“I yam what I yam, and that’s all what I yam.”
Popeye

Hiya Beautiful Creative Monkeys!

Before I share this month’s mind-altering (you’ll see what I mean when you read it) togetherness project, just wanted to provide a little update on our lives and Monkey Chi. It’s been a busy summer at the Monkey House. The girls (Twinkle and Sparkle) just finished a 5-week break from school. It was awesome and we did and made so many fun things, but I’m sad they’re going back to school. I’ll miss my creative playmates–my biggest fans. On the other hand, Sonshine (my now 3 year old son) will LOVE having all my attention.

etsy and FACEBOOK
We worked an art sale last month which led to us reopening our Monkey Chi Monkey Do Etsy shop. It’s a small shop, but we’re continuing to add stuff, so if you are in need of handmade and natural gift ideas for your monkeys, please check us out.  We’ll be adding more things to our shop in the weeks to come, as we settle back to our school routine.

Pinterested?
We joined Pinterest. Talk about time spent online … but it’s a useful and colorful way to organize all that stuff you’d like to make, do, or just look at. It’s simple, beautiful and inspirational. Check out my personal Pinterest and our Monkey Chi Board and if you likey, follow and repin!

becky’s site for sunshine
Oooh, and I wanted to take a moment to invite you to check out a site I created for Sunshine! It began last year and it’s blossomed and become such a happy creative outlet for me to share my personal poetry, my art, and videos and things I find inspirational. Consider yourself invited! If you enjoy it, you can subscribe on the site.

Ok, now we’ve got all our news and updates out of the way, here’s this month’s togetherness project.

Togetherness projects are activities we do with someone we love: things that are creative and different. We disconnect from technology and stay totally present in the creative process, without judgment AND without cell phones, to enjoy complete presence with our loved ones. As we become more and more dependent on technology, it’s really important that we CONSCIOUSLY take time away from all these amazing sites and devices and remember that simply being present is the greatest gift we can give to someone, especially our children.

weighing in on self acceptance… our latest togetherness project idea

“I yam what I yam, and that’s all what I yam.”
Popeye

For most of my adolescence and through my mid 30s I struggled with my body image. Sadly, I think it’s atypical for a girl/woman NOT to. As I’m raising two amazing daughters (my teachers) I am committed to loving my body and doing things that celebrate and honor the entire physical mass that I am, no matter how squishy–or whatever weight I am. I Yam What I YAM! I believe one of the greatest behaviors I can show my children is demonstrating my own self love and self respect. It’s NOT easy in this day and age.

I pray my children never have to liberate themselves from automated negative thoughts about their weight, or that they ever define their self esteem or value by a number on the scale. That’s what I used to do.

The girls and I talk often about the media’s manipulation of personal feelings and thoughts to create an insecurity within us: Marketing messages attempt to convince us that our negative and feelings of inadequacy can be relieved by purchasing their product. (yeah, right!)

If you have children in your life, I encourage you to share this amazing video with them. Although it’s sponsored by an enormous personal product company,  it delivers a powerful message through imagery. Start an on-going conversation about the edited images surround us, permeating our culture–on TV, billboards, and of course talk about the intentions of magazines and advertisers.

The bottom line is, we are all only slightly perfect! Nobody’s perfect. Nobody … no BODY! It’s true! We each are beautiful unique expressions of life energy: perfect individuals-perfectly individual, but too often we compare ourselves to others something happens and we lose the real and honest perspective of ourselves.

For years I struggled with my weight–or should I say, my perception of my weight. A few years ago I stopped obsessing over my caloric intake and started focusing on eating for good health and energy. But still, somehow that scale literally weighed on my emotions. I’d get on it, and if I weighed  a few pounds more, I felt crummy. But the truth is, no matter what my weight, I am still all of me!

I don’t feel crummy any more… my scale makes me feel good about me, no matter the number!

