Monkey Monday- Emmie - 09.29.08

There once was a lovely little girl who lived over the river with her Mommy and Daddy.  She was a sweet little thing who loved to dance and play.  She was especially excellent at playing soccer, so she became know far and wide as SoccerMonkey.

One day SoccerMonkey had to make a trip with her Mommy to the place her Mommy worked at.  SoccerMonkey didn't really want to go but she loved her Mommy so she went along cheerfully.  Imagine her surprise when she got to Mommy's work and her Mommy showed her MonkeyGirl's office.  Why there were monkeys everywhere!  SoccerMonkey thought it was funny that a grown up would have all kinds of monkeys hanging around, but she still had fun that day.

When SoccerMonkey got home, she was still thinking of the monkeys.  She went quietly to her Mommy to ask her a question.  "Mommy?" she whispered in her Mommy's ear.  "Do you think MonkeyGirl would like another monkey?"  Her Mommy thought about it for a minute and asked her why she would ask such a question. "Well" SoccerMonkey started, "I have a monkey in my room and I think she would like to hang out and play with all of the other monkeys.  Would it be okay if I gave MonkeyGirl my monkey?"  Her Mommy thought it was a great idea.  

So this is the story of how my monkey family grew by one more monkey.  A very sweet (and darn cute, I might add) little girl gave up her monkey so that I could add on to my monkey family.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that Emmie has a face that only a mother could love!  Thanks SoccerMonkey, Emmie will always be one of my favorite monkey's because she was a gift from someone very special!

Lia Sophia WannaBe

You all know that I have a thing for collecting beads.  I make a few things but mainly I just keep a stash of beads in the house just in case.  You never know when a jewelry emergency might break out!

At work today, the latest and greatest Lia Sophia catalog got passed around.  If you haven't seen it and you like jewelry - then don't click on the link!  I kept looking at page of page of lovelies and I kept commenting "I could make that"  or "Why didn't I think of that?"  Then on one page inspiration hit.  I saw a lovely bracelet that I liked.  But I'm not sure I want to pay $60 for something that i will crash into the desktop all day long!  I kept peeking at the page when I was on the phone and I realized that I had very similar beads at home and I could make my own.  

Once I got home and got settled after dinner, I decided to hop to it.  Not only did I make my own version of the $60 beauty (here is my inspiration piece) , I also made a necklace and matching bracelet and earrings from a $3 kit I found on clearance at Michael's a few months ago.  Just imagine what I could have accomplished if I had my thoughts together this past weekend!

B-O-R-I-N-G

That sums up my weekend in one word.  Mr. Monkeygirl was off to the races this weekend with the boys and Skaterboy was chillin' with his crew so I had the whole house to myself.  You would think that I would get all kinds of crafty stuff done with nobody to interrupt my creative juices.  Wrong!

I couldn't get my mojo going this weekend and so I got very little accomplished.  I did manage to drag out my stash of beads and organized the whole lot.  I now know exactly what I have and can find what I'm looking for without poking through assorted bags and boxes.  Everything fit into one drawer so I was happy!  But after spending all of that time sorting and organizing, I was out of steam and inspiration. Browsing a few of my favorite catalogs for inspiration did nothing for me because everything I liked required another trip to the bead store and I don't really need more beads!

My only inspiration was in animated form.  I watched the Bee Movie and I kept eyeing Vanessa Bloome's necklace thinking "I could make that".  It took me until tonight to figure out I could Google search for the image so I could mimic it!  (By the way, I liked the movie - it was cute!  I realize that my title might be a little misleading!)

My other animated inspiration was Lego Batman.  I know I am supposed to me a grown woman but I want to play video games.  I sent Skaterboy on a late night rental run but no luck - they were all rented out.  So today I marched my adult self to the store and bought my own game.  I have gotten better, I stopped beating up Robin on accident and figured out how to get rid of Catwoman.  Too bad I have to work tomorrow or I could take on the Joker!

All in all it was a boring, uneventful weekend alone.  I'm glad Mr. M is back or I would have to find more video games to fill my time!

Goodbye Butch

I just read the news that Paul Newman passed away.  I always thought he was cool (and kind of sexy).  I also think it was great that he did so many other things other than acting and didn't make a big deal about it.  Not only was he an award winning actor, but he was involved in racing and his own food line.  Instead of keeping his profits from Newman's Own, he donated those profits to charities and started a camp for kids.  You got to love him and he will be missed.

