Sock Monkey Monday: From the Desk of Eli D. Monkey

Hello Internets! For those of you who aren't following me on Twitter, this is Eli Monkey. I'm giving the Monkey Maker the night off, and doing the Sock Monkey Monday entry this week. Last week, Sirus and I went on vacation (we were nice, and brought the Monkey Maker with us too) so I have lots and lots of photos to share.

Sirus and I posed on some fake people at the Providence Airport

We left Friday afternoon, which Sirus and I spent IN THE SUITCASE, because the Monkey Maker said we were luggage! At first, it wasn't fun (we were in with the shoes, gross!) but then we were granted reprieve from the stinky shoes, while we waited for the plane to arrive.

 Potato chips would be our traveling companions for the rest of the trip.

I told Monkey Maker that if I HAD to be in the bag with the chips, then I wanted to go to Starbucks before we left. I needed something to go with all those chips after all! Sure, Monkey Maker SAID that it was the cabin pressure that opened the bag, but Sirus and I were hungry and the stewardesses don't offer snacks and drinks to those of us traveling in the OVERHEAD COMPARTMENTS.

Nope, no plane yet.

It was a bit cramped in the overhead compartment, but once we got to Wisconsin, Sirus and I got to roam free around the house. Sirus relaxed, while I made friends with a giant white kitty. The kitties are MUCH bigger in Wisconsin than they are in Monkeyville. 

Mostly, Sirus and I spent our vacation eating some REALLY good food cooked by chef Tria. Way better than the foods we normally eat (the Monkey Maker always says there isn't time to cook-- blah!). For example, on Saturday, there was "Luketacular 3" which was a really tasty crawfish boil. 

Mudbugs-- yummy!

This is a seriously awesome way to celebrate a birthday, and maybe next year, we'll do it for Sirus's birthday. One morning, we woke up to homemade WAFFLES (imagine that in Donkey from Shrek's voice) another it was homemade, warm blueberry muffins. We were spoiled little monkeys for the whole weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if I gained a few ounces!

It wasn't ALL delicious food, one day, we went to the zoo. We saw lots and lots of animals, including snorting seals, lions, snakes, and some monkeys that weren't made out of socks! HOWEVER, I need to talk to you "people". What's with putting the monkeys behind big, huge fences?! Don't you know that monkeys like to roam free???

Poor guy, I feel for him. There aren't even any chips for him to snack on.

I had a strict talk with the Monkey Maker about this, but apparently it was for our "safety" because only sock monkeys are able to roam free. After that, I did my best to look especially "socky" so no one would try to put ME in a big cage. 

 

When we got to the snakes and other reptiles, I was glad there was glass. I'm not noms!

 

Hey look! Escaped humans! Get them, quick!

We flew home on the Fourth of July, which was pretty cool, because we got to fly over all of the fireworks. Also, because there were no chips in the bag, Sirus and I didn't have to go in the overhead bin, we got to sit in a seat like all of the humans!

I think the Monkey Maker was trying to make up for the whole zoo thing, but as we were flying over all the fireworks of people celebrating their freedom from England's oppression, I couldn't help but think of my monkey brethren being oppressed at the zoo. Sirus said I was making a mountain out of a molehill, but I was still irked. I started a hashtag on twitter about it even-- #Freemonkey. Maybe it was all that time I spent in the suitcase, or maybe Sirus just isn't as willing to fight for primate rights as I am. He says things are different once you're not in college.

We had a lot of fun on our vacation (even the zoo), and hopefully, we'll be able to go back soon. The Monkey Maker made cheese toast for dinner tonight. Cheese. Toast. What kind of dinner is that?! We miss Tria's cooking, watching Misfits, and hanging out with friends. The Monkey Maker misses it a lot too, so hopefully, we'll go back soon!

Sock Monkey Monday: Sock Monkeys Save The World!

It sounds silly, but I really believe that on more than one occasion, sock monkeys have saved me. The first time, it was when I was incredibly sick and in the hospital. It's a bit of a long story, but I was so sick I couldn't *do* anything but lay there. I couldn't talk, I couldn't even breathe right on my own. For the first couple of days, before the doctors could figure out exactly how to treat me, they had me in my own room. Mostly just in case I had swine flu. I didn't have swine flu, so after um... some number of days that I don't remember at all, they moved me to a more public "room" in the geriatric area of the hospital (this is because I needed so much care, I'm not *that* old).

