written by ashley marsh

Today was not the day for our coworker Bertha. It started off just as a normal day. We all get to the office and get settled in with our coffee and agendas. A few of us headed over to the conference room for our weekly meeting and when we got back we realized Bertha must have overslept.

We called her up and no answer. This is a typical thing with Bertha as you all well know know. We tried again, still no answer. Off to lunch we go. Maybe she will come in this afternoon. She does whatever she wants anyway!

We get back from lunch and there she is in all her glory. Acting as if she wasn’t late to work. We are so annoyed, just as anyone else would be if they had to work with someone like this. I mean seriously where is your sense of responsibility girl?!

Monica needs her help scanning a few things for a newsletter she was working on. Would you believe that Bertha lost her ever loving mind all because Monica asked for her help. RIDICULOUS. She gave her the silent of treatment of silent treatments. It was like someone literally turned her off. She sat there with a blank stare and wouldn’t make a peep.

This went on for a good couple of hours. I think she got even more mad when Monica gave up and went and asked Bertha’s friend Agnes for help with the scanning. You see they are friends but Bertha kinda thinks that Agnes is a brown noser and is trying to take the top seat in our office. Right now Agnes works in the common area and doesn’t get any type of quite time to get her work done.

When Monica walked back into our office, Bertha started spitting at her. Repeatedly. Like alot! Can you believe that? So gross. She was also growling and looked as though she was having a seizure. (I know she wasn’t so don’t jump to any conclusions – she just has anger issues) We ended up having to turn her off and send her to take a nap. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for Bertha. Actually, hopefully Bertha’s contract will be up soon and we can watch her ride off into the sunset. Until then!

written by ashley marsh

You all have seen the millions of Flip or Flop type real estate shows on tv right? I was thinking that we could produce our own show showing the “this is only funny because it isn’t happening to me” side of investing.

Don’t get me wrong – Investing in real estate has offered me an amazing opportunity. I run my own businesses. I typically run my own schedule. I have passive income. I love it!!

The journey to the end result in each project has it’s hiccups though. Here are just a few. #HGTV I hope you are paying attention!

1. The Fly Apocalypse – So we had this one beautiful two story in downtown CBUS that we completely gutted and remodeled. This is by far my favorite project because I got to plan everything from the studs to the cabinet hardware. This was a real blood, sweat and tears project. We worked on the home all through the winter and spring then our new tenants moved in during the summer. Well all is well until I get a text with a pic of literally 1,000 flies on the inside of the living room window (brand new windows none the less) What in the “H” is going. All I could wrap my head around was the idea that there must be a molded McDonald’s burger under the couch or something rancid that just got missed somewhere by the tenants. (Then I remembered that those burgers don’t actually decompose but that’s another blog topic for later) After called every exterminator in town and researching a dozen different possible reasons as to why these flies are taking over the home, we find that there is a type of fly that can get in the walls during construction because they are looking for a warm place to lay eggs and low and behold they all hatched at one. G-to-the-ross to say the absolute least!! Long story short a few sprayings and it was all good but …are you kidding me right now????

This was after a few of the spraying. I wanted to show you the first one but I can’t for the life of me find it. Just imagine the entire top part of the window being covered

2) The Sump Pump Disaster of 2017 – Oh yes folks imagine this one. We have a cute little condo with a basement that we literally just finished- with carpet. Do you all remember the inches and inches of rain we got in CBUS a couple years ago toward the end of summer? Oh no you don’t – well I do!! We get a call that the basement is flooded. Flooded? We have a sump pump!! What in the world???? Troy get’s over there to take a look and there is at least 2 inches of standing water in the basement. On the carpet. That we just put in. Not to mention our poor tenants actually used the basement and had stuff down there. OMG! So Troy and a buddy move all the furniture, take out the soaking piece of carpet and put that and all of the soaked pad in the back of the truck. Where did it end up? MY HOUSE!!! We had trash cans leaking water for a week until the trash guys came. And the carpet? We had it out drying in the sun for two days. Beverly Hill Billies much? Nightmare…

