By Heather O.
Never go to the library and check out 10 books for your child right before you give birth to another child. You might forget that you ever went to the library, and that you have any books due at all until you get the nasty notices from them. And you might have to pay almost $30 in library fees.
Never put a DVD you think is entitled “Blue Planet” in it’s Netflix sleeve and get it ready to mail before 8am. After the mailman comes (and your contacts are in), you might notice that the “Blue Planet” DVD is still around, but you are missing a disc from your “Planet Earth” series.
Never take your vet’s advice and feed your dog canned beans mixed with her dog food to help her lose weight. You might conclude that flatulence is just not a good trade off for having a skinny pet. Let her stay fat, happy, and quiet instead.
Never buy a house that has wallpaper in it. You might be stripping wallpaper, repairing walls, and repainting until your marriage is strained, your downstairs is covered with a fine dust from the sanding, and your child tries your patience by saying, “Why didn’t we just leave the bathroom the way it was? I thought the walls were pretty.”
Never try to make Naan bread with 100% whole wheat flour. You might have to eat bread shaped hockey pucks for dinner.
Never put hot ash in a trash can labeled DO NOT PUT HOT ASH IN CAN. You might tick off your significant other with the subsequent flames.
Never nurse your baby right before you have to get up and lead the music in church. You might not have tucked everything in properly, giving people a reason to pay attention in a way they never have before.
Never put your arms around a woman at church who looks like your wife from behind. The RS president might not appreciate a gratituous nuzzle in her neck from a man who is not her husband.
Never toss a frozen gravy packet in the microwave because you don’t have time to thaw it. The ensuing explosion might make your dinner guests nervous about the quality of the food they are about to be served.
And finally, never leave a toilet seat up when a parakeet is around. She might be more depressed than you know, and commit suicide. (Sorry to bring it up again, but I still feel like I’m paying a kharmic debt on that last one.)




I hear you on the wallpaper thing. I redid my son’s room this past summer, and it took me a good month just to get a simple wallpaper border off the wall. Never ever again will I put wallpaper anywhere in my house. My husband has strict instructions to remind me of this should I ever even think about it.
I had a funny experience once in ward choir practice. The women were sitting in front of the men. A particular man had been sitting behind me. All of a sudden I felt someone tickling the back of my neck. I thought it was this guy, and I was so freaked out! I was literally frozen, not knowing what to do. I just could not believe that this man was tickling my neck! It stopped after a few minutes. Later on I moved to the other side of the room to play the piano and noticed that this man had moved and the person sitting behind me had actually been my brother. When I realized it, I ended up telling everyone what had happened, and the whole choir got a big kick out of it.
Comment #1 by eljeeJanuary 24th, 2008 at 6:10 pm“Never nurse your baby right before you have to get up and lead the music in church. You might not have tucked everything in properly, giving people a reason to pay attention in a way they never have before.”
Can’t breathe; laughing too hard.
How about:
Never forget to check and make sure there are no missionaries around before you make an obviously risque comment to your spouse.
From a friend:
Never let your 5-year-old daughter think it’s ok to see you coming out of the shower, receive a correct answer to “Daddy, what is that?” and ask, in a social gathering the next day, “Daddy, can I see your ______ again?” True story.
Comment #2 by RayJanuary 24th, 2008 at 6:50 pmI couldn’t cry over the $30 in library fines, because paying them would remind me how awesome a mom I am to have trundled off to the library 9 1/2 months pregnant, and reminded me how much more 10 books would have cost to purchase and house.
Other than that, I think someone should hire you when the writer’s strike ends.
Obviously, you’re brilliant.
Comment #3 by JohnnaJanuary 24th, 2008 at 10:31 pmNever have a birthday party with an entire class full of 1st graders in your house without first checking that your art project and back-up art project will actually work.
Comment #4 by meemsJanuary 25th, 2008 at 12:39 am*wiping diet coke from the monitor*
I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have made whole wheat bread which could have doubled as a hockey puck.
I can, in fact, deny ever having accidentally nuzzled a RS president. Nate, you’ve got some serious ’splanin to do.
Comment #5 by D. Golden ShizzleJanuary 25th, 2008 at 4:10 amBWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Comment #6 by NestleJanuary 25th, 2008 at 4:12 amOK laughing so hard didn’t get to say my highest I’ve gotten on the library fines is $67. DH banned me from the library for a few months after that.
Never tell your husband who is away on a trip that you had a really sharp braxton hicks contraction right as you were turning into a parking spot and it made you flinch and you hit the pole in a car that previously had no mars or scratches.
Comment #7 by NestleJanuary 25th, 2008 at 4:15 amholy cow that was funny! did your hubby really nuzzle a rs pres?
Comment #8 by NickiJanuary 25th, 2008 at 7:12 amThey were all funny (especially the nursing one! Oh, the visual!) except the library one, because oh, how we’ve been there. Several times.
Comment #9 by Julie PJanuary 25th, 2008 at 7:18 amNicki-
Yes, he did, although she was from another ward. It was at stake conference, and she was wearing a similar dress to mine. Luckily, she knew me(but not my husband), and so was able to play it off pretty well. He came up behind her, and didn’t know it wasn’t me until he saw her face. He felt rather sheepish.
Comment #10 by Heather O.January 25th, 2008 at 7:27 amYeah, we don’t even talk about library fines. I love the library, but every time I go, I should just open my wallet and throw my credit cards at them. Going to the library is more expensive than a trip to the bookstore!
