It's WINTER CHEER!!! *Kermit Flails*

It's time for WINTER CHEER!!! In case you can't tell, I'm super excited about it! Soon, I get to decorate the house (and my desk at work) with all of the shiny, glittery, sparkly things I can find and I can keep myself incredibly caffeinated by ingesting large amounts of sugar spiked with a bit of coffee*. I'll need that sugar and caffeine buzz when it comes to the holidays, because this year I have a lot of monkeys to make!

The first of the Winter Cheer Flock are now complete. I had to come up with this year's theme without the help of the wonderful Ninja Muse, so it was a bit hard, until I found the stash of winter/holiday socks. This year there will of course be non-holiday themed monkeys, each with a fleece scarf that matches their colors. But there will also be several special monkeys.

The special Winter Cheer Monkeys have been outfitted by their Nana's in the latest in winter sweater fashions. Naturally, some of the monkeys Nana's had better taste in sweaters than others, but no matter what, each monkey looks adorable in their sweater-- even if the sweater would win first place in an office ugly sweater contest.

Winter Cheer Monkeys!!!

Winter Cheer is for everyone, regardless of religion or lack thereof. It's just about being happy that it's Caramel Brulee Latte Season Winter and things get all shiny and sparkly during winter. Oooh... sparkly... *Tries to focus and not be distracted by all the glittery things*

There are monkeys for Christmas and Hanukkah, but also some monkeys with sweaters that are just winter themed. No one is exempt from the ugly sweaters!

Sparkle is very eager for his first Christmas (and his sweater is sparkly!)

Leor is ready to assist with lighting the Menorah! (Just don't let him do it himself)

Holly, and her fraternal twin Emmett are just happy it's winter and they can wear their reindeer sweaters now!

If you happen to be in North Attleboro, I'll be doing a craft fair with LOTS of Monkeyville monkeys (with and without sweaters) eager to be adopted! Stay tuned for details!

*I'm not even going to pretend to love coffee. I don't even like it that much, what I love are all the wonderful sugary things that go into coffee. Which is why I get SUPER excited that it's caramel brulee coffee season!

The Count Down to Winter Cheer!

The first thing you learn about hanging out with me in person is that knowing where every Starbucks is within a reasonable distance* is, because we will be going there, especially if you see me on a weekend. More often than not, I will ask my friends to meet me there. There just happens to be a Starbucks nicely situated in between our houses, so it's an easy place to meet. I'm not an addict**, I swear *twitch, twitch*

Wee Ninja Muse and I shared a Beantown coffee when I interview for the Day Job

For me, the seasons don't go: spring, summer, fall, winter, or even the New England variation. The seasons for me are: caramel macchiato, Frappacino, pumpkin spice, and caramel brulee latte. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin spice lattes, but I know it's really fall when the pumpkin spice signs are out. Pumpkin spice season is in full swing here, but I'm already dreaming of caramel brulee time of year, not just because caramel brulee latte is my very favorite (umm... extra, extra sugar...) but also because the start of the caramel brulee season is also the start of the Winter Cheer season here in Monkeyville!

This year, Hanukkah starts at sun down the night before Thanksgiving, which is extra early, so Winter Cheer preparations have started extra early here in Monkeyville! Winter Cheer is for everyone, so while there will be some Hanukkah and Christmas themed monkeys, there will also be plenty of sock monkeys that are just really happy that it's caramel brulee time... er... I mean, that it's winter! Sock monkeys (or any monkeys really) shouldn't drink caramel brulee lattes, they have enough energy without the extra caffeine.

Eli is the only one in the house that drinks more coffee than I do, but he needs it to get all his coursework done.

I've already started sewing the sock monkeys for the Winter Cheer Flock, and the first two test monkeys for this year's theme are complete. I needed to do a bit of testing this year because I found an awesome stash of winter/Christmas themed socks that I hadn't had the chance to use yet, but I wanted to something special with them this year. I try to make each season's flock something different than I've done before. That usually means a bit of testing and at least one experimental monkey (Mwahahahaha). This year's test monkeys came out better than expected, so all that's left is to get first half of the new flock finished up.

I'm planning on debuting Winter Cheer on Monday, October 21st. It's early, but they monkeys need time to travel to their new homes before the holidays start.


*Reasonable is VERY subjective here.
**I prefer a Milkyway latte from Beantown, the little shop near my day job.There aren't Beantowns everywhere, so I have to settle for Starbucks.

SoMoMo 2: Baby It's Cold Outside!

 Baby It's Cold Outside

In fact, it's freezing outside, but here in Monkeyville, it's nice and cozy, because as a Special Hanukkah treat, Eli Monkey made matzo ball soup! Eli Monkey, being a college student (going to Harvard), and Sirus Monkey, being an artist don't have a lot of gifts for each other. Instead, they're showing that the love each other in more meaningful ways.

YUM!!!

Eli Monkey is quite the cook, but he admitted to using his Mommy's secret recipe.


Lots of veggies (carrots and celery), lots of matzo balls, lots of noodles and left over turkey from Thanksgiving*.

It was also time to light the menorah.

Pretty! Also, next year, we buy the same candles, because these ones, while expensive, don't drip!

Happy Sock Monkey Month Everyone!

*There is also a bit of rabbit in there, which was left over from dinner Sunday night. Rabbit tastes pretty much like dark meat chicken, so you can't even tell it's in the soup. It's what we had.

Sock Monkey Monday: Hide and Seek

The memory card is still missing, but thankfully, my cell phones came with tiny memory cards and larger memory card adapters that can fit into the Monkeyville camera. This means that even though I took the house apart looking for the memory card and didn't find it*, there can still be a Sock Monkey Monday.

Remember the five pounds of stuffing from last week?

That was more stuffing than I've ever seen all at once, and since I buy lots of stuffing, that's really saying something!

Well, most of that fluff has been turned into these guys!

Ninjas!

My favorite of them all is the purple one. He's the O.o faced one, and it came out looking like that. I did these differently than the way I did the first Ninjas. These guys have felt headbands and belts, and their eyes are embroidered. Totally kid safe!

The Ninjas and one of the other monkeys that's finished joined the traditional monkeys in the toy box once they were completely done. 

 I've run out of room in the monkey bins and the toy box is getting quite crowded, so I had to get a new basket today for the five monkeys I'm working on now. That's okay though, because I really need baskets for the monkeys to go in when we go to the craft fair later this month.

Target had some great sock monkey socks this week, so I got tons of those this weekend, and I've got lots and lots of monkeys for both the Etsy shop and the craft fair. The holiday monkeys (both Christmas and Hanukkah ones!) won't just be regular monkeys, they'll come dressed for the weather in little hats and scarves... a long with a special winter surprise!

From now until the end of the year (or I get a new job), I'll be working four days a week at the day job just to be able to get lots of Monkeyville stuff done. That extra day really makes a huge difference. Today is also the start of NaNoWriMo... but with all of the monkey stuff... I don't know if I'll be able to do it this year. I'm going to try, but one Monkey Maker can only do so many things!

I almost forgot! Boo, decided to be Very Cute this afternoon. Yes, I realize he's cute most of the time, but he was a real terror last night** so I think he's being Extra Cute today.

 Boo, hiding among the stuffed animals on the couch. 

Curled up in a ball, he blends in quite well. So well, I almost put the groceries on him!

*I think I'm just going to have to give in and buy a new memory card.
**He knocked over the big trash can in the kitchen at about 3am. Guacamole *everywhere*.