Not our house but you get the idea – This is pretty much what it looked like

3) Hamlet Falls – This one takes the cake. We bought a cool 3 story on Hamlet St. in CBUS. We had renovated it. All new kitchen, flooring, paint, fixtures. Everything updated while keeping all the original Victorian Woodwork and statement pieces. Our contractors are finishing up while we are on vacation. On the way home I schedule a showing for the next day. I take my at the time 1 year old son down with me to do a walk through before the showing just to make sure we don’t need to mop or anything else. We walk up to the back door where the lockbox is to find the door kicked in. WHAT WHAT!! Ok I’m totally freaking out and especially since I have the babe with me I am jetting out of there. I call Troy spazzing out and then call the police. Once the they all get there we follow the officer inside to find a waterfall coming through the kitchen ceiling. HOW IN THE WORLD??? Ok so we jet to turn the water off while the office keeps walking through. He gives us the all clear and we walk around to see if there is anything else wrong. Some turd broke kicked the back door, unhooked the drains to the bathroom sinks and ran the water on full blast. For those of you that are not familiar with plumbing; picture there being no pipe under the sink. Where does the water go? Oh – anywhere it wants!! For what had to be at least 2 straight days. Oh and the cherry on top – said turd opened up the one can of paint that was sitting in the house and kicked it over on the brand new carpet. THANK YOU TURD!

This pic only shows the Turd’s footprints heading toward the door. Not cool dude. Not cool.

I will tell you that there are bumps in the road with investing and these were a couple stories that happened throughout our journey. I love investing, remodeling, and getting people into our homes. It is a very rewarding industry and, while bumpy, it is amazing in the end.

Do you all have remodeling stories you want to share? Post them below. We would love to hear them!!!

written by ashley marsh

So – I was partially right! The day went the same as the last post up until about 10pm. We went to the rink in freezing rain at about 1015am. We were at the rink until lunch time. Left and there was still no snow – just regular rain at that point. Blaine played his next game and then we were heading home. We did in fact decide not to go snowboarding as planned though because it was almost 40 degrees and raining and that did not sound like any fun.

Instead of playing in the snow, the boys played some epic games of Madden and then the kiddos hit the hay. Troy kept checking the forecast and the weather forums (for those of you who don’t know this he was in fact a meteorology major in college) Ask him about it – He loves talking about the weather! – until finally, finally the snow started. At like 11pm.

This was after the an hour of ensuing ice pellets. The snow, however, did not just start. It came with a fury along with 35 mile an hour winds. It was ridiculous. We literally went from laughing about my prior blog post jinxing us, to asking if we had enough gas for the generator and batteries for flashlights. What in the world just happened.

So at this point Troy is totally geeking out because the snow is not just snow. It’s the “huge flake” snow. Ok so what does that mean? I guess that means it is legit snow that will accumulate quickly. Alrighty – While he is geeking out I am think we need to take advantage of this.

Do you all remember the video of the weather dude during one of the last hurricanes that got busted over-dramatizing the event? The dude was bent over holding onto something like he was about to go to Oz. Then, in the background, comes two teens gingerly walking across the street. STONE COLD BUSTED. This was all I could think about so I grabbed my gear and we went to work. The problem – The winds actually felt like we were going to Oz.

Realizing this wouldn’t work, we improvised and you can see the full video on our Facebook Page (@troymarshkw). Do it. It’s worth it!

So we were stoked because we got to play in the snow for a hot second. The morning though. Different story. We had to be out by 645 for the first round of games and I actually felt like I had put my foot in my mouth regarding my last post. The roads were crap and there was ice and snow drifts everywhere. As we went to the game we counted the cars the has spun out and were stuck on the side of the highway from the prior night – 6 in a 20 minute drive.

Honestly I realize that the weather here is sometimes ridiculous but I am thankful that we were home during the worst of it. Lesson learned – You just never know!! Hope you all had a safe and happy weekend!

written by ashley marsh

The phenomena that takes over CBUS the same time each year. The pandemonium that engulfs the city. SNOWMAGEDDON

You get a little hint that SNOWMAGEDDON is coming when you hear there may be snow in the forecast at the end of the next 6-7 days. You want to let the thought pass but there is a small part in the back of your brain that keeps it in storage.

You go about your life the next couple of days and then you hear that little thought so you pull up the weather to double check. You find that there is in fact a storm coming. SNOW – like a foot! Ok I have a few days before this so no worries and it’s at the end of the week so we are fine.

Thursday comes and you are bombarded with weather reports stating that we will get anything from .01 inch of ice to a foot and a half of snow. And here it comes.