Word of the Day -09.26.08

I'm gonna keep this short, sweet and to the point. My word of the day is Cluster. If it can go wrong today, it will and in a big bad way. To top it all off, my usual back-ups for helping figuring things out are either working in another building, working from home or on vacation. It is not a good day and I still have an hour to go before lunch!!

Bad News, Good News

Bad news - I already have an issue with my new office.  Last night while I was trying to catch up on my e-mail after being out of the office for 2 days.  I stopped to catch my breath and leaned back in my new desk chair when I heard a sickening crack.  I got up and looked at the chair only to discover that the base of the chair cracked on both sides where the back is attached.

I was not happy.  I have had these chairs for exactly one week.  They were not cheap either.  I could understand it if they were from the cheapo furniture store or if I was being crazy rough with them, but leaning back? I like nice things so that is why I bought them where I did. Fired up and ready to do battle, I headed for the phone. Drats, apparently I can only complain during business hours so I had to wait to call until today.

The good news? I was ready to fight and argue with furniture people but they were very nice.  They checked their stock and confirmed that they had a replacement and promised to hold it in my name.  Stupidly, I walked out of the house this morning with out the chair.  So I had to run home after to work to return it. Doesn't sound so bad until you realize that the furniture store is practically across the street from work.  Exchanging it was simple and after the third time, they are a lot easier to assemble.

My Word of the Day

Incompetence - Devoid of those qualities requisite for effective conduct or action.

I had a bad day at work today.  Nothing was easy (yes, I know work isn't always easy) but today was one of those challenging days were I wished e-mail was never invented.  I'm not sure I could explain the level of duh! I encountered today but suffice it to say that it was not pretty.  Not everything was bad but apparently there is a big misunderstanding about the following words:

• Immediately means without delay or instantly to me.  My job is to prioritize things and tell people what to do - for other departments.  It's a good thing we don't deal in life or death issues because apparently, immediately means 8 hours later to some people.  
• No means no!  I can only tell someone so many times that something isn't available, doesn't exist or can't be done before I lose my patience.  I try to be nice and polite but it's a good thing you can't read between the lines on e-mails!

On the bright side, I had a very good experience today as well that helped balance out the bad.  It was a little weird but so cool.  I ran into a woman today who looked familiar and we exchanged pleasantries.  "You are 'Monkeygirl' right?" she said. (She used my real name not Monkeygirl)  She went on to tell me that she attended my presentation the other day and she really enjoyed it.  Wow!  I was impressed that she remembered me and that she had such wonderfully good things to say.  The weird part was this entire exchange occurred in the women's restroom!  It was great but not exactly the best place to hold a professional conversation.

D.I. Done!

The craft room/office is ready!  Finally.  Ok, it honestly has been completed for a week or so but I have been kind of distracted by work related stuff lately so I haven't had time to think clearly.

This time, Mr. Monkeygirl outdid himself.  He will personally confirm that I am picky. Just mention "bathroom floor" to him and he may just run screaming from the room (I'll let you in on the story in another post).  But there isn't one thing in my room that I would change.

The room looked like this when we started:

Now for the big reveal...drum roll please.brbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr

I don't think the photos represent the real color of the room, but I can't seem to quite get myself together enough during daylight hours to take some pictures.  I have to give a big thanks to the following people.

1. Mr. Monkeygirl for letting me see "the vision" and for his willingness to follow through on my wild ideas.
2. SewWhat? for her expert advice and sewing talents on the window coverings.  Without you, I would still be trying to sew a straight line or searching endlessly for just the right thing online!
3. Skaterboy for his interest.  It is hard to get teenager's engaged in home life but he did drop in frequently and offer his opinion.  He likes it and I think his friends where completely floored by the change.  He says I should get a whopping big plasma for the wall so I can watch the DIY shows while working.  I think he is a really smart boy!
4. MEF Nik for sharing the DIY portion of her brain with me.  Without it, I'm not sure what we would have ended up with.  Our original plans would have been ok, but remember I'm a perfectionist and it would have driven me crazy.

Sighhhhhh

Whew!  I survived my speech today and I actually think I did fairly well.  I hate speaking and seeing a room full of people fidgeting or nodding off, but I seemed to have everyone's attention and they were actually engaged in the conversation!

I got a lot of "great job" comments from my co-workers and so I think it went well. It was kind of nerve racking to see and entire row of upper management staring at me from the back of the room but I was determined not to focus on them at all.  All in all I would say it was a success and most importantly, I didn't puke, trip or bop anybody in the head!

