Chicagoland Bear & Fiber Arts Show - Fall 2009

We finally have the contract signed!! It took more time than we anticipated as the contract needed some changes back and forth before we were happy with it.

Save the Date!!

Saturday, October 24th 2009 in Elgin, IL (a little west of Schaumburg - but still very close to a tollway exit & airport transportation.)

Much more info to come soon!

HUGE Web Domain price increase!!

You may have noticed that one of my hobbies - and source of extra income - are other websites. I have almost a dozen different domain names. Some are personal (like our family site and a few I got for my hubby's hobbies) and some are professional and bring in income. (besides my primary website for my bears)

It was fun and no trouble really... about $12 a year for a domain name.

Imagine my SHOCK when I got my domain renewal registration from Yahoo - and the cost went up by 170% !!!!!!

Guess I now have more work to do.... finding another place with which to register my website domain names..... ggrrrrrr.....

Meet my Helper Isis

Meet one of my helpers... Isis! Isis is our whippet girl with the heart condition who continues to defy her veterinarian's prognosis (a month or two to live...from May 2007) much to his and our delight!

I've woken her up here and that's why you see "the look" here. But she's still beautiful to me!

Isis is my "morning helper". She likes to sit behind me in my chair (shown without me here) while I am catching up on emails, blogging and the like.

Yes, she gets 80% of the chair while I sit on 20% - the edge. What can I say? She IS named after a goddess ;)

At this moment as I'm typing, she's still sitting behind me - sound asleep and dreaming - as her legs are kicking me in the behind as she runs after bunnies in her sleep :)

Have you seen the video about Christian the Lion?

I guess I must have been living under a rock LOL! This is the first time I've heard this story. I got it from one of the Yahoo teddy bear groups I belong to. When I was a girl, Born Free was one of my FAVORITE movies. I've always loved lions... I wished I could have one of my very own. Well, 2 lads in England DID - back in 1969. You have got to see this clip of video!



After I saw this video clip I have to admit I had to search thru and watch all the videos about Christian. The one I have listed above is my favorite. All the videos are basically pirated from the same video footage.

Checked out Snopes.com and found that yes, the story of Christian the London Lion is true.

I had to know more... and found this article about Christian in an online version of The Daily Mail in England.

Finally... I did find a place where I could see the entire story. Although you can get a VHS tape of Christian - The Lion at World's End at Amazon -- I've heard that the US version is slightly incomplete. A DVD of Christian - The Lion at World's End can be found at Beckmann Direct located in England, but they do ship worldwide.

Summertime is Always a Busytime....

Wow it feels like the week just flew by! Yes, I do realize there have not been any new bears on my site for a while :( Hopefully this week!

I'm still working on the custom order bears - worked on several prototypes for new bear heads for the classes I want to start. I've also been talking with Daphne about the new Chicago show for 2009. Looks like we've got the contract with the venue almost all set. I thought I was busy... Daphne was working on the Chicago contract when her Maine Teddy Bear Show is this coming weekend!

Yes, I seem to work like a hummingbird... flitting from here to there... I've tried to stop working that way but it only makes me miserable - and I stop working all together! I just decided to realize that is how I work - and to go with it. I do try to limit how many different things I work on so that they all get finished :)

This past weekend, hubby & I went back to the Bristol Renaissance Faire again. If you are interested in reading more, you will find that post on our family blog here.

A Busy Weekend last weekend...

Wow it feels like my wheels are finally slowing down after the weekend! Saturday we went to the NASCAR race at Chicagoland Speedway. (it's only a little over an hour away from home). This was the first time they raced at night as the speedway just installed lights this past spring.

We didn't get home till midnight -- and then Sunday off we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire! We HAD to go, you see we had a dragon to pick up! At the end of the last season, we commissioned Tracy Maisel to sculpt one of her wonderful dragons climbing up a lamp post. It is AMAZING!! I don't have photos of it yet as I didn't bring the camera with us. It is currently in our living room - it will be much better lighting if I wait to take the photos outside. We love supporting other artists! Here's a photo of one I took a photo of last year .......ours is slightly different - the wings are posed differently. She's an amazing artist!!!





I thought I'd be right back to bears yesterday, but after such a busy weekend I ended up spending most of my time catching up with friends and blogging. I found I had fallen very far behind. I did manage to get some work done though!

Bears in Progress

Yes, I've been working on bears!!! Here's a picture in progress to prove it LOL!!! 2 are special orders, 2 are for the show coming up in October, and the 5th is another mini bunny. He's a cousin to "Chocolate Bunny Cream" -- his name will be "Little Bunny Frango". It's a variation of Little Bunny Foo Foo. For those of you (us) in Chicago, yes, his name does refer to the famous Frango Mints we used to get at Marshall Fields! He will go to his new home with a artificial chocolate mint candy. I really must stop working on so many bears at a time... I just can't seem to help it though.

At the end of June, hubby and I went away for a weekend and took the Squirt (chihuahua) with us. My daughter Jennifer stayed home with the 4 whippets for us. When we got back, Jen told me... Mom - if you ever wonder why you don't get much done - it's because taking care of the Girls takes a lot of time!

I guess I didn't realize it as we added dogs to our family one at a time over 8 years - so "just one more" didn't seem like a lot. Besides, whippets are fairly laid back dogs for the most part. Although they can run like the wind - their favorite past time is sleeping!

One of our Girls though (Isis) has a very bad heart condition and is on lots of medication. She's doing wonderfully! Even better than the vet had expected - but that's because we keep up with her schedule -- which is what takes a lot more time than when they were all healthy.

One of the meds that Isis takes (and this one is 3 x's a day) is a water pill to keep the water from building up around her heart. Because of this, she needs to go out more often. I found it is much easier to have a schedule of taking her out on a regular basis instead of cleaning up accidents LOL! That's what my daughter was talking about... some days it does seem like it's time to take her out again after we just finished taking her out.

Also, with most of the time, we need to be outside with them instead of just opening the door and letting them out. I need to keep track of Isis - as she can get distracted :) and with 5 dogs running in the back yard... let's just say it's easier to keep it clean when you keep up with them every time ;)

I am trying to develop some type of work schedule (again) so I can be more consistent with my bear creating. This seems to be something I keep trying... but hey, if at first you don't succeed, try try again! One of these times I'll come up with a schedule that works for me ;0)

Happy 4th of July!!

I just wanted to pop in to say Happy Independence Day and thank you to EVERYONE who has made and is making it possible!!!