What Ana Does

At the end of the summer, after working from home, with the kids, during a major kitchen renovation, managing work responsibilities, contractors, subcontractors, the dogs, making dinner, etc. I realized I was spending too much time at home. I had no social life, outside of what Dave set up. And nothing on the schedule that was for me, just me. Hermit life.  So I came up with a three point plan to get myself out of the house and meeting new people.  Point 1: Sign up for a class. My first thought was pottery, since there's a center in a beautiful, historic building so close to the house and the girls took a class there last summer. And I've always been interested in learning about throwing pottery, etc. And LO and BEHOLD there was ONE spot left in the Tuesday night class. A sign from the universe, for sure. So I signed up! (And it's been GREAT!!) I also want to sign up for a Spanish brush-up class, but the one I found was on the same night as pottery (bummer) so I'll wai...

It's starting! We have our first meeting with the contractor we used in the basement to talk about the KITCHEN remodel. That's right, it's time to tackle this crazy, dark kitchen!  One thing you need to know: Dave and I have been talking about a kitchen remodel for about 9 years. If you recall, the kitchen in our last house was OK, workable, but certainly nearing retirement. And we talked often about our wish list and what we'd do.  I had a pretty good layout in my head and have looked at hundreds of inspirational photos. So we're not walking in cold. If I'm being honest, I regret not tackling that kitchen in Illinois years ago. It had such potential and I carried that picture in my head for years, so it was sad to not see it get done. Though, I don't think we would have seen the return on investment, even in the crazy market. It would just been my satisfaction of knowing I gave that great house a great kitchen. But I digress.  This kitchen in our Modern Col...

You gotta have an end goal.  If I've learned one thing in the last decade of home improvement-ing, it's that having/holding that final vision is key to not giving up, not getting frustrated and moving forward.  Will you stick to the exact end goal vision? No way. But you gotta start with some end goal in mind.  For the basement, it took me a few weeks to finalize in my head how I'd want to use each area. What would be most useful for my family. How will we use it? What do we need? What do we have that we need to accommodate.  There's a lot of weird angles, and small areas I needed to work around, too. And I have growing girls, so, "teen hangout" came up a lot.  Well, here's the layout!  At the bottom of the stairs, you've got the pool table to one side, and the kitchenette in the play space/hallway room where guests get beer. Originally, this was where the TV was, but the space was too tight to fit a sofa across from it. So, the room will be storage an...

When Hurricane Ida rolled through, it dumped more rain then the gutters could handle, and therefore dumped rain into a window well and that dumped into our basement. So guess what?! I've got to come up with a plan for the basement ... years before I thought I'd need to. But, here where are. Thanks IDA :/ The basement is pretty chopped up, so let's start with the TV-watching area, as that's the most important to my family and where all of the damage took place.  And here's the plan: First, we need to move the 1,000 lb pool table that you can see peeking just around the corner. That's going into the former gym area where I painted the rainbow mural. It's extremely heavy and we're not sure how we're going to move it there.  So, there's that challenge.  Second, I should also mention that our basement was professionally dried and no mold or other nastiness is growing behind the walls. So rest assured. They were pretty sure water has gotten in through...

Now that the laundry room  and master bathroom have been made over and are looking lovely, they are no longer the ugliest rooms in the house. That honor now goes to ... the kid's bathroom! Take a bow! It's certainly on my "gut job" list, but, given the preteen slobs that currently use it, I don't think it's a wise investment. Maybe when Alice get to high school? But, I DO think I can throw $150 dollars in there in the meantime and upgrade the look at bit. We have family visiting at the end of December and using this bathroom, so I'd like it to look less like a catastrophe. Here's the current room -- I didn't even tidy it up. This is what it looks like in all it's glory. I think this filter is doing it A LOT of favors. It's pretty grubby. My issues are many (!) but, as I learned from the laundry room project , a new floor goes a very very long way. So that's what I'll start with. Given my tiny budget and DIY skills, I...

Now that demo is underway, here's the BIG plan for the room ... I've tried to keep most of the plumbing in the same place, which saves on cost and time. There are two pipes that need to move: the right sink and the bathtub. This doesn't show the closet, which is getting new paint, consistent flooring and LED lights. I created a budget, with price estimates on all the items that we need to purchase and a total. And I'm also keeping track of actual costs, and trying to keep under that estimate total. So far, I'm sticking to it. I splurged on a few things, like the sink faucets, but most things I got on sale or for a good price. The vanities were 50% off and the light fixtures were under $30/each! Fingers crossed we stay on time AND on budget.  Related links: Follow the whole Master Bathroom transformation

My one fear about returning to the States was we'd move back into our house, place all the furniture back where it was before and it would feel like we never left . Like the last 14 months never really happened. Nightmare. My Paris friends assured me that I was different -- we were all different now -- so no matter what, we'd feel different. But now that I'm back, I'm still anxious. So I have a plan. First, I'm going to move furniture around from different rooms. I'm also going to update the art in the frames and rearrange as much as I can. Almost like we're moving in again. Pull everything down and start over. Here's a good example: We've been talking about hanging the TV above the fireplace, but I'm not sold on the height. Will we crane our necks watching TV? And what happens with the blue wall and cabinets it was on? We're going to test it out. Also, I'll tackle a lot of my home improvement project lists. Small things like re...

