Oh ya, oh ya! Spring is here! I got my new Spring kitchen mats with the flowers.  Speaking of flowers, with flowers beginning to bloom and things coming back to life a smidge, comes the (for me) inevitable allergies. So armed with my navel sprays, cough drops and a horse-sized amount of antihistamines; I prepare for my days.  Allergies are a cruel mistress, you see as George Carlin once said “…almost being sick is worse the actually being sick.”  Allergies have all the tell-tale characteristics of your average flu; cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, headaches and confusion and just general malaise. Yet for all that…you’re not “really” sick. It is some limbo between staying home and cuddling up to your body pillow as you watch season after season of your favorite mindless trash tv shows, and being at work and being productive.

Thanks, to the almighty Zeus for acetaminophen, Pseudo epinephrine, and menthol for giving me the strength and wind in my lungs to survive yet another Spring.  If not for that, I would definitely be posted up in a corner somewhere, nested in my body pillow and wearing a sinus mask and eye mask; yes both at the same time!  I become somewhat of a pre-Madonna when I don’t feel well, as do most people I know. So when comfortable things are close or readily available I double up!

I certainly plan on bunkering down once I wipe my feet on my door mats and arrive home tonight. Sinking into the couch,  and drown my sorrows in antihistamines till that sweet, sweet relief of sleep washes me over once more and I drift – nay, plummet into that land of nod.

Now that Spring is practically upon us, I find myself taking several trips down the ‘ol memory lane. In my much younger years I would visit with my family in Minnesota, with my grandfather particularly. He being the archetype ‘50’s man’s man; we would build everything with his hands. He worked at the local beer manufacture called Hamm’s Beer Company. If you are from anywhere east of the Mississippi river you may have heard of it. He also had a small hunting cabin in South Dakota. Visiting this cabin was always my favorite. It was something that he and I would do together, just the boys in the woods…with guns.

I vividly remember the location, the smells, the way the light hit the trees and the cabin. It was truly beautiful. We would spend hours walking in the woods and looking for any game in the area. Even though we never really found much in the times that we went, it was always a great time. It seemed to be more about just getting away and being out in the middle of nowhere. It was as if we simply used the excuse to go hunting as the reason to be there. The cabin however was always my favorite part. It was so cliché and seemingly typical of a “hunting cabin”. It was a log cabin…literally; my grandfather had built it in the 1930’s with his father, and had been used in our family since, even still today. The fire place was stone, and the walls were laden with trophies of he and his fathers’ conquests over the years.

Near each and every door, from inside to outside you would find wildlife rugs of some sort. There was a great variety of them, from entry mats donning Malards, or door mats with Wolves and Deer. It was as if they had collected them over the years to don the cabin with Bears and Turkeys and any other kind of imaginable wildlife scene mats. I always felt that it fit to the cabin and every time that I see an indoor mat with a nature scene it makes me think of that cabin and the Springs that I spent in the wild Dakotas.

After the New Year’s festivities this last week, I would highly recommend to you as I have to my friends; to invest in new door mats! Needless to say, I most certainly drank far too much on New Year’s, as I’m sure many of us did. Due to my competitive nature, and my fellow New Year’s Eve-ers playing the oh-so fun game of Wizard (Definitely look that one up); I eventually found myself in a peculiar and somewhat uncomfortable situation later in the evening. Namely I found myself passed out on my friends welcome mats.

Now this front door mat was by far not the most comfortable or supportive of entry mats. Though seeing as though I was semi-conscious at the time this fact did not reveal itself to me till the early hours of the morning. Now I know what you’re thinking, these are not made for that. Indeed, home doormats are made for the effective wiping of feet and overall upkeep and cleanliness of the home; agreed. However, I love things that are multi-purposed and if only my dear friends would have found some time to update their door mat to a more “accommodating” mat perhaps I would have woken slightly more refreshed and rejuvenated…still confused of course, but rested perhaps.

