Sock Monkey Monday: Goals, They Are Good

Alexander has one of my favorite monkey faces ever. How can you resist wanting to cuddle him? 

I realize I've been absent for a while. I apologize. I've been incredibly sick for the past month or more. I have another test tomorrow, then after that it's most likely surgery. I have, among other things, a hiatial hernia that's pushing part of my stomach up into my esophagus. *Owie*. That's just one of the side effects of being sick, not the actual cause. Yeah... life has been kind of hard lately. I'm trying to go on like normal, but it's not all that easy.

It's hard to feel like I've managed to get anything done when there's almost nothing around me but half finished monkeys. I finished two Pirates last night, both very girly ones. I probably should have put something cute like eyelashes on them, but I didn't think of that. There's a boy pirate to be completed and a few other monkeys that need anything from limbs being attached to just their faces finished up. I'm not as fast as I used to be, but there's progress being made. It's just in smaller strides. It's exhaustion that's doing me in more than anything. As much as I want to work on the monkeys, I just don't always have the ability to. The only thing I've eaten since yesterday around this time (and that has stayed put) is three tacos and a couple mini brownies. Not really enough to keep this well-oiled, monkey-making machine up and running at full speed. I'm still trying though! I have probably the last test tomorrow, in which I get injected with a radio active dye, then eat an egg (I don't know why it's an egg, that's just what I've been told) and sit in a machine like an MRI type thing (I think). Based on how my insides light up, the doctor will be able to tell what's wrong with me. It's been greatly narrowed down, which is why this is probably the final test. After that, it's most likely surgery to repair the hernia and whatever else is messed up.

The end of my day job is slowly crawling near, and the closer it gets, the more I've been thinking about what I want to do afterward. I've applied for a job or two, but there isn't a huge amount of things that interest me. I'm a planning kind of person, so I've been working to come up with a plan for after April 1st. The first bit of the plan is a party complete with a sock monkey shaped cake (brownie actually, it's easier to carve in the right shape) and lots of pizza. I'm planning on being better by then.

Then comes the great unknown. I'll have to get my resume buffed and shined, then posted everywhere that I can post it. However, there's not much I can do about other people seeing it and wanting to call me, other than write the best resume I can. What I can control is Monkeyville. So I don't go mad, I'm going to put all of my effort into making Monkeyville as big of a success as I can. I have plans for some new products, including some that will go into beta testing with in the next couple of weeks or so*, and I've also come up with a bit of a business plan and some ideas to get Monkeyville beyond just Etsy and into some brick and mortar stores**. I've also opened up a shop on ArtFire (you don't need to join ArtFire to buy a monkey from there, this is a big plus), and I've been looking into other ways of promoting the monkeys.

My main goal right now is to get into Craftopia. The week before that, there will be another fair on Saturday that I'll be doing as well. It will be smaller, but I want to see how it will go. I also want to see about the Artisan's Collaborative here and see if I can either get a spot in one of their fairs or get a guess spot in their shop. I'm hoping that at the very least, Monkeyville can help with the bills while I'm looking for another day job. I'm really hoping that I can get Monkeyville to a place where I can focus mainly on that, and only need a day job as a supplement. A steady income when the monkeys might be a bit slow. That's the ultimate goal, but I'll have to see how it goes.

More cuteness: 

Caleb the sort of St. Patrick's Day monkey.

I think that's all of my plans for now. I have some other ideas for things that I want to do, but nothing is really concrete right now. I find out Friday if I got into Craftopia this time around (fingers crossed!) and I'm just trying to get what I can done right now. The monkeys have really helped me not get depressed because I've been so sick. It's hard to feel bad when you look at such a cute face.

OH! Speaking of cute faces, this came in the mail today from Mint Conspiracy!

It's a "Poor Little Sick Something". Just the right thing to cheer up a sick sock monkey maker. *Happy* Trust me, the photo does not show the true adorableness of this guy. Also not the right color either. He's much brighter green.

*Beta testing for real. The Monkeyville labs have been doing far more than just producing cuddly sock monkeys *Ninja laugh here* Um... yeah.

**Lately, I've been seeing an unpleasant... Publish America-ish turn to some of the things on Etsy. It's becoming less a place to sell and more a place to socialize. I don't mind socializing, but I would prefer it if it was obvious that I would like people to adopt the monkeys. They need homes after all. Hmm... Idea, I had one.