Shoot the Messenger! Do it Now!

We all have messages that we've been fed throughout our lives and that we play to ourselves on a continuous loop, sometimes completely unaware.  I've been trying to be more aware of my messages lately.  One of my messages, and this will come as no surprise to DH, (are you reading this honey?) is the one about rules.  Now I've always known, and DH likes to tease me about how I like to adhere to rules.  No, not like, just need to.  What I've become aware of lately is just how pervasive that stupid rule message has been and how much fun it's cost me.  Don't worry; the BIG rules, I love to break.  These are little rules and I'm not sure where I picked up this message.

When I was a young homemaker, one of the rules I heard was that if I wanted to hang a picture on the wall, it had to be in a frame.  A proper frame, not a DIY job.  This rule business has really affected my creativity.  I've completely bought the idea that if I don't have this particular tool or ingredient, I can't do that thing.  There have been so many projects I've wanted to try but haven't because I didn't know the rules, what I wanted to do was against the rules, or I didn't have the proper tools/materials.  God forbid I try to make something up on my own!!!

So I've decided to break free from the rules, and I am going all out!

I spray painted this dragonfly without first removing the rust or putting on a coat of primer.  I also did not shake the can for a full two minutes.  You are laughing, but this is just the kind of thing I'm talking about!

I also did not let it dry before photographing it.  This is another good example; I always post my pictures to Flickr and then link them here because I get better quality blog photos that way.  If I try to upload directly from my computer to the blog, they're a little distorted in various ways.  Anyway, I wasn't going to put this picture on Flickr because it's an ugly picture, with no merit as to composition, etc., and you aren't *supposed* to put ugly photos on Flickr.

But there are some rules that maybe I should follow, or I just don't know if it's a rule I can break.  These sprout packages say that I'm supposed to soak the seeds in a bleach solution to avoid risk of e-coli.  Huh???  I do not want to soak my seeds in bleach.  I'm pretty sure I do not own bleach.  Have you used these seeds?  Did you soak them?  If not, did you get e-coli?