Last week, we donated one of our couches to our church's youth room effort. It had definitely seen better days, and this is now it's fourth or fifth home in the form of free gifting. But it still had some comfortable years left in it, so off it went to a place where kids can be rough on the furniture without fear of ruining it. However, this left our other couch in danger of being massacred by our cats, who we still have not managed to completely train not to scratch the furniture. (One is pretty good about it, and the other one was put into our lives to teach us patience...)

Since their scratching post was also in sad disrepair, we planned on buying another one sometime before Christmas. And now that there was this lovely brown couch just sitting in the living room waiting to be violated by cat claws, the time-table moved up considerably. So we went and picked out a new, rather large, cat "skyscraper" as Jason calls it, and hauled it home - barely fitting in the back seat of our car.

The cats have taken to it instantly, and we have had nary a furniture scratch since we brought it home. And of course, the reduction of furniture in our living room inspired us to re-arrange both the living room and the dining room. We also have an Ikea $25 desk (very simple, nothing super sturdy) that has managed to become surplus. If you'd like it for free, please contact us.