As the clock hits midnight tonight, make sure your guests know which glass is there glass.   Simply hook paint chip tags (these were cut out into circle) to the stem of the glass.    Have the guests write their names on each ID tag and know they’ll know.   A simple and easy way to personalize your night of fun and recycle those old paint chips!

I visited my local IKEA store recently to pickup a storage bin for the craft room.   The funny thing about Ikea is that you can never really just go in there to buy just one thing: the store is always changing and full of new and interesting things to distract you.

Case in point, the above saucepan.   Cast iron.  Wood handle.   Flame color.   Made in France.   $29.99.      It is suspiciously familiar to the fancy Le Crueset pots and pans (that are about 4 times more expensive), but I can’t tell if the quality is any different.

Anyway, I—like a lot of folks—used to have non-stick pots and pans until the whole Teflon warning scared the beJesus out of me.   So I’ve been cooking everything in cast iron and was so happy to see Ikea selling these.    It’s affordable and green and quite stylish.

As I looked around the store, I also picked up (4) unbleached cotton standard size pillow covers for 99 cents each.   They’re beige.   And I know, I’ve gone on the record against beige sheets.  But there was something very pure, simple and clean about these, that I had to buy four.   And for less than four bucks, you can’t go wrong.

Onto some discoveries at Ikea:

Here they are identifying light fixtures that can accomodate a compact fluorescent lightbulb.   Now all you have to do is look for this hang tag; the wood veneer strip on this light conceals it, so the harsh white light isn’t so…well….harsh and white.

At checkout, there’s a whole recycling center where they collect used lightbulbs, batteries, paper and the basic plastic/aluminum.    Yes, I peeked inside each one and they are quite full of recyclables.   I was surprised about the batteries… wasn’t sure if they only took rechargeable batteries, any batteries, just Ikea brand batteries…  anyone know for sure?

I did end up buying my storage bin, 2 wine glasses (for a project), the cast iron pan and four pillow covers.   Instead of bagging the whole thing up, I just plopped it into the storage box and carried it out of the store.    Why did the checkout clerk seem perplexed that I didn’t want a bag for my storage box?   

Today on the CBS EARLY SHOW I shared some tips on recycling your holiday.  In case you missed how to recycle candy canes, old wreaths, Christmas lights and even cookie tins into new and functional things for your home, no worries.    You can watch it online:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/26/earlyshow/main2296947.shtml

HAPPY NEW YEAR!   Here’s to a green and wonderful 2007!

-Danny Seo

Now that the holiday lights are down, I found a new use for them to help bring in the New Year.

I’ve been using these eco-friendly LED lights: they use 1/10th of the energy of regular holiday lights and they don’t get warm.   So, since they’re cool to the touch and energy efficient, why not make my own private New Year’s Eve ball, just like the one in Times Square?

I used about 5 strings of lights here and just coiled the lights around and around on itself until I got a big ball.   On New Year’s eve, I’ll plug it in and hang it from the ceiling for my guests.   Who knows…maybe I’ll keep the lights just like this and use it all year round: place it in a bowl all light up.. hang it outside in the summertime…  so many ideas, so little time…

Tune in to CBS THE EARLY on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26th for easy and simple ways to recycle all your holiday cheer into new and exciting things.   There is a really clever idea for recycling holiday lights into a new year’s eve "times square" ball for your party.

Ring in the New Year!   

I’ll post a link to the video when it’s up in case ya miss it.