Ayudame!

Ethan's language classes have finally paid off. This morning he got stuck underneith the kitchen table and yelled, "Ayudame!" (Help Me!). He was using his Spanish skills that I have been drilling into him for the past 3 years, ok so maybe he got that off of Diego the TV show.

My Job

Everyone has been asking me, What is it that you are doing right now? So, I thought I'd give you an update. I have been open for business for 12 weeks now. My Day consists of meeting with clients that I have met through door knocking & refferals to help them find solutions to their financial needs (save money on taxes, save for retirement, create income from savings and start education savings). During my first 17 weeks, there are 3 goals that I must meet in order to stayed employed with Edward Jones: 1) opened accounts 2) earned commissions 3) new prospects (doorknocks). I have met the 2 of the goals(accounts and commissions) already and I am working to get the rest of my prospects. With a little effort I hope to crush all 3 goals.
All of the those details aside, what I strive to do is become a solution to all of those I meet. I take all opportunities to learn from my trainers, mentors, analysts and money managers. I have learned a ton but look forward to the day when I can look back and say "man, Ive come a long way".
Ive met a lot of interesting people out there, here is one of them,
My favorite customer quote,"you need a bling-bling new car to be successful broker"-this comes from someone with several bling-bling cars but nothing in the bank. He needs to read the Millionaire Next Door.
So to summarize it all, I meet with clients , recommend securities to meet their financial needs and constantly seek new clients via knocking doors. The Edward Jones system is simple and has worked for decades. If all goes well I should have my new office about 8 months from now. You'll all be invited for the Grand Opening.
Last of all, Ive learned that everyone can invest a little today to have a whole lot tommorrow. Id love to help everyone save for a rainy day. Please call me if I can help you save money on taxes(aka: need a tax deduction?) or help you get better returns on your savings. See ya out there!
-Matt

Two more projects down and 2 more to go. Here are the results of my latest project completions. The hall electrical panel, if you recall the wall around the panel has been boarded up for the past 18 months due to the electrical overhall of the house. So finally a new sheet of drywall was put up, mudded, painted and then the trim was reinstalled.

The icing on the kitchen pantry cabinets is by far my proudest moment as a DIYer and weekend warrior. I made a custom countertop. I custom cut MDF material to fit the shape of the countertop I needed, stacked another piece underneath it and then glued them together. I then bought some laminate that matches the rest of our kitchen and cut it to the shape of the sides, and top. I then glued the laminate sides on, routered the edges flush and then proceded to do the same to the top piece. After the dusty cleanup, it was done. Not only does it look good but cost a fraction of a profession shops price (my cost $125-awesome huh?)

My next projects include he hand rail, window sills and then of course the landscaping (I forgot about that, its a big one)

we are still alive

so first off thanks for Allison for the encouragement to get posting again! I have been very busy lately!!!!!! One of the things that have taken up a lot of my time is a digital scrapbook contest. It has been so so so much fun! It was like the amazing race... we had a couple of stops at different web sites each week for six weeks and we had to make a scrapbook page according to their requirements. Some of the challenges were pretty easy but some of them made me go way out of my normal realm of style! I have loved being stretched to the max at times, but Matt has been very jealous of my computer as of late. So with the race winding down this week Matt is really excited and I am ready to take a break too.
Here are a couple of the pages that I have made, I hope you like them!

this layout we had to do in "altered art" style... it was tough to do in digital for me... I like to do these kinds of things in a more hands on way, but it was fun to try!

This one had to have so many of all different types of elements... so 6 pictures, 5 frames 8 flowers... all from one designer. It took along time to gather everything and then put it just right onto the paper, luckily it was supposed to be done in "hodge podge" style, which is supposed to be messy!

We had to do a page about our most memorable trip. I had a few trips to pick from but I chose the weekend get away Matt and I had in Park City. The pictures had to be in black and white and include some song lyrics in the journaling. I had a fun time with this page but there are some things I would change now that I am looking at it again.

This page had to be all about me... I took a silly approach for the journaling, but I love the look of the page!

This was the first challenge and we had to make the page at least one half our favorite color, use our favorite embellishment at least 3 times and put pictures of our favorite things to scrapbook about. It was fun to try to and figure out how to put my boys on a page that is purple with big swirls on it. But it turned out cute. I think I will change the journaling to "I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy..."

As for Matt and the kids, they are all doing great! The boys are getting bigger everyday and A can talk so well it surprises us over and over again! Matt is working hard at work and on the house, both are moving along well. The kids are really anxious to get outside all the time, but most of the time it is still pretty cold! But we get out as much as we can. I hope everyone is well!

Very Pretty

So my parents tell me all the time that I need a little girl, not so much for my sake but for A's. (They're afraid that he likes girl things a little too much, and since I don't have a girl I let him.) Well this picture is case and point. I was on the phone for just a few minutes getting some information. I went to find him and he had the mascara in his hand putting it on very skillfully without a mirror. He actually got some on his lashes, which impressed me, but he also put it all over his lips and eyes. I thought that you all would enjoy this, I think he looks a little like a scarecrow.

Newest Home Projects

Here is the latest progress on my in house projects. I finally tore out the beat up drywall around the electrical panel, put up a new sheet of drywall and then taped and muded the seams. It still requires another coat of mud and then some swipes of the paint brush. I also tackeled the custom laminate countertop for our new desk area in the kitchen. I still need to sand it and then apply the glue, laminate and then router the edges. It was fun to see more on the house take a step toward competion. The last remaining project is the hand rail upstairs. Who knows when that will actually happen.
-Matt

just to catch up a bit

Ok so there hasn't been anything outragiously cool the last couple of weeks (we did have fun at the Superbowl party though). But I did want to update a little, mostly we have been sick, well for a day or two and then sick again... so I havn't been sleeping much!
I do have another blog that is really boring right now, but I entered a Digital Scrapbooking contest so there will be lost of fun stuff on their soon! Our team name is "I don't give a scrap!" (my friend Jenny's husband came up with it funny huh!) Anyway there will be a bunch of new scrapbook pages on there each week some of them staring non other than E and A. So you can check it out ever once in a while if you want.
Love you all!
http://idontgiveascrap.blogspot.com/