Wishing you a Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

I wish you the very best for the New Year.

Merry Christmas

Harley and Maisie

Emma, Harley, Hugo and Tulie

We lost our little Scottie boy in November. Harley was the last of four Scotties that we had all at the same time. Harley would have been eleven years old on December 12. He was our very, very loving little boy and we miss him terribly.

We're very grateful that we brought Maisie into our family last spring. She's our only pup at this time and she is such a cute little girl. Her personality is very much like the other four in many ways, and yet she is also very different. She makes us laugh and she's eased the loss of Harley.


We were recently able to get a good photo of Maisie within minutes after her grooming. She'll be one year old on January 4, and we love her to death.

Christmas Parade

You must visit the Christmas Parade at Ellen Borggreve's blog. So many cute little bears and other soft sculpture creatures. It's a wonderful idea and I very much want to acknowledge and thank Ellen for all the work she put into the parade. Each parade entrant give the name of the item and a link to the creator's blog. You can also reach the parade by clicking the graphic on the right.

Take a look; you will really enjoy yourself.

Christmas Cookie Round-Up

First, my apologies to everyone. I guess I just forgot today is the day to begin and I'm holding up the Round-Up. Here's my recipe:

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tsp. Real Vanilla
• 2 - 2/3 Cups Flour
• 1/2 Tsp Soda
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Nutmet
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix butter, sugar, egg and vanilla thoroughly. Measure flour by dipping method. Blend dry ingredients; add to sugar mixture alternately with sour cream. Divide dough; roll out to 1/4 thickness on a well-floured surface. Cut out shapes, place on greased baking sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Frost with Buttercream Frosting and decorate as desired. They're also good without frosting, but frosting is better for decorating.

I got this recipe from a newspaper years ago. I'm so sorry I held slowed the Round-Up. Happy cookie hunting.

Please follow the link to

Nancy Dotigney's Blog .

New Bears

Lucy

I've just listed a couple of new bears on Bid4Bears' Holly Jolly Holiday event. The campaign runs through December 20. The graphic to the right will take you to Bid4Bears; click on the "Christmas Cheer" category and you'll be shown only those bears with a holiday look. Of course, there are many other items posted so you may want to look through the entire list.

We'll have a Fireside Chat on December 11 through the Bid4Bears forum. Nancy has a surprise guest but she won't even tell us who it will be. Everyone is welcome to join the chat.

Hope you'll join us.

Cedric

Cookie Round-Up

The Cookie Round-Up is just about here. Lisa has gathered a bunch of teddy bear people to participate in posting their favorite Christmas Cookie recipe. If you follow all the links, you'll gather at least one recipe from every site. The Round-Up starts with Lisa's q.D.paTooties blog. You'll collect her recipe and find a link to the next blog, collect the recipe from that blog and be given the next link, and so on.

To add to the fun, the first person who collects all the recipes and sends Lisa an e-mail with names of those recipes will receive a prize from Lisa. Just title the e-mail "Filled My Tin" so she will know you are a cookie recipe gatherer!

You can click on the Round-Up graphic on the right and it will direct you to Lisa's blog. We'll begin on December 13.

Christmas Cookie Round-Up

Lisa is again sponsoring her Christmas Cookie Round-Up. This was lots of fun last year and many, many great recipes were shared. Click on the graphic on the right side of my blog and it will take you to Lisa's q.D.PaTootie's blog.

Updated Slide Show

I've updated my slideshow with more current bears. Most have been adopted, but not all so if you have a questions about any of them, please send me a note.

And now I'm getting to work on the bears for Be My Valentine.

Holly Jolly Holidays at Bid4Bears

Beginning November 20 and running through December 20, Bid4Bears will take on a Holly Jolly Holidays look. Nancy lives in Ontario, Canada, and she tells us Santa is a personal friend of hers and he'll be dropping by regularly to give random gifts to our bidders!

There will also be a special Fireside Chat on Thursday, December 11th, with a special guest in our Round Table Forum, as well as an ATC/ACEO swap and other neat surprises. Stop by and take a look at what will be happening.

It will be a month long holiday celebration!

