I'm Sick Of Sex

I am not going to have an official full blown update until after the show in May.  BUT...I am working on some bunnies for Spring/Easter which you will get to see (hopefully) in a few days.  When I work a lot I tend to watch too much TV while I sew.

The other day while I was sewing I was watching old reruns of "I Love Lucy" and laughing my head off.  Sure it may not have been the most intellectually stimulating show, but it was funny.  Really funny, and the plot lines were clever.

I had also recorded a current sitcom that I like.  Now it's funny too, but while I was watching those old reruns I realized every current show I watch on the regular TV stations uses sex as a vehicle.  In fact every show does.  I kinda got to wondering about that.

I could make all sorts of comments about morality and the lack of it on TV, and I could make all sorts of comments on how kids are influenced by what they see.  I could even make comments about how people on TV fall into bed as easily as they try on a pair of shoes, and it means about as much.  I could go so far as to point out that when civilizations become too permissive and promiscuous they always fall.  It's happened over and over through out history and each time...they never see it coming.

But aside from all that I also found myself wondering why every show has to have sexual situations?  Aren't writers clever enough to come up with anything else anymore?  Or is it that we, the viewing audience have given Hollywood the impression we don't find anything else funny?

When Charlie Sheen had his ridiculous meltdown a few weeks ago I was utterly shocked to find out that Two And A Half Men was the most popular show on CBS.  Now Charlie claimed that he was what made the show what it was and that he was irreplaceable.  But honestly I think there are about 9000 frat boys with the same level of humor in America that could have walked in and filled his shoes.  After all they know how to make the same base, tactless jokes about body parts and functions that he did.  They wouldn't have even needed acting classes or writers.

I really thought that show should have been cancelled years ago.  So the question is, has our humor level dumbed down...or has TV?  Either way I am sick of sex on TV.  I am no prude, but I would like to see something funny.  Really funny.  Something that would make me laugh out loud based on something else.  I probably won't get my wish.  I know that Lucy and the gang have left this world for a better place...but where are Bill Cosby and Tim Allen when we still need them?  Sex might sell, but I am sick of buyin.  I guess they can pay Charlie or his replacement millions for being crass...but I won't be watching.  At least I can still watch truly funny reruns on Cable.

~*~ Daisy ~*~

So here she is, my brand new animal!  Meet Daisy the lamb...just in time for Easter!  She is a very small 4 inches long by 3 1/2 inches tall!  Isn't she sweet!

She is available on the Animals Page of my website.

~*~ Happy O'Day ~*~

Happy is just strollin along singing a song in his heart.  He is one happy little bear!  But how could be anything else in his jaunty scarf and strawberry color! You can visit him on the Bears Page Of My Website

We hope you have a happy day too!

Hyacinth

               I bought some lovely Hyacinth plants at the store, and they bloomed so I thought I would take a couple pics of them!  Aren't they pretty!

Wait a second...what's that?

Aww it's just Mozzie!  He likes the pretty flowers too!



Is It Really That Important?

I want to ask you something...has anyone ever said anything to you that was more important than someones life?  What about you, have you ever said anything to someone that was more important than your own life?

Now unless you're holding state secrets, chances are the answer is easy...it's no.

Yesterday I went out to run some errands and I had a close call.  I was in the right hand lane, approaching a stop light when it turned yellow.  I slowed down and stopped.  It wasn't a rapid stop, I didn't slam on my brakes.  In my rear view mirror I could see an SUV barreling down on my little car.  He was going way too fast.  I could also see that he was holding his phone above his steering wheel texting like in the pic below.

What he didn't see was that the light had turned and I had stopped.  In fact I was bracing for the crash.  I knew it was coming.  I couldn't do a thing to get away from it either.  Luckily at the very last second he noticed my car and swerved to the middle lane.  He missed me by mere inches!!!  He was going way too fast to stop though, he ran the red light and nearly got broadsided by a car that had the green light.  That car had to slam on their brakes so hard to keep from hitting him that the car spun out a little.  I am sure the driver of that car was as shaken up as I was.  I wish I could have reported him to the police, but he was going so fast that I couldn't get his licence number.  It's by the grace of God we all survived.

The thing I found myself wondering is what could have possibly been so important that he was willing to risk his own life and the life of others?  I have to tell ya, I have never had a conversation that was that important.

Now I told you the other day I got a brand new smart phone.  I also sent my first text.  I did it from my sofa.  It's hard to type on a phone though, even when you're sitting on the sofa.  I can't imagine doing it while driving.  When I am driving my cell phone is tucked safely in my purse.  If it rings, I will call the person back when I stop.

In Colorado we don't have a no texting while driving law yet.  I can't wait until the day we do. 

