Lessons Learned Through Pinstrosities

Most of us have learned valuable lessons through Pinterest and our Pinstrosities. 

Kelli learned that these 2-ingredient lemon bars need a pan bigger than a 9x13:

Shannon learned that this "17 Ways to Never Have a Bad Hair Day Again" list needs a different name:

Amy learned not to walk down the street on a hot day to deliver banana split bites to a neighbor:

I think the bananas needed to be a little shorter too...

Abigail learned that the tip she saw on Pinterest about substituting mayo for eggs doesn't work in every recipe:

And Rachael learned that not all "DIY Cleaners" pins on Pinterest are safe:

"My name is Rachael and I am a military wife living in Georgia. My husband is currently deployed and I am a stay at home mom for the time being so I am a huge pinterest lover. Well, most of my projects come out great! However, last night I rescued a chihuahua from a really bad situation and after bathing it and putting it in the kitchen with my other dog I realized it had worms (icky) so I decided even though it was 2 am, I needed to disinfect my kitchen floor and separate the dogs. I had pinned a post for super disinfectant mop solution some time ago so I decided to pull it up. The recipe called for a gallon of water 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of bleach, and 2 tbsp of dawn dish soap. Excited to try this new thing I got out my mop bucket, products and mixing cups. I poured it all in the bucket and as soon as I added the bleach, a white cloud of chemicals started rising out of my mop bucket. I freaked and went to move my dogs out of the way and she knocked over the bucket. So I sopped it all up and proceeded to call poison control because my eyes were burning and some got on my feet and it was burning and my whole house had an awful smell. I was told to open all the windows in my home, run fans and get myself and the two dogs and my toddler out of the house immediately. By this time is was three am. I woke up my two year old and me and the two dogs and her sat outside from 3-4 am in the freezing cold waiting for the fumes to dissipate. I tried to find the pin to attach it, but it has been deleted due to my actions of reporting it! My family got a good laugh and I'm trying to find the humor in the awful night, lol. I love your site and blog. Thanks for bringing lots of smiles to my face during the hard third deployment."

And then sometimes we have lessons that we learn completely free and clear of Pinterest. They end up being more of Lifestrosities. We had a recent one in our house. I had a huge chunk of work to do one week and was barely staying afloat, so my sweet husband worked on cleaning the house for me. I was in the zone and not paying much attention as he was straightening the kitchen and loading the dishwasher. It wasn't until I saw something white moving across the floor than I looked over and chuckled. 

Cameron learned that when you're out of dishwasher detergent...you can't pour in regular dish soap. 

Teehee...he hadn't noticed yet. I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo just before he turned and discovered the adventure pouring out of the dishwasher. Poor guy had no idea this would happen. Here he was thinking he was the most awesome husband in the world as he cleaned the kitchen and rocked out to The Pogues, only to look up and discover the never ending spew of bubbles. So what do you do at this point? You mop. And Mop. And Mop. And Mop. Our floor is cleaner than it's been in a long time! 

It took 3 full runs of the dishwasher before it quit looking like this inside:

We laughed about this all day. And that brings me to my final "lesson learned" of the day. Don't let these "life lessons" (be they Pinstrosities or Lifestrosities) get you mad or down. Life is too full of stress and dumb things to be mad all the time. I'm glad we have the bubble mess as a funny memory to look back on rather than one where we got mad and made a huge deal over nothing. Life happens. There will be ups and downs. Just breathe (well...unless you're Rachael...then breathe once you're out of the fuming house), smile, take a picture, and try to find something funny or good about the situation. As Eleanor Hodgman Porter wrote in her book Polyanna, "You see, when you're hunting for the glad things, you sort of forget the other kind." Find the glad in life. It'll make thing much more bearable.