Great Ho Ho Oh Bearz Show

The show was very successful with many bears being sold and several artists' booths sold out completely. Nancy did an extraordinary amount of work on this show in addition to all of her other obligations...she's a full-time wife and mother, a full time CSI in Canada, a web designer, owner of several sites for bear artists...and in her spare time, she makes award-winning teddy bears.



Kim Russell, well known Australian artist, won best of show for her Miss Lillie. Isn't she adorable? Kim is amazingly talented and Miss Lillie was snapped up shortly after the show opened.






I sold one bear, Annie, and I'll be shipping her off to her new home is Australia soon.

I hope you all had a chance to stop by the showroom to see the variety of styles and sizes of beautiful bears.

Ho Ho Oh BearZ Online Show this weekend

It's finally here! The Ho Ho BearZ Show is getting ready to open for business. There will be 33 artists participating from all around the globe. All start times are EST and you'll find a reference on the Welcome page for the show. You can also see a sneak preview of a few of the bears. Here's my own little sneak peek.

Hope to see you there.

Lisbeth

This is Lisbeth and she's on Bid4Bears this week. She's 15" tall and made with a beautiful straight mohair by Shulte. She's a soft dusty lavender color. I hope you can take a look.

Kirby is on his way to live in New Jersey with a large hug that includes several of his Waggle Bears cousins.

Kirby

Kirby and his favorite quilt up for auction on Bid4Bears along with some really wonderful offerings by other artists. I hope you can take a look.

He is 15" tall; his quilt measures 17" x 20".

New Halloween Bear

Bid4Bears Autumn Artist Power Campaign began this week.

This is Mason and he's ready for Halloween. He'd love for you to stop by and take a look at his auction.

Ronald McDonald House Charities

The Ronald McDonald House Teddy Bear Banquet and Auction has asked for a donation of one of my bears for their annual auction on October 26. I'm thrilled to be able to donate Gina for this great cause. If any of you live in the area of Albany, NY, you might want to check out this auction.

Important Dates

With so many online shows over the next few months, you'll find a list on the right side of my blog. Here are brief summaries and links to all these upcoming events.

September 19 - 21
Bid4Bears will be offering bears for auction with all proceeds going to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer research. You can read more by going to Alex's page.

September 21 - November 22
Once again, Bid4Bears is sponsoring the Autumn Artist Power Event. As with Christmas in July, registered artists will be auctioning one bear each week during this period. This is a great show for both artists and collectors.

September 27
Teddy Bears and Critters Australia (TBACA) is a new guild for those "Down Under."
Their first online show will feature many wonderful artists and a wide variety of styles.

February 14, 2009
Teddy Bears and Critters Australia has offered Affiliate Memberships to those from other countries, and Be My Valenine is their first international show. I'll be there along with many, many other artists. TBACA is also using this event as a fund raiser for their "adopted" sun bear, Bobo. Check out Bobo's page and read about these wonderful creatures and how you can help their cause.

Canute

Canute didn't find a new home during the Christmas in July show, but he's now happily living in New Hampshire with bear artist, Daphne Blau of Back Road Bears.




Imagine, who now resides with me, is one of Daphne's smaller bears. I was so excited to have one of her bears that I shared him with you back in May.


In addition to being a well known bear artist, Daphne produces two bear shows annually, one in New Hampshire and one in Maine. I'm hoping I will be able to display my bears at her Maine show in July 2009.

It will be my first in-person show and I'm very excited about the opportunity to meet other artists and collectors and see their reactions to my bears. The night before her show she hosts an ice cream social on the beach; I've seen the photos and I've fallen in love with the place. I'll keep you updated as I know more about the show.

Catching up

Catching up with the last few weeks:

Christmas in July was a successful summer-time show with more than 1,500 unique visitors and over 170,000 hits over the two-day period of the actual show. The "Oh Bears Show" is scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2008. It's not too early to mark your calendar.

