Don't eat the meatballs! AKA: Stupid stuff you've done.

[wendelenn]

Stupid things I've done?  Lots!

However, one incident which comes to mind harks back to childhood.  We had just had a shiny new upright freezer installed at home, and it was plugged in to freeze up nicely prior to food being put in it.  For some reason, my mother thought it a good idea to warn me "now make sure you don't open the freezer up and stick your tongue on the bars!"  Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot???  I'd have never even thought of it had she not explicitly and very precisely ensured by those words that this curious 7 year old would do just that! 

Of course, she freaked when I did, and got stuck fast by my tongue.  She proceeded to YANK my head back, to free me.  Several layers of tongue were left behind, quite a lot of bleeding ensued, and a trip into town to the doctor was required.

LOL I did that but outside on our metal railing. See it was time for Dad to take us to preschool/daycare & while usually we took the bus it was a nasty winter day so Dad called for a taxi. Right when the taxi got there I planted my tongue on the railing & naturally freaked out as did my brother. Dad does not suffer fools gladly & as we were running late yanked me back to free my tongue. Blood everywhere but again, we were running late so he stuffed my mouth with Kleenex & hustled me & brother into the taxi. According to Dad the taxi driver was freaking out that I was going to bleed to death via my tongue while Dad is telling him to just get going already! To this day that's still my Dad's favorite story to tell about me

I TRIPLE dog dare you. . .

[Irishkitty]

I still don't know how I did this.  While I was shaving yesterday, I somehow managed to cut through the nail on my baby finger.  It really hurt but when I looked at it, there was no blood and couldn't see anything.  Until I pressed on it.  Then it started to bleed.  Since it wasn't a fresh razor, I figured it was a good idea to bleed it a bit.

Ack, I have done this so often I actually have to remind myself not to "brush" the razor over my nails when I'm shaving my legs. 

Oh, and my latest - The nail on my big toe was a little jagged, so decided to cut my toenails with the closest thing to hand - a fingernail cutter. I was actually thinking "Huh, this is much more curved than the toenail cutter, I hope I don't cut the middle of my big toenail... ouch... oh, there's a little bit of blood too!" 

[jpcher]

We have a Brita water tank (bigger than a pitcher) in our fridge. It was time to replace the filter, so I took it apart and ran it through the dishwasher. When the wash cycle was done the tank wasn't dry all the way so I put it upside down on a towel to let it drain/air dry.

This morning DD#2 went for a glass of water and asked me why I didn't fill the tank yesterday?

I said "It wasn't dry yet, so I just let it air dry."

DD#2: Um. Momma? . . . Why bother drying it? Isn't that sorta pointless when you're just going to fill it with that, you know . . . WET water? 


Yeah. I didn't have an answer for that.

[Shopaholic]

The stupid thing I have done with a Brita water filter is to fill up the filter part and then immediately pour myself a glass of water...

[LadyJaneinMD]

I just thought of another really dumb thing I did, and now that I'm all healed up, 3 weeks later..... 

I have this brand-new lovely SUV, manual shift.  It's a little bit bigger than I expected, and I'm a lot bigger than average, so it's kind of hard for me to reach the parking brake when I'm sitting in the seat.  I always leave it in gear, so I'd gotten into the habit of crawling halfway into the car, then popping the brake and climbing in.   

One Sunday after church, I start climbing into the car, and pop the brake. It's slipped out of gear and starts to roll (I'm on a hill!).  I can't reach the brake pedal in time, so the car knocks me down, drags me along the parking lot a bit, then rolls over my foot and heads for the treeline!!  Fortunately, there *was* a tree in the way, and it stops the car.  I'm on the ground, surrounded by people. 

The car has only a small crack in the rear bumper, and I have a big ouchie on one elbow, and bruises and batterings up and down my leg, but nothing's broken!!  (I had to call my dad and thank him for the Good Genes!).   
By the way, seeing a car roll like that is only funny on America's Funniest Home Videoes.  Not so funny when it's your brand-new car!

I now have a long shoelace tied to the parking brake release lever, and I am inside the car with foot firmly on brake before pulling the string.  Don't ask me why I didn't do this 3 months ago when I bought the car!

