20 DAYS TO ORGANISE AND CLEAN YOUR HOME CHALLENGE

2013 is almost upon us and I feel as if I need a change in my life from the general disordered mess that is my house. So I found this link on Pinterest and I'm going to do my best to change my whole lifestyle regarding my home in one month. Just in time before the baby arrives.

Oh yes, for those that follow me only on this blog and don't know me in person or on Facebook, quite a bit has happened since my last posting 6 months ago. When last I wrote I was impressed with my success using the Body by Vi program to help me shed some unwanted weight. I didn't quite hit my 35 lb goal mark, but I did OK. I lost all of that weight just in time to learn that my husband was deploying to Afghanistan for a year and that when he came back our family would consist of three members instead of just two!

Yes! We are pregnant =)   I'm 6 months along now and due on my husband's birthday in late March with our first child, a little boy.

This is me the day I found out I was pregnant at 4w4d along (right) and a photo I took just the other day at 27w0d along (left).









And this is my son.

Corbyn Wayne Arrants. Due on March 28, 2013.











And now for the main focus of this posting. I am going to be starting a month long challenge about changing my household and I want to keep myself accountable by marking my progress. So I'm going to try to keep updated daily on it. There's no guarantee I won't fail to do so, but from what I've read that's part of the whole challenge is making it so that you get into new routines. So here goes. Stay tuned.

ViSalus 90-Day Challenge

If you follow this blog and have never met me, let me give you a description of myself.

I'm almost 26 years old and I stand 5' 6" tall and have an athletic build. All my life I've been able to eat whatever I want and not need to worry about weight gain. My metabolism coupled with my super active sports life in high school kept me at a tiny 110 lbs at my heaviest. That was 8 years ago.

I grew up, moved to college, got comfortable in my long-term relationship, and replaced sports with video games. Needless to say, I gained quite a bit of weight. Like 60 lbs of weight.

This is me on March 17, 2012 weighing in at 168 lbs!

While I'm lucky to be tall and hide my weight well (instead of having it all settled on my hips/butt) it still wasn't a look I was comfortable with.

So I decided to change it. That's when I met Sara Sirois and learned about ViSalus 90-day challenge.



Let me tell you my story and why I love this diet program.

Visalus is a meal replacement program (think SlimFast - but actually good tasting). The plain shake made with just milk and mix will taste like vanilla/white cake batter. That's the only reason I decided to try it. I couldn't imagine trying a liquid diet if it didn't taste good.

You can replace 1 or 2 meals per day with a shake depending on your personal goals. It does not need to be the same meals each day either. I drink 2 shakes/day and I always have one for breakfast since I don't normally eat breakfast. It helps to give me a boost of energy in the morning and keeps me from getting hungry earlier on in the day. Then depending on my plans for that evening I will either have my 2nd shake for lunch or dinner and a regular meal for whichever I don't have a shake.

For instance, if I know my husband won't be home for dinner I will typically have a salad with some kind of meat for lunch and then a shake for dinner so I don't have to cook. Or if I know I'm going to dinner with family and friends I will have my 2nd shake for lunch.

And that's all there is to the program. 2 shakes & 1 meal per day. It's very important that you don't skip meals though. Like don't drink a shake for lunch & dinner and not eat breakfast. You still need the proteins/fats/etc that you will get from eating regular food to optimize your health.

The shakes have a TON of nutrients and vitamins in them, but you need the sugars and fats and all the other stuff that comes with eating regular meals. Not to mention that eating all 3 meals a day will boost your metabolism. If you skip a meal one day you'll probably be OK but if you do it over a long period of time your body will go into "starvation" mode and it will turn muscles into fat to burn for energy. Not a good thing.

SO...back to the plan basics... There are a variety of kits you can choose from again depending on your preferences and what you have as a lifestyle.

The kit that I get each month is the Shape Kit. It is $113.95 after tax and S&H. They charge your card automatically each month as long as you are active on one of three dates that you choose (5th, 12th, or 19th). The shape kit comes with 2 bags of mix and 10 sample flavor packets (2 each of orange, peach, banana, strawberry, chocolate). This is enough product for 2 shakes per day for a month.

You are also allowed two HEALTHY snacks per day. They can be up to 200 calories each. The company offers items you can buy that go hand in hand with the shakes, but I just opt for things like string cheese, apples, and pretzels. The chewier they are the better since the only thing I miss about eating "real food" is the chewing. So having chewy snacks gives me that feeling and helps to make me feel full between meals.

