Friday, July 30, 2010

GIVEAWAY! BLOGAWAY!

YA WE ARE LOOKING AT YOU!
 
(CAN'T BELIEVE HE WAS EVER THAT SMALL!?!)
GET CREATIVE PEOPLE!

THERE REALLY ARE THREE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES! 
that means three different prizes awarded!
diversify!  maximize your chances!

COMPETITION IS STILL VERY LOW in the blog follower category, Etsy hearts is the next lowest.
But hey email me too...take all you can get!

IT'S A GIVEAWAY!!!
IT'S A BLOGAWAY!
(yes I am shamelessly promoting!) 

THREE PRIZES TO WIN! 
and
THREE WAYS TO ENTER!:

1.  SEND ME AN EMAIL!
YOU KNOW IT:  HERE AND NOW! 
(And just in case you don't know it:  info@bigbadcollars.com) 
It can be as simple as "me me me" or great as "i love big bad collars".
(If I have your email already...just check in and say "hi" and you will be in!)  This will put you in my email list.  There will be more giveaways to come and couple charity items planned.  So don't go away!
(one email entry per person...you can email just to say you care, too!)

2.  GO TO ETSY AND "HEART" MY STORE!
RUN DON'T WALK:  GO! ETSY! GO GO GO!  
Scroll down the right side to "FAVORITES" and click "ADD SELLER TO FAVORITES".  Please "heart" my store for the giveaway.  Please heart items just because you love me! 

3.  SIGN UP AS A BLOG FOLLOWER HERE!
Scroll down the left side here and sign up!
 CLOSES MIDNIGHT, MON. AUG 2nd...if I don't have you by then, then you have to wait for the next round!
PRIZES ANNOUNCED TUES. AUG 3rd 

PRIZE:  choose one item, any item, from my Etsy store and it is yours!  There will be three winners:  one from each category!  

In the random case that the same person is chosen from two categories, then a second person will be drawn so that three separate people may win.

I will have the two year old (she can't count yet so you know it isn't biased!) draw a new and separate number for each category.  Counting from oldest to newest, the person who corresponds with that number will be the winner in that category!  

NEW ADDITIONS ALL THIS WEEK!

I will be adding new styles, new LEASHES, new items, new sizes all this week!

Don't have a dog?  YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES!  just think, the next birthday, christmas is covered!

MAKE YOUR FRIENDS SIGN UP!  Get them to win the prize for YOU!

SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!  (YES I NEED MONEY!  MY DESPERATION IS YOUR GAIN!)

Thursday, July 29, 2010

GIVEAWAY...ADDING MORE AND MORE!






MORE TO WIN ON ETSY!

COME ON! SIGN UP FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

Competition is low...too low! SIGN UP!  BE  CREATIVE!  WIN THAT NEXT CHRISTMAS GIFT!  Lord knows we all need to save the budgets now!  How better than a FREE giveaway!
 (these things are all being added to Etsy for the giveaway...more choices...more...more...more)


IT'S A GIVEAWAY!!!

IT'S A BLOGAWAY!

(yes I am shamelessly promoting!) 

THREE PRIZES TO WIN! 
and
THREE WAYS TO ENTER!:

1.  SEND ME AN EMAIL!
YOU KNOW IT:  HERE AND NOW! 
(And just in case you don't know it:  info@bigbadcollars.com) 
It can be as simple as "me me me" or great as "i love big bad collars".
(If I have your email already...just check in and say "hi" and you will be in!)  This will put you in my email list.  There will be more giveaways to come and couple charity items planned.  So don't go away!
(one email entry per person...you can email just to say you care, too!)

2.  GO TO ETSY AND "HEART" MY STORE!
RUN DON'T WALK:  GO! ETSY! GO GO GO!  
Scroll down the right side to "FAVORITES" and click "ADD SELLER TO FAVORITES".  Please "heart" my store for the giveaway.  Please heart items just because you love me! 

3.  SIGN UP AS A BLOG FOLLOWER HERE!
Scroll down the left side here and sign up!
 CLOSES MIDNIGHT, MON. AUG 2nd...if I don't have you by then, then you have to wait for the next round!
PRIZES ANNOUNCED TUES. AUG 3rd 

PRIZE:  choose one item, any item, from my Etsy store and it is yours!  There will be three winners:  one from each category!  

In the random case that the same person is chosen from two categories, then a second person will be drawn so that three separate people may win.

