A river runs through it

Y'all know I'm cheap....'er, thrifty.

I will do most anything to save a buck.  That of course means, if I can jerry rig something myself and not have to call in a 'tradesman' I will do that.  Hence, I've frequently tackled things I probably should not have...still...well, I've told my stories here and you know some of the stuff I've done has not worked out well.

Sigh.

Here's another.

Years ago I bought two carpets (the 6'x8' kind that used to be popular in folks bathrooms) only I put them down on my living room floor.  I took duct tape and taped the two rugs together, as the seam ran across the center of the room and I didn't want the two rugs to 'curl up' and become a tripping hazard.  This worked
well for years, but over time the non-slip backing deteriorated, so a couple of months ago I nailed the carpets to the floor.  After all I didn't want some elderly guest to slip and fall. 

Then, over the holidays, the duct tape gave way, and the two carpets came apart at the seam.  I went to the garage for the duct tap so I could adhere the two halves together again.  The problem was the only color tape I had was white...I used it anyway.  For weeks, bits of white could be seen where the carpets didn't quite meet together anymore.  Oh, I tried to ignore this, but last night, bedraggled, weary, upset, dejected because my football team lost, those damn white spots were bugging the hell out of me.

And, as Popeye, used to say "I can't stands it no more", I went to my craft acrylic paint supply, got out all my brown shades and decided to paint over the white seam.  I was very careful.  I put the bottles on the floor, side by side, and chose the color I thought would most match the shade of the carpet and set to work painting.

On hands and knees, I worked my way along the seam.  I thought the brown looked a  little dark, but figured it would lighten up as it dried.
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It didn't.

So, I took my broom and thought maybe if I kind of spread the paint out it would not look so dark.  Uh-oh!

Mercy, this was bad, very, very bad. 

Now this tale takes an even uglier turn.  Should have I left this alone?  Yes. 

Did I?   Noooooooooo.

I grab a lighter brown bottle of paint, and paint over the darker shade.  Did that work?

OF COURSE NOT!

Now, the dark brown paint was still the stronger color, so the lighter brown simply blended in with it aaaannnnnddddd, now the stripe was even wider.

I grab my broom.  Swish, swish, blend, blend.  AAAAAAHHHHHH!  This was awful.

I was beside myself.  What a mess.

Frankie was no help at all.  She sat in the chair shaking her head.  No amount of pleading on my face would get her onto her feet to help.

Eventually I did the only thing I could.

I put away my paints, I put away my broom, I turned out the lights, left Frankie in the dark, and went to bed.

In the back of my mind, as I was dozing off, I really, really, really thought that when I awoke, the paint would have dried nicely and have blended in so beautifully no one would ever know what I had done.
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This morning?

Well, let's just say I've got a lovely dark brown river running through my living room.