Between a Rock

Between a rock. 

You've heard the old saying, "Between a rock and a hard place," and I seem to be there with my new found rock painting obsession. 

As much as I enjoy painting rocks, and leaving them around my apartment 
complex for others to find, I'm coming across the problem of actually finding rocks well suited for painting. 

My other delemia is my rule following nature, and as Gretchen Rubin would say, "upholder" tendencies. Every day when I bring Cooper out for his daily constitutional in our apartment courtyard, I am tempted by the most beautiful river rocks lying unsuspectingly in the flower garden. 

They are the perfect size, smooth, and oval shaped, and their rock painting possibilities seem endless. Except, that they are not mine. They belong to the complex, and were purchased to enhance the landscaping of the courtyard. They are not some random rock that I have happened upon. 

Each day I find myself coveting them, and being tempted to take just one. What harm would it do? After all, I would be returning it in a more beautiful state?  Except, I know that if I took one today it would open the door to two, and then it would be all downhill from there. With my tendency to go overboard there would not be one unpainted rock left! 

Theft is basically theft, and apparently I don't have it in me to take what doesn't belong to me. Now I've actually checked into purchasing similar type rocks from Walmart, and although their price is not prohibitive, they only come in thirty pound lots. I'm just not sure I want thirty pounds of rocks hanging around my apartment!

So what's a person to do?