"Bad Decisions Make Good Stories"

"Bad decisions make good stories."  Suffice it to say, I have some good stories.

Some of my bad decisions weren't life-changers, (although I was sure our marriage was in jeopardy a few times) but make for some good stories. Let's share.

A bad decision was, thinking, early on, that I was qualified to tackle home projects beyond my talents.  I usually waited til hubby was out of town on business to try my hand at home improvements.  Seemed easier to "seek forgiveness than ask permission".

There was the time I tried to "pop" a ceiling, which entailed applying a heavy mud-type plaster and using a special brush, creating a design in the ceiling.  It was supposed to hide cracks and imperfections, not end up looking like Mammoth Cave, complete with stalagmites, seeming to drip from the ceiling.  Our room dimensions changed, too, it seemed...going from nine foot ceilings to 8 and a half.  That project was pretty hard to hide!

Or the time I painted bathroom tiles...I failed to mention to the paint store guy that the tile was plastic, not ceramic, so he sold me acetone to "rough up the surface so the paint would adhere".  How was I to know that acetone melted plastic?  I had a vase of flowers, placed very strategically, that hid that mess for three years!

Or the spring I decided we needed a pond in our yard...  I purchased the heavy plastic, had large stones loaded into the trunk (who knew a car had a suspension system?) bought a pump that would create a beautiful spray or trickle down like a waterfall.  I was all set to start!  Would somebody tell that crazy woman how much dirt has to be dug for a pond the size she has planned?  Or that there are different sizes of pumps and the one she bought was going to shoot water all over the front porch?  I knew I was in over my head on this one and my dear Dad came to the rescue.  

There was a time, I think, that my sweet husband was afraid to leave home.  And keep in mind this was before the days of HGTV, a TV network that encourages my kind of behavior.  I haven't learned my lesson yet but my projects aren't as frequent as they used to be.  Aging and physical limitations are one reason... or maybe I have more common sense now.  Nah, it's because hubby doesn't go out of town as much as he used to.  "Can I pack your bag, honey?"