Needless to say the Wizard (yours truly) will be updating my own outdoor doormats at home in preparation for another such evening. Fore anything can be a resting place for a wary Wizard and every mat needs a home. So the time for updating those mats is at hands everyone. Trust me your neighborhood wizards will certainly thank you.

As we are fast approaching the almighty holiday that is Halloween, I’m sure we have all given thought; if not preparation to our Halloween costumes.  We have spent extended periods of time in our local stores perusing the candy isle, and if you’re like me perhaps taking home some samples as well.  But have you given any thought to your outdoor mats?  Your front home doormat will be getting plenty of traffic this coming week. 

Hordes of goblins, zombies, vamps, and ghouls.  All on the hunt for candy and treats, tricking and treating up and down the block and all over your door mats.  Whether you need a new mat now in preparation or another just in case, we have a massive selection to choose from.   Entry Door Mats so durable that they could thwart off an army of the undead…and look good doing it.  3D Impressions Home Door Mats that would distract those pesky zombies long enough for you to run and hide or if you’re brave, a Rubber Door Mat Weave.  You can load up the weave with garlic to ward off those sneaky vampires, and then simply hose it off good as new once the sun rises.

No matter your foe, or your holiday needs; we’ve got it.  So to all those out there in the deep dark night this Halloween; have fun, be safe and Happy Holidays!

We’re now entering our 8^th month of summer here in So Cal.  You Easterners probably think we’re spoiled, complaining about the perfect weather, but too much of a good thing… Plus, not having regular rain really makes us unprepared.  I’m not even going to discuss the fact that people out here suddenly become crippled when it comes to driving in the rain.  

I exaggerate, of course, but it’s so perfect all the time that I’m not properly prepared when it does rain.  I don’t own an umbrella.  I seriously lack proper footwear.  Thank goodness I have proper entrance mats to clean off all the gook my shoes collect!  I have hardwood floor, so cleaning up is no problem.  But, I HAVE HARDWOOD FLOORS!!  Water and ick can’t possibly be good for it.  The grains are starting to look a little darker next to my doors.

 I had a customer call me the other day who was from Georgia.  She said her door mats get so saturated with water, they are useless.  She wanted something that would help keep moisture and dirt off her floors, but didn’t have to be hung to dry every day.  I suggested our Sponge Mat, which got me thinking about my own house.  They look pretty nice and actually trap up to a gallon and a half of water per square yard!  

The other thing I love about indoor entrance floor mats, well this one, is the grippers on the back.  I already have a problem with my furniture slipping and sliding, and it’s heavy!  I think I’m going to get matching indoor entrance mats for my front and back door, which has a dog door on it and leads into my laundry room.  My dogs coming in and out all day is really taking its toll on my tile.  I would think since the “channels” in the Sponge Mat can trap water, it stands to reason they can trap dirt and hair and dust (instead of my grout!).  If I had it my way I’d have my whole house optimized in MatsMatsMats.com stuff.

Allow myself to introduce…myself.  I’m Stag, the most recent addition to the ‘matstastic’ world of MatsMatsMats.com.  Over the last few weeks I have been introduced and educated on the very wide variety of playground mats, yoga mats, entrance mats and all kinds of mats and other products that we have to offer.  As I learn more and more about our wonderful products I find myself in an almost hyper-vigilant state of awareness.  Almost everywhere I go I find some type of door mats or an exercise mat that we offer.
Simply visiting restaurants and markets, and walking over the entrance mats; taking a second glance downward and thinking, “Hmmm, that looks like a Stayput Gripper Indoor Entry Mat”.  Or realizing that the playgrounds that I visited as a child were covered with Interlocking Rubber Floor Tiles EPDM Playground Surface Tiles.  The more that I learn our products the more I see them everywhere I frequent.  I quite literally see mats everywhere!
So as the weeks and month progress I look forward to brining you more of my experiences, insights and folly’s.  Till then fellow travelers.

