Cupcakes are popping up all over!

Methinks the cupcake craze is coming to an end. At least for it's bakeshop novelty bit. See, I picked up this sweet pink confection at the 7-eleven around the corner from the casa. This pink confection came from a convenience store. This pink confection came from a place that sells slurpees, condoms, cigarettes, chili filled hot dogs and lottery tickets.

AND. IT. WAS. DELIGHTFUL.



The scene that played out just before I purchased this delightful pink confection went something like this:

Me: Oh my gawd!
Mr.a-go-go: What?
Me: Oh my gawd!
Mr.a-go-go: What?
Me: I have to get this!
Mr.a-go-go: What?...That?...Why?
Me: I have to.
Mr.a-go-go: You don't need that. You don't need to eat that.
Me: I'm not going to eat it. I just want to take a picture of it.
Mr.a-go-go: You don't need it.
Me: I know I don't need it. But I do need to take a picture of it!
Mr.a-go-go: Why?
Me: Because! It's a cupcake! From 7-eleven!
Mr.a-go-go: You don't need it! Don't get it!
Me: Why?
Mr.a-go-go: Because I'll eat it.
Me: Then don't eat it. I'll eat it or throw it away.
Mr.a-go-go: No! You can't throw it away.
Me: Sure I can.
Mr.a-go-go: Oh come on! You don't need it.
Me: I'm getting it. You don't have to eat it. Gimme some money.

The whole time we're having this discussion, the guy behind the counter keeps motioning to where the plastic bags are so I can serve myself. He stands there just nodding his head. I have no idea what he thought we were saying but I got me a pink cupcake AND I took pictures of it AND I cut it in half and ATE it and it was good! Really good! Like a cupcake from a birthday party when I was six. The frosting was slightly firmed up. Who knows how long it sat there, I was scared to ask. There wasn't too much of it. It was sweet, the texture was a little grainy with sugar and the sprinkles added a bit of crunch. The cupcake itself was vanilla and spongey. Really moist and super delightful. I would eat this over a Trader Joe's cake any day.

So what are ya waiting for? Grab yourself a buck fifty plus tax and git yerself to a 7-eleven now! If they don't have cupcakes, have a coke slurpee for me!

Thrifty Tuesday (sadly with no photos)

Yay! I get to do a Thrifty Tuesday post a la Jenny. Today, Jenny and I hit two of my old time favorite thrift stores. They're not so nifty anymore but we did manage to score a wee bit. Check it out!

I got a stack of mostly vintage kid's books for ninety-five cents each. My favorite here is the Story Wagon school reader followed by the Puppet Story version of Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

Next up I scored these three vintage tablecloths! Aren't they super nifty? The pinky salmon one has chickens all over it and the floral rose cloth is just fabulous. There are a few stains but still worth it for $2.50! Oh and the green and yellow tablecloth is just so retro fabulous. I love it! Jenny scored some awesome goodies also. Including a most fabulous pyrex bowl (I wish I had seen it first!) and some awesome vintage fabric.

These nifty blocks came in their own wooden box. I'm not sure what i am going to do with them but they make me smile. So cute!
Last up, I picked up three books from The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls. Published in 1962, they have the most fabulous end papers ever! I got volumes 5, 6, and 7. One is on art, one is on science and the other is on "things to make and do"!

After all the thrifting we hit up Yummy Cupcakes to see if they had improved since my first visit which I suppose isn't really fair to say since they weren't all bad just a little dry. I got to talk to Tiffany, the owner and she gave me a Red Velvet cupcake to "make up" for the not so fab one I got a couple years ago. More pictures and cupcakey posting coming up tomorrow. I need a break from all the sugar but in case you are reading Ms. Tiffany, this one was in no way dry! Thank you again for the yumminess!

The Week in Review: May 21-27

We just got back from the beach where we saw bunnies, birds, seals and dolphins. W also had breakfast and napped. It was super nice and since we left extra early no one else was there! After the beach we went for a drive over the hills into the San Fernando Valley where we lunched on tacos and tortes from Hugo's. A super pleasant Monday if I do say so myself and I do!

