Two Words (OK, maybe only one)

Space Bag. Or maybe it's Spacebag. Not totally sure and honestly it doesn't matter.

If you know me you know I spread the word when I find an awesome product. I'm thinking Birkenstocks (most comfortable shoe in the world), King of Sponge (most awesome cleaning product in the world and unfortunately only available in Japan in select locations), microfiber cleaning cloths (especially the one that does windows - you can do your windows using only water and avoid the expense and toxicity of Windex and they clean so much better). Now I have to add Space Bags to this list.

I don't put too much stock in most "as seen on TV" products but a few weeks ago I broke down and took my queen sized down comforter to the cleaners so I could put it away for the summer. After I dropped it off I was in Walmart for some yarn and saw space bags.

I have this really tiny house that has only two small closets plus one really really small corner closet. I have no place to store something like a down comforter. So I saw this Space Bag display and decided to give one a try.

Here is my queen size down comforter in a Space Bag with all the air sucked out:

Here's a side view:

The side view really doesn't do it justice. This thing is about 2" thick when it's spread out on the bed and although it is lumpy in the Space Bag it is folded over to be 6 layers (at least 12") and when I sucked the air out it's about 1/2" thick.

This is the "Jumbo" size bag. I could have done easily with a large or extra large. It fits easily into the top of my bedroom closet with plenty of storage space to spare.

On a totally unrelated topic Harvey (www.japannewbie.com) arrived Sunday afternoon and I put him on a plane to NC yesterday evening. He'll be back through for a night before flying back to Japan. It was a delight to meet him and he was just the perfect houseguest. I am sure he was bored silly but since he was also recovering from jetlag I hope he will forgive. There were plenty of good conversations and the best part was watching Twilight Samurai - a Japanese movie I have with subtitles. He pointed out a couple of places where the subtitle was not a correct interpretation of what was said. It was absolutely wonderful. When I came back from Japan I brought this ready-to-make thing that I just loved to eat there. It is kind of a cross between jello and yogurt or custard. Very light, not too sweet - in Japan I bought it with aloe chunks in it and it was delicious, especially on hot nights. I bought it because I recognized the picture on the front of the box but have not made it because I can't read the instructions. He translated it for me and so I hope to fix it soon!

On another unrelated note I have most of the stuff cleared off the porch in preparation for painting the floor tomorrow. I will have to get up really early to scrub it first since I can't use water outside after 10 am. I've brought boxes inside and put furniture out on the patio and have scraped up most of the peeling paint. I really dread this project but I know it will look so nice when it's finished and since I am now wireless it means I will have a really great outside place to work when I work from home!