birth, death and stuff in between

I belong to a group called the Christian Family Movement at my church. I joined because we were new in the area and I wanted both my son and I to make new friends. A lot has been going on within the group and so I have been making a lot of cards for members. The cards below are some samples. I was thanked by the new teacher on his congratulations card the night of the meeting. I ran into the new dad at Costco and was thanked for his families card as well. I love thank yous, even if it's not in a card.

A little more monkey business

Times are tough and money is tight and so I made most of my Christmas gifts this year. I prefer doing that anyway because as you are working/creating/baking/whatever you are thinking about the recipient.
I gave my friend the sock monkey man a pack of cards - all featuring the SU sock monkey. There was the


The birthday monkey


The rock star monkey


The "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys


The Easter card with the surprise inside


And the grateful monkeys inspired by the Grateful Dead.

This one was a failed attempt at crayon resist with Mr. Mister filled with turquoise PearlEx and Aquanet. The hairspray soaked under the crayon and a bit showed through. I thought it looked a bit psychedelic and so I went with it. The circles are holes punched around the monkeys, which give the card a nice texture.

Have a happy stamping day. If you have questions about these cards leave a comment. If you need the sock monkey and his/her accessories to make cards like these yourself click here to visit my website and place a monkey order. Online orders are still eligible for an extra gift from me.

Would you like to meet my monkey?

Edited to add contact info.

One of my friends is a sock monkey collector, he has decorated a Christmas tree completely in sock monkeys, and goes to the Annual Sock Monkey Festival in Rockford, IL. He has brought along mutual friends and the event has made many a monkey convert. My schedule never worked out for going to this event and so I didn't jump on the bandwagon when it rolled through town. They have their charm but I've never been a big sock monkey fan. They were not a part of my childhood, maybe that's why they don't have the same appeal.

I have a dear friend, Camille, that really listens when I talk and remembers what I say. We talked about Halloween costumes once upon a time and I told her that I've always wanted to go to a Halloween party dressed as Carol Burnett dressed as Scarlett O'Hara, curtain rod and all. Only the old-timers would know what the heck that means but I'm sure if you remember The Carol Burnett Show's sketch "Went with the Wind" you are snickering now. For those of you who need a little help here is a still of the sketch. The dress Carol is wearing was designed by Bob Mackie (a bit of obscure trivia I picked somewhere). My favorite line from this sketch, " I saw it in the window and just couldn't resist it."



How are these related? Camille knows I would accept a sock monkey gift but wouldn't go out and purchase or make my own monkey. She has a friend that makes sock monkeys and asked her if she would take on the challenge — and now I am the proud owner of the Carol Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara Sock Monkey. 

Isn't she wonderful? 

If you would like to get a monkey of your own you can email Customer Service at sockcreations@yahoo.com and request one of your own. They start at $25 plus shipping, of course the costs go up depending on the complexity of the monkey's outfit and gear. Please allow at least three weeks for delivery.

Camille gave other wonderful, thoughtful gifts this year, all specially made for the recipients. She made a coffee-table book for the monkey collector about a historic home he purchased. She had a special wallet made for another friend that needed a way to keep track of the plastic. The wallet was beautiful, colorful and I'm sure will be a great help to our friend. It was made by the owner of Drea, a handbag Etsy shop. Click here to see what she's got on offer. I'm seriously thinking about upgrading.

Crazy Great: a Polar Bear Plunge and Disney

2009 started out quiet enough. I was in bed sound asleep by 9:30 pm on December 31 and woke up late on New Years' day. A much needed rest. New Year's day was a stay-at-home, do-nothing much kind of day. But…

Some people worked out, getting a jump start on those resolutions. Some were trying to survive the hangover. Some sat around watching football. My cousin Janet was taking the plunge. The Polar Bear Plunge in Sheboygan, WI. Not only was she crazy enough to do it. It was professionally videotaped for the Sheboygan Press where she is affectionately known as the "News at Noon Girl". See the video here Odyssey of a Polar Bear Newbie.

The only thing we did was hang new calendars and decorate one as a COUNT DOWN TO DISNEY WORLD. I found a wood-mounted set of 4 stamps featuring Mickey and Minnie at Joann for a $ (dollah) and used those.
Mickey called my son on Christmas morning and spilled the beans on the trip. It will be me my son and my dad. Dad needed a vacation after last year and we agreed the boy is old enough to remember the trip and young enough that we can take him out of school for a week so we're off. It's just 38 days until take off.