There's nothing worse than scurrying around the house trying to pull all the necessary items together for a simple trip to the park or pool. So each summer I try to create some pre-packed totes that sit on a hook and are ready for walking out the door. This summer we're going to need a Pool Tote , a Tennis Tote and a Park Tote . Plus, a slightly-more jam-packed Mom Bag . Let's start with the Pool ... My Pool Tote - Minus the Towels Town Pool Tote This tote is the MOST important because we love the town pool. And, because we have a membership, we can wander in and stay however long we want. There's no pre-planning or spending "at least 4 hours to make it worth it." Here's the list of Pool Tote items, in priority: Goggles - two, of course Pool diving toys  Several large pool towels Spray sunscreen and a sunscreen stick for faces  A baseball hat to keep the sun off little faces   Magazine, this week it's Magnolia Journal Water bottle t...

Current status: Registering for summer camps, buying village pool passes and looking at possible road trip ideas. My view while pondering all this ... Our first significant snowfall since December. It's been a weird winter.

The media area in the basement has been an ongoing conversation. Projector TVs, reusing TVs from other parts of the house, surround sound, wall mounted screens -- all terms that have been bandied about as we plan that all-important part of the basement. After a trip to Best Buy and Ikea, we've eliminated the idea of the projector TV and are now considering wall-mounting the TV. And a piece of furniture is being moved for below the TV, whether it's hung or not, to locate all the media components. The electrician and cable guys were good enough to cover a few scenarios so we can try various different set-ups. Check this out! They added two outlets -- one up high for the mounted TV option and one low for the various gaming consoles, etc, that will be set up on the shelves. They also added this genius PVC pipe (can you see it?) that will get walled in and used to feed cords through the wall and up behind the TV. Giving us NO VISIBLE WIRES! BAM! Also in this picture not...

Just recording some BEFORE pictures of the basement, as it's going to get quite a transformation! These two images are from the wall looking back at the staircase in both directions. This view is going to be finished as one long room. The ping-pong table will move to the middle and the farthest wall will be the media area. Still trying to decide about flooring ... carpet? Laminate? This angle (below) shows the future location of the unfinished storage room (around that aqua-blue shelf), and the bedroom (far right area). So when the project is finished, this view will be walls and two doors. As you can tell, a lot of clean-up is still in progress. We're filling up a big dumpster bag in the garage and have recycled a LOT of cardboard boxes. And there's more to be trashed. Though, I can leave some stuff in the unfinished area, but I'm being careful to vet it before I decide to hang on to it. Related Posts:  The basement floor plans .

As previously posted , I had three very different trips in the last three weeks. And because I take such care (probably too much) in what I pack in my carry-on bag, I snapped pictures of the contents from all three of those trips just to see the differences. Nerdy Fun! Trip 1. Business Trip to Denver Denver Business Trip Trip Summary:  A business trip for a tech conference, and fortunately, time with my little sister who lives there.  Contents of My Carry-on: The usual hand sanitizer, Advil, sunblock, Altoids (for post-flight freshening-up), my miraculous S'well bottle (empty until I cross security), assorted snacks, a variety of reading material, sunglasses and my Cath Kidston bag that folds down to nothing.   Carry-On MVP: My Kindle; I finished "Places No One Knows" during the 2 hour flight. The headphones because I downloaded mellow white noise to have playing in the background while I read -- most soothing.  Carry-On Loser: That magazine went co...

Feeling super lucky right now, as I'm researching hotels for a trip to Madrid and Tenerife in the fall!! I guess I go to Europe once a year now. La di da!  Madrid has all these affordable boutique hotel apartments. With lots more space for a very similar price to a standard European shoebox hotel room. It can't be this good, right? And lots in Tenerife to be found, too. Though, we're opting to stay in Santa Cruz, so less in the mix. A Photo From Our Madrid Hostel The last time I was in Madrid was 2002 with my big sister. Like this trip, it was a quick stop over (just a few days) before getting to Tenerife where we have family. We were in our early 20s and stayed in a hostel near the Prado. I dug out the journal I kept on that trip and wrote a lot about the old-world charm of Madrid, the cobblestoned streets, old buildings, large plazas. And the food, of course. Though, I was less adventurous in those days. I was also impressed by how walkable the city was, so ...