Wish Me Luck

I haven't been a very good blogger lately.  I finished my craft room but haven't posted the resulting pics yet.  It's Monday and the monkey is conspicuously absent again.  We planned a vacation and I haven't written a word about it yet.  But I have a reason.

I'm in panic mode right now.  I hate speaking in front of a group of people.  I have no problems speaking up in meetings or talking to "important" people on the phone.  I do really well at the one on one schmoozing that is required when you attend trade shows.  But ask me to stand up in front of a room of strangers and speak and I freeze.  I - uhm - forget - uhm - what I was going to say.

Tomorrow morning I "volunteered" to give a presentation at a client forum we are holding.  I told my former boss that I would be more than happy to help out in anyway I could - as long as I didn't have to present.  I guess that piece of information went out the door with him when he left the company a few months back.  Now I have to stand up in front of a room full of clients and present a 40-45 minute presentation.  "Just make it conversational" they said, "Try to make it fun". Uhm, sorry but my assigned subject matter isn't exactly the kind of stuff you hear at the local Laugh Factory.  I'm a reformed geek (aka code monkey) and even I think some of this is b-o-r-i-n-g.

I've made myself all kinds of notes (slow down!, take a deep breath!, smile!) I've (gasp!) even practiced my presentation so it doesn't sound like I'm reading - or that I'm a complete babbling idiot! In fact, I purposely put very little on the slides to avoid the allusion that I'm just reading.  Personal Pet Peeve Alert - I can read your slides a lot faster than you can read them to me so tell me something else or quit wasting my time!  I've timed myself over and over and I am right at the 40 minute mark.  Perfect, right?  Maybe, if I can remember to s-l-o-w down and not talk too fast, if I don't puke on the front row due to nerves, if I don't fall off my heels tripping over a projector cord.  Oh, and I hope that I don't clobber someone in the front row.  I should have some Italian in me considering how much I use my hands when I talk!

So wish me luck!  I doubt I can whip up a serious case of laryngitis by morning so I think I'm stuck.  Oh well, within the next 12 hours it will all be over and I can get back to some serious fun.  

Shiver me timbers!

Ahoy mates! Grab ye a cup of grog and drink up me hearties.  Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  So all my blogging beauties, shiver your timbers and protect your booty!  Arrrrrrrrrrr!

I'm Done

That's it, it's over.  I have had enough.  I can't take it anymore and I need to do something about it.  

I am one of "those" people that you all whisper about in the office.  You know exactly which one's I'm talking about.  Come close and I will whisper it in your ear. Closer - the one person in the office who has the really neat, clean and organized desk.  There, I admitted it.  I know I'm a freak but that is the way I roll!  When I get disorganized and messy, I get really stressed out.  Just plain cranky. 

It isn't just a work thing.  It spills over into my home life too.  I'm not always perfect.  I have one of those "look at the pretty butterflies" personalities too.  What on earth does that mean?  I am so easily distracted.  Very easily distracted.  And impatient.  Don't you feel for Mr. Monkeygirl now?

Since we have been concentrating almost all of our efforts on my craft room lately I have been letting things go.  I try to pick up around the house but I either run out of time or energy to get things done.  The result?  Semi-neat piles of stuff all over the house.  

I cleaned out my closet a couple of weeks ago and while the closet looks great, there were still piles of clothes and shoes to be donated at the foot of the bed.  I cleaned up the mail pile in the kitchen the other day only to end up with several smaller piles of mail on the counter, the coffee table, etc.  Assembling chairs for my office has left piles of cardboard to be recycled and bits of packing foam all over my family room.

But today I hit the tipping point.  In order to be able to concentrate on anything at home or at work, I would have to straighten up.  My office at work is clean so that only left my house.  Every room in my house is a mess.  I had to clean.  No matter what, I was going to straighten up before I lost my mind!  I even bribed myself to get things done (no blogging until you clean your room!).  I feel so much better now that I can see the floor in my room and the top of my kitchen table. And I can blog again!

Monkey Monday - 09.15.08

Meet Harley!  Harley should have been here last week to help celebrate Monkey Mamma's birthday with a ride on his hog but a series of unfortunate incidents kept him away.

As much as Harley loves tequila, he also loves being a nurse to family members who aren't feeling well.  Harley is going to keep his introduction short to tend to MonkeyGirl who is nursing a serious cold tonight. 

See ya'll next week!

Ike was a Baaaad Boy

Hurricane Ike blew through town today and made a big mess before leaving almost as quickly as he came.  I knew it was going to rain.  I knew it was going to be significant.  But I didn't expect this.