Rain… Door mats…The smell of wet earth and asphalt beneath our feet.  The subtle scents of maple embers gently burning upon open fires everywhere.  The deep green hues of hill sides on the horizon brought back to life by the life inducing breath of fresh precipitation.  I can really start to see, hear, and smell it all around me this time of year.  You say you don’t?  Then you must be in southern California; where Summer is perpetual and the middle finger is the universal commuter greeting.  Tragic for someone as in love with cold, gloomy weather as I am… Luckily, the last couple of days have been quite autumn-esque with the aforementioned delights.  By far, Autumn weather is THE sexiest weather of all.  Sure.  Some of you beach bodies out there relish in the supposed delights of SoCal summer with its warm breezes, hot sun, hot women, and the perpetual, mostly-infernally hot air.  

Not me, though. Give me some rain, some scotch, and a fireplace for me and my sweetheart to re-enact our late night Best-of-80′s-R&B infomercials. You know the ones.  Fire place, aqua-net hair, cheap wine for the lady, tacky sweaters, and that awesome, and I mean AWESOME, Scenic Wildlife Rugs designed by Eddie LeRoy and the Hautman Brothers!

What better way to channel my inner romantic than to proudly display A PACK OF WOLVES (yes that’s right, freakin WOLVES! when inviting the misses for a fire side ‘chat’.  Did I mention WOLVES! ON MY FLOOR! YES!!!!  Or perhaps you’re more of a buck?  Fret not, dear friend. Woo her untamable spirit with the Eddie LeRoy Elk design.  Perhaps you’re neither of those, however.  Maybe what you need is the immovable fixation of the FOCUSED COUGAR (yes, that’s a real mat!!) Shine like the solitary beast you are!  If none of those tickle yours or her fancy, we’ve got bears, more wolves on the move, spring turkeys.  Did I mention we’ve got a MAJESTIC TIGER! YOU CAN’T BE A MAHOGONY FURNITURE-OWNING MAN WIHTOUT ONE!  Turn up the Luther Vandross or Michael McDonald and get on that mother.  The home rug, I mean.

Writer’s block is a serious, serious thing.  Luckily, I’m not a writer so the awesome spew of thoughts that I get to share with you is pure, raw, and unadulterated by ‘artistic’ inclinations (see SARCASM).  Also, blogging is not something I technically consider ‘writing’.  I find it to be a socially acceptable form of brain dropping (see JAB AT SELF).  But what is the true poet to do?  One who sees with the eyes of the soul and wants nothing but to be pure of heart and expression.  What do the future Jack Kerouacs or Charles Bukowskis do in a world where a poorly written script for a movie can get your flatulent roommate a $250,000 paycheck (see BATTLESHIP)?  The textbook answer is (obviously) hone your craft, travel, take risks, share your work and be receptive (but not subject) to the criticism of your peers.  For most writing folk I know, the REAL answer it seems (and I cite previously mentioned writers as keen examples) is to indulge in the vice of the storytellers.  Nice try, but the answer is not Dave and Busters… it is A to the L to the C to the O to the H O L!  Warning!  Could also lead to waking up on random door mats (see COLLEGE).

It is a well known fact that excessive consumption of spirits, (also knows as “fire water” by the Native peoples of the Americas) during some of these literary “experiments”, that ‘accidents’ are known to happen (also see COLLEGE).  Certain ‘accidents’ require that you call a friend or roommate to help you flip the mattress over (see A FEW WEEKS AGO).  Is there an easier way?  Well, now, you can enhance your creativity (responsibly!!) and protect your nightly-used investment with one of our Premium Pillow and Mattress Protectors!  These will not prevent irresponsible behavior (I personally enjoy a fine whiskey on Saturday night by the fireplace with my misses and cat) but it will certainly make some of the less serious consequences of your spirit-fueled literary legacy (see Kristen Stewart as Marylou in upcoming adaptation of ON THE ROAD) much more practical and your mattress and those you share it with, will thank you for it! 

Enjoy your Friday evening, everyone!  If you do wake up on random doormats, hopefully it is one of your kitchen floor mats or indoor entrance mats and not a strangers.  Drink responsibly!

BG