Decorating Trauma

We have finally gotten down to the floor in the living room redo, and I have to say that I love the rug. We shopped around quite a bit, because on rainy cold days, shopping is a great activity. Or should I say WINDOW shopping. We did alot of it, and finally ended up with a beautiful wool oriental rug that complements the living room and truly looks lovely. I only have one question. Why is it that as soon as you install some type of new flooring, someone barfs on it? The culprit this time was Bailey. He is not normally a hurler, but on the evening we brought home the carpet and laid it down, carefully measuring the placement in the living room and making sure that all furniture was carefully arranged for maximum beauty, he had eaten a new electronic blinking light. As I was sitting in the chair in the living room and peacefully looking around and taking in all the ambiance I had so carefully arranged, I heard a chewing sound that wasn't quite right. It was more of a cracking kind of sound, as if someone were opening walnuts with a metal nutcracker. But Jerry was directly in my sight, diligently typing away at the computer. The sound was coming from next to me - that's right, Bailey was lounging on the recliner chomping away at the new clip-on flashing light that Jerry had purchased for both dogs to protect them in the darkness. This way they could be seen in the dark. Except of course if you eat the blinking light. After I took away the small plastic pieces from Bailey's mouth and off the chair, I threw the whole thing out thinking "close call-he could have choked on that". When I returned to my seat, I looked down and saw that Bailey had barfed up the whole clot of plastic that he had eaten,and anything else that happened to be in his stomach. A big pile of barf on the new rug. It was on the floor for approximately 34 minutes. The rug I mean, not the barf. It nearly broke my heart, but Jerry was quick with a barf pick-up strategy that he had clearly used in the past. He was swiping it all into a plastic bag (thank God for Paper or Plastic? We always go for plastic) and removing it. Bailey didn't bat an eye and returned to his seat on the recliner. All in all, it was a lovely evening, but I wonder; how do they KNOW that this is new and should be broken in immediately? I almost feel a little grateful because now I don't have to worry about it. The Damage is already done. I don't think I've ever had a new carpet or rug that someone didn't let 'er rip shortly after the installation was complete. When Jackie was a baby, she hurled onto her bedroom carpet before the installer had left the room. Almost got him on the back with projectile vomiting. That time I was lucky enough to have a professional letting me know the best way to clean a carpet. When I got my van when Allison was a baby, we were driving home from the car dealer and I was hit in the back of the head with projectile vomiting. The scent of apple juice was forever lingering in that car-especially on a hot summer day when you opened the car. It kind of hit you in the face. Well, what can we say? The guest room is next in the flooring department. I think I'll keep the door closed unless we have a guest. And if you're a guest coming to stay? Don't feel bad if something happens. Apparently we're on a roll.