[Reader]

Forgot to remove my tube of chapstick from my jeans pocket and not only washed and dried the load, but I didn't even remember I had done that until the load had only 10 minutes left on the dry cycle. 

[Twik]

Poison ivy- well we don't have it in England. At the age of 16 I went to a Girl Scout camp in the US and walked right through a big patch of it. I had absolutely no idea what it was!

Amazing luck- I wasn't allergic to it! The evil New Hampshire mosquitoes were another story though...

Poison ivy is something a bit strange.  Repeated exposure will heighten the reaction.  On your first encounter you were probably safe.

However, the counselors should have told campers about the hazard.

Poison ivy is like many allergies - it requires an initial exposure to "take", so to speak. Of course, most people don't even notice they're in it the first time, so they have no recall of why on a subsequent exposure they're reacting horribly.

[StarFaerie]

I just thought of another really dumb thing I did, and now that I'm all healed up, 3 weeks later..... 

I have this brand-new lovely SUV, manual shift.  It's a little bit bigger than I expected, and I'm a lot bigger than average, so it's kind of hard for me to reach the parking brake when I'm sitting in the seat.  I always leave it in gear, so I'd gotten into the habit of crawling halfway into the car, then popping the brake and climbing in.   

One Sunday after church, I start climbing into the car, and pop the brake. It's slipped out of gear and starts to roll (I'm on a hill!).  I can't reach the brake pedal in time, so the car knocks me down, drags me along the parking lot a bit, then rolls over my foot and heads for the treeline!!  Fortunately, there *was* a tree in the way, and it stops the car.  I'm on the ground, surrounded by people. 

The car has only a small crack in the rear bumper, and I have a big ouchie on one elbow, and bruises and batterings up and down my leg, but nothing's broken!!  (I had to call my dad and thank him for the Good Genes!).   
By the way, seeing a car roll like that is only funny on America's Funniest Home Videoes.  Not so funny when it's your brand-new car!

I now have a long shoelace tied to the parking brake release lever, and I am inside the car with foot firmly on brake before pulling the string.  Don't ask me why I didn't do this 3 months ago when I bought the car!

Wow, you're lucky to be alive. I knew a woman who tried to leap back in her car when it started to roll, it dragged her, she hit her head and died. So tragic.

[Elfmama]

Forgot to remove my tube of chapstick from my jeans pocket and not only washed and dried the load, but I didn't even remember I had done that until the load had only 10 minutes left on the dry cycle.

You should see what a purple crayon does to a load of laundry!  Not my mistake, though -- my toddler hid it in the toe of a sock, which then went through the washer and the commercial dryer.  It ruined a whole load of clothes, including DH's uniform shirts and Elfqueen's school blouses.

[kherbert05]

Poison ivy- well we don't have it in England. At the age of 16 I went to a Girl Scout camp in the US and walked right through a big patch of it. I had absolutely no idea what it was!

Amazing luck- I wasn't allergic to it! The evil New Hampshire mosquitoes were another story though...

Poison ivy is something a bit strange.  Repeated exposure will heighten the reaction.  On your first encounter you were probably safe.

However, the counselors should have told campers about the hazard.

Poison ivy is like many allergies - it requires an initial exposure to "take", so to speak. Of course, most people don't even notice they're in it the first time, so they have no recall of why on a subsequent exposure they're reacting horribly.

I once felt so bad for a neighbor. She let us pick mullberries out of a tree at the end of her property. One year she saw us and came to tell us to stay out just for now because she had noticed poison ivy around the tree. She wanted to get rid of it. She took one look at me - and insisted on rushing me home. I don't know if my skin was extra bad that time or bright because I was hot - or if this sweet lady had just overlooked the fact I pretty much had a rash 365 days a year and noticed it this one time because she was thinking about the poison ivy.


Mom calmed her down and got her to understand that the rash was normal for me. Our Dad and a couple of the other Dads went down and pulled all the posion ivy up for her. (They looked funny long sleeves with gloves long pants tucked inside socks or boots in 90 degree weather).

[Shopaholic]

Poison ivy- well we don't have it in England. At the age of 16 I went to a Girl Scout camp in the US and walked right through a big patch of it. I had absolutely no idea what it was!

Amazing luck- I wasn't allergic to it! The evil New Hampshire mosquitoes were another story though...

