Long Time

Its been a week since my last blog post on here!
On Saturday I did an open house... very slow, then Mailie and I went and bought a patio set at Home Depot (Awesome glass table & 4 chairs for only $150! Special Buy)
We could not fit the dang thing in our car so I called John with his Pacifica and asked if they could come a bit earlier and pick up the table for us. We then went and got the food for the bbq and met them back at Home Depot to load up the Patio Set.
We had the family over, John and Sue along with Jon and Guinevere for some Bison burgers. I added Worcester sauce and they turned out very well.
John & Sue ended up picking up, delivering, and setting up the Patio Set while we got the food ready, they both ate two burgers as compensation.
Guinevere is Pregnant, so we are going to have two new Ashby's in the world next year which is just awesome!
We went to the doctor again on Thursday, just a regular checkup but always good to hear the babies heartbeat. Oh and I went to the dentist for the first time in at least 6 years (I think it has been more like 8) I am now covered under Mailie's benefits and for the first time in my life I have coverage!! WOOHOO its a bloody good thing because it cost $472 to clean my freaking teeth!
After 6+ years of no dentist, I have NO cavities and the hygienist told me I had the best gum's she had seen in years.
I started working full time at home on Thursday, it was a slow start but I got a few appointments already so I am sure it will not take me long to get back in the groove.
This morning we had the lady from the insurance company show up and take our blood, urine, and blood pressure. All seemed good. We had to fast - not eat - for as long as possible before she arrived. *we scheduled her for 10am on saturday morning figuring we would just wake up when she got here and all would be good...* I was fine but Mailie had to eat, so 45 minutes before the lady got here I made Mailie her shake... I hope the results are still ok! Mailie had nice low blood pressure and mine was bang on normal 120/70.
I tried to get the lawn mower running (the people we bought the house from left theirs behind). I borrowed some gas from Mark next door and together we tried getting the blasted thing going... to no avail... 300 Pulls and a big blister later I gave up and borrowed his, which started in 1 pull! Try again next weekend I guess...That's about it for the week.

Anniversary

Friday May 15th was our anniversary. In the morning I gave Mailie her card, and then after work we came home. I bought Mailie a dozen roses and two madagascar beanie babies, the giraffe and the hippo (they fell in love at the end of the second movie) and Mailie made me a photo frame with pictures of us in it.
We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant Pheonix Grill (and we had reservations which you are not suppose to be able to get there but I worked my magic) They also gave us free desert. Then we went and saw Star Trek and we both enjoyed it. It was a great day.

Dinner with Annette

We had Mailies co-worker and friend Annette over for dinner last night while she is here on business until this afternoon. It was tons of fun, she is awesome and we had a great time telling stories etc. We had new york steaks and spanish rice and salad - which is Annettes favorite meal and I had no idea, then Mailie pulled our vanila slices from co-op for desert which I had never bought before and i guess that is Annettes favorite desert also so dinner was a hit! Very glad we had a chance to have her over while she was here.

Life Insurance

So we finally got life insurance.
After tossing around a few different ideas of what we needed and what company to get it with we finally decided to go with 750k each of 25 term with our current insurance company the co-operators.
Originally when we started out on the "we need life insurance" quest, we were looking for 25k whole life and about 300k 10 year term... quotes had varied around 100 per month for the two of us for this... and it really is not enough.
Then we looked at Universal Life policy for 500k (I had talked to a WFG guy and this is what they push... for "tax shelter" purposes) honestly I really like universal life policy's for a few reasons but it simply does not fit into our current need...If we had extra money sitting around earning interest we were paying tax on then ya sure... but we dont have extra money period so this is not the right solution. Then last night we looked at a few different options, up to 1.3mil 25yr term and 25k whole life on me and 870k and 25whole life on Mailie. This was just over 200 per year and a little much!
The whole life portion I really started thinking about.
That was about $50/month for 25k whole life for each of us... there was some savings portion to it but I wont get into that...
with 750k 25 year term the $25,000 would not make a significant difference if something were to happen in that 25 years, and After the 25 years not only will our needs be completely different but 25k then is like 10k now and would not do a damn anyways... So after carefull reflection and alot of analyzing (and great advice from our friend at co-operators) we decided on the 750k 25yr term which in total should be around 100/month total for the two of us... an easy number to swallow.