Ashley was laid-off from her teaching job in the desert earlier this year because of budget cuts. Good news: she's been hired by the Corcoran School District in the Central San Joaquin Valley. She'll be staying with her good friend, Adrianne, in Hanford while looking for a place of her own. Ashley was about 11 when we moved to Corcoran and spent 5th - 12th grade in Corcoran schools and Adrianne has been her dear friend ever since. Ashley previously taught middle school in Corcoran before moving to Alameda so she has a sense of coming home as she looks forward to this move. Corcoran is a small community; everyone knows everyone and she's been welcomed very enthusiastically this past week.

During a long weekend at the first of the month, Allyn and I attended a Waggle family wedding in the San Diego area. Our nephew, Greg Waggle, married the lovely Andi Whitaker in a beautiful ceremony at Orfila Vineyards in Escondido. The backdrop of the mountains behind them as they recited their vows at 5 pm was just lovely and the dinner that followed was delicious. Greg and Andi very graciously invited family members from both sides to the wedding rehersal dinner on Friday night. This weekend gave us an opportunity to reconnect with family members that we don't very often have the chance to see. We had a wonderful time.

The Conference is Open

The Christmas in July Conference is now open. The Showroom will open on July 26th.

My own little Sneak Peek for you.

Christmas in July is almost here!

The North Country Teddy Bears Christmas in July online conference and show begins this week! You can sign up for online workshops now. I'm taking Judi Paul's Felted Paws class and I am enjoying it very much. My bear now has toes!

In addition to the workshops offered, there will be games, prizes, swaps, and much more. You will also be able to chat with world-famous teddy bear artist, Ted Menten, on Friday evening in the Hospitality Chat Room. Participating artists will be available throughout the sale to answer any questions you may have.

Click the banner on the right side of my blog and you'll find the complete schedule for the four-day event beginning July 24 and running through July 27.

Please remember that all times listed are Eastern Standard Times.

Click on the Scuba Diving Santa to see a Sneak Preview of the show.

Hope to see everyone there.

The Waggle Arena

My son, Joseph, had recently started blogging. The Waggle Arena is a much different blog than mine, however, where he will:

"...put my own spin on current events and political developments. currently my interests include but are not limited to public policy, social stratification, and culture.
so this page will serve as a one-stop joe headquarters for all things waggle. it will be my combination news update/ book review/ social commentary/ random musing/ art appreciation/academic debate/et cetera page. "

He tells me that he's doing this to keep his mind active since he's living at home right now. That means his dad and I are not intellectually stimulating enough.

Christmas In July

We're getting closer to our summer online show. What was supposed to be the Spring Fling in June is now Christmas in July. Unfortunately, the delay was unavoidable due to a serious fire in the data center where more than 9,000 servers were damaged.

Just click on the banner to the right and it will take you to all the information about the show now scheduled for July 24 - 27. Previews of the artist booths will be available about a week before the show.

Hope to see you there.

Maisie the Graduate

Maisie and I graduated from our Basic Obedience class on Saturday. The picture was taken by the training instructor and is a bit blurry. This was the best of four pictures taken. The others were just a blond blur.


Maisie was the most headstrong of the group, but also the youngest. She was much more interested in the other dogs so she had trouble concentrating. I think we may re-take this class in the fall.

Christmas in July

You'll notice the new banner on the right. The Spring Fling, as you'll recall, was cancelled because of a fire at the datacenter where Nancy has her servers. So, our Spring Fling has now become Christmas in July. Nancy is still working to update all the pages, but clicking on the banner will take you to the site with updated information.

New dates are Thursday through Sunday, July 24-27, 2008.

I can't help it. . .

Joseph hates it when I make him the subject of my blog, but I'm very proud of him and I just have to share his good news.


He's flying to Chicago tomorrow to accept the Johnson Prize for the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences during the Spring Convocation on Friday at the University of Chicago. Joseph was a graduate of MAPPS with the Class of 2007.

The Earl S. and Esther Johnson Prize is awarded annually to that student in the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences whose paper best combines high scholarly achievement with concern for humanistic aspirations and the practical applications of the Social Sciences.

The $1,000 Prize was established in the memory of the founder and long-time director of the Program. It is awarded in the spring of each year to the writer of an M.A. paper submitted the preceding academic year. Papers that meet the prize criteria and earn a grade of A are automatically considered.

