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Letter to the editor

Home Front: Before you toss it, give recycling a try

By Judy Stark, Times home and garden editor
Published December 29, 2007

Here's your bible for a "green" 2008: Don't Throw It Out: Recycle, Renew, and Reuse to Make Things Last, by Lori Baird and the editors of Yankee magazine (Rodale, $17.95). More than 1,000 ways to maximize the value of everything from fishing reels to furniture, linens to earrings. Learn to get more power out of batteries, keep the squirrels away from your barbecue grill, use fabric scraps, get new life out of an old leather jacket.

Get in the groove as you clear clutter

After Christmas, lots of people get the throw-it-out, let's-get-organized bug. You need a little music on the iPod to soundtrack those efforts. Closet Maid, makers of organizing products for closets, offers this playlist: A Change Would Do You Good, by Sheryl Crow; Get It Together, by the Beastie Boys; Throw It All Away, by Brandi Carlile; Irreplaceable, by Beyonce; and Should I Stay or Should I Go, by the Clash. Now get busy.

You could be living a dream by spring

At 9 p.m. Tuesday, tune to HGTV for a preview of the 2008 Dream Home Giveaway. This year's house - 3,500 square feet - is in Islamorada, in the Keys. See more at Dream Home Central at www.hgtv.com, where you can read a blog and post comments. You can also enter the sweepstakes to win the house, a GMC Yukon Hybrid and more (value: $2.2-million) starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday through Feb.19. The winner will be announced during a live TV special March 16. If you're going to be in the Keys, you can tour the house Thursday through March 2; visit fkcs.org/hgtv.cfm for details.

A perfect test for your new HDTV

At 11 a.m. Tuesday (oh, good, we can all sleep late), watch the Tournament of Roses parade on HGTV, broadcast from Pasadena, Calif. This year's grand marshal is the bam man himself, chef Emeril Lagasse. The tournament started in 1890 with a parade of bicycles and flower-bedecked carriages, followed by foot races, polo matches and tugs-of-war, to promote Southern California's balmy climate. We're pretty happy with ours here, thanks.

[Last modified December 27, 2007, 16:47:01]