Spring Cleaning

In light of the blogs of my dear friends Amber (Joy Outloud) and Angela (Diapers and Stilletos)...

I don't spring clean. I move. I moved out the spring/summer of 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005 (I got to skip a few years!), 2006, and now in 2007. I told you that I haven't had a calm year in a while! When adding the times I moved in and out of college living locations to all of my other moves, the sum -total number of moves in my life is 16. That includes two addreses in Montana and three apartments in Korea. And people ask me why I keep all of the boxes my Pampered Chef items came in! Ha! I'll actually have to start spring cleaning once I "settle" somewhere. (I used to think that only houses settled!)

The life you expected?

Jeremy & I had a conversation tonight that got me curious as to the reponses of my friends. I think I know the answer that some of you will give. For others, I'm not so sure. So, here it is...is the life you are living the one you dreamed of/expected to live when you thought about your "adult" life as an adolecent/teenager? For Jeremy, the answer is yes. When he thought of his life he figured he would work as an engineer somewhere, have a wife and kids, a house, and serve in a church. For him, it's like all of the puzzle pieces now have recognizable pictures on them and they are all in place.

I'm the exact opposite. I said this matter-of-factly and without regret, but my life is COMPLETELY different than I dreamed of/expected. By this point in my life my accounting career would have me in at least the low six figures. Not that I dreamed of having a lot of money, but I did fantasize about a black Lexus occasionally :) I always wanted to work for the firm that I worked for in Boston. It was my plan from the moment I entered college. And I loved working for them and would have continued had I not married a man who lived in the only state in the US without a PWC office! I wanted to eventually transfer within the company to an office in a foreign country so that I had an "in" to help missionaries within the country. Maybe somewhere in India or Sri Lanka. (Never Asia, though! HA!) Marriage? Eventually I would have liked to be married (never thought about the military aspect!). I never ever dreamed of having kids, though. Didn't know that I wanted them at all (sound familiar Nenang??). Kids and Liz Claiborne don't really mix well together!

So, what about you? Are you living the life you expected you would live? Or has life turned out differently? Again I say, turning out differently is not bad. It's just...different. :)

Teething

No, not Hannah. Benjamin. Yes, I know that he'll be two months old tomorrow. But I also know that Hannah started gumming my finger at about the same age and popped two teeth out the week she turned three months. What can I say, my kids are overachievers in the mouth area :) Now, if only we can say that in the brain area...time will tell...

Life is full of big decisions, isn't it? Jeremy & I have been in a hurricane of them over the past two weeks. In, out, up, down, left, right...which way should we go? So many thoughts, so many discussions, so many prayers, so many tears and wanting the "decision" time to be over and the clean up from the hurricane to begin. Seems like we haven't had a "calm" year since we've been married. Maybe 2008 will be the year of the calm because 2007 definitely isn't! Then again, it will be time for another baby by then...2009? Maybe?

Interesting Article

Are We Really Depriving Our Kids?

By Jill Cooper

I often hear ladies complaining that they want to stay at home with their kids but that they "have to work since it is so expensive to raise kids these days". One of the main questions I get asked about frugal living is "won’t I be depriving my children if I live the frugal life?" Maybe I can answer that question with a few questions.

How am I depriving my children by having them drink water for every meal instead of juice and soda? Isn’t one thing doctors are always complaining about is we don’t drink enough water? Cutting out just one glass of soda per person per day for a family of four would save $547.50 a year and make them healthier.

How am I depriving my children by having them eat an apple or homemade granola bar for a snack instead of a bag of chips? Obesity is a major problem among children in the United States. If you cut out just one bag of chips a week you would save $104.00 a year and make them healthier.

How am I depriving my children by having them walk to school or to a friends house instead of my always driving them there? Lack of exercise is a big problem. You would save time and wear and tear on your car by having them walk and make them healthier at the same time.

How am I depriving my children when I don’t buy them every toy they see and want? We wouldn’t dream of giving a baby on baby food all the chocolate that he wants because we know it would make him sick. His body can not tolerate that much chocolate even if he desires it.

In the same way, an older child can’t emotionally deal with the overload of toys. I as an adult become stressed just from trying to buy a bottle of shampoo. Have you ever noticed how many options you have? Trying to make a decision can be overwhelming. Do I get it for thin, fine, dry and damaged or colored and permed hair? The list goes on and on.

In the same way when a young child looks at piles of toys, he can become very stressed over choosing which one to play with. If you watch, you will notice that they tend to play with the same couple of toys over and over. If you didn’t give them all the toys they asked for and bought one less brand new toy at $10 a week, you would save $520.00 in one year and you would help relieve them of some stress.

It is no wonder our children stay confused. We insist that they should eat healthy yet we take them out to eat 3-5 times a week at McDonald’s. We give them a bag of carrot sticks in their lunch because it’s healthy and then give them a bag of chips when they get home from school to get them off our backs.

We want them to have strong character yet the moment they whine or cry for another toy or some candy at the store we give in out of guilt. We are afraid that if we don’t give them what they want, they won’t love us so to rid ourselves of uncomfortable feelings we say yes. How can we teach them to be strong in character when we are so weak?

How could our society and way of thinking have gotten so mixed up that we think a child is deprived if a mom chooses to stay home and not go to work? We have come to believe that moms should work outside the home so that children can have the most expensive clothes, education or material things. (Note I didn’t say best but rather most expensive since the most expensive doesn’t mean the best.) If a mom goes to work so a child can have all those things it’s not considered depriving the child of anything but it’s mom. Which do you think does a child more harm- being deprived expensive things or it’s mom?

For you stay at home moms: Before you become too puffed up with pride be aware that too many social, church and school activities can deprive your children of you just as much as working. Do all things in moderation.

Better to give your kids your values you have than the valuables you can't afford.

First I cheat, then I steal

I stole this little diddy from my girlfriend Beth (http://surrealluv.typepad.com/. Pretty good, huh? Thanks for sharing, Beth!


"Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we should dance."


Life hasn't exactly been a party this past week (unless potential pity parties count!) but dancing to a different tune of life definitely makes the hard times past more quickly!!

As a note to my father-in-love...the first thing that comes to mind when asked "What kind of research can you do in accounting?" is that there is always research being done to analyze the affects of different accounting standards (GAAP) on American businesses which then flows to the stock market and to the American ecomony. There are constantly studies on the benefits and drawbacks of certain presentation styles for different financial statements as well as how to have an set International Standard for accounting rules so that investors can compare the financial statements of US businesses with those in Japan, Germany, etc. I'm sure that there are a TON of other ones, but I didn't even get a Master's in Accounting, let alone a Doctorate so I can only guess what they research. (Although, if something dreadful were to happen to Jeremy, my little tail will be back in school to get BOTH of those degrees as soon as the age of the kiddos would permit!) Thanks for the interest!

Cheating or teaching?

My sister is getting her Master's degree in Non-profit administration. This semester she is taking an accounting class, her first. Her professor is focused on his research, not on his teaching, and his Indian accent doesn't help in communicating what is, to the non-accounting mind, a bunch of non-sense. So my sister sends me her homework and we discuss it over the phone and via email. It helps a lot that she gets the assignment in excel :) I must say, it has been enjoyable to do a little accounting work, even if it is my sister's homework!

Go Hokies.

My current experiments