My Great Idea.

Here's the before, mmkay?

So, Your husband had to leave town on a fancy-pants business trip, and you have an idea. Or, the beginnings of one. An idea-fetus, if you will. You decide you will PAINT something, while he is gone, to surprise him! How could that go wrong?!?! Because, this is what happens when you watch too much Design Star and spend time with Jenny. You get these IDEAS, like painting your hallway in a wacky way, and you go to the paint store, and 30 minutes later you walk out with nothing you came in for, and three test jugs of peacock blue paint. For the tallest wall in your house. And you think, well, I won't paint THAT wall yet. But then you get home, and you open them up and they are PRETTY and the brush goes in and as SOON AS IT TOUCHES THE WALL you realize you have made a major tactical error.Because now you have to finish.

For, you see, you have put a random splotch of blue on the largest, most visible wall in your house. And if husband comes home, and all you have is three sad swatch-splotches, he will NOT think, "Oh, my wife is so creative and surprising", he will think, "When is THIS going to get finished?!?!", and it is a problem. And another problem is, this wall is TALL. Like, two stories. Like, ladder must be in extension mode (not shown, much more precarious,) before you can get anywhere NEAR the ceiling to cut in. And have I mentioned that when you chose which paint you wanted from your samples, it was the only one that required primer, and so you must do TWO steps? And that, also, that specific paint doesn't come in the Classic99 you would normally buy, but only in the $30 kind (And $30 is with a 25% discount.) At this point, your little brain is spinning, and you want to give up, because you are tired, because, did I mention that just two days ago you were selling stuff at a craft show in 90 degree weather and you assembled and took down your own tent? Because you are a two year old? And cannot accept help or admit that you cannot do something by yourself? BECAUSE YOU ARE RIDICULOUS?!!And then, when you finish (the next night, at 9pm, after working on it for the best art of two days,) you realize, suddenly, HE MIGHT HATE IT. Because you have never even MENTIONED peacock blue to him. Ever. And while you are typically on the same page, design-wise, there is also a chance that this will be too much for the man. Just too much. And the thought of painting over your beautiful wall makes you want to hurl, because it was HARD TO PAINT. Like, very hard. Painfully hard. Occasionally crying-hard. And, it has flaws, but they DO NOT MATTER, because it was SO FRICKEN HARD that anyone who might point out those flaws will be promptly asked to leave. AND WHAT IF HE HATES IT?!?But he does not! He LOVES it! And was SUPERIMPRESSED by your super-human painting skillz! Joy! Triumph! And now you have a beautiful new wall. It doesn't matter if you ate nothing but Froot Loops with Marshmallows for two days and smelled like a rotting beast for most of the second.It was worth it, my friend. It was worth it.(And if you wondered what Rufus does when I am taking pictures of Baxter, here it is.