This week is a light school week so I will be happily visiting with friends until next week when I start at Tinker. Whoo-hoo!

And now for another nap and some crafting and maybe some baking...click here to read about the pictures...

Photobooth Friday: flickr and friends

What a day! We hit the booth after all the nuttiness just so I could post an authentic for reals photobooth friday strip! yay for local boothing! Click on the picture for details of the day. I need to go finish my drink!

Check out the links to your right for more booth fanatics!

Oh how I love my morning smoothie! Seriously, I can't even think about going to Jamba Juice or any other smoothie place when mine are so darn yummy and cheap! This week was National Strawberry day so I'm writing up a fruitbowl full o' fruity fun over at scrumdillydo! Today's post was how to make smoothies with your kidlets. One of the things I noticed when I was nannying for the A-boy & H-girl was that while they may not have eaten anything I tried to get them to eat, the A-boy would eat anything he made and boy oh boy, did that boy make up some interesting concoctions! Plus, seeing their excited faces when they created something good was divine. I miss that. I can't wait to start over at Tinker! I'm totally nervous and excited all at the same time! Eeps!

Today I am going to work on homework, for reals and tomorrow I am heading out to Chinatown and Olvera St. with my fab friend Cat and my new flickr friend Julie. It's my first flcikr meet up! Double Eeps!

Happy Thursday!

five things robot style

five things robots: yay!, originally uploaded by jek in the box.

Ever the addict to swaps and such, I created a newish group called five things based on a popular lmao (Land Mail Art Object) from nervousness.org. Picking a theme is challenging and creating something unique and of a higher quality (hopefully) than for a usual swap makes it rewarding. Melissa hosted a five things robot swap and only four of us signed up and then one hadto drop out o we only got three things but lookie the pretty roboty goodness! The other nifty thing about a five things swap is that you get one of your own back. I don't know about you but when I make something extra special for a swap, most of the time I send it away and never get around to making one for myself. This way you get a little bonus. I am participating in three more five things swaps. The themes are chickens, birds and bugs. I need to get cracking!

I love L.A. in the springtime....

Look at this salad! Just look! Isn't it just dreamy? I'd say 80 percent of it came from our garden. Okay, well...Mr.A-go-go's garden. Let's see, there is lettuce and green beans and purple beans and snap peas. There are green onions, cucucmber, carrots and strawberries and...it is garnished with some nasturtium flowers...soooo yummy! It looked so delightful I wanted to hold a mock wedding and vow my neverending lurve for all its spring timey goodness. Today I am feasting on pasta salad also chock full of goodies from the garden.

Today was busy busy. I prepped and photographed four prjects for scrumdilly-do! Phew! I is beat! I need to get some craftiness going for my coloriffic person and I guess I should actually eat that pasta sald that is calling my name.

Can I brag about the awesome paper I wrote for my film class? I got a super nifty score, a 98 and he said that only one person got a 98 and that it was exceptional(ignore definition #3)heehee. Nevermind the fact that two of us actually received a 98 but I'm going to blissfully believe that we are both exceptional.

It is Tuesday and there is no more Gilmore Girls...sad sigh. Happy Tuesday!

The Week in Review: May 14-20

Phew! Another busy week full of school work, cooking and visiting with friends. I'm down to three weeks left of school, which leaves me with two exams and two big projects...sooo close! Last Friday, Stephanie and I instituted our first summertime Margarita Friday so if you're in the neighborhood you should drop by. We have a whole lotta mix and we lightweights will be taking our sweet time with the boozie stuff. Seriously though, Fridays this summer are for cocktails and then hiking. An odd combo maybe but I think the light buzz will help me ignore the pain in my lungs as the Mister and I work our way to the Observatory. Susan, I know you did it often but lady, what a walk! Yikes! We got about half way there when I strained a muscle in my groin and couldn't walk anymore without an "ooh" and an "eeh" sneaking out of my mouth. so, once again, if yer around the hood between 5 and 6pm drop on by for a cocktail and some sidewalk chalking. After drinks it will be dinner and then when the sun starts to set we'll be hiking up up and away.

