We are actually a few days in our stay-cation..I think its a new word invented for Canadians who travel within the country instead of going overseas. Truth be told, I actually still pretty much prefer to travel within Canada. I highly doubt most Canadians have seen most of Canada, it is a pretty darn big country.

We are having fun..mostly spoiled really with the “cheaper” stuff to buy and the weather. When we landed, Ava didnt stop talking about the trees for at least 30 minutes and Ben wasnt any different. Its the simple things. They are getting a different kind of stimulation for now and its cute. I’ve been good though, havent actually bought any fabric at all and we are doing our “shopping” a little differently this time. And of course they are always other perks like the internet is wayy faster down here.

We left Ottawa a few days ago to drive to Kingston. We took the scenic route and past tons of farmlands, the kids loved it! I like Kingston so far, its a nice town with lots of that old town character though Frank said, I aint see nothing yet till I go to Quebec City. I can picture us living here but not just yet. We were very lucky the weather has been nice and we were sooo spoiled today when its +13C here and tomorrow is going to be +15C..yes I am in my summer clothes, so are the kids. And we managed to be here at the tail end of fall, some of the trees still boast beautiful fall leaves and the kids LOVE them..loves the leaves.

I had a “ME” day today..first time in years obviously and I went and met another sewing mama and we had tons of fun..well enough fun not to realize that I came to her house at 10am and didnt leave till 4pm. Lots of time spent petting fabric and talking, I certainly miss sewing while on vacation but not as much since we are constantly on the go but that dont mean I never thought of buying a featherweight or any antique hand crank machine that dont require electrity and sew in the car..opps did I just type that? :p

Then, there is the H1N1, its a pretty big topic here and touchy feely too. We didnt get the shot, the kids are in the high risk group but Ava had H1N1 3 weeks before we came and Ben had a milder case. Ava was on the couch for 9 days straight with all symptoms except the headache but I think the motrin might have helped with that. So I am glad she is immune this way since I am not big on the shot..make that all vaccinations. There is a bit of..ok maybe a whole lot of paranoia about the whole thing than it is up north. We missed 2 things in the north while we are here, the Olympic torch passing Iqaluit and the H1N1 shot but the latter dont concerns us much.

So pictures, I love this picture though they are not always like this, it was 13C here.

Kingston Harbour

hmm..LOVE!

they can do this all day which in a way is great since by 7pm, they are sooo ready for bed!

the kids did amazingly well during the long drive. And we dont have a portable DVD player or anything like that and no tantrums so I am glad. They were telling us about what they saw outside which was cute and if anything, I cant get Ben to shut up unless he naps..in a way, its a good thing but after the 800th time of him saying “Mum” every 2 seconds..I’ve had enough already. But this boy is a boy, boy. He made us stop so he can look at this tractor.

Tomorrow, we are driving to Toronto, should be interesting, even more so me coming from Malaysia and traffic is always crazy but I am TERRIFIED of the 401, its actually crazy. We might take the scenic route but found out that might take 4 – 5 hour drive which is a wee bit long, so who knows, I might just close my eyes. I dont think its bad the entire way but closer to the city, confirms to me even more I will never live in Toronto..ever..

Yes its a fun thing, Halloween that is but after 4 years, I still dont get it. The kids certainly dont “GET” Halloween, well maybe not yet. To Ava its about dressing up, but her idea of dressing up is taking off all her clothes down to her skivvies and then put on her costume, soooo not working in Iqaluit in this cold.Its been cold here, winter is full force in. Thankfully the Canada goose jacket is not out yet, I can still pretty much wear my “regular” jacket. Mind you, it averages about -15C to -20C temperature here. And I’ve not broke out the fur amauti either, just wearing my brown one still. But its really a no brainer, though I am freezing like mad when I pack the kids to go for a walk (2 in the chariot, 1 in the amauti), the walk coming back with the hills and all that is KILLING me and by the time I reach home, almost always, I am sweating..yeah in -20C weather.

We do this every Halloween… HIDE. I sound like a scrooge really but I dont get the idea of opening the door 40 times in the span of an hour handing out free candies. Its already really cold, and we dont bring the kids trick or treating either. I salute the parents who do or at least those who live on Tasilik Street since you walk up and down the street, and you’re done! So we have all our lights off, we are watching Ice Age 3 in the bedroom with the kids with a bag of popcorn, now that is more my thing to do during Halloween..What a bitchy complainer..i know

