Things that make my heart warm on a snowy snowy day

Hello Blogaritaville.

Contrary to popular belief (and probable hope by a few individuals), I am not dead.

My laptop has a nasty virus and other crap, but I will not tell you all about my problems. 

Instead, I would like to share some things that make me love life this 42nd January of mine.

1. My Christmas cactus is going to bloom after all this winter.  Hip hip hooray!

2.  Chase's awesome Asian dishes.
. 

Sure we do not get to eat until around 9 when he cooks, but it is worth the wait. trust me.

3. Sweet messages from my sweet husband.

4.  My heart wreath.

5. My heart dishes.

6.  This bundle of ridiculous love.

(next to my new cow pillow I bought at the FIRC for 75 cents. love that too).

7. My favorite yoga dog, demonstrating the downward dog.

Don't those Bilbo Baggin's feet crack you up?

I am sorry, but there is not a cuter thing on this planet.

Yes, even cuter than your kid.


Seriously. Look at this mug.

8. This cute oil painting I bought for $3 at the ARC.

So what if it is just fancy-ing up a shoe shelf?

9. Not to brag, but I bought this brand new Guess purse for $4 at the ARC as well.

10.  AND for the BIG HURRAH! The merci beau coup de gras  (just made that up) . . .

My new Kenneth Cole boots bought in an actual store that did not have the word "thrift" on the sign.

Alert the media, I bought something NOT PREVIOUSLY OWNED people.

Here is another angle. 

AND ONE MORE!!

THE END!

Craigslist Stalker

I have been in major "clean out the damn clutter" mode for the past two weeks. I have taken two jeep loads to the FIRC in the last week and (shockingly) have only come home with about a half load. Maybe someday I will actually be able to park my Jeep in the garage. To that end, I have posted all kinds of furniture and extra crap on Craigslist (but have only managed to sell one little office chair). Boo-hoo.

Well on to what I gathered at the FIRC and elsewhere.

Okay, here is a weird one. Ever see one of these?

It is a carved little porcelain plate with a blue light behind it,

that looks like this when it is dark.

How could I resist for $1.99? I mean seriously.

Through the magic of Google, I learned that this thing is a "lithophane."  I can't wait for that to be on Jeopardy. Boo-ya  Alex!

Last year for my b-day, Matt took me to the ARC in Denver (yes that is what I wanted to do) and I bought a red gumball machine. It has been sitting down in my laundry room gathering dust. So in my push to declutter, I got the thing out, painted it white and filled it with my all time favorite, WHOPPERS! Woo-hoo. BTW, on my eighth birthday, my brother Mike bought me a carton of Whoppers-- and I have to tell you that it is still one of my best birthday memories. I was so dang excited.

Now it is like it is my 8th birthday everyday!

So since I posted a bunch of  crap on Craigslist, I had to counterbalance that with looking for crap to take home on Craigslist. Yin and Yang. And speaking of yin and yang, up until two weeks ago, I thought it was "ying and yang."  Am I retarded? How did I never notice that there was no "g"  in  yin before. Duh and oh yeah, it wasn't until law school before I realized that "for all intents and purposes" was not "for all intensive purposes."  I wonder what other phrases I am mis-phrasing.

So anyway, the Rocky Mountain Craigslist postings are not that extensive --as you can imagine. While purusing the  "free" section I see a listing for all kinds of promising things. And guess what ?  The free stuff is on my street. And guess what else? It is the same house that I bought my butcher block island. In the end, I  took home a wicker rocker and a lighted makeup mirror. And guess what else else? I have been wanting one of these mirrors for like years. Every time I go into Bed Bath & Beyond I am shocked when I look into one of the x10 magnification mirrors on display and see that I have a wild hair growing out my eyebrow or chin. I have never really wanted to fork over 60++ bucks to terrify myself in this manner, but for free, I will.

Have you ever seen my spare bedroom turned Lori's dressing room otherwise known as the "princess suite?" I highly recommend that you forgo having kids --or at least keep them to a minimum so you can have one of these rooms. Seriously.

Oh gawd, this post is getting long.

I will be quick.

In a turn of genius, I hung up this little corner light that I bought at a garage sale. That corner was so dark.

I had to string it through this scary hole.

I was pretty proud of myself.

Oh and do you want to see the other door painted orange?


Of course you do. Here it is.

I really do like it.

And finally, so you can see the kind of mature people that I live with.

"tongue of Lori"

RUDE!


AND something totally totally unrelated. Has anyone ever made Moo Shu Pork? What about those pancake things that go with it? Is it impossible?

The Apple of my Island

 Happy 10/10/10 y'all.