Other than that I've been visiting with dear old granny and dutifully reading my texts for school. Packages arrived this week, some from swaps and one from an etsy purchase and then of course I saw this and had to get this fabric which arrived 2 days later! Wowza! Score one for Sew Mama Sew!

Gilmore Girls ended on a surprisingly sweet note and while I am sad to no longer bond with the ladies I am free of this slight addiction and promise to go on more walks! We ate a lot of salads this week with goodies from the garden and I only baked up two batches of cookies one of which was for this young lady's birthday.

This week I will be finishing up my Coloriffic Pakcage and hopefully be making some goodies for the shop. We will be visiting with family during the weekend and I have no school on Monday! I do however have a ten page page memior due...sigh. Where do I start?

Gotta go pack my lunch and then hit the store for some powdered strawberry drink mix, it's a scrumdilly-do thing and then I'm off to school, school, school! Happy monday folks! I'll catch ya later!

citrus pick-a-nik purse

citrus pick-a-nik purse, originally uploaded by jek in the box.

Years ago my sister sent me this fabulous picnic purse with plastic mushrooms all over the top. I got so many great compliments that I decided to make some myself. So I did and here ya go. I seem to like these a lot more than other folks (except for Susan!) but if you find yourself smitten you can own this very one! Head on over to jek in the box and have a looksie...I have a few more lurking around and will post those soon.

And now I must get back to my schoolwork. Bah!

Photobooth Friday: sans mustache

The whole strip was planned with a different mustache in the bottom three frames. This is the first frame with me all semi-pretty like in a fancy handmade necklace by Neesypea of Hey Day Fashion. I'm really trying to push my focus to handmade. When I can find clothes that feet me I will do a big old happy dance so for now I will do the indie t-shirts, jewelry and handbags. This strip was taken on Wednesday this week after my creative nonfiction class which is great but kicking my butt and my ego big time! I had the Danny Boy with me and he took a stip also. I sat myself down and peeled the backing off of the three mustaches and placed them on my knee sticky side up. I did a mock run through, took a deep breath and shove my dollars in the slot. I jammed my face up close for the first one and tilted it all cute like on my best side, the flah pops and I grab the first mustache which stays for about 2 seconds and falls, I grab it and shove it upwards and the flash POPS! The second frame is a shot with my hand over my mouth, the fun continued onward from there and maybe I will show you the lovely shots of my nostrils...maybe not.

I'm still slugging away at all these projects for school. Slug! Slug! Slug! That's me. The procrastinator sluggonator or something like that. I feel a need to bake something peanut buttery today but we'll see. I had a blast making mini pizza faces yesterday and still feel full but they were soooo yummy! Mr. A-go-go picked oodles of salad ingredients yesterday so i will be feasting on greens for lunch, can't wait! Did ya see the picture of one of our wee salad harvest?

Tomorrow is a star gazing party and of course we have granny and hopefully a pretty pink birthday to attend! Happy Friday folks! Don't forget to check out the Photobooth Friday pool and/or check out the links to your right for more booth madness.

A little Thursday love...