It's kind of funny though, it used to be we liked to leave home to get away from being accessible to things for a little bit.  Now we seem to think we can't leave home without being accessible.  I still enjoy the freedom.  E-mails, phone calls, conversations...they can wait.  I know we live in an instant gratification world, but the one instant gratification we don't need is death. 

I implore you, don't use your cell phone while driving!  Your life and the lives of others may depend on it.  Is that conversation that important?

A New Look For Spring

With the onset of spring I felt a new look for my website was in order!  I have been working quite hard on it, and I am pretty pleased with it.  I hope you are too!

 

If you would like to have a look you can click the link at the right or go to Blondheart.com

Happy Spring!

We have all been waiting and watching for Spring to arrive, and it's finally here!

Ok actually this is what they were looking at...

I took these last Spring and I forgot to post them.  It's not that leafy and green here yet.  Actually Colorado tends to get most of our snow in Spring.  But I do love warm days despite the fact that my house is inundated with critters.  We get lots of squirrels and for some reason, lots of snakes.  I had one that was determined to live in my garage no matter how many times I relocated him.  I am sure he will be back this year too.

I also had two mystery animals that moved into the garden.  They ran so fast I couldn't ever see what they were.  One of them even ran right between my feet and I still couldn't tell what it was for sure.  I think they may have been horned toads.  Whatever they were, they definitely weren't mice.  And they love gardens.

Mozzie

Even though the human brain doesn't finish it's development until we are in our mid twenties, we reach our peak of physical attractiveness much sooner.  Usually in our mid to late teen years.  Our skin is at it's smoothest, our hair it's fullest, our eyes their brightest and our teeth their whitest.

As we traverse on through life we start picking up battle scars and barnacles of age that show we have actually lived our lives.  Now most of us attempt to combat the aging process in one way or another.  We want to retain the flawlessness of youth as long as we can.  But what we don't stop to consider is that these things we gather on our journey give us character.

The life of a childhood stuffed companion is similar.  They start out with shiny fur, even noses, bright eyes and crisp bows.  But as they are drug along on the journey of the child who loves them they too pick up battle scars and barnacles of age.  But we look at them differently than we do ourselves and we can appreciate the character they have gained.

Now as an artist who is a perfectionist at the core, but does her best to recreate that well lived and loved look right from the onset...I fight a never ending battle with myself.  It's normal for the human brain to like balance and symmetry.  If we didn't, the golden ratio wouldn't be considered golden.  Our hearts on the other hand, respond to things that are unique, a little flawed and have a story to tell.  In the end my heart usually wins.

But when toys are well loved, they lose that balance.  Noses are pushed off to one side from being hugged close to the body, a limb might sag, stains appear randomly, and stuffing moves around.  When I distress a piece I have to override that natural instinct to make it balanced.  Believe me it's hard to do.  I have to walk a fine line in order to appease my own sense of aesthetics and get the look I want.

When I make a prototype for a new bear, I usually feel pretty confident in the pattern.  After all I have been doing this for thirty years, so I am familiar with proportion and how this or that will make the final piece look.  Despite that, things don't turn out exactly the way I want them to on the first try every single time, and sometimes it needs a little bit of tweaking.  One of three things will happen to that prototype.  Either it will be good and I will sell it, or if it's not a bear, but a new animal I may keep it for reference.  All the rest that I am not comfortable with selling for some reason end up going to the "Land Of Lost Toys."  That is another person's house where I know they will be loved despite their imperfections.

At the end of my steamer trunk that I use as a coffee table/work table sits a little chair that I made years ago.  Quite frequently a bear will be sitting in it to keep me company while I work.  It might be one from my collection who wanted to come out of the work room for a bit, or it might be one that I made.

After I made the prototype for the new 7 inch bear I set him in the chair.  (Yes it's a boy despite his pink bow.  Bears don't worry about such things as gender specific colors.)  I couldn't quite bring myself to sell him.  For some reason he had some serious issues.  You might not notice them so much if I didn't tell you.  But his chin seam was much too long and it was crooked.  I don't know why it was crooked, it shouldn't have been...my hand sewing is pretty meticulous.  His nose was done in embroidery thread because I didn't have any #8 pearl cotton  yet since I hadn't been making bears that small.  I didn't even have any black embroidery thread so I used charcoal grey.

I couldn't look at him because I felt disappointed.  Especially after the tweaking caused the subsequent bears to turn out so well.  He was slated to go off to the "Land Of Lost Toys."  But he sat there for many days looking a bit forlorn and hopeful while I worked on the rest.  They were that perfect mix that rode the fine line and I was happy with them.  After about a week a funny thing happened...he started to grow on me.  A lot.  In fact I developed a real fondness for him, and I felt he deserved a name.  I named him Mozzie after the character in the show "White Collar."  I love that show, and that character. 