 ************************
We slept in Saturday morning because we had been down to Denver on Friday night and we did not get home until after 1am (which is pretty much unheard of around here).  After breakfast we decided to take the dogs for a walk on the golf course which has finally closed for the winter.  The golf course becomes our default snowshoe route, sledding hill and general dog walking spot all winter long. Love it. Anyway it was cold and, get this, snowing on Saturday. Ugh.

Contrary to our street be designated a "circle" it is actually a semi-circle and just around the curve, our neighbor was having a garage sale right across from the golf course. They weren't having much luck due the fact that it was cold and ya know, snowing. Matt and I were the only customers.

We take a quick look around and then . . . .

I spotted it.

There it was.

I have been searching craigslist for almost two years now.

When I do find something similar, the sellers want $300 for it. Uh, I don't think so.

What is it?

This John Boos million pound maple island.

I have wanted one of these honking islands since high school. My friend Jennifer's mom had the same island in her kitchen and I LOVED it more than words.  I graduated from high school in 1986. Hello. That is a long time to wait for a giant chunk of wood.


Guess how much the neighbors wanted for it? 

$50.  I almost peed.  But still,  I could not resist bargaining (it was a garage sale after all) and offered them $40.

SOLD!

It was in pretty sad shape and we spent another $20 on sand paper and the better part of the day fixing her up, but now she is PERFECT.  (In my excitement I forgot to take BEFORE pics).

OK, check it out. I took pictures from every possible angle to show you just how darn perfect it is in my kitchen.

(we took the knife holder off because I have a magnetic holder for knives already)

The real deal peeps.

Matt is going to lower the light two feet so it will be hanging at just the right height over my island (you know I like to keep the man busy).

I am in Love. Doesn't it look like it was custom made for my kitchen?

I am convinced that ANYTHING you want you can  find for next to nothing if you go to enough thrift stores and garage sales.  What I love about this particular find is that we weren't even going to a garage sale, we just ran right into it.


PS:

I have mentioned before about how Matt and I have a garage sale list of things we are hoping to find someday. 


For the last year in addition to that island and a million other things,  I have been on the lookout for something like this bucket to use as a trash can in my bathroom (oh and yes, I am 100% serious).

You would think that there would be thousands of old buckets like this out there, but I have yet to find one.

Oh well. One of these days. 

Today I will just sit here and be happy about my awesome island.

Why didn't I think of that!

Seriously, this is hilarious. I wish it was my blog.

http://catalogliving.net/

I am totally moving in with Gary and Elaine!!!

In other news, I got off my lazy ass and created a work blog (but I don't want to cross reference it because I don't think any of my clients need to know about my views on polygamy, marijuana laws, wine consumption or all about my thrift store addiction--- Not that any amateur sleuth or my creeper sister-in-law couldn't figure it out if they really wanted-- I just don't need to let it all hang out). I already have a website, but I thought I would go with a work blog as well. Keep me focused.  Actually that is what "LexLociLori" was supposed to be about-- local legal issues, but, uh-- that is not what happened. Ha! Sue me.


Speaking of thrift addictions, this is what happened to me yesterday at the FIRC.

WHY? WHY? WHY?

I used to be embarrassed about how often I went and then I eventually surrendered to it and now I am treated like royalty and given unadvertised "discounts."

BTW, the FIRC is pronounced like one word-- (say "furk"). When I leave the house, Matt likes to say, "Just come straight back, no FIRCing around."

When I was leaving, I spotted these dread-locked kids heading into the FIRC.  Too late hippies, I got all the good stuff!  I was actually trying to take a picture of the sign outside, but these two were more interesting. I normally don't stalk people outside the FIRC. Promise.

Well, when all was said and done, I had FIRCed up this mess.

Did you notice the book? I think that is about the fifth book from that genre that I have purchased of late.

It is as if I think I can read my way skinny.

Day Trippin

Since the Broncos are on rain delay, I thought I would get my blog on.

Yesterday the frugal gods looked down on me and smiled.

Our day started off at the Frisco Depot for breakfast.

Here is our receipt.

Can you believe that? This was for two full breakfasts with coffee ( in a resort town).

Later, we decide to head to Denver for a  "B-double E double R- U -N."   That is a  "BEER RUN " for those of you who don't listen to Outlaw Country.  I can't really divulge all the details, but  when my mother-in-law calls and lets me know that "The Eagle Has Landed,"  it is time for a Coor's Light rendezvous. YEE HAW!

We stop at the Conoco to get my mandatory road trip Diet Coke.

I am still trying to log calories.

Me:  All these snacks are so fattening.

Clerk: What are you specifically looking for?

Matt:  Chips that help you lose weight.

Hardy har-har.

SIDE NOTE: See this is where I have problems with that Bible story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. According to  that story only one little boy in 5,000 people had a lunch.  Jesus had to feed all those people with only a couple of fish and two loaves a bread.  I am sorry, I don't buy it. Not one of those people had a fig or two in their pocket?  I do not drive to Denver without a soda and a power bar and I have a cell phone,  a Jeep, and there is a Carl's Jr., Burger King and McDonald's between here and there. Puh-lease.

