Good Intentions

Jon has been like an elf on a mission this week. He retreats to his workshop( the freezing garage) and chisels away at a large piece of wood he discovered while dumpster diving. Yes, he goes dumpster diving.He may desire the most high end of cars and electronics, but he's not above filling his truck bed with random chunks of granite and discarded wood from a nearby construction site. He's versatile like that. 

Our daughters have always had a rope swing . They climb and spin and swing, it has been so much fun and such great exercise for them. When they have to climb the rope at gymnastics, my girls climb to the top and back down like nimble little monkeys and it makes me proud. "Look at my strong monkey like children!" I say to who ever is sitting next to me. Just kidding, I don't talk to people in public. Nearly a year ago now the rope was ripped from the basement ceiling where it hung and we have been swing-less ever since. So, for an early Christmas gift, Jon is building the best rope swing set up our children have ever known.

 We decided to paint the piece of wood we will be drilling into the ceiling the same color as the ceiling. So Jon set up a painting table in my incredibly messy and crowded office. But before the first stroke of paint made contact with wood, a rare and unfortunate moment of clumsiness overtook my husband and he dropped the entire jug of paint on the floor. It landed at an angle that caused the contents of the paint jug to be launched across the entirety of the room.

 I heard a manly type yell come from my office where I was completely unaware of what Jon was up to. When I came to see what was going on,I found him on the floor, covered in paint and a most disgruntled look on his face. He was saying "This is bad...this is not good...this is really bad." I got down on the floor and peeked under the table...and then I let out an unexpected scream that I am sure soothed my irritable husbands nerves. What I saw was carpet, furniture, pillows, books and decorations dripping with beige paint. ( I told you my office is cluttered at the moment! No judgement! )

But the horror of all, was my antique drawer full of vintage books that I use to decorate my coffee table, it was doused. I had moved it to the safety of my office while babysitting and couldn't have known Jon would be painting salvaged wood over my irreplaceable decor. It's in moments like this that I feel my materialism and try to check it. ' It's only an item, it's just a thing! Yes it's a 100 year old secretary drawer that brings me joy but still, no biggy.'  I snatched my vintage find and ran to the kitchen. Morgan was so kind and helpful and tried to offer comfort by grabbing paper towels and assuring me we would be able to get the paint off the books. But I knew she was wrong. Between running towels and bowls of water to Jon and scrubbing my drawer with fingernail polish remover, I was able to get most of the paint off the drawer before it dried. I lost half of my musty old books though. But only half! 

We tried old friends...but you were a lost cause.

I then threw a splattered seat cushion cover and two decorative pillow cases in the laundry...to no avail. Paint soaks in to fabric quickly and it's not looking like any amount of soaking or scrubbing is ever going to get it out. 

Worse things have happened, but dang.

Jon soaked and scrubbed the carpet and then decided to run to Walmart to rent a Rug Dr.
Once the Rug Dr. suggestion was made, I felt my spirits rise. Well...if we have a carpet cleaner in the house then lets clean all our splotchy carpets! 

I had  my girls help move all the furniture into the kitchen,vacuum,sweep, and dry the dishes while you're at it! Things were looking up. 

The girls did this all by them selves. Yes, they chinked my newly painted kitchen island, but that's how things go when you ask kids to help.

Exhibit B:
 Brooke manhandled the vacuum so hard she took a piece of Kate's wall off. Fingers crossed I have some spackle & touch up paint somewhere around here. But hey! Thanks for all your help children.

And here is my office wall. While Jon was rolling around on the floor in paint induced 

indignation, he chucked a pillow out of his way. A pillow with paint on one side and it smeared down the wall. But it missed my cute bird picture, so yay!

 There you have it. A simple desire to gift your daughters with an early Christmas present, can turn in to days worth of touch up paint and carpet cleaning. Jon was a good sport and cleaned all of the upstairs carpets. It looks great.  All is well. Now, I have some painting to do.