Mmmmmm. Shortbread. One of life's sweetest treasures and oh sooooo easy to make! Whenver I have company coming or am about to go a'visiting, I whip up a batch o' shortbread and everyone is happy. All ya need on hand is butter, sugar & flour. Having a little extra is always good too but the simple shortbread cookie should never be overlooked. If your butter isn't soft, nuke it in the microwave or melt it in a pan. You can make shortbread with melted butter, yeppers! I prefer mine softenned but you can melt it if ya like. Expirement with flavors..add some zest or dried fruit or cut up a favorite chocolate bar! Add some spices and nuts or maybe swirl in a little peppermint or vanilla extract. The possibilities are endless and there are soooo many ways you can cook your sweets too. You can roll them into logs then slice & bake as you like. Sometimes I keep a log in the freezer and when I crave a snack I slice of four slices, bake them and enjoy them with a cuppa. The slice and bake version of shortbread is best done when your add ins are fine like spices, liquids and super duper finely chopped chocolate and/or nuts. If your shortbread has some chunky bits in it the nit is best baked in a mound. To do this, I simply heap up the dough onto a cookiesheet pressing it down to similate a square shape. I bake it between 10 and 15 minutes depending on how thick I left it and as soon as I take it out of the oven I trim the edges and cut into wee squares! You can also use cookie cutters to cut out shapes directly after removal from the oven. Hot dough is workable, once it cools though, it crisps up and you will get a mess.

So, go for it, whip up some dough and store it in your fridge or freezer until ready to bake. I like to bake super early in the morning as it makes the casa smell oh so yummy! What is your favorite concotion going to be? Mine is still lavender and chopped chocolate from NewTree

Making candy cookies

making candy cookies, originally uploaded by jek in the box.

While I am a big fan of homemade goodness, sometimes I want the sweets but don't have the time or energy to bake something from scratch. This is where ya gotta lurve slice & bake cookie dough (plus you can sneak a bit o' dough and not worry about salmonella).

This is the one good thing I gleamed from my first nanny gig. Slice and bake cookie treasures that are like a faux cupcake. Super easy, super yummy and perfect fro keeping you up all night for paper writing.

Next up I'll make some fo those magic marshmallow puffs!

Pretty!

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show (Episode 1)

I love pink and chickens and petticoats...

The Week in Review: May 7-13

The Week in Review

Wow! What a week! Monday I had my big presentation and Tuesday there was the BIG fire! Wednesday was a pretty mellow day, just class and movie viewing for my paper. Thursday I went to the dentist to check out stuff and well let's just say Thursday wasn't necessarily a good day. Friday was crafty, schooly and something else but I can't remember. Saturday was the big Felt Club Mother's Day event at Whole Foods and Jenny & I had a blast! It was awesome to get to hang out with wee ones and talk about crafting. I miss that from my storytime days. I got back from the event completely exhausted but did some shopping at Whole Foods so I had some yummy sandwiches and a nice cold bottle of lemongrass soda. Mr.A-go-go and I hit the road to visit with granny and we came back to a mellow evening and I completely forgot that they were showing the missed Gilmore Girls episode so I only saw the last twenty minutes! Oh no! I am a GG dork and cannot believe I missed this important second to last episode of the series. Bah! On Sunday, we cooked up a big breakfast for Mama-a-go-go and had a nice visit in the garden. I worked, worked, worked on my paper and Mr. A-go-go had to go out and get the movie for me again because I thought of scenes I didn't write down and needed to clarify stuff...I got soooo wrapped up in my paper that I did a most horrbile horrible thing. So horrible that I woke up at 4am this morning because of it and actually it wasn't what I did but what I didn't do and that was visit granny....on Mother's Day! Needless tosay, I have been up for a long time now and I feel so sick and sad at my selfishness. She hasn't been doing well and we have been trying to visit with her as much as possible and to just forget...I don't feel so good and I feel ill and all nauseous and I am a horrbile granddaughter. I will be missing my Englih class this afternoon so that I can sit with her. The woman in the bed next to her is in hospice care which is stressing granny out big time. Granny is slowing down a lot and she is becoming more and more forgetful. She finally now looks old. This to me is so very sad and I know she is lonely and I know she is scared and I failed her yesterday.

Forgive me or the pity party here, I needed to get it out. I feel horrible, I do but I can't change it I just have to do something now and I will. I have two other classes today I will make it to and I have misplaced all the important paper work and syllabi in this tiny casa and I can't find them anywhere. Sheesh lady, you're on a roll.

