now, and he's pretty good at it. BINGO is number recognition and matching. I'm going to have to go out and find bingo cards for him to play along with me!

I'm on vacation baby!!!

I'm now officially on vacation for the next two weeks. I love working as a teacher! I should now be back on track of updating the blog more often. Here's hoping. :)

Of course, I did the boys Christmas pics, and since they have been received by family members I'm free to post them for you all to see. If I do say so myself, I have some cute kids!

I've also been busy doing christmas pictures for people here in town. This is the granddaughter of my "Metis Mommy".

My silly little puppy. Last week it dipped as low as -54 with the windchill, so I crocheted her a jacket. I'm going to do it again in a better color but I needed a template to work from. As you can see, she wore it outside!

Joey, Sunny and Katie.

Gramma Jeannine has been anxiously waiting for me to post these pictures, so a little birdy told me!

Just to make her happy

I've learned in the past when a pregnant woman asks you to do something, you do it. So here you go Tawny.

10 things that make me happy

1.) Morning snuggles with Colby and Joey.

2.) The excited squeals of the kids at preschool when they arrive.

3.) Being called "Teacher Tina" and getting hugs from all the 3 and 4 year olds when they leave.

4.) The amazing friends and surrogate family we have made here in the North.

5.) Having people tell me how much they love the pictures I have taken of them.

6.) Have community members tell me how proud they are of Rob as the Northern Manager and hope we never leave.

7.) My blogger friends, most who I've never met in person but feel like I know them better than some people I know in real life.

8.) Getting packages from home.

9.) Fresh warm sheets on the bed.

10.) After 15 years, the way that one smile from Rob still gives me butterflies.

Now, all my blogger friends, I challenge you to do the same thing. And I'll be looking for your lists!

Just in case you thought I was making this up.. like I would!

Wind Chill Warning : Île à la Crosse and Beauval Issued at 3:30 PM CST Friday 11 December 2009

Extreme wind chills tonight. This is a warning that extreme wind chill conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements. A pool of bitterly cold Arctic air has settled over Northern Saskatchewan with temperatures near minus 40. Tonight a brisk northwesterly flow will develop over the area producing extreme wind chill values in the minus fifties. The extreme wind chill values will continue on Saturday. At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 5 minutes.

BRRR that's COLD!

Current Weather Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009, 18:00 CST - Buffalo Narrows Île-à-la-Crosse, SK

Currently: -32

Light snow

Feels Like: -44

Wind: W 15km/h

I copied this right from the Enviornment Canada Website. Do you see the "Feels like"??? Tonight and tomorrow it's suppose to be as low as -50. Holy freakin' Hannah that's cold!!

Current Weather Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009, 18:00 CST - Buffalo Narrows Île-à-la-Crosse, SK -32 Light snow Feels Like: -44 Wind: W 15km/h Relative Humidity: 67% Pressure: 101.83 kPa Visibility: 16.0 km Ceiling: 2200 ft Related Links I copied this right from the Enviornment Canada Website. Do you see the "Feels like"??? Tonight and tomorrow it's suppose to be as low as -50. Holy freakin' Hannah that's cold!!

"Mommy, you lie!"

Joey has finally settled in at daycare. He has settled in so much, he gets upset when he doesn't go. Anyone who knows me and my children know that my kids are creatures of habit. They go to bed at the same time every night, not because they are told to, but because they just do. They have always done it. If we don't have supper by 5pm, Colby starts to mentally lose it. They are just funny that way.

Yesterday, the director of the daycare lost her daughter. Her daughter was born with a genetic defect and was not given much of a chance to survive. She was a fighter. She never grew much and looked like an infant, even though on the 7th of this month she turned 11 months old. She was in the daycare so we all got to see, and hear her. She may have been small, but there was nothing wrong with her lungs. She grew her angel wings early Tuesday morning, after being in the hospital for 3 days, so they closed the daycare to give all the women who worked with her the day off to grieve. I took Joey to work with me that day, and when he realized he was not going to "school" he became quite upset. When I told him that "school" was closed, he sobbed and said that it wasn't. When I told him that Beatrice (who is the woman who works with him) wasn't there, that is when he called me a liar. I couldn't help but laugh. Here is this little guy, sobbing his heart out because he couldn't go spend time with his Beatrice. Most kids would be excited to come to work with their mom's for a whole day, especially if she works in a preschool. Not my little fart. I realized today why he loves going there so much. When he gets there, all the other kids are napping, so he has Beatrice all to himself. They curl up together and read books, which is Joe's favorite thing to do. Then they have a snack and wait for the kids to wake up.

