Seeing red

I swear I am not a bad parent. I am not neglectful. They eat many times a day, they don't get too much sugar and junk food, they have beds to sleep in, clothes to wear, and (way too many) toys to play with. I do not let my kids run unsupervised. They are disciplined and I'm not afraid to spank them when necessary. They know the rules, they know they have to be followed. They know right from wrong.

And then there is my four-year old.

She's like a bull in a china shop. Except she's the bull and the china. She flat out does whatever the hell she wants to do come hell or high water. Gee, I wonder where she gets it. Though she usually gets hurt in the process.

Yesterday, the grid was down, there wasn't a whole lot I could do so I decided I'd go outside and we'd continue painting the barn, because I was pretty sure even though it looked like it might rain, it wouldn't until later and I could get something accomplished. (More on the barn later, but long story short we're building one out back.)

We're painting the inside white, to make it less dark and dreary inside. The kids each have their own little paint roller and they both paint to their heart's content and I just go behind them. Works pretty well. The 19-month old painted a tree in the back yard. And the big beach blanket I had in the grass for them to lay on. And my shorts - which had been black. And himself, and lord knows what else we'll find a year from now. Some of it managed to get on the walls, and he was happy and everyone had fun.

I'd gone to Lowe's and gotten paint for the outside because that's gotta be done, too. I decided on this really pretty brownish-reddish kinda barn color and white trim. So I paid 20 bucks each for these two gallons of paint for the outside, exterior paint, resists mold/mildew/etc etc. Not cheap, but hopefully it'll hold up a good 5 years or so, right?

Enter four-year old darling offspring.

We were still working on the inside walls, so the red paint was just sitting in the living room waiting to be used. I went to the dryer to get the now clean, but covered in paint clothes from the day before. She came in with a gallon of the outside paint. "Go put it back, we're not using that one. You have to get dressed, go get panties on!" ("Go get panties on" is the most used phrase in our house. I'm sure she's going to be a stripper when she grows up.)

I get the clothes, round up the toddler to get him dressed. Head towards the kitchen to grab some water to take out and there's this really strange smell.

Four-year old says, "I made a mess." Like this is something new. My life is a series of going from one mess she's made to the next. I turned around. Then I saw where the smell was coming from.

An entire gallon of barn red paint, upside down and puddled on the living room carpet. Apparently the girl at Lowe's didn't put the lid on very well.

After taking a very deep breath, I told her to go to her room. Then I did what any self-respecting parent would do. I called my mom and asked her how in the world would I ever get that off my carpet.

I then spent the next 2+ hours with the steam cleaner (I'm having an affair with Mr. Hoover) and got most of it up. I managed to save 3/4 of the gallon by scooping it off the floor with a dustpan and pouring it back into the can.

Good news, I still really like that color. Bad news, my carpet now has a beautiful blush-tone right in by the front door.

I figure it goes pretty well with the chocolate milk stain that won't come up, the really expensive Lancome mascara carpet drawing, and the Trix hot-pink and turquoise yogurt stain that is just now starting to fade. All courtesy of the same child. When she grows up, I'm saving that piece of carpet to show her every time her kids make a mess on her floor.