So, I am taking a deep breath and am going to move forwrd in a postive manner and make al ist of what neesto be don and slowly work my way through it and I won't beat myself up for what I cannot get to. I hope everyone out there had a wonderful weekend and that there was goofiness, laughter, smiles and loved ones. Happy May folks!

Photobooth Friday: A one and a...one?

I wanted to do the finger show of 1,2,3,4 but somehow I blanked out and kind of sat there much like Cindy Brady on that episode when she is in the kids t.v. trivia show and the red light hypnotizes her. At least she got a party when she got home. Me? I got to view our sad blacked out, burned out park. This strip is from the day after the fire. I t is also the first day Icould get my sad straw like hair into a ponytail which thoguh it may not work for me is a something I absolutely lurve. I felt cute and semi stylish in my dark jeans, green low tops & stiped black on black muscle-t. I also wore my new etsy purchase, a great little snail and flower piece made by Literatavian aka Adorned by Morgan. It was a hot day and I had carpooled for the first time with a fellow classmate. My lungs still hurt from the smoke and I was tired but I was also determined to get into a booth!

The new booth is in Silverlake. Clued in by Cathy and Susan, I dropped off my classmate and hit Sunset Blvd. I parked Rodney just a skip away for Casbah Cafe and walked into the new and improved Pull My Daisy and swooned. There she stood. An honest to goodness black and white photobooth. Her blue curtained self all shiny and waiting. I was home. Bingo was there of course and just as chipper as a weiner dog can be and there were loverly shoes to look (and try on) at whilst I waited for my strip. If you are in the Silverlake neighborhood, check 'em out! Super sweet, nifty folk with lots of fun indie goods to peruse.

Yesterday I had a wee mental breakdown and pity party for myself sans the balloons. I went to my nifty dentist who found even more work that needed to be done but he could do it AND knock me out also except for the fact that my insurance won't cover even a portion until next year and I can't wait until next year. I can go to another dentist but none of the drillers under my insurance plan will knock you out and I simply cannot keep my mouth open that long and the anxiety makes me sick. Really sick. So, I called the dentist and asked for an estimate and laughed myself silly. Maybe if I sold the car? I'm not kidding, it is THAT crazy. I don't know what I am going to do. sigh.

Check out more boothing boothers in the flickr pool or you can blog surf the old timers listed in the links on the right. Either way, have fun and come join us!

And...if yer in the neighborhood tomorrow, come craft for Felt Club with Jenny & myself. We'll be at the Whole Foods Market near The Grove from Noon-3pm. Bring yer kidlets and make some nifty for Mom! Read more about it!

Hello My Name is Jek

Though I prefer jek. Actually my name is Jessica but years and years and years ago when I worked at my first bookstore I inherited the name Jek. It all started in the sore when a little boy went running after his sister hollering "Jekissa! Jekissa!" It was super cute in that pudgy little legs and wee baby voice way. Later that day, Mr. Suave, a coworker who was also a friend of my brother's and a room renter at my mom's came shuffling up to me singing "Jekissa! Jekissa!" and it was cute in that "Oh my god the super cute literary guy in vintage glasses is teasing me!" kind of way. Anywhoo, he kept calling me Jekissa and then so did the rest of the crew and eventually it got shortened to "Jeksa" and "Jekkers" and now, it is Jek, ahem....jek. I do use this name when introducing myself or when in situations when there is another Jessica. When I'm somewhere that calls out your order by name, I turn into Jack for some reason.Anyway, that's my name....don't wear it out!

Today I get to see my old favorite dentist even though he isn't a part of our DMO. I trust him though and he can tell me for sure if all the work my other dentist said I need is true or not and he will tell me without making me feel like the worst person on the planet. He's awesome! He's sweet, gentle, funny and super cool. His wife runs the front office and they have a great big family AND , he's a Rabbi. Who better to drill on your teeth than a Rabbi?

