My kids consider themselves pranksters, and while this can be annoying at times, I really do love their mischief. Kids should be able to have fun, as long as it isn’t dangerous or mean spirited at all, and I myself am a big fan of pranks. Last week I went into the top of the cabinet for my secret hidden package of Oreo cooking that I keep hidden from the kids. The package was empty, containing only a note with a smiley face saying “you’ve been fooled.” I will admit I got a laugh out of that one, but I did miss my cookies. In response I took over the thermostat for the central HVAC system and used it to have a little fun of my own. The kids don’t care about things like central HVAC systems, they just know how to push the button on the control when it gets too hot in the house. So they didn’t know it was a smart thermostat, that I could control from my phone while I looked like I was playing Candy Crush. First I used the zone control function to cut the AC to my kids bedrooms while the rest of the house stayed cool. It took a half an hour but they finally came out of their rooms, hot and sweaty, and turned down the thermostat. When they left, I turned the heating on, but only in their rooms, and that got a much quicker response. They asked me if the AC was broken, and I said it wasn’t, and that they had been fooled.