grilling tip

As every Southerner knows, come next spring it will time to get ready for that all-important cooking technique of the south --- outdoor grilling!

I have just found out there are many stores (not just in the South) where you can get a FREE Bar-B-Q grill! In these tough times free useful items are very welcome. You can get a free BBQ grill from any of the following stores: A&P Albertsons Costco Dan's Food Lion Fry's Home Depot Big Lots Brookshire's Lowes Publix Safeway Sam's Club

Tesco Target Vons Trader Joe's

Wal-Mart

Winn-Dixie

I especially like the higher rack -- which can be used for keeping things warm! Just make sure to get a metal one.....the plastic ones don't do so well.

Ya'll enjoy now!

*giggle snort giggle* i got this in an email...and i actually believed it for a second! hope you all are having a great day!

i ♥ friday

i ♥ this scarf...i think scarves are a great way to accessorize {almost} any outfit.

i ♥ this purse.

i ♥ the new macbook...*swoon* my dream computer.

i ♥ these fun, plush pins.

i ♥ this shelf. it's so practical, and it looks great! this tower swivels (there are 4 sides), with a mirror, shelf, bulletin board, and a place to hang scarves, purses, etc.

i ♥ this picture of paris.

i ♥ this scarf...i love plaid.

i ♥ these paper + office goods...i'm kind of a sucker when it comes to office supplies. =)

our house!!!

this is our (soon to be) house!

this is what i was so excited about in previous posts! the seller has accepted our offer, but it's not final yet. i think closing will be sometime in late may. but let me start this story from the beginning. my mom was just kind of randomly looking at craig's list for a house, just seeing what was there. well she saw this house. there was no picture or address or anything. the ad said that it was a 'wonderful white brick home. 4 bedrooms (and the rooms are big, too!), 2 1/2 bathrooms on 2 lots. the owner has lovingly cared for it for the past 50 years.' so we thought we'd give it a shot. i already had a strong hunch that it would need some work, if it had the same owner for 50 years. so we requested a showing, and last thursday, a week ago today, we showed up. the house was/is so cute! the lady that lives there has so much stuff. in every single room, it is PACKED with things (she "collects" clothes, too, so that kind of adds to it. =) ) and the kitchen needs to be completely redone. but it has a full basement with a family room and a little bar! it was so cozy down there - our western furniture would fit really well down there! it also has a little servant's quarters. the current owners are only the 2 owners - and it was built in 1934. there is carpet almost everywhere, but the hardwood floors underneath are beautiful! the windows also need to be redone because of lead paint - they're still original. well we fell in love with the house the minute we stepped it. we asked for another showing the next day, this time with our handyman friend, just to make sure the renovations and such would be doable. he thought it was the greatest house. by the time friday evening rolled around, we were ready to make an offer, but since so much needed to be done, the price they were asking was way to high. so we subtracted everything that needed to be done, and presented the offer (which we thought was very reasonable, so were very optimistic) on saturday night. they said they needed to think about it, as this was their family home and everything. sunday after church, they wrote us an email, and said that they couldn't accept our offer, not even making a counter-offer! so we were really sad (mom even had to cry! [sorry mom! =)] ) and thought that was that. monday afternoon we were driving around the neighborhood, but not driving by the house because we were too sad. everyone was tired of house-shopping after what happened with the house. the owner of the house was going to have an estate sale, and since they have some really nice furniture, we of course wanted to go. so monday night my mom emailed the lady and told her that she hoped that we didn't insult her with the offer, and asked when the sale would be. the lady replied right away asking that we didn't get the counter-offer (which was, by the way, the very price that we were hoping to negotiate to!)? we were all so shocked (but very, VERY happy!! that was when i wrote the 'stunned' post)!! we told her, yes, we would accept. so we don't know we have the house for sure, but we are 99.9% sure. like i said, closing will be sometime in late may. and the lady's brother-in-law (he owns a bank, has a title comapany, and is a morgage broker) will even help us with the paper work, and his son, and attorney, will write up the contract! it couldn't get any better. it is in a perfect location - about a 3 minute drive to church and 4 blocks away from a grocery store. alright, enough rambling! i think that was my longest post ever. i'm SO glad to finally get that out, though! i thought i was going to burst! =) i will try to keep you posted on anything new with the house.

ciao,

carlotta

giveaway

Lauren at the Little Things We Do is having a wonderful giveaway...go check it out!