Stroller - Pooh

So I let my rule slide for Mothers day and Mailie went shopping for a stroller that we had seen a few times and decided was a good one. Mailie found it in a walmart flyer for $200 so we had checked on saturday for it but it rang in at $229, so decided we would go home and get the flyer and come back.
Well - Mailie went to another walmart on sunday and it said they had been on sale UNTIL saturday... and they were out anyways.
So after dinner Dalene and Mailie went out to yet another walmart and at the till it scanned up $229 - Mailie said NOPE here you go, it sais $200 - and she got it for $200 - Good job my love!

It is super nice whinnie the pooh stroller with the 3 in one baby seat attachment deal... it even seems to have suspension... quite fancy. Made by Greco. Not incredibly "Girly" but its pooh so thats ok. We put it together and we love it.
Mailie managed to get her family in Quebec to pool together and send us the money to buy it which is just Awesome!

Mothers Day Breakfast

For breakfast I wanted to take Mailie to Craving Market for their mothers day brunch, I got reservations for noon, or to Cora's - Which does not take reservations and they said it was very busy. Mailie wanted to check out the line at Cora's before going so we swang by and saw that the line was out the door and around the corner past the patio... so we headed to Cravings. When we got there and were starting to get out of the car Mailie decided it was not worth $30 each to eat there as she probably would not eat very much, and instead she had a craving for Tim Hortons breakfast... so away we went to Timmy's just in time for eggs and cheese on a croisant x 2 each with a donut and french vanilla coffee for Mailie. The guys at Timmy's could not take thier eyes off of Mailies boobs! - I admit neither could I but thats besides the point. We had a nice breakfast, then went looking for garage sales and checked out some huge houses in Cranston. We found one garage sale with a bunch of kids stuff but it was all for older children. We called our mothers to wish them a happy mothers day and we went home to meet Mat & Dalene for our evening plans (they were very late) and so we ended up cleaning a bit... I tried to stop Mailie from cleaning by taking over what she was cleaning, I would finish and turn around and she would be cleaning something else so I would take over that, then turn around again and... you get the point. So WE cleaned the house for about 30 minutes then I sat in the sun for a while and then our guests arrived. Wow I am not too good at story telling sometimes!

Mothers Day Dinner

So Mat & I decided we would cook for the girls for mothers day. We feigned a day of "gaming" Mat brought over Call of Duty 4 & his PS3 controller (we did end up playing a bit while cooking haha) We took care of Dilan and sent Mailie and Dalene shopping with some spending cash and in Mailies case the credit card! When the girls had left Mat and I promptly went shopping. I made my famous cheese rosea pasta sauce from scratch and tried it with chicken and spegatinni. It was good but better with sea food then chicken. We bought chocolate covered fruit and some mini quiches and did those up nicely for appetisers and desert. Dinner was a hit, we had a good time and laughed when Dilan tried to pronouce Harry Percy (he cant say r... you try it)
I cleaned up with Mat's help and then the girls went shopping again and Mat and I got a chance to play some games.

Evening

Today I got home at 6ish - Mailie went to Falyns to get her hair done and watch Bella while Falyn cleaned her house.
I was planning on playing some games with Miles but he was unavailable so instead I did some constructive things!
I cleaned the house, picked up everything, changed the garbage's, arranged the laundry, vacuumed! did the bottles, put the dishes in the dishwasher, cleaned the toilets! that was about it for the cleaning, so that took an hour.\
Then I called Dan and chatted for a bit & I ate dinner.
Then I prepared for my open house tomorrow by printing all my necessary documents.
Then I did play a bit of games, 30 minutes or so against the computer, but got bored so I blogged for a bit! Now I am going to pick Mailie up before she blows a gasket over there.

Appointments

Had a couple great appointments with TNS - One that I am giving an 80% chance to close, with a 5500 commission and some residual so that would be great. Should know early next week.
Also today I had a good meeting with Warren Jack from the Co-Operators and there could be an opportunity there for a few things, huge telecom sale, potential office purchase and a universal life policy with a few benefits over and above the one from WFG.
All and All a good 2 days.

Doctors Appoitment

We saw Dr Manahan yesterday afternoon. We got some good news from the results of the blood test and ultrasound. The coriplexus cyst is gone which we are very happy about (we knew it was nothing to worry about but of course we did anyways) Also the baby possitioned with her head down and the ultrasound tech did not point out anything about the heart shaped uterus so thats good! We did find out that Mailie seems to be Anemic again so we need to get her on an iron supplement ASAP.