It comes out to less than $2 per shake after adding in the cost of the milk / juice that you mix it with (plain shakes, no added flavors). You can add just about any flavors you like and there are loads of websites that can give you ideas. I normally add fruit to mine as it makes it thicker so you feel fuller longer. I've been on the diet since 3/22/12 and have only had the same shake once since then.

And here is the best part. They have a "3 for free" promotion. What that means is that if you get three people to sign up under you during any month, you get your next months kit for free (you just pay S&H - $10). That doesn't mean 3 new people every month. I signed up on March 19 and couldn't quite get the three before the 31st. So I had to pay for my April kit. But in the month of April I got 4 to sign up under me. So when my kit shipped out in May I was only charged $10 instead of $113.95. Definitely can't beat that!!

I'm saving a ton of money and losing a ton of weight (and inches!!) which makes me feel better about myself in addition to generally feeling healthier. My current challenge ends in only 5 more days and I plan to start another right after as I would like to lose even more weight and inches. Plus the shakes taste good and make me feel good.

This is me on June 1st weighing in at 142 lbs!

All I've done is replace two meals a day with a delicious, nutritious shake from ViSalus.

Even then I cheated on some days and only had one shake, and there were times when circumstances didn't allow me to have ANY shakes that day.

I did no extra exercising aside from normal housework and walking the dog. I feel so much healthier and better about myself. I can't wait to start my next challenge and hopefully get down to what the doctor claims is my "ideal" weight of 130 lbs.




If you would like to try ViSalus to see how much you can lose, please don't hesitate to call me or e-mail me. My cell phone # is 207.735.6522 and I am out of work at 5 PM every day. You can also visit my website at: www.http://courtneyjo86.bodybyvi.com/ to see some videos and get the inside scoop.

At $2 per meal, how can you afford not to?

Love is simple

So much for my daily postings in this blog. Guess I won't have nearly as much material as I'd hoped for that class. Oh well.

My wonderful mommy is back in the US and it's so wonderful to have her here for Mother's Day. We enjoyed the pool and hot tub in the hotel, as well as some wonderful meals together with friends and family. You never really know how much you will miss somebody until they are no longer just a phone call away. Even though we talk nearly every day via some form of social media the difference of being able to talk face to face is priceless.

My heart aches to know that she will be leaving in another week and a half and going back to her new life in Scotland with my step-dad. I wouldn't change anything for the world because I know she is so much happier in life and that is all that really matters. It's been a really long time since I've seen her this happy and I'm glad that she finally found somebody that she can relate to and who understands her on a level beyond what we as children can even fathom.

Things were not always happy in my house growing up and just like any other normal family we had our share of unhappiness, heartbreak, and anger. That's what makes a family and gives us that bond that nobody can break. There were times I wish I could change certain choices that were made to spare the pain that followed but I know that without learning and growing from those mistakes that we would not be the people we are today.

So even though I spent three years in pure hell while a certain T.C. lived in my house I know that it made my mother a stronger person and not so easily fooled by promises of love and happiness from people who cannot hold up their end of that promise.

Today I see her happy for the first time since V.F. left our lives and that makes my heart burst with love and pride. The fact that I get a lot of the credit for her current state of happiness (I did introduce them, you know) isn't something to forget either. I practically handpicked my own step-dad. Who knew? At the time all I wanted was peace from the "noob." Hahaha

Love is simple folks, you simply have to be willing to open your eyes and take a chance. Take that leap of faith and go outside your comfort zone. Should that fail and you still can't find anybody... ask your children. They are usually a better judge of character than you realize.

Journey to a Happier, Healthier, ME!

Throughout my life I have heard about a lot of different "get thin quick" schemes and these great diet pills that promise extreme weight loss in little to no time at all. My daddy raised no fool and over the years I have ignored all of these methods of weight loss in favor of walking, running, and going to the gym.

I've never had a real issue with my weight and my height helps to hide the little bit extra that I do carry around.

This is a somewhat decent photo considering I was trying to get a good side shot while holding the camera myself.

According to the doctor's office my BMI is 24.71

I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be for my "ideal" weight but I know I would like to lose between 25 - 35 lbs before I'm done.

I know that getting myself healthy is not something to be done overnight. It is going to take time, and sweat, and effort. Thank GOD it's getting warmer out so I can do some of that sweating outside rather than in a gym.

