Saturday Morning Fave Giveaways!

Giveaways at My Organized Chaos :
(I absolutely love this blog and be sure to grab her button!!)
*Win The Toy Wrangler from Luvloo -- great for baby!
*Win a fabulous triple giveaway (Valued at $275)--Fairhaven Health DreamBelly Stretch Mark Cream, AminoGenesis Tripeptinon, and TOKI: The Collagen You Drink.
*Kiddy Kap--win some spill proof caps.
*Win a bundle of great patterns from YouCanMakeThis.com -- I would love to win this one!
*Cricket and Monkey is offering a reader a small blanket and bib set of his/her choice (BABY FIND!) There's also a code for 25% at Cricket and Monkey.

Giveaways at Feisty, Frugal, and Fabulous :
*Win a $50 gift certificate to Punkybunks (great variety of items for kids and mom)

Giveaways at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy :
*Win beautiful baby/toddler shoes from Jack and Lily. These are adorable!

My Favourite giveaways Today!

One of my favourite blogs Feisty, Frugal, and Fabulous is giving away your choice of "Ready to Frame" Original Art Prints from Bealoo Kids Decor . A set of 4!!
http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/bealoo-kids-decor-review-giveaway.html

Other current giveaways on Feisty Frugal, and Fabulous include:
* A $100 gift certificate to mini mioche an exciting new Canadian company featuring organic baby clothes! http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/mini-mioche.html

*Win a 4" Sunny The Fearless Guard Dog from The Shrunks . This product is meant to relieve the night time fears of your little one! http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/shrunks.html

*Win some fabulous Monkeys Pop-Ups from The Creative Individual. These wall decorations are great for any kids space!
http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/creative-individual-review-giveaway.html

*Pick your favourite quote from Wall Talk to make a statement in your home. These are bold wall decorations which are elegant and stylish! http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/wall-talk-giveaway_15.html

*This is one my son wouold love to win! RIDEMAKERZ is giving a Feisty, Frugal, and Fabulous reader a $100 gift certificate to order his/her choice of car to trick out!!
http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/ridemakerz-review-giveaway.html

* Would you like a beautiful portrait of someone special in your life? Win a 8x10 portrait from Portraits By Dana! http://feistyfrugalandfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/02/portraits-by-dana-review-giveaway.html

From Tundra to Pavement! The Arctic

Before the chaos and excitement of reviews and giveaways are underway I thought it best to blog a bit about my experiences and my family. Maybe my blog title should really be derived from the title of this post!

Almost three years ago, though it seems only a brief flash of time, we moved from tundra to pavement. My husband and I had lived much of our adult lives in the Canadian arctic. Eight years of life in tiny fly-in communities in a treeless land where the winters were long and dark, the summers glorious but short lived and bright with the midnight sun! Perhaps to most it sounds...well...crazy to live in such a isolated place by choice. Probably to many it sounds like a horrible existence and maybe...just maybe to others it sounds exotic, adventurous, and wildly beautiful. To us it became home!

We raised our three children from babies there until our eldest was five years old. In the arctic you become very close to the friends and aquaintances you make. People become family very quickly and tend to rely closely upon one another--especially those like us transplanted to the north from some southern clime--for everything. I have honestly felt more isolated since leaving than I did while I lived there. Though we were the minority the Inuit are a friendly people and most made us feel very much at home and comfortable. I think the first "home" in which you create your family is always so precious. It binds you to a place almost indefinitely and it makes it very difficult to part from.

But three years ago we did just that. My husband decided to change careers and I supported him in his decision.Before I knew it and perhaps before I was ready, I found myself back in a world of pavement. I felt it to be a very foreign world. "Bushwacked" may be an apt word to describe my condition. We moved to a fairly large southern city and my husband had to be away to train for his new position. I found myself alone with three children in an unfamiliar landscape. It was a huge learning curve! I had to re-learn to drive in a city with paved, multi-lane streets, actual street signs, lights, and traffic! Though there are a handful of trucks in arctic communities most people drive ATVs and snowmobiles and I'd say two vehicles stopped at one of the three stop signs in town would constitute a traffic jam!

Though this sounds ridiculous I also needed to re-learn how to shop! To be honest grocery shopping was not exactly the same. We ordered dry and canned goods, and paper products in bulk for the entire year on the barge which came in the late summer/early fall. Fresh produce was often ordered every week or two from Yellowknife to be shipping up on the plane or could be purchased at the local store with other odds and ends with little selection and often outrageous prices. Shopping in the south made my head spin. I literally felt overwhelmed by the seemingly endless shelves of items and the crowds of strangers weaving in and out of aisles, dodging the shopping carts of others doing the same! I suffered great anxiety! The communities we inhabited in the north sported one or two very small stores--a "Co-op" and sometimes a "Northern". Shopping was often a social event. You were always meeting people you knew because you knew everyone. I was never shopping in a sea of strangers.

Once internet became common and online shopping was popularized shopping from home the options became almost limitless! I am no stranger then to online shopping and have great affection for the online stores that provides possibilities to me even on the northern tundra and provided secure shopping for me trapped alone in an ocean of concrete and pavement in the "big" city!Lucky for me, my husband is no longer training, we live in a small community outside the city, and I can finally start to enjoy the opportunities my new lifestyle can afford me! I will however never forget the memories forged in the land of the midnight sun and may return there some day!
Labels: The Arctic

Under Construction!!

It is probably quite apparent to anyone who comes across my blog that I have only just begun creating a place to call my own. My home here on blogger is currently this empty room but soon I hope to fill it with original, exciting, and wonderful treasures! I would like to create this space as I would a room in my home. I would like it to reflect me and my family. The products I hope to review will reflect the needs and wants of my children, my husband and myself. In turn I hope these products will also be exciting to many with families like my own. I have been following several amazing blogs for the past couple months and enjoyed sharing in the experiences of many women bloggers and revelling in my winnings from their blogs. It is their charisma and their commitment to their blogs which has inspired me to embark on this personal adventure! MORE TO COME VERY SHORTLY!