Slizzy is in the doghouse

My entire apartment has wood floors except for a little cream colored area rug next to my bed. I'm just about to give up on the rug completely and this is why:

Hairballs.

It seems that this innocent light colored rug is somewhat of a hairball magnet. And even though I took it to the laundromat just yesterday (because of a previous hairball incident) when I came home from work today it had again been attacked by an oozy pile of hair, food and slime.

Of all the places the cat can puke, why does she have to do it right on the cream rug??