I will have the two year old (she can't count yet so you know it isn't biased!) draw a new and separate number for each category.  Counting from oldest to newest, the person who corresponds with that number will be the winner in that category!  

NEW ADDITIONS ALL THIS WEEK!

I will be adding new styles, new LEASHES, new items, new sizes all this week!

Don't have a dog?  YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES!  just think, the next birthday, christmas is covered!

MAKE YOUR FRIENDS SIGN UP!  Get them to win the prize for YOU!

SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!  (YES I NEED MONEY!  MY DESPERATION IS YOUR GAIN!)

Monday, July 26, 2010

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY

 
IT'S A GIVEAWAY!!!
IT'S A BLOGAWAY!
(yes I am shamelessly promoting!) 

THREE PRIZES TO WIN! 
and
THREE WAYS TO ENTER!:

1.  SEND ME AN EMAIL!
YOU KNOW IT:  HERE AND NOW! 
(And just in case you don't know it:  info@bigbadcollars.com) 
It can be as simple as "me me me" or great as "i love big bad collars".
(If I have your email already...just check in and say "hi" and you will be in!)  This will put you in my email list.  There will be more giveaways to come and couple charity items planned.  So don't go away!
(one email entry per person...you can email just to say you care, too!)

2.  GO TO ETSY AND "HEART" MY STORE!
RUN DON'T WALK:  GO! ETSY! GO GO GO!  
Scroll down the right side to "FAVORITES" and click "ADD SELLER TO FAVORITES".  Please "heart" my store for the giveaway.  Please heart items just because you love me! 

3.  SIGN UP AS A BLOG FOLLOWER HERE!
Scroll down the left side here and sign up!
 CLOSES MIDNIGHT, MON. AUG 2nd...if I don't have you by then, then you have to wait for the next round!
PRIZES ANNOUNCED TUES. AUG 3rd 

PRIZE:  choose one item, any item, from my Etsy store and it is yours!  There will be three winners:  one from each category!  

In the random case that the same person is chosen from two categories, then a second person will be drawn so that three separate people may win.

I will have the two year old (she can't count yet so you know it isn't biased!) draw a new and separate number for each category.  Counting from oldest to newest, the person who corresponds with that number will be the winner in that category!  

NEW ADDITIONS ALL THIS WEEK!

I will be adding new styles, new LEASHES, new items, new sizes all this week!

Don't have a dog?  YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES!  just think, the next birthday, christmas is covered!

MAKE YOUR FRIENDS SIGN UP!  Get them to win the prize for YOU!

SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!  (YES I NEED MONEY!  MY DESPERATION IS YOUR GAIN!)

 

   

  


 


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

COUNTING DOWN! Big Bad Collars.

5 DAYS AND COUNTING to a fabulous giveaway!
And now for something completely different:
Photo courtesy of Steve Parsons...children.  Family Dobes
What a good dog!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

COUNT DOWN TO GIVEAWAY! Big Bad Collars.

7 DAYS TO GIVEAWAY!
Just 7 days until a wonderful giveaway!
3 ways to sign up, 3 prizes given away!  


Working like a dog...and we are dog tired!

New stuff for the Etsy Store!

New Blog posts!

New Products!

New Workout Schedule!  (blech!)

Announcement coming Monday, July 26! 

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Laundry. Sigh.

Does anyone else have this problem?
I swear I only left the room for 1 minute!  No wonder I can never get anything done...sigh.
(Note the strategically placed giant bone at the base of the picture.  I swear...some days...it is like a magnet, they have the whole house!)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Niceness of Nice. Big Bad Collars.

HOW COOL IS THAT!
A VERY NICE SET DESIGNED BY A VERY NICE PERSON.

You know something, dog people can be some pretty good folk.

Recently I have had some very nice good fortune.  Marcella, the world's sweetest Doberman, her owner was so nice to tell her breeder about Big Bad Collars.  Her breeder, Steve Parsons of  Family Dobes was kind enough to give me a lovely write up in his newsletter .  (All of this without my knowing...I just received a very nice email one day with links and compliments...very flattering...can you tell I am proud?!?)

A couple days later I was contacted by Peter (whom I unfortunately called Paul for an entire day before I realized it...and he very nicely and politely never said a word...so embarrassed...I blame PBS and their eternal re-runs of the Peter, Paul, and Mary reunion concert to the point that I can no longer separate the names...).

