I wasn’t sure I could complete another 31 day blogging challenge with my new blog however I did and it’s in the books as they say.  I think I may take a break for this long weekend unless anything major comes up I feel the need to blog. 

I will continue to blog regularly though so please stay tuned for that.  I’ve read some pretty awesome blogs this challenge and love what the challenge does for people and their blogging.

Keep it up!

Work got me an iPhone 4 today and I’ve been playing with it ever since.  It’s quite the device to be honest.  There are a few glitches however in the next few days there will be fixed for all of them and enhancements.  I won’t go into all the features, I’m pretty sure you can look it up online if your curious. Heck you may even have one or are waiting for one.

The main thing I wanted to get at is that people can change.  I’ve had a pretty heavy set mind that all apple products are crap (all the MacBook still is haha) but some of the other devices are pretty slick and actually functional.  The same can be said for a lot of things, you can always have a change of heart with anything as long as you give it a try.  If after that you still hate it or think the same way then fine.  The biggest thing is GIVE IT A TRY.

But yeah iPhone4’s are cool!

The people we connected with were pretty awesome in the way they think very similar to the way we do and have been very successful in their own way.   They’ve got some amazing dreams and goals they want to knock down and actually hearing them talk about them is pretty cool.  Not many people just open up and talk about the kinds of charities the scholarships that they want to create.  I thought for a second I was talking to ourselves! lol  It’s awesome when you come across like minded individuals and to know there are actually people out there that do think the opposite of the masses and are not just sheep doing the same as everyone else.

One thing that really hit me when we were chatting was “Love and Trust” and “Fear and Doubt”.  We talked a lot about these two items and to be honest we are a world full of “Fear and Doubt”.  We could sure use a lot more “Love and Trust” in society today.  I think over the years the Love and Trust has just been waning away.  There is just so much Fear and Doubt these days compared to lets say when I was growing up.  For example when growing up all the people in the cal-de-sac I grew up in had Love and Trust for everyone.  People would watch over other people’s kids and it was a greater sense of community.  Now these days everyone has all this Fear and Doubt and thinking everyone is out to screw them or take their kids away etc…  What the hell have we as a society become? 

Anyway reconnecting is awesome; give someone you’ve not met up with awhile a call and schedule a date with them!

I guess I could talk about the fact I got my ID card from work today, they took them back in November last year and FINALLY gave them to us today. HOLY HELL I look fat in the face.  It actually really got to me.  I know I’ve lost a bit of weight since that picture but still have put some on and really need to get back into better shape.  I know already because Lindsay is cooking healthier meals I’ll loose some weight that way, food is 80% of it.  I did when I did the Wild Rose Detox.  So I guess we will see.

So I don’t know what else to write so I’ll leave it at that and head to bed early.

So what’s next? My Freedom, I cannot wait to join my wife so that both of us do not have to wake up to some stupid alarm clock.  It’s also I think when people will actually look at us and take us serious that you can actually be successful in this business.  I would never ever put our family in jeopardy and when the time comes to make that decision to step away from my job you better believe I’ll be counselling, thinking about it and making my own decision that’s best for our family.  It will be a great decision and one we plan on making Late Fall next year.  We will be working hard towards that and 2011 will be an amazing amazing year. 

I can vividly imagine my freedom day right down to the last details.  What’s awesome about that is we will have at least one child by then and I’ll also be home to spend time with him/her which is one of my biggest goals is to be around with my kids and see every moment of their lives.  Its a huge goal and not one many parents can say and it’s worth fighting for.  I’ve seen a glimpse of that kind of family with Kyle and Erron where Kyle is a professor for the UofS and he gets a lot of time off because of the school season.  He is an amazing family man and is one father I look up to outside of my family.  I think everyone could learn a few things from the Andersons.  So kudo’s to you guys for raising the family you do.

I want to have that great family life, like I said it’s important to me, it’s worth the fight and we will make it happen.  Step 1 was to get Lindsay free, and we’ve been able to do that with this business and the association. Step 2 is to get me free so that we can be together and raise an awesome family.

FREEEEEEEEDOM!  That’s for you Cliff, in reference to your latest blog post (http://www.peerpressureworks.com/2010/08/29/tales-of-jake-feat-kelly-harll/).

William Wallace portrait in

The Guthrie Castle

on the Isle of Mull, Scotland

Erron had originally talked about people who were having babies and “as long as it’s healthy” things would be okay.  But she talked more on “what if it’s not” which is the title of that blog entry.  She went into some of the status of Autism and how it’s been increasing since the 1950’s at a pretty alarming rate I feel.  Which is where some of my comments came from as to what has caused this.  Anyway you can read more on it on the above links.