Yes, I am the worst blogger in history! I am slowly losing this blog I think and probably also running out of excuses of not updating.I am slowly putting everything together for our trip next week, I am psyched! I know when everything is done, I will be glad to be home too. We found out it will be in the teens when we arrive in Ottawa so its nice, then its rain, rain and more rain..yuck! But I’ll take that over the -30C windchill we had today, its crazy. Nevermind the cab that takes us to the playgroup took forever to come and I was waiting outside with the 3 kids and they were NOT HAPPY. Speaking of playgroup, they had a Halloween party which was nice. Ava was suppose to be snow white but she wanted to put on just her costume and no layers, so I cant let her leave the house in just that so she settled for this heart top I sewed for her a while back. Ben was “tigger” and my daycare kid was a poodle. it was cute! But here are mine

And though we have a TON of snow, its been too cold for the kids to play outside. I know by the time I get them to a spot, they will want to get back home. So I thought I brought the snow to them..sounds crazy I know. But we already have some snow on the balcony and I went outside and got more. And they had tons of fun, though it was only 10 minutes and they want to get inside but still it was nice.

And I have to show this pretty jacket I sewed for Ava a week back, its cute! Its useless for here now but will be great for Ottawa and will be great when its end of spring here. She really likes it. For those who wants to know the pattern, its from ottobre 4/2009 (sparrow coat in 98cm). The fabric was pre-embroidered nylon, love it! so sad I cant find more of it.

Back to trip talk, its actually more expensive to fly from here to Ottawa than from Arviat to Winnipeg. So I am pretty proud that I got all 3 of us on aeroplan, phew! So its not as bad. The only bad part is we are flying separately which kinda sucks but I guess its better than paying $5000 for all of our tickets! So bags are packed and we are ready to go!

I came across this tutorial from a crafting message board and thought it was a cool idea. So I had to make one for the kids especially since the ABC we have are wooden blocks and I almost always incur some amount of curse words when I accidentally step on them. Plus when Ben was going thru his teething stage, he thought some of the blocks were good enough to eat. So I am pretty proud of these, I can throw them in the wash when they get gross. My daycare kid is in the “everything taste yummy” phase so when she saw this, she was very pleased to know the letter “O” taste yummy

I went a step further and made these with knit fabric to avoid the woven fraying..not a big fan of that. Plus I had more knit scraps than I know what to do about. It did put a little dent in the scrap bin which is great since I cant stand the overflowing bin, I will probably be doing small letters and numbers next. Also I associate the letter with what it stands for, like for eg, R is for robot since I found I have a robot fabric. Ava thinks its the coolest thing and of course we were non stop doing the alphabet over and over again today and I am actually pretty pleased she can actually recognize the letters now. Ben is on the right track to be a mad genius but i’ll leave it to that..lol

And some close ups, bigger prints are harder to do but do-able.

smaller prints totally rocked this out!

On the other hand, the kids have also somewhat been advancing in the “toys” stage, I think most of it can be packed away now to be replaced with jigsaw puzzles and little people. In my opinion, Ava is a little behind in speech but she compensate them with her great talent of putting puzzles together, she is putting a 63 piece puzzle here and have put together an 80 piece puzzle before. She also has an amazing memory, so I see her being the nerd, geeky girl in school. She’s the quiet child, the kind that is totally happy if I give her a puzzle to put together. The same cannot be said of her brother who is a menace!

Being a “teacher” here

I’ve been sewing a lot..like an insane amount with the blog hiatus for a bit. I cleared the kids closet today of their summer stuff and found out they have enough clothing to last them all winter. I am however proud that 98% of their wardrobe is sewn by me They still get clothing from their grandparents, I dont mind it much. Some highlights

velvet hoodie for Ava, its soo soft, i love it!

I decided to tackle this overalls pattern, I am actually surprised it wasnt as hard as it looks. I am definitely making more for Ben and perhaps lined it with fleece.

The weather has been shitty lately so I cant really take pictures indoors and my point and shoot Canon is crappy when it comes to indoor photos. so this is the best I can do for this one. I love this! Its a beautiful charcoal grey fabric so the pic dont do it justice.

I’ve been trying to pare down the stash, its crazy because sometimes its hard to pass up a cute print! But so far I am good. I am going to tackle my scrap bin next since I cant stand looking at it, its overflowing. I’ve been looking at ideas for utilizing scrap fabric..maybe a quilt. I am excited that one of our very good friends in Malaysia is expecting another baby in March so I want to sew itty bitty baby stuff, never sewn those before. It will be crazy to compare how tiny a newborn used to be..

Truthfully, I’ve been busy!The kids were sick and still a bit sick now and one point Ben’s fever was 40C. I thought it might H1N1 but their symptoms didnt fit with it except for fever and fatigue. They are fine now though, when they were sick, they were vegged out on the couch all day long so I cant say i didnt like it *insert evil-ness here*. I didnt have to be a referee since they are like cat and dog nowadays. Surprisingly enough, when my daycare kid is here, my kids are perfect…weird i know.

