I know…I have been MIA for over a month.

When I first started this blog, I posted every day. That was just too difficult so I started posting twice a week. That was even taxing so I started posting once a week.

And now here we are…over a month later.

Truth be told, the holidays are a super busy time for me.

All the decorating, baking, entertaining.

And of course the sitting and staring at the Christmas tree. I do that A LOT. The season is just so short since I have a hard fast rule to NOT decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving…I want to soak it all in.

I get up every morning and turn on all the Christmas lights and they stay on until I go to bed. I don’t even want to tell you what my electric bill is that month…wowza!

This year I added ANOTHER decorated tree in my bedroom…I’ll have to share that next year. I featured my new black and white tree in my office HERE . Now I am one step closer to having my dream of having a decorated Christmas tree in every room. Upside…it is AMAZING…down side….what a chore to take it all down!

The MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR is in the books and time to move into the new year.

First up…a baby shower for my daughter in law.

Everything was beautiful and of course hosting this special event gave me a reason to do a super deep clean on my house.

Breath….

Now on to something that has been bugging me for several months.

The living room rug.

I bought a new rug before Christmas. I loved the old rug….

But after a few years and a puppy, it was ready to go. Rolled it up and hauled it to the trash can.

I tried a holiday Ruggable rug in my entry this year….

…I loved this rug…very durable and at the end of the season I picked it up and threw it in the washing machine! Sweet!

So I decided to try a washable rug in my living room. I couldn’t find one I liked on Ruggable so I checked out Tumble, another washable rug.

I found one I thought I liked, ordered it and put it down.

I didn’t even take pictures of it because I knew the minute I rolled it out it was all wrong!

Do you ever have one of those “design choices” that you get all done, stand back and go ICK!?

Yeah…that was my reaction to this rug!

It is a beautiful rug. And with 3 cats and 2 dogs, and a slew of granddoggies, I love the fact that I can pick it up and throw it in the washing machine.

But it just didn’t work.

The problem was the color…the rug is what I call a “cool” color and everything in my living room is “warm.”

I don’t have a problem mixing “cool” and “warm” decor….if it is done right.

But this just wasn’t right. All this rug did was make my couch look dingy and dirty…and it is not either.

Sooooooo…..what to do, what to do?

First, I do what I always do…I let it be for awhile. I live with it.

A few weeks later…I still dislike it immensely.

I couldn’t send it back because I had “let it be” for a few months and by then…well, life. Rolled it up, tore the bed apart and put it down in my bedroom.

I’m not swooning over it but I’m not growling at it every time I walk through the room… (yes, it looks lavender…but it is actually kind of a taupy/grey/blue kinda color…which makes it appear lavender)

So now I had to find a new living room rug…OH MY GOSH!!!! I can do a lot of things but choose a rug is not something I do well.

I went to 6 different stores…found a few I loved but not enough to justify the price. I know me…in a year I will tire of it and I will want something different. Rugs and pillows are something that is easy to change so I try to keep the cost on those in the reasonable range.

A $3000 rug in a house full of critters and traffic is probably not reasonable.

Finally settled on a new rug…