Mamma Mia! Contest!

Calling all stars who are 40+ women! Pond's has partnered with the big screen remake of Mamma Mia!, starting Meryl Streep and coming to theaters this summer. Women 40 and older are invited to form a singing trio with two of your friends to perform your own take on the classics "Mamma Mia" or "Dancing Queen" and submit videos of your performance via the Pond's website. You can find downloads of the music and lyrics at their website.
Submit your video by April 30th or attend the live audition in New York City on April 28th. To reserve a time slot, call 866-99-DYNAMO (39626).
The winning 5 videos will be on the website to view and vote on starting May 23rd.

I am not over 40, so I don't have to admit that I can't sing.

So, you think different is safe?

Read this entirely in yelling. And I am not proud of it.

Me: Someone used my toothbrush!

(just long enough later that I had toothpaste on the brush)

Drew: That's MY toothbrush!

It's MY toothbrush!

No, I bought it myself.

I bought this toothbrush and brought it home a month ago!

No, I bought that one with the tongue cleaner so it would be different than everyone else's!

No, I bought this one myself, it is a cheap Top Care one with PINK grippers! And I had to fight with Kaytlin over which pink grippers were hers, and this one is mine!

No, I bought it with the tongue scraper!

Well, I have news for you, we've been sharing a toothbrush for a month.

Well, its a good thing I don't brush regularly, so mostly you have been using it.

I'll go buy a new toothbrush.

I toured Northwestern College and all I got...

besides a $108,000 college bill, was this coffee cup and ink pen.

Kaytlin has been dreaming about Northwestern for about 4 years now. Even though it was a LONG day, and I walked and walked and walked, I am glad I went. Kaytlin will really fit in well there. She is still going to look at a couple of other colleges, but I know this will remain her top choice. We walked into the Nazareth Chapel and I said out loud "Wow!" and the usher laughed and said "We get that all the time." It is GORGEOUS! I was so peeved at myself for not bringing my camera! You cannot even imagine the splendor of it. The architecture is gorgeous. It used to be a Catholic boys school, so it is heavily influenced that way.

Everyone is so nice, and SO happy. You didn't see students walking around with a frown, or hurriedly rushing from place to place. Across the board they were happy, relaxed, comfortable. Yeah, right, huh? But they were! Another set of parents didn't believe it, so they snuck off the tour and started questioning people and couldn't find anyone that didn't love it there.

Kaytlin loved the dorms, the campus, the cafeterias. It is the college of her dreams.

I wonder if it isn't because she dreamed of Northwestern, all the things she has heard from people that go/went there, so it is exactly what she expected. I am thrilled because it is so close to home, and it takes Donnie 10 minutes to get there from work!

Ugh!

I have a busy day and weekend ahead of me. Today I am needing to start on a cake for a bake sale on Sunday. I have someone coming to meet our dog this afternoon and I have a business meeting tonight.
Guess what happened last night? Kaytlin decided to invite me to go with her on a college visit today. Donnie offered a long time ago, but she turned him down. Now she wants me. With no notice.
Pain in the butt!

So, I'm off to 8 hours of walking around college and taking financial aid classes, then rush home from the cities in rush hour traffic to meet the people who want to take our dog, and then somehow get dressed up and off to our meeting.

Snack Attack, anyone?

Keebler sent me a box of TownHouse Flip Sides Pretzel Crackers to try out recently.
FlipSides are half pretzel, half cracker. Honestly, I have no idea why they did that. Ruined a perfectly good cracker. They were edible, in my opinion. My mom, however, absolutely loves them. She says they are especially good with dips.
The rest of my house was mixed. Donnie and I were both kind of turned off by them, but then they grew on Donnie. The kids mostly liked them, but one was off the wall in love with them.

My family gives FlipSides a thumbs up, I'm more on the "whatever floats your boat" side.

If you like pretzels a lot and like crackers a lot, you will probably like these. I'm not a big pretzel fan, but I didn't realize how little I liked them until I tasted these. I'd listen to the rest of the Qtpie house on this one and give them a try.