Supplies
♥  a blank scale
♥  colorful paint markers
♥  Mod Podge acrylic sealant (flat or glossy, your choice) and a brush or foam applicator brush
♥  fabulous colorful, magnificent, empowering accepting words!

Doing this togetherness project is an excellent time to talk with children about the power our internal thoughts have on the way we feel about ourselves, (if you like this project, you may enjoy the Mirror Mirror project).  As my girls get older (they are now 11 and 9) I’m hoping this ongoing conversation will set them up for a better chance at positive self image, despite our culture’s attempts at undermining.

Here were some of our words: sparkly gorgeous alive bella sweet awesome cool neat Bundle of LOVE sexcy kooky creative one off, rosy, fabulous, Bright, loved, amazing, lovely, good, shiny, adorable, powerful, super, magic, brilliant, groovy, radiant … they make me feel so good.

After you’ve taken turns writing all the words, then finish by coating it with an acrylic sealant like ModPodge.

This project was so much fun, and refreshing. The only guideline I suggested was we couldn’t use a word that described our actual weight, so words like skinny fat or thin (and others) were not acceptable. Those words have nothing to do with our reality or our health. Those words are judgmental, subjective and dis-empowering.

What do you think? What do you feel when you get on the scales? Do you have daughters or children who could benefit from your healing your own personal body image issues? Do you like this idea? Please share in comments on our site or on our facebook page.

Wishing you lots of love, creative moments, and beautiful discussions with someone you love,
Becky and the Monkeys

Here is the final looksy* at our jars of rice. This week we noticed the most dramatic visual changes. The rice has shrunk in size and in jars #2 and #3 the rice and water have separated even more than last week.

We’ve had friends from around the world sending thoughts to our rice: Thinkers from United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, New Zealand and Lithuania. (We are sending you lots of love as we think and talk about the people and places we are hearing from.) If I missed your country, please email me or post a comment on our Web site so we can give a shout out to you too!

We hope to shoot our final Ta-Dah-Big-Reveal video this weekend, to be shared with you as soon as it’s edited and uploaded by our dear friend and talented videographer, Adrienne Drum. (Here are linkies to Monkey Chi Rice Experiment video she created for us on Vimeo or YouTube .)

Our intention for this togetherness project is for our experiment to be a catalyst for conversation in your own home, about the power our words and thoughts have on ourselves, each other and our world.

Have you talked about the power of thinking? The power of words? Had any crazy conversations about our rice? We’d love to hear from you. (Comment below on our site.)

It’s not too late to join in our final week. Simply send two thoughts a day to our jars: one positive happy thought to the “I love You” jar, one negative yucky thought to the “You are Gross” jar. (Ignore that other one completely.)

The more the Monkeyer

Oh, and if you share the experiment with your friends via Facebook or email etc., let me know and I’ll enter you  into our drawing to win Monkey Chi Fun including a DIY paint kit, and hide and EeeEeeEeek Monkey game, and other monkey surprises. EeEeEeEe!

Happy thinking,
Becky Jaine and the Monkeys

P.S. The photo is slightly different from previous weeks due to technical changes. I wanted to post photo yesterday, but my computer died and I had to move to a new system and navigate Adobe Photoshop (for the first time) to create this image. TMI? :O)

As we turn the bend and enter the third week of our 30-day Rice Experiment, here are two snaps of our rice–one front shot, one back shot  (taken today). Click on them to enlarge.

I was really surprised by today’s pictures. If you compare them to Week One and Week Two images, the rice levels look much lower. The rice is discoloring, and that jar-that-we-don’t-think-about-that-we-call #3 seems to be separating and decomposing faster than the other two.

I promise we have not done anything physical to the rice. Even though the jars are in our living room, we barely even look at them. They have remained in the same exact spot, tightly sealed, and the only time I have touched them is to rotate them for photos.