There is a mad dash to the grocery stores. Everyone, and I mean all of CBUS, is buying bread, milk and cases of beer and wine. – CASES PEOPLE.

The snow shovels fly off the shelves. Sleds can’t be found. Everything for the weekend starts to get cancelled because this uber huge storm is brewing and we are going to be snowed in! People leave early Friday because it is 40 degrees and cloudy so, you know we have to leave because its going to snow tomorrow.

Saturday comes, you wake up expecting a winter wonderland with feet of snow. You look out and the grass is hardly even covered and there is nothing on the streets or sidewalks. Ok, they did say snow all weekend so maybe I just got a little excited and it’s really not coming until later. So you have a hockey tournament for your oldest kiddo that day and you get everyone ready to go and take off.

By the time the first round of games are over you would think we would have 3 or 4 inches on the ground. You had planned to take the family snowboarding since there will be fresh powder – and hey you live in CBUS so there is pretty much never fresh powder. You leave the rink and there is like a dusting on the ground. What the H?

You decide to just go anyway. So you head up to Mad River Mountain and do your thing because they are awesome and have stockpiled all the snow. On the way home – still nothing more than flurries. You must have read the forecast incorrectly. I must be hitting later on this evening.

You get back home and turn on the tv because you are uber confused and want to find out when the heck the snow is coming. You know what you find out? The storm already hit and is out of here. The foot and a half of snow, the ice, the chaos – all summed up in less than a half of inch of snow and a messed up calendar because everything you had scheduled for this weekend needs to find a new home within the next week. Awesome-sauce!

Yes folks this is the recipe for CBUS! Let’s see if we called it right for this weekend! We will check back in after SNOWMAGEDDON hits! Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

written by ashley marsh

So you are ready to buy your first home. You have been searching online and found the perfect two story victorian with original wood floors, ten foot ceilings, updated everything, fenced in yard and even a garage. You are ready to pull the trigger and can’t wait to move in. You call the agent listed on the property to schedule a showing. You are so excited. Tomorrow is the day! Your are going to see your dream home!

You currently live close to the burbs and have been looking to move closer to downtown because you are hip and love to go on gallery crawls and eat awesome food. Right now you have a decent drive including in your day every time you want to do this so moving closer would be ideal for your lifestyle.

Tomorrow comes and you hop in the car and put the address into Waze. You are excited and are talking about all the decorating that you are going to do once you buy the house while you take your normal route downtown. You are still chatting and dreaming of the new sofa when the gps takes down a street that you normally would not use to get downtown. Ok no biggie there must be a reck or something and its diverting you. Cool.

You keep following the directions and you don’t really recognize the neighborhood you are in, but, you can see the downtown buildings so you figure you are just about there. “Your have arrived at your destination” is voiced over your bluetooth.

Hmmmm… This is weird. Oh there is the house! It’s on a one way street and you are just past is so you have to do a quick round-about around the block. What you start to notice as your are driving though is that there is no one walking on the sidewalks you are still a little far from your normal dive bar and you see boarded up windows and vacant houses. Ok maybe this side of the street is being redone. You keep going.

You arrive at the beautiful two story victorian but you cannot go in because there is a police officer sitting in front of the drive way. He states that there was a robbery down the street and they are not advising anyone to be out in the area at the moment. PEACE OUT!

So bummed – you head back home and look up the house on the internet again. You start to see now that the home is in an up and coming redeveloping neighborhood. You realize that this wasn’t exactly the vibe you were looking for. You thought that all of downtown was like the couple blocks that you normally hang out at. This causes you to get discouraged and pause your search for a while.

This is a common thing that happens when searching homes. It is so very important to understand the neighborhoods and locations of your dream homes. Are they, in fact, close to your favorite spots? Are they in good school districts? How is the crime? Make sure you do your research and ask the professionals!

Comment if you have had an experience like this. We have some more good ones to to share!!

written by ashley marsh

So this time of year we are all going through Zillow to check your neighbor’s house that just went on the market right?! Don’t worry you can say yes, we all do it. Well once you check out your neighbor’s house you start to look at the next listing, then the next and the one after that and now you have been officially sucked into the vortex.

At this point I am usually coming up with tons of DIY projects that my house needs because everyone’s is cooler and I have been looking at that one chip of paint from when my son decided to shoot a hockey puck in the kitchen for the last 3 months – but a digress.

