I Hate You Crayola! (And Manufacturers of Bad Child Locks!)

I am sitting at the computer, doing research for my last case study and reviewing information through online quizzes. I can hear the VIPs happily chatting in the room next to me. But something isn't sitting right. They are happy, not fighting, and they are definitely in the room next to me, what could possibly be ringing subconscious alarm bells?

And that's when I hear it, the undeniable background rustle of plastic?
Where in the world have they gotten plastic from?

I walk out to find they have broken the child lock of the arts and craft cupboard off, There is green stamp ink and white paint everywhere. The plastic was the wrapper on the pack of paintbrushes. After losing my goo and yelling at them, they run out of the room laughing and I set about cleaning up. 10 mins and a roll of paper towel later, the ink and white paint is history. So, I go in search of the trouble makers

I open their bedroom door only to be greeted with BLUE paint everywhere. As they ran from the room they managed to swipe the box of finger paints and I didn't notice! There was blue paint walked all into the cream carpet, car mat and spread all over Linc's sheets, his white winter blanket and the quilt Grandma made him when he was a baby. Linc is covered in blue and hiding under his blankets. Mans instantly starts dobbing. Eva is sitting on Mans' bed, red finger paint open and at the ready and that's when I notice the red blobs gleaming amongst the blue.

At first I am speechless and the world seems to stop rotating and then, all of a sudden, it starts up again at twice the pace, and all hell breaks loose.

After rescuing the red paint, cleaning Linc, blotting up the excess and using another roll of paper towel in the process, stripping the bed and scrubbing the carpet with Napisan Oxyaction (because that's all I could think of to use), I went and scrubbed Linc's bedding before putting it on a soak load in the hope the stains come out and scrubbed the car mat in the laundry sink. (Have you ever tried to squeeze something 1m x 3m in to your laundry sink, while preventing paint transfer? It's not fun! I'm just glad I didn't buy them the expensive one for Christmas.)

To spite all this I came back through the house to find they'd broken into the arts and craft cupboard AGAIN and were painting the walls with clean paint brushes! Obviously I'm doing something wrong because I am not getting through to them. What an exhausting hour. All because I wanted to get a little homework down before I'm too exhausted from the course of the days activities (and lack of sleep) to be able to focus.

Once the carpet dries I'll go and vaccum the last of the Napisan out of the carpet - I think I got all the paint out and I'm about to go and investigate the condition of the bedding but really I'm scared of them leaving my sight today. What a disaster.

Have you ever had 'one of THOSE days?