Some people I know would be jealous in this situation, but not me. I think the more people who love your kids, the better they are. I know when I leave him there, even though it's only for a few hours, he is well cared for and really happy to be there. That makes it worth it for both of us.

Canadian Blog Awards

While surfing over on the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards and voting for some of my favorites, I found that this blog is actually in a catagory! I am nominated in Overall Blog, which I think is super cool. So a big thanks to whoever threw my name in the hat, and if you're really into this kind of thing you can jump over HERE and vote for me!

Our boys

A few weeks ago I did the boys' portraits. I wanted these to be a surprise for our family back home, and truth be told I got in shit last year when I sent him Colby's school picture and didn't have a new picture of Joey. The pictures have been mailed and received by all grandparents, so now I'm free to post them for you. I'm just sweet like that. :)

He decided he wanted to dance.

I just love this. I have this enlarged in our livingroom. Joey's "school portrait", in the same pose as Colby, sort of. Colby's school portrait. I don't think I could have taken this picture any better than they did.

I'm soo excited!

It finally arrived. I ordered this off Ebay and am so happy with the quality of it. It is a hand painted muslin background and I just love it. I am going to put up signs around town tomorrow with pricing, and I have a feeling I will have less free time than I do now! :)

I went a little overboard

I went a little overboard with the flour in this batch of bread. I actually ran out of pans and had to cook one batch and re-use the pans. Luckily there are lots of people here to eat it! :)

Moments that make me proud

When I was at work today looking through some clothes, Joey found this shirt. Lately he is OBSESSED with Tinkerbell and insisted on wearing this shirt. He has his shirt off and this on before I could stop him. I convinced him to put his shirt back on and put Tinkerbell over it, seeing that this shirt is 2 sizes too small. He is in bed now, and insisted on wearing it to bed. And yes, he wore this at preschool all day, to the post office where he had to show the man there, and in the store. I figure if Kara can let her son wear his underwear over his pants and take him out in public, I'm safe with my little guy wearing a pink Tinkerbell shirt. *grin*

I can't believe I forgot to post this

My halloween costume. What better costume for a pre-k teacher than the alphabet?!

Guess what we got yesterday!!!

Season 3 baby!! We have the entire collection, so we couldn't pass up this one!

To answer your question Chris

Tinkerbell's house didn't last 24 hours.

Tinkerbell's house

I ordered these really cute cookie cutters from Avon and we wanted to try them out. Unfortunately I didn't have any white icing so we improved with chocolate. But as you can see he had fun decorating! He kept calling it "Tinkerbell's house".

Day #3 of the challenge

Joey and I went to Meadow Lake yesterday and I thought it would be the best time to take a new picture for Kara. My plan was to take a picture of this smoker. This smoker is always going, no matter when we go by. I thought this would make a great picture, so on the way back I put on my 4ways and pulled over in front of their house. Well, in true Saskatchewan fashion, the man who owns the house came out to see if I was O.K. I was frantically trying to hide my camera as to NOT look like a crazy person (like I could really pull THAT one off), and after assuring him that I was in deed OK I snapped this picture while driving away. I'm sure he thought I was crazy when he saw me pull the camera out as I was driving. The things I do for you Kara!!

Day #2 of the challenge

I went to Meadow Lake with Joey today to pick up a few things that we can't get here in town. Now, keep in mind that meadow lake is 233kms EACH WAY. So needless to say with a 3 year old we were on the go most of the day. I brought my camera with me because I wanted to take a picture of something for today's post, because I just KNEW I would hear it from Kara if I didn't post today. I'm actually going to cheat and keep the picture for tomorrow's post. I'm nasty like that. I will give you a little teaser about it. I'm sure there is a man in Green Lake who thinks I am either a psycho, or a stalker. Or maybe both. *grin*

For Kara

I made a comment on Faceb00k tonight that I was off for the next 4 days. Kara responded that she hoped I would blog for the next 4 days. So, not only am I going to blog, I'm going to take a picture each day (and no, it won't be from ones I've already done, it will be a picture taken THAT day). With that being said, here is what I took today. As we live on a peninsula, each winter we are blessed with an ice road that takes 48kms off the drive to get to the highway. This little shack is at the beginning of the iceroad, and you can just see the ice forming. Winter's coming!!!

