Slime!

I am always on the look out for fun crafts to do with the boys and came across a recipe for slime that we had to try out.

Cavan and I mixed it up together and it is interesting...  I was hoping it would hold together a bit more, but it is definitely slime!  Hunter's reaction to the slime was hilarious; he has never been a fan of getting his hands firty

My kitchen helper all ready to go!

Mix glue and water with food colouring and then add a mixture of borax and water.

Stir!

Oh my.

Hunter was not too impressed.

Slime!

Hi! I'm gregarious!

gre·gar·i·ous  (gr-gâr-s) 
adj.1. Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable.



The perfect September weather on Friday night was calling out to be enjoyed.  So a few phone calls were made, hot dogs were purchased, and a fire was started.  Before long, there were nearly forty adults and kids in our backyard enjoying themselves. 

I am most definitely an extrovert, but I still have introverted tendencies.  Most evenings I prefer to hide out in my house, on my own, sewing or watching some tv.  I know my limitations and know that I need those hours alone to recharge.  And I know that I am not comfortable in large groups of intoxicated peoples- like a bar setting.  But I sure do enjoy having a group of people over to enjoy some laughs and great weather!

Good times around the fire.

And good times on the back deck.

And then Cavan decided to put on a dancing show atop the Land Cruiser.

Good friends always make it more entertaining!

You can judge how much fun a kid has had by how dirty they are.  Cavan was at the peak of fun-ness.

Freezer Corn

A good friend nabbed me some delicious looking corn from Whitehorse and it is all now sitting in my freezer.

Every made freezer corn?  No?  Give it a try!  Super simple and oh, so delicious.

Kris's (my mama) Freezer Corn
24 ears of corn
1/2c sugar
1/2c butter
2tsp salt
3c water

Cut kernals off of cobs and put in large pot.  Add other ingredients and bring to a boil.  Cook for 5-7 minutes and then dump out into a large pan to cool.  Once cool, put into freezer bags and freeze.

Easy peasy!

Corn!

All finished!  24 cobs turned into 13 bags for the freezer.

11 Months Post-Surgery

It has been 11 months since my bariatric surgery and it is hard to believe that I am nearing the one year mark.

So what is new?  Not too much since last month.  I have lost another 5.5lbs since the 10 month mark.  My total is now 112.5lbs gone and I weigh 206.5lbs.

My goal when I started was to lose 150lbs and that is definitely within reach and probably within six or seven months.  I am now wearing extra-large to large size shirts and have moved into size 16 pants.  I can see bones and tendons in my hands and feet where before it was just pudge.  I can feel bones in my shoulders and my legs look longer.  Pretty awesome.

The not so awesome?  The batwings.  I swear I can fly.  The stomach flap.... oh how I hate it.  The weight is now starting to go from my thighs and in another few months I am totally going to be the Saggy Baggy Elephant.  And my boobs.  Oh should I say my pancakes.  But winter is coming, so I can hide that all under clothes and push up bras!

I am feeling pretty damn happy about how far I have come.  I like how my body is shaped and I think I am looking pretty good.  But I live in sweats and t-shirts.  My size is changing so fast; I go for clothing that is cheap and will live through a few size changes.  But there are days that I just want to look nice.  Next year, right?  I just keep telling myself not to waste my money on nice clothing right now.  When I get down to my goal weight I will just have to do a big spending spree/make over and get myself looking snazzy.  And snazzy for me is still an outfit that can be worn with rubber boots.  I am classy like that.

October should be the month where I break out of the two hundred's.  You know, I haven't been under 200 in probably 18 years.  Sad since I am just 33.  And I still have no concept of my new body size.  In my head I am still that woman who is well over 300 pounds.  I am still scared to sit in chairs even though I probably wouldn't break them now at this point.  I still feel like everyone is looking at me because I am the biggest person in the room, when I am not anymore.  I wonder if my brain will ever adjust?

And I know I say it every time I post about my surgery, but I really have to thank so many of the residents of Faro.  This community has been so supportive of me during the last year.  A day doesn't go by where I am not stopped by someone telling me how great of a job I am doing.  Those comments really keep going.  I have no clue how people get through this surgery without telling anyone (and it is very common!).  There is no way I could have kept this to myself and I am thankful everyday that I put myself and my experience out there.

So what can you look forward to next month in my update?  Well hopefully me being under 200 pounds.  And I am psyching myself up to show some real pictures of myself.  Real, as in not much clothing so people can see what it is really like when you lose this much weight.  Hopefully I have the guts enough to do it next month!  And hopefully I don't scare any readers away with the pictures!

And fully clothed pictures for you this month!

Here I am the night before my 33rd birthday.  A friend and I went berry picking and fishing.  I picked half a gallon of highbush cranberries and caught a little grayling.  Perfect pre-birthday evening for me.

I tried on my snowpants from last year!  Definitely need a new pair.  But check out how nice my boobies look in my new underwire bra I bought in Whitehorse!  Totally cannot tell they are pancakes in that over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder!

Filling the Freezer

With Matt still hobbling around (sans crutches now though) on his broken foot, I didn't hold out much hope of us filling our freezer with meat this year on our own.  But luckily, there is now over 200lbs of boneless meat all cut up and taking up space in our humungous freezers.

There is an outfitting company (MacMillian River Adventures) that operates near Faro.  Most of the hunters don't take the meat and it is all donated to those who want it in Faro.  We have never taken meat from them before as we have always shot our own, but numerous people in Faro sign up to receive meat each year.

Saturday we got a call to head down to the float plane dock to pick it up.  We got a large haul of both moose and caribou.  I had to butcher it the very next day since we are getting some summer-like weather right now.  After a couple phone calls, I had enlisted a couple of friends to help me out for the day and I got to work.  I started at 8:30am and finished up just after 5pm.  Without help, I would have been there until after midnight for sure!