We have a few families who have their own Rice experiments going on with us. My friend Julie commented last week that when her children have a disagreeable moment in their home, they now say “take it to the negative rice”, and “we need to work harder on the positive one”. I LOVE that! Children are so amazing and naturally perceptive.

Our intention for this togetherness project is for our experiment to be a catalyst for conversation in your own home, about the power our words and thoughts have on ourselves, each other and our world.

Have you talked about the power of thinking? The power of words? Had any crazy conversations about our rice? We’d love to hear from you. (Comment below on our site.)

Oooh, and in case you’re just joining us here are linkies to Monkey Chi Rice Experiment video on Vimeo or YouTube  for the full scoop.

It’s not too late to play along with us. For the next two weeks send two thoughts a day to our jars: one positive happy thought to the “I love You” jar, one negative yucky thought to the “You are Gross” jar. (Ignore that other one completely.)

If you like send a message to the rice by posting a comment on our Web site. (Remember this is a family site, Uncle Ron.)

The more the Monkeyer

If you share the experiment with your friends via Facebook or email etc., let me know and I’ll enter you  into our drawing to win Monkey Chi Fun including a DIY paint kit, and hide and EeeEeeEeek Monkey game, and other monkey surprises. EeEeEeEe!

Happy thoughts of you,
Becky Jaine and the Monkeys

If you hear a voice within you say, “You cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.
~ Vincent van Gogh

Are YOU creative??? Oh, Darling …. YES you are! If you don’t think so, we’re about to share a simple and fun  Togetherness Project that will change your mind. This is for anyone young, old, daring arteeest or stick figure etcher-er.

Being a writer, I ADORE words. One of my favorite simple creative things to do to relax and unwind is to add flowy colors and glitter to words, be they quotes from inspiring people, lyrics from a song, lines from a poem, or sentiments captured from my children. If we pay attention and look for positive things, we may notice we are surrounded by inspiration and happiness muses*. When you write them out for yourself and then add some color …. OooooohWeeeeee! These words can take on even greater meaning in our lives.

(*If you don’t find inspiration around you, you may want to reconsider what you are reading, watching, or listening to.)

Do you have a special message you’d like someone near and dear to you to remember? Are there a string of words that when you hear them, you just simply feel good? Is there a poem you’d like to recite to memory? YES, these are the kinds of words worthy of becoming Word Art, words to stick in your brain AND on your fridge.

Supplies:

♥ card stock, watercolor paper, or heavy weight paper
♥ favorite words, songs, lyrics, expression, quotes, poems, anything that makes an impression.
♥ pencil and good eraser
♥ permanent ink, like Sharpie markers OR Indian ink pens (my favorite are Faber-Castel PITT artist pens) We suggest permanent ink so they don’t bleed when you are adding the colors.
♥ watercolor paints, oil pastels or colored chalk, watercolor pencils, or crayons. What you choose needs to have a bit of transparency to it, so the permanent ink letters show through.
♥ paintbrushes and water (if using paints)

Simple Instructions:

Gather materials, turn off and ignore phones, pads, Tellies, computers, and all other teleportic devices; hug your dear one(s) and invite them to make some Word Art together. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (What are Togetherness Projects? Check out our description here.)

Practice writing your special words on scrap paper to get the alignment and letter size as you likey, then rewrite it in pencil on your special paper. Once you’ve written the words, retrace your words with your permanent pen. You can also do ink squiggles, stars, hearts, and confetti around the words. Have fun, experiment.

Then get out your colors and play play play. Color a few words the same color. If using paint, try flicking assorted colors of paint all over the page (my favorite, that’s how I made the Happy Splashes background for our Web site). Move over Jackson Pollock! Experiment, play. There are no right or wrong ways to do this. Silence your inner critic and have some fun with words and color.

Finish by signing your work of Word Art. Display in your window, on your fridge or wall, or gift to a friend. Scan and use the art on your Web site–if you have one–or e-mail the scan to a friend or post on Facebook.