I heard the rain this morning.  It sounded heavy.  But honestly, after margaritas and the late showing of The Dark Knight, I was just too tired to care.  I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Monkey Mamma called and woke us up to reports of major flooding in the area.  The local creek (aka storm sewer) overflowed.  I have driven past that creek thousands of times and I don't think I have ever seen water in it. Want fresh fish? I think I know a local grocery store that has live fresh fish available this evening.

We were very lucky.  We had a little trickle of water that came in through the basement windows.  The pool turned a lovely shade of light green. An inch or two more and the pool would have overflowed. The palm trees are laying on the ground (but they fall over if you sneeze).  Other than that, nothing else happened here at our house.

The reports on the news of local issues are devastating.  As bad as it is here, we are still lucky.  We only got the kinder, gentler version of Ike.  We didn't get the full blown, pissed off, mad as hell and I'm not going to let anyone stand in my way version of Ike.

I've died and gone to Bead Heaven

Like any kid worth their salt, my only defense is she started it.  Monkey Mamma inspired me to take up yet another addictive hobby some time ago. Beading. It started out so innocently, she made some lovely creation then started showing me all of her precious gems.  I was impressed but not hooked - yet.  Then she uttered the fatal words - "It's so easy and I can do this while watching TV."  Uh-oh, I was doomed from that minute on.

I just got back from the local bead show. It was so cool. And so completely overwhelming. I got some stuff - nothing fancy but as one of my new friend's says "good filler beads".  I want to go back.  Monkey Mamma couldn't make it with me today but she wants to go tomorrow.  I think I need to go with her and chaperone!

Revenge of the Bubble Boy

With all of the "excitement" going on in our area lately, I am happy to report on some mischief that makes me smile.  

The city we live in has been making some landscaping changes.  The latest craze - water fall/ponds.  In the last couple of months, two new impressive features have been added on the same street.  The first met with a huge amount of criticism as it was installed by the city at a rather hefty price tag (or so I've been told).  The second was installed just recently in front of a private business a couple of blocks down the street.  

Someone (I'm assuming kids) decided that the water fall needed some pizazz so they added soap to the water which created an enormous amount of bubbles.  I drove past it 3 times yesterday and each time, the pile of bubbles got larger!  It reminded me of the scene from Ghost Busters when they blow up the Stay Puff Marshmallow man!  They also added bubbles to the 3-tiered fountain on the corner.  The bottom 2/3's of the fountain disappeared in a cloud of billowy soap bubbles!  Notice how much larger the bubbles are in the second picture!

Sorry about the photo quality but they aren't half bad considering they were taken on cell phones without flashes from a moving car.

Your face is naked!

I admit it.  I like my men scruffy.  Not the greasy haired, in need of a shower and a flea-dip kind of scruffy, but the "I'm on vacation and I'm not shaving" kind of scruffy.  I wouldn't mind being lost on a deserted island with Sawyer, Sayid and Desmond from LOST, no matter how freaky the island is, just to be surrounded by scruffy men.

Mr. Monkey girl falls into the scruffy boy category.  I like his scruffiness.  It's my thing.  But for some reason, he decided to shave this weekend.  I don't mean trimming it all short, I mean he is clean shaven.  And the really sad thing, it took me over 12 hours to even notice it.

I didn't notice it when I got home last night.  Something seemed different but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I didn't notice it when he kissed me goodnight last night.  I didn't notice it this morning when we got up.  I even accused him of giving "mushy" kisses this morning (implying that he wasn't trying hard enough).  It wasn't until he came home from the grocery store and handed me a bottle of vanilla extract that it hit me.  His face is naked!

I keep finding myself staring at him endlessly.  I want my scruffy back! I might have to go to the Halloween store tomorrow to buy him some fake facial hair until his own grows back in.  I have a bone to pick with our hairdresser who put the thought in his mind (I'm so not going to tip her next time!).  Thankfully, Mr M. is on vacation this week so he should be back to himself in a few days.

Y.M.C.A.

I think one of the Village People is alive and well and living in my neck of the woods. Not the Indian, but the Biker.  I saw him today at my local Lowe's.  What would a 'megahit' singing gem need from the lumber aisle?  Not sure, because he looked even more lost than I did!

Thirty years after the launch of their first album and back on the road again, you would think that these guys would be traveling with an entourage but - no - the Biker guy was all alone.  Short shorts and a sleeveless T were just half of his ensemble. His outfit was completed with a leather biker cap slightly askew on top of his snowy white hair.  White crew socks pulled up nice and tight matched his snowy white tennies perfectly.  

