Nevada City International Teddy Bear Convention 2009

Well folks, that time of year is just around the corner. Spring will be here soon and along with it, the 26th annual Nevada City International Teddy Bear Convention.

(Edit Feb 2 - Alas, I won't be able to participate in the show this year, but I will be there one day to visit.)

This will be my third year participating, although last year I was "absent/present", as a last minute Tennessee trip for me put my gracious husband Dave behind the table in my place. My hero!

The show will take place April 3rd, 4th, and 5th, Friday Noon-5:00, Saturday 10:30-5:00, Sunday 10:30-3:00at historic Miners Foundry, 325 Spring Street at Bridge Street, Nevada City, California.

If you could use a day or even a weekend away, this would be the time and Nevada City's charming historic downtown area would be the place.

Me too tagged . . .

I've been "tagged" by Tammy of Beckoning Bears and Nancy of Dog Patch Critters. . . which means that I must share 6 random things about myself and tag 6 other people who might want to play. I've posted the rules at the end of this post, which is one of the rules.

Alrighty then, here we go . . .

1) My brother was born on my third birthday.

2) I love overcast, cloudy, foggy and/or rainy days. I much prefer winter weather over summer weather. Thunder and lightening make me giddy.

3) I have really bad restless leg syndrome. If it weren't for medication, I would NEVER sleep, ever.

4) When I was a little girl, I loved to catch reptiles. I often had snakes, salamanders, lizards, and/or frogs in buckets and containers in the back yard.

5) I have hypersensitive senses. My daughter says I have the ears of a dog, nose of a bloodhound and eyes of a gopher. High pitched sounds hurt my ears and head. I can't listen to female sopranos. Scrape me off the ceiling if I hear Mariah Carey. In stores that play this type of music, I walk around with my fingers in my ears. Eeeek. I have the nose of a bloodhound. I have to go stand in another grocery line if the person next to me had garlic or onions for lunch . . . . last week. Ick. I have the eyes of a gopher. I can't go outside, even to get the newspaper at the end of the driveway, without my sunglasses on.

6) I was a respiratory therapist for 10 years and an insurance agent for 17 years.

THE RULES (for this game of tag):

1. LINK TO THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU

2. POST THE RULES ON YOUR BLOG

3. WRITE SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF

4. TAG SIX PEOPLE AT THE END OF YOUR POST AND LINK TO THEM

5. LET EACH PERSON KNOW THEY ARE TAGGED AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THEIR BLOG

6.LET THE TAGGER KNOW WHEN YOUR ENTRY IS UP

7. DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN (not actually a rule)

Here are my tagged bloggers:

Shannon

Miss Paigie

Miss Balacey (Tracy)

Laura of Dances With Teddy Bears

Christine of Boot Button Bears

Laurie of Laurie Lou Bears

Isn't This Fun?

Merry Christmas ! ! !

1957

Ornament Swap

I promised earlier when I wrote about the Puddle I received in the Teddy Talk ornament swap, that I'd post a photo of the ornament I made. My angel has completed her journey and has been received by Penney in Connecticut.

You CAN be there . . .

December 15th was the big day . . . Sullivan's first birthday. Since I had just been to visit Tracy, Tyson and Sullivan in November, I wasn't able to talk the hubster into springing for another plane ticket. Sigh . . . anyway . . . next best thing? . . . Skype ! ! !

Come party time I combed my hair, put on lipstick, a nice sweater to go with my pajama pants, booted up the computer and made my Skype call to the party. After greeting a few of the guests, Tracy and Tyson put me (their laptop) in the kitchen with a bird's eye view of the birthday boy so I could watch him dig into his smash cake. He could see and hear me as well.

After cake and refreshments, I was escorted into the livingroom to watch the birthday boy open his gifts.

Happy Birthday, Sullivan. Nana couldn't be there in person but via Skype, I saw and heard it all and Sullivan saw and heard me too. I even got to give Sullivan a hug and kiss by proxy. This one was from Nana. Thank you, Tracy!

I got a puddle ! ! !

On Teddy Talk (a teddy bear forum I belong to) we're having our 3rd annual Christmas Ornament swap. Today I received a package from Austrailia and to my delight, this is what was in my package. I'm so thrilled to have a puddle ornament made by Wendy Cheng of Matilda Huntington Beare. Wendy is famous for her puddles which are made of fur with bills perfectly needlefelted. Thank you, Wendy ! ! ! Check out Wendy's website at http://matildahuggington.webs.com/index.htm


I'm working on my ornament and I'll post a picture of it after my recipient receives it. Wouldn't want to spoil any surprises.

HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS

Kinda' speaks for itself . . .

Nana's Excellent Adventure

I'm back home from an excellent visit with Tracy and Tyson (TNT) in Tennessee. I spent 19 wonderful days with them and had a terrific time! (With the exception of the weekend that we all had the stomach flu.) It was so good to spend time lovin' on little Sullivan who turned 11 months old on November 15th. He is truly a delight. He's such a happy boy and, oh, what a sense of humor. Here are pictures of the sunshiny day we spent at the Nashville Zoo:

For my birthday, Tracy took me to a cake decorating class at Joann Fabrics. The class was a blast and we learned to decorate a cake to boot. Tracy proved to have a substantial talent at cake decorating. The birthday cake she made for me was delightful with teddy bear, balloons and all. Just look:

I finished my second quilt. I presented it to Sullivan for his first birthday, which will be December 15th. Here's a picture of Sullivan on his new quilt.

Oh yes, and here are some pictures of the boy, just because he is so darned cute!

A Success Story

My precious grandbaby, Sullivan, was diagnosed at three months with infant glaucoma. (Sullivan is now 9 months old .) This is a very rare disease affecting only 1 in 10,000. Sullivan has had two surgeries at Vanderbilt University by Dr. Karen Joos. All tests since the surgeries have been perfect.

Tracy and Tyson moved to the Nashville area 5 years ago just after they were married. Tracy has told me many time that she wasn't happy about the move, but knew God had a reason. She didn't know His reason but, maybe someday would find out. Well, the top specialist (one of only three in the country) just happened to be at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a mere 20 minutes from their home. Now we know at least one reason God brought them to Nashville.

A couple months ago, Dr. Joos called Tracy. She was worried because Dr. Joos has never herself called Tracy. Tracy was relieved when Dr. Joos asked if she would be willing to be interviewed for an article in the Vanderbilt newspaper as a sucess story. Follow this link to read all about it: http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=6731

A-quiltin' I will go . . .

This is Tracy on her wedding day in 2003. (Having her hair and make-up done, not in her dress yet, just in case you thought she got married in a cotton blouse). She's receiving a very special gift from my Auntie Sue . . . a gorgeous quilt Sue made especially for Tracy and Tyson. The reason I show you these pictures, is that when I decided I wanted to make a quilt of my own, of course the go-to girl had to be my Auntie Sue herself. She has made dozens, no, probably hundreds of quilts. She is the Queen of Quilting.

Not only have I finished my first quilt, I've had a blast with Aunt Sue! So much fun, that now I'm taking guitar lessons from Aunt Sue (don't know how well I'll do with that; I'm not very musically inclined). She is a multi-talented girl!

Here's a picture of my first quilt. I'm working on my second quilt now. I was making this quilt for Sullivan but decided that it wasn't good enough for him. I'll post a picture of the new quilt photographed with Sullivan. I'll be seeing them soon . . . YEA.

Stand up to be tall . . .

Sullivan's mommy reports that he is so proud of himself. In addition to crawling, he's now pulling himself up to stand which also gives him the ability to dance (just like his mommy when she was a wee one).

Splish Splash

Just a few bears

Like I said below, I'm taking a short break . . . but in the meantime . . . I have a few bears available on my website or directly from my Etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5149736 or

http://www.swanvalleybears.com/

A Sweet Time with Tracy, Tyson and Sullivan

This month my Tracy and her little Sullivan came for a two week visit. We even got Tyson for a day too. What a wonderful, sweet time we had! Sullivan is the happiest, cutest baby EVER. Sullivan started to crawl during their visit so I got to witness a first ! ! !

LOOK AT THOSE BLUE EYES!!!

I was happy to be able to visit with Tracy's long time friends during her visit too. Nique and Kevin and their babe, Rosie; Natalie and Dries and their 4 adorable children came for a pool party/bbq. Heather and Alfonso and their sweet little ones, Spencer and Mia came for an overnighter; and Katie Knipp and her beau, Jeremy came for dinner. I really miss my girls' friends. It was so good to spend time with them again.

HE DID FINALLY FIT IN THE CARRY ON SO IT WASN'T NECESSARY TO CHECK LUGGAGE

Paige went home with Tracy for a Tennessee visit and was joined a couple days later by Thomas. They'll be home later this week. I so look forward to the time when I have both my girlies home to stay.