All we need are arrows now...

We are making bows!!
No not bows and arrows, though that would be fun, we are instead, making Christmas bows.
Mobius bows.
Ribbon Candy bows and of course rose bows.
I'll show you.

Hugs

Pito brought his mommy to work today, he is getting a lot of hugs, this could be because she loves him a lot or she is trying to contain him to one location. I am guessing it is both.

Salsa Dance or hanging around?

I was asked by a friend to make a salsa dancer Christmas stocking. I know she meant a dancer and partner, I decided to go my own way and made a salsa dancer and chips. Pito thought it was funny and crawled inside to stay warm, today was and is the coldest day of the year. Considering that this has been the hottest year of my life and the longest we have been hot, I am NOT complaining.
Not at all.
Pito either. He stayed all toasty warm. As did I. =)

Good and Bad

Yep, I had a hamburger craving, this is bad. BUT I got a tiny kids meal one, not that it is better, but it is at least smaller. And yes you see Starbucks, but it is just plain ole black coffee, and Pito is not drinking it!

I didn't let the cute little monkey eat the junk food, I did it myself.
I did however give him what Grandma refers to as a "Good for you candy bar"
=D

Sad but moving on...

While we are still sad and not sure how to move from here, we move on a few minutes at a time right now. So Pito and I are going to finish and mail all Christmas cards today.
If there is anything to take out of this grief, it is writing now to those we love and telling them so.
So that is today's goal.
Done done and done.

So now we are playing with our first Christmas toy, a Target gift card maze and magnet, it is a lot of fun trying to get those little silver balls into the end with that wand. Pito demonstrates this =)

Sunday Night

Saturday

Continuing our silence...

Silence

Chocolate and Africa, not African chocolate

I wonder if it is smart to give little monkey's chocolate or not, and yet that hasn't stopped me.
I gave one Peanut Butter cup to him, and one for me.
Cheers for Thursdays!!!!

In the afternoon we went to help Grandma make her Africa scrapbook. We added new pictures and stickers and drawings.

Twelve/XII/Doce

Today is 12/12/12 how cool os that our very last triple date for our entire lives!!!
For the moment Pito is celebrating with the candy cane Doris gave him and MY hot chocolate!!
=)

12/12/12 ended with a special bonus, hubby helped us donate 2 boxes of stuff to Bookman's and Goodwill. So I hope that the people that got it will have fun with their goodies.
Here is part of one of the boxes, no we didn't give Pito away.

Tuesday - Christmas cards...

I wonder how many Pito should sign? I will give him the chance to sign a few and I'll show you. ;)
We did 60 cards and Pito signed a few of them, he was good at writing his name, with a little help.
We watched the Christmas carol (yes again) while writing them out.
I just love that movie!!

Monday - We made fruit ornaments

Well we ate the fruit for a snack, but we did make ornaments out of the peels. Why not?
They smell good and they are so cute.
If you would like to make them it is quite easy.
Peel the lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit. Leave the largest pieces of the peeling as possible. Then use scissors or cookie cutters to shape them. We used a toothpick to make the holes and then put on a hook.
Let me warn you to first dry them before hanging or they will curl.
You can press them in a flower press, or between wax paper under a heavy book or inside of a book if you don't mind the smell later on. I don't.

Sunday - We went to the zoo to meet the zebra

We had to go to the zoo to meet the new little baby zebra, he is so cute, and actually brown and fuzzy still, although we have been told that he will get his black stripes soon enough. We have a second baby on her way into the world too. We can hardly wait.
=)

Hanging with Grandma

Grandma, Pito and I went shopping, very specific shopping, so she watched him while we drove to Michael's for their $1.42 photo boxes, and some Christmas stickers for $1.99. Wasn't an expensive trip at all. The three of us listened to Christmas music and just gabbed the whole day long.

Then we went to Denny's for supper and then home. It was a wonderful Saturday.

Pito Chillin

Totally Friday!! This is a good hanging out and listening to Pandora day!! So here Pito is chillin as he is watching me load up his pictures from the last few missing days.

Even with the chillin going on and all the music listening to, he has already voted for his favorite name for the new zebra born at the same zoo he came from.

They said: Help us name our new baby zebra! http://pzoo.co/PhxZebra2012 - Click this link to vote!
He liked Utambo – Meaning “prancing” in Swahili, as the baby zebra likes to run and prance when he and his mom, Afiya, head out onto exhibit in the mornings.