Thanks for letting me share the news; we're just so proud of him.

Maisie Update

Maisie is five months old now and growing so fast. She's very independent and head-strong and we all look pretty silly chasing her around the yard because she won't come to us. To her, it seems like playtime.

She's so different than our other Scotties, none of whom had formal training, but they learned all the words quickly and obeyed. Maisie and I attended our second obedience class last Saturday, along with 6 other dogs. We were both exhausted after more than an hour of our training. She was twisting around, whining, pulling on her leash, and rolling on the floor while the other dogs just sat there looking at her. And you should have seen the way the other parents were looking at me! She is the youngest of the group so that's our excuse.

We have "sit" down perfectly, but we don't "stay" or "down" or "come." More practice time is needed this week.

Maisie loves the water and she can make a terrible mess when the sprinklers are on. These pictures show her after the fun and after Joseph and I caught her.

Spring Fling Update

The fire at the datacenter in Houston, Texas, took down 9,000 servers and affected more than 100,000 websites. Our site was up in about five days; however, the work continues. Over the next several weeks as the datacenter gets all servers up and running, there will be planned outages lasting as long as 4 to 6 hours at a time. In order to ensure that our show would not be affected by these planned maintenance outages, the show has been moved to Thursday through Sunday, July 24-27, 2008.

Since Spring will be long gone by July, Nancy will be changing the theme of the show as well as all of the artists' booths. This will take her some time but as soon as she gives the okay for previewing, I will post the link here. I will keep you updated as I receive more information.

Oh No!

The dates of our Spring Fling are being postponed. The dedicated server holds Nancy's sites as well as mine. There was a huge fire in the building last week and the site was off-line for several days. You can read about the fire if you're interested. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/01/the_planet_houston_data_center_fire/

It's only a postponement and as soon as I have the new dates, I'll let you know.

At least my bears are done!

Mostly ready for Spring Fling. . .

My photos and descriptions have been submitted, Nancy's busy working on the artist "booths," and everyone is getting anxious for the conference and show. Nancy gave me a sneak peek at my "booth" and I can't tell you how excited I was seeing my bears as part of this event.

I hope you'll take a look at the show because in addition to "new and aspiring" artists, like me, there are many professional and master artists participating and their work is amazing and an inspiration to new artists.

I want to especially thank Kiki and Ron of Kiki Haynes Photography, La Quinta, California, for their hard work in getting my photos before the deadline. I very much appreciate their "above and beyond" efforts on my behalf.

I'm finished . . .

Have you noticed the banner for the Spring Fling at the top of the right hand column? Or the Wiki banner? One will take you to the four-day schedule for the Spring Fling; the other to the NCTB Wiki where you'll be able to access articles, see galleries, read blogs, and more.

My four bears are done, but need photographing, descriptions and sent to Nancy by May 31st. A friend is helping me with the pictures so I should have everything done by the deadline.

You'll find a list of artists participating in the Spring Fling when you click on the banner, and a preview of their online "booth" will be available about a week before the show. I hope you'll take a look.

Spring Fling

I'm working on my bears for NCTB's Spring Fling. You'll notice the banner on the right; click it and it will take you to the information.

I started one bear last week...after not liking the second head, I decided to put him away and not waste any more time on something I knew I wouldn't like. Not that I won't like him in the future because I do plan to go back to him someday hoping that he'll just work out better when I'm not on a deadline. I'm just finishing up my first bear and have two more cut out so my week end is looking busy.

I'm also taking a photography class online from eBearz. I waited a little too long for it to do me much good for the Fling and I'm a little behind on my reading, but I'm looking forward to learning more about cameras and which one would be best for me.

I always forget to put labels on my posts. Don't know why as they are right below my post, but I just do. I need to remember that so that I don't repeat myself. I may have already mentioned the photography class so I apologize is this is a repeat.

I'm really happy to say that James has joined Hyacinth and Willis with their new family in Ohio.

Back to work for me.

I almost forgot

I wanted to show you a picture of a sweet little guy I adopted last week. His name is Imagine and he's just as cute as he can be. He's only 7 inches tall, but loaded with personality.

