Still a construction zone around the house.  My dining room table and chairs shrouded in plastic to protect it from the dust and debris from all the work.

Remember where the open kitchen cabinets were?   Gone.   New walls going with a gorgeous walnut Wilsonart laminate design.    Redid the electrical so I can install some gorgeous lights to illuminate what will ONE DAY be a great bar area in the house.

The new lights going in…….   the glass inserts are arriving separately.  Love the fact they Made in the USA!

Another new electrical addition next to the fridge where one more light will go.  This will be a small area where I can store baking equipment and have a place to put groceries when I’m loading them into the fridge or pantry….  It looks crazy messy now, but I’m starting to see it all come together.

1. When grocery shopping, if you change your mind about buying something and don’t feel like returning where you found it, still bring it to the checkout line with you.   Many people will leave unwanted items in places where they don’t belong—-like a box of cereal with paper goods.    Over time, misplaced items can get lost, damaged and expired, leading to food waste.   If you change your mind about an item, simply bring it to check out and hand it to the cashier; they have a system in place to reshelve items properly so nothing gets wasted.
2. Office paper recycling has become more common at the workplace and even in residential communities where large recycling bins can collect bags of old paper for recycling.    Old paper is recycled by shredding it, pulping it and make it into new paper products.    One way to help maximize paper recycling is to leave recyclable paper flat and not to crumple paper into balls.   Crumbling paper actually takes up significant space and can fill a recycling bin too quickly with air leading to inefficient paper recycling.
3. Donating food to your local food bank or soup kitchen is a great way to donate unexpired food from home to help others.  But keep in mind that just because it’s technically food, it doesn’t make it OK to donate anything and all.    Generally, canned food that is unlabeled or has any rust on it is not ok to donate and should be tossed away in the trash.  Plus, homemade food items, beverage mixes, and soda should also b be avoided.   The most wanted items include healthy foods like canned and boxed meals (think mac and cheese), pasta, rice, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, cooking oil and 100% fruit or vegetable juices that are canned, in plastic containers or boxed.
4. While many of us know plastic containers marked with a No. 1 or No. 2 symbol on the bottom means it is easily recyclable, be sure the container itself did not hold any poisonous or toxic substances.    Containers that held pesticides, conventional cleaning products and bleach need to be rinsed out thoroughly before recycling.  If in doubt, it is better to throw the container away with regular trash than to place the contaminated recyclable plastic into the recycling bin.
5. More than 75 million pounds of PVC plastic—from store gift cards—are thrown away every year into the trash.   While gift cards are convenient to give when you’re not sure what to buy someone (and thus, they can purchase things they NEED instead of receiving things they don’t need), they can be tough to recycle.   Your old gift cards are now recyclable thanks to EarthWorks, who recycles old gift cards and makes plastic sheeting from it which can be used to make new gift cards, ID cards, signs, hotel key cards, bookmarks, rulers and more.    To learn more how to recycle your gift cards through EarthWorks, visit www.earthworkssytem.com.

Happy Friday!  Here are 5 easy ways to go green from my syndicated column Do Just One Thing:

1. Generally, reusing things is one of the greenest things you can do that is simple and meaningful.   But when it comes to plastic disposable utensils like forks, knives and spoons, it’s best to use them once.    While it’s tempting to rinse a plastic utensil and reuse it, they really aren’t designed to be used more than once.   When you wash utensils, microscopic spaces are created that can harbor food particles that eventually will turn into bacterial growth.    So, if you must, use plastic utensils once but try to opt for reusable ones—like stainless steel—whenever possible.
2. Smart planning for your flower beds around the house can lead to significant water and time savings when caring for your gorgeous flowers.     According to National Geographic, consider “companion planting” by grouping certain plants together to help them mutually grow.       By planting taller, sun-loving plants in the back with shorter, shade-loving plants in front, they help each other thrive.   The taller plants block the sun’s rays and also help reduce evaporation of water on the shorter plants.   The symbiotic planting will help your flower beds thrive and almost grow all on their own.
3. Have a drawer full of mustard, ketchup, lemon juice or mayo condiment packets and not sure what to do with them?   Toss a few into the freezer and let them get ice cold.   The next time you need a small cold compress to soothe an insect bite, bee sting, or just to depuff the bags under your eyes, place the frozen packets right on top.    You can reuse them over and over again, too, as your quick homemade first aid remedy.
4. In warmer months, many of us will open windows in our home to flush out airborne toxins; it’s called cross ventilation and a breezy day will help naturally keep the indoor air quality of home cleaner.   But also think about your mini home-away-from-home: our car.   Set your car outside and open all the windows to flush out the odors and toxins building up in your car.   Remove floor mats and vacuum them well; leave them in the bright sun so the sun’s rays naturally deodorize them.   And Pop the trunk while you’re at it and declutter to lighten the load and improve your car’s MPGs.
5. Having outdoor lighting in your garden at night can create an enchanting paradise, but it can very unappealing to nocturnal creatures.    If possible opt for solar powered lanterns that cast a soft glow when the sun sets and will automatically turn off when the internal rechargeable battery is used up.    Or put your floor lights and outdoor lights on a timer to automatically turn off at a normal hour.   By keeping your yard as dark as possible, you’ll create an environment perfect for giving many wild animals as safe, comfortable and protected place to call home.