When done this is what I put into the freezer:
Caribou: 7 packs of steak, 4 roasts, backstraps, and 20 packages of burger
Moose: 34 packs of burger, 8 roasts, 14 packs of steaks and 45lbs of ground meat for sausage

Hurray!  My freezers aren't bare anymore!  We will be in town later this month and I will pick up the supplies I need for making sausages.

Here are the pictures from the day:

My butcher shop (complete with tunes from the computer) is all set up!

The pile of meat I had to work with.

Busy!

Our friend Erica helped out.  Three years ago she moved to the Yukon and looked horrified when she walked in on me butchering a moose.  She has progressed from writing on the packages, to operating the grinder, to this year wielding a knife and cutting up the meat!  Go Erica!

Of course the boys are always alongside to help!

Heavy piece of moose!

My other very willing assistant!

And just a comparison shot.  There I am on the left last year in September butchering moose meat.  On the right 112lbs smaller!

 

My Job

Most days I really love my job.

Yep, being a stay-at-home mama is definitely a job!

Today was one of those days that reaffirmed my love of being home.

This morning?  The usual routine of making sure the boys get dressed, eat breakfast, brush their teeth, and get their backpacks loaded (Cavan loads his with his snacks for the day so he feels like a big kid even though he isn't in school yet).  Then it is the 1.5km round trip walk to and from the school.  After that it was coffee with a friend and then playgroup at the rec centre until noon.  Normal, lovely morning.

The afternoon was fun....

We dug 25lbs of potatoes out of the garden.

We baked three peach loaves.

We could smell delicious chicken adobo in the slow cooker.

We picked the last of the carrots out the garden.

We stacked another row of firewood.  Well, Hunter and I did while Cavan directed.

We all giggled at our boy carrot!

We invited another mama and her brood over to craft with us.  We took a walk in the woods to pick leaves.

And then came back to my home to make these wax paper and crayon fall creations.

Squeezed in between was our regular book reading and housework.  Days really don't get much better than that!  Fun with family, friends and the outdoors.  What a perfect job.

And tonight?  Me time with my hobby and a bit of tv viewing.  Going to finish these up and start on a new pair:

I am very thankful that we live in a place that allows us the financial freedom of being a one income family.  This is the best job I have ever and will ever have.

Custom Orders Done!

It has been a busy week and a half of filling custom orders.  Now I can move on to increasing my inventory for craft show time!  I will be in BC visiting family this year during the craft show I usually attend- the Spruce Bog in Whitehorse.  So this year I am aiming to do the 12 Days of Christmas craft show.  Since it actually lasts twelve days, I am going to need lots of items made up ahead of time in hopes my stuff sells as easily there as it does at Spruce Bog.

Here are pictures of some of the items I have finished over the last ten days:

His and hers matching moose hide and beaver trim mittens.  These are heading down to the States!

An order for an RCMP member that needed an auction gift for a family reunion.

Three fleece ponchos with matching wolf fur puff headbands heading to Ontario.  These make me really wish I had a girl!

A Sad Day For My Scale

It was a sad day for my scale.

The scale that has been my enemy and my friend.

The scale that has seen me through 112 pounds.

The scale that just could not survive the great child-induced tub tsunami of September 2012.

Dear Scale:

While I appreciate your status of Lo in regards to my weight, an exact number would be appreciated.

Love Kara

Boys and Guns

My parents taught both my brother and I how to shoot at a young age.  We were taught the parts to the guns, safety and maintenance.  And then we took off into the bush like the Lost Boys off of "Peter Pan" to terrorize the local squirrel and grouse populations.  It was a pretty awesome childhood.  We started with bb guns at age 6, but very quickly moved on to the .22's by age 8 or 9.

Matt started off later in life around age 10 using a bb gun and then a 410 shotgun.

And now it is time to share one of our favorite past-times with our boys!

My father bought them a Chipmunk .22 back when I was still pregnant with Hunter!  He was just a wee bit excited to become a grandpa.  We finally brought it out of the box tonight and headed out to the range.

The boys loved every minute of our excursion!

We were shooting at a paint can and Hunter was so proud when he hit it!

My wee gun slinger!

My little helper

Thanks little helper Cavan for feeding the fish for me.

Canning and Baking and Gardening! Oh My!

Two-thirds of the way through this long weekend and we have been busy bees!

This is what we have been up to:

One hour bread in the back, canned beets in the middle, and cranberry syrup in the front.  It was supposed to be cranberry jelly, but I used expired certo and it didn't set.  But cranberry syrup on pancakes sounds good to me!

Cavan and I picked 10 cups of raspberries and turned some of them into cakes for us and another family.  The rest went into the freezer for baking with later.

I had a backlog of free Superstore turkeys in my freezer.  I cooked one up on Sunday morning and canned in Sunday evening.  12 pints of delicious turkey all ready for soups, stews and casseroles this winter.

Garden vermin!  Something has been chewing up my carrots and it is not my boys!

I spent hours this weekend moving dirt into all of the new planter boxes on the top and second level.  Now I just have to haul and add some compost to them and wait 10 more months!

Just carrots and potatoes left to harvest.  I have pulled nearly six pounds of potatoes so far with many more still in the ground!

In between all of that we went for walks, bike rides, visited with friends, had friends over for tea, helped a friend move, watched cartoons, drove a load out to the dump, snuck into the sewing room to sew, read more of my zombie novel, played squash, drove quads, and just had a heck of a lot of fun.

Doing all of the jobs that Matt would normally do has had me run off my feet this last week.  But I have gotten an awful lot accomplished!  The house is clean, laundry is done, the yard is ready for winter, and my garden was a huge success.

I need a cape!