Day 59 (Or: The Great Monkey Maneuver)

You've been hearing about it, and now it's happened!

No, I didn't lose my mind.  And no, I haven't started a speed dating group...and no, I most certainly haven't finished my novel.  Geesh.  There's a whole lot that I haven't done.  But what I HAVE done, this morning, Small Business Saturday, is launch The Great Monkey Maneuver!

What's this, you wonder?  "Frankly, I think you HAVE lost your mind, darling." You mutter under your breath.  I heard that. 

Here's the thing.  Sock monkeys.  They're totally adorable.  And enjoyable.  And they make me laugh.  Seriously. 

I made one monkey, every stitch by hand, loving the feel of the sock and the thread, and loving the funny ears and the hillarious red butt.  And he charmed my boy and I in ways that we hadn't imagined.  And then the most amazing thing happened.  My favorite 2 year old boy came over, walked straight to the monkey, picked the monkey up by the tail, poked at a button eyeball, and immediately took the sock-turned-monkey to show his mama.  The monkey clearly belonged to him, and now he has a name - "Hoo-Hoo-Ha" - and a premanent home with a most delightful boy.

I WANT MORE OF THAT!  I want monkeys to be EVERYWHERE and I want to be the one to make that happen!

The Great Monkey Maneuver, I'll have you know, is a sock monkey and 40th birthday initiative. I will be 40 years old in one week, exactly. And in honor of my 40th birthday, I will sell 40 sock monkeys!

In case you're curious, here's the original, the loving, the adored-by-favorite-2-year-old-boy Hoo-Hoo-Ha:

And I donated this monkey to a service auction, to raise money for QUUF:

And I'll donate THIS monkey to my favorite non-profit kid place and coffee house, The Boiler Room, for their auction, coming up in December:

And the rest are yours! 

So, The Great Monkey Maneuver, is a sale of 40 monkeys, to be housed in 40 homes with 40 loving children or children at heart.  All in honor of turning 40 years old.  Because when you get old, it's important to engender the joy of being young. 

And what's more, the first 40 monkeys will come with a $4.00 discount when the lucky purchaser uses the coupon code: 40MONKEY
Yes. 

Day 58 of One Thousand Days may just be the most wonderful yet.  Monkey business.

59 down, 941 to go.

Day 45 (or: Walk it, Baby, Walk it!)

Yep.  It's valentines day again.  Can't seem to avoid it.  At least once a year, inundated by pink, and red and sugar and mooshy love. 

Meh.  Forget that.  I'm'ona eat steak, drink bloody mary's and shop.

And once again pledge to walk to raise awareness and funds for the National MS society.

In April, darling child and I will be walking in the area "walk" with our friend the who shouldn't be suffering from this terrible illness on the "Sole Sisters" team.  Nobody should be suffering with it.  Least of all, someone who's spunky. 

Day 45 of One Thousand Days, I do exactly what I was doing about a year ago on day 28. I pledge to walk.  Want to join us?  Or fund us?  Or point and laugh at us?  Just click the links below to check out the possibilities.

45 down, 955 to go.  

Day 42 (or: Garden Party with The Soprano's)

I have a brand new obsession:  The Soprano's.  I'm currently beginning season 5, and haven't been able to put a finger directly on the appeal of it.  But boy is it appealing.  Goombas...Goomas...Italian food and a whole heck of a lot of moral ambiguity.  Or straight up moral ineptitude.  Take your pick.  Either way, I'm loving it, and am relishing spending the Holy Day immersed in the disgusting under-belly of New Jersey in my own living room, no less.  Heaven.

But the REAL good things that were the bulk of my work today, involved coordining soccer snacks, hot drinks, canopy for a cold game, coach gifts, kid gifts, and working on a gift certificate for my church's annual service auction and dinner.  My "service" being a garden party hosted in the gorgeous garden made possible by said church.  My beautiful yard was made possible by my fellows at church (more than 30 of them) who, 2 1/2 years ago, came to the house with cuttings, clippings, snippings, bulbs, seeds and divisions from their own yards. 

My first spring in this home was a constant surprise, watching things I didn't know were there coming out of the ground, watching cuttings grow by leaps and bounds.  My yard, which is one of my very favorite things in my life, is entirely the result of the love from my church.

Day 42 of One Thousand Days, I made my pledge of $200.00 in service to my fellows.  Lovely fellows.

42 down, 958 to go.