This job is so wonderful, because the people I meet as customers are so nice!  And yes, I am using that word a lot today.  I feel all our lives can use a little more "nice" in them.  Nice, I believe, is the foundation of civilization.  It is courtesy shown for one another.  It is care shown for a neighbor.  It is kindness offered to someone who is experiencing a day with very little kindness in it.  It is the small things that make us smile.  It is the control that prevents us from walking around punching each other and living in a Mad Max World.  I have worked jobs with very little nice.  I think of it especially today because of someone's comment on Facebook.  She is a bankteller.  I was a bankteller for about a year, many years ago.  Sadly, people are often not nice when at the bank.  You see an ugly side to humanity.  People come in stressed, worried, short fused and short tempered.  I would rather clean toilets, (and I have), than be a bankteller again.  My daughter often asks me why I am so chatty with cashiers, or even just passersby.  Partly, I am just chatty.  I would chat the ears off of a sign post.  But partly, I am just trying to be nice.  And I hope that their day will be nice too.

I know much of my good fortune is in the context of  what I am doing.  People contact me about a joy in their lives:  their dogs.  They contact me because they want an item that expresses care for the animal and displays the joy they have in that companionship.  They contact me because they wish to express love for an animal that offers them unconditional love; and they voluntarily sought out that relationship.

Peter has an adult male from Family Dobes and a male pup. He wanted something sturdy, useful and does the breed justice:  he wanted something tough that would last.  I am proud to say that is what I do.  Thanks to Marcella and Steve Parsons, he sought me out.  For style he wanted something again that complimented the breed:  understated with it's own air of distinction.  I was inspired by "Paladin".  Have you ever seen the show "Have Gun Will Travel"?  (It's on netflix, if you haven't seen it you must!)  I used to watch the re-runs as a kid with my oldest brother.  Paladin was powerful, you didn't mess with him, you didn't cross him.  He was quiet and understated.  And he was nice.  There was always a kind word when needed.  His character was bridled power: restraint and courtesy that held honor and strength.

I really enjoyed chatting with Peter.  I was reminded of what is good in humanity.  To meet him was very nice.


 FOR THE PUP, TO KEEP PROPORTIONS BUT ALSO SO HE WOULD STILL HAVE A USEFUL COLLAR AS HE GROWS:  WE TRIMMED IT TO 1 1/4 WIDTH.  ALSO WE GAVE HIM A RANGE OF SIZING SO IT WOULD GROW WITH HIM...BUT USED A SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR THE EXTRA LENGTH:  JUST AN AGE-OLD BELT KEEPER DID THE TRICK!  I CONSTRUCTED IT OF LEATHER SO PETER COULD REMOVE IT WHEN THE PUP OUTGROWS THE NEED.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I have dogs. Big Bad Collars.

Who needs baby toys...I have dogs!

 (Unrelated thought for the day: )

I am trying to be less annoying to less people everyday!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Declaration of Independence. Happy Fourth!


OPERATION BAGHDAD PUPS 

PLEASE REMEMBER IT IS ONLY PARTLY ABOUT THE DOGS, THE PEOPLE WHO OFFER THEIR LIVES TO KEEP US SAFE HAVE MADE THE REQUEST


PACKAGES FROM HOME


Have you read the Declaration of Independence lately?  You probably had to read it in high school.  If you were unfortunately stuck in the writing class in college taught by me, you had to.  But it is not something that people just sit around reading...but it is exquisite.  It inspires, it incites, it rallies.

It is not a deep literary work.  Its beauty is in its simplicity.  Its beauty is in the spirit it was signed.

If you got only one thing from my classes, high school or college, it was to be the uniqueness of this nation.  We are the only popular revolution in history to form a lasting democratic government.  We are freaks of nature.  Just study the French revolution for the basic model.  (Watch the A & E "Scarlet Pimpernel"...not only is it an awesome action adventure, quite accurate in its portrayal of the world then.)

The men who signed it were powerful.  The men who signed it wrote their own death warrants.

The men who signed it worked for the greatest good.  The men who signed it worked for a government by the people, of the people, for the people.







IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Friday, July 2, 2010

That's IT! Big Bad Collars.

 That's it!  I'm done!  I'm moving here:
108 degrees at 9 pm!
I am done living here:

(PBS travels shows are becoming downright too painful to watch)