Then there you hit the moment. The moment where you can literally say no words. Why you ask? Because you scroll across this…

Can someone please explain this situation to me? Is it really bad lighting? Is it really pink? Who in the Holy H still decorates like this? Ok, maybe there is one bad pic that shouldn’t have made the cut. You keep scrolling and then you run across this gem….

The caption on this one possibly stating it was freshly staged. Right – No – No. This one could even be understandable if you were living out 100 miles outside of town and never ventured past the mailbox. But this next one takes the cake.

What is that? Who was that? How did this get into a listing slideshow?? OMG we need to call the cops asap and I can’t see anymore!!

Who in the world thought these were ok photos to put in an ad to sell a home? Please make sure that you leave it to the professionals while listing your home. There is definitely a reason why photographers and stagers have jobs! Don’t be the lawnmower house!

If you have amazingly bad listing pictures please share them! We love it!

images courtesy of terriblerealestatephotos.com

written by ashley marsh

Do you all have that one friend in your life that is the master of useless facts? The catalog of

I though I would bestow a little knowledge onto you all. Here we go. Hope you enjoy. (I snagged these facts from uselessfacts.net)

• In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a superman somewhere. – now I have to binge watch so I can prove this fact.
• Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories and hour. – Yes! Finally! An exercise I can master in like a day!
• The average person spends 6 months of their lifetime waiting for a red light to turn green. – I feel like it has to be far more than this don’t you?!
• A sneeze travels about 100 miles an hour. – Yep – sure does – hence the snot rocket!
• Apples, potatoes and onions all taste the same with your nose plugged. – Sounds fishy but now I must try it.
• You cannot hum and plug your nose at the same time. – Yep – totally true! My head just about exploded.
• Karaoke means empty orchestra in Japanese. – Hmmmm
• In Utah, it is illegal to swear in front of a dead person. Um – who is enforcing this law and how did this come about?? All the questions with this one.
• Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophioba is the fear of long words. – This is just rude
• Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating. – That is amazing!

What wonderful facts do can you add to this list? Don’t worry we will have more in the future as well!

written by ashley marsh

We started the extravaganza at Dueling Axes Columbus (https://theduelingaxes.com/). That was so cool! We got 12 hyperenergized folks together to drink beer and throw sharp objects. AMAZING! No really though this place is pretty neat!

The first few throws are about the most awkward feeling action ever. Then at some point, maybe by the second beer, it just starts to click. This is where things got serious. You see, we have some majorly competitive folks on this team. We had the option of two games to play 1) Is kind of like cornhole. You throw the ax at the wall and hit numbers around a bulls-eye. First to 21 without bonking wins. This went pretty well. Each lane had a few players and everyone was getting along just fine and well.

2) Is a little different. Each person throws the ax five times for one round then again for round two. The values change a little in round two but the person with the most points after both rounds wins. Again, we started to notice a few ringers at this point, but everyone was getting along just fine.

Then we decided to make up our own rules to include the entire team into one game. The rules of the MHG version go as follows… Three lanes with the team evenly split up. Each lane is working to get to 100 before the other lanes. You can imagine how this goes…Actually let me paint you the picture.

The first round went pretty well. Team 3 won because we discovered that they have like 3 ringers and the teams are stacked. OK so we can all move through this there is no way that they can keep that up right? Round two goes a little similar. Everyone is nicely taking their turns and team 3 wins again. The next round – and I do believe evenly matched rounds of beers starts. This is when things get going. Team 1 has a certain competitive individual who decided that his team needed to move a little faster than everyone else in order to get more points. Makes sense in theory.

The problem occurs when said individual is now running with a sharp object back and forth throughout the lane to get his throws in quicker. Ok we are all laughing and its all good. Again, team 3 wins. Are you stinking kidding me at this point.

Round 4. A certain individual is completely choking now. He thinks he is a ringer but he went one round with only 1 point. No mind you I went one whole round with a whopping 0 points – Yes folks 5 throws not one sticking. HURT EGO! So now said person from team 2 is also running back and forth and desperately trying to rally the team. Team 3 wins yet again.

I don’t even know how many rounds later within this last hour of play but I do believe rounds of beer matched – Last Round – all three lanes are desperately trying to get to 100. The problem – SLOP. The ax is flying off of the target all over the place. We are all hysterically laughing at each-other and can’t focus. And … Team 3 wins again. They took the entire night. SO MAD!

