#new stuffed animal

[reasonsforhope]

Sometimes you just have one of those moments where the progress we've made as a culture get thrown into stark relief. You look at something and go "Holy shit, that would never have happened when I was a kid."

Today, I had one of those moments when I realized that the teenage boys I'm working with are just. genuinely, openly enthusiastic about going to Build-a-Bear for their outing.

These are sixteen and seventeen year old boys! They just had a whole conversation about what to name their "cute", mostly new squishmallows! They're genuinely excited that they're going to Build-a-Bear this weekend and asking other kids to pick up specific accessories for them!!

Holy shit, that never would've happened when I was 16. None of the boys would have dared to be visibly interested - and neither would most of the girls! There would have been a million gay jokes and "Haha, you're a girl" jokes and "What are you, a baby?" jokes. Teenagers weren't even supposed to care about anything back then!

Less than 15 years later, and I'm watching three 17 year old boys treat all that as not even worthy of comment.

So let's call that a reason for hope. Even when the kids aren't alright, in some ways apparently they are alright. Go Gen Z, honestly. It's so lovely to watch you guys just openly doing and saying stuff that, when I was a teen, would've been a social death sentence.

[greykolla-art]

Alastor and Rosie are just perfect to draw in vintage poses.

I’ve got a whole new Pinterest board because of them.

[eyewhiskers]

Hey you, 🐉 Dragon Zodiac, listen up!

2024 is the Year of the Dragon, and you need to TREAT YOURSELF! Tianlong, the spirit dragon, is the embodiment of your Zodiac sign, and wouldn't he just look so cute on your mantle?

He's perfect to add to the impressive pile of plushies that pushes your partner out of bed every night 🙌 ��

Check out the Plush Project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eyewhiskers/year-of-the-dragon-plushie-and-extras

[notaclothingstore]

nobody understands the true obsession I have with the double long nose elephant fish- I make my friends go to the aquarium with me at least once a year just to see him. my king. my silly little guy. he is my everything.

[adventureswithteddy]

There is something so captivating about gaining higher ground. Teddy looked out over the braided West Matukituki River as he worked his way up a nearby ridgeline. Can you blame him for wanting to sit here watching the day drift by?

[retrogamingblog2]

[dapurinthos]

forever annoyed at the lack of non-woven jedi garments. excuse you, fibrecraft is the basis of society. where are they getting their cloth from? are they weaving it themselves? are they spinning it themselves? where is the knitwear. you cannot tell me that there are no sweaters in the jedi order. there are probably hideous sweaters made from fourteen different colours of yarn because they're made from the wool leftover from other projects. all of the colours manage to clash. and embroidery is just too good for teaching patience. hand-sewing in general is good and meditative.

these people are going to be darning their own socks, patching holes in their robes. they are going to have needles and thread in their survival kits and know how to hold the cloth tension just right with the force so they can re-weave the bigger holes by using tiny, straight sticks to hold the warp in place.

[doctorbeth]

Los Angeles Times! See me, more patients and the studio!

So you may have wondered why Habersham's story followed so quickly on the heels of Lucky the Bear's, and the reason is, it was a bit of a teaser.

Over the past few months, I have been interviewed for almost 2 hours by a reporter for the LA Times. Then a photographer came out to the hospital and took photos of me and the hospital and the patients I had at the time (for another two hours!). And then a few weeks ago, another photographer came out to take portraits of the patients I had then. Including one of Habersham. Then, yesterday, September 10, this appeared as the cover of the LA Times Calendar section:

That's Habersham before his surgery. And a wonderful play on Tears for Fears for the title of the story. :-) There's a two page spread inside the paper, and you can read it, and see a lot (if not all) of the photos online here. If the link doesn't work, you can also go to the LA Times and search "toy hospital" in the search box on the site and you should find the article that way too.

Anyway, as you may imagine, I've been doing a bit of a happy dance about the story all weekend. And I really wanted to share it with all of you because a) I thought you might enjoy the article and b) the reporter found me in part because of this blog which you all have chosen to read and follow and like over the years, so you all deserve thanks for the article too!

beth

[hewwo-kitty]

my favorite new Jellycat from the spring collection! Oswald Orangutan!

[vinnieplushies]

Jellycat Cauldron Cuties x

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

listen... if my wildest expectations and greatest dreams come true and hot rod/rodimus shows up in earthspark... he can't just stumble onto the maltos' property or come in some generic ship or escape pod or even the fucking lost light.

...He has to crash land in the fucking rodpod.

[nostalgicfun]

Crayola Bunny 🎀

[plush-birds]

Some of the plushies available at Berlin zoo 💚 All by Wild Republic

(unable to tag all species due to tag limit)

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[bittsandpieces]

I totally understand the aspect of OF fucking up your whole sexual mindset and body image. Damn, though, I’d really love to see you at the height of self enjoyment🥲

.....okay how about this. I'm still job hunting and while I don't have a ton of bills at the moment, there are definitely expenses

$15 to my ca.shapp ($bittsandpieces2) or ve.nmo (@bittsandpieces) with your username in the memo and I'll send you a link 😘

And, as an incentive: this is the outfit 🥰

[adventureswithteddy]

While extremely beautiful, some of the places that Teddy ventures can be quite dangerous. He wants to remind you to plan ahead and prepare. Know your limits and don’t be afraid to turn back.