Jute Mat!

Last week Thursday Sis found a small rug online, available locally, and at a great price. She'd been looking for something to replace a larger, more formal Oriental number that occupied the spot directly under the dining room table for some time. Reasons?
1. The Oriental dominated the small dining room
2. It's intricate pattern was playing against the pattern on the dining room chairs
3. The Oriental was beginning to look out dated, and wasn't working well with her current direction in decor
4. And this is Key.... Now that there are dogs in the house, instead of just a cat, it's more difficult to keep things clean and odor free.

So she decided on a jute mat, 5x8, indoor/outdoor, muted earth tones with an understated pattern. She brought it home on Friday and we laid it under her dining set thinking we'd live with it there for a few days, see how it fit in the spot. Alternatively, we'd use it in the little side room that we've just finished painting.

That was Friday, on Sunday I looked across the room and noticed something strange under the table. It was worse than something strange, it was the contents of my dogs stomach, three times over. The likes of which I have never, ever seen. Bad.. REAL bad.

Needless to say, I rushed to clean it as best I could. We sprayed it with Fabreeze, used baking soda and water, left the fan on over it all night, and this morning, it didn't look bad, but smelled like some body stepped in something and tracked it ALL THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE. I took it out onto the front porch hoping to clear the air, but that was several hours ago and the odor still permeates every corner of place.

Sis was understanding and didn't get too excited. I on the other hand was so upset I could hardly sleep. Right before finally drifting off, I made up my mind to get up this morning and go see if I could find another mat just like it and replace it. Fortunately, with a sense of frustration and resolve, I managed to do just that, I only hope we can get the odor out of here by Christmas.