My chest is still in smoke city and the barren park looks so very sad. Once again I am annoyed and angry at anyone who tosses their cigarettes and any other litter for that matter. My good friend Lalu & I once got into it when she tossed her cigarette just before going in to a store with me and when I stopped and looked at her and said "You didn't just do that!" She got angry and embarrassed and told me she'd get it later and I said I would get it NOW and well, ten years later she says she always thinks of me when she puts out her cigarette and throws it in the trash, "You were so mad!" she says. Then there was the one time Mr.A-go-go and I watched a guy toss his giant empty beer can into the street. We pulled up next to him and I rolled down my window and wished him a good morning. He was all smiles and nodding and wishing us a good morning and then I said "But I think you dropped something." He looked confused and picked up the can and looked at us and then looked at the can and I said "The trash is right there" and well, the nice guy threw it at me. Yeah. He's a prize. It was not even 9am and at least I like to think that maybe, just maybe he will remember the episode everytime he tosses something in the street and maybe, just maybe the shame and guilt will get to him and someday he might do the right thing. Probably not but we can hope right?

Only a few more weeks of school left and I have ooodles and oodles of project and papers! Yikes! Wish me well and have a happy day!

Fire!

Griffith Park Fire, originally uploaded by DonnaGrayson.

We received a whole lotta phone calls about this puppy! It is bad and amzingly scary and even pretty in a surreal way. This photo was taken by another flickrite from my neighborhood. This is also the view from just outside my gate. Read more about The Griffith Park Fire here.

Mr. A-go-go and I had 2 bags packed in case of evacuation. Really, we are far enough away to not worry but with the wind, you never know. The helicopters woke us up around 5am. The witch-baby is freaked out and there are now ants all over our kitchen. My chest hurts and this morning I am finally smelling the smoke. Crazy.

Being asthmatic ain't so fun right now. I am tired. It is supposed to be around 95 degrees today. Hot and dry. I just have to be all venty and say I really really have a dislike (this borders on hatred) for those folks who throw cigarettes out of their car windows or who drop them at their feet. Six hundred plus acres have burned because of a cigarette. Each time I see someone toss one out of window I want to march over and stuff it down their throat. Smoking is bad in more ways than one. Go ahead and screw up your own body and health but keep it to yourself, okay?

Click on the picture for links to important places that the photographer, Donna Grayson, listed. Check the Los Angeles pool for more photos.

Thankfully the animals at the zoo are fairly safe and only one home has damage. I hope the wind dies down and they can get this puppy out!

I told ya I liked chickens!

Phew! The presentation went great though in hindsight, my paper lacked a lot of important information. Erk. It was still a good paper but I could have thrown in a few more technical terms. I always forget that part. I made this t-shirt for the presentation. I'm getting to closer to what I want to make for the five things swap but I can't decide if I wanna go funky cute or serious chickens. Any preferneces?

Jazzing up simple t-shirts is an excellent way to accomplish something crafty in a short period of time. It is also a great way to use up your scraps or other items you have on hand. I used iron on backing and then zig-zagged around the applique because my shirt was super stretchy and everytime I tried to put it on over my head the strecthing would undo the adhesive! Yikes! I don't have a serger but the zig zag seemed to do the trick.

If you don't feel all that adventurous with appliques you can simply sew directly onto your shirt using the sewing machine and randomly stitch a little here and stitch a little there. Use different colored thread for a unique pattern and only do this if your shirt is 100% cotton. Any lycra at all will make it bunch up in bits over your curves. You can of course also embroider away.

If sewing isn't your thing and you have a gocco then gocco away. Heck, bake up a batch of shortbread, whip up a pitcher of minted lemonade (or mojitos!) and throw a gocco party! Of course there is always Freezer Paper stencils or even cardboard and spray paint stencils or you can get all old school punk rock and use a sharpie.