He comes from Daphne Blau of Back Road Bears. He came all the way from New Hampshire. One day I hope to have one of Daphne's larger bears.

What's new?

Please meet James, my newest bear up for auction on Bid4Bears. James is made from .75" dense, curly Shulte mohair with dark brown wool felt paw pads. He's 14.5" tall and 10.5" sitting. Blue Belle and Peaches have been relisted with no reserve. I'm happy to say that Hyacinth is on her way to her new family in Ohio.


I'm taking an online photography class from eBearz University. Classes are open to everyone so if any of you would like to learn how to make your own bears, take a look at the classes offered.



Hopefully, I will learn to take much better pictures without all the shadows. Next I need to learn the features of my PhotoShop Elements. This software does wonderful things for other people, but refuses to work for me.



Maisie continues to be lots of fun and constant entertainment for us. This picture was taken at the coffee shop the morning after we picked her up. It was taken and sent to us by a very nice couple who asked if they could take her picture.


Dates for NCTB's Spring Fling have been moved from May to June 12-15. Find more information on the NCTB website. I'm grateful for the extra time to get bears finished for the show.


Teddy Bears and Critters Australia is a new website for Australian teddy bear artists. I first became interested in making/designing teddies from Australian Bear Creations magazine. Recently, they invited teddy bear artists from other countries to join as Affiliate Members and I was the first to join! Please take a look at their site if you can.

I'm going back to (hopefully) my first bear for the Spring Fling. It's made from brick red mohair so I'm not sure how he/she will turn out. Wish me luck.

Happy Monday Morning

Well, after a week with Maisie Grace, she's the only one in the house that isn't exhausted. She has more energy than all of us put together.

She's doing very well...still sleeping through the night and doing pretty well with house training though she has had a few accidents.

She tries really hard to be Harley's friend but he's having no part of her. At least he's not seriously snapping at her anymore...it's more a low growl that says, "Not now, Trouble." She continues to try and she's doing everything right so he will have to come around eventually because she's so darned cute.

One day they'll be best friends.

Hyacinth

Hyacinth is on Bid4Bears beginning today. She's made from a beautiful lavender blue dense, curly kid mohair by Shulte with pale lavender paw pads.

Blue Belle and Peaches continue to reside with me.

I've recently joined Bear Pile at the suggestion of a serious bear collector who recently adopted Molly. Many, many artists from all over the world belong and display many styles of bears. If you haven't discovered this site yet, take a look.

Meet Maisie

I'm so excited to introduce Maisie, our new Scottish Terrier. We just picked her up yesterday and we just love her to death. I told you about losing two of our Scottie girls over the Christmas Holidays and how unexpected and sad it was for us losing two at the same time. Well, Harley has been an only pup for several months now, and he's become quite used to being the center of attention. He hasn't warmed up to Maisie just yet, but he will come around. She tries so much to play with him, but he's still just a little miffed that we'd dare bring in a new puppy.

Maisie is a wheaten Scottie and the smallest of a litter of seven, which is a pretty large litter for Scotties. She's absolutely beautiful and a very light color. She was born on January 4 so she's just about 15 weeks.

Blue Belle

Blue Belle is up for auction this week on Bid4Bears. She's 14" tall and 10" sitting, and is made from Helmbold 5/8" sparse mohair in the color Sky. She'd love a visit from you.

Blue Belle wears a Precious Moments ceramic heart-shaped pendant that hangs from a pink ribbon.

Peaches

Peaches is up for auction on Bid4Bears this week. She's made from peach-colored Shulte mohair with a feathery finish. With bent legs, she prefers sitting and sits at about 10". I hope you have a chance to visit her auction.


Franz is on his way to his new home in New Jersey!

Franz is up for bid

Franz is up for auction on Bid4Bears this week. He's about 10 inches while sitting; with bent legs, he prefers sitting. He's made from Shulte mohair in a very pretty beige-brown batik.


I'm also happy to say that Molly has been adopted and will soon be on her way to live with her new family in New York.

Rusty on Bid4Bears

Molly will be staying with me a while longer. Unfortunately, her bid did not reach the reserve price.