Happy Birthday Colby

My little man turned 8 last week. I've been a super bad blogger with getting this pictures up. You can see the rest of his pictures HERE

Looking for a little help

This is a post that I have been debating on doing all night. I have had a very heavy heart for the past week for a family I don't even know. I've am addicted to reading many blogs, and this one has had me looked for over a year now. I found it through someone else's blog and have been religiously following it since then. It is a blog written by a mom who has a terminally ill child. I won't go into the details, but just that her little boy is the same age and Joey and it's very hard not to think what it would be like if I were in her shoes. There is no explanation why her son was born the way he was, and everyday has been a struggle for him. She is very candid on her blog, and I feel like she is a friend, even though I know she is not. I have left many comments to her and her family on her blog. Well, as I type this, she is / or has just said goodbye to her little boy. I'm not an overly religious person, but I'm praying for peace for her family, and if you are a religious person, please add them to your prayers. If you dare, her blog is here.

Where is my baby?

I can't believe this is the same little guy who made a very quick arrival into the world 8 years ago. It's amazing how quickly he has grown from a little boy to the young man he is now. He makes us very proud. Happy birthday Colby!

Happy Halloween!

My Pikachu and my hunter.

I love Clare

Normally I wouldn't copy and paste right from another blogger, but this I felt was worthy enough to copy. I'm sure Clare wouldn't mind. This just cracked me up and since I've been so busy lately and not had time to properly post, this will have to hold you over until I can get time to make my own post. So here it is.

Going down in (Olympic) flames

I'm not sure why this story about the Olympic Torch's trip through the north struck me as funny. My first thought when I saw it was "Sure, an open flame on an airplane, but if I try to board one with nail clippers or a bottle of water..." My other thoughts turned to what often happens to my stuff when it travels on a (granted different) northern airline.

So I give you my latest script... Going Down in Flames

INT CARGO OFFICE, NORTHERN CANADA - EVENING A man sits leaning back in a chair his feet up on a desk. Dressed in dark coveralls and a fluorescent green vest, hearing protectors sit on his head. He holds a paddle with a small rubber ball attached by a rubber band, and he is bouncing the ball repeatedly with the paddle.

The phone rings. Looking annoyed he reluctantly sets down the ball and paddle and answers the phone.

CARGO MAN: Nameless Northern Airline, Cargo Office, may I help you.

Screen splits to reveal a man dressed in a suit, standing in front of the unlit spot for the Olympic flame at a crowded Vancouver Olympic Stadium. He's talking on a cell phone to the Cargo Man.

OLYMPIC MAN: Hi, yes its me Mark from Vancouver 2010. I spoke to you before. Have you found the torch yet?

CARGO MAN: All of our cargo gets forwarded on the minute it arrives here at Nameless Northern Airline.

OLYMPIC MAN: Look, we've already been through this. We still haven't got the torch, it's been three weeks and we really really need it now.

CARGO MAN: Can you describe it?

OLYMPIC MAN(Yelling): Its the Olympic Torch!

CARGO MAN: Can (beat) you (beat) describe (beat) it?

OLYMPIC MAN(Sighing): Its about three feet long, a wavy silver torch, there's an Inuksuk and the Olympic Rings printed on the sides. It has orangy yellow flames...

CARGO MAN: Whoa! Flames? That would be dangerous goods. Did you know that nine whole coconuts are considered dangerous goods for shipping on an airplane. (chuckles) Coconuts.

OLYMPIC MAN: We've been through this. We've gotten all the permissions. Where is it?

CARGO MAN: Okay, okay, don't get your pants in a knot. Now when did you ship the coconuts?

H1N1

First of all, I turned off the comment notification thing. It's just a pain in the butt. So I'm asking you nicely, please play nice when you leave comments.

