I love vacation days!

Today was the first day of another 4-day weekend. I planned on sleeping all day to make up for lost time, but that didn't quite happen.

It all started last night. I was staring at our little Amish shelf that has S-Z of our DVD collection, along with the complete Seinfield and Friends series. I didn't like that the DVD's are exposed - feels like a college dorm room to me. I've been trying to figure out for a while how to organize our entertainment center better so that these DVD's can be hidden in there...and last night I finally figured it out!

First, I put all my Yankee tarts and votives in the yard sale box. A lot of money went into those, but I never burn them and they're just taking up space. The smell that came out of that drawer when I opened to clean it out made me feel like I was walking around in the huge Yankee store in Williamsburg, but I couldn't let that stop me from purging them. Poor candles.

Next I moved all of Dave's VHS tapes (I know, I know) from the bottom drawer to the drawer previously used for candles. I tried to get rid of some, but he was not interested and I gave up easily.

Now, the large bottom drawer was empty except for a few large jar candles that I can't part with. So, I moved all of the S-Z DVD's from the Amish shelf into the drawer and moved the Friends and Seinfeld seasons to our coffee table, which Ikea made with me and my DVD obsession in mind. It has 6 pockets that are the perfect size for DVD's and I have all of our complete TV series in there.

Note: If you're thinking I need an intervention, don't worry - now that we have Netflix streaming to our Xbox, we won't be buying TV seasons in the near future. Why buy when you can watch them for free. Suck it, OnDemand!

Once all that was straightened out, I tackled the main cabinet of the entertainment center. It had become a dumping ground of all things that need to be hidden when guests come over, along with Xbox accessories and games. I put the games in the big drawer with the DVD's and realized that not much else in that cabinet needed to be kept. To the yard sale pile with you!

Here are some after pictures. Once again, I forgot the befores. But trust me, you wouldn't want to see the before - it was pathetic and you'd ship me to rehab lickity split.

Newly organized entertainment center:




Ikea really is an enabler:


Side note: there is something wrong with my cute, pink camera. What's with the green stripe at the bottom of all the pictures? When I turn the flash off, the stripe turns yellow, but still there. It's always something :(

What an exciting night, huh? I could barely sleep, thinking about other things in the house I could organize with 4 whole days off!

Today, after not sleeping till noon as expected, I ran a few errands, had lunch with Dave, and ran some more errands.

When we got home, we cleaned up a little. Post-Christmas, our house always look like a tornado hit. It's awful. Actually, it's not just post-Christmas, but you know that already. :)

I finally cleaned my microwave while brownies were baking, and am convinced the Green Works will clean anything. Paint, baked on food, fingerprints on stainless steel...even the heating vent covers in the floor. Yeah, I clean those.

Once again, no before, but ask Bonnie what it looked like - I might not accurately describe the funk:




I also worked on putting my recent birthday and Christmas cards in scrapbooks. They're too cool to throw away, so I like to hang on to them. Plus, it helps with the next year's Christmas card list if new people sent us greetings!



Happy New Year's Eve! Be careful and stay warm! We'll be watching Tech win a bowl game.