Debits and Credits Must Equal... except when they don't

 I'm an accountant. I love it. I know, I'm weird.


Moving on...


When I was in high school and college all my professors told me that debits must equal credits. To the penny.

Everything must reconcile. All the time.





Now that I'm in the real world and putting my degree to use I am finding more and more examples of that not being the case. I hear about companies that just want to come close.

Like anything under $X is immaterial and therefor doesn't matter.

Sure, ten bucks isn't a whole lot to a multi-billion dollar company but isn't that how fraud begins? Not being able to prove where the money went to?

I might be the exception, but when it comes to the work that I have to do and turn in I would much rather spend the extra time to find every single penny. If I don't find it in this one account, I know that down the road it is going to affect this account...

Which affects this other account...

Which in turn makes this other account wrong...





So remember future accountants.... Debits Must Always Equal Credits.... except when they don't have to.

It's OK to be afraid. Even if I can't get that super cute picture.

Last night I took my son to see Sesame Street Live at the Cross Insurance Center (where I work). We got tickets for the meet and greet so I could snag some super cute pics of him with Elmo and the rest of the characters.

Things didn't go as I had planned. When we got into the room the person in charge explained to the kids how even though Elmo and friends looked really small on TV they were a lot bigger in person. And also that the wouldn't be talking since they had to save their voices for the show. Didn't want to get a sore throat before they had to do all that singing you know. So they were going to play the quiet game.

I was excited to see how Corbyn would react since Elmo is the one character I  can get him to sit and watch. He doesn't have much use for other TV shows.

This is what happened when I tried to get the cute picture. He was scared of the big red guy holding him and started to cry. But that's OK. He didn't have to sit on Elmo's lap if he didn't want to. I wasn't going to traumatize him just to get the shot I wanted. I could do this instead.

I was not going to be like some of the parents I saw there who were making their kids do what they didn't want to just to get that photo.

Parenting: You're Doing It Right... or Wrong.

It's been a really long time since I've written in this. I almost sort of forgot it existed. I'm obviously not very good at keeping to my own resolutions. =) Maybe that's why I haven't lost any of the "baby weight" and in fact have even gained some. Meh. C'est la vie.


For the 4 people that follow this blog (shocking, didn't know I had followers) you'll know that I'm now a college graduate, wife, and mother to the most beautiful and precious toddler on the planet.

Corbyn is my whole world and I can't imagine life without him in it. Every day gives me new joy as I watch him learn and grow. And each day also gives me new heartache as I watch my baby grow because I know he won't be this little forever and all too soon he'll grow up and won't want to snuggle with his Mommy. He'll eventually tell me he hates me and I'll cry.

He'll grow up into a smart well adjusted young man and he'll fall in love with some girl (who won't be good enough for my baby I'm sure of it) and then he will get married and start a family of his own. Before I know it I'll be old and grey and he will be the one struggling to find the right way to parent his own children. Who of course I will spoil rotten and fill with sugar and then send back to him so that the cycle never ends and he has to deal with what I deal with now.

And I hope that when he does grow up that things are different for him. I hope that the attitudes of people change and become more open minded and that he won't be judged if he decides to do something a certain way. For that is what I am trying to cope with now. I am so blessed to have a large close family and some great friends who are a big help to me in raising Corbyn. After all, it takes a village, does it not?

Every day I read stories of one parent or another who are teaching their child a certain way, or disciplining them a certain way. And I see the friends and family and even strangers of that person give their "helpful" advice on how they should be doing it. Everybody is so set in their own ways about the proper way to raise a child and if you choose to try something else you are told that it will never work and "you'll see. You'll be sorry you didn't do it this way when such and such happens."

From the time my son was this old, people have been giving me advice on what to do when he arrives in the world. From cloth diapering, to breastfeeding, and even to crib-training from birth. I hastily absorbed all of this knowledge (as well as anything I could get my hands on to read) because I had no idea what it was like to be a parent. Especially a "single parent" as my husband was overseas protecting our freedoms until our son was 3 months old.

I wanted to be as prepared as I could be for when our son arrived so that I could do it all correctly. I didn't want to damage my child by accidentally bathing him wrong or not reading the correct amount of bedtime stories.

And now that Corbyn is almost 19 months old I have realized one very important thing. No amount of advice from other people is going to teach me the right way to parent my child. My child will teach me the correct way to parent him. 

Of course, I still read parenting blogs and articles and the like. Often times it's because some of those parents are so much more crafty than I am and I can pilfer some game / craft / food ideas from them. Other times I read them for new approaches to parenting methods. I try to read about both sides of the issue (i.e. time outs etc.) and then I try to think about how it will relate to Corbyn. Will he understand what I'm doing or will he not care? Then I try to make up my own mind on what I want to do.

Some of the things that I am trying to make part of my parenting method are:

1. No spanking. I really want to try to go through life without needing to spank him. I was spanked as a child and I do not feel any animosity towards my parents about it. Heck, I hardly remember it as I can honestly only remember it happening once. But I don't want to spank my child. Sometimes I fail and I have spanked before. My husband spanks him. But I want to try not to spank. I have faith in myself that I can find ways to teach without resorting to spanking.
2. Nursing. I breastfed for the first seven months of his life. I continued to nurse even after he got teeth at three months old and started biting. But he weaned himself and I had to swap to formula until he was old enough for cow's milk. I'm going to nurse baby #2 when they come along and I would love to nurse for 1+ years if they will let me.
3. Co-Sleeping & Baby Wearing. I love sleeping with my baby next to me. A big part of that goes back to the second item on the list. I'm much too tired and, let's face it, much too lazy to get out of bed to nurse all the time. I like the bond it builds with my child and I like to be able to wake up and look over at the peaceful sleeping face of  my baby.

My list is quite small and I'm sure it will grow as he grows. I feel strongly about all of these items and it saddens me when my family and friends do not support me in my choices. Of course their opinions don't change mine, but it would be nice if they could step outside preconceived ideas and support me trying something different. I understand you were spanked, and you spank your kids, and that it works great for you with no lasting damage to the kid. Good for you. I don't want to do it. So support me in that choice. I can and will find other ways of discipline / teaching.

You're all on board with nursing a baby... but only until they are X months old. Then it's all about pumping into a bottle or using formula. Baby is too old to be doing that especially *gasp* in public. Nursing my son was one of the best parts of being his mother in those first seven months. Knowing that 100% of his nutrition came from my body. I was a superhero. If he was hungry I could solve that problem without thinking. And I fed him whenever and wherever he happened to be hungry. Behind closed doors or not. You eat in public, so does my child. Deal with it. Look away if you can't stand seeing it and the maybe 1/4" of exposed skin you would have seen.

This last one fully frustrates me on the lack of support. I'm not asking you to sleep in bed with my child. So what if it takes longer to crib train them when we decide its time? You don't have to have sleepless nights. Just because crib training was hard for you doesn't mean it will be for me. My child is not your child and might not care where he sleeps. Then again, I could be wrong and it will be hell training him. My problem not yours. And if you need to gloat when that time comes, then do so silently. I'm still going to sleep in bed with him until we decide it's time.

I didn't mean to get all preachy there but it's hard sometimes to keep from getting upset about it all. But that's what my blog is for. I'm allowed to vent if I want to. 

So I hope that when my son is grown and raising children of his own he will have more support in his choices as a parent than I have in mine. And I hope that when the time comes I can be as open minded as I wish people were with me.

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!!