Being a parent isn’t easy sometimes. I don’t need to tell anybody that; I’m just reaffirming it. I can live with the whining, and the Disney Channel, and the One Direction CD, but I don’t like clutter or messes. Unfortunately for me, my daughter has a lot of stuff and if my wife and I don’t keep it under control it ends up in the four corners of our house, and that tends to get me upset. So last night I was doing a little cleaning and organizing and came upon a tool box I made to carry my daughters craft paints and found something interesting.

The other day I had mentioned my finishing of the Dutch Tool Box and the need to find a suitable paint for it. A few commenters made some good suggestions, one being a company called DecorArt, Americana Décor. I was intrigued enough to check out the company web page and found that I liked the chalky finish and “old fashioned” colors that were available. I also noticed that I could order the paint directly from the web page. Just as I was about to place the order my wife happened to point out that the very paint I was about to order was in the toolbox I had just put away. So I brought a small container into my garage and painted a scrap board…and it turned out nicely ( I tried to take a photo but it wouldn’t turn out). I asked my wife where she got the paints and it turned out to be a local craft store, A.C. Moore, which is just a ten minute drive from where I live. Being a thorough guy, I even checked the AC Moore web page and found that they do stock the color I wanted in larger containers. I was genuinely excited over paint!

So after a little running around today we are going to stop at the craft store and pick up the paint needed to finish my tool box. Even better news is the fact that while it still isn’t warm outside and won’t be for a while, the temperatures expected today and tomorrow are at least seasonable and not arctic. There is a real possibility that my tool box will be painted this weekend and I can finally install the hardware, cleats, and cut nails that will finish this thing up. I was expecting to wait at least another week. My wife reminded me that if it weren’t for my daughter and all of her “stuff” that I wouldn’t have been able to sample the paint, and I also would probably never have set foot in a craft store. With that, a few helpful comments on my post, my wife, and my daughter’s stuff brought me some good luck last night. All in all, I’m really glad I got my wife pregnant eight years ago.