January 30th, 2010

Well, my mom and her mom have decided that spring must come to Wisconsin sooner or later. They went and bought a lot of seeds to grow this summer in the garden. We can’t even start any of them for at least another month yet, but it’s certainly nice to look at the packages!

My mom likes sunflowers and heirloom vegetables. I know you really can’t read the titles on any of the seed packages, but there are approximately six different kinds of sunflowers there. She bought four different kinds of different tomatoes too. Grandma bought different seeds too. Grandma mostly likes growing every kind of vegetable possible. She is not as much into the pretty flowers like Mom.  She did buy a fancy tomato plant that is supposed to look like of like a tree as it grows. It is called a silvery fir tree tomato. It’s really not a fir tree, but it still seems cool. We will probably start them in March. It is a long project—I’m sure I will get to help. Mom let me help gather our first crop of tomatoes a year or so ago, and took me out to admire the pretty sunflowers.

Mom and I did go out and see the extra large full moon. Mom has never quite figured out night photography, so she didn’t take a picture. It was very beautiful though. I hope more people got to notice it!

January 29th, 2010

No photo story today, I am afraid. Mom is tired from working so many days in a row. I wanted to write an entry anyways. Before we forgot, I wanted to thank the nice lady who left a comment on my last entry saying that I have a nice blog! I like knowing that people read my blog! I love all the comments I get and appreciate every one!

I recently installed a web counter for the number of visitors that come to my blog, but couldn’t figure out how to make sure that it doesn’t count my own visits. So while the number is interesting, we’re not sure how many of them are visitors and how many of them are me visiting! My Windows Live Writer visits the blog after every post to make sure that it is formatted properly. We started to play with the Google Analytics thing, but didn’t get very far. That will have to be for another day!

I am going to try to be online this afternoon so I can chat with my new friends from the BearPlace. A lot of them are from the UK, so their schedules are drastically different then mine. But we’ve made an attempt to pick a time to chat! Mom has to work, but we hope to meet them!

Mom has to go to work now, and she doesn’t let me play with the computer without her around. I have to go—I will post more later perhaps. Apparently tonight there is an extra nice full moon. She says that we might go out and take pictures! Maybe I will share them with you later!

January 24th, 2010

Mom brought a group of us downstairs to sit with her on the couch today. We’ve been talking about all sorts of things. Mom is copying CDs to her computer for her Mom. (She then transfers the songs that her Mom wants onto her computer. Doing it this way gets her the tracks and gives all the tracks names. Her mom’s computer can’t get on the internet yet. It’s a long story.)

Mom has been uploading pictures of my friends and family to Picasa. She had previously uploaded one picture of each of the plushies that live in my hug as a catalog of sorts. Now there are more pictures of the plushies that are close to me.  It gave me an idea to take some photos of my own. Mom has two cameras, so she borrowed me one. I am going try to do a photo story here, much like the ones I see in the blogs I read every day.

So first of all, Mom lent me her old camera.

We then adjusted it so I could hold it better. It was kind of heavy!

I chose Opal for my first photographic subject. When we were cataloging and uploading photos, we discovered that we had the least amount of pictures of her.

It took us both a little while to figure out how we wanted the photo to look like. Finally we agreed on a pose that made a picture that ended up looking like this!

  Pretty good for my first photo! Opal liked it too, so I moved on to other subjects!

These are some of my friends sitting on the couch talking. Foster reminded me that we didn’t have many pictures of him either—although it has more to do with the fact that he’s newly arrived in the grand scheme of our hug! But I took his photo anyways!

  Ambrose was sitting next to him, so it became more of a photo of both of them. I’ll work on the zooming thing next time!

I hope you liked my first photographic foray. I liked being in charge of the camera! Mom’s always taking pictures of me! These photos are really by me like the watermark says! Pretty cool!

January 22nd, 2010

Mom did go to Build-a-Bear and bought my friends and I some presents.  BAB has a frequent shopper program. For every $100 you spend, you get $10 in a certificate to use there. So every four or five months, Mom gets a certificate in her email! She decided to print off the certificate today in celebration of her little vacation and go shopping! She bought two boy outfits and two girl shirts.

Mom likes this shirt because it had snaps. You can’t see them, but they are shiny buttons with snap backs. She says that I look like a have an attitude problem in this picture. I say it’s the silly tie that came as part of the shirt. She thinks the outfit has something to do with the Jonas Brothers—but neither of us are sure. She bought me another shirt—this one has an eagle on it. It’s supposed to be patriotic. It says strength and freedom on it. Mom liked the eagle. I think it’s cool—very trendy. I think it looks like the shirts that Mom and Caleb see at stores when they go shopping.

