I Broke My Lenten Promise...

Twice!

God was probably not very proud of me yesterday.

As I killed time perusing the aisles at Lowe's I stumbled across a great looking, reasonably priced, jute rug. Now several rooms in our home are in need of a rug, we're just waiting to come across the perfect one for each space...that and a windfall of money. Well, one of the aforementioned rooms that desperately needs a floor covering is Carl's "man room" or his "ESPN Room" as he named it. Just like the name suggests, the room is very casual, very sporty, very leather theater seating and flat panel-esque. This sturdy jute rug would fit in perfectly and it wasn't of a quality where I'd mind if the puppies wollered on it.

I dialed friend and interior designer Marianna to get her opinion. Shoot, she didn't have her phone with her. What should I do? I gave up shopping for Lent. Why the heck was I looking at rugs? What was I even doing at Lowe's? What am I, some sort of retail masochist?

The next thing I knew the rug was in my trunk and I was en route to our house. It all happened very quickly. The time period between Lowe's aisle 13 and my front door is all very hazy. I totally believe I was in a full on blackout.

Once inside my home I started getting a major case of the guilts. First, I wasn't even supposed to be shopping. Second, the rug was for Carl's room, shouldn't he at least get to see and vote on it before it's spread out on the ESPN room's floor? I mean he did agree to me redecorating every other room in the house to my liking and his only request was that he got one room - and here I am taking over his only room. How inconsiderate am I?

Two hours later the rug was back on the shelf at Lowe's. I bet Carl would be proud of me...if he even knew about it. The fact that the rug was way too small for the room made it a little easier to return.

Now I'm really not sure how this happened, but somehow during my return trip to the hardware Mecca, enough wood blinds for our master and guest bedrooms ended up in my trunk.