Summertime is coming so what better reason do you need to jazz up your wardrobe. Don'y buy anything new. Repurpose the old. Reccyle, reuse and hit the thrift store for cheap t's. The money you spend there goes to charity so you can shop guilt free!

If you're thinking been there done that about the appliques and stenciling, pick up a book or check out a blog or two and hack away to your hearts content!

The Week in Review: April 30-May6

Last week was all about school, school and more school. It was also about chickens and roosters and just a little bit about sweets like cupcakes and cookies. I have mostly finished my big school project. It is done but I can't help but think I am forgetting something. We'll find out when I do my presentation. I made a flannel board story for Chicken Little and it might even rock just a little.

This week I get to write oodles of papers. Papers for English and papers form my film class. School has 5 more weeks and then I am out until Fall.

Also, if yer in L.A, this saturday, Jenny & I will be crafting it up with available kidlets at Whole Foods on 3rd (across from Farmers Market) from noon-3pm. We're gonna be promoting Felt Club and we'll be making wholesome market ready crafts for Mother's Day like pasta necklaces and such. So bring yer kidlets down and do some shopping while you're at it! The Felt Club XL Summer is just around the corner in July.

Okay, I gotta skeedadlle and make sure I have everything I need! Wish me luck and if anyone wants a Chicken Mix Cd lemme know! (I've already got you covered Steph!)

Tomorrow is National Teacher's Day. What are YOU gonna do for your wee one's Teachers?

The sky is falling!

I'm working feverishly away on my big paper for my Children's Lit class and I am stuck stuck stuck! I'm not quite clear on the directions and I can;t find any of my contacts for the class so I am feeling major doom right now but I will go forth and do my best to present the best chicken anthology ever! I need to do a ten minute presentation on a collection of folktales within a theme. I picked chickens and roosters because, well ya know I've had chickens on the brain lately. I've got 7 stories, 2 of which are the same story just one of them is toned down and all PC for todays "sensitive kiddies" (snort!). I need to write my introduction still. I have been but it, well it sucks so I need to rewrite it and I need to annotate all the stories fancy like and then I need to arrange them in a "meaningful way" and I get ot transcribe them. Don't you wish you were me? Actually, it is fun, I'm just stressed because the assignment feels a bit vague. I had 16 chicken and rooster stories originally and I have finally narrowed it down to 7 with oodles of help from Mr.A-go-go who has a much better brain for thinking laterally and specifically. For my presentation I am going to do a flannel story of Chicken Little because really, I want to spend my Sunday making Foxey Loxey and Cocky Locky and Henny Penny, really, I do! I envision this awesome set of quilty flannel board fun! I hope it works. Sooo back to my paper, I needed a mini vent so that I can get it out. Mr.A-go-go will be back in a couple of hours and I need to have a good portion of it done otherwise I am in BIG TROUBLE! Soooo...check out the prettiness I sent to my person for the May Coloriffic Swaporama. I am super duper proud of these pictures. Thanks for looking!

Photobooth Friday: I know you are but what am I?

I seem to have Pee-Wee on my mind. Many years ago when I joined Nervousness.org I frantically tried acquiring Pee-Wee portraits for my wall. I had quite a few artists and swaps lined up but only one turned out to follow through and she created this wonderful big eyed Pee-Wee with a lobster claw and tail. Creepy and perfect for me. A few years before that I purchased a Pee-Wee portrait painted on an old film tin. And that was it until I started swapping thru flickr. The loverly Lilia created this bit of glittery goodness and the super duper nifty Barbara created cupcake toppers for me. Eeps! I lurve Pee-Wee! And Christine, creator of kitsch, painter of chickens & robots and wearer of squishy spikey caps created the fabulous fauxtobooth strip you see here. Sigh. I'm so feeling the lurve right now. So much so that I am now having the amazingly talented Christel who painted this for Mr.A-go-go's Christmas gift paint me a Pee-Wee. Yeah, you could say I have Pee-Wee on the brain.

