If I love anything more than drinking wine and homemaking, it is scouring Pinterest and the downloading the self-help section of Amazon while drinking wine. I’m seduced by the images of laundry rooms and pantries sanitized of any evidence of commercial containers, mesmerized by the thousands of pins about minimalism (ironic, right?), flabbergasted by all the frugal and crazy, I mean clever, ways to save money and repentant about my lack of a capsule wardrobe and failure to live like the mythical French woman described in dozens of books.

I always end up feeling like I just wasn’t measuring up to everything I was seeing and believing to be the standard. And, then one night I had an epiphany and I believe a bottle of Caldwell Cab—who the hell are they to really say what is the best way to dress, decorate, and live—emphasis on the live part?!? I’m still working on distilling what resonates with me because I do love aspirational books, but I no longer think of them as rulebooks.

I’ve come to accept a few truths about me and my life and thought I would share them here.

1. Making ice cubes out of leftover wine is a waste of wine. Drink good wine and you’ll never have to worry about leftovers.
2. I think that the ideal Parisian woman would have more clothes if her pied-a-terre had a walk-in closet. The size of the wardrobe is because of real estate, not intellectual superiority.
3. I think the real reason French women, with their 10-item wardrobes, don’t get fat is because they chain smoke and pick at their Caprese salad.
4. While I fervently hope that I don’t end up on an episode of Hoarders, I think the stress of trying to keep a family home free of the detritus of life will rob the home of the calm being clutter-free is supposed to endow.
5. I can’t buy into the Konmari method. I can’t make myself thank my screwdrivers for being so useful and just the thing for tightening a screw. I get frustrated at them when they are less-than-desirable substitutes for a box cutter and can’t open yet another package from Amazon
6. Mason jars, specifically their ability to go through the dishwasher, make great storage containers. Contrary to Pinterest, they look charming on a shelf or in the fridge—even without hand-painted, washi-taped, chalk-board labels that are so beautiful that illuminated manuscripts gets jealous.

What other so-called truths have made you stop and say, “I’m not buying into that?”