Phase 1 of my goal involved deciding on some kind of diet program / change. And not necessarily a "diet" such as Atkins of Weight Watchers, but just a change in my diet - you know, the foods I stuff myself with. So I looked around at what my friends were doing because let's face it, I'm a sheep. I like to follow others and learn from their trials and errors on what works. Why start from scratch if a friend has already fine tuned a plan that works?

A couple of my friends are on this "Zone Diet" program which involves dividing up your food into blocks and you can only have so many blocks of certain things per day. For instance you can have 1 carb block, 1 protein block, etc and so on. And there are only certain foods that qualify and you are told the quantity which consists of one block. I decided NO on this one because I don't want to have to weigh my food before I cook it to make sure I'm only getting 3 ounces of something.

Next I looked at the Atkin's diet. No bread for a certain amount of time, and then no milk for a separate period of time. Not going to happen. Can't live without milk so scratch that.

Fast forward a dozen more diets I didn't like the look of and I finally decide to start listening to my boss at work about the program he and his wife are doing. It's called Visalus which is more commonly known as Body by Vi. It is a meal substitution plan that guarantees results even if you don't exercise and the shakes taste like cake batter.

The amount of weight and inches that you drop depend a lot on what you eat for your one meal of the day and you obviously will lose much more by exercising. Reading more into the program you can actually receive your product for free by signing up three people under you. This doesn't mean you have to sell the product, you only sign them up to take the 90 day challenge (which is what the company is famous for) and you receive your product for free!

I'm going to be keeping a record of my progress so keep checking back!!

State of Maine CPA Exam

Holy freaking crap!! So I'm reading up on CPA stuff today and there is this company (Becker) that offers a study program/course for your CPA exam. It includes:

How much longer until I'm grown up?

I have been asked by my husband to please remove this post. I don't agree with that or feel I should have to delete something on my personal blog, but I will pick my battles and do as he asks.

Life Is Unfair, And Then You Die

I know the world isn't fair, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?
Bill Watterson

My husband and I are planning on starting a family when he comes home next week and while this makes me unconditionally happy it also brings with it some feelings of anger and resentment when I think about the future life of my unborn child. I've been feeling this way for a week or so now and I felt I needed to write it down so that I can get it out of my system instead of letting it fester like the poison it is.

To explain why I feel this way some back story about my family is needed. 

• My older sister got pregnant and gave birth to my niece at the age of 16. We wouldn't trade dear sweet Emily for the world nor would we change the course of events that led up to now as we love her too much to change anything. 
• Emily grew up in a loving home surrounded by her favorite auntie (me!), her uncle, meme (my mother), grampy, as well as another grandmother, great grandparents, and even a cousin. Very cool start to such a promising young life.
• My mother remarried in 2007 and has since then moved to Aberdeen, Scotland with my stepfather. She is the happiest I've seen her in a very long time and I adore my new dad. I dream someday of going to Scotland to meet that whole new side of my family and getting to pick on the new little brother I have. I would not trade my mothers happiness for all the riches in the world as she deserves to finally find some happiness in this lifetime.

I think you can see where this is going by now. But if you can't, I'll tell you what makes me bitter. 

My entire life I have been in my sister's shadow, so to speak. She was older so she got to do everything first. She got to go everywhere first and she was the favorite (I'm not kidding, ask my mother who her favorite child is). I grew up with a severe case of middle child syndrome. I could never understand why she got away with bloody murder and I got grounded for doing the same because I should have learned from her mistakes.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my sister. It's been a long time coming as I couldn't stand her growing up and used to wish that bands of gypsies would come and steal her away at times, or wizards would come to my house and lift the spell she must have cast on our parents to make them oblivious to everything she did that should have gotten her grounded. But now we've mended our relationship and I look to her for wisdom and support to get me through whatever I happen to be going through. She's been there for me to cry on her shoulder and she was central to making my wedding the success it was. I love you Stachia Ann!!

What makes me bitter and jealous and hate the way life can be sometimes is that I know when I have my children they won't get to grow up with their grandmother only a car trip away. My mother is going to be 4,000 miles away and Skype is the best I'll be able to do for them to know her and love her the way I do. I will have to choose between having my mommy at my baby shower... or at the birth of my child. Choose between seeing her at Christmas or on their birthdays (if even that often). 

