P-U

When we got rid of our gargantuan coffee table and replaced it with . . . nothing (more room for children to play! less temptation to have snacks within arm's reach!) that left me with quite a bit of homeless stuff. Stuff like: notecards and stamps, pens and checkbooks, chapsticks and nail buffers. What to do?

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few decorative storage boxes to slide underneath an end table. I found some really cute ones, on sale, that look like an aged, rubbed dark brown leather/suede.

In fact, I think they're covered with real leather.

That maybe came from a dead skunk. Like, roadkill dead.

Because, in the olfactory quiet of my own home, these boxes stink. And they're getting worse with age (I've had them for a couple of months, now).

Have any of you ever run into a household item that reeks when it shouldn't and can't be submerged in hot, soapy water?

Do you have any advice for me?

We're reevaluating our budget right now, in light of our unexpected new car payment (gulp) so I'm thinking that "buy new boxes!" isn't going to be the solution.