Rising Utility Bills

I am somewhat anxious to receive our next utility bill. Brodie has found it very entertaining to pull himself up alongside our master bathtub and turn on the water full blast. I caught the little culprit red-handed in the picture to the left. He is really starting to get into everything. We may have a mischievous one on our hands, but isn't that the norm for almost all little boys? Even I (the classic teacher's pet) got into plenty of predicaments during my school/ formative years. The first came in first grade when my buddies and me decided to use the sanitary disks from the urinals as frisbees. We would have gotten away with the act but someone let an errant throw go sailing out the door (skidding to a stop at Ms. Freeman's feet). She was not nearly as amused as we were. Then in third grade my best friend and I set a booby trap for our arch enemy. At lunch, our class sat at two long connecting tables. We arranged it so that the bully had to place his tray over the crack between the two. Then we pulled the tables apart letting gravity do the rest of the dirty work. An act well worth the punishment received. I could tell several more, but do not want to tarnish my impeccable reputation. Jill is reading Bringing Up Boys by Dobson right now and he shares numerous pranks and tight spots from his and many other boys' younger years. Is this the way God has designed it?

For those who endured the last blog, you know about the blender incident. As I mentioned, the blender has become a popular appliance around our house (smoothies, salsa, etc). The blender is popular with everyone... except for Brodie. A few weeks back we were making some after work smoothies. Mommy was holding and playing with Brodie in the kitchen. When Daddy turned on the blender, Brodie was instantly startled and began whaling uncontrollably. So now we have created a buffer zone anytime the blender is in use. Hopefully someday soon Brodie will overcome his fear of the blender. Until then we keep him far away from it. I fear that 10 years down the road we will forget about the buffer, turn the blender on with Brodie nearby and he will break into a Chunk-like confession of all his past antics. For those who don't know, Chunk is a lovable character from the 1985 movie The Goonies (written by Steven Spielberg). It's a movie about a band of 10-12 year old misfits and their adventures. There is a scene where Chunk begins to recount all the regrettable things he has done.

The screenplay goes something like this...

[the Fratellis are interrogating Chunk]
Francis Fratelli: Tell us everything! Everything!
Chunk: Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, th-th-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.

Boys will be boys!