The one about the rugs

Have you ever gone in to Target to pick up a picture frame (or a loaf of bread) and come home with a pair of 5x7 rugs and the best intentions to sew them together with upholstery thread?

No?

What if I told you the rugs were on clearance for $60 a piece and were just what you had been looking for for your living room?  (Except for the whole having to sew them together thing).

What if it turned out that the existing living room rug was the perfect size at 9x12, and that the new rugs just don't add up?  (In case your math skills are poor, I will tell you: two 5x7 rugs do not combine to make one 9x12).

How about if I suggested that you turn on a dime and use them in the girls' room?  (The room that actually NEEDS a rug after getting this one and this one and then none at all?)  Would you be impressed by my quick smarts and my designery skills?  You would??  You are too kind.

And what would you think if  you rolled out the rugs one at a time, lifting each bed up with one hand like a super-strength momma saving her baby from the stealy jaws of a car (or some such danger), only to discover that the rugs were NOT THE SAME SIZE AT ALL?

Would you be mad?

No.  I bet you would be happy to roll them back up and repackage them and schlepp them back into your car and return them to Target.  You would do it with a smile.

And you would think twice about making such a heavy impulse purchase ever again.

Wouldn't you?


p.s. To avoid such tragedy, consider this strategy to prepare for serendipity.
p.p.s.  My husband has neither raised an eyebrow nor asked what the what.