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was scared. I was scared I wasn't going to make it out of the hospital, that I wasn't going to be able to move on my own ever again, and because I was on morphine, I was having HORRIBLE nightmares all the time. This was bad enough when I was in the bright, sunny room of my own. Once I was moved, there were a lot of people around me. All very sick as well and requiring lots and lots of care. What I remember most though, was the woman immediately adjacent to me.

I don't remember much, but I do remember when she was awake, she was yelling, throwing things, and when medication time came around (which it did frequently in that ward), she would scream. The nurses were all EXTREMELY patient with her, and did the a pretty exceptional job of trying to calm her down. Every time this happened though, I would be roused from my morphine induced nightmares into reality that was even more confusing. I was TERRIFIED, but next to me were Eli and Sirus, my sock monkeys. I'd cuddle Eli and while I would still be scared, it wouldn't be quite so bad.

It's hard to explain how something made of a pair of socks, a bit of stuffing, and some thread can make everything seem not so bad... but whatever it was, Eli monkey was there for me to snuggle just when I needed that most. It's harder to be scared when there's a cute, smiling face looking at you.

Every day I'd ask when I could go home, and every day the nurses would tell me "well get you out of here tomorrow." It was almost a week's worth of tomorrows before I could go home, but I did get out of the hospital. I wasn't back to normal, that took several months*. For a while, everything was a mess, then a friend (the wonderful Ninja Muse) asked me to do a photo project with her. I agreed, but not being a photographer, I just took photos of Eli and Sirus as they had different adventures. This was in December, so when Christmas rolled around, I knew I had to do something big. Something cool. Something with more than just two sock monkeys and whatever other stuffed animals I had around the house.

I needed MORE MONKEYS!!!

To me, this is when I really started to get better. My body had been... not normal, but acceptable for months, but my life was broken and I didn't have a clue how to fix it. I have my Ninja Muse and George (as well as Eli and Sirus) to thank for that. It took me about three months before I was willing to let one of my monkeys out into the world. Mostly because when I first started making them, I didn't know how to sew. I started with a sad little $20 sewing machine because I didn't think it was something I COULD do.

I'm stubborn though, so I kept at it. I kept thinking "Grannies have been making these for decades. I'm going to figure this out damn it!" Eventually, Ninja Monkey (the very first Ninja Monkey) was released into the wild. Well, he was sent to live in the care of Imaginary Ninja, who needed a muse because hers just wasn't working. Sock monkeys make very, very good muses, when THE Ninja Muse isn't available that is!

Now, I'm very much better. I'm healthy enough that I can do the things that I want to. My life still isn't perfect, but it's good enough. It's not BAD by any means, just tough sometimes. Thankfully, it's now the normal, I can deal with this type of difficult. I still have the sock monkeys to get me through the hard times. Now, I'm sending out monkeys on a regular basis to help put smiles on other people's faces. I make a lot of monkeys to be auctioned off at charity events. I wish I could give a monkey to every kid who really needs a pal to bring along to the scary places. I still bring Eli and Sirus with me when I have to go into the hospital for things. When I was in the recovery room after having surgery, one of the nurses said "OH! the sock monkeys-- over that way," when one of my family members was coming to see me.

Being a sock monkey maker wasn't in my life plan, but even with the bad things that had to happen to spark that to happen, I'm glad it did. I don't generally think about how sick I was back then, or how worried I was when I started getting dozens of calls from collection agencies on the bills**, that stuff is all in the past. In fact, the place where I was working closed down (not because of me, it was a big corporation decision thing). I miss the people I used to work with, but now, I can focus on just making monkeys to make people happy.

Best of all, now I get to do things like make monkeys to help other people, I can do fundraisers, and things like that and know that Monkeyville is doing the same thing for other people that it did for me. I have the word "phoenix" tattooed on my arm in Chinese because even though I crash and burn, I always seem to make it through. I think someday I'm going to have to get a monkey tattooed on the other arm.

I was thinking about this because in the past few months, I've made a lot of monkeys (and other sock animals) for different charities, but also because when people meet me in person, they're usually very surprised to find out that I don't have a background in art at all, but biotechnology. When people ask how I ended up making sock monkeys of all things, I usually tell them about Eli and Sirus being there for me when I was sick.

I've never actually considered the monkeys art-- they're toys, and even the fanciest monkeys I make are still toys. They're still good at cuddling, still good at being brave in the face of doctors with needles and scary tests to be done. Yep, even the zombies and skeletons I make are cuddly. If they're art at all, then they're art that's meant to be cuddled, not just collected.



