What Ana Does

This is our first kitchen renovation, we'd done bathrooms and basements before, and I'm learning a whole lot about how this is all done. Sure, I've learned a bunch from my HGTV shows, but it's obviously far from the real thing. 1. Put your plan up on the wall! As much as I like our contractor Bruce and the guys he brings in to do the jobs, he forgets a lot about the details of the OUR VISION. A perfect example: the plumbers had to come back and hide more plumbing because he forgot we're not having upper cabinets. Taking the advice of some Instagram home designers I follow, I tacked up the cabinet plan and other views on the wall of the kitchen. So I, or Bruce or anyone else around, can reference them.  We've pointed to them so many times in the last few weeks, they're super super important. You have to expect these guys are working on other jobs, so they don't have your plan memorized. This helps so much.  2. Be on sight as much as possible and check in...

I've always wanted my kids to be readers. Reading is transformative and has always been a part of my life, and I really wanted that for my girls. So, following common parenting practice, I read to them every night of their childhoods -- up until they were in to chapter books. And I loved it. It was ritual and sharing and the best part of some of my days.  But, once left to their own desires, they did not read. And it was frustrating to me because I followed the equation: read to kids = kids are readers. Ugh.  Following more parenting advice, I offered MONEY for completing books. Reading is not an "intrinsic" habit and therefore needs to be pushed along with "extrinsic" rewards. According to this parenting expert, this isn't a "bribe" but a "reward" for building a positive habit.  Bribes are done at the point of pain (eg. "if you're good for the next five minutes, I'll give you a chocolate treat") and don't lead to go...