My topic today is around some of what Tammy’s comments were and how some people feel on just what the hell is the reason for all the allergies, asthma, autism, and the list goes on.  Why are we getting more and more of these “diseases” (is that even the right word? I don’t want to offend).  I think Tammy went into a great soapboxy blog entry on really what we are being exposed to and making sure we educate ourselves. 

I mentioned in my comment to Tammy that I used to live in Sherwood Park which has the lovely Refinery Row between Edmonton and Sherwood Park right in the backyard.  It’s a cancer causing majestic sight that you don’t want to miss when visiting these parts.  My parents lived here because my father and my step father both worked in the Refinery area and it was convent to live there and the community was great but what about the effects the 20 years has had on my life?  I don’t know.  I’ve been pretty healthy, no major ailments, I rarely get sick, but what about when I reproduce?  Same with my wife, she’s lived in Sherwood Park all her life too.  Will we have mutant babies? (haha I’m trying to be funny, cause I know my mom is reading this).  I don’t think so but it does raise concerns.

I guess all we can do now is make sure that we watch what we put into our bodies, what chemicals we use to clean our house, and what kinds of foods we eat.  Aside from the fact we are building an Amway Global business, I’m quite impressed with the fact we have an amazing product in the Nutrilite brand which is the only supplement brand to grow, harvest and process plants on it’s own certified organic farms in accordance with nature – using sustainable, chemical-free methods.  Pretty comforting they don’t use chemicals.  Had I known about Nutrlite before building this business we would have been taking it because we take multi-vitamins and other supplements.  We don’t get anywhere near the nutrients that we used to in our foods in the 50’s or earlier.

Another interesting fact about foods and what we are putting into our body came from a book I read when doing the Wild Rose Herbal Detox was the following:

“In 1958, only a few known food additives existed and only a mere 419 pounds were added to our food chain annually in North America.  Today there are over 3 million additives (almost 2 billion pounds) added to our food chain each year, and this number appears to be growing.”

You’ve gotta be kidding me!  You want a partial answer to why things are so terribly wrong with our bodies these days, I think there is part of the answer.  James also talked a bit about food and how what we are eating is getting emptier with little to know nutrients and minerals that our bodies need.  You can check out James’s post here, “Why are you eating so much soy and corn?”

The thing is people need to stand up, start educating themselves and making these issues known otherwise it will just get worse and worse.  More additives will be added, more crap will be acceptable for people to live near and God knows what other crap people will be exposed to.  I think one big argument is that things cost more to supplement, to eat better, to live in places that are not as toxic, yeah that may be true but what are you willing to sacrifice?  Heck look at Kyle and Erron, while not everyone may be able to do this, they’ve become Do It Yourself Farmers! lol Check out these posts on Farming by Kyle.

Anyway I know I tried to wrap up that last paragraph and then went into something else, oh well it’s my blog!  Educate yourself about what your exposing to you and your family, that’s the biggest message I’m trying to get across.

 

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Please check out these other all-star bloggers in the 2010 Summer Blogging Challenge. Cliff – Peer Pressure Works, Chad – The Grind, Kelly – ‘Round the Bend, Kim – In Desperate Need of Entertainment, Kyle – Teacher, Tinkerer, Farmer, Geek, Liam – In the Now, Brad – Kick Me Out Soon, Tammy – Tam I am, Erron – From The Inside Looking In, James – Feelings of White, Vlad – Analog Coast, Janine - Because

Anyway I was there for training and had a great time.  Met some new people who are excited to challenge themselves but raise more awareness for this great cause.  What was kinda cool to be honest was when they were talking about the sponsors for this event and they mentioned Amway Global was the National Supporting Sponsor.  When I checked in they asked how I heard about The Drop Zone and I said through Amway Global and they said oh really.  Told them I was an IBO and they were a bit taken back. LOL Funny how people react sometimes.  Amway Global is getting their name out a bit more now since they did have a lull.  It’s great to see a company give back to great causes.  I don’t see the company I work for’s name on there! 