I do love Chloe—even when she’s being extra annoying in her little-sister-ness. We kept each other company for many long days in the beginning of our hug. I am happy that I have such a loving family with Foster and Chloe! Mom and I read Buttons BeCause’s blog entry about sending bears to Haiti to comfort the children who have been hurt by the aftereffects of the earthquake. I thought about all those children who don’t have anyone to go to and it made me glad that I have people and plushies to be with.

I wasn’t going to show you these plushies—but they’re so cute and so tiny that I couldn’t resist. They’re from Only Hearts Pets. They are Eggs the ostrich, Stretch the giraffe, and Tad the teddy bear. Mom found them when she was shopping today. To show how tiny they are, Caleb, Baxter, and Stegner allowed Mom to take their picture together.  Caleb is only six inches tall at the most, and he towers over the three of them. Even Baxter seems to be a giant compared to their littleness! Caleb says that he will keep track of them so they don’t get lost! I think it’s a very important job—they could get lost so easily!

January 21st, 2010

My mom has the next four days off from her job. She does not have to back to work until Tuesday! This will mean plenty of naps, pictures, and playing on the internet. She says that she might go to Build-a-Bear  and buy something, which usually means that I get a present of some sort. There are so many cool things at BAB that I am always surprised when she brings something home. Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a new friend by the time you read this! It all depends on what she finds there!

I don’t know how to get a hold of them, but I just wanted the bears at Teddy Bear and Friends blog that I cannot comment on their blog. I try—I especially like the most recent post about going to that teddy bear show. It looked like a lot of fun. He got to meet so many new bears! I think that would be the best part! I’ve never go to pick out a new friend before—or even be part of the decision making process. Even when I got Caleb, he kind of chose me! Well, I’ll admit that getting a new outfit or some other present might be the best part. Hm. I wonder what he thought about the whole thing?

The snow is melting around here now.  This weekend, the temperatures are supposed to be in the upper 30° F range. In exchange, it is supposed to rain and snow almost all weekend. I wish that it would just stay nice and snow-covered. I don’t mind the snow. I don’t like rain and mud and wet in the middle of January! How pretty is that?! And you can’t go out and play in the mud!  I never got to go outside and make a snow-bear! Sigh. I guess Mother Nature will do whatever she wants with the weather! All we can do is do our best to deal with it!

Since I spent that time reading to Chloe, she thinks that we should spend more time together. She’s trying to convince Mom to get another book from upstairs. Mom said that she would on one of her days off but I hope she forgets! Sometimes, sisters are so troublesome! We can’t agree on what kind of book to read! I don’t want to read a book about princess or something like that, but she doesn’t want to read a book about cars! Sigh. Sisters!

January 20th, 2010

Mom brought a book downstairs tonight. It is called Chester’s Way, and it is by a gentleman named Kevin Henkes. Kevin Henkes is my mom’s favorite children’s picture book writer. He writes books like Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse and Owen. I helped Chloe read the book for a while tonight. It is one of my favorite Kevin Henkes books. Chloe prefers the ones with Lilly as the main character—I think she wishes she could be that spunky! Mom wouldn’t allow that though! Chloe can read a lot of words—which is very good considering she is only three years old. I helped her with some of the bigger ones. She liked me reading passages out loud.

Mom made a group on the Bear Place a few days ago about books. She took our pictures so she could post a little story of sorts on there. I think she should bring more books downstairs so we can read more books to show on there!

Our hug seems to increase in bursts because Mom rescues Build-a-Bear plushies from Goodwill. When she finds one, if they’re not a species of BAB that she already has, they come home to our hug more often then not. Sometimes, they come home no matter what!She says that she can’t afford to bring home too many from the BAB store, but Goodwill’s prices are much more in her range. Some of the new, smaller plushies come from the place that she works. She gets a discount there. It doesn’t happen often because the plushies that are there don’t ask to be brought home. I am glad that as a bear, I don’t have to worry about money!

January 17th, 2010

We had some new arrivals yesterday. Mom found them all at Goodwill. The pony is Crocus, Saffron and Hyacinth's cousin. The bear is Walnut—a very dapper looking fellow. Finally the tiger is Cornflower, named for her soft blue eyes that you can’t see very well. They are fitting in very well here. Crocus is a little bit shy, but is glad to find some of her relatives here. Mom is going to introduce Cornflower to some of our other cats—like Daisy the Bengal tiger and Eira the snow leopard. She hopes that will ease the move into such a big hug! Walnut, on the other hand, seems to fit right in and is very sociable. He has already made friends with Roscoe and they are discussing soccer—Roscoe’s favorite sport. (Roscoe fancies himself quite the soccer player, but I think he intimidates any of the other plushies who will play with him. He’s an awfully big fellow!)

