My little hipster

So, we recently moved to a new, swanky apartment building, where we get free broadband and DirecTV, courtesy of our single income. (For once, there is a financial advantage to being a SAHM: we qualified for a moderate income unit and our rent is half the market rate.) So, the Spawn has been enjoying Yo Gabba Gabba on a regular basis.

Today's episode was entitled "Share," and the musical guest was Cornelius. Finally! I've been waiting for his appearance ever since I heard about the show. The Spawn has enjoyed the Cornelius song on the soundtrack for the PowerPuff Girls movie since he was about two, but never really got into Fantasma, one of my all-time favorite albums. But, today, he really rocked to the version of "Count Five or Six" that Cornelius and his band performed on Yo Gabba Gabba. Air guitar, headbangin', and frenzied dancing!



So, after the show, I played Fantasma for the Spawn, and as he continued "performing" on his "stage" in the living room, I reminisced about the time DH and I saw Cornelius at Tramps, some 7 or 8 years ago, in a show headlined by the Flaming Lips. Ah, those were the days...see a band, drink, drink some more, stagger home, pop a few Tylenols, and get up for work the next day.

The Spawn urged me to play air drums with him, and we both rocked out to "Count Five or Six." With the Spawn clad in a cool skull & crossbones layered T-shirt that our friend Rebecca brought back from NEXT in London, and I in a Threadless "$10 Sale" T-shirt over a clearance Old Navy long-sleeved tee, I almost felt like a cool East Village hipster again. ;)

Ska for tots

We don't get Nick Jr., but during a recent family vacation, DS was able to watch several more episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba. He's smitten with an animated short by GOGO13, featuring Alex Desert of Hepcat, from the "Move" episode of YGG.



Now we are raiding our small ska collection from the late 70s and early 80s, for kid-friendly tunes. So far, many of my favorite Specials songs are off limits, but one of our Madness compilations is a big hit. I'm hoping I won't have to explain "House of Fun" for many years yet....

Laundry day

I seem to have acquired a collection of skully tees, printed on black American Apparel shirts! And, since they are AA T-shirts, I can't put them in the dryer, so our bedroom became a makeshift drying rack. Fortunately, they dried fairly quickly overnight.

From left to right, in the bottom picture:

1. Skully Scissors T-shirt, in the silk screened version sold at the Magpie store (co-owned by Craftster creator, Leah Kramer). You can get a similar shirts at Craftster's CafePress store, but they aren't printed on American Apparel tees like the ones from Magpie. Thanks to my youngest bro for giving me this shirt for my birthday!

2. Johnny Cupcakes Mini Crossbones T-shirt. The online store doesn't seem to sell the mini logo tees individually anymore, only shorts sets.

3. Mac Bones T-shirt from Indie Tech. It's hard to see in my cam phone pic, but the Apple skully has black crossbones underneath it. BTW, Indie Tech has the red and black versions reversed on their product pages.

Maybe it's finally time to buy the Cute Skull tee at Debri Field, where I bought my WWJJD shirt some 7 years ago!

Attack of the Octopods!

Beware the Octopods, for they will assail you with their cuteness. ;) These little polymer clay critters were made by my friend Lauren, and are available through her Etsy shop, LarnLand.

According to DS, the purple one is "Berry"; red is "Apple"; and blue is "Plum." He graciously donated the use of his playsilks for my camera phone photo shoot.

10 things I never thought I'd do, before I became a parent

In no particular order:

• Go to Chuck E. Cheese's. For 3 hours.
• Go to Build-a-Bear Workshop, and actually build a bear. Twice.
• Buy licensed character merchandise, such as pajamas, bowls, cups, T-shirts, and backpacks, for my spawn.
• Feed my child packaged baby or toddler food.
• Know what a "banker" and "bogey wheels" are, in train terminology.
• Learn the difference between "good" and "bad" plastics.
• Share my toys with a child.
• Not have a martini (Bombay Sapphire, one olive, no pimiento) for over 2 years.
• Turn down Percocet after a stat C-section.

Have such joy in my life. And the occasional annoyances.

Cupcake charm bracelet

Yea! In today's mail came my Cupcake Charm Bracelet by Amy Secrest, proprietress of Amyville. Her delicious polymer clay jewelry is available at Shana Logic (formerly Pixelgirl Shop). I took a few quick shots with my camera phone (you can see much better photos at Shana Logic).

Her packaging reminds me a lot of JanetJewelry's packaging, but the contents are totally different, of course. Not that there is a monopoly on natural-colored jewelry boxes and fuchsia ribbons! And the Amyville box included a bonus cupcake zipper-pull attached to the ribbon, plus a little magnet. Sweet.

The bracelet is quite ludicrously adorable and girly-girl. I love mini things, and I love cupcakes, so this bracelet is about as perfect a piece of jewelry I could desire. The cupcakes are a bit tallish, compared to the charms at Pancake Meow, but still look remarkably realistic and edible.

Pancake Mountain

Yea, our Pancake Mountain DVD arrived the other day! Still haven't had the chance to watch it, but it's DVD #3 (with episodes 5 & 6), which I chose because it featured Shonen Knife. I'd heard about the show a while back, but promptly forgot what it was called, because it only aired on D.C. area cable. Then my youngest brother told me his art director had mentioned Pancake Mountain, so now I know its name again. Yea!

More thoughts after we've viewed the DVD.