Working hard... upcoming show

I have been working hard so that I will have everything made by the time my sister-in-law comes to visit from Florence, SC !  My page from the Spring Stars show has loads of new bears and bear friends ready for May 12th.  As usual these will be kept secret until the show!!

I've also been busy accumulating "ideas' for Ellin's visit here.... There is a huge flea market held twice a year up in White Cloud ( North of Kansas City up near Nebraska).  Hamilton, Mo ( the home of JC Penney and the Missouri Star Quilt stores)  is worth another trip.  There's the Brookside ( Kansas City) Annual Art Show.  A chance to look at Glasgow, MO 's Bushwacker Bend winery, the town's stores and lunch overlooking the Missouri River.  
Guess we'll keep ourselves busy!!

back from Branson, Mo.

We made it back... all in one piece from our weekend jaunt to Branson.  No we weren't there for the shows... nor to go on the 55 mph zip line. My husband wanted to attend a ham radio convention and do the kit build... so off we went.
We took Route 13 to Springfield and then  65... most of the way is quiet with little traffic. The Lake of the Ozarks season hasn't opened yet. We stopped at a few antique places. We were going to stop at Lambert's- the home of the throwed roll - but the line wrapped around the building and tour buses were in the parking lot. So  we went next door to "taste" wine and cheese... and bought some of both!
We got to Branson and even with map and GPS  made a misstep and got lost. Through pure luck we actually found out hotel!
Bob enjoyed his kit building and ham stuff... I enjoyed meeting the wives. Thanks to one of them, a few of us went out into the "world of Branson" for lunch, site seeing and Andy's Custard ( YUMM!). All the locals were saying that we were lucky ... that we were in a quiet time etc. If this was quiet... I'm not going back when it's not!! We did not go to the Titanic Museum... on the huge ferris wheel,  or the zip lines which are reported to hit 55mph!!
Our trip home was completely uneventful... unpacking the car was a high light... followed by crashing in the recliner!

Eliminating my Tripod website

I hadn't updated my tripod site in a billion years... it had gotten to be a hassle with all their changes and I couldn't add a PayPal button. So it sat there .. costing me $5/mo. and generating some traffic to etsy and elsewhere. Then my credit card's (to pay the $5/ mo)  expiration date was fast approaching and I decided it was time to close things down.  Easier said than done.. I finally had to use their chat room.  It's gone ... http://g_dragon_teddy_bears.com  no longer exists. Somewhat nostalgic. 
So I will think about starting another site that I don't use for online show purposes....

Final eye checkup for both eyes ( post cataract surgery)  is done... passed with flying colors.  I can see again!!  I have a friend who comments that she is not used to seeing me without glasses!