To think, here I was expecting that Mr. Murphy's visit would be an afternoon trip. Little did I know that he was planning an extended vacation. Why, just this afternoon, he decided to help me paint my room.

As a little bit of background, we are redecorating my bedroom. When we first moved in to this house, my room was the nursery, with wall covered in purple, tutu-clad elephants. To make the room more appropriate for an energetic eleven year old, the room was painted white with blue trim and a hot-air balloon border around the top. Until a few days ago, the room had remained essentially unchanged. Now, though, we are painting the room a rich, chocolaty brown for a more sophisticated feel.

That brings me to today's experience. Murphy decided that he wanted to help me paint. To prevent paint from getting on the carpet, I got a drop cloth to set on the floor. As I set it down, it, unbeknownst to me, got caught on a small, black cable. The more I unfolded the drop cloth, the more this tiny cable was pulled. Finally, with Murphy laughing at me quietly, the cable got pulled off on the furniture, bring the attached iPod touch with it. Both landed with a "shplort!" in the tray full of that lovely brown paint. The resulting splash also coated the nearby carpet (which the drop cloth was designed to protect). What a sneaky devil that Murphy is. I thought he wanted to paint the walls, not the rest of the room.

Needless to say, I felt I should probably quit before he could play any more perfectly timed pranks on me. Hopefully he'll leave soon. If I had wanted a poo-brown music player, I would have just gotten a Zune.

Anything that can go wrong, will - at the worst possible moment

Finagle's corollary to Murphy's Law

Today I had an unexpected visitor: Mr. Murphy. It's been such a long time since he's come to visit, and he showed up just as the house looked like a disaster zone. He always does have such marvelous timing.

This morning, I decided that I would continue pressure washing the deck. It was still sticky outside from an earlier rain, but the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and it was still that perfect temperature. I got out the quasi-toxic deck cleaner, assembled the sprayer which I just discovered was in our possession, and got the washer ready to go. I started working, and was impressed by the progress I was making. Suddenly, Mr. Murphy arrived to say hello. Joy filled my heart as dark clouds moved in and rain poured from the sky by the bucketful. Thanks Murph, I really needed to freeze and be drenched.

To keep the machinery from rusting in the sudden downpour, I spent the next 15 minutes lugging stuff into the garage. After my unanticipated outdoor shower, I was eager to change into some dry clothes, which I proceeded to do. Looking out the window, I saw the shining sunbeams filtering their way through the trees as the clouds moved away. The birds, right on cue, began their songs, laughing at the practical joke Murphy had played. What a prankster he is.

It's going to be fun with him in town. Already, the church newsletter got messed up thanks to a misnamed document, font incompatibilities, computer illiterate people, and a pointless deadline. I'm excited to see what fun activities Mr. Murphy has planned for next.