I have re-listed Rusty on Bid4Bears this week as he did not receive a winning bid when he was listed a few weeks ago.

Isn't it strange that sometimes the ones I like the best aren't snapped up and those that often aren't my favorites are? Most people say that the bear reaches out to them. Maybe Rusty will reach out to someone this week.

Molly is up for auction

Molly is up for auction on Bid4Bears this week. She's 16" tall and 11" while sitting. She's made of a one-inch, curly cream mohair and wears a lace party dress. More pictures are on her auction. I hope you have a minute to take a look.


Willis was adopted and is now on his way to live with his new family in Ohio.

Artist Power is underway

Have you've had a chance to take a look at Bid4Bears? The Artist Power Campaign only started yesterday and there are many bears, hares, lions and other critters available. Some are silly, some are gorgeous, some are traditional. Even if you're not inclined to bid on anything, you should just take a look (no registration necessary) to see what artist bears are all about. Some of the work will blow you away.

This is Willis, my first auction of this campaign, and he's available now.

Artist Power Campaign 2008

Bid4Bear's Artist Power 2008 Campaign starts on March 9th and runs through May 10th. All teddy bear lovers will want to take a look. There are currently 25 teddy bear artists from around the world who have committed to this campaign.

I have personally committed to posting at least one bear each week of the campaign. I have four bears ready to go and I'm working on another.

Registration with Bid4Bears is free and allows you to bid on any of the bears offered.

I hope you'll visit Bid4Bear's Artist Power 2008 Campaign often during the next eight weeks.

Black and white challenge bear

This is Molly. She's my contribution to the black and white challenge recently on Teddy Talk . If you'd like to take a look at the other entries just go the the Challenge Gallery and you'll see many imaginative creations.

Molly will be available on Bid4Bear's Artist Power 2008 Campaign which starts on March 9th.

I'll be posting more information about this Campaign next week.

My baby is 25 today!

Happy Birthday, Puppy.

And, as today is the day he and Becky start their road trip back to the southwest, and as the paper says it's snowing today in Chicago, I'm praying for better weather and a safe trip home for them.

Joseph is on the left, Becky is on the right, and their friend, Ryan is in the middle. They were experiencing/celebrating St. Pat's Day in Chicago 2007.

Rusty. . .a new bear

This is Rusty and he's just been posted on Bid4Bears. He's made from 1 1/8" dense, curly Shulte mohair. He has a shorter body than most of my bears and I really like his look. He may have cousins soon.

Esme was adopted last week and is now residing in New Jersey.

I'm still working on my black and white challenge bear...the bear is done, the accessories are not. I have another week to make the deadline so I better get busy.

More changes around here

Joseph is moving home. Yikes! Allyn and I are back where we started with two kids at home. We keep sending them out and they keep coming back.

To be fair, Joseph has been unable to find employment in the Chicago area and Becky, his roommate is moving back to Phoenix for personal reasons. And, the Waggle money tree has lost all its leaves. So they are making arrangements to have their belongings moved and will drive across the country in Becky's car and arrive in Phoenix at the end of the month just in time for her to start her new job on March 3. We'll meet Joseph in Phoenix and bring him home. These two desert kids are also a bit disenchanted with the mid-west weather, I think.

After Ashley finally moved out, and years later when Joseph went off to Cal, we made the two smaller bedrooms into guest rooms and I took over Joseph's larger room as my sewing/quilting room. Then Ashley moved back home and decided her bedroom was too small so we knocked out a wall and made the two small bedrooms one large room to give her space. I still had my sewing room. But, with Ashley's move home, it became "if I don't want it I'll throw it in mom's room" room; I have to find a path to my sewing machine. And now, it needs to become Joseph's bedroom again. So this weekend, Allyn and I are going to somehow find a place for my work table, sewing cabinet, two sewing machines, four bookcases, three file cabinets not to mention what's in and on those things, a closet full of crafting stuff, and a rolling rack holding unfinished quilting projects.

I'm wondering if this is some sneaky plan of my family to make me "get rid of so much stuff" they think I do not need. Of course, I love my kids dearly, but I think I'd prefer to downsize by having them find jobs and moving out on their own. And, Allyn and I would like to have our house back just for us, and Harley, of course. But what are parents for anyway?