Now to get to work and show you what we have been up to!!

Gum Chains

Have you ever made a gum chain?
Here's what you do...

1. Get a piece of gum, you chew and then flatten out the wrapper.

2. Fold longways in half, then half and then half again.

















3.  Fold in half short ways and then take left side and fold to middle, take right side and also fold to middle.


















4. Then simply take the link you created and add it to the last link and so on... repeating frequently.

Well that might have been the Readers Digest version, so this is what it looks like. What am I going to do with it? I am going to use it as Garland on Pito's blue Christmas tree of course!!

More Christmas

Feeling like Christmas?? Yes and No. =)
We went to the Walmart down the street and saw that they had one of those claw games, we affectionately call the "Grabby game" So we played the grabby game and we got three really neat prizes.

 Okay the owl isn't exactly Christmassy but he was in the grabby machine and Pito loved him, his softness, and his colors, he makes a wonderful pillow, he brought it here to work to relax on, what a spoiled little monkey!!

ABC is as easy as 123

I wonder if ABC is as easy as 123??
I have a niece that lives here in Arizona and we are making her an ABC book based on a Pooh book we saw at the store. We carefully cut the pictures out and the comments and then we took and reassembled the book with notes, numbers, shapes and pictures of the family.
So really this book will have more than just ABC's and will become a learning book.
I used pictures of the family for their names to give her a sense of belonging.
I also used a picture of her so that she is a part of this family book. I hope she loves it as she gets older.

Pito Is wrapping - not rapping

Christmas has invaded the house and Pito wants to help. Far be it from me to turn down extra hands.

One thing I am trying to teach Pito is to use wrapping paper that can be reused if the recipient would like, so we use scrapbook paper for a lot of things. It is both creative and really great at hiding the gift underneath. That cheap wrapping paper is sometimes too thin.
But then it has its place too, I like to use it as tissue paper.
So this is the start of a long morning, wrapping, writing down who and what and when and getting that list checked twice so we aren’t leaving anyone out this year.

Grandma's Birthday!!!

Pito is enjoying a cupcake from Grandma's birthday =)

 Happy 93rd year of your birthday Grandma, you are my best friend, my partner in crime, the love of my life. I love you more than you will ever know. Thank you for always being a part of my life and thank you for being an example to me that few others will ever see. I am so blessed.

"I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?"

Saturday was all about Christmas, wrapping, cards, bows and the movie The Christmas Carol.

We kept singing "And God bless us every one."
And this is two of the first wrapped packages of the year.
Do you remember that wreath?
It is now the gift tag/ornament. Old habit we created years ago.
=)

Christmas trees and vultures

Wait till you see this picture.
There is a vulture in Pito's Christmas tree!!! No really!!

I have had more than one person say that we are weird. but Pito and I love this tree just fine.
And the Vultures name is Avvoltoio if you'd like to know. ^_^

Lottery Fever

Everyone has lottery fever, Pito and I do not, we didn't either one play and we didn't win as a result of not playing. However we do have our $2.00 and we are going to invest in ourselves by putting it into the bank today so that we can retire someday and travel.
The thing with the lottery is that it is a lot of fun to dream and wonder what you are going to do with the money. We did, I'll be honest. But the reality is that it never happens that way. So many of the lottery winners are miserable, broke and so many people try and take advantage of them that they no longer trust people. Doesn't seem like a "Win" to me.
I would rather dream a while and take my money and invest in NOW. If I was going to win millions and give away half, then I can take my $2.00 and give away half just the same.
And in fact we did.

No I didn't play.
We didn't win the millions.
But I have my same friends, my family, my home, my husband, my job, my little monkey and we are all doing great. I did win. 

Godfrey the Magician sent us a card trick

Godfrey the Magician sent us a card trick and a Herkimer the Mouse.
Pito has been trying to learn both of these tricks. I'll show you pictures for everything today now that my phone is working again. And you will see how cute a little monkey trying to learn magic can really be.
It is super cool knowing a magician.

He is great at his craft, which I am still in the firm belief is pure magic and not sleight of hand.
Godfrey can been seen on Youtube, on Facebook or here at my Godfrey the Magician Fan page.
Pito got cards in San Diego so he could just like Godfrey. And a notebook to take notes so he can learn to be as awesome as his new idol too.
=)

Magic cards

We just learned how to make a magic card!!! I'll have to show you mine, but check out the tutorial we used, Pito loves Sock monkey so much!!!