Mom took a photo of the introduction today. They seem to be getting along well. We worry sometimes that new hug members won’t feel welcome, but there is almost always someone who will take the new member under their supervision and make sure that they feel welcome! Mom is in charge of making sure they have something comfortable to wear, and then one of us introduces the new plushie to the rest of the hug. We don’t expect everyone to remember everyone’s name! That’s what Mom is for!

We spent the evening watching Mom play on the internet. Are there any websites that you like to visit? Mom lets us go to the BearPlace and the Bear Club often. We read our blogs that we are subscribed to via Google Reader. She will also let us look things up on Wikipedia.   Mom has plenty more websites that she checks. We check Mom’s mail, go to Mom’s Livejournal, and check her Twitter feed. We also check her facebook page often.

I like browsing on the internet. Mom does not let me go online by myself. She says that there are things on the internet that are not meant for small bears. I am glad that I found all these blogs to read. She will let me read blogs by myself! I usually need help posting on my own blog. My patience with typing isn’t very long!

 

January 13th, 2010

Mom has been playing with the program that I use to post blog entries. The program is called Windows Live Writer. It comes with the ability to have plug-ins.  The addition of the most recent set of plug-ins started as an attempt to find something that would add on my signature picture automatically. The only thing that she can find is a post on someone else’s blog explaining how to edit the template for the blog so it adds it—but it frankly took her quite a bit of time to get the template edited to get my blog to have a different look to it! She’s pretty good at computers, but we both have a lot to learn about editing and creating html and the like for websites! We’ve got plenty of time, but we’re working on it now! We probably should be working on our hunt for a bear-doctor!  

Mom has today off work. We’re going to work on finding the bear-doctor, taking naps, and otherwise wasting the day away. Mom says that’s what days off are for. I’m for the taking naps part! Mom’s currently on the hunting for a bear-doctor part. We found a website that lists some teddy bear artists from Wisconsin, but every one of the links is dead—and there is only one phone number that is listed that leads back to a person searchable on the internet. Sigh. Well, at least we made some progress today.  Who thought it would be this difficult to find a teddy bear artist to contact? Mom doesn’t want to trust my paw-repair to just anyone either! She was hoping to have some people to chose from. Sigh.

We decided that we wanted to watch a movie. The last time we watched a movie together, Mom chose. She said that I could chose today, so I picked Cars—the Disney film. Foster, Caleb and I sat in the kitchen when Mom had lunch and watched the movie. I love that movie. They have made a sequel that is coming out to theaters in 2011.

Do you have a favorite movie? Mom’s favorite movie is Lilo and Stitch. We like children’s movies around here. We don’t watch movies a lot though. We have our favorite movies that we watch, but that’s about it. We spend a lot of time on the internet, reading, or watching the Food Network. We certainly watch a lot of Food Network! I would like to watch more bear friendly shows, but I don’t really mind either way, It makes Mom happy. She says that it is nostalgic for her. When she was a little girl, they only had basic television. She watched a lot of PBS (it’s Wisconsin Public Television here)  and the cooking and home improvement shows on the weekends.  As an adult, she watches the Food Network instead! I guess it’s part of my job to keep Mom happy, so I watch the Food Network too. It’s an important job!

January 11th, 2010

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My friend Hammie posted pictures of some of the bears who live with him. I thought that I should post something in reply, but I didn’t know what. It dawned on me that I do live with some hamsters, although they aren’t in my immediate hug. They are from the Japanese TV show Hamtaro! Mom bought these little guys—and one girl—a long time ago. She doesn’t remember much about the show itself—the hamsters had their names on the tags. They are very little, probably only three or four inches high—a bit smaller then Caleb. She used to work for a place that sold a lot of anime and anime related things, including plush! She remembers liking the TV show, but mostly liking the way that they looked.  After a little research, it turns out that it was very popular here in the United States in 2002 and 2003, which would have been smack in the middle of her time there.

I hope these hamsters are interesting to see! Mom and I were happy to show them off! We were very glad when we remembered that they lived here!

 

January 10th, 2010

So, this is how Mom and I are going to deal with my owies. My hands are covered with brand new socks. I’m not fond of the way they look—I was hoping she could find something that matched the rest of me better—but it’s certainly better then wearing the robe or something like that. And it’s not too uncomfortable at all. Now we are going to continue our hunt for a bear-doctor on the internet and get them patched up or replaced! (Or Mom’s going to get over her apprehension and patch them up herself!)

Today is a beautiful day. It’s still rather cold—below freezing—but at least it’s not below zero. I am glad that I am an inside bear. I know most bears hibernate in the winter, but I still wouldn’t want to be outside. (Did you know that bears and some other animals really don’t hibernate? They actually just fall into a deep sleep—because you can wake a bear up during the winter. Animals that really hibernate, like ground squirrels, cannot be woken up! Prairie dogs are an example. Mom learned that in a class that she took.)

