True confessions

I am a craigslist junkie.


As a kid I was probably more familiar with antique stores and valuable items than the average 9 year old. Over a course of many years I watched my mom slowly collect her favorite dish set piece by piece. We made frequent trips into antique stores. Sometimes our errand runs just happened to pass by the antique stores. The musty smell became ever so familiar as did the white head ladies in pink sweaters. For the longest time my mom's Christmas and birthday gifts were pieces found in local stores.

The coveted turkey platter was the hardest to find and certainly the most rewarding to welcome into our home. I don't have too many vivid memories of our trips, but I do remember the turkey platter find. Oh the excitment!

Unlike some antiques, these dishes haven't known dust as they are often brought out for family get togethers.

Well as I said before, I'm a craigslist junkie. It's the antique store of today minus the musty smells and those sweet ladies in pink sweaters.

We are now owners of our own liberty blue set. Thanks to craigslist.

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we went over to a friends to carve some pumpkins. The rouge pumpkin pictured here ate all of the pumpkins we carved so we can't post our pumpkins. They were eaten.

a HUGE time saver

craiglook

this may just change your craigslist life.

skype

We got to skype with my sister, Leo and Daniel tonight. I love skype!! It's like we're all in the same room even though our rooms are 2,938 miles away. We got to take a tour of her new spacious 2 bedroom apartment...it really is VERY spacious compared to their previous NYC apartments. Leo even has his own studio! I'm sure they will enjoy this place.

The ACE hotel that she works for serves stumptown coffee in their coffee shop. I guess people really love stumptown out there, so they go to the hotel just for their morning coffee. I like that something from our little Portland has made a name for itself in NYC.

We're big stumptown coffee fans. They know how to make some smooth coffee and they do a really great job of training each barista that serves stumptown. That way it will always consistently meet their high standards no matter where they are serving it.

Airport

I picked Nate up from the airport Wednesday. He was so tired and a little on the sick side. That is the second person I know this week who got sick flying. Must be the season.

We spent yesterday morning antiquing in Lafayette (Oregon....not Indiana,Ben). I've never been there, but they have a TON of great furniture. We didn't get anything, just browsed the store. The rest of the day Nate spent on the couch recouping from his fever.

Home again

It's been really chilly out this week. I've been enjoying sipping on hot beverages by our fake fireplace. It doesn't have the same affect as a regular fire but it's still festive.

So Nate is on his way back to the west coast, or left coast as some call it. He's been out in PA visiting friends from college. I wish I could have gone with him but It is good for him to see his friends on his own too. He told me on the phone many times that he misses me and that a week is a long time to be away. I agree, a week is a long time! This past week has been pretty busy with family things and work.
My work has been picking up a lot in the last few weeks. Today I could feel my shoulders tensing up while I was sitting at my desk. I had to remind myself to relax,:) a few times i would get up and walk into our waiting room to stand in front of the gas fire place. You can see the whole center of campus from there. I watched out the window at all the college students walking to and from classes. That was relaxing....being reminded that I don't have homework... My day ends at 5. Awesome.

We are getting daily reports about my grandma's health. I was able to visit her this last weekend. It was nice to see how she was doing after hearing about her stroke. I didn't know if she would be in good spirits or not. It was very encouraging to talk with her and see that she was talking just fine. She seemed positive when talking about her therapy sessions. Some of the tasks she is supposed to do during therapy are a challenge for her, but it was encouraging to hear how hard she is working at it and how motivated she is to get back to almost full recovery. Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying for her recovery and endurance to continue this hard work.

And real quick a few things I have noticed while Nate has been gone:

- he does the dishes more often than I realized;)
- we don't go through milk or cereal as quickly
- I fill the quiet house with sounds from the radio and online shows.
- I go shopping in my spare time;)
- less dinners get made because it's just me.
- I can get away with chewing my finger nails...
- and last but not least, I realize how much he is a part of me. Can't wait to have him home!!!

Grandma

Hello all,

Just a quick post to have you keep my Grandma Stuewe in prayer. She had a stroke earlier this week. It sounds like she is coming out of it well and has a good chance of excellent recovery. She will be doing therapy for a while to relearn how to use her hand and I think her leg? If you could keep her and my Grandpa in your prayers that would be great. I'm sure it shook him up too. This week was their 58th wedding anniversary.

Thanks all,

lissa

Tip jar

Google has so many interesting tools. Yesterday Nate introduced me to Tip Jar. I must have spent 2 hours browsing tip jar!!!
Basically you can search any topic to find out what other people are doing to save money. I looked up vacations, airfare, electricity, Internet,insurance, groceries etc... It was neat to see how creative some people are with their resources.

We have been thinking more about putting our garbage service on will call (as suggested by my Aunt Sharon). Last week I completely forgot to set it on the curb and really we can still fill it up more. Between recycling and composting we just don't have that much garbage anymore.

Another money saving tip I learned.....smirk on my face.... Hanging your laundry to dry!! Yes, even in the cold months..;) we ran to bi-mart and picked up some clothes pins. I think Nate will make a clothes line for me this week. I will have to keep you posted on our "winter dry cycle."