Well, it was a good idea to begin with...

I often have many ideas and projects rolling around in my head. They are bouncing off the things that I want to do and often conflict with the things I need to do. There is so much going on in my head in fact, that at times, I hardly know where to begin. Yesterday, I thought it might be a fun idea to paint the preschool room with the kids. I know, I just heard an audible gasp from all you readers out in blog land. But, I had the paint, and it was just sitting there in the garage. Besides that, the room really needed to be painted. The builders, for some inexplicable reason, use a flat paint to paint the new houses here. I know flat paint is cheaper but I can't see how it can affect their bottom line so drastically to justify it. (okay, my rant about flat paint is over and, sorry, to all you flat paint lovers out there) Anyway, I have to be in the mood to paint, and the mood struck (let's call it a "wild hair") and when I ran the idea past the kids they were all for it. And so it began.... My idea was going off with out a hitch. Makenzie was taping off the base boards. I was stirring up the paint. Mark was getting on his "painting clothes" and spreading out the paint tarps. Ragan was putting the rollers on the handles. I was happy in my brief moment of painting Utopia.... We weren't into the project ten minutes before they began to paint each other. Then, the teenage banter of "you're a dork", "No, you are!" began. There were people stepping in paint trays. One child was painting horizontally, while the other was vertically expressing their painting prowess. Another was trying to paint the wall with a brush. On the outside, I looked like a mother in complete control of her emotions but on the inside, all was churning. I had visions of upturned paint buckets and replacing carpet. "Be careful", I warned. "Do your best work", I encouraged. "Be kind to each other", I chided. All to no avail. "OKAY....ENOUGH!!!" I shouted. Of course, I got the "This time Mom has really lost it" look. "We need to STOP the screwing around before we have a serious problem, like spilled paint or something", I explained. Eye roll and then another eye roll..... "Geez, mom....you need to chill-ax" (Ragan) "Ya, we're just having fun" (Mark) Snicker under her breath so as to not be completely disrespectful (Makenzie) "Well, you've been warned and if there ends up being a need for carpet replacement you three will be paying for it. AND, if you don't want to hear any more of my ugly loud voice, you'll need to take charge of yourselves and do your best work." (ME) To which I got back to work and TOTALLY saw some more looks of disgust (with the eyes in the back of my head, of course). "Whatevs, Mom." (Ragan) More snickering (Mark and Makenzie) I'd like to say that all the shenanigans stopped at that point, but I would be lying. Thankfully, there were no paint spills. The preschool room is now a delightful shade of yellow. I shall post a picture as soon as everything has been put back in it's rightful place. Mark wants to paint his bedroom today. Only, I'm not in the mood......