-carlotta

jesus is a friend of mine

this video pretty much speaks for itself. i mean come on! how can these guys keep a straight

face?!?! =) they're all so serious, especially the lead singer! i think i'm glad i wasn't around in the 80s. and one line even says "he loves me when i waste my time writing silly songs." haha! maybe he should listen to his own words. heehee i love the guy playing the orange guitar next to the lead singer...check out how straight he always keeps his arm while playing!

wow. this is awesome!

apple is giving away a macbook pro, ipod touch, a time capsule, and a $10,000 gift card to itunes!. no strings attached! you don't even have to buy anything - there's an alternative entry form! there will be a drawing, and the winner of that gets all of the above. i am soo trying!! wish me luck!!

summer

i seriously cannot wait until summer! i think this is the hardest time of the school year because everyone (teachers and students!) is just fed up with EVERYTHING! it seems like a loooooong time until school will finally be out. i think officially we still have 9 weeks, but i'm trying to lump 2 weeks together so i can cut the time in half! that's the good thing about homeschooling!

the weather is really warm today (88 or so, much warmer than a few days ago!) and so we want to spend as much as we can outside today. it's hard for me to believe that i'll be wishing that it's winter in a few weeks!

yesterday i got my braces tightened, and they barely even hurt. i am SO GLAD because the first week or so with braces was a nightmare! last night a dinner a tie (the colored bands on the brackets) already came off and i swallowed it. oops. it just popped off, though - i think they didn't secure it properly. my worse fear is that i'll break off a bracket...hopefully that'll never happen! the orthodontist says everything looks like it's coming along really well, and i'm obviously glad about that! my teeth are already sooo much straighter. you (well at least i can :]) can really tell.

on monday lilly had her big dental surgery - poor little thing. :( she was really out of it (aka whiny and grumpy - yuck!) monday + tuesday, but she's pretty much back to normal now, thankfully! she spent almost the whole time both days watching movies. she watched the curious george movie at least 5 times. :) she loves showing off her 'pretty teeth'.

i'm still not really allowed to tell about our news...but i'll give you a hint - it's about moving. i'm really excited about it!!!

o and happy call day to everyone! i can't believe it's already been a year...time goes by so fast!

STUNNED!!!!!!!!!

this is how i feel right now!

i cannot believe it!!!!!!!! i can't tell you right now....more as soon as i'm allowed to! oh my gosh, i'm totally blown away. i can't wait to tell you all!

your age by chocolate math

this is so cool! and it really works - i can never figure out how they do those kind of things! (you might want to use a calculator just so you can make sure that you don't make any mistakes!)

don't cheat by scrolling down! =)

1} pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more that once, but fewer than 10)

2} multiply this number by 2

3} add 5

4} multiply it by 50

5} if you've already had your birthday this year, add 1759. if not, add 1758.

6} subtract the year you were born (4 digits, for example 1943 as opposed to 43)

you should have a three digit number. the first number is the number you picked (how many times a week you wanted to have chocolate). the next two numbers are your age!

i ♥ friday

i ♥ this shelf! it's really 60s...but whatever. i like it anyway. =)

i ♥ this room!

i ♥ square feathers. you should seriously check these guys out. =)

{top: sunny bloom note card, bottom: redesigned tags}

i ♥ these greetings cards + tags!! linda + harriet make them out of misprinted letterpress cards.

i really ♥ (i can't contain my excitement!!!) a house that's for sale that we saw yesterday. (more on that later. that's a whole other post. =) )

{top: hi-fi hi-light, bottom: rockin' speaker shelf}

i ♥ these ipod systems!

i ♥ this idea! it looks good, and is super practical as well! these were salsa jars in their former life.

i ♥ these pictures! the perfect spring palette!

he is risen...

...he is risen indeed! alleluia! hope you all are having a wonderful easter!

giveway!

Russent Street Reno is giving away a beautiful mirror...go here to enter.