Road trip conversation:

Me: Can you believe it has been 9 years since 9/11 happened?

Matt:  It has been and I don't understand why everyone is making such a big deal about the mosque near ground zero.  That is like making a big deal about having an Irish pub in England. They are not all members of the IRA.


LOL. Where does he come up with these things?

First stop: Arvada ARC. It is not the good ARC, but it will do.  Among other things, I got this Yankee candle.

I really love this scent. $5.00 (they retail for $24.95 at Bed Bath and Beyond).

I also got these Adidas running shoes for $7.99.

Does it bother you to wear used shoes? Not me. Do you wear rental bowling shoes? Besides, I am sure whoever originally bought these had cute, unstinky feet.

After that, we all met over at my bros-in-law Dan and Eric's house.  Their house and most of their furnishings are mid-century.

They just bought this Dick Van Dyke-ish chair. Cute, huh?

My mother and father- in law brought their dog Fritz. He can give Murphy a run for his money in the cute department.

"I will make you love me."

Later, Eric and I went to this really neat vintage store where I found an awesome beauty shop hair drying chair, complete with built- in ash tray.  I wondered if Matt would mind if I spent $250.00 for that number. I wonder if he would mind if I smoked a half a pack menthol Kool's while drying my hair?

Just last week I was wishing I had one of those chairs.  That is not a lie.

I forgot to take a picture, but it looked something like this.

Okay, on to the coolest part of my day. After the vintage store, Eric and I went to this garage sale that was ending and the guy was putting his stuff away.  I bought two saw horses for Matt (for $5) and as the guy was making change, I noticed he had an incredible garden. I mumble, half to myself:  "wow! that is an impressive garden !"  Well what did the guy do next? He went in his house and got some grocery bags and had me start picking green beans, tomatoes, squash, edamame, peppers, cucumbers and beets!  And he helped AND gave me cooking tips. How cool was that?

Here is just some of my bounty.

Oh, and my sweet mother-in-law gave me 2 bottles of wine!!! 

She brought me my favorite wine (pictured above) and a new wine to try.

We made it back home and Matt watched three episodes of Parenthood with me. I love that show.

It was a wonderful day in spite of the fact that Osama Bin Laden is still on the loose and the US has crazy Koran burning Bible beaters.

THE END.

To see other thrifty finds, click here.

Summer is Slipping Away

Summer is winding down here in Summit County. Today is the first day of school already (not that I have school age kids).  We got a lot of play packed into this past weekend and tried to enjoy what we have left of the season.

We started out the weekend by going out to dinner for our anniversary Friday night --- even  though there was a band playing and people were getting down, after we ate, we promptly came back home, put on sweats and watched TV. Yes, we are super exciting! Try not to be too jealous.

Saturday, we took one of our favorite trails down to the lake. Except, most of the trail is now a road. A forest service road for logging.

Our area has been hit hard by a pine beetle infestation. The beetles are actually killing trees all across North America. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of dead trees.  We have lost 40 in our yard in the last three years.

This handsome fellow does not mind the dead trees, he knows he is almost at the lake.

Murph will not actually get in the lake as the waves scare him. 

This is more his speed : )  That is okay by me as the water is so dang cold that hypothermia sets in at 3 minutes.  No bodies are even allowed in the water anyway.

Isn't Callie adorable? She is 13. 

No, really she is.

These two are quite possibly the most spoiled dogs ever.

Later that evening, we went to a concert and  had a picnic at the lake. It got downright chilly when the sun went down.

Since this blog post is turning into a weekend recap, I have to mention that earlier that morning I went to two garage sales and had some decent luck.

I got this cute runner and matching place mats for $2. They were brand new.

Cute, no?

I also bought this little chest for $5. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but Matt took this one of me sanding on Sunday morning.

It is real wood, but it is old and was beat to hell. I must have sanded for a solid 2 hours. Oh, and yes,  I usually look this glamorous around the house. I can't help it. Don't hate me.

Here is an after shot (of the dresser, not of me).

I think it turned out pretty cute.

One last weekend highlight:  My sister in law, who I will just call "Mo" invited me to go with her to a bike race in Palisades,  Colorado called the "Tour de Vinyard" on September 18. Did you  know we have some awesome vineyards in the western part of Colorado?  Well,  we do, and you know if something has the word "vineyard" in it, I am on board. Sign me up! The race is 25 miles long. Mo convinces me that we should do an 18 mile ride to Frisco and back to "train."

This is Mo at about mile 6.

Of course we had to train for the wine drinking part as well, so we made a little diversion to the Tiki Bar.

Mo is a translator for the school district, so today it is back to work for her.

Bye-Bye Summer.

We will miss you.