Mom already had to miss both my bridal shower and my bachelorette party in order to make it to the states for my wedding. I hate that my children will have to go without knowing her as well just because I waited to have children. And that is where the viciousness comes in. It sounds horrible, like I'm condemning my sister for being an unwed teenage mother, and I honest to God am not. My sister is an amazing mother and is the best single parent that I know. She has sacrificed everything to ensure her daughter is well taken care of and has everything she needs to grow up happy and healthy.

Yet I can't help feeling the way I do. That life is so unfair and I'm getting the shaft for doing things in the "proper order." Long-term boyfriend, wedding, then children. I feel a touch better having this all written down instead of bottled up inside of me. I am hoping that something changes for the better of all parties involved. Who knows, maybe by the time I get pregnant they will have invented and perfected teleportation between countries. That would be great.

Until then, life sucks and then you die.

Sluts Unite!

This morning I learned that I used to be a slut. And I'm okay with that! For anybody reading this who is confused please read the following article:
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/01/10552338-limbaugh-contraception-advocate-should-post-online-sex-videos

This confused individual seems to think that by health insurance covering the costs of contraceptives (which by the way men can get as well since some places allow insurance to cover condoms!) that the taxpayers who are fronting the money for this need to get something out of it and we should all make videos and post them online for viewing pleasure.

First of all they are INSURANCE PREMIUMS you nitwit, not your tax dollars. I am paying for a service that helps me when I need it. Just like car insurance has to pay out for an accident my health insurance is required to cover the costs of certain things when I signed their contract saying they will pay $X when I give them $X a week from my paycheck.

Second of all this doesn't make my contraceptives free. I still have co-pays, deductibles, co-insurances, and the like to pony up to get these contraceptives. My particular insurance is $25 per week from my paycheck and still requires me to pay a $20 office visit for exams and such. While my pills are free as long as I have had an annual exam in the last 12 months this does not in any way mean that I'm relying on the american people's wallets to have sex.

And lastly, my question to you Mr. Limbaugh is this:

Would you really rather have insurance cover contraceptives (a service we have to pay for) or would you like to have to foot the bill for THOUSANDS of unplanned pregnancies from women who are not able to support a child because they were unable to afford the necessary protection to prevent the pregnancy in the first place?

Some people really should think before they speak. /end rant

At The Peak

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on 
Excerpts from "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus


Another week has gone by and I've spent the time in my same routine. Work, homework, squeeze in some friend time, and finally scratch out a little me time. I'm working away diligently at passing my time until Eric comes home and trying to keep myself busy. Karma has decided to help me out with this task and even out the playing field some after my last bit of good news.

I began my most recent class on Tuesday the 24th. The class is Advanced Financial Accounting and is a level 440 course. It is still only five weeks long and it is still online, but the difficulty factor has just quadrupled. The workload seems fairly similar to those prior classes I've taken but the reading.... wow.

I've printed off all of my chapters for the course and put them in a nice 2" binder. I even color coded the sections by chapter and assigned week of reading. Just look at me go!

Until of course I realize just how much reading is going to be needed during this class. 2 cm stack of computer printed pages (double sided) all need to be read by no later than 02/27/2012.

/sigh

Apparently I will be putting my glasses to good use this class.

But like a good little girl I set out my notebook and my pencil, my highlighter and my sticky notes, and got down to reading my chapters for the week.


After three hours I've read approximately 12 pages. I'm pretty sure I read the same section four times at one point...






But every time I get discouraged and feel like I'll never be out of school I just have to look at this page and realize I'm so much closer than I have ever been.

I am only 8 classes until my graduation date. 9 months to go and I will have a $45,000 piece of paper hanging on my wall. And 6 months after that I'll be broke trying to repay that $45K.

This screen doesn't hurt either. More than 3/4 of the way done with my degree program isn't such a bad thing.

Also knowing that I've brought my GPA up a solid 1.66 points is very gratifying to my ego.

*gasp* Yes, for those who didn't know I was not doing so well at UMFK. Maybe I'll tell that story one day.


But for now I need to keep my head held high and know that there is always going to be another mountain to climb. I just need to remember that I'm at the top of this one and on my way down. I can worry about the next one later.

Celebrate!

There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times
And your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you
Kool & The Gang - Celebrate

Today is a fabulous, wonderful, fantastic, all around good day! Why? Pull up a computer chair and let me tell you...

