When we moved into our house several years ago, we were less than thrilled with the cream colored carpet that the previous owners had installed. At the time, my kids were  both under age 4, so you can imagine how many spills we were cleaning up daily. I don’t know if the carpets were stain resistant, but they sure didn’t seem like it and it was driving me batty. Now, years later, I’m learning about Mohawk SmartStrand Carpet, and my entire view on carpet has changed!

Most other carpets have stain and soil treatments that are applied topically to the fiber. Over time, due to natural wear and tear, the topically applied stain and soil treatment wears off.  SmartStrand carpet by Mohawk is totally different. It has permanent stain and soil resistance that will never wear off. Yes, NEVER! That's because the stain protection is built into the SmartStrand carpet strands, and Mohawk is the world’s largest flooring manufacturer so you know it's a brand you can trust.

This past weekend, I had the chance to meet Chip Wade from Better TV and the rest of the License to Spill team.  As soon as I heard they were stopping in  Philadelphia’s famous Italian Market, I knew it was going to be fun.  The Italian Market is famous for it's food, but it's also filled with such a great energy.  

I love the idea of the License to Spill Tour because it allowed us to have a little fun with carpet. This tour is travelling around the U.S.  to different food festivals and events where they're combining some of the messiest foods with some of the best carpet. Chip Wade, from Better TV and the rest of the team show how easy it is to clean SmartStrand carpet. Even tough stains, like ketchup, red Kool-Aid, and red wine will clean out easily with a dish rag, some warm water, and mild detergent, like dish soap. 

The most interesting thing I learned about Mohawk SmartStrand carpet is that it's like a very high thread count bedding set.  You know how easy it is to tell the difference between cheap sheets and really nice sheets? The same with carpet. This carpet is made with so many fibers that it makes it very soft and I could really tell the difference.

You can't go to the Italian Market and not focus on food, it's just impossible! While I was there, I had the chance to watch Chef Peter McAndrews, of Paesanos restaurant, make traditional Italian sandwiches and Gus of Isgro Pasticceria serve up his famous cannolis a the License to Spill booth. Yum, yum, yum!

Everyone, including kids, had a chance to test out this stain resistant carpeting. We squirted it with red wine, soy sauce and some other messy things.  It was pretty gross.

Here you can see a piece of SmartStrand Carpet get completely stained.

See, the stains literally rinse right out. I don't know about you, but it makes me want to get Mohawk SmartStand carpet!  If you want to check it out, be sure to head over to the Mohawk Flooring website, where you can enter to win your own 6’ X 9’ SmartStrand Silk bound carpet rug.  

A good friend told me about this Raspberry Bar Recipe over a year ago and I've recently been craving it again.  It's only semi-homemade, but, if you're looking for a quick and easy sweet summer recipe to make with the kids, this is it!

Continue here to read:

Easy Raspberry Bar Recipe You Can Make With Your Kids

1) Paint with Water Balloons - My kids and I have used balloons for painting and the results were absolutely beautiful. Our balloons were filled with air, but Megan from Littlest Bird Studio decided to use water balloons too. She said "The water added weight and movement to the balloons and were really fun to squish around!"

5 More Water Balloon Games 

Finally, here's a little Water Balloon Trivia for you from the Guiness World Records:

The largest water balloon fight consisted of 8,957 participants and was achieved by Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, on August 2011.

175,141 water balloons were used during the fight.

Can you imagine that? Do you have any favorite water balloon games?