How make sock monkey magic cards

We are going to try a few more of them today, but we need a few more materials.
I can hardly wait to get them made and show them off, what a fun little Christmas present don't you think?
Pito will stamp or sticker the cards and I will do the cutting.
=)

We still need the plastic sheet that comes inside of the cards, we looked at Michael's, nope. Joann, nope, and so I was told to check Hobby Lobby, so we will go on the 8th and see, hopefully they have them, this is something we need to complete this project. We will set the magic cards aside, but it is nice to have the body of the cards finished.

Monday - Cyber Monday

Nope, I am not going to buy anything today either.
And stop telling me to hurry before you run out of this or that, your limited things are of no interest to me.
I would like less, simplify, not more.
And I won't buy "It" because you sang it to me in a lovely tune.

Nope.
Pito and I are going to be in studio putting the last touches on our gifts.
Period.
We have 28 days till Christmas. More than enough time.

Sunday - Cardinals, Birthdays and eating

We didn't over eat until last night at Golden Corral. In our defense we hadn't eaten since 10am that morning. And honestly I thought I was as hungry as I had been in months. No I wasn't starving. Neither was Pito, but we were hungry.
That morning with Grandma the group of us went to Denny's and then church.

After which we took her home and drove to the Cardinal's game. They lost.
BUT
We won in a way, we got to walk around the stadium 6 times. So we got good exercise.

Oh yeah and then we walked around Glendale Glitter!! How could have I forgotten that??

Then to Cabela's for a return, then to dinner.
We wobbled home and I did homework well after Pito fell asleep.
I think I did homework well after I FELL asleep.

But it was a great day all the same.
I found out that I am a sojourner!! Just passing through....

Oh you said who had a birthday?
My BIL. I only have one. 

Saturday - Go Sundevils!!

We spent the day driving to the other side of town to watch for a client to buy a painting of ours, yes another painting sold, and we are rather happy about this.
We listened to music and hung out with grandma. Then a tad shopping at Michael's for a few Christmas boxes for $1.66 each and then home for a wonderful night of not doing anything.
Total spent, less than $12.00
Total earned over $75.00

We had our own Black Friday on Saturday.
Nice!!!

Go Sundevils!!!!!!

Friday Black Friday

I have to remember that even though I can't post pictures from home that I still should be writing and letting you know what Pito is doing. I will make that a habit starting today for sure. That said, we spent all of Friday in the studio, painting a canvas for the Maricopa county fair in April. We have Christmas stockings started as well and for a HUGE shopping day (which we refused to participate in) we had a great great day.
We are enjoying that shopping is done already.
We are rejoicing in a painting that is looking really bright and cheerful.
We are happy that we could listen to music and paint all day.
Black Friday indeed.
We started the day in the studio by counting all of our money, we had saved up $11.24
At the end of Black Friday, we still have $11.24

Thursday Thanksgiving

Pito is grateful for his friends, and family.
He is super grateful for all the visitors to his blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

p

Pito had a non-traditional Thanksgiving this year, so there won't be pictures this time. 

He had a great Thanksgiving and hopes you did too!!!

Wednesday - Pito is painting

This might not be what you are expecting, but after all Pito is a very young monkey and I can't give him my oils and acrylics just yet, so he is painting with markers and paper. he was given a Batman coloring book with a Phineas and Ferb one on the side. His favorite character in the world is Agent P and he is going to try and find that one next.

There are no Platypus at the Phoenix zoo, so the only way he can see them is to watch Phineas and Ferb.
He wants to be just like Phineas when he grows up. I for one am okay with that since it will give him a chance to play, build and grow outside of watching TV and playing video games. There is always a time and place for those things, but it should be after the sun goes down and your homework is done.

Tuesday - Pito has had enough

I think the newness of the music industry has taken a toll on Pito, and he is finished having musical fun, he is longing for a real adventure and to get out of the office and back to playing. So I told him I would takeover the music pieces and he could go and play. =)

Monday is still a music day

So we are back to it, this time adding in snippets of music and clips and blurbs and little music magic, and this is really where I like to play, finding the right sneeze or kissing sound. And adding that to the mix in a fashion that may or may not have been the writers original intent.
Ah well, I find it intriguing how much things can be modified.
I felt like a Mini Weird Al. He must go through the same process to make his music and parodies.
I'm jealous.