*Though some weird side effects still remain. I'm physically incapable of screaming for instance.

**It was uncertain for a little while if I was going to have to pay these or someone else. After about four months, it was decided that someone else was responsible for those. I still got the calls for a long time though.

Sock Monkey Monday: Eli Has WORK To Do!

Okay, my grasp of what day of the week isn't fantastic since I haven't managed to find a new day job. I thought yesterday was Sunday for sure, and that wasn't helped by the fact that allergies have mostly kept me in the house, itchy, sneezey, and covered in hives. Stupid pollen. This time of year always ends up in hives for me. The only time I could go out and not worry was when it was pouring. Sorta takes all the fun out of spring!

However, while I've been trapped in the house, snuggling my bottle of Benedryl, I've been observing what the monkeys have been getting up to. Poor Eli Monkey, he had finals last week*.

Can't talk. Studying. 

I'm not sure if you can see, but I was nice and let him borrow my Justin Bieber notebook to make notes in. I don't have a good reason to have a notebook with a Justin Bieber sticker on it, it's for a novel I'm working on. Really. 

As the week went on, the studying got pretty hard for Eli. He was up late lots of nights, there was lots of coffee involved, and dinner consisted of "whatever could be pulled from the freezer and zapped" easily. 

 Can't talk...ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzZzZZZZZZZZZ

He kind of reminds me of myself (and everyone else who's a writer) during November** Lots of coffee, lots of papers strewn everywhere, and lots and lots of post-it notes. I've also more than once fallen asleep in front of my computer as well. It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but if I write in bed, I often wake up later cuddling my computer. 

Sirus monkey helped keep Eli properly caffeinated and when things got a bit too much for Eli, Sirus made sure that Eli got some rest. 

 Shh!!! Eli needs his rest!

Sirus Monkey is clearly, a very sweet monkey. He tucked Eli in and let him sleep, but made sure to get him up in time for his very last final the next morning. I'm sure that Eli has made his sock primate brethren proud!

*Eli Monkey is the first sock monkey to attend college. We're quite proud of our smart monkey!
**National Novel Writing Month. Squee!

SoMoMo 27: BRRRRR!!!

There was a HUGE storm here in Monkeyville, which buried everything under a lot of snow. 

A LOT of snow.... EEK!!!

Eli and Sirus knew they couldn't do the job all on their own, so they asked one of their monkey friends for help.
The worked and worked until their monkey paws were sore, and in the end, the car was freed from the snow.

Such good little monkeys deserved a special treat! 

Sirus's special hot chocolate! But first, to get the blood flowing, some buttershots. YUM!!!

Warm snuggles for cold monkeys.

SoMoMo 24: Cookies for Santa!

Eli and Sirus were both very excited that Santa was coming this year. Santa was pretty kick arse already, because I got exactly what I asked for in my letter the DAY AFTER I wrote it! Thus, the monkeys needed to make some really good cookies as a thank you. They decided to make Sirus Monkey's Very Special peppermint cookies.

First step: unwrap and grind the candy canes.

Eli took charge of that step.

Second Step: Get the dry ingredients together:

Sirus says these are a secret... which is kind of true. It's Betty Crocker's secret at least.

Step three: Combine everything.

Eli was starting to get impatient.

Step four: Wait.

Very Impatient.


I think Santa liked the cookies, because both monkeys got exactly what they asked for this year.

SoMoMo 20: Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

 Last week, Eli and Sirus did laundry. This week, it was time for the monkeys to get clean.

The Sock Monkey equivalent of a do not disturb sign.



Cannon ball!!! Eli hopped right into the warm, sudsy tub.


Sirus on the other hand, is "surface wash only" so he was far more reluctant to just jump in.



Ahhhhhh.....


Drip, drip, drip....



Sirus took a bath in a less wet way, and used his wash cloth to get clean. It wasn't as effective, but it meant his seams stayed intact.


True love-- cuddling while waiting to dry.

Note: It's been very difficult for me to get the SoMoMo entries done every day with Christmas coming the end of this week. Sometimes, I'm just not home, sometimes, I'm just out of ideas. I'm trying though!!!
 

SoMoMo 16: A Favorite Pastime

Eli and Sirus took a break from their busy monkey lives to catch up on one of their very favorite pastimes. 

