Alright, Get Up Already!

One of my best teddy friends is Micro Bear. I received him as a gift about 9 years ago from my husband, Kelly.


I first saw Micro Bear in a health food store. He was sitting atop the vitamins and all that holistic health stuff, being advertised as someone you could put into the microwave and have a nice warm snuggle with when he is fully cooked.

I just had to have him!

So I told my then boyfriend, now hubby, that I was in love with the teddy bear at the health food store, and just in case he needed any Christmas ideas, the bear would be very well received.

So, when Micro Bear arrived in his Christmas package, the first thing I did was place him in the microwave and watch him spin around. Then he gave me the warmest teddy hug I’ve ever received and that was the beginning of our relationship.

When my granddaughters came to visit, they got quite a kick out of Micro Bear. We all laughed and fought over who was going to be the huggie of the moment with the nice, warm, soft and snuggly teddy bear.

Well, Micro Bear is now about 9 years old. By bear years, I’m not sure how that figures, but he’s a little rough around the edges and spends more time sitting than hugging these days.

As I explained in an earlier post, I’ve been feeling a bit “Lost” for the past couple of weeks. One day I noticed little Micro sitting there looking at me so I took him off his perch, stuck him in the microwave for old times sake, and spent a little snuggle time with him.


One thing I do believe about bears as it goes, is that they retain all the love that they are given and then give it back during some of the “down” times in life. In those moments spent with my old buddy Micro Bear, I began to feel the warmth and love that a teddy so often is just waiting to give back. I remembered the laughter and the hugs and the question every time one of the grandchildren came over to visit, “where’s Micro Bear?”

Well, today Micro looked at me and said “Alright, Get Up Already”…. “We’ve had some nice snuggle time, but I’m tired of that microwave and I want to perch for a while.”

It is useless to argue with a teddy, so I listened and felt the energy begin to return and the magic of teddies once again began to slowly visit my psyche and my little room.

So, no more “Lost” for a while. I’m going to get those bags of teddy bear parts out of the closet this week and just see who comes to visit me here in the teddy bear room.

Love and hugs to my friends in teddy bear land, Vicki and Micro Bear

Lost

So here I am again. I haven’t been on the blog for a couple of weeks, except to check in with various blogs I follow, but I haven’t been able to post one of my own.

Why not?

Because I’m out of gas. I don’t have anything interesting to say. I have no new teddies to report.

What I do have are six bears in process, waiting “patiently” for faces, arms, legs, bows and personalities to explode.

I have piles of blue jeans that I swear I am going to make into fabulous purses, vests and belts.

And with all that, my energy level is at about zilch… and who wants to hear about that?

I think with all our house projects this summer, I’m just worn out. And what I know is that when I am worn out, I can’t force teddies to be born. What happens, is that they just emerge with these sullen little faces and the magic won’t come.

So, I’m going to wait for the magic to reappear in my life and I’m sure the bears will understand.

In the meantime I have become lost in “Lost”….. Oh no.

One of my biggest fears is becoming a television monger who sits all day and watches the boob tube. Oh, well, it seems that is what I have become. I do, however, force myself to be productive during the day… you know the cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands and all the facets of being a house person….. However, in the evening I turn in to the addictive TV person… and just “leave me alone,” if you please.

I discovered Netflix a few months ago.

A few days ago I discovered that I could watch Netflix instantly on my computer. Consequently, I have become addicted to the television series “Lost.” When the series first began, I watched a couple of episodes, but I couldn’t keep up with it and became lost so I stopped watching.

With the discovery of streaming video on Netflix, I discovered that you could watch a complete Season with all the episodes over my computer.

So, I have watched Season 1 in its entirety.

I have watched Season 2 in its entirety.

I am currently halfway through Season 3.




And I believe there are 5 (?) seasons so far to watch…. I wonder if I will become permanently scarred as a result.

I have become one of the people I judge. You know… those lazy people. And I deserve it. So I am going to judge myself unmercifully, watch the next three seasons of Lost at my discretion, and just see what happens.

You see, I seldom indulge in anything. I seem to work all day, cleaning, gardening, running errands, making teddies; and perhaps when all the chores are done I may relax for ten minutes before bed.

I think I’m just plain done with being that for a while.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me as a result of all this. Will I turn into a pumpkin in the end? Will I become slothful and lazy? Will I never make another teddy? Will I lose my family, my friends, my relationships? Will I become permanently lost?
I don’t know. But this feels like the first time in a very long time where I have just stopped for a while. I need to pretend I’m on vacation. The kind of vacation that takes place on a tropical island with Hurley, Jack, Clair, Sawyer, John, Freckles, and the rest of the survivors.


I just hope I survive the ordeal. It’s 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. I wonder if I’ll survive the day if I find my comfortable spot, right next to my sleeping cat, and just get lost in the comfort of my little self-created vacation.



I guess we'll see.

Love and hugs to all my buddies out there in blogland from Vicki and the rest of the "Lost"

Please Welcome Taffy !

My world is about to expand into teddies and more teddies. Summer is waning... sigh... and teddies are waiting to be born. Just a peek at what's to come, please welcome little 11 inch Taffy to the world!

More information can be obtained about her on my website www.customteddys.com.

It feels good to be back on the blog and back in teddy world. It's kind of like coming home.

Love and hugs to all my teddy friends, Vicki and the bears

Transformation

It feels like I've been gone from the Blog forever, but it's only been a little over a week. Our house has indeed been transformed, from dingy-dirty ancient (I'm exaggerating, of course.. ha) 20 plus year-old carpet to brand new antique white beautiful "clean" carpet that I absolutely love. It was worth waiting for and since I've had a few days to rest.... it was worth the effort.

We packed up the living room and the teddy bear room, and stored most of my stuff in the garage.

Then we ripped out all the old carpet and pad and put that in the garage.

And here's my empty teddy bear room, except for the desk which was taken out the day of the installation.

After all was said and done and all my stuff moved back into the house, viola... here is my newly rearranged and transformed teddy bear room! This is my worktable.

To the left of the worktable is my sewing table and computer desk.

These are shelves where lots of "stuff" lives... important stuff.

And these are the teddies I've made who are waiting for their assignments.

And one of the most exciting parts of this whole operation is my new couch/bed/storage unit.

It folds down into a double bed.... and.....

...pops up to a most incredibly wonderful storage area where I can keep all of my teddy fur and material scraps!

And with all of that, I feel very done with house projects for a while... a good while. In addition to the carpet, we also put new laminate in our kitchen and dining area about a month prior to this project. Needless to say, I'm tired, I'm old and I just want to sit and make teddies for a while. And that is what I intend to do.

Thanks for dropping by. Love and Hugs from Vicki and the Bears!