Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Math Wiz

So I am married to a math genius. He gets is from his parents, especially his dad. His dad's favorite bar trick back in the day was to tell people he could add or multiply faster in his head than you could with a calculator. By the time the person could get the numbers into the calculator, he would have the answer. He could supposedly go up to 17 digits (or 100 trillion) in his head.

Last night we were at the grocery store & while we were checking out, Ben goes "the total is going to be $114.25." Want to know what the total was, $117.55. He was off by $3.30. Subconsciously he managed to add everything we purchased as we walked through the store. The only reason he was off was because he was not sure how much all of the produce we bought weighed. He had estimated on the green beans, squash, zucchini, apples, sweet potatoes, avocado, and grapes. And yet was still within under $5. This is a very regular occurrence. He is normally within $5. Expect when we separate at the store & he does not see everything I put in the cart. Then he is off by $10-$15. Ridiculous, right?

Here's another even more ridiculous one... Easter weekend we went to the store where Ben stated we bought $200 worth of groceries. The bill totaled only $149. I was making fun of him for being so far off. I mean, he is never off by $50. So he shows me the receipt, where it showed how much we saved. We had saved $51. $149 spent + $51 saved = $200 worth of groceries. So not only did he add what we spent, he also managed to subconciously add how much we saved on every single item.

So my husband is seriously bizarrely smart when it comes to math. It kind of freaks me out every time he does it.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Next Project


We closed on our next project on April 25. It is a lovely aqua colored brick house located in the North Park Hill neighborhood.

It is currently a 2 bed, 1 bath house with a study. The original porch was turned into an additional room with 2 storage sheds attached to the house. Both storage sheds were fully sheet-rocked & insulated on the inside. It appeared that they were used as bedrooms. This house is much cleaner than our last project. The paint colors are atrocious however.

Want to see before pictures, go here.

Our plan of action is:
  • scrap popcorn ceiling off of living/dining room ceiling
  • re-texture living room, dining room, bedrooms & study
  • gut the existing bathroom
  • gut the kitchen
  • re-finish the hardwood floors
  • new windows
  • new roof
  • paint the exterior of the house
  • remove front fence
  • tear down existing sheds
  • move the washer/dryer hook-ups & hot water heater to new closet
  • build master bedroom with closet & master bath on the existing patio foundation
  • build family room on rest of patio foundation with french doors to backyard
  • and, maybe, a little bit of yardwork
It is an ambitious timeline. We are hoping to be done in 30 days and have the house back on the market end of May or early June.

We are currently one week into the project. (By, we, I mean the contractors.) The new roof is on, the sheds have been torn down, the framing is up for the new master suite and family room, existing bath has been gutted, kitchen has been gutted and the front of the house is being prepared for re-texturing.

Want to see the progress, go here.