Both monkeys LOVE reading, and are getting very excited to participate in the upcoming Twelve in 12 challenge! Twelve in 12 is a challenge to read a book a month for 12 months. It's designed to get people (and monkeys) to realize that reading can fit into a busy schedule. Both Monkeys know that reading is important to keep their brains healthy, and they're looking forward to reading their monthly books.


Can't talk. Reading.


While Sirus re-read one of his favorite books-- The City of Dreaming Books, Eli took the opportunity to raid the bookcase for a book he hadn't read yet-- Junk Science.

SoMoMo 15: Letters to Santa

Tonight, Sirus introduced Eli to one of the first of many coming Christmas traditions-- writing letters to Santa.


Eli was worried his letter wasn't going to be very good, but he was sweet and asked for Santa to say hi to Mrs. Claus for him, and thank you to all of the hard working elves.

He was worried that Santa wouldn't know who he was, but Sirus reassured him that Santa knows where all the good little Monkeys live, even the ones that haven't had Christmas before.

Sirus has had more experience in writing to Santa, so his letter was less formal but very heart felt.

It's been an incredibly long time since I've written a letter to Santa, but I think I would write one like Sirus's if I could.

Dear Santa,  This year, I have almost everything that I could want. The only things that I'm hoping for is that I get a new day job very quickly next year, and that this Christmas is a very good one for us all.

SoMoMo12: A Monkey's Work is Never Done

Today was chore day here in Monkeyville. Yuck, but it needed to be done. Thankfully, Eli and Sirus were willing to pitch in. 


Eli took over emptying the washer.

While Sirus, who isn't machine washable loaded the dryer. It was safer that way.

It was tough, but Sirus managed to get the quarters in the machine.

No fingers means he had to use the two hand method.

"I get to push the button!"


*Insert time passage music here*

Time to get the clothes out!

Eli preferred to sit in the nice warm basket and fold.


What good little monkeys I have!!!

Now, for some Extreme Boo Cuteness. Those with a weakness for cuteness may wish to look away now.

It was cold here last week.

Rawr!

Cower before the Cutest Blanket Monster Ever!

Yay! New Toy!


Isis cuteness:

She was mad and wouldn't look at me.

Pan Cuteness:


This has sort of turned into a Cute Kitty Entry.... Oops.

SoMoMo 10: Ho, ho, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 I REALLY need elves. Really bad. Of course, since I'm not Santa, I don't have access to loads of elves. I do however, I have access to lots and lots of sock monkeys.

Sirus took over the sewing bit of things for a little while.

While Eli and Cosmo worked on the other end of things.

Eli cut the fabric that Sirus would sew, while Cosmo helped assemble Barnaby and Obi Wan.

I wanted to get so much more done tonight, but I just can't. I've been working 18 hour days between the day job and Monkeyville, and I need sleep!

SoMoMo 7: Ahhhh....

 Sometimes, after a long day of work and having fun with friends, Sirus Monkey just needs to unwind. It's not a bad life being a sock monkey, but even Sirus has his stresses.

Some nice red wine, a snugly bathrobe, what could be better?


Ahhhh.....


Eli Monkey isn't included in today's photos because that's real red wine, and Eli Monkey is under age. The law applies to sock monkeys too!
 

SoMoMo 6: On the Sixth Day, JOY!!!

 On the Sixth Day of Hanukkah, There was a Surprise

Sirus and Eli, both being low on funds decided that for the holidays this year, it would be only small gifts, mostly of the homemade variety. Ones that wouldn't bankrupt them, since sock monkeys don't have jobs. Then, this showed up on the doorstep today:

A Big Box address to Eli Monkey!

Eli wasted no time in digging right in

Oh Eli, always have to show your bum off, don't you? At least it's cute.

Inside the box? 

 I think he likes his gift.

Sirus Monkey came over to innocently ask...


And was attacked in the best possible way.

Lots of hugs and kisses for the Best. Husband. Ever.

I think Eli Monkey is the Happiest Monkey in the World right now!!!


A little back story... Eli had the Best Laptop Ever, Laptop Jack, but back in June, it Laptop Jack died a horrible death. Sirus Monkey was being very nice and allowing Eli Monkey to share his computer (well, take it really), but it just wasn't the same.

Eli Monkey's new laptop is a custom built HP dm3, the closest thing to Laptop Jack that anyone makes. Also, it has all sorts of special cooling technology so the same fate which befell Laptop Jack won't befall this one. I had a name in mind, but every time I name a computer, it dies.