Boogyman!!!

We watched Boogyman 3 last night... I have not see the first two but # 3 had horrible acting, cheap special effects and a plot that was as thick as salt water. But it actually was kind of freaky! We watched it right before bed and I admit I was checking out shadows when we went to bed haha!

Wake up!

I could not get up this morning...I slept ok but did not go to bed until late. I think I was not looking forward to this morning. Today I met the new owner of TNS - Mashal Anderson... Seems like a very sharp guy, and he has a good little investment here. I was very honest with him and he appreciated it. We will see what comes out of it...

We got a Basinette.

Mailie picked up a Basinette on Sunday for $60 at a 2nd hand store (BEFORE she was cut off) We also got the rest of the baby stuff from Falyn. There is an ugly white dresser in the basement that needs painting and some new toys etc.
Oh and I learnt after the basinette was bought that Falyn is going to give us her play pen... which works as a basinette... so now we will have 2.

Meeting

I know I have been quite off topic here lately so I will try to get back on it today or tomorrow. But First...
This morning I had a meeting with a Breakfast Club...5 Motivated professionals who get together once a week to share leads and chat. I think the potential is quite large there and I would enjoy being a part of it. Its $250 every 6 months (covers your breakfast) and it is exclusive to your area of expertise... so I would be the only telephone sales guy there 9IF I WOULD CONTINUE TO SELL TELEPHONES THAT IS)... problem... there is already a Realtor - And he is the leader! I don't think I will be a part of it, as much as I like the idea, but I will continue to think about it over the next day or two. Feedback would be great.

CUT OFF!

Mailie is officially cut off from making, thinking about making, or even thinking about thinking about making any type of baby purchases.
Mailie is stressing out about all the "THINGS" we need to buy...
We have so many "THINGS" already it boggles the mind.
I am now officially in charge of all baby purchases until after the baby is born.
Any suggestions are appreciated as I will not take any lists or advice from Mailie as she is not suppose to have that topic in her brain at all.

Baby Necessities

I think there are only really 3 things that parents need to have a healthy, happy baby.
1 = Food = Milk
2 = Clothes
3 = Time
.. A Car seat is a need for safety if you are travelling in a car.
Everything else is simply a modern solution for convenience.
Things I believe would really help and would be a nice thing to have!

Lots of clothes, so we don't have to do laundry every 4 hours.
Stroller, High Chair, Bibs, Bottles, Diapers, Bassinet, Crib, Diaper Genie, Baby Bjorn, Change Table, Play Pen, Jolly Jumper, supporting infant chair.
Please comment on other things that are very useful.

Career - Real Estate 110% - Nothing else.

So this is the plan. Or at least similar schedule Mon - Fri
7:00 Wake up - Make shakes
8:00 Drive Mailie to work
8:30 Go to Gym
10:00 Run around - If needed
Breakfast - by 11:00Am at my desk working -
Cold calls until 1:00 (over lunch hope to get people on the phone)
1-2 Break - Work on paper work etc. if needed & Lunch
2:00-3:30 - Apointment block - If nothing set work on getting one!
Lunch 2
3:30 - 4:30 - Cold Calls
4:30 - 5:00 Pick up Mailie
5:00 - 7:00 Make and Eat dinner & relax
7:00 - 8:30 Appointment Block or Cold Calls
8:30 - Evening Wind Down & Snack
Sat
No Drop off or pick up Mailie & No Gym - 8:00 Wake up - No evening block-* rest the same.
Open House OR Same schedule - Maybe a little less work.
So Basically - 11 - 4:30 & then 7-8:30 working. 7 Hours per day (5.5 on Sat). 40.5 Hours (give or take) Sunday off except for a possible Appointment Slot.

TNS

Changes happening around here...
TNS has sold.
Paul has sold his shares and is leaving the company. This made my decision easier.
I have decided to quit TNS - I may stay on part time 100% commission to tie up loose ends but will not be coming to the office everyday and wasting my time surfing the internet...
I will work until the 15th of May and that will be the end of it.
I have shared this with Paul and he will pass it along to the new owner and my life just got a whole lot simpler.