Have you tried them? What did you think?

Do Hard Things!

When I started doing reviews on my blog, I never expected it to do more than bring me enjoyment and free books. But now I have read a book that is changing my life. And the funny part is that the book is meant for teens, not middle aged moms.

When I heard that this book was written by the brothers of the guy who wrote "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" I was thrilled to review it. Then to learn what it was about, I got excited about it. But reading it is hard. I keep crying! I have not finished the book because I keep crying. Not because it is sad, but because I am so moved. I am so excited about what God has done in these boys' lives. I am excited about what God is going to do through this book and the conferences Alex and Brett Harris are doing. And I am excited about what God is doing in MY heart through this book.

Do Hard Things is about teenage rebellion. Not new, huh? Well it is! It is about teenagers rebelling against low expectations. They call it the Rebolution. Society does not expect teens to do more than party and rebel and mess around for these years. This book challenges that thinking and even shows how new that line of thought is. The word "teenager" just came about in the last 75 years! Before that teens were expected to be pretty much adults.

A couple of things really hit me. The boys were running, yes RUNNING, a campaign at age 17. Part of their campaign included having someone make a lot of phone calls, among other things. They assigned a girl to do it, but they mistakenly assigned her sister to do it. Well, that sister did not like the phone, even to talk to her friends. But she did it. And she did an amazing job. Only later did they discover that it was a 17 year old girl. And they were amazed that they had done that to her, until they realized that they were also 17. The EXPECTED her to do the assignments, and she lived up to that expectation. Teens are capable, we just don't expect it, and they live up to that lack of expectation.

Another thing that affects me, personally was a story they told about elephants. Adult elephants are strong. Really, really strong. But a tiny piece of twine tied to their ankle and staked into the ground will hold them in place. They could easily pull it out and be gone, easily. But they don't. When elephants are young they are shackled to trees with chains. They fight hard against their constraints, to the point of cutting into their legs. Eventually they accept that they are shackled. Later, any amount of shackling will hold them because they are shackled in their MIND. We can all do things if we only believe we can. We have to pull free of those constraints in our mind. God will strengthen us and equip us, we just have to do it!

Every teen, pre-teen, parent of a teen, and youth worker must read this book. We have to raise our expectations of teens.

Buy this book for your church, for teachers, for parents of pre-teens, teens, grandparents, friends!

Also, check out the Harris' conference schedule. We are so excited to see that they are going to be in Minneapolis in June!

Summary:
With over 10 million hits to their website TheRebelution.com, Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge in a growing movement of Christian young people who are rebelling against the low expectations of their culture by choosing to “do hard things” for the glory of God. Written when they were 18 years old, Do Hard Things is the Harris twins’ revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential. Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life and map a clear trajectory for long-term fulfillment and eternal impact.

Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of revolution already in progress challenges the next generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today.

Author Bio:
Alex and Brett Harris founded TheRebelution.com in August 2005 and today at age 19 are the most popular Christian teen writers on the Web. The twins are frequent contributors to Focus on the Family’s Boundless webzine, serve as the main speakers for the Rebelution Tour conferences, and have been featured in WORLD magazine, Breakaway, The Old Schoolhouse, and the New York Daily News. Sons of homeschool pioneer Gregg Harris and younger brothers of best-selling author Joshua Harris (I Kissed Dating Goodbye), Alex and Brett live near Portland, Oregon.

Roaaaarrr! What's for breakfast?

Isn't that a familiar cry? My kids find breakfast very important, and they are quite vocal about it.

They want to eat yummy food, and I want healthy food. They want fun, I want nutritious. Who am I kidding? I want them the shut up and let me sleep!

Kellogg's and Animal Planet teamed up to make this delicious cereal and to get the word out about ROAR, Reach Out, Act and Respond. They sent me a box of Wild Animal Crunch to try out and sent me a DVD of Meerkat Manor, which my kids are nuts about now! They watched both discs in one day.

