Tom and Jerry Antics

My boys like to watch cartoons. While we limit how much screen time they get each day, what they do watch sticks. One of their favorites (and my least favorite) is Tom and Jerry. After they watch this pair, they are often full of meanness and tricks. Case in point:

James was looking for an elastic band today and went to the usual depository for rubber bands (which actually happens to be empty due to the need for ammo for rubber band guns, he should really look in the front room light fixture). There were no rubber bands, but there were shiny gold tacks. Oh, yes! You can put tacks on a chair and unsuspecting victims will sit on them and yell YEEOOOOWWWW! then viewers will laugh. No deliberation necessary. Deed is done and James exits the house.

Mom is cleaning up from the Father’s Day lunch yesterday (see previous post) and is ready to remove the leaf in the table. I’m not as spry as I used to be so as I am getting on the floor to unlock the leaf, I put my hand on the chair to steady myself. YEEOOOOWWWW!!!!! Not funny. Viewers did not laugh (Spencer and DJ). That is until I left the room to show James what he had done. DJ had a hard time keeping a straight face after I pulled the tack out and while I was bleeding. I gave them a lecture about funny things in cartoons are not funny things in real life (part XII in a series of lectures about when things are funny and when things are not).

Here is Spencer’s reaction:

It is a wanted poster, with James’ face on it. The first one he wrote went like this: WANTED: dead or alive, but mostly dead. James Isaac Astling for putting tacks on chairs.

Here is James’ response: “NO” in red letters under the wanted poster.

Just in case you didn’t find that funny enough (stop laughing). Here is another nugget from James: Spencer gets in the shower tonight and promptly gets out yelling MOOOOOOMMMM! There are pee spots in the bathtub! I verify. Yup. Unmistakable pee spots – I ought to know. I first go to DJ, my mischief boy. I get an innocent face, which I’m not completely convinced of. I go to James and ask if he did it. He said no. Mark informs me that James peed in the bathtub tonight. As I am leaving the bathroom in disgust, James yells “I thought you would never notice!”

People have commented that James looks like Dennis the Mennace, but this is going too far. I may just have to cut his hair. Maybe it would be like Sampson.

Father's Day - Burned to a Crisp in Effigy

I am not afraid to say that I am a good cook. I am also not afraid to say that there are some foods, very simple foods, that I cannot cook. Garlic bread is one of those things. I burn it every time. Rice is another thing. I know, this is along the lines of not being able to boil water. So, here goes the day that is supposed to be full of wonderful meals and delights for the father of the house.


Mark will sometimes request an unusual meal for Father's day breakfast. It is a meal that he learned to make and eat on his mission. Sweet rice and spam. Not a delicassy, but, nonetheless requested. No prob.

I wake up Sunday morning to get the rice going, which is steamed, not in a rice cooker which Mark bought for me so I would stop burning the rice, but on the stove over boiling water. I started at 7:30 am (we have church at 9 am). At 7:38 am, the smoke alarm goes off. Happy Father's Day!! I'm in the kitchen fanning the smoke alarm with a towel. The alarm stops and I try to figure out why the rice is still hard and why there is smoke. Can't figure it out. I wait to see if the rice will soften. Not working, try a different pan. The smoke alarm goes off. The children are awake and angry (Spencer). I fan the alarm with a towel again then cut up the spam. Smoke alarm goes off again. Fan again and open all windows and turn on the vent. Move the rice to a different colander (because the first one melted - never tried that one before) and a different pan because it ran out of water and burned on the bottom. Forget moving the rice. Start all over again at 8:15 am. I have not showered. 8:25 am. Rice not softening. Cook rice the old fashioned way - in boiling water - not how Mark likes it, but it will get done before church starts. Done at 8:50 am - everybody else eats while I shower. I asked Mark how the rice turned out. He said (after very many kind comments about the rest of the morning, the sweet man) "It's not the sweet rice I remember." Dang. Double dang.

By the time I got to church (15 minutes late) I was able to have a good laugh about the whole morning and laughed about it with my Young Women. I couldn't help laughing about it because I could see everything as if it were on a movie screen and if I were watching the movie, I would laugh at it.

Granna and Grandpa, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Jenny are coming for the big lunch after church 12:30 pm. Made apple pie and meatloaf last night (no burning) and the ribs baked while we were in church. Come home. The ribs leaked and although they were very moist, the juices burned onto the pan. I make rice pudding out of the leftover rice catastrophe. Scalded the pan. But the dinner turned out well, for the most part. Thank goodness there was dark chocolate in the pinata we made for Mark.

That was a fun thing. We made a pinata over the last week. We painted it white with a blue "Y" on it and filled it with red candy. Oh yes, and we sang the Utah fight song for Dad this morning to wish his a Happy Father's Day.

Mark's reaction to everything this morning and afternoon though just shows how wonderful he is as a husband and father - he didn't show disappointment or laugh at me (until I laughed first), he played with and helped his sons and acted like breakfast was not a big deal. We are blessed to have him.

P.S. (Mon) I thought I would include that a whole cup of milk was spilled on the floor, then one hour later a whole plate of food was spilled in the same spot, then a serving of spaghetti in the same spot today. Yeesh.

I have a working blog again!

I am so excited that I have a working blog again. I have no idea what happened to the last one. I tried to let the administrator (not Mark) figure it out and they couldn't do it. Mark couldn't figure it out. So here is my new one. I couldn't name it belly laughing (the name of my old blog) because that was already taken, as well as many other names with laughing in them. So, this blog is called raise your endorphins because that's what happens when you read about and laugh at my life with three boys and a husband and my own capers. I will start working on the first one after this post because you'll laugh at my day today - Father's Day.