Career Dilema

I am: a Realtor, a Telephony Sales Rep for TNS, a Consultant for Genesis Land Development Corp, a Co-Owner of a Relocation Business "Settled in Canada", an Online Internet Marketer, I have been approached by World Financial Group to be an Agency Owner, and I am tired and confused... I have myself stretched so thin in so many different directions I am not sure which way is up. On top of all that I am engaged with a Baby girl on the way and am desperately trying to get back in shape by going to the gym 4 times a week - no excuses.
So what to do?
My personal opinion is to work part time business development for TNS (develop relationships and find leads but do not actually sell anything), Focus on Real Estate 40 Hours a week and work on Internet Marketing in the down times (...where the heck is a down time right?)
What Mailie wants me to do: Real Estate 110% nothing else.
I love Real Estate; it is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So why can't I just take the plunge again (I already did it once!) and focus solely on something I enjoy.
I think the answer is I don't want to throw away any opportunities that I have already spent time and money developing. It’s the same reason I still have the box for my Blender, and every elastic band or twist tie I have ever came in contact with, or the charger for my cell phone from 2001... all stored in the basement. I have a hard time letting go of something that MIGHT be useful in the future, that I MAY have an opportunity to use without having to go out and spend money to buy a new one. I have so much crap I am never going to use and I KNOW it but I still have trouble letting it go.

Real Estate: I invested 10 Months and tens of thousands of dollars into already and it has paid me back.
TNS: I have invested nearly 3 months of my time and it has yet to show me any REAL potential... there is huge potential there I can see it... but I can't touch it... or spend it!
TNS Business Development: I have basically been doing this already, Networking and developing relationships with people in the business world in order to eventually generate leads for telephony sales... Why would I bother doing this for telephony when I could do it for Real Estate?
Genesis: I invested about a week of my time learning the product and a few more evenings going to launch parties etc... Again although there is Huge potential there I have not been able to see any of it... I have not really given it a fair chance but I feel it’s a long shot.
Settled in Canada: I have invested hundreds of hours, hundreds of dollars and a Relationship with a very good friend of mine who I really appreciate and do not want to lose over a business decision. It has potential... it has massive potential... and plays right into Real Estate, fits it like a glove... But I haven't seen anything from it... and everything I envision is a long time down the road... That being said this is the one I think will be the hardest to let go of just because of the possible stress on my friendship with Simon.
WFG Consultant: I looked at this 4 years ago... again has absolutely massive potential, bigger than any of the others, its helping people - what I enjoy... but it is alot of work up front on the Chance that it will work.
Internet Marketing: I just started and although I have probably spent 15 hours or so on Research and Development...its fun, it’s expressive and could end up being quite productive. I could give it up I am sure... but I think the whole thing is good mental exercise for me and is relaxing rather than stressful.
So what is the solution to my dilemma?
.
.
.

I think the only answer has to be the same one for all the crap that I save in the basement.
Get rid of everything I am never going to use...
But how do I decide what I am never going to use?
Develop a formula to come up with a probability for success or usefulness? A Risk vs. Reward type scale system? Maybe...
Just get rid of it all and start from scratch? - I really don’t want to do that...
What about just eliminating some of the Major time/space takers and prioritizing the remainders? - I think that’s the goal and not the process.
I am going to create a spreadsheet with columns for Time/Expenses/Rewards and try to assign measurable values to them. I will post it on here after I am done.

Change Table

Today we picked up a change table from Falyn's Mothers, its a nice wooden table with a drawer which I think will work out great. Falyn also has a bunch of baby clothes and a dresser which needs some painting so I guess I have a project to work on in the coming weeks. Hopefully I don't end up painting half of our deck!

Bump

Now we can really start to feel the baby poking out in a small bump. On the side of the belly you can almost feel the head, and I think she is actually Punching now also not just kicking. She is going to be an athlete for sure!

Movement

Last night for the first time I felt the baby move... not just kick, but push against my hand and move around, like the baby was stretching trying to get room. It was a completely different feeling from kicking, I can still feel it on my hand as I try to think about it.

Slang English Terms

Today I learnt about this blue collar subdivision of England, Cockney. The slang the brits use is already strange enough to Canadians, but people from Cockney are even hard for other brits to understand. The way their slang was derived was from rhymes. For instance. "Whinnie the Pooh; Rhymes with Shoe..." - Whinnie the pooh gets shortened to just Whinnie and now somehow Whinnie = Shoe, "hold on ive got to tie my whinnie"... There is TONS of that