Lately things have been heading on a downward spiral and I was starting to wonder how I would be able to stick to my philosophy about keeping a positive attitude no matter what. Today, all that has been turned around a complete 180 degrees.

Two weeks ago I sent an e-mail to my financial advisor at school after I noticed that my account had a $3,000 credit balance. I wanted to cancel the payment plan I was making ($200 every two weeks) since I obviously didn't need to anymore. A few days later I heard back from my academic advisor to inform me that Carol had been moved off my advisement team and that I would have a new financial counselor. This was met with some dismay as I have had 5 different sets of counselors and I was just getting a good repertoire with this current set. I didn't want to have to start all over again.

Since there was nothing I could do about it I decided to just move on and send the same letter to my new counselor about the payment plan and such. At the same time I was browsing the web and an ad appeared on the side of the screen saying "University of Phoenix offers military tuition rates for active duty military personnel and their families." Being that Eric joined in October, I included this concern in my e-mail. That day at work I got a phone call from the school but we were busy so I let it go to voicemail and I checked it on my way home. I couldn't make out the extension they were saying so I called the main office and asked to speak to my counselor. Turns out both my counselors were moved off my team and I didn't know why.

Skip ahead two days and I sent a third e-mail to all four of the counselors (2 old, 2 new) explaining my unhappiness with the situation and my confusion on why it happened. But again seeing as I could do nothing about it, I felt I needed to be friendly and introduce myself to the new counselors. I listed out all my concerns and what I was hoping could be taken care of.

Fast forward to today. I first get a conference phone call from the two old counselors explaining that I was moved to a new team because the military division is separate from normal academics. You get a special team of people who are up to speed on what is required and how the program works. Sad to see them go, but this is okay because it means I'll be going to school for less money. 20 minutes later I get a call from Julian who is my new financial counselor. And that's when things got good.

I currently pay $1,175 per 3-credit course. The military tuition rate is $750. Yes, do the math. It's $425 in savings, per class. That brought a smile to my face. But wait, it gets better. A couple months ago I applied for a private student loan to cover the costs that my financial aid wouldn't cover. It was disbursed on 01/13/12 and there is now an $8,000 credit balance on my account. With the discount of my tuition, plus the money I had paid in, I will be getting quite a refund from the school in a week or so!

I will be able to pay off the bills I would have had paid off already had I not had to pay out of pocket for classes in addition to taking the extra financial aid money and using it to pay down the balances on my higher interest rate loans that I have from when I attended the University of Maine in Fort Kent. Double bonus!

And here is the best part, because I am getting back all the money that I paid in and paying off those bills with it, I'll be saving about $400/month in expenses which I can use to buy a new car since mine is on it's last legs!!

I am SO glad things finally worked out for the best and that I don't have to worry about making ends meet when Eric comes home and goes back to his old salary. This will also help to be able to buy him a vehicle when he comes home. Hooray!

So lift your glass in a silent toast and join me for a celebration dance!!

Hello 2012! Bring on the zombies!!

So another year has come and gone and we are once again faced with the task of setting goals for ourselves that most of us will abandon before too long. I myself am already slacking on my goals out of sheer lack of interest. I made myself some New Year's resolutions and have yet to fulfill any part of them.

1. Clean my house top to bottom and keep it spic-and-span the entire year. I've yet to fully clean it. In fact, I haven't even washed the dishes that have been in my sink since my husband came home! I know, completely gross and I really need to get on top of that.
2. Drop 30 lbs by March 8th. I have been watching what I eat and drinking a lot more water than I did last year, but I still haven't made it to the gym even once. I always seem to run out of time when I get home in the evenings and I can't make myself get out of bed early enough to go before work.
3. Get money put away in the bank for a house down payment. I got as far as doing my FAFSA for the next school year, but haven't made my new budget or anything yet. Our tax return will go a long way toward getting some bills paid off which in turn will save us money each month. My student loan will also help with this.*

*A little note: I do not advocate getting a student loan in order to use the money to live on. My situation is that I took out the loan for school expenses I am currently being made to pay out of pocket for. The disbursement date for my loan is after the last payment date that I will be making, so I am using the same amount of money out of my loan for other bills that I would have had I not had to pay $100/week to the University.

So for now I receive an F in New Years Resolutions, but I plan on bringing that up to a minimum of a C by the time the year is over. =)  

In the end, we're all going to be eaten by zombies on 12/21/12 so why bother?