Sandra, a friend of mine in NY City used the bed surface when he started sorting the contents of his large bedroom closet, and I think he has slept on the sofa in the living room for a quite a while since he hasn't finished that job.

Charmion, I would have a difficult time letting bookshelves leave the house. There are so many things (that clutter we speak of daily) that can live on shelves when books aren't present. (Of course at my house, both happens - books at the back of the shelf and small interesting objects positioned on the front edge - a great way to insure that you will rarely dust for having to move all of the small objects.) I did manage to donate a DVD/book case recently, but no small objects could rest on that and it wasn't terribly stable for larger things.

I haven't made pancakes in ages but last week I found buttermilk on sale so this morning made a full-sized batch (enough to feed me and both kids when they were big). The cakes I ate were probably half of the day's calorie allowance, but they were good! I'll wrap the rest in plastic two at a time and freeze them for future meals. These are very thin and flexible, Scandinavian style like I grew up with, much like crepes, so sometimes a smear of jelly or sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and rolled they make a great lunch or dessert. (I am not fond of restaurant pancakes because they're stiff and thick and dry.)

Another cold overcast day here. I hear the postal carrier on the porch (confirmed by the barking blue heeler, who has him on her radar six days a week) so I may make a trip to the attic with the new lights even though it'll be cold up there. Gotta love how fast Amazon is - you can have an impulse and act on it soon enough with their next day delivery that there is follow-through on some of these ideas.