Crime & Punishment - Being Distracted Can Lead to . . .

The Crime: grafitti

The Weapon: orange Sharpie

The Suspect:this kid 

The other night, I was upstairs working on a new header for my blog. I had the thought, "I should probably check on Will." In fact, when talking to Scott on the phone, I remember saying, "I just heard the barstool moving, I should see what Will's doing." Well, I was a little caught up in finally doing something with my blog that I decided Will was fine. A couple minutes later, Will came up the stairs looking like the above picture. Cute, right? I thought so (He looked like such a little thug with his arm all tattooed. And notice he only got his left arm - he's definitely right-handed).

Seeing him like that was enough to really get my attention. I took him downstairs to see the extent of the damage . . . . . & there was damage. He apparently had started out by coloring on paper (he had great intentions - but as I mentioned in the previous post, "hell is paved in good intentions" . . . my hell, that is. Next, he moved to the granite counters, then the cupboards, then the white entertainment center (thank goodness he didn't get the TV), then two of his puzzles, & finally my cell phone. At this point, Scott came home from I don't even remember where (but he'd had a long couple days, so this wasn't ideal for either of us). Scott assessed the situation & noticed more drawings on the fridge, the trash compactor, & the wall. He grabbed the stainless steel cleaner & got to work in the kitchen, while I grabbed some water & baking soda to work on the entertainment center (While working over there, I noticed some more "drawings" on the carpet, & decided I just didn't care anymore. At this point, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or pull my hair out). After a long time scrubbing, Scott finally found a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, & everything wiped up perfectly (minus the puzzles & carpet which we ignored). We just kept saying, "It could have been worse" & tried to smile.

We were tempted to make an example of Will by making him wear his crime for a while - like the big "A" Hester Prynne wore in The Scarlet Letter.

Scott had mercy & decided to clean him up, but left the orange dot on his face. That would be punishment enough.