Here are a few wonderful powerful beautiful quotes, lyrics and words I enjoy from my Word Art list.

You are powerful beyond measure. (inspired by Marianne Williamson’s essay Our Deepest Fear.
SMILE!
I am enough.
I love you!
I am perfectly imperfect.
SHINE ON!
A little bit of feel good goes a long way. (Jamie Lidell)
Send your love into the future. (Sting)
Good Day Sunshine! (the Beatles, of course)
Mahna Mahna (remember that fun silly Muppet Show song? Thank you, Twinkle!)
There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.

What are some of YOUR favorite words? What makes YOU feel good? Please share your inspiration and your Word Art with us.

We hope you have lots of fun with this simple creative colorful togetherness project. Mahna Mahna… do do dah do da. Mahna Mahna, do do do doooo….

Wishing you LOTS of love and paint on your hands!
Becky Jaine and the Monkeys

“The only gift is a portion of thyself.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (my hero)

When my daughters were babies, a dear friend gave them a beautiful ceramic piggy bank. For months I looked at it in their room, wondering when I’d be able to make some deposits–coins or dollars–for their future. Other than a few pennies, the dollars never came.

Fed up, I created a new possibility for the beautiful pink swine: a Memory Bank. Whenever my children did something exceptionally funny, loving, or remarkable, I’d savor the occasion by writing on scraps of paper and labeling them with the child’s initial.

Twinkle (my 9 yo) found the piggy memory bank the other day and started pulling out the old notes. She reminded me of the time she crammed a teeny doll’s nail polish applicator up her nose, and my Hubby and I had to stick tweezers up her nose to remove it. (I taped the evidence to the memory; a relic for later amusement.)

I read about Sparkle’s (my then 7 now 10 yo) philosophical questioning of the purpose of war:  “Do we want to be the only ones left on the planet?” she asked. Mmmmmm. Yes, that’s why I often declare my children my teachers.

Twinkle and I read together about the time she and Sparkle were cuddling in bed with me and she unintentionally bit her sister’s finger, as an expression of love, or so I had documented on the scrap. (They say there is a time in a toddler’s life when biting is a natural loving response, and they should know, shouldn’t they.)

Precious memories. Significant moments. Joyful tidbits of our family’s history that my now 41-year-old brain has been unable to consciously retain.

Rediscovering this collection led me to this next Togetherness Project: Our End of the Year Family Memory Bank.

Supplies
♥ a large jar, box, cylinder, tub, or an empty piggy bank
♥ paint, stickers, ribbons, glitter and anything else you have to decorate
♥ ample scraps of paper to record the memories

Directions
Together (without distractions), decorate the container and talk about different things you’d like to remember about your life together the past year. Cut small pieces of paper to record the memories. Leave the Memory Bank, crayons and pens, and the paper prominently on the dinner table, so EVERYONE can write whatever memories they have from year 2011, and deposit into the bank.

Encourage everyone to keep writing the 2011 memories as long as you like, days, maybe weeks, then replace the cap and keep on a bookcase, as you would a photo album, for easy access to soon-to-be-last-year’s memories. At the end of every year, create a new memory bank, then you’ll have one for every year. Imagine the stories and new memories you’ll make from the old?!

The older my darlings become, the faster it seems the years goes by. This is a precious way to invest in and send your love into the future. I hope this will become an annual tradition at our house AND yours!

Wishing you love, blessings and many happy memories  ….
Becky Jaine

P.S. Today I heard an amazing radio program … I had to share with you. Dr. Pier Forni a professor from Johns Hopkins and author of the book The Thinking Life discussed the importance of (and I’m paraphrasing) focused thinking, without distraction of technology. It was such a phenomenal interview, and thankfully the show maintains an archive of programs for free. Here is a linky to interview. Click on “LISTEN” link  at top of page, and IF you do, PLEASE e-mail me! I’m just bursting to talk with someone about the brilliant thoughts he shared.