Written by Design

Sometime last year, one of my sisters became deeply passionate about home cleaning.  Already a germaphobe and neat freak, she started following YouTube cleaning "celebrities" learning their tricks for a cleaner home.  During this time, she started using Method cleaning products and she introduced me to them as well.

I love clean. I have always joked that I love nothing better than the smell of bleach in my home.  I didn't think I could go for "natural" cleaning products.  When it came to clean, the more chemicals the better!

My sister first recommended the Method Daily Shower Spray after I complained about a funny smell.  I scrubbed my shower top to bottom with a Clorox bleach spray and still couldn't get that musty smell out.  I finally gave in and tried a vinegar spray and I was so surprised to find it worked!  My sister then recommended the Daily Shower spray as a way to maintain that fresh, clean smell everyday.

It was love at first sniff.  Made with no…

One of my pet peeves is when the corners of the bed sheets start sliding off the bed after a couple of nights.  You wash your bedding, it's all fresh and snug on the mattress and then within a few days it's shifting, slipping off the corners and bunching up.
I always buy nice sheets.  I like the softness and how they hold up with frequent washing.  I like that they are intended to stay put on the mattress.  However, my thick and plushy mattress just seems to be too much of a match for even the best sheets, but I found the ultimate solution!
Sheet Suspenders, which I purchased on Amazon for less than twenty bucks, stretch underneath the mattress to create an X, clipping gently and safely to each of the four corners.  This holds them into place firmly without damaging the fabric of the sheet.  I have been using them now for about three months and I love them.
I was worried they would take a bit of finagling to get into place but I have been able to do it by myself and re-clip the…

2019 is here, and as I look back on 2018 I am proud of several achievements, but one thing I have missed is writing this blog.

2018 was a hectic year to say the least.  In July I finished my graduate degree, but just prior to that I had started a new position at work where I took on new functions and direct reports.  As the year drew on and I was working more hours, time for writing sort of fell by the wayside.  I feel the loss of it very much.

To add to this, in all that I have done in my last few months, I have read new books, watched movies, tried new products, been on trips and in all of this I have developed opinions on things that I am eager to share!  I have new inspirations, new thoughts, new reviews and new hopes for 2019!

I have three New Year's resolutions this year as well that I hope to document through my writing.  One is that I am learning French (and I am about 3 week into this now).  Another is to take a solo trip at least once a quarter.  The third is to finally …

I was recently reading through a thread of comments on a post online about the option of home schooling your children.  A vast majority of the comments included some variation of, "I have never met a home schooled kid who wasn't odd."  I read these comments over a week ago, and they still bother me a little, so I felt a response was valid.

I have a very mixed experience in my K-12 education.  I did not attend kindergarten at all, but was instead traveling through the United States in a motor home with my parents and sister, getting far more life experience than a classroom could offer.  During this time, I did learn the basics of reading and all of that, but I also learned about people, that people are not all the same, and that I am not the same.  And that it is okay.

I home schooled grade one.  My parents taught me at home, but I took exams at a local elementary school at the end of the year.  People have a false idea that home schooled kids run wild and free and are u…

Recently, I wrote an article reviewing my experience with EverlyWell's food sensitivity panel.  After receiving my results, which had 15 foods flagged as reactive to different degrees, I made the decision to begin eliminating them from my diet.  So far, I am seeing some significant results.

I have always had digestive issues.  One could say that I have been running a long term, low grade stomachache for a couple decades!  I discovered that I was lactose intolerant when I was 15 years old, but eliminating lactose from my diet didn't cure all of my issues.

When I began monitoring my food intake in 2016, I did notice some of the issues with my digestive problems subside.  I suspect overeating (even if you are exercising to get into a calorie deficit) can cause some pretty severe digestive issues as your body tries to process through the excess.  However, even with this, and the elimination of most dairy, I still had some trouble.

Food allergies and food sensitivities are differen…

During the years that I was in school, I hardly traveled at all.  My husband and I are not especially good travel companions, and besides that we have 3 dogs, which makes arranging travel complicated.  Over the last decade, we have gone on separate vacations a few different times.  I'll go with my sister and he'll go with a friend.  These have worked out well for us because it leaves one or the other at home to tend to the doggies while we are away.

However, having now finished my degree and feeling unencumbered by the weighty responsibilities of academia, I am looking to travel alone.  My sister mentioned that she had this on her Day Zero Project list, and I immediately wondered why I had not put it there (so I added it!).  My mom is celebrating her 60th birthday this month by going to Vegas with a high school friend, and then from there, going to spend a week by herself in Mexico.  It sounds heavenly.

I am now planning and researching cities I could travel to by myself, to s…