What Ana Does

I've been looking around trying to pick a new sustainability project in my house. There's so much more I could do everywhere, but, at the same time, there's also only so much we can make fit into our lives. After a bit of pondering I came up with it ... my cleaning products! I've been trying to keep my cleaning products plant-based for the last few years, but through visitors or my own needs, harsh chemicals have tip-toed back in. We have a cleaning service that comes every other week, so our cleaning needs are really just touch-ups between their visits. Counters, bathrooms and glass cleaning really is the most important. And vacuuming. The service maintains the rest. So the cabinet under my sinks should be relatively sparse, but they are not. They are so not. So this weekend, I'm going to clean out each cabinet, moving the really toxic stuff into a garage cubby, for when dire needs present themselves. And all the random stuff (paint cans, for example) can m

I found this picture of a kitchen on Instagram and I've been staring at it like a crazy person. From  https://www.instagram.com/beckiowens/   This is a very similar layout as MY kitchen. And just LOOK at those dreamy open shelves! Ever since we changed the falling-off-the-wall cabinet to open shelves , I've been LOVING the look of it. And the way the counters, and that area of the kitchen, in fact, feels more open and airy. And I'm thinking GAH! what if we replaced ALL of the cabinets on this side of the kitchen to open shelving?! Budget wise, it would be small. Maybe $200, just a bit over. Not insane. And if we're renovating the kitchen at some point in the next year or two, it's the perfect opportunity to test if we want to try open shelves. Here's another one with ALLLL the dishes ... From Grit and Polish Dexter House Am I nuts? There seems to be two downsides with open shelving . And I've been thinking a lot about both. First,

I was talking to my brother-in-law over Christmas and I said "I've read so many books this year, maybe 80?!" And he was shocked. He couldn't imagine it. I was flattered by his amazement but then I kept thinking about the number. That's gotta be too high, right? So I went through my Kindle and Amazon account and tried to remember what I got out of the library. And, yeah, I overestimated by A LOT. Whoops. I blame my lower than average list on my eyes ... especially at night the words tend to jump when I'm reading. I finally got cheaters in August and was able to resume my usual reading rate. I read a lot more romance than usually. Most years it's a close 50-50 split, but there wasn't much new YA I got interested in. Also, I have no time for audiobooks like in past years, so that changes the list, as well. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn -- an old series that I'm now just picking up Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore -- cute!  Fix Her Up

How much does it worry you when you see cabinets separating from the wall? The cabinet next to the stove was about an inch off the wall at the top and secured and resting on the backsplash at the bottom. And we were freaked out. I removed anything too heavy out of the cabinet. And tried to find a place to re-secure it to the wall. But it was the backing of the cabinet that was separating from the cabinet, so not possible without taking it down, anyway. We were pretty sure one night while we were sound asleep the sound of it crashing to the floor would wake the whole house and likely result in a call to 911, as we'd be sure someone was trying to break in. Yikes. To avoid that nightmare (if maybe a little dramatic) scenario, Dave agreed to remove the cabinet from the wall so I could hang open shelves in its place. It was a pretty simply DIY project ... 1. Remove the old cabinet and assess the damage to the wall. In our case, it was minimal. As discussed, it was clearly not

2020 is that year you never think will arrive. Kinda like 2000 was. It was this far-off signpost and then all of a sudden it's here. 2019 was major.  We moved home from France, sad. We renovated a bunch of rooms -- including our bathroom but also our laundry room and home office. We adopted a puppy and learned that puppies are cute but way too much work. I got to see my entire family TWICE in one year, this is crazy unusual. We vacationed in Hawaii, which has been on our vacation list forever. I went back to full-time work, which I'm pretty jazzed about, too. And a lot of little goals were reached, as well. Looking forward to what we can accomplish in 2020!