We've been talking, at first jokingly and sometimes more seriously, about getting a second dog. I know, that sounds nuts because I wasn't altogether onboard for the first, but it's true. And oddly, I'm pushing for it. Here are my attempt at organizing my thoughts around this issue. Benny is a wonderful little dog. But he's scared of everything and doesn't seem very happy. I keep thinking a second dog would give him some companionship and challenge him to involve himself more. Maybe learn some play behaviors or commands. We all committed to having this dog, so getting Benny didn't fulfill all our preconceptions of actually getting a dog. If we're going to do it, let's do it 100%. We'd all love Dave to have a dog he can pal around with. Who won't run from the room when he enters it. He takes it personally that Benny is so frightened of him. This whole thing was his idea, he deserves to get the dog he wanted. The girls too were disappoin...

Despite being the dead of winter with lows in the negative numbers and even too cold for Benny to walk to the bus stop, it's the time to start planning our summer camp plans. The park district camp registration is on Feb. 6 and if you aren't registering that day, there's a chance you won't get the sessions and locations you want. The horror.  We asked the kids what they want to do this summer and Alice insists on being home all day (there never was a more committed homebody) and Leah would rather "go anywhere" but back of the park district camp they were all last year. Neither of these scenarios is even close to possible, but I appreciate their input. After the success of the botanic garden mini-camp they attended for over winter break, I decided to break up their summer and send them for a few weeks at one camp then the other, which should keep them on their toes and not stuck in camp monotony. And the sessions really work together and will provide a go...

The first draft of my basement master plan: Basement Sketch 1 The important thing is I'm outlining all the functions I want to see the basement used for: workout, storage, movie theater. If I can't finish the basement, I can surely move things around and make it more attractive and useful, right? Related links: See alllll the basement posts

Again we hosted Christmas with my family and again I was frustrated that we have a large space -- the basement -- that we couldn't/didn't really use. Sigh. In discussing plans to finish the basement, it became clear that we won't have the funds to do it in the next 6-8 months, at least. And maybe not at all this year. (It's a lot harder than you'd think to prioritize house projects/improvements.) But, I have to do something about it or this icky feeling of having a space in my house that I can't use will eat at me. So, I'm gathering my goals and figuring out some ways.  Goals Lego Land:  The girls use the basement as their Lego playroom. We've thrown Ikea tables and pieced together some rugs down there, along with some lights. I need to maintain that and maybe make it more comfortable. ( Note: the neighbors came by this weekend and moved a majority of legos back to their house, but I have a feeling they'll be back. )  The Home Gym:...

Alert! Alert! We're entering a transition month. Soccer and fall activities are ending. The days are shorter and colder. Winter coats are out, along with winter boots and all the hats/mittens/scarves I can find. And with all this change come a chance for me to gather goals for the winter months. - Wake up earlier. Leah is currently pulling me out of bed in the morning, being dressed and starving. It would help her out if I was actually getting out of bed myself. - Evening working outs. I did this once and now I'm not on the soccer field (being semi-active) three times a week, I need to find a weekly class or something to increase activity levels ... at a time of the year when I really just want to start hibernating. - Train the girls to do more stuff for themselves. Like picking up their after-school-snack wrappers. This should be subtitled, "I continue to nag my children" as that's what it feels like. - Back to weekly menu planning. Only one night a ...

Huge News!  We're heading back to Paris in just a few short weeks. Holy cow! The backstory: Dave was invited to a week-long meeting in Paris in September. Of course, I can't allow him to travel to my favorite city without me. Not that he'd even want to, we love traveling as a family. And we've been talking about taking the kids back to Paris -- as they were only 2 and 4-years-old the last time we were there. (Lucky I had to foresight to obtain new passports for them this summer.) So, we're heading back. Voila! Eight days in Paris then we're taking the train up to London for the weekend and heading home from there. I can't wait to show the girls the Louvre, the D'Orsay (where I once changed Alice's diapers on the front steps) and to see the Eiffel Tower! And they're going to LOVE the accents in London. And seeing the Tower, London Bridge, Big Ben ... oh, I'm spinning. The Louvre, a Bridge, and the Seine - Ah! Dave and I took a ...

And just like that ... school is over and the girls' day camp program is up and running. Suddenly, we're done with bus stops and homework, and thrown into packing swimsuits, sun screen, lunches and water bottles in a daily backpack. Soccer is also over for the season, which opens up our evenings and empties our weekends. So now I'm looking at a handful of weekends open for adventure. Of course I'm thinking about road trips, travel and house projects to take advantage of the three months of tolerable weather here. I'll make a list with the best intentions. But, as usual, we'll probably enter the Fall regretting all the hours we squandered in the house. But for now, let's be optimistic. It's summer! Related posts: More summer planning