Then of course there is the “omg, i dont have anything to blog about” moment. I actually hit a dead end..nothing is really interesting in Iqaluit..well not like Arviat that is There is stuff going on, but nothing fantastic! But I guess the best part is, we’ve been going out as a couple for the 3rd time ever since we’ve been here. The kids are getting really good with staying with one of our close friends which is perfect. I forgot how nice it was to go out without having to worry about the kids!

Our trip is coming in a couple more weeks so I cant wait! I am already starting to pack..I know if I leave it up to Frank, he will probably pack the day we are leaving..so no thanks, I can pack. I am hopeful to meet another blogger..a northern blogger this time..hi Morena! so cant wait, it will be short..just at the airport but its nice to be meeting someone who reads my blog and me who reads her blog.

The kids? They are good. They’ve grown a bunch recently since I sewed some stuff for Ben and he is already outgrowing some..WTH? Here, they are enjoying a malaysian delicacy..Satay! and they dont even like meat! but put it on a skewer, Ava had 3 and Ben had 1.5. not bad at all..I must try it more often.

as close as i can get to the real thing its home made and its really good!

ok, edited to add the recipe

INGREDIENTS

600g chicken/beef steak/caribou/moose (we use caribou)
bamboo skewers

Marinade for meat
1 tsp fennel powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1cm galangal (they are hard to find unless its a really good asian food supply store. I use dried galangal)
1 stalk lemon grass(which I stocked up when our store here had it, they havent had it for AGES now!)
2 cloves garlic
1 cm ginger
5 red asian shallots/half medium size spanish red onion
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil

METHOD

1. Cut the meat into thin slices, much like cutting to make stir fry
2. Marinate with all the above ingredient for at least 3 hours or overnight
3. Before attempting to put the meat on the skewers, soak the bamboo skewers in warm water for about 30 minutes, this will prevent it from burning when it goes on the grill.
4. Skew the meat, 3 – 4 pieces at a time and leave about 4 inches down by the base so you can turn/hold it.
5. Traditionally, this is done on a grill over charcoal but since I cant do that here now, so I use my electric grill, had it set up on 375C.
6. while waiting for the grill to heat up, pour about 5 tbsp of cooking in a bowl and add 1 stalk of crushed lemon grass.
7. then using a brush, brush the grill lightly with the oil mixture. then put the meat on the grill.
8. turn occasionally and cook till its fragrant and tender.

for the sauce, I use store bought sauce. Its the closest I can find to the real thing. Its by Asian Home Gourmet – Indonesian Peanut Dipping Sauce.

Have fun

Well the snow stayed and some of the lakes are frozen. I was a little surprised when I saw this.

Its the lake by “Road to Nowhere” and its frozen, well frozen up to a point since I can still see water wobbling under the ice. So we decide to load the kids up in the chariot and go for a walk and walked to this lake. And I had the bright idea of putting Ben’s skate on. He actually is really good on it, I was very impressed. He beats me in terms of balance. Though when we changed his skates to his shoes, he decides that he can walk on the ice better and took off and fell on his back…ouch! Ben is the kind of kid that will take off running which is very unlike Ava since if we tell her to stay she will, not Ben so we have to be a little more careful with him.

And then we walked again to find a clean patch of snow and got the kids to make snow angels..Ben was having fun, Ava was a little cautious.

Its chilly here but not chilly enough to curse, it will come soon. I like it, the air smells crisp instead of inhaling dust. A view of one part of town, this is how Iqaluit looks now.

And another side

I’ve not been so productive sewing lately so no craft post. We are going away for a bit in another month so I cant wait! Yeah, can you tell..my brain is fried..cant think of something decent to blog about really..

We’ve had snow, enough snow that I bundled the kids to go outside and give them a wooden spoon each and they are very happy..happy enough that I have to bribe them when its time to go inside. So thats it, no more berry picking for me..

No I didnt magically have 1 more kid, she is a kid I am babysitting temporarily and she is a doll! Love her! She is 4 months younger than Ben so they all play well together..for most part anyways. I am pretty darn proud that I lugged all of them outside and had them walk to this new snow patch near our place. I’m still going to the weekly playgroup despite having 3 kids so pretty darn proud of that too. I cant say life changed much with another kid..going from 2 to 3 seems soo easy from going from 1 to 2. It does get a little hectic since Ben and her are under 2 years old but nothing some dancing or funny faces cant fix. I’ve managed to also get them to nap at the same time without fail which gives me time to do my own thing or some time with Ava. Ava dont nap anymore, its a hit and miss here and for most part she is pretty happy playing by herself without the little kids or colouring without having to “fight” with Ben.

