Saturday, February 18, 2012

It was a WD-40 kinda day

Yesterday I took an hour to get out of the house, my dad's house, and go to Wal-Mart. This isn't a fancy outing I know, but I'll take what I can get. The kids were napping so I didn't feel bad about leaving my brother and Nanny in charge. When I pulled back into the driveway and saw my brother getting something out of his car, I asked him how things went, thinking they obviously went well since kids were sleeping, but soon found out I was wrong. Jack found sharpie markers in my brother's room and decided that he and Luke would look better with various shades of green on their face. He also thought our pack-and-play, Will's lampshade, and the dresser needed to be decorated as they were apparently too boring and dull in their previous state. In the end, Jack was admonished and scolded by his great Nanny as she tried to impress upon him the error of his ways and then sat with him until he and Luke fell asleep.
The next morning Jack and Luke wanted to let their artistic side show once more, I brought out crayons and paper so there wouldn't be a repeat offense. They were working hard when I had to use the restroom. When I returned I was met with a wooden rocking chair covered in marker and crayon and a leather ottoman covered in pen and marker. I was furious. Didn't he just get in trouble for this? Hadn't he learned his lesson?  I even told him before I left the room to keep it on the paper. Oh man!!!!!!

 We learned these things today:
-WD-40 works wonders on taking crayons off wood.
-  Dabbing the ottoman with vinegar, wiping with windex, and finishing it off with rubbing alcohol gets pen off leather.
-The following sort of kinda works on getting sharpie off your lampshade but will leave a large watermark: Hairspray, vegetable oil, baking soda toothpaste, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol.

 Being reminded by your Nanny not to lose your temper with your overly rambunctious son, but to use a calm, stern, level voice is slightly embarrassing, mostly since I didn't realize she heard me yell at him this morning.

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