I felt like a fish out of water in the lumber department on a weekday morning but this guy looked even more lost than I did!  I still have no idea what he was looking for but every time I turned around, he was there.  Wandering around looking completely and totally lost.  I guess I had the advantage of being a woman because their were lots of guys willing to help me find what I was looking for.  Not so, for the Village Person - everyone completely ignored him.  For all I know he is still roaming the aisles looking for some mysterious item!

Speaking of Village People, what is up with this look?  I think they forgot that one of their hits is "Macho Man"........

 

Object of my obsession

I finally found them!  I have been searching for this particular pair of shoes for months!  I couldn't find them anywhere.  Endless searches of the Internet turned up nothing.  Local shoes stores - forget about it!  Trusty old eBay - not!

A chance comment finally landed me this pair of shoes.  Turns out my friend CA was able to track down one of the few remaining pairs in my size in Las Vegas.  Being the most awesome person ever, she also used her discount so I got an excellent deal too!  I owe her a humongous favor!

When Mr. Monkeygirl surprised me with the shoes tonight, I was so excited that I put them on immediately. I'm not sure that a sweaty t-shirt and gym shorts are the perfect outfit for the shoes but it did make Skaterboy laugh!  Now, it just needs to stop raining so I can wear them to work!

Monkey Monday - 09.01.08

You give a monkey a simple task and sometimes they will succeed and sometimes they will fail miserably.  You might recall that last week, the monkeys were a little busy.

Since the Republican National Convention is a low-key affair due to the Hurricane, the monkeys were free this week.  They had all kinds of free time on their hands and they should have been able to accomplish the simple mission they had from last week.

You might recall my most excellent friend Nik complaining about being serenaded by twangy country music.  I sent the smartest monkey in the bunch, Timmy the Think Geek, on a secret mission. Timmy is a code monkey which may be insulting to some, but in the monkey world, a code monkey is as close to Einstein as you can get.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to cross the river to the residence across the road from This D*mn House.  Inside this house you will find a variety of country music CD's most likely from the Time Life collection.  These CD's must be destroyed in order to maintain peace and tranquility for all.  Should you, or any member of your team be caught, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.  This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.........kapow!

Disguised as a Mean Old Man, Timmy set off on his top secret mission.  No one heard from Timmy for days as he was maintaining radio silence in order to not blow his cover.  This morning, we found Timmy on the back porch napping after his long trip.  He was so proud of himself for completing his mission and bringing back the offending CD.  Unfortunately, I forgot that Code Monkey's don't know how to read very well.  Maybe next time, Nik, maybe next time!

When Work was Fun

Since today is Labor Day - a day off for all working citizens - I decided to share a story of labor that has nothing to do with painting! Remember when work was fun? Neither do I!  But the other day, I was reminded that sometimes work can be fun.

My nephew and niece, M&M, were over the other day and we were playing in the back yard.  They were on a mission to find sticks.  They promised to be careful and to 'not poke your eyes out' with the assorted sticks we found on the ground.  The pickings were slim in the back and when M Boy kept trying to pull up the roots of my 25' Magnolia tree, I decided we needed a new hunting ground.

We have a huge oak tree in the front that loves to drop all kinds of 'toys' on the ground in various shapes and sizes.  We got a bucket to collect our treasures and headed off to the front yard.  They were in heaven!  I kept hearing "Look at what I found Aunt BonkeyGirl!" (M Girl can say M's but always replaces my name with a B - it's so cute!) After about 15 minutes, they had loaded up their bucket and were ready to head to the back to play.

When Mommy came to get them, she looked quizzically at the bucket full of sticks. My first response - slave labor!  Then I explained the mission to find stick toys and that I figured we could kill two birds with one stone.  They got the toys they wanted and I got some yard work done.  Do you think they would come back in the fall to pick up acorns?

Step 4

I declare that the painting is officially almost complete.  The ceilings, walls and trim have been painted.  The only thing that I would like to do is to touch up the wall paint around the top of the room.  The PO painted the walls a really ugly dirty gray color that was hidden under the drop ceiling.  It needs one more coat of paint to hide the "line" completely but I have to say that overall I am pleased with the results.

Here is a picture of the final paint color.  If you look closely, you can see the faint line around the top of the wall that needs touching up. I think the flash fired so that is why the color looks washed out around the edges, but you get the idea.

I declare the remainder of the weekend to be for relaxation and fun, so I think we are off to the water to do some boating for the rest of the day!