Now off to find my sewing mojo, apparently its gone. I havent sewn anything since I made that wool jacket which by me is almost ridiculous!

I guess the answer depends on where you stay. Some might say champagne, some say oil, some say beer..who knows but I say “vanilla”! Yes I am not kidding!So the story goes,  I like to put vanilla in a lot of things, cookies, pancakes, waffles..as long as something is sweet and needs a batter/flour mix, vanilla is going in it. The artificial vanilla stuff taste yucky, to me anyways, it makes the cookies smells weird. So I only buy pure, they are more than the artificial stuff but not very much, I think a 125 ml bottle was $6.99. So I’ve been on the hunt for pure vanilla extract in Iqaluit for a while now. I keep forgetting to order it on foodmail. So Frank finally asked and the guy at Northmart said, I have to ask when I check out. Well lo and behold, the cashier handed me pure vanilla extract, I was thrilled! Till she rang it at the till.

…..

……

….. the suspense i know

$19.99+GST!!! I thought my heart skipped a bit and its 125ml, so around 1/2 cup? Even the girl was shocked but I need it, I should have waited really. Yes so doing the math, that is about what? 16 cents/ml Ridiculous! So those considering moving to the north, do a lot of baking? Stock up on pure vanilla extract! And from what I heard some people steals these to get high on it since 2nd ingredient is alcohol, it must taste sooo gross drinking vanilla straight up..yuck! So that is my insane story for the day, always learning something new for sure. And last night, Frank saw the northern lights..again and took this shot.

Frank thinks its pretty appropriate for what I’ve done during the weekend. It snowed again, and this time it stayed a little longer. Every weekend, I have a grand plan to go berry picking.I am like Aida on crack with it, i love it! I dont know what it is but there is something very satisfying picking those teeny berries and filling up the Ziploc bag, its pretty insane. Well this weekend, the weather was not cooperating, it snowed and it was windy and the snow stayed a little longer..snowed at midday and didnt go away till next morning. I was done doing crazy thing #1 so I wanted to do crazy thing #2..berry picking…heheSo the snow and the wind didnt stop me. I would love to be out there by myself but Frank feels it a little unsafe with the crazies in Iqaluit and I dont blame him..though I am more terrified to encounter a wild animal than a human. I had a tool too..Ava’s plastic shovel..yeah I was desperate, my hands were going numb combing the snow off the shrubs so the plastic shovel did the trick. I didnt pick much, it was just horrible, the snow was just falling really hard and at one point, I cant feel my hands..yeah..Frank said this…”you are crazy”. I did have better luck today, it was great, not so cold and not windy and managed to pick about 4 cups worth of cranberries and blueberries. I myself dont know why I am too gung ho with picking them, I certainly dont eat them..Ben does, right from the ground. I wont eat jam made out of it, Frank and the kids does but I am thinking cranberry pie for Thanksgiving. But its a sickness, there is something truly addictive about filling that ziploc bag with berries..lol

Then we went for a little drive, earlier that day we saw tons of people going out in their boats presumably seal hunting. And man this guy came back with 5! Ava was napping in the car but I had to see if Ben would touch it and he did! He actually even pat it with his entire palm, I am impressed. He did say it was a puppy first and asked “whats wrong puppy?”..But I corrected him and then he proudly told the guy “seal!!”.

On the sewing crazy note, I made this coat. pattern is ottobre 6/2007 #26. It dont fit Ben, it was suppose to be for Ben but the smallest size is a 2-3T. But I’ve been eyeing it for a while and decide to make it for him for….NEXT YEAR! how insane is that? procrastinating But I am in love with it. I saw a few coats online and cant believe they are about $116 and up! insane really. I found a men’s wool jacket at a yard sale for $5. Its brand new, still with a tag on it and 100% wool. Because I was curious, I went to the store with my sample to see what weight the wool was and it was more than likely 20 oz duffle wool. And the store here priced it at $56.95/meter! and I would need a meter to make this for Ben. So not bad for a $15 duffel wool coat! The other $10 came from the japanese fabric that I used as a lining. But here is ms “i am so grumpy today” modeling it. Its a little short for her, its not for her anyways and I swear she has “toddler PMS” today she was soo grumpy. I was so close to sending her to bed at 2pm.

i love the tailored look on the back! Which wasnt the pattern, I just made it work with the existing jacket, I am pretty darn proud of this one!

And the cute Kokka Trefle Frogs Frolic fabric for lining.

If Ben needed something formal, this coat will be it..if he ever goes to school needing uniforms, this coat will be it. Insulation is 3 0z hollofil so even perfect for Nunavut weather..well at least till it hits -5C, anything under, its the snowsuit’s or the amauti’s job