Well, how about that! I got bold and with a copy of her email saying I could have it if it was still there, and since she hadn't replied to my emails earlier this morning, I drove by her house. And there is was sitting outside just waiting for me, so I parked the car and walked up and got it and threw it in the car and off I went. Felt like a kid on Christmas morning all the way home.

And it turns out it is a Lotus. Needs some major overhaul and probably some new components but I'll know more once I get into working on it. I'll also hang it on the fish scale to get a quick rough weight before I take any parts off since it really felt light when I picked it up.

So, the details:

Brand: Lotus
Model: 3000R (on the seat tube) and Pro Series (on the top tube)
Tubes: Tange triple butted, forks have a CroMoly sticker on them
Wheels are Weinmann 700c, presta valve clinchers
Rear cluster is a 7-speed, and appears to be froze up fairly solid and rusty
Chain is solid rust frozen solid
Group is Sun Tour Blaze
Size measures out to about 56-57 ctc on the seat tube, not sure about the top tube length yet

I'll post a few pics shortly once I get some lunch and let the dogs out and get the attack cat ready to take to the vet in a bit.

I don't know why I'm so excited about this catch. We need a wheelie emoticon

edit:
She is sometimes quick with her updates:
Heh, heh, I guess you can call me Sam now.

And it looks like Norskagent was the first correct guesser on the bike brand.
I'll rummage around in the basement for something.