Hi folks, I'm back again! Just thought I'd give you the latest update on the Beanie Babies collection. I'm afraid it has grown----quite a bit! That second chest of drawers has been installed as predicted. Still, at least everyone has got used to them being there now, and have stopped walking into them---well most of the time anyway! The possibility of a third chest of drawers appearing alongside the first two can't be completely ruled out as the collection expands. However, I must say the hall is starting to get a little crowded now!

Anyway, I have had a bit of a count up this morning, and unless I have missed any I make the current total 130. This includes 17 bears, 19 dogs, 22 birds, and a whole host of assorted creatures.

Recently I had a short spell in hospital, and instead of bringing me the usual fruit or flowers, some of my friends and neighbours, and my lovely husband, brought me in a "Ty" plush dog or a "Beanie Buddy" cuddly animal. I thought that was lovely! The nursing staff took great delight in inspecting the line-up each day to see what had been added to it! This collection is now adorning the back of our sofa.

I managed to collect a set of the "Teenie Beanie Babies" from McDonalds. Well, with the help of my daughter. Luckily she likes "Happy Meals" ( even though she is 19, and therefore old enough, one would have thought, to have developed a more discerning taste for good food!). Basically, I provided the cash---she ate the "Happy Meals", I got the Beanies, and so we were both happy! The only one she couldn't get for me was the penguin. A neighbour very kindly donated me one to complete the set---much to her child's disgust! However it had already been taken out of it's bag, whereas the others, in true collecting tradition, have remained unopened. I do have two swaps though, and so if anyone out there is in need of Inch the worm, or Doby the Doberman to complete their collection, I would be very pleased to swap either one for an unopened penguin!

Before I finish, I must say that I have noticed that as the Beanie collecting hobby has become more popular, some of the shopkeepers have become very greedy. They are charging two pounds more for new Beanies when they first appear in their shops, pushing them up to £6, instead of the usual £4. Do look around before you buy---because not all shopkeepers do this. There are some that keep the prices the same. Surely it is in their interest to keep the prices down? People are inclined to buy more then, whereas pushing the price up discourages buying, benefiting neither the collector nor the shopkeeper.

Well, that's my lot for now. I have told you how my collection is coming along, now how about yours? It doesn't matter what you collect, we would love to hear about it. Come on, share your passion with the rest of us mad collectors!

E-mail wendy@villagenet.co.uk.

Click Here for the Official Ty Beanie Babies Site