How to cram a lot into 3 weeks of Summer

Since my last post many moons ago, I have been on vacation, albeit in the desert in the summer, replaced all my furniture in my living room, thanks to craigslist, and went to my first concert at Redrocks.

First of all, I had promised my mom to visit her during spring break.  That would have been a perfect time to be in Arizona, but it did not work out.  So plan B emerged and we ended up going during my short summer hiatus.  The coolest day was 109.  I guess it would be worth it to live there for the other nine months that are in the 80's.  Plus you can have flowers for that amount of time versus the 3 or 4 months we get them here.  I don't think I could move from Colorado again.  I would miss it too much. 

This is the view from my mom's front porch. She lives on my sister's property, which is an old west town.   Her residence is the General Store, which looks across to the Saloon.

One night, Mike and my brother-in-law, John, dug a pit (not an easy feat in desert clay).  They cooked a very large beef tip roast in the ground.  Man was that delicious.

Before we went on vacation, I cleared my living room.  Everything I had in there was a necessity purchase or a hand me down.  It did not reflect what I wanted for our home.  So when we got home, I started exploring www.craigslist.org and found my first pieces for $55.  That really started the ball rolling and Mike and I continued to look and had to agree on the pieces before purchasing.  

We ended up with a couch and matching chair (that first purchase), an overstuffed chair and ottoman for $35, a trunk for an end table for $40, a bookcase for $10 and another one that was $40.  It was fun searching and finding the pieces.  Other accent pieces and lamps were found at various thrift stores, on half price day of course.  I had the furniture professionally cleaned and we are getting ready to texturize the walls and paint.  I hope to have it all completed before my mom comes to visit me in the middle of September. 


The finale of the quick summer was my first concert at Redrocks.  The best venue to hear music and see the beauty of Colorado.  This was a birthday gift and I got to go hear REO Speedwagon and Pat Benetar.  It was a great ending to my short break.