Purple Is NOT My Favorite Color

Remember how we spent days repainting the downstairs bathroom? Remember how I obsessed over this faux finish and was so in love with my plans for the bathroom that I wanted to adopt them and name them George? Okay...so the faux finish was completed. Looked cool. The red accent was done, needed a little touch-up. The trim was done (took me four days). All that was left was the blue accents, hang the shelf and the art print.

Last week, da Boo begged to play with her art set and being the wonderful mother that I am, I let her. It's a large pad of pictures that has a holder for watercolors, markers, crayons and scissors (can you see where this is going?). So she quietly painted and hummed and all was right in the world. I was upstairs doing laundry and tidying up (or I might have been blogging). Da Boo is usually very quiet but doesn't make a mess so it was no big deal to leave her alone.

Later that night, the kids are in bed. I was done working on the kitchen and decided to use the bathroom before going upstairs. I turned on the light. The sound I made brought the Man running. There was purple. Lots and lots of purple. On the door, on the light switch, on the counter, on the toilet, on the Man's ladder, on the trim, on the WALL. She had taken the purple marker from her art set and drawn X's on everything. I was so upset, I went charging upstairs and woke da Boo up, demanding to know why she had done that to the wall (who cares about the toilet seat?). She was still sleepy so I let her go back to sleep but promised we would discuss this in the morning.

The next morning, the Man got to have the discussion with her and then she helped me try to clean it off. It came off the counter and ladder easily. Part of the toilet was easy to clean but the toilet seat was still really purple. And the wall...well, at one point I think I might have cried, just a little. It wouldn't come off. Da Boo was grounded from TV for the day, we canceled a playdate she had the next day and she wasn't allowed to use any drawing utensils for a week. She scrubbed at her former artwork for a while. She was pretty subdued the whole day but that's because she knew she was in serious trouble. And at one point, I did leave her downstairs by herself so I could do some stuff on the computer (but not blogs, this time).

That was a mistake. Should not have left her alone.

Just as I am getting the house straightened up before making dinner, I find a book laying open on the couch. Is anyone else gasping in anticipation of the approaching horrors? On the very back page of the book, da Boo has carefully written her name (guess she can't blame that one anyone else). It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for two crucial details:

1) It was the SAME purple marker that befouled my walls.
2) That was a library book.

She was sent to her room for the rest of the evening, only allowed out when it was time for dinner and for family prayer. No bedtime treat and no story. In fact, I removed all the books from her bed because she had shown that she didn't know how to treat a book. Also, she had to take the library book back and tell the librarian what she did. The librarian was really very nice (I would have liked her to be a little tougher) but she did ask da Boo to pay $1 for the damage to the book. She paid for it out of her piggy bank.

The Man took Q-tips and nail polish remover to the X's. While the marker came off, unfortunately some of the paint did too. Now the bathroom is delayed a little longer. Sorry!

Today is the first day I've allowed her to use crayons and so far, she hasn't asked to color. Can't say I'm surprised but from now on every time I see a purple marker, I might cry...just a little.