New Bear - Esmé

Sleepy Davey and Rose Marie have been adopted together and will soon be on their way to their new home in New Jersey where they'll join Tommy and Peppermint in a wonderful teddy-bear-loving home.

This is Esmé and she has just been listed on Bid4Bears. Her fur is actually a very frosty white and her color comes entirely from the backing fabric. She's 15" standing and 10.5" sitting. Hope you like her.

I'm currently working on two Teddy Talk challenge bears, one a "shades of black and white" bear and the second an "out of your comfort zone" bear. The black and white is nearly done and, hopefully, will be completed by the end-of-February deadline. The other bear is a work in progress and will be smaller than my normal bears. I've always admired miniature and micro-mini bear makers. They so amaze me with so much detail into such tiny pieces. I love the little bears, but all those little pieces just may not be for me.The head is finished and I'm really quite happy with the way it turned out so I'm encouraged.

New Bears

I've just listed two new bears on Bid4Bears which is a great auction site dedicated to teddy bears, their friends, bear-making supplies and other related items.

This is Sleepy Davey and he comes with his own quilt and sleep shirt.

This little lady is Rose Marie and she has a hand embroidered foot pad in the shape of a heart.

Both bears are about 15 inches tall and about 10.5 inches sitting. If you love teddy bears, take a look at Bid4Bears.

Genealogy Anyone?

One of my interests is genealogy. I love searching for ancestors and occasionally making contact with others who are descended from the same great-great-great-grandparents.

I was born years after my parents, their two young daughters and my maternal grandparents moved to California. My older sisters were teenagers when I was born and my parents had been married 17 years. I was a big surprise.

Over the years I've heard many family stories...including stories about my paternal grandfather and his older brother operating a number of saloons in the area where southern Ohio meets northeastern Kentucky and northwestern West Virginia.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I found several liquor labels belonging to my grand-uncle. As I understand it, Uncle Ike was some 25 years older than my grandfather, Andrew Jackson (Jack) Ash. Ike and Jack married Harlow sisters, Martha and Flody.

Anyone else interested in genealogy?

In Memory of

Courtney Cathleen Waggle

Whitney Anne-Marie Waggle

January 25, 1982

Happy Birthday, Ashley

Yes, today is Ashley's 34th birthday. I can't believe I'm that old!

She and one of her friends from the Bay Area share the same birthday so it's an annual celebration with her group. She flew to San Francisco this morning and was really looking forward to connecting with her friends again.

Checked the weather report for Chicago this morning...a high of 7 degrees and a low tonight of -3 degrees. Yikes, that's cold. I hope Joseph is keeping warm and toasty.

It's a very sad day

This is the last picture of Tulie and Emma taken about the middle of December.

We said good-bye to Tulie on Christmas Eve, and yesterday we had to say good-bye to Emma. We were so hopeful after her first chemo treatment last Wednesday because she seemed to feel so good on Thursday. Friday she was not doing well and by late morning on Saturday she couldn't walk, couldn't hold her head up and had even stopped drinking water. We took her in to our own vet since Dr. Macy is no longer in the desert.

As much as it hurt to make the decision, we decided it was time to let her go. I am just so incredibly sad and lonely without her, but Dr. Williams and the staff at All Creatures reminded us she was going to meet Tulie at the Rainbow Bridge. She and Tulie were very close. Before we left the office, we picked up Tulie's ashes. Emma's ashes will be returned in a week or so.

It's very quiet here now but we still have Harley. We always worried about losing Harley first because he has so many allergies, arthritis, very little fur and he's losing what little he has, his ears never went up, and his little legs are bowed. Scotties are supposed to have very straight front legs. But with all that's wrong with him, he has a great personality and he makes us laugh with all of his antics so we are grateful to have him to help us through this. At some point we'll want another Scottie, but not for a while. Harley loves attention and belly rubs, neck rubs, feet rubs, so he may enjoy being an only dog for a while, but I think he'll be a little lonely, too.

