My first real sale!

I was invited to show my bears at a Christmas Boutique at my local quilt/bead shop. I was so excited to be invited so I got to work and had 8 bears ready for the Boutique which ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving. Along with me and my bears, there were 11 others who had beautiful quilts, wearable art, and a variety of hand-crafted jewelry. Everyone had a great Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were slower. Since this was my first "show," I'd prepared myself not to expect too much. This was the first time anything other than quilts and jewelry was shown and many people didn't even look at the bears.

Nevertheless, Friday was a great day for me. I sold 5 bears. Lei Lei was adopted first. The lady loved that he had an attitude about him. She even came back to the show on Sunday to talk with me about him. The second lady adopted FOUR of my bears. I was overwhelmed! Allyn said I should just say I sold 5 bears because that sounds better than saying I only had two customers. But, hey, I was thrilled that someone would want four at the same time. So I'm a happy camper.



Gabriella

Aloysius

Alexandra

William

New Website

I'm so happy! I have a brand new website as of a couple of weeks ago. I can't take credit for its creation, however. I worked with Nancy at www.timberlineweb.com. Nancy is also a well know bear artist from Canada and you can visit her site at http://www.kranbearys.com/. She was very patient with me and so helpful in getting things set up.

Please visit http://wagglebears.com/ and let me know what you think.

It's been a while

Happy late Thanksgiving wishes to all. I haven't been around for a while but I've still been busy. To briefly catch up...

Ashley and I went to Chicago in late August for Joseph's graduation from UChicago. We were there for five days and had a wonderful time seeing Joseph and meeting his friends. The weather was miserably heavy and humid while we were there and especially inside the Roosevelt Chapel on the UC campus during graduation.

Joseph's been looking for a job since and is having a difficult time finding one. He loves Chicago and wants to stay there.

Joseph did run the Chicago Marathon on October 7th, and made it to Mile 19 before they were forced to stop. I'm sure you read some of the stories about the lack of water and the high temperatures. He and his friends were very disappointed that they couldn't finish since by Mile 19 there were sure they could.

This summer we took on some remodeling around the house and we're still trying to finish everything. We removed a wall between our two small bedrooms upstairs in order to give Ashley a little more room. Of course, she made sure all of her work was done first and anything she doesn't want cluttering up her room goes right next door to my sewing room, which I can barely walk through.

We removed a wall between the office and family room downstairs, put in some new recessed ceiling lighting throughout including the kitchen and changed out two windows. We've painted and then we stopped. We want to make some more changes but have had trouble getting our contractor to get back to us so we are dealing with kind of a mess downstairs. It will come together eventually.

Ashley flew to Chicago again to spend Thanksgiving with Joseph and his roommate, Becky. They had a holiday together and Becky prepared a full Thanksgiving dinner and in addition to Ashley, they also invited another couple in their building. It snowed lightly while she was there and she loved it.

Now it's back to work for everyone and she's not too happy about that. She's teaching middle school nearby.

Where's the summer gone!

Where did our summer go? My normal routine has been turned up-side-down; my house is in a mess; it's miserably hot and humid in the desert; I've had blogger's block; and, my desire to keep up has been greater than my will to do so.

Last weekend Ashley and I went to our first ever bear show in San Diego. I loved it...so many wonderful bears of all sizes, shapes, styles and colors. I did take my camera, but became so wrapped up in trying to see everything, I forgot about taking pictures. I did manage to buy a few things, however. This little guy is Tweedle-Dee, an adorable little brindle Scottie from the studio of Sunnie Bears by Sonya Shaw. These are Sonya's pictures, but I'll eventually get a few others up. I also purchased a vintage black Scottie not quite as big as Tweedle-Dee, but they've become great friends. I also managed to pick up a couple of yards of mohair. You can never have too much mohair.

Another very exciting thing for me this summer was the opportunity to enter a swap with Julie Bolton of BEARS...Strike a Paw. Julie kept Petey after photographing him, and I received some cards from photos she'd taken. I was thrilled with that, but then she contacted me and asked if I'd mind if she used Petey in her very first bear calendar! Mind! Holy Cow, how could I mind? I can hardly wait to get my copies of the calendar. Check out Julie's website. She has photographed bears by artists from around the world, and, in some cases, used the artist's photo to create a variety of all occasion cards and, of course, the inaugural 2008 16-month calendars.

Ashley's in the house

With Ashley moving back home, we're going to be doing some work around the house. We'll be knocking out a wall between two small bedrooms in order to make a room large enough for most of her things. We'll also be doing some painting, reflooring and generally spiffing up around here. I become easily attached to people and things and have a hard time letting go. Ashley's going to "help" me let go of a lot of the things I don't really need.

She's already painted the upstairs hall bath and it looks great. We have paint for the downstairs hall bath and she's itching to get started with that project. She should start an organization company because she is so organized and so creative and she just does things. I worry things to death and then still don't know what to do. She makes me tired just watching her.

Wish me luck. . .

Travel Day

Well, I'm all packed and just waiting for Allyn to take me to the airport. I'm flying to the Bay Area today to help my daughter pack up her belongings and move home. We'll be U-Hauling it back to the desert, and hopefully, we'll be home by Sunday. It's a very, very long drive and I will be glad when it's over.

Ashley's tired of the big city and just needs to come home, regroup, re-energize, and decide if she wants to continue teaching, go to law school, or do something else entirely. She's taught elementary and middle school for 11 years, five of those being in a Bay Area middle school and it's been tough, especially the last couple of years.

So the puppies will be home alone with Allyn checking on them as he can during the day. They'll probably sleep all day if no one rings the doorbell.

Wish me luck...my daughter is a task master!

The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon

The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon
Sunday, October 7, 2007
30th Anniversary

Joseph will be running in the Chicago Marathon in support of his friend, Nikki, who lost her mother to acute lymphocytic leukemia in 2003. Joseph and Nikki have committed to run for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and are participating in their Team in Training program, the world's largest endurance sports training program. Since April, they have been training on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, and will continue that schedule right up until the marathon in October.

Nikki asked a group of their friends to participate in the marathon and Joseph eagerly stepped up to support her. Now, you have to understand. . .this is a kid who, in middle school and high school, complained about his coaches making his class run around the track a few times. So signing up for a 26-mile run is a really, really big deal! Allyn and I and Ashley are so very proud of his commitment and hard work.

Even if you are unable to make a donation, please visit Joseph's and Nikki's websites to read about their commitment to this worthy cause in their own words.

Joseph and Nikki attend the University of Chicago. Joseph will graduate in August 2007.