The Ask Anna Blog

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free & Vegan)

Sweet and salty. One of the most beloved combinations when it comes to food. The two just go together. Bacon and maple syrup. Popcorn and caramel. Pretzels and chocolate. French fries and a milkshake. It just works and it’s just good. What is your favorite sweet and salty duo? I’ve taken peanut butter, pretzels and chocolate and made them into a complete guilty pleasure. A cookie! Every bite has a little something sweet and a little something salty. Those pretzel pieces give the soft cookies a bit of crunch. The chocolate chips, well, I just couldn’t make a peanut butter pretzel… Read More

How to Hide Wood Grain on Cabinets (Kitchen Makeover, part 1)

I’m in the process of painting our kitchen cabinets, which I’m sure you all know, is a HUGE undertaking. The cabinets in our kitchen are original oak cabinets from 1991, and frankly they just aren’t my style. In our last house we painted our 1965 orange cabinets with the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformation kit and they looked fabulous. However I knew using the cabinet transformation kit wouldn’t work this time around because I really didn’t want to see the wood grain in the finished product. I don’t have anything against cabinets that have been painted, and you can see the grain,… Read More

Semi-Homemade Birthday Cake Ideas

So, last month I said I might share birthday cakes ideas, soooo here they are! When you’re planning a party for multiple people, it would be great if everything could be made from scratch and be perfect, BUT this is the real world and I’m sorry, but I just don’t have that much time! Not to mention, I don’t think I could make a cheesecake even if I tried! My little niece is not a fan of the traditional cake, but she LOVES cheesecake, so every year I have to figure out a way to dress one up for her!… Read More

Organized Chore Charts

A couple months ago I shared with you how I had updated the chore charts for our kids, now that Malea is getting older, and we have a teenager living with us. The updated chore charts seemed to be going well but after a few weeks I noticed the girls were forgetting to do some of the chores because they weren’t hung up and displayed, like I used to have them in our other house. So when Post-it Brand emailed me and asked me if I wanted to try out some of the products from their new Home Collection by… Read More

Favorite Organizing Products

Hi it’s Wendy from Pretty Well Organized, and during my time blogging, my #1 question is “What are your favorite organizing products?”. I get this question almost daily and today I thought I would share my favorite products here, with Anna’s lovely readers! Here are my top 5 favorite organization products: Clear Boxes I prefer clear boxes to any other box because you can always see, at quick glance, what is contained in the box. These are a Best Seller on Amazon and they’re what I use to store all kinds of things in our home. Baskets I use baskets… Read More

Open Shelving in the Kitchen (Finally!)

For the last 5 years I have wanted open shelving in my kitchen. I love the way it looks, it’s clean, organized, decorative and functional. In our last house I faked it by just taking the cabinet doors off and painting the back of the cabinet, but in our new house I wanted open shelving for REAL! This is what our kitchen looked like on the day we moved in. It has tons of potential but let’s face it, it was pretty ugly. We’ve been up to our eyeballs with projects like tearing down and building walls in the living… Read More