I dreamt of super niftiness early this morning. The kind of niftiness that is so normal and yet really crazy and fabulous that when you do finally wake up you can't but help feel disappointed. It may not seem fabulous to you but I found myself in my teenage neighborhood and on my way to my present school when I found an old vintage poster of some sort of fabulous elephanty circus fun and when I went to pick it up I found a pile of oodles and bits and in that pile there were old photobooth strips of my family I never knew existed and an orange sweater vest with a knitted purple lobster all across the back and tchotchkes galore. Sure I was crawling around a filthy pile of junk and mud and who knows what but there were old photobooth strips and vintage clothes that FIT me and green mary janes and vintage children's books with clowns in them. When I was done searching I had to get everything into the car but first I had to take out the toilet paper that my brother picked up and the package was huger than huge like some sort of super duper size and I felt like a magician who pulls the never endng scarf out of his hat only I was tug, tug, tugging away at the largest bulk pack of toilet paper in the world! Then I thought to myself how I could use one of the strips I found for Photobooth Friday and then I realized that is was Friday and I didnt have class on Friday and then I woke up to the Witch-Baby's cold nose on my neck. The reality of reality sunk in and I felt like the seven year old me who dreamt about finding a Hello Kitty rack of goodness in the livingroom only to find a snoring sleeping brother on the floor when she woke up. Man, sometimes I have the best dreams.

Today I get to play at Tinker and I know you are all jealous. I'm also crave, crave, craving some sort of baked goodness but cannot decide if I shall do the baking or if I will attempt to hunt down something in a cake shop or not. Either way, I'll take pictures of course!

Happy Friday folks and Happy day before the BIG DAY to you Ms. Magpie! May it be as exciting as finding a purple and orange sweater vest on the side of the road. I wish you and the sweets a most fabulous of fabulousness. *mwah*

chickens and robots

I'm all discombobulated. I guess that is what happens when you go to bed three hours after your usual time and then sleep three extra hours to make up for it. If not for my guilt mehtinks I'd still be tucked under that new spiffy quilt dreaming freaky dreams of totem pole telephone poles and fireside musical rounds on streetcorners. Hmm. My head is spinning with chickens and roosters. I have a folktale presentation for my kid's lit class on Mnday and I'm still trying to figure how to put it all in writing. We have to pick a theme first and pick a minimum of six titles within that theme. We have to write a paper on the theme icluding our reasoning for picking it. We also have to annotate each story/book and we have to prepare some sort of visual aid. Yikes! I don't suppose simply liking chickens would work? Or maybe wearing my new chicken sweater from Susan would work for the visual aid? I as thinking of maybe putting together a cd of images and text or perhaps making a flickr album but we don't have internet access in the classroom itself. Oooh, maybe I could do a slide show! Can they turn digital into slides? Oooh, cupcakes! Yeah, I can bake chicken cupcakes and we can sing songs about chickens. Does anyone know any songs about chickens? Hey, we can all do the chicken dance! Yes, I've got it! The chicken dance! Whoo-hoo, I rock.

Happy Space Day folks, can you find the chicken in the robot? The picture up top was a gift from a coloriffic swap last May I think...from flickrite Turtblu. She is awesome!

I gotta go try and fully wake up now. Sheesh!

eye candy

I have too many papers to write this week so I am all tapped out. It doesn't help that I'm far from inspired. Grr. I want to be but I'm not. I'll blame the gloomy morning, how's that. The new coloriffic swap-o-rama is up. June's colors are black, white & yellow. I'm currently making a sock monkey for another swap which is due now but of course I kept trying to find the "perfect" pair of socks and couldn't. Double grr. If it is still gloomy when I get homefrom school I think I will bake something. Anything. I dont; know what but something. Maybe banana bread. I lost my favorite recipe and have not been able to duplicate it. Triple grr. SO, since I'm feeling all crankified and such, I will leave yo uwith this pretty picture pf paper lanterns. Paper lanterns are something that should make us all smile. Hope you have a good day!