Now, with that being said, I'm making another potentially inflammatory post. I honestly want your opinions. The H1N1 vaccine has now been approved and is being sent out in MASS and the government is telling everyone to get vaccinated. Am I the only one who is a little nervous about this?? Seriously, this vaccine is NEW, how do we know the long term effects? What guarantee can the government give me that if I vaccinate my children, they won't have serious side effects from this down the road? NOT that I am downplaying H1N1, I KNOW this is serious. BUT all we have been hearing and educating our children to WASH YOUR HANDS, SNEEZE OR COUGH INTO YOUR SLEEVE, etc. This vaccine makes me nervous. MAYBE it is because I just finished reading a book where a vaccine was mass produced and then 20 years from that time people had severe side effects and most of a town died. OK, before you get all up in arms about it, I know that was a story. BUT STILL. If this was just MY life, I would be looking at this differently. BUT this is our CHILDREN. Rob and I are responsible for making this decision on whether or not we want to inject a vaccine into our children when we don't know the long term effects. And lets' face it. We are vaccinating them against the FLU. And for the record, we have never had flu shots. Many people I know became very ill after taking the flu shot so I didn't do it, and my children have never had flu shots. And yes, to answer your question, our children have received all their vaccinations. This one for some reason really scares me. Thoughts? (And please, I'm asking nicely. Be nice in your comments, and leave your name)

Amanda and Jason

I have been very busy lately taking pictures, as anyone on Faceb00k has seen. I have been posting my pictures there for people to see, as now at least 1/2 of my friends list is from here. It is finally prime picture taking here, when you can get a day that is not bitter cold. Like this day. For any of you that remember, I did her graduation pictures last year and I took a picture of this little guy in a tuxedo. You can see the rest of them HERE

My little man

This just makes me want to cry. Who is this little man and where is my Colby?

Taken yesterday

It only takes one

For those who know me, you know I hate when people leave inflammatory comments and then don't leave their name. I have always welcomed and encouraged comments on the blog, but I DESPISE when people leave a comment and do not leave their name. Unfortunately another anonymous comment has been left AFTER I asked the person to leave their name. As much as I hate it, I have now turned on comment notifications. Please continue to leave your comments. Just please also note that if you choose to leave a comment and you do not leave your name I will automatically delete it. Honestly, if you don't care to tell me who you are, I don't want your comments on the blog. I am sorry if I sound rude or harsh, I don't mean to me. There is not a lot that really bothers me, and most things I can just let go. But not cowardice, and to me that is what leaving an inflammatory comment without taking credit for it is.

Such a little ham

I'm sorry I have been neglecting you all lately. I have honestly been super busy. My photography is really taking off and I have been doing a lot of pictures. I have 2 more sessions booked for this weekend and just finished editing the 2nd session I did last weekend. I also just received confirmation that I will be the official "in house" photographer for the Volleyball Provincial Championships that will be here in town at the end of November! Plus, combine that with my hours at work being increased to full time AND I have enrolled in a virtual college and am in the process of completing my Early Childhood Certificate and you have one busy little chickie! So to make it up to you I'm bribing you all with a super cute picture. I was doing pictures last weekend and Joey wanted to have his done also. And seriously, could you say no to this face?

My metis mommy

This is a great couple who live here in town. Karen is one of the first women I met when I started taking Joey to the drop in program at the preschool when we moved here last year. He was too young to be in the full time program, but as he was enrolled in the Under 2 or "At Home" program we were welcomed to join the 3 year old class one day a week. From there, I started volunteering to help when I was there which is how I got to know all the women, and eventually ended up with the job that I do. Karen is an amazing woman who always makes sure that I am included in any staff function (technically I am not staff of the preschool, I am staff of the elementary school on "loan" to the preschool as that is where the pre-k program is). I just adore her and was thrilled when she asked me to do her family pictures. I still have a lot of her pictures to finish, but I just had to do this one tonight. Not to brag or anything, but I love it. Their smiles are so natural. And her husband Louie is just a great guy. He is the "local shadetree mechanic" and when we owned the Pathfinder we got to know him REALLY well. For anyone that knows me personally, is it just me, or does anyone else see who *I* see when I look at Louie?

Let it snow!

Taken this afternoon out my back window. Winter's here. When did I miss Fall??

A peek inside my twisted mind

I always have the same thoughts when Fall arrives. We always stop to look and admire the colors of the leaves as they change before they fall. But have you EVER really stopped to think about what it is we are admiring? We are admiring the different shades of the leaves are they are DYING. Yes, to us they are beautiful, but what about to the trees? Think of it another way. What if we could change places with the trees. When a person dies, they also change color. What if a tree thought the jaundice of a failing liver is a beautiful shade of yellow? Or the blue tint of oxygen deprivation is something they drove around in search of, standing their little saplings in front of us and taking pictures from different angles?

