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!