The cereal, Wild Animal Crunch, is vanilla chocolate flavored, but don't let that fool you, it packs in 14 grams of whole grains AND 3 grams of fiber! All the kids like the taste and have asked me to buy it again. But they also enjoy the great pictures on the box. My geeky family also enjoys reading all the information on the box. The love the fun facts and the games on the box.

You should give Wild Animal Crunch a try, it is tasty, nutritious, and a pretty good value at Walmart.

Free shipping?

I needed to order some more grad pics for Drew to hand out. So, I went back to Walmart.com to order more. I got great pics at a great price, so I wanted to repeat that.
I get everything ordered, added some new pics to print out, also.
My total is $18. For free in-store pick up the total would be $23.54. To get it shipped to my house it was $23.69. How is that "free" shipping? It was barely more to have it shipped than to get the free in store pick-up! Why would they add $5 for "free" shipping? The little more it cost for shipping to my door more than makes up for the gas to get there.

Aww, so sweet!

You know that feeling when someone you love says something that makes you so proud that you just have to grab them and kiss them? Well, that happened this morning.

Last night poor Samuel learned what happens when you throw yourself around during a tantrum. He hit his head on my head board instead of the pillow that he must have been aiming for. I was very worried that he'd have a concussion. He couldn't even get that horrid, high pitched scream out that kids do when they really hurt.

Here is what he looked like this morning.....

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If you look right between his eyes you can see the swelling.

I was checking him out this morning and said to Donnie "He looks like a Bajoran." Donnie walked over to me almost with tears in his eyes! He had to kiss me right then and there. "I can't believe you know what a Bajoran is! That is so sweet!"

He was proud of me for being a geeky Trekkie.

And, yes, I know he doesn't have the ripples of a Bajoran nose, but he still resembles one. I may not know how to SPELL it, though, lol.

Last week I went and visited my new neice. Samuel was playing with his cousin's toys while I drooled over the baby. Sam was laying on the floor playing with Austin's ball and gave it a good squeeze. And it sprayed water right in his face! I was cracking up! He was laying there blinking at me in shock! It was so comical. Apparently, Austin's dad just emptied the tub of toys real quick and doesn't understand about toys holding water and then molding inside. I got a good laugh, so I'm happy.

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For referring people you will get $10 a person up to $500. You need to sign up by April 15, 2008 to get the $25. So, please hurry, and sign up under me, then get your referral button up on your site, or you can email it if you do not have a blog.

Free money, people! I am giving you free money, here.

Update!
I got my money immediately, and even the referral money is immediate. If you are wondering what you will do with it, well, you transfer it to your bank account or have them cut you a check. You can use it that way. It really isn't difficult, and it really is free and has no strings attached. They are giving you their advertising dollars instead of making TV commercials.

The Last Day of our 19th Year of Marriage

Yes siree, after today we are on our 20th year. We've been married for 19 years.

To celebrate we decided to go to a very special restaurant. One that is only open on Sunday's for a champagne brunch. (we won't even discuss the price, because I would never pay that much, even if the food was excellent) We went to Windows On Minnesota on the 50th floor of the IDS Tower. Great view!
This pic has the IDS Tower in the middle, and we were on almost the top floor, there are 51 floors on the elevator.

The happy couple!

You know it is a big building when the elevators are divided up by floors. We went on the elevator that only went on floors 39-51. And it moves FAST! Our ears were popping, and on the way down we were pretty sure eating before riding was a bad idea.

I debated posting this, but I am all about honest blogging. And I am a newb. Sorry, but I even photographed the fancy bathroom, including the toilet paper that was folded all pretty. And they do keep it that way, I returned to the same stall later and it was refolded.

The bathrooms were really gorgeous and the pics do not do it justice. Gorgeous tile, beautiful wood doors, shining brass fixtures.... Super luxurious. I was spoiled, for sure!

Here is a view of the bridge that collapsed. It is starting to be rebuilt. You can see the supports going up in this pic.

The food was not great. I had some Salmon, duck l'orange, curry lamb, and some salads. They were passable, and the salmon was actually pretty good, but not excellent.

