Hopscotch Camis Giveaway

These cute little tops have got me yearning for a sewing machine of my very own: Grosgrain: Hopscotch Camis Giveaway!

I have borrowed a friend's sewing machine, but as it did not come with the cord, I have no way to power it. This, as you can imagine, has been a pretty severe impediment on my road to Crafty Sewing Superstardom.

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial

An easy way to make cute skirts, great for hot summer days: Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial by Kathleen.

Conversations With Piper: Comprehension

June 25th, 2009: She was trying to pull a sticker off a sheet of paper and it wouldn't come off. She called out to me: "Mom, come take a look at this! It's stuck I think." BAM, just like that. When did she get to be such a PERSON?

She calls me "Mom" more and more these days. "Ha! Dat's my mom!" she says, pointing at me. She puts in her lunch request: "Mom, asking please mac n' cheese? Asking PLEASE!" So far it's just here and there, but I hear it with increasing frequency. It will be weird to hear "Mom! Mom! MOM!" instead of "MOM-EEEE! MOMMY!"

She loves to help. She hands me dishes to put away and knows which drawers her own little bowls and cups belong in. When we're getting ready to go, I tell her to find her shoes and she brings them to me. After we've put them on her feet, she looks at mine and says "Mommy needs shoes too." She goes and gets my shoes and brings them to me. "There!" she says, satisfied when I put them on. "Okay, ready? Let's go to the store!" When we're wrestling around and the little stud I have in my nose comes loose, she straightens it for me. "There. Isn't that better?" she asks.

Better? Yeah. But also crazy.

I saved the best for last:

Piper (points at Ryan): Dat's Daddy!
Ryan: Yep.
Piper (points at me): An dat's Mommy!
Me: Yep.
Piper (points at self): An dat's the baby!
Me: Yes, you are.
Piper (pulls up shirt, slaps belly with glee): An dis baby's NAKED!

Old Switching Station

Taken from the parking lot of Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo MI.

New Video Obsession

I am suddenly obsessed with the Unkle song "Broken," which was featured in the end credits of last year's The X-Files: I Want To Believe. Ryan found this fantastic fan-art music video, and I wanted to share. It's amazing. Seriously.

I will warn you that if you haven't seen the movie yet, this video contains some spoilers, cartoony as they may be.

Piper Captions LOL Cats

"That kitties has a chicken! Looks like chicken."



"That kitties has a burger. That kitties has fry. It's going to get all the stuff."



"That kitties go outside play! He likes outside."



"That kitties has baby doll." Ed. note: "Baby doll" is what she calls pacifiers.

More Awesome People Who Give Things Away

Are y'all reading Stuff Under Twenty? You should be. I have to hide my credit cards before I pull up their feed in my Reader. So much good stuff! So cheap!

This week they're giving away a pretty awesome t-shirt. WANT.

Conversations With Piper: Birthday Party

Piper: Happy Birthday!
My Mom: Did you have a birthday?
Piper: Yeah. Birthday!
My Mom: Did you have a birthday party?
Piper: Yeah. I did have a party.
My Mom: And was it fun?
Piper: No, it wasn't. It wasn't fun at all.
My Mom: Your birthday party wasn't fun? Why not?
Piper: I had some trouble.
My Mom: What kind of trouble?
Piper: Trouble trouble.

*Just for the record, she did have a party (I am still writing the thank-you notes), and she had a blast.

Sweating.

It is currently a million degrees in here. Well, not that many, but a very high number. Far too many degrees to have a child clambering on me. I am slacking, not working and paying bills and balancing the checkbook and all those other Adult things I am supposed to be doing right now.

My parents are coming for the weekend, and I have already asked them to babysit tomorrow afternoon. I told my husband I want to go see a movie. We've had a pretty crap time of it around here lately, what with cat murder, layoffs (oh yeah, it's official), heat, fighting, and crabby child. So I told him "We have babysitters for FREE this weekend. I want you to take me out. We are going to go to the movies. I want to sit for 90 minutes in ice-cold air conditioning, make myself sick eating buttery popcorn, drink a gallon of full-calorie over-sweet carbonated beverage, and laugh myself stupid at the dumbest movie I can find." I just want to forget all our troubles for an hour or two and enjoy myself.

Conversations With Piper: Humor

Piper seems to love absurdity - she'll look at you with a twinkle in her eyes, say something that we both know is untrue, and then totally crack up. Like this:

Piper (While sitting in our living room): Ready to go home?
Me: You ARE home.
Piper: Bwahahahaha! Ready go home! Hahahaha!
(we repeat the joke for three more minutes)

Piper (pointing at her dad): Have milk? Daddies have milk? Have some Daddy milk?
Us: Daddies don't have milk!
Piper: HAHAHAHA!
(repeat, repeat, repeat)

Those are her two favorite jokes, right there. The knock-knock phase is gonna be F-U-N, I can tell already. Recently she's added a new one:

Piper (out of nowhere one day): Can I drive?
Me: You can't drive, you don't have a license.
Piper: (with a look like 'Holy Shit, Mom Made a Funny'): BWAHAHAHAA! Don't have a license! (looks at me again, eyes twinkling) Can I drive?
Me: No, you can't drive. You don't have a license.
Piper (laughing so hard she nearly falls over): You no have license! You can't drive! HAHAHAAA!

Not having a license is apparently very funny when you're two. Sixteen, not so much.

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl
Originally uploaded by celticsuncat

It's somebody's birthday today.