If You Give a Girl Fifteen Minutes…

If you give a girl 15 minutes, she might try to clean the built-in bookcases. When she cleans the built-ins, she’ll think about how nice they’ll look with a new color on the inside of the shelves.

So she’ll head out to the garage, grab some paint and a paintbrush, and paint piece of posterboard to test drive a color.

And if she likes that color, she’ll probably ditch the posterboard and just start painting even though she has to pick the kids up from school in an hour.

As she paints the backs of the bookcases, she’ll run out of paint. She’ll have to ask her husband to buy a quart on the way home from work since the one she was using was just the sample paint pot and also it’s time to pick up the kids.

So after her husband gets home with the new paint, it’ll probably sit on the bookcase for three weeks because she forgot to budget time to finish the other side and also paint behind the television. And also a second coat on the first bookcase.

After she lives with the hot mess for 3 weeks, she’ll clear off the second bookcase and tape it off and paint the other side while her husband attempts to watch a Notre Dame basketball game even though she’s painting behind the t.v.

As soon as the paint is close to being dry, she’ll rip off the tape and add all her favorite things back onto the shelves in a totally new arrangement.

She’ll step back, admire the new look, and listen as her 4-year-old asks: “Mommy, why do you decorate so much?” <