I just got a thingy in the mail for $57- and a threatening letter about sending us to collections- WHO KNOWS what books we lost- it’s from back before our move. Sigh. LIke I said, just take my credit card.
Comment #11 by Tracy MJanuary 25th, 2008 at 7:33 amAh, Tracy, we moved with some library books, too. Luckily I was in the proximity of our old neighborhood before the fines got too out of hand, but it was rather disheartening to open a box of books we had paid to move and see it was full of LIBRARY BOOKS.
What can I say-moves are stressful, and we have too many books. How am I supposed to keep track of all of them?
Comment #12 by Heather O.January 25th, 2008 at 8:14 amSo hilarious. Thanks for the good laugh.
Ray - That shower thing is so funny and totally something that my children would say. We try to use correct terminology and be honest, but do they have to let everyone in the checkout lane know how well educated they are on human anatomy?
Comment #13 by JeffnerJanuary 25th, 2008 at 8:23 amMay I just add: Never give your 4 year old a harmonica. You will regret the decision 5 minutes later. And - never try to balance a baby on one hip while getting soda out of the pantry to put in the refrigerator. One of the cans is likely to drop, pop, and spray your entire kitchen in brown soda drops. And…
Comment #14 by JennyJanuary 25th, 2008 at 9:37 amAaaaaand…never say never. And I bet there’s more people in church this week than there were last week, but probably not because the prayers that “all those who couldn’t make it today might make it next week” were answered.
Comment #15 by VernJanuary 25th, 2008 at 9:42 amThese all made me laugh out loud–esp. the nursing one because I so relate. Let’s just say there is UPS driver out there somewhere who is either scarred for life or who is especially anxious to drive my route these days…
Comment #16 by ErinJanuary 25th, 2008 at 11:05 amOh so funny! Ray’s comment made me laugh so hard I cried. Maybe because we have 3 little girls and I can so picture this happening to my husband!
Comment #17 by AubreyJanuary 25th, 2008 at 11:30 amOk….Im giggling. Quietly, because my baby is asleep.But, I’m guffawing on the inside!
Comment #18 by TeahJanuary 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pmOk, laughing out loud about directing after nursing. I can only imagine!
Comment #19 by SheridanJanuary 25th, 2008 at 12:31 pmAlso do I know you IRL, because I saw my IRL friend Heather VERY pregnant at the library for her kids. I secretly wondered if she was going to remember to turn them in. I had better call and check to see if she has!
[…] Heather at Mormon Mommy Wars also shared some exceptional life tips today […]
Pingback #20 by Soggy Cheerios » Quick QuestionJanuary 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pmSo funny, laughing so hard!!! You ladies have the best stories!
Comment #21 by trixieJanuary 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pmHow about never answer the phone with “I really had to pee!” without checking the caller ID first and seeing that the caller is in fact, the missionaries, and not your friend who you religously talk to during the commercial breaks of Grey’s Anatomy every Thursday night?
Comment #22 by SallyGirlJanuary 25th, 2008 at 4:15 pmI find it somehow sad that $30 in library fines really doesn’t seem that bad to me. Not pleasant at all, of course, but better than losing one of the library’s DVDs for months along with several books.
I still feel bad about the time when I was seven and took a toy basket full of the library books I’d just gotten outside to play with (I think I was pretending to check them out to imaginary library customers) and forgot to bring them back in, and it rained, and all of them were completely ruined. They were so soggy we couldn’t even keep them, despite my mom having to pay for them. Needless to say, she was rather upset about having to pay for probably a dozen books and then come home and throw them away. (We did try to dry them out, hanging them up and blowdrying them and stacking heavy books on top to try and straighten the pages, but many of the pages were permanently glued together.)
Comment #23 by kaduseyJanuary 26th, 2008 at 6:00 amnever answer your phone with “in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” and then hang up in embarrassment. then answer the phone which rings again in .00002 seconds pretending that you have no idea what they are talking about. Actually, two different children of mine did this.
Comment #24 by annahannahJanuary 26th, 2008 at 6:20 amnever tell (jokingly) say to your spouse something about “the bad company” in front of your children, they may be listening. Because the next time a UPS guy comes to your doorstep, your children my point out the fact to him that he works for “the bad guys”
Comment #25 by moddyJanuary 26th, 2008 at 6:31 amThanks for the reminder about my library books…yeah my baby is 2 1/2 weeks old and there are several that got kicked under my bed, and no I didn’t read them.
And on several occasions, I have affectionately mistaken some other man for my husband-as in I actually spanked the father of the bride at my best friend’s wedding. Hey–I was a newlywed! (But definately gets the award of my most embarassing moment ever)
Comment #26 by JennyJanuary 26th, 2008 at 6:54 amI’m laughing so hard that I’m going to count it as my workout for the day. Thanks, ladies!
Comment #27 by Mrs MJanuary 26th, 2008 at 12:55 pmIt’s okay moddy, my dh works for UPS so we say the same thing about the other guys!! Not so bad until you absentmindedly ask the FedEx guy “What can brown do for you?” because you forgot that’s not FedEx’s slogan….
Comment #28 by mo mommyJanuary 28th, 2008 at 9:51 ammo mommy, that’s funny, I figured that it probably worked both ways. do your kids yell “daddy” everytime they see the brown truck? mine do when every they see fedex on a truck, no matter the color or size of the truck (and they both know daddy doesn’t drive anymore too!)
Comment #29 by moddyJanuary 28th, 2008 at 10:04 am