He is going to stay here, he may not be perfect...but he has real character!  Hopefully someday I will look in the mirror and appreciate my own imperfections I have picked up along the way the same way I have come to appreciate his.

Two Mail Announcements

First off, I want to tell you that I have changed my e-mail address for my blog.  I have had AOL ever since I got my first computer.  Now I know people hate AOL but I have honestly never had much for problems with it.  Lately though, I have been having some mail issues off and on.  Sometimes it's delayed and this week my responses don't seem to be going out.  I always respond to e-mails, so if you didn't get a reply...first check your spam folder, and if it's not there then it must have gotten lost.  Of course the Internet has had more people on it than usual this week and that can have an effect.

The second announcement is that I will be heading for the post office with all the packages to go out tomorrow.  They will all be going USPS, so you should be getting your bears in a few days if you are in the US and a little longer for my International customers!

And now...I am off to work on a new bear!

Good Things And Bad Things

Boy what a crazy week!  First of all I want to thank everyone who came and supported the Blooming Bear Show.  The turnout was stellar and a huge number of bears got adopted.  So on the behalf of the bears, myself and all the artists participating I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Of course beyond the happiness of a bear show, the world was just in chaos with all the happenings in Japan and the ensuing tsunami that hit so many places.  I can't even tell you how badly I feel for these people.  I have been to Japan, and it's a beautiful country with lovely people and my heart just goes out to them.  How much more can they possibly take between the earthquake, the nuclear reactor situations, the tsunami and now a volcano!  It seems like it's just one terror heaped on another terror on another...I have been watching the news and wishing I could just go over there and wrap my arms around every single one of them and make it better in every way possible.  But unfortunately there is only so much we can do to ease their suffering from a world away.

Both the show and the things going on in the world have left me feeling a bit exhausted.  R drug me out of the house today.  I have been here most of the week working like mad, and he felt I needed an outing.  I went and got a new smart phone.  I really wasn't keen on getting one, but I realized when I go to the show in May I would probably need an alternate way to have people pay since not everyone uses cash or checks anymore. 

After that he took me to On The Border, which is one of our favorite restaurants.  If you haven't tried the brisket grilled enchiladas, you don't know what you're missing. 

We made a final stop at Target so I could pick up a corned beef for St. Patrick's Day.  I am Irish after all, gotta have it once a year!  I wanted to go there because the one I got from there was really good. 

I also needed to buy a new scale.  I stepped on mine this morning and it said I weighed 103 pounds.  Now that might be nice, but I know it isn't even remotely close to true.  In my entire adult life I have never weighed 103 pounds!  When I got the new one out I discovered I was actually 9 pounds lighter than I thought though.  So that was good.  I had a feeling that mine was weighing too heavy...well at least until this morning. 

I think at this point what I need is some really good sleep.  I had insomnia last week for several days.  In fact I have an odd little side note about that.  My doctor gave me some sleeping pills for when I have insomnia.  I don't like to take them, but if I go too many days without proper sleep I will break down and take one.  They usually knock me out for 8-10 hours and I wake up feeling groggy and drug out for several hours after.  But when I took one the other night I woke up after about 2 1/2 hours which surprised me.  I was wide awake, and I remember I had been having an odd dream where it seemed as if I was sitting up high, like in a tree maybe and I was peering through some tropical foliage down into water where some boats were.  The boats were rocking very hard and some were on their side.  That's all I remember about it, but I had an odd sense of uneasiness.

After I woke up I came downstairs and was watching TV and playing around on a forum I go to.  Someone came on and said that Japan had been hit with the earthquake about 45 minutes before.  Oddly enough, I had been up for exactly 46 minutes.  A similar thing happened years ago.  I had been getting ready for a bear show in Kansas and every night for a week before the show I had a dream about a tornado.  I passed it off as pre-show jitters.  On the way home from that show a tornado set down on my car.  Go figure.

So I am going to quit rambling and head to bed.  Hopefully I will sleep dream free!

Have a lovely day all!  Hugs, K. <3

~*~ Beau & Blossom ~*~

I had a special request for two well loved bunnies.  I just thought I would show them to you.  Aren't they sweet!

Also today is the last day for the Blooming Bear show.  I still have Pogo and Betty Sue available.  You can see them in the previous post.

The Blooming Bear Show Has Started!

Blooming bears!

~*~ Monet ~*~

(He has been adopted)

~*~ Genova  ~*~

(She has been adopted)

~*~ Betty Sue ~*~

~*~ Roquefort ~*~

(He has been adopted)

 ~*~ Pogo ~*~

At long last the day has arrived!  You get to see the new little bears.  Alll these little cuties are now available.  To adopt one for your very own go to

http://www.teddiesworldwide.com/

 and click on the picture of Monet which will magically whisk you away to my page. 