We had the best time! I highly recommend it for any team building session or if you are just looking for a great night out. It’s awesome because we got to experience a totally new activity, together, in our town. Check them out! I included pics of the event below. We will talk about dinner and dancing in the next post! Please share if you have any good ax throwing stories!!

written by ashley marsh

So everyone has a list of things in life that they “Just Can’t” with right? The things that just gross you out to absolutely no end. The things so obscure to other people but life ending to you. But what about the things in your work place that just totally are on another level? What, do you ask, are those things? Let me just tell you….

5) So have you ever been on the phone and the person on the other line is eating? And not just eating but shoveling their lunch because they have 15 minutes to eat and all you can hear is the chip crunching and pop slurping when they are supposed to be problem solving your password issue that you just spent 20 minutes on yourself. Ok, it’s a normal everyday sound and I totally get that but let’s talk about the person on the other line trying to eat ramen with chopsticks. Yes- the whole bowl of ramen has to be eaten at once because chop sticks don’t cut noodles – then the slurping and no – no -G-to the-ross

4) Pen Biting – Oh you know we have all done it but think about this for just a second. The pen that has been sitting on your coworker’s desk, that he accidentally snagged from the restaurant he just ate at because it “writes so well”. This pen that has been in the hands of numerous people at the restaurant that were eating hotwings (with their hands – likely licking the sauce off of their fingers – yes again we all do it), possibly going to the restroom while they are there and who know how many other horrible germs have passed onto that thing. The pen that is in your hand while you are surfing the web- falling into the Facebook wormhole- and then – and then – you don’t even realize it but you put the pen in you mouth. NOOOOO – and worse off you give it back to said coworker and don’t even realize you did it. Blah

3) The communal fridge – Now I will note that our particular office does not face this issue, however, I have been in the office world long enough to have experienced the moment when you open the door to get your lunch only to be overcome by the scent of something that just died. What is it you ask? That is the monumental question – No one can find the smell! That is, until about 6 months later when it gets to the point of no return and you find the yogurt that fell behind a drawer that has been there since 1999. – Yes sir!

2) Drinking coffee (or anything else for that matter) out of a cup you pulled from the dishwasher only to find out on your last almost empty cup sip that there is crusty leftover food funk stuck to the bottom. Oh no this is not happening right now. Who’s cup was this? What is the food? No – No – No – Instant vomit for sure. (and lets be serious this happens at home too – don’t act like it doesn’t)

1) Walking into the public bathroom stall after the person before you leaves – I mean really? The seat it warm. I can’t I just can’t. And if there is a smell – NOPE – Even if the person before you is a gorgeous super model and it smells like roses; there is just something about seeing the person that just used the bathroom before you. EYE CONTACT people – AWKWARD

I truly hoped you enjoyed the fact that I am clearly a borderline germaphobe and it is a miracle that I can function in the work place. I would love to here about your office experiences! What is the worst thing you have come across?? Comment below!

written by ashley marsh

Is anyone else completely stoked that it is like 19 degrees outside and snowing??? Well we are!!! Folks it is January 10th and we haven’t seen snow since, I believe, before Thanksgiving. It is time…

We posted on Facebook about Mad River Mountain today and we are so excited about that! We love to snowboard around there 🙂 Sitting in the office when I know I could be shredding actually hurts my heart at the moment.

I say shredding like I am good or something – hardly not but it is so much fun! – Let’s talk about Mad River Mountain for a bit.

Friday is a pretty awesome night to hit the slopes. Troy and I will grab the kids from school and head on up. The boys ski circles around us now and are actually getting to the point where they make fun of mom for “being too slow.” Which, mind you, is not fair considering they are like 3 ft from the ground but whatever.

Right now they have about half of their trails open, but, with snow in the forecast I would imagine more opening soon. They cater to everyone from beginners to experts and offer classes of all levels. They do have full rental services and kick a** new loft with food and beverage choices.

Mad River Mountain offers many events throughout the season and live music most weekends. If you are not a huge skier they also have the Avalanche Tub Park where you can sled on huge tubes. – Super Super Fun!

I totally recommend heading up there and checking it out. If you want to hit us up and schedule a time to go please do!!

http://www.skimadriver.com