Remember that time...?"

"Remember that time ____?" is the absolute best way to begin a story. Not only does it pique the listener's interest, but it gives everyone around a feeling of inclusion... even if they don't actually remember that time because they weren't there. Or because I totally made the story up. Either way, it makes people happy. And by people, I mostly mean myself.

Remember that time I made the boy a super-hero cape?

I'm not sure how it came to pass that I told the boy I would make him a cape. I think he used a combination of Jedi mind tricks and gap-toothed persuasion. He had just lost his first tooth, after all. Thus, the whole family tromped to Hobby Lobby so the boy could pick his cape fabric. I spent lots of time poring over the costume sections on the pattern catalogs. After much deliberation and consultation with the five year-old, I found an awesome cape pattern for only... $14.95. Really? $14.95? Even at 40% off, that's spendy. But I wanted to do it right. I tried to convince the boy that the shiny gold rick rack would look awesome on the cape. Despite my best efforts, he was not convinced. To the check out we went, then, rick rackless.

When the time came to actually sew the cape on the Hello Kitty sewing machine, I looked at the spendy pattern and thought about how much trouble it would be to get it open, unfold all the pages, pin and use them, then try to refold them back into that neat little envelope. The very thought made me tired. So I just made up my own design.

It came out OK and, because I didn't use a pattern, I am not obsessing over all the mistakes and deviations from perfection. So, it's better that I didn't use the pattern. Because it's less stressful. Wow, that was thoughtful of me.

In the end, the boy wanted an N on the back made out of green ribbon. It was piece-y looking so I sewed some buttons on there. He wanted more buttons but I was tired of sewing for the day so I told him I would add a button when he has good days at school.

Turning my own laziness into motivation for the kid to behave is what makes parenting an art.

Oh, see the rick rack on the bottom of the cape? Yeah. When he saw it in my sewing box, the boy decided he wanted rick rack after all. Because he's mine.

Maybe I'll be up for opening this by Halloween.

Update! All McCall's sewing patterns will be 99 cents this week at the Hobby Lobby. I really had that coming.