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I thought I'd share my new monkey coconut that my sweet husband gave me for Christmas. I don't know why the monkey coconut is my new obsession. Perhaps it's because they are just downright silly. But, anything that brings a smile is fine with me.
My former monkey coconut (see Fun at the State Fair and Mystery Solved for the full story of this little guy) has a new home in New York with my sister. She loved him so much that I just had to send him to her for Christmas. His new name is Mr. Jingles!
The coconut that my husband bought was a little bland, so I decided to spruce him up. Actually, I just wanted to figure out a unique way to get the words "HAVE FUN" on him, since he apparently missed out on that little important addition. I got out the paints and things took off from there. I think the addition of the flower and flag is key!
My friend at work and I have also acquired a new monkey coconut. One of our colleagues took a cruise to the Bahamas over the holidays (lucky-duck!) She was telling us how appalled she was on the return home after viewing a receipt that she actually spent $22.00 on a drink. We said, "$22.00 - what kind of drink was it!?!" She said it was a pina colada that came in this ridiculous coconut thing. We looked at each other in excitement and asked "Did it have a monkey face on it?? Did it say HAVE FUN??" She said, yeah - it's even a bank! After we explained our monkey coconut obsession, she passed along the prized coconut with great ceremony. He also needs a little sprucing up, so I'll post more photos later.
What fun the monkey coconuts are! I've named this one Sunni-san - mascot of Sunnispace!
Every year, my office holds a door decorating contest (or cube-decorating contest for those of us in cubicles.) It creates quite a buzz with everyone discussing their new ideas for the year. This year was no different! We had Santas falling down chimneys, giant door-sized wrapped gifts, winter wonderlands, crackling fireplaces, lots of Christmas trees and plenty of festive wreaths.
I based my decorations on a quote I found several weeks ago and modified it slightly:
"A single candle can light a thousand and not be diminished... Happiness never dwindles when it is shared."
I got some large cardboard from the warehouse and cut out a giant Christmas tree. I hooked up the drill and punched about 150 holes in it to hold about 150 lights. I taped a candle light to the top and surrounded it with a golden cardboard halo drenched in glitter. I folded some bright red paper strips and made little cutout people joined by hand and foot with sparkling hearts on their chests. I used about 10 large paperclips folded inside-out to hook it to my cubicle fabric, hung some wrapping paper as my background and glued my lovely quote beside it. It turned out to be quite pretty!
This year, our judges were a group of volunteers that come every week. They are from a home of mentally challenged adults and are the sweetest, most loving people you've every met. Of course, we couldn't fraternize with the judges as they walked by, but I heard them and had to hold back the tears as they read the quote on my cube to their counselors. It was so touching! When they left, our receptionist found some t-shirts and pens to give them as a thank-you for their hard work and you would have thought she was handing out a million dollars to each of them. They were ecstatic! What a perfect group to judge such a fun and festive competition!
Anyway, we had our Christmas party a few days later and I was shocked to hear that I had won first prize this year! What an honor!
Here is a sample of some of my amazingly creative co-workers... Kudos to everyone!
My daughter takes a wonderful clogging class at a little dance studio down the road. This is her second year. When the new season started this fall, we didn't buy her new shoes. I kinda thought she'd be okay for awhile but felt it looming in the distance. It was one of those vague things that hangs around the back of your mind like fog and never really materializes. I just kept forgetting!
Until about 3 weeks ago when she started complaining that her toes hurt. The signs for used clogging shoes had disappeared from the studio walls by then and I had heart palpitations just thinking about the cost of new ones. But I knew we had to do something - my daughter started taking off her shoes in class and was clogging in socks!
So my husband made a several calls and found a discount place south of town. Of course we got lost trying to find the it, making illegal u-turns on dirt roads and frantically getting directions on cell phones. They closed at 5:00 and we got there one minute before.
Fortunately the proprietors were an older couple who didn't mind staying open a little longer for frantic parents of a clogger! They were so nice. For 25 years they had their own clogging team that toured the east coast. With great expertise they fitted her little happy dancing feet. As a bonus, they not only had the clogging taps in stock, but hammered them on for us in the back! We were so relieved and my daughter was hopping around like a jumping bean from excitement (she does that a lot!)
With such a huge weight lifted from my shoulders, I stopped for gas on the way home. As I was standing there enjoying the crisp fall air and watching the sun set in the distance, I happened to notice the sign beneath the gas prices that usually announce the store discounts on sodas and potato chips. Here is what it said...
BUILD YOUR LIFE AROUND THOSE WHO MATTER
I took a deep breath of the chilly autumn air and said a prayer of gratitude for such blessings. Not just for the shoes or for the wonderful couple that we just met, but also for the owners of a gas station who choose to inspire rather than promote. And how amazing it was to see such true inspiration at the end of hectic day.
After we moved into our new house about 5 years ago, I became obsessed with interior decorating and garden design. I subscribed to several magazines: Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Better Homes & Gardens, and Cottage Living to name a few. I was addicted to the Home and Garden Network, Trading Spaces, Designed to Sell, and Divine Design.
But now that my home is pretty much completed on the interior and the garden well on it's way, my interest in that particular area of my life has subsided. I'm now much more interested in living, life stories, and spiritual awakening.
So, I was at the bookstore several months ago and picked up a Hallmark magazine. I had never seen this publication before and wasn't quite sure about it. When I was in high-school, I loved the Hallmark store, but after awhile I felt it was a little too much. Kind of the way I feel about Oprah, a little over the top, but fascinating and intriguing to watch at the same time.
Well, I fell in love with the first issue I read (January-February 2007) and have fallen in love with every issue that followed. One article talked about a woman who adopted 5 children ranging in age from 5 to 15, all of whom suffer from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. It brought tears to my eyes. Another article talks about getting back in touch with yourself and has bits from professional writers as well as average women who have re-discovered their own spirits.
There are recommendations and reviews on the latest greatest novels, natural recipes for silky hair, baking advice, interior decorating ideas (I still need a little of that...), and inspiring quotes like "Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." (Hans Christian Anderson)
The magazine is organized into these great sections: Inspire. Renew. Nest. Connect. Nourish. Now if that's not inspiring enough, I don't know what is. It makes me want to absorb every word!
The tag line for the publication is "The magazine that celebrates your life." Truly. I think it celebrates the lives of us all!
I thought I'd share my new monkey coconut that my sweet husband gave me for Christmas. I don't know why the monkey coconut is my new obsession. Perhaps it's because they are just downright silly. But, anything that brings a smile is fine with me.