Ok, yes this is a little extreme and very, very left of centre of what I normally write about. But, if you REALLY think about it, that's what we do. We admire the changing colors of leaves dying.

And yes, when I've mentioned this to people they think I'm TRULY off my rocker. But inside this normally normal mind is a very weird and twisted corner, and I felt the need to share. And since I've been dropping the ball on postings, I thought I'd do a "not typical Tina" type of post. BUT, when you're out driving and you see the fall colors, you'll think about it. And then you'll think of this post and you'll picture little tree families running about taking pictures and ..... ok well maybe not everyone is as twisted as me. But I would bet OHN is smiling right now because she gets it, and I KNOW my sister gets it and is laughing right now.

Seriously, you just might go into sugar shock

My little dancer

Taken at preschool today. In case you didn't know (and shame on you) Joey is the one in the Pokemon shirt.

Should I be proud we made it to the Halifax Newspaper??

Check out the story HERE

One of the most fun shoots I've done here

I did a photo shoot here in town yesterday with 3 great girls. They all fell in love with Joey and wanted to take some pics with him. You can see them all HERE

Michael Knight

Joey's entry for Megan's contest.

Why people in this town need to control their dogs

THIS happened the other day. Just around the corner from my house. We've (and not just us, most of the town) been complaining about the dogs that run around here since we moved here. This story is very disturbing and of course has caught national attention.

Yep, we did!

We were going to wait on getting another dog, we really were. We were all crushed by the loss of Maggie. We received a beautiful letter from the Humane Society the other day. They really are such great people. Rob was surfing around and came across Pebbles. She is smaller than I initially wanted in a dog, but Rob and I felt it was important for the boys to have another dog. Poor Joey keeps asking when Maggie is coming home. When we drove through Meadow Lake yesterday on our way to Saskatoon (which is where Pebbles was), Joey kept asking if we were going to get Maggie. It was really heartbreaking. This little dog has already won us over. She's 9 months old and has been with an amazing woman her entire life. Unfortunately this woman is going through a divorce and couldn't keep her. We met her this morning, and were there about 20 minutes or so. She wrote out a big list of everything she could think of that would make our transition with her easier, and even had a big bag of toys and blankets for her. She slept on my lap most of the way back today, and really is a sweet dog. And most importantly, the boys adore her. She has been raised with a 2 year old girl, so she's very gentle with the kids. When we left her previous owner was in tears, which of course put me in tears. We exchanged emails and promises of keeping in touch, which of course we will. And, I gave her this address so she can follow on the blog.

Your laugh for the day

This was in a magazine called Mass Transportation. This was printed in 1943, and I swear it's true. Enjoy.

Guide to hiring women - 11 tips on getting more efficiency out of women employees

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters. They are less likely to be flirtatious. They need the work, or they would not be doing it. The still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.

2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It is always well to impress upon older women, the importance of friendliness and courtesy.

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.

4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

5. Stress at the outset, the importance of time; the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.

6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they will keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.

7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.

9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they cannot shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.

10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she will grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.

11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point cannot be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

If you don't believe that this is a true article, click HERE

Never a dull moment in this house

This has been the craziest two weeks we as a family have experienced in a VERY long time. For those of you who are not on Faceb00k, we had to put the dog down yesterday. We have had such a rough go with the poor little pup. She was sick when we got her, with an infection in her eyes, a bad cough and the worst case of dry skin I've ever seen. We were given drops for her eyes, and antibiotics for her cough. For the first couple of days she seemed to be getting better. Then the seizures started. She would sit up straight and it looked like she was chewing gum and foaming at the mouth. At first we thought she was choking on something, but after turning to our friend the good ole' internet we determined it was in fact convulsions. All the factors seemed to indicate canine dystemperment. We called the vet, explained the symptoms and were told to bring her in right away (keep in mind the vet is 220kms EACH way). This was on a Thursday. She was immediately put on anti-convulsion medication as a precaution, and we were told that if she continued to convulse while on this medication it would more than likely be CD which unfortunately is fatal in most cases. We were in constant touch with the vet, and by Saturday we were told that she had not had any convulsions and the recommendation was for her to come home on medication for us to monitor her. When we picked her up Saturday, she was soo excited to see us. She jumped around and then jumped right on Colby. Everything seemed to be fine until Monday. On Monday morning Rob called me at work and told me that the dog was convulsing again, and worse than ever. By Monday night she had 6 massive seizures, which left her unable to walk straight and unable to jump up on the couch. To say we were heart broken is such an understatement. Although we only had her 2 weeks it felt like she had been in the family for years. So we made the drive back to the vet Tuesday morning and said our goodbyes. It would have been so much easier if she had been an ugly, mean dog, and I actually said that to her when I said my goodbyes. I have to say, the vet in Meadow Lake is amazing. They really treat you like family in there. And to answer the question you are all thinking, yes we will be getting another dog. Just not right away.

