Stains and other Mishaps

So I know that I’ve posted several deeper topics recently and I was going to continue doing so until something happened Sunday  morning that I had to blog about. The back story to this blog is that we’ve been finding ways to equip the nursery for as little out-of-pocket expense as possible. I have this old chest-of-drawers that I used when I was younger that was still at my parent’s house. I decided that instead of buying new furniture for the baby’s room, why not re-use things we already own. Great idea! Only one problem… it was painted slathered with that fake stone “flecking” that you can spray on. It was white with teal accents and our baby room has dark woods and brown and blue! “Hmmm” I thought to myself. We could strip off the paint and stain the wood dark! Wow, we could save so much money this way!

Saturday, Alejandro and I spent the entire morning stripping off the thick and icky paint. We successfully managed to remove all the remaining vestiges of the paint and sand it down to reveal the beautiful grain of the natural wood. After that adventure, Melissa and I decided to go out and purchase the stain we wanted to try at Sherwin-Williams (who happened to be having a great sale at the time!) So we took the stain home and I got a drawer out of the dresser and set to staining the front. It was already after 6pm when I finished so it was too late to wait the recommended 6 hours before applying a second coat so we decided to wait until Sunday morning.

I got up Sunday morning ready to finish the first drawer and see how it would come out. Icarried the drawer outside on our back patio and went back inside to grab the quart sized can of wood stain and the tools I needed. As I stepped out onto the patio something happened. I don’t know how to describe what transpired in the next 500 milliseconds, but suddenly, without warning, the can of wood stain decided to dislodge itself from my hand and drop in slow motion to the ground. I’m not sure what happened first. The sound of the sealed top of the can of stain popping off followed by the sickening gush of liquid stain freed from captivity at last – or the sound of my shriek as I realized I was doomed.

I often mention how time seems to slow down for me. Well, yet again, time seemed to slow down to a snails pace as I saw the lid of the can pop off and a full 32 ounces of wood stain splash out of it’s holding cell into the morning light – splashing onto my legs, onto the siding of my house, onto the sliding glass door… oh wait, the sliding glass door was open… onto the carpet inside the house, onto the dining room table, onto my nice shoes next to the couch, missing the couch, and finally coming to rest on the linoleum in our kitchen 10 feet away.

As time sped up again, I looked around at the disaster that befell me. I realized that with one tiny accident, I had just taken what was supposed to be a money saving plan and turned it into a money draining plan! Well Dave Ramsey, how do you suggest I fix this one?

So if any of you have any brilliant ideas on how to remove dried wood STAIN from carpet without melting the carpet fibers, I’d love to hear about it!

But in the end, I must be thankful to the Lord because it did not get on our nice couch nor did it damage the table or chairs. Only the carpet… and the leopard spots I am now sporting on my ankles.

So the moral of this story is how proud I was of my wife in the midst of this crisis. Instead of yelling or getting angry or upset like she could have, she instead chose to remain calm and tell me that it was all going to be ok and that it was only an accident. She lovingly gave me space to seethe at the stupidity of the moment and helped to calm me down as I wanted to go stuff my 6′ 7″ frame into that quart can of stain to hide from the embarrassment. I thought, “Who are you and what have you done with my wife…” and then I realized. This was my wife – acting in Christ’s love and understanding. What an awesome way to end a stupid accident. Thank you honey. For you love and your support. I love you!