Milton is one of my best friends. He is one of the earlier members of our hug. Today, he announced that Baxter had agreed to become his bear. I have Caleb, and Robinson has Stegner, and now Milton has Baxter.  Milton never mentioned that he wanted his own bear, so I admit I was surprised when he announced it. Milton is watching Mom and I type this up and he is impressed with it. Most of my friends and family wait for me to finish typing the blog before they read it. When Mom isn’t around, we all take turns reading the blog and your comments!

January 8th, 2010

I am not amused. My mom has decided that a good interim fix for my owies is to make me wear my robe. Usually, wearing my robe is a good thing—it is warm and it covers my feet. (Shirley is wearing it in this picture to protect her whiteness from dirt.) But now Mom won’t roll the sleeves up! She says that the sleeves can protect my paws from being rubbed up against rougher things. I think I look silly! She says that she is going to go shopping this weekend and maybe she can find something else to help the problem. I hope so! I don’t want to sit around looking like this!

Our hunt for a Wisconsin bear-doctor is not going well, but I am not discouraged yet. The lady who we emailed has not replied, so we’re crossing her off our cyber list. We have found several teddy bear conventions or expos, but most of them seem to be at high schools and the like—and without the aforementioned website. But like I said, we’re not discouraged yet. My paws aren’t going to get any worse any time soon, especially since Mom will keep a better eye on them now!

I would like to introduce some new friends that Mom bought at the store that she works. They are supposed to be gift card holders, but Mom liberated them from their gift card holder decorations! It turns out that the little tan bear’s name is Baxter, and the little moose is Boris. (They’re from the Boyds company.) They thought it was humorous to get their photo taken with one of our largest bears, Roscoe. They are about the same size as Roscoe’s paws! I would guess that Robinson’s bear, Stegner, is actually smaller! It’s amazing that as bears—and plushies, we come in so many different sizes and colors!  We all look so different! But we’re all still teddy bears and plushies!

January 6th, 2009

Today is a lazy day. Mom has the day off work, so we’re going to spend some of it lounging on the couch. She does have some things to do, but she doesn’t have to go to work!

We have decided to make mittens for my paws, and seek out someone to patch them up. Hammie and a few other of my friends have given Mom great ideas. We have found a lady in Milwaukee online who restores and makes teddy bears, but she hasn’t emailed us back. There has to be more people in Wisconsin that make and restore teddy bears, so we’re not worried yet. We’re currently combing through the event listings on the Teddy Bear Review magazine’s website, trying to find a teddy bear convention somewhere near. I don’t quite understand how you can have a convention or gathering such as one without some kind of website. Does a mere mention in a magazine really bring that many people? I mostly just want more details, but they’re all website-less! I guess I’m rather addicted to finding information on the internet!

I have been spending some time on the BearPlace. It is a very nice website. I like the Bear Club but BP has forums. The BearPlace also allows posting comments to pictures. I like the clans and the graphics on TBC, so I’m not going to move totally to TBP. I also like the photo challenges on TBC, but they don’t seem to be continuing them! They said that the would continue them after they moved their website to a new server, but they still haven’t. Oh well. Not like I need any excuse to take pictures!

January 4th, 2010

I have a new friend to introduce and a question to pose. My new friend is a TY Pluffie. His name is Woods and Mom bought him at the bookstore that she works at. He said that he appreciated being picked up by an adult—he said that he had been hauled, tossed and otherwise manhandled by many little kids when he was at the store. He said that he is a much more serious bear and enjoys just watching as things happen around him. He knows that some bears like living with active children, but it’s just not the life for him. I told him that we’re a pretty laid back bunch and he said that was great.

My question to pose is on a more personal note. A few days ago, Mom noticed that I am wearing a bit thin on my paws. It’s not serious yet—it turns out that I have two layers of fabric on my paws. But there are small holes on both of my paws.  I have weighted paws, so it’s very important that there are no holes. Mom was wondering if anyone would know what she could do to prevent it from getting worse. She knows of a person on the internet who fixes teddy bear ouchies, but she doesn’t want to send me away for a long time. She is thinking of making me mittens lined in something very soft or silky that wouldn’t give much friction. It would  be just a step to prevent it from getting worse while she figures out what to do. She thinks that she could replace or patch my paw fabric, but she doesn’t know what to do because the owie is so close to the edge of the fur. I’m currently wearing the sleeves of my sweatshirt as close to the edge of my paws as possible to protect them. I’m not a vintage bear, but I am very loved by my mom—and she wants to make sure that I am in one piece for a very long time.

January 3rd 2010

I am watching my mom post this from her itouch. I cannot help her because my fingers are way too big. They're too big for her computer unless I type very slowly. Things have been very quiet the past days. I guess this is as much as I can post. You can't see anything now when you are typing now!

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