Learning From My Mistakes

I know summer just started, but I feel like my eyes have been opened and that I've learned SO MUCH already in this short amount of time......so I thought I should share these "enlightening moments" or "painful mistakes" (whatever you prefer to call them) just in case it might prevent you from going thru what I've unfortunately gone thru. Alright let's do this......eh hem.......

*Lesson number one- There are two different kinds of pudding. Did I just blow your mind??? Because when I found out it definitely took me a minute to catch my breath. Yes. There are two different kinds of pudding. Instant pudding (the only kind I thought existed--and the only kind that should exist I might add) and cook and serve pudding. You have to cook it first and then serve it.....clever name..... I made the horrible mistake of buying these two different kinds of pudding. I wanted to make a combo of vanilla and chocolate pudding, but when I saw that there were two different instructions my mind seriously couldn't even comprehend what was happening. I sat there for like twenty minutes trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I literally called my mom because I was so baffled and so confused. I gathered my strength and I did my best to make the cook and serve kind, but it was a complete failure. I don't see how anyone could make it successfully.....it was terrible. Lump after lump after lump. I had to run to the sink so many times to spit out all the goobery chunks.....bleh! I didn't even get half way thru before I tossed it in the trash (which says A LOT because I love me some pudding). I feel like it is my duty to save you all from suffering a similar fate so here is a visual so you can see the difference....

Here is the good kind...... Mmmmmm......see how it says INSTANT? That's your ticket to gold. Instant pudding.

Ok, now I know this may be visually disturbing to look at, but you've got to learn......this is the BAD KIND. Do NOT buy this pudding. It is terrible. Unless you enjoy eating goobery globs of guck then by all means go right ahead. If you like delicious edible pudding then buy this kind......

Not this kind......

Ok I'm done. Sorry if I seem really heated about this topic. It was just the worst experience EVER. It makes me so mad just thinking about it. What a waste! Everyone needs to be educated..... Oooooh maybe I should start teaching a beginners pudding course.....??? Maybe I've finally found my calling in life!!! :)

*Lesson number two- You need to add sugar to your carton of whipping cream. I sadly learned this lesson the same night I made the pudding. I bought a little carton that looked like this....

and wanted to make some yummy homemade whipping cream to put on my pudding so I figured you just dump it in a bowl and mix it with a beater and walla! Nope. After dishing up big piles of cream on our pudding I took a big bite and BARF. So nasty. Apparently it is common knowledge that you have to add sugar to it because there are no instructions on the carton instructing you to do so. Worst. Night. Ever. So what is the moral of the story? Stop trying and just buy cool whip. 

*Lesson number three- Being a "good mom" has its consequences..... When summer first started I went on Pinterest and found a ton of cute ideas to keep your kids busy and entertained for the summer. I got all jazzed and pumped up and wanted to do something fun every single day this summer. Oh how those dreams came crashing down.....

First I got them both little work sticker books to fill out and play with. That's seems safe right? Well, after just one day of having them my house stared looking a little like this...

And like this.....

And this.....

Who would have thought that stickers could be so dangerous??? Every day I seem to find a new patch somewhere even though I swear I keep throwing all their stickers away! 

Our next day adventure was to make homemade slime. Everything was going great and my kids looked just like all the cute kids in the Pinterest photos, but they forgot to mention one tiny little detail in the instructions....after you make the slime be sure to throw it away immediately because if your kids disappear and play with it in various parts of your house it WILL get stuck to everything it touches and never come off.....

Here is some slime on Sam's mattress. I failed to take a picture of it stuck to our red couch and stuck in various places in our carpet, but you get the idea.... I tried everything to get it to come off, but ended up having to get one of Kevin's crazy sharp knives and literally cutting it off of everything. Now I think I finally understand why my mom never let us play with silly puddy :) 

The next day we busted out some play dough. I don't need to elaborate on this one.... I'm sure you know where I am going here. All I'll say is make sure you have a designated play dough area (like the kitchen table) and don't let them take their play dough and play with it wherever they want because you WILL be picking up tiny clumps of play dough for the rest of your life..... The. Rest. Of. Your. Life.

Next day was crayon day.......which brought to pass the "Crayon Wars".....that's what I like to call it ;) We basically had some cute and fun art stuff planned, but Sam and Jane made it very clear that they did not want to share their crayons with each other so they each took them and hid them from each other. It became an on going battle of Jane sneaking into Sam's room and breaking his crayons and peeling the paper off of them any chance she could get. Sam would be heartbroken every time he'd find a crayon that had "fallen" so I thought I was being nice by buying him another box. He hid it pretty well for a short amount of time, but then one fateful day I'm pretty sure Jane snuck in there again but instead of getting mad Sam decided, "Hey if you can't beat them....join them!" I'm not 100% sure this is what happened, but I did walk in and find them both sitting together peeling all the paper off together. I guess instead of being annoyed that I had to clean up this.....

And this......

(Because apparently they must have gotten bored ripping the paper off of their crayons and moved on to ripping up their work books and the crayon box itself.....) I should be grateful that they found an activity they could bond over.....😁 

I'm laughing so hard as I am writing this because basically if I would just stop letting my kids take whatever they want into their rooms there would be no more problems!!!! Hahaha! I guess that's why this post is called "Learning from my mistakes!" Ha! Ok and now we have reached my final lesson.....

*Lesson number four- Don't tell your father in law that you will do a 5k with him because then you will have to do it which means you have to learn how to run which means you have to run. 

I'm not sure if I have made a mistake or not because it hasn't happened yet, but this Saturday I am running my first 5k with my father in law. I've been training for it and it's been rough! I really thought I would get to a point where I would start to enjoy running (what is this "runners high" that everyone talks about???) but so far it's just been really really hard and I am terrified. My goal is to run the entire thing and not have to stop and walk so I hope I'll be able to do it. I get really embarrassed because my face turns purple when I run so I haven't gone outside where people can see me.....I have only been in my cold basement on my treadmill so I have no clue how Saturday will play out. It's supposed to be 90 degrees this Saturday....maybe I'll wear a ski mask.....black looks better then purple right?!?  Passing out is less embarrassing then a sweaty purple face......right??? Well, whatever happens please wish me luck. I'll probably blog about the race so stay tuned!

I hope you learned something today. I know I certainly have! If you skimmed thru because it seemed a little wordy I'll sum it up for you right here..... 

*Just buy pudding cups to be safe, add sugar to absolutely everything you make, if you want to be a "good mom" then be a SMART MOM, and don't make promises to your father in law.......*

Bam. There you have it! Hope you're having a fun summer! We definitely are!!! :)