So this year is promising to be Crazy Great. Especially compared with last year. The new catty comes out on the 19th and the reports from Leadership have me excited about the future. If you want any of those retiring sets or accessories act now. You only have 9 more days on the stamps and some of the accessories are already gone. Go to my website to buy online. If you'd rather talk to me in person my phone number is listed there.

LOOK AT THIS HUMONGOUS BABY!

The tale of a Kindergarten Christmas Play.

My son was Joseph in the school Christmas play this year. He asked for the leading, living, male role when he found out who was playing Mary. Yes my 6-year-old has a crush.

The original date of the play was December 19th but school was closed because of bad weather so the party was postponed until the following Monday.

They practiced their lines over and over but costumes were kind of an after thought. The teachers did what they could. As the lead my son got to wear a wool poncho that dragged on the floor – it was not meant for the 4" set. Our Mary was lovely in her red velvet party dress. She wore a cloth head covering that was held on with an elastic headband and a cape/shawl that was originally a curtain in one of the play areas.

The shepherds wore tunics made from a cheap brown plastic tablecloth cut to fit over their heads. Green yarn was tied around their waists and they carried empty wrapping paper tubes as walking sticks. Under their tunics the boys were dressed in jeans, character shirts and sneakers. All the girls were beautiful angels. They came to school wearing velvet party dresses and put on children's choir robes for the play.

My son welcomed the parents to the production after the toddlers and preschoolers did their song and dance routines, "Welcome to our Christmas play, we hope you enjoy it!"

He then walked over to the manger scene and knelt down. As the teacher was telling of the angel's visit to Mary, my son yells out, "Hey guys look at this humongous baby!" The doll they had gotten to play Jesus was about half the size of Mary.

The teacher didn't flinch and just kept going with the story. After the angel Gabriel(la) finished speaking, Mary joined Joseph in the stable. The angel Gabriel joined the other 2 angels lined up opposite the 3 shepherds. The kids looked as if a square dance lesson was about to begin.

The teacher continued, "The angels appeared to the shepherds, and they were afraid.” The three boys, in unison, let out a small yell.

Everyone joined Mary and Joseph in the stable and again my son says, “Look at this humongous baby!” He lifts the naked (though not anatomically correct) doll up by its head and feet to show everyone and then puts it back in the manger. The doll only bounces a little.

After the play my boy walks back to center stage and says, “We hope you have enjoyed our play. Merry Christmas.”

The musical portion of their program is about to begin. All the kids run around the stage with their heads down trying to find the piece of masking tape with their name on it so they are sure to stand in the right spot. Once they are in place one of the teachers pushes the button on the boom box. Two others teachers run around the stage putting red and green painted paper ponchos with yarn fringe all the students, making sure everyone is wearing their own art work.

The music and gestures begin. All the children rock the invisible baby Jesus in their arms. All the children accept mine. My son is pulling on the neckline of the poncho. It’s obviously itchy. He continues to sing but he has had enough of this wool poncho and can’t wait until the end of the program to get out of it.
He takes off the paper poncho.
He takes off the wool poncho.
He reveals the fact that this Joseph is a big Spiderman fan.
He puts the paper poncho back on.
He begins kicking at the wool poncho to get it out of his way.
One of the teachers sneaks on the stage and rescues the wool poncho.

Now it’s time for his favorite song — Feliz Navidad and it becomes obvious why the wool poncho could not be in his way. There is a good deal of jumping in this production of the song, and my son is going for the height record. His knees hit his chest on almost every jump.

At the end of the musical numbers the girl who played the angel Gabriel says the school prayer before we eat,
“Thank you God for this day.
I hope we have a good, good day
With no hitting, kicking, punching or spitting
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

The teachers let the parents go shopping and babysat our kids for free for a few hours. I love that school and will miss the heck out of them next year when he goes to the “big kid” school. I introduced one of the other mothers to Craft Fancy, and she introduced me to Starbuck's Hot Cocoa. It was a good evening.

I hope you all have good holiday memories from this year too.