My work of art

This is what I have been working on since we came back from vacation. I poured over the hundreds of pictures we took, and then when I had the ones I wanted there I decided to add a few older ones in also. I'm quite happy how it turned out. If you click on the picture you can get a better view of the individual pictures.

"I won't order porn mommy"

So let me set this stage for you. We have satellite televison and a DVR, which both boys know how to use. Our DVR is full of kids movies and Joey was watching one of his movies (Garfield) today when this all happened. I was on the phone chatting with Kelly when I noticed the blue "purchase" screen on the TV. It seems Joey leaned on the remote and when he was trying to put his movie back on somehow ended up choosing a "naughty"channel. I grabbed the remote just in time before he selected "BUY" and said

"No Joey, don't order porn!"

to which my little angel said very seriously

"No mommy, I'm not ordering porn, I want Garfield!"

I'm sure poor Kelly is still laughing.

You just gotta do it! Everyone's doing it!

So if you are a northern blogger you must know Clare... The Godfather of Nunavut Bloggers! He has been blogging out of Arctic Bay for over four years discussing topics of his previous job (Mountie), his current job (father, husband and B&B owner), his passions (birding, the north, photography, icebergs, and more).Clare needs our help! He desperately wants to win a contest to send him to Antarctica and I cannot think of a more deserving fellow.

Click here to go and vote for him. It is a few steps, so please be patient with it and follow through.

You can also read more about it here on his blog. And I challenge all northern bloggers to use your blog for good instead of evil today and help get Clare the votes he needs and deserves.

Yep, I admit it, I just cut and past from Kara's blog because I am too lazy to type it out myself today. But she said it just like I would have!

So stop reading AND GO VOTE!

It's a girl!

For anyone who knows me personally, you know that I have been resisting for YEARS on getting a dog. A lot of my trepidiation comes from the greyhound we adopted. It was great in theory, but a trainwreck. It really, REALLY made me not want another dog. Rob has been not so subtly dropping the hint over the past 6 months that the boys really should have a dog. When we were on vacation, I mentioned to Rob that I thought Colby was old enough now and we should start looking for a SMALL dog. Not a "size of a cat" kind of dog, but a dog small enough to be able to travel with us and sit between the boys in the truck. Honestly, I thought we would "look" for the dog for ANOTHER 6 months, but Rob knowing me like he does popped that bubble when he said to Colby

"Mom said we can get a dog so we're going to start looking".

Jerk. Because he's like that.

We, (and when I say "we" I mean Rob) has been online almost every night looking at Kijiji in both Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Alberta looking for dogs. For the longest time the only dog we could find that fit our (MY) requirements (smallish, short hair) was a beagle, and *I* didn't want a beagle just as much as my hunter husband wanted it. And then we found "Juno". Juno was listed on the Meadow Lake Humane Society website as a scottie cross. Rob had a scottie dog when he was growing up, and honestly I always said if we were to get a dog it would be a scottie because of the short hair and size. Scotties are not known for being the best with kids, which is why we never considered one. And let's face it, most of the time the only place you can get a scottie is through a breeder and they are not cheap. We emailed the society, and after many emails back and forth we decided to fill out the application of adoption. We received an email the next day saying that we had been approved to adopt, and off we went yesterday to Meadow Lake to meet her. Honestly, I loved the fact she is only 13 weeks old, that way we can train her the way we want, and she can grow up with the boys. She had a bit of a rough start in life, and was rescued by a social worker in a neighbouring community. She has many scabs on her back under her fur which are tender to the touch, so we have been gentle with her in that area but overwise she is very loveable and friendly. Colby is madly in love with her, and it's cute to see Joey laying on the floor with her. I said to Rob tonight that even though she has only been here 24 hours, it feels like she's always been here.

So, without further adieu.........

Meet Maggie.