Poison ivy is something a bit strange.  Repeated exposure will heighten the reaction.  On your first encounter you were probably safe.

However, the counselors should have told campers about the hazard.

Poison ivy is like many allergies - it requires an initial exposure to "take", so to speak. Of course, most people don't even notice they're in it the first time, so they have no recall of why on a subsequent exposure they're reacting horribly.

Not to be a know-it-all, but that is the definition of allergies, basically - repeated exposure exacerbates the immune response.
Nothing will happpen the first time you're exposed, because that is the first time the body is faced with the anitgen. The more you are exposed, the more immune cells are created, the quicker and more aggressive the immune response will be.

[LadyJaneinMD]

By the way, seeing a car roll like that is only funny on America's Funniest Home Videoes.  Not so funny when it's your brand-new car!

I now have a long shoelace tied to the parking brake release lever, and I am inside the car with foot firmly on brake before pulling the string.  Don't ask me why I didn't do this 3 months ago when I bought the car!

Wow, you're lucky to be alive. I knew a woman who tried to leap back in her car when it started to roll, it dragged her, she hit her head and died. So tragic.

This is tragic!  Poor lady.  Yes, we've all agreed that I lead a charmed life.

[Kaora]

If I posted this before, I blame it on me being ditzy.  So, forgive me.

A long time ago, I took a Computer / A+ Cert class in High School.  Part of the experience is learning how to solder.

I was working with my now BF on soldering practice (which is, really, building tons of tiny robots ) and he handed me the iron to use.

Instead of grabbing the nice, cool, grip, I somehow grabbed the barrel of the iron instead.

I just calmly handed it to BF, then ran out of the room to run my hands under the drinking fountain in the hall.  I'm pretty sure the teacher, a really cool guy, understood why I left in a rush.  Explained it on the way in.

Not seriously burned, but it was a stupid moment in itself.

Though, the poison ivy talk has me curious.  If poison ivy is an attractive nuisance, why not, oh, say, Oleander, which is used in a lot of gardens in my town?  Ivy tends to just itch, nastily.  Oleander, ingested, kills.  Also, it bugs me because there is a lot of it just within pet or kid level.

[2littlemonkeys]

Forgot to remove my tube of chapstick from my jeans pocket and not only washed and dried the load, but I didn't even remember I had done that until the load had only 10 minutes left on the dry cycle.

You should see what a purple crayon does to a load of laundry!  Not my mistake, though -- my toddler hid it in the toe of a sock, which then went through the washer and the commercial dryer.  It ruined a whole load of clothes, including DH's uniform shirts and Elfqueen's school blouses.

Ours was blue.  Both times.     Fortunately, the clothes were underwear and socks and Dh's work shirts (and not the Brook Brother's sort.  More like the Hane's "so stinky it can walk to the washing machine itself" sort.)

[Pinky830]

When I was 12, I was boy crazy. Seriously. Yuck, such a turn off lol! Anyway, I can now laugh about it. Apart from this.

I wrote a love letter to the boy who lived up our road. It was...well...interesting. What possessed me to write it I don't know. Anyway, I thought it was a great idea to post it through his door. The "ohnosecond" came as soon as the paper hit the floor. I immediately rang the doorbell and sheepishly asked his mum to please give me the letter back. She said "What letter?" I mumbled, "That letter..." and pointed at the envelope on the floor. She said nothing, just gave me it back. I immediately tore the letter up and dumped it in the rubbish. Seriously silly thing to do. Especially as he was 14 at the time, and would have shown the letter to all his friends at school, thus giving everyone more ammunition to pick on me. My face still burns with the shame.

In high school, I had a math teacher who would read notes out loud to the entire class if she took one up. I was writing a note to my BFF, an extremely incriminating note involving lots of exclaiming over our various crushes...and I got CAUGHT. Of all the times. I never, ever got caught writing a note.

The teacher read it silently for a few seconds while I pondered how my parents would feel if I suddenly demanded to be transferred to another school. She gave me an exasperated smile and handed it back to me. I wasn't much of a troublemaker, and I guess she decided the one time I got in trouble there was no reason to humiliate me as badly as reading that note would have. I bet she doesn't remember it anymore, but 25 years later I am still insanely grateful.