Why I Don't Want a New Bathmat Anytime Soon!

So about three years ago, we put the house on the market. While we were getting the house ready, we had someone come in and give us pointers on what to do to make it more sale-able. Turns out, she did such a great job that we fell in love with the house again and ended up taking it off the market. Well, one of the things she did suggest was to get all new towels, rugs and shower curtains for the bathrooms. All bright white.

Now, three years later, we still have the same towels and bathmats and such. And they are still nice and bright white, because every time I wash them, I bleach the heck out of them. It's the only way to get them clean! Unfortunately, all that bleach has taken a heavy toll on our poor bathmats...they are starting to get quite a few holes in them.

Bleach!

That's a lovely look!

Now normally, at this point, I'd be out looking for new mats. Actually, I probably should have been looking for new mats a year ago, but CLG was still in the process of finishing up potty training, so I figured I should wait. What's the sense of getting new mats when you're potty training, right!?! But that's all done and over with, and obviously, the holes are starting to take over. And then last night I walked in on this:

Can you tell what that is? Besides a smear of dirt?

How's that one...can you see two of them now on the left hand side of the mat?

Well, they may not show up very clearly in the pictures, but they do show up quite beautifully on my bright white mats. Two footprints...made out of dirt...that used to be on CLB's feet. He came back from baseball practice and took a shower. His feet were so dirty that when he stepped on the mat, he left the footprints. Now I am preeety sure that he was wearing shoes when he left for practice, so I am a bit mystified as to how he had enough dirt on his feet  to leave these prints. But, all things considered? I think we're going to postpone the search for new bathmats until after baseball has ended. I think I would just cry if I saw this on brand new mats! Heck, I should probably wait until after the summer, though, right!?! If this is what the mats look like when he wears shoes, who knows what barefooting it all summer will do to them!