Happy bear day!  Hugs, K. <3

~*~ Junie Moon ~*~

At last you can see one of the brand new 7 inch bears!  This is Junie Moon, isn't she a cutie pie. 

Also as I told you earlier in the year I would be doing some blog offerings, so my blog and facebook readers get the first chance.  She is completely hand stitched, has black glass eyes and her jumper has lace and velvet trim and carved mother of pearl buttons.  She is 175.00 and that includes shipping.  To adopt Junie just send me an e-mail and include your paypal e-mail address so I can send an invoice.  She is a one of a kind, so it's first come first serve!

Junie has been added to my website, you can purchase her there.  Thank you!

Hugs, K. <3

Quick Update

Hi all...I know I haven't been posting but it's because I have been getting the bears ready for the Blooming Bear Show Saturday and I had to get an ad done.  The good news is I am caught up finally!  At least for the moment.

I have Monet who is 12 inches and you saw him in the preview on the site.  If you haven't seen it you can do that by clicking the link to the right.  I also have 4 new little 7 inch bears done, and they came out so so SO cute!  All four are so sweet that I could happily keep them all right here at home.  But they want to go out into the world to seek their fortune, so who am I to stand in their way!  Only a few more days and you will get to see them too!

I got a new box of mohair today so I already have a new bear in the works.  I just cannot CANNOT stop making the new size.  But that means I will finally have one you can see before the show.

Stay tuned!  Hugs, K. <3

Rusty's Spaceship

One of my favorite books as a kid was Rusty's Spaceship.  R has never read this book, and since his nickname is Rusty he really needs to read it. 

I have been looking for the book, it's from the 60's, and I can only find one online for sale at a ridiculous price.  If anyone has this book and would be kind enough to sell it to me for a decent price, please let me know.  Thanks!

American Idol

I have to tell ya, I have been working like a mad woman this week.  I have gotten so much done it's amazing.  I still have a ways to go, but I can tell you that the bears for the online show turned out really nicely.  I have three new little ones and they are so sweet.  Their pics just don't do any of them justice despite photographing them several times on several backgrounds.  I am addicted to making them though.  I LOVE this new size, and I hope you will too.  While I have been working I have been watching a lot of TV.

I have never watched American Idol in seasons past.  I couldn't stand Simon in commercials let alone to watch him on the show.  But when they switched things up this year I decided to watch.  They added Stephen Tyler to the mix, and I am a product of that era so naturally I love Aerosmith.  Besides I figured he could be pretty entertaining to watch.  I was right, he is very cool.  I really didn't know anything about Jennifer Lopez other than she was famous for her posterior.  But I have to say I like how she deals with people as well.  She is sweet and funny and not cruel.  Randy Jackson confuses me.  I didn't even know he was a previous judge and honestly I thought he was just an actor. 

So tonight was the finals of who gets to be on the show.  I had all the guys picked except Stefano.  I thought sure it was going to be Brett.  I really think he deserved a chance on the show.  There was something very appealing and honest about that kid, and I am really sorry he didn't make it through.  I even went online and voted for him.  I never vote for anything like that.

The girls I had a couple of them picked right and I wasn't sure about the rest.  The one that I would have rather not made it was Haley.  I don't know why, her voice is incredible but there is something about her that just doesn't ring true with me.  I can't put my finger on what it is.  So I am going to continue watching for the rest of the season.  I really like Paul and Scott, and I hope they do well.  I like Nayima too.  I hope one of those three wins at this point.

I do admire them all though, I have told you before if I could change one thing about myself it would be to have the ability to sing.  I have no illusions about my voice, it's terrible.  As my Grandma used to say, I can't carry a tune in a bucket.  Neither can R.  We will just never make beautiful music.

Oh well I guess I better get back to what I can make though, and that's bears!

Sneak Peek

Hello all!  I am feeling better finally.  Not perfect but getting there. 

Despite not being 100% yet I have been working my fingers to the bone the last few days to get everything ready.  I am finished with all my special requests, I have two bears done for the show, one stitched and ready to assemble and two more cut out!  I worked for 12 hours yesterday. 

I also have the page partially finished.  While I can't show you any of that, you can see one of the new bears at the sneak peek by going to:

http://www.teddiesworldwide.com/

It's not one of the new little bears because I had to have the pic in a couple weeks ago before I had made any of those.  The bear in the pic is "Monet" and the tiny pic doesn't do him justice.  He is 12 inches and I used longer mohair for him which is something I rarely do, and he is a real cutie.  But you can see him and all his friends on the 12th & 13th.

There probably won't be a whole lot of posting the next couple days because I have to get an ad in by the 3rd along with everything else.  So I will be busy busy!

Have a lovely day!  Hugs, K. <3