After

And here are the afters, I went to the fabric store and found nothing at all inspirational so then I dragged the girls to Pier One and found these dish towels that I thought might work. Ella and Molly both were taken in by Pier One and there were many oohs and ahhs heard while we looked around. I do not know if has anything to do with my interest in design but it seemed unusual to me that two little girls would be so excited by a store that sells furniture and decorative items. It made me smile to hear them appreciate the rugs and the curtains making suggestions about where they would fit in around our house. It is a good thing that they were able to charm me with those memories because just a short time later as I reupholstered the chair seats it was an entirely different emotion that they provoked. You see I had set up the art easel and Molly had been painting by herself for over an hour in an entirely organized and controlled fashion. I do not know exactly what happened when Ella joined in but a few minutes later Molly ran in to the room that I was working in with red paint up to her elbows and just dripping from her little finger tips. As soon as I raised my voice Molly took off in a mad dash screaming "noooo mommy" as bright red paint was flung all over my kitchen and playroom, then bathroom where I cornered her and discovered her accomplice with another shade of paint that had been used to decorated my bathroom. My heart began to race as I scanned the room calculating the damage, the purple and red paint seeping in to the grout lines. I was quick to action stripping the girls and putting them in the shower where they both cried indignantly that they needed to get out this minute. I grabbed the shower head with my left hand and hosed them down in a fashion similar to a fireman putting out a blaze, while scrubbing at the grout with my right hand. All the while yelling " in the four and six years you have lived in this house do you not know me well enough to know this sort of thing makes mommy really mad and realllyyy crazy?" and perhaps I threw in a few " what the hell were you thinking". Ella was sobbing while Molly urged me to "use your regular voice mommy, use your regular voice". I wrapped them in towels and in a eerily quiet about to really loose it voice suggested that they might want to dress themselves and give me a few moments to get the mess under control. As I finished cleaning the bathroom I noticed the window was wide open so I can only hope that the neighborhood enjoyed their free Friday afternoon show. I then ventured in to the other rooms to survey the damage, it was not good, I will just say that I spent well over and hour just locating and cleaning paint splatter. It was not the way I wanted to start my weekend but luckily I spent the rest of my evening at a restaurant sans children laughing as I repeated the tale to my girlfriends.