Ups and Downs

Emma isn't doing so well today. She's refused any food and so we haven't gotten her pills down yet this morning. She's sleeping and refuses to leave her pillow. She's depressed and lethargic again today. She lost control of her bladder over night and again this morning.

I didn't expect to see such a down-turn after seeing her feel so well yesterday. I guess I have to expect ups and downs but I didn't expect them to be so drastic.

A more hopeful day

Dr. Macy was able to give me a cautious ray of hope for Emma. He has used a combination of newer drugs to treat other dogs with MH. Her cancer is not operable and there is no long term treatment, but he thinks we should try this regimen to see if we can stabilize her, bring back her appetite, and bring some quality to her life.

She began her chemo yesterday with a stay in Dr. Macy's office of 90 minutes for her first iv treatment. She came home with several meds and information about chemo in dogs.

This is the first morning in two weeks that she's taken her roast beef in the morning and has stayed near me. She's even gone up to the landing to get some sun with Harley. I am very hopeful that treatment may give us more quality time with her.

Thanks for your prayers.

Definitely not a good start to 2008

After having just lost Tulie on Christmas Eve, our Emma has just been diagnosed with Malignant Histiocytosis or MH, a rare, fast moving cancer that has no cure, no successful treatment and from time discovered to death is a matter of days or weeks. Not a very good prognosis. She remains depressed, lethargic and refuses food but occasionally takes water.

We have an appointment with an oncologist tomorrow afternoon. Dr. Macy flies from Colorada to the desert twice a month to treat his patients. Luckily, he is currently in the desert and our vet was able to get us in quickly. We need a miracle.

Not off to a good start in 2008

I've talked about my Scotties before...
Tulie, 12; Emma, 10; and Harley 10. The day after Joseph arrived, we were just quietly talking when Tulie, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly went into a seizure. After five days in the hospital and many, many tests, we had to let her go on Christmas Eve. The tests had shown that in addition to an enlarged heart, three vital organs were failing at the same time: kidneys, pancreas and liver. Of course, we knew she was slowing down and getting older, but we had no idea about the all the other issues.

Our Christmas was very subdued and no one feels much like doing anything since we lost her. Even the other pups are unusually quiet and just not acting as usual. After a few days, Harley was back to his old happy, carefree self but Emma continued to seem very depressed. Then we noticed she was losing weight and was refusing even roast beef. Emma never turns down a treat so we were sure, after nearly two weeks, it was more than depression.

So now our Emma has been in the hospital since yesterday. We're awaiting more blood test results and an ultrasound today. We've known she has Cushings disease since she was about 4, but it's been under control with Lysodren. When we took her in her temp was 105, very, very high. Initial blood work showed some imbalances in her readings and an indication of her kidneys not working.

It's very hard to wait and not know what's wrong with her. We pray whatever is causing her illness will be treatable with adjustments in her meds. And so I'm hoping later today we'll get some good news.

Obviously, the picture is an old one, but from the left is Emma, Harley, Hugo and Tulie. We lost Hugo three years ago (when he was only 8) to bladder cancer while our regular vet was in Argentina for the holidays, just as he was this year when Tulie passed.

Happy 2008

Happy New Year to all and my resolution every year is to Get Organized though somehow the year slips by and I'm still wondering why things look pretty much the same. This year will be different. How do I know? Because Ashley's home to "help" me...but that's a good thing because I need someone to nudge me along and with her here, I actually have a serious chance to Get Organized.

Joseph made it home for Christmas on Dec. 18th. His 10 am flight was cancelled (we never knew why since it was a bright, sunny day in Chicago and he had a direct flight) and he had to hang around O'Hare until the next direct flight at 6 pm. But we finally got to give him a big hug around 9 o'clock that evening. We stayed up late catching up and enjoying the family being together.

He's still here (upstairs asleep) appreciating our great weather while just reading about Chicago's temps makes us shiver. He will return to the freezing Mid-West on Jan. 8th and I know I'll miss him terribly when he leaves.

We're all praying very hard that once he's back in Chicago a J-O-B will immediately present itself. Hopefully, it will be a job he wants and will enjoy, but by this time, we're hoping for anything just to get him working.