Something I realized today was by raising money for this great charity is that I am sorta living one of my goals of building this business.  We have a goal to give a lot more money to charities we support.  I can tell you in the last 10 years of working I hardly donate because why? I cannot afford to.  It’s also what I’m seeing a lot of when I ask for donations.  People avoid it like the plague. Not that I want to pressure people into making donations but the fact of the matter is people cannot afford to donate or they donate only to one charity a year and that’s it. To be honest that’s pathetic, a should be giving back WAY more then we are.  ESPECIALLY if we draw off those charities. One of my goals like I said was to donate more money to charities and we will be able to do that through what we are creating.  I’m pumped to be to do that in the not to distant future.  So raising more money for Easter Seals has been pretty awesome as we are around the $900 mark.  Still working hard to get that $1500 so I can complete the Drop Zone so if you’re able to donate that would be awesome!

September 7th, I’ll be rappelling! 

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2692229

While some people may not understand how a person at the age of 24 could retire, it really doesn’t matter.  We’ve made it happen.  Its making smart choices, getting out of debt, and creating an ongoing residual income on the side.  Yes we’ve done all of those things and because of it we’ve been able to free my wife so that she can live a life of choice instead of a life of being told what to do during those 8-9-10 hours a day. 

It’s been a pretty amazing day today.  We freed Lindsay at 2pm, showed up at her work and took her out of there.  Pretty much took maybe less than 5 minutes, didn’t want to spend anymore time in there then we had to.  We then headed for lunch with our coaches and mentors and a team member that wasn’t working today.  I don’t think it’s really set in for Lindsay right now because it just feels like a Friday where the weekend is here.  Even come Monday it will sink in only a little bit.  It will be a month before she really realizes what is going on and that she is free!

I’m really excited to start this new chapter in our life.  It’s going to be a great year coming up and we are speaking my freedom late Fall 2011 when we hit Double Eagle Ruby.  That’s the next goal and that’s when the big retirement party will happen.  When I retire is when it will really sink in for some people because there will be no more J.O.B. income, the income will be 100% Amway Global and that will be the largest impact.  This really does work and we’ve done it with integrity and without compromising our values or being “those Amway people”.  I’m pretty proud of the accomplishments we’ve made so far despite me being so negative at the start to the point we almost never did this.  I’m glad I could take my head out of my arse and actually make a educated decision.

To the next chapter…

Like I mentioned before I was worried what my friends would think and really there was only one blog entry by James where he gave some thoughts into what we are doing. You can find that blog entry here.  It was provoked by my Dream Stealers blog entry.  However after exposing my blog to some people that didn’t know it, or knowing people were following it for awhile really didn’t affect me like I thought.  I have great friends who respect me for what we are doing and I respect them for their views and opinions.  Really it doesn’t matter what people think because we know where we are going and how we are going to get there, despite the odds and all the other stuff that people bring up.

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So I’ve split up this blog post because tonight is the eve of my wife’s freedom date.  The date where she will never have to work for another man again, for someone who will tell her what to do and when to get up to chase a paycheque.  Well I should say she really hasn’t had to chase one of her 3 paycheques each week because one of the broke financial advisors still has not paid her in two months.  She’s submitted that invoice today as her final one so it will be interesting when I go pick her up tomorrow if he has her final cheque.  If not I’ll be pissed.  We’ve budgeted Lindsay’s paycheques for the last two months to go directly onto debt.  Him not paying us doesn’t affect how we live or puts us on the street but it affects us paying off the last line of credit debt that we have and I’m pumped to get that done.  So PAY UP BROKE FINANCIAL ADVISOR.  Maybe you should take your own damn advice!

I’m excited for Lindsay, excited for her to re-discover who she is without the stress of showing up for a job.  The last two jobs she’s worked have been pretty stressful, political, and to be honest degrading to her.  Well no longer.  No longer does she have to dress up for some other man, looking all sexy like she does, she can do that for me now   I’m excited for Lindsay to pick up her yoga practice again and for her to do P90X.  She’s really really pumped for that.  Could she do that during the early morning or after regular work hours? Sure but that just reduces the amount of time for everything else like spending time with me, eating healthy, all that other stuff.

Most importantly I am excited to get my wife back.  I’m excited to get to know my wife where the stress of a job does not loom over her head.  I have no idea what to expect, but I’m pumped to enter this new chapter of our lives together and I owe what we’ve done to smart decisions and great association. 

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Please check out these other all-star bloggers in the 2010 Summer Blogging Challenge. Cliff – Peer Pressure Works, Chad – The Grind, Kelly – ‘Round the Bend, Kim – In Desperate Need of Entertainment, Kyle – Teacher, Tinkerer, Farmer, Geek, Liam – In the Now, Brad – Kick Me Out Soon, Tammy – Tam I am, Erron – From The Inside Looking In, James – Feelings of White, Vlad – Analog Coast, Janine - Because