-carlotta

easter

happy easter!

ps if you want to see the words up close, you'll probably have to click on the picture to see it bigger.

pps this is a wordle that i did - it was my writing assignment for this week. =)

i {heart} friday

i heart these hand-embroidered gold-framed letters! rustic but chic at the same time.

i heart this lamp. very eco-like. =)

i heart these lamps...they look really good grouped in words!

i heart this lamp shade...so sweet!

i heart this wall decal...perfect for spicing up a room!

i heart this kitchen - i love the mix of modern and country.

i heart this paris-themed pillow.

i heart this picture...love the simplicity! happy friday!

busy, busy, busy!

this is how lilly the rascal looks after licking a bowl of brownie batter. :)

everything and everybody is so busy right now, especially with easter just a week away (i still can't believe that part!). jeremiah is studying/reviewing his lord's prayer, apostle's creed, ten commandments, and luther's 20 questions like crazy - he has his first communion interview with pastor tomorrow afternoon.

poor little lilly also needs some prayers...during church today she was running a pretty high fever, and looked sick and tired. tomorrow morning she was supposed to go to a dentist appointment (she has to get several of her teeth pulled out because of cavities (but she got the cavities genetically, folks!!)), but because of her fever they said it was too risky. poor little thing. :(

we've been kind of toying with the idea that in two years i may go to telgte (germany), where my grandparents and many other family members live, and where my mom grew up, as an exchange student for 6-12 months. i would most likely stay with my grandparents, and go to the local high school. i think it would be fun, but not easy, school my main concern. i would really have seriously start learning/reviewing german! i think i could do it, i just might really miss my family and friends. :) and least we have the internet. could you imagine what communication would be like without it?? it makes everything so much easier.

alright, i need to wrap things up - before trouble comes! :)

ciao,

carlotta

blogger

are any of you having trouble viewing your blog?? it might just be my computer, but it doesn't allow me to view mine. at least i can post, though.

ps my brother is going to try to make brownies...let's see how that goes. :)

national latin exam -- results

i just got my nle in the mail today...i think i took it march 10. i thought the test was much, much harder than any of the exams from previous years that we had taken as practice. and i was right. i believe the national average last year was 34 - this year it's 28. it dropped pretty significantly. i got 33 out of 40 right so that means that i'm still above the national average! i think last year i got 36 correct. i'm still a little bummed, though. i know i could have done better...but i guess there's always next year!

i {heart} friday

welcome to i heart friday! sorry i haven't been updating...something was wrong with my blogger.agh!

two warnings: i am officially obsessed with yellow and pbteen. oh, and there are pbteen things that i posted that don't say that they're from pbteen. just because i don't want to embarrass my self, right? heehee sorry if i'm annoying you, i'm just hyper. :)

i really, really heart these prints from pbteen!!

i heart this scarf.

i heart this chic eco-friendly shopping tote. order me one now, please! :)

i heart this pink chandelier.

i heart this couch from - pbteen (i warned you! :p maybe i should stop staying where it's from. heehee)

i heart this ribbon.

i heart these lollipop wall decals - and yes, they are from pbteen :) - little girly but grown-up in a way too.

i heart these dreamy photos (especially the paris picture!).

i heart this purse...i really love grey and white together!!

i heart these pillows (i really like the yellow one!! :p) from pottery barn.

i heart this bird, made out of old maps. i think i posted something similar to this - art made from maps - and i'm in love with the idea!

tomball

dad and meme dancing at the german fest.

one of my best friends, andi, with meme and lilly. i'm am so mad at myself because i didn't think to get a picture of all of us together!

tomball was soooo much fun! the german fest was the best ever - the weather was perfect and they had a wonderful turn-out. the drive down was the smoothest of all. we left about 5 minutes til 5 (a little later than we had planned but still great!) and arrived in tomball at 1pm, with only 1 stop! so we got another half day there. on saturday evening my grandma planned a little reception for us, with some of our old friends. then that night, i was able to sleep over at my friend andi's house, which was totally unplanned! i was really happy.

everybody told us that there was about 6 or 8 inches of snow here (!) while we were gone, but it was all melted by the time we got back. my mom says she doesn't believe them because there was no trace of anything. she was just kidding, of course. :)

for now we're pretty much back to the same old rhythm...i can't believe that it's holy week next week, though! it seemed like just yesterday that we were celebrating easter in st. louis. hopefully this year it will be warmer - last year it was snowing! it's going to be really busy for us. on easter vigil (the saturday before easter) jeremiah will have his first communion. it feels like i just had mine! i think on easter morning at grace there will be a sunrise service at 7:30am (um, i think that's a little early for me. :) i don't think i'm going to that one!), and the guys at the church are going to prepare a pancake breakfast at 8:45. then at 9:30 there will be an easter egg hunt, and then another service at 10:30am.

alright, i have to go finish school. ug, who wants to do that?? :)

ciao,

carlotta