Ahead of Her Time

I received a catalog in the mail recently that made me realize that my mother is a woman ahead of her time.

The catalog was for a company called Flor that does carpeting, but with a twist. I'm not sure how they got our name or address, because we are definitely NOT in the market for new carpeting. Or for any other home-improvement items at this juncture.

But if my mom had thought to patent the idea she came up with back when I was in the fourth grade... we might be rich today. Instead, I'm pretty sure Flor stole Mom's idea. (I'm just kidding. Any Flor representatives that might read this, please don't consider suing us for slander or defamation. You'd be sadly disappointed in what you'd get.)

Back in the day, I shared a room with my younger brother and we lived on Myrtle Beach A.F.B. I'm sure there was no agreeing as to what color our shared room should be. There weren't a lot of options for color anyway, because it was base housing, where all walls remain white. Until the second coming of Christ.

I remember my bedspread was a knitted flowery concoction (that I still have!) that my Oma made in pastel pink with a bit of pastel green. I'm positive those colors did not appeal to Chris at his tender age of six or seven.

My boys are that age now. The older one wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near pink. My younger one is in touch with his feminine side, though, and doesn't consider pink to be the carrier of cooties. Then again, he spent nine months in utero with a sister, so maybe that's why. We aren't at all concerned about his gender role recognition. Spend five minutes with him and you'd see why.

So, back to the dilemma my mother had in choosing a flooring option for my shared room.

She went to a local carpet supplier and asked them for all their color samples that were out of date. Each swatch was seamed at the edge. Then she got home and flipped those things over in no apparent attempt at color-coordination... and stuck them together with Duck tape. Until the whole shebang was large enough to cover the entire bedroom floor.

And that little carpeting creativity was free, by the way.

I know. She's brilliant.

I wish I had a picture. I can't recall specific colors or how well they blended (or didn't blend), but I do remember thinking it was WAY cool.

Then again, I'm not known for my fashion sense. And neither is my mom.

But who cares? It was free! And we kids were happy. And that IS cool.

Wish it would happen more often in our house.