1. Even in an age of digital reading, printed books are still in-demand and can be donated if you’re ready to make room on your bookshelf at home.    The rule of thumb of donating books is this:  If the book is less than 2-3 years old from when it was published, donate it to your local library, who will re-sell the book at a fund-raiser to raise money for their valuable work.  If it’s older than that, donate it to a Salvation Army or Goodwill store, who will resell them in-store.   Either way you donate them, be sure to get a receipt for tax deduction purposes.
2. Beauty products can still be used well after they’ve been used up or expired in new and different ways.    A clean mascara brush, for example, can be used to scrub in between stones in jewelry or watch links to clean away dirt and debris.    Unwanted nail polish (perhaps a color not to your liking) can be used to “paint” the stems of wine glasses to give them personality and color.   And lipstick that broke can be melted in a microwave safe dish for :20 seconds and poured into a clean tin (think small mint tin) and applied to the lips with a brush or fingertips.
3. Here are some simple ways to reuse old nail polish at home:  Deep hues can be used to paint sets of keys different colors; think deep red for the front door, a purple for a rear door, etc.  Torn window screens can easily mended back together using clear nail polish; just apply, dry and let it set.  You can’t even see where you’ve applied the polish!   And trying to thread a needle can be challenging; make it easier by dipping the tip in nail polish to make it stiff and easy to sew with.
4. Look for new bio-plastic bottles hitting the marketplace made from sugar cane.   Sugar cane is grown on abandoned pasture land (so no deforestation), harvested and used to not only make plastic bottles, but to also power the factory to make them.   It uses up to 70% less energy than petroleum.   The new bio-plastic blended bottles (which can be found in products like Pantene shampoo) are also recyclable in traditional curbside recycling, too.
5. Who knew that those little cable boxes in our homes could be eating up more power than a new refrigerator or even air conditioning systems?    Since the cable boxes are on full-tilt power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, they can eat up a lot of power; combine DVR machines and non Energy Star rated TVs, and you’ve got a recipe for energy disaster.    The best solution is to turn it off: plug the TV and cable box into a power strip and power it down every night before bed.    Turn it back on in the morning (it only takes 45 seconds for the whole system to reboot) to cut down on energy savings by 1/3.

A little news:  We are in talks about possibly testing my own print magazine to come out this Fall.    So in order to test it, we had to do a little shoot in California with cover options that I thought I could share with you and help me pick a photo.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: he’s putting himself on the cover.   And if I had my way, I wouldn’t.   In fact, I’d rather put a giant slice of cake or a gorgeous room on the cover.   But the powers to be insisted we try it, so please please don’t think I WANT to be on the cover.

Moving on: option one is in a garden with these two lovely dogs…..  who could not have been sweeter at the shoot.

Front door with one of the pooches.     I clearly want a dog to be on this cover, don’t I?    And isn’t this a really beautiful home?  It belongs to my friend Stacie Stukin who also makes a line of natural and good for you skin care products for kids called Dr. Robin.

And inside next to Stacie’s totally rehabbed Tiffany blue stove….

Let your opinions be heard!   And help me out a bit and maybe write “CAKE!” instead…. because I will!