Words and Memories are never forgotten

I must start this blog off on a very sad note. Back in Oct 2008 I wrote a rug blog titled, Slammed into a brick wall. It was about my step-dad having cancer. I am sad to say that he lost his battle on Dec 25/2008. Yeah! He died on Christmas day. He was with my mom and very content. He was holding her hand, telling her that he loved her and then closed his eyes. I don't have a lot of memories of my step-dad, but I know he loved me dearly and he made my mom very happy over the last 9 years. He is very loved and will be missed.
Now onto work:
I received a comment on one of my first blogs I did back in January 2008 about Rug Education. I forget about old area rug blogs because everyday I am thinking of what to write about next. The questions I received were: What is the best type of area rugs that will stand up to an active 7 year child and if I had any recommendations for online area rug stores.
The answer to what is the best type of area rug for children is a machine woven synthetic rug with either olefin or polypropylene fibers. They are very durable, resists most stains and spills and lasts for years. One of the only down sides to synthetic area rugs is that they are not heat resistant, so they shouldn't be placed near a fireplace or other heat sources. Make sure you can see the pattern or colour of the rug on the backside/underside of the area rug. Try to steer away from area rugs that say they are hand tufted, or have a fabric backing, as beautiful as they are they don't stand up to spills and lots of activity.
As for online stores, that is a little more tricky to answer. I, for one, don't do any online shopping, gasp! I know, so it is hard to give advice about something I don't know much about. A good site to check out for online recommendations is The Rug Rag, they are your Premier Destination for Information about Area Rugs. The Rug Rag guys can answer your questions and give you advice on the right area rug for you.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary

Talk to Impress

Today I would like to write about how powerful sharing knowledge is.
It is no secret to everyone who knows me that when I am passionate about something I will talk about it to Everyone. That is why you don't bring up hockey around me, especially after the Canucks played badly.
I just had a lovely couple drop off their 20+ year old Indu-Persian rug and we got talking about their other rug that is in our care. Their other rug is a Turkish Kilim that was loaned out to a family member and became breakfast, lunch and dinner for clothes moths.
I have been researching clothes moths since October 2007, so I now know a lot about them. I am still working on the article.
I mentioned to the couple about my clothes moth knowledge and they started asking questions. I shared my knowledge on clothes moths and gave them some tips on how to avoid getting them.
Since I am more than happy to share my knowledge, I will give you a snippet of my article today.

"A clothes moth’s life cycle begins as the female moth finds a warm, dark, and undisturbed food source to lay her eggs in. The eggs are a translucent white and are attached to the wool fiber so that they will survive any movement that may occur.
The female clothes moth may lay up to 50 eggs over a couple of weeks, after which she dies. Whereas the male clothes moth will continue to breed for about a month and then he dies.
The eggs will hatch within two weeks, depending on environment temperature. The larvae are white and maggot like. The larvae are what eat away at your rug. As soon as they hatch they start to feed on your wool area rug. The larvae do not drink liquid and therefore prefer wool that is soiled because it contains the essential vitamins and minerals it needs to survive.
The length of the larvae stage greatly depends on the abundance of food and environment temperature; anywhere from 30 days to 18 months. When it is ready to pupate it makes a hard cocoon and depending, again, on environment temperature pupation may last one to four weeks. The adult clothes moth emerges and the life cycle begins anew." Copyright Luv-A-Rug.

One of the most interesting things I discovered was that pregnant female clothes moths does not fly. The down side to researching clothes moths is that it makes you, for lack of a better adjective, grossed out. I wanted to clean every inch of my apartment and did a pretty good job of it. I do not own anything made of wool so there was no need for me to clean everything, but because I am obsessive by nature-I cleaned. T.M.I., I am sorry.
I know that because I care about the work I do and about area rugs, clients will return to get their rugs cleaned by Luv-A-Rug. Working in the Customer Service industry for 15 years I can tell who likes their job, who does just the basics and who would rather be anywhere but where they are. I did not like my last job the last two years I was there, but when I told my regular customers I was leaving they were surprised. I often heard, "Why are you leaving, you seem so happy." No I wasn't happy at all, but I didn't let the people I waited on every day know that. It wasn't their fault that I didn't have the courage to get another job or that every day I wanted to quit.
With the job I have now there are so many different facets that I can always find something to be passionate about.
Just think how much happier we all would be if we found one thing about our jobs to be passionate about. People who own area rugs usually only know that they like their area rug or it fit their need for an area rug. They appreciate any information about their area rugs, even if all you can tell them is that it is a wool tufted area rug or a synthetic area rug. I like to tell my clients as much as I can about their area rugs, if they want to hear it. It makes me and the company be creditable and therefore successful.
Let's all be passionate, successful, happy people.
Until next time, RugloverMary. ( I need a better sign off line.)