This Darn Rug

Sometimes you've got to swallow your pride and admit defeat.

I wanted this rug ...

I convinced Andi we haaaaad to have it.

We bought it ...

... and it sucks. The worst part is, there's no turning back now.

Is it normal for families to go through rugs like changing underwear? We seriously buy a new rug for our living room at least once every three months. It's not like rugs are cheap purchases either. Each one runs at least $100.

We have one dog who's supposably house-trained (ahem) and one toddler who's, well, not house-trained. Two rugs ago, our lovely little pooch did her business on the rug and I couldn't seem to get the smell or the disgust out of my mind. Since we have hard wood floors, Tory and I play on the living room rug quite often so it's important it be clean and comfortable. Our last rug before the one pictured above received a healthy dose of toddler puke on it one evening. Our entire house reeked of vomit for a week until I finally pitched it. I tried everything to get the smell out of that rug but it was no use.

Andi and I went to Target the next day and surveyed the rugs. I spotted this beautiful patterned rug and decided I had to have it. Andi thought it was a little wild for his taste and more expensive than our usual rug purchases but I assured him it would look perfect in our home. And it did! I loved the look of the rug.

But ... fairly quickly, I noticed the wool fibers of the rug floating in the air. I also noticed my pant legs covered in wool fibers every time I so much as glided past it. The icing on the cake was the weekend my family visited and the rug received high use from six adults and three children walking / playing in the living room. Those darn rug fibers were EVERYWHERE and I was so embarrassed.

Andi suggested we return the rug and he inquired about doing so even though we no longer had the receipt or the packaging. Target said we *may* still be able to return it if we had the original credit card it was purchased on and brought it back right away as our return window was closing quickly. Andi reminded me to return the rug a few times that week but I still wasn't sure I wanted to (I really like the way it looked if it would only stop shedding)! Plus, there's no way in the world I'd drag a giant area rug back into Target with a toddler who refuses to sit in the cart alongside me. The one afternoon I had the chance to take it back, I didn't have the original credit card it was purchased with so it didn't happen.

Yesterday, I'd had enough and removed that stupid rug from my house. It took me two rounds of sweeping and mopping my wood floors to catch all the wool fibers floating around my living room. So disgusting! I'm mad at myself for not returning the dang run when I had the chance and even more ashamed of eating crow since Andi told me to do it. I admit I was wrong about the rug situation and now I wish I could find one that was soft and cozy, durable and not a million dollars to purchase.