Baby Polar Bear

This weekend I watched Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus -repeatedly. This is because I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter that has recently discovered "princess" stuff. My sister once theorized that if you want to market something to young girls, all you need to do are put the right words on the packaging. Beautiful, fairy, and princess. This became the source of inspiration for many inside jokes and birthday cards.

So what does this have to do with the baby polar bear? Obviously you haven't seen Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus over and over like I have. Early in the movie Anika (aka Barbie) adopts an orphaned polar bear cub and names her Shiver because the bear cub is cold and shivering. Shiver is not only Anika's cute little sidekick throughout the movie, but she also causes a fair amount of problems for Anika. But that's alright because she's cute.

So after seeing hours and hours of Shiver frolicking around on screen, I made my own little polar bear cub.

Before you ask, I'm not going to sell this pattern. Instead you have to "pay it forward." I will send you the pattern for free, but you have to promise to do something kind for someone else in return. If you'd like to participate, email me at eebrs(at)yahoo(dot)com. Make sure you put "Polar Bear Pattern Request" (or something similar) in the subject line.

The pdf is also available for download from Ravelry.com! Hopefully the link works. Let me know if it doesn't.

download now

I would love to keep a running list of the service that has been rendered to others as part of the "pay it forward." I'll only list the service you rendered, not your name. If you would like your deed added to the list, let me know.

Pay it Forward Services Rendered:

• Toys donated to Kristie's Kids Toy Drive benefiting the University of Minnesota Fairview Childrens Hospital.
• Donated 15 balls of crochet thread to a local charity quilt club.
• A daughter's promise to treat her mother with respect and help out more at home.
• Making a polar bear for Granmar sick with cancer.
• Donating old toys to a charity shop.
• Making something nice for another person.
• Making and donating "snugglies" for local animal shelters -along with toys and food.
• Making hats for Inocent Smoothies which in turn donates 50p to keeping the elderly warm.
• Donating toys to the local fire and police departments.
• Making the bear as a gift for a friend in need.
• Brightening the day of a sick little girl.
• Donating to the local children's hospital.
• Donating to the local Firemen's Toy Drive.

A Little Less Wisdom

Yesterday I had two wisdom teeth pulled. Not fun. At least I got to watch a little bit of Olympics while they drilled away. It wasn't quite that bad. They only used the drill on the second one. The first one came in almost six years ago while I was pregnant with my son. The second one was just breaking the surface and coming in at an angle. In fact, it looked like this.

The second tooth was a problem. It had four roots and was straddling the nerve. The oral surgeon thinks there might be a tiny sliver of root left in there, but it was too close to the nerve to go poking around without risking damage to the nerve. It was barely visible on the x-ray they took so he's not too worried about it, but I do get to go back next week just in case.

I was lucky to have several friends help us out yesterday. One friend watched my daughter during the surgery, another friend drove me there and back, another friend picked up my son from the bus stop, and someone I barely know brought us dinner. Too bad pizza doesn't fit into a liquid diet. I even had offers for more free babysitting after my son came home from school. By then I was well medicated and the kids were being good, so we just relaxed in front of the TV. My husband was great too. He came home early and took care of the kids and put them to bed. He even made me pudding and soup for my dinner.

So now it's day two and I'm trying to work the painkillers into my daughters nap schedule so that I'll be coherent enough to take care of her and to make it to the bus stop this afternoon. I'm also trying to decide if I'm still content with my liquid diet. More lemon pudding and instant breakfasts just aren't sounding good anymore. Brownies are a soft food, right? Does the oven count as heavy machinery? I'm not allowed operate heavy machinery while taking Percocet.

Pain medicine wearing off.... I better go do something that doesn't require much effort on my part. Time to snuggle on the couch and watch Curious George on PBS!

Ladybug Bag

I started this a long time ago and just barely finished. Originally it was going to be a crocheted bag lined with the plastic, but I ran out of thread and didn't want to buy more. So now it's a clear bag. Not good for valuables, but a perfect diaper bag for when I don't want to bring my purse.

It's ladybug themed because my mom loves sending me bug stuff.

Time Travel

I had no idea that my sleek silver station wagon was also a time machine. This weekend we left on a trip thinking that we were simply traveling to Holbrook, AZ to see relatives. Little did we know that our car would take us back to a time when Route 66 was at its prime. A time when treasures like the Wigwam Motel stood waiting for travelers along the sides of the highway.

We pulled in next to a car that was obviously from a different era than our 2003 Saturn, wondering where we were. Perhaps it was the fading light that fooled our eyes.

Maybe my car can't travel through time, but it was fun to stay in the wigwams. It was even more fun to see my parents, my sister, her husband, and their little girl. My kids really enjoyed it as well, but now when my daughter sees a picture of a wigwam she says it's "Nana's house." Someday our silver time machine will take us back in time to when I was a teenager living in Oklahoma and my daughter will get to see what Nana's house really looks like.

Marionettes

This was one of those projects that take forever to finish, but not because they are difficult or time consuming. I just kept putting it off and working on other things. When I finally buckled down and finished the first, I loved it and the second one (the flamingo) came together a much more quickly.

This one is kind of an ostrich inspired bird. After all, what other bird has a long neck and long legs?

Actually a flamingo fits that description, but on a smaller scale. This one was actually my husband's idea. I was looking for something to do with some pink yarn and Hubby kept suggesting a flamingo.

While they do function like actual marionettes, my kids don't quite have the skills for that. Instead they make the birds jump and dance with a lot of shaking and wiggling.