However, the Mimosas and the desserts made up for it! Oh, that adorable little shot glass with the white stuff topped with some sort of raspberry gelee stuff was amazing! It is called Panna Cotta. Oh, it is amazing! And our waiter, Beta, was wonderful. He took the picture of us.

After brunch we went to a movie. There is a new Keanu Reeves movie out now, and my friends know that was a treat for me! It is called Street King. I do not recommend it, despite the eye candy. It was a good story, but predictable mostly, and loaded, LOADED, with the f-bombs. If the f-bombs were not there, I'd say wait and rent it. Even though Keanu is in it. Rent The Lake House and enjoy the eye candy without the language.

So, tomorrow is our actual anniversary, but we had a great day today to celebrate.

I can't stop giggling!

It was Ladies Night Out last night. And we played Quelf, of course.
And I am still giggling nearly 24 hours later.

I got a crazy card that I had to shout "I NEED MY PILLS!" whenever I wanted to take a drink. Poor Anna. She was sitting next to me. The first time I did it, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me and then busted up laughing. The pause was just long enough for me to get a good mouth full of soda. And what do you suppose happened when everyone started cracking up? Yes, I did, too. And spewed my soda all over Anna. Every time I yelled after that she would jump out of her skin.
I had to be careful when I took a drink the second game, too. Because Anna had a card that made her translate everything she said into a foreign language, real or made up. She doesn't know a second language. So she had to make one up. And we were dying.
I have a picture of Cindy that I need to download. She had to make a snorkel and wear it the rest of the game. She is quite creative.

Laughter is the best medicine, I tell you. I feel great inside after all that laughing!
I think Quelf is the best game I have ever purchased.

Where is your father?

Recently there has been a new song stuck in our heads at the Qtpie house.

Where is your father?
Where could he be?
He's not in the closet, not in the hall.
Where is your father?
Where could he be?

It does go on from there at least another line, but that is all Trinity knows. She interchanges it with Mother and brother, too. Where did this come from, you ask? Well, it is sung to a tune on a Donkey Kong game. Hope-Anne made it up. Trinity loves it. The rest of us were freaking out trying to figure out where it came from.

The other day Trinity was singing it at lunch and she sang it a bit "off."

Where is your father, where could SHE be?

So I said to my mom "That could be the song to that baby being born by her dad!"

He's not in the closet....

My mom says "Yes, that really could be that poor child's song."
He/she is NOT in the closet now, that is for sure!

Life is backwards

My oldest 3 children have buried more friends in high school the last 4 years than my aging parents have buried family and friends combined.
Yet another teenager, a girl who was Kaytlin's friend, died this week. I was not home yesterday, so I don't know what happened yet, but it was possibly a suicide. Kaytlin was a bundle of nerves yesterday, Donnie said. She sounded horrible when I called her, but she wouldn't talk about it.
Kaytlin is 16 and has lost more friends than I have at 36. I think I have 2 friends who have died. One was a classmate that I wasn't close to, and one was a good friend from high school who died a couple of years ago. And then my husband's brother died, I knew him, but he was much younger. I was dating Donnie when his brother committed suicide.

I can't even give an accurate count of Kaytlin's friends who have died, maybe 4 personal friends and several other kids who she knew from school? Drew and Devon have lost either classmates, acquaintances or their friends' siblings have died.

I can't even imagine.

My heart just aches for these parents. I know my children are the Lord's, but if they aren't? How do you go on?
Please pray for the teens in our town. They have gone through so much in the last few years. Please pray for the parents of this girl.

Dare to Wear White!

Do you remember in high school when you were afraid to wear white because you knew you might leak through your pad and that would be so embarrassing?

Do you still worry about it? Do you worry more now than back then?

Many women get abnormally heavy periods, so bad that they go through pads faster than 1 an hour, and have large clots being passed. Heavy cramping, and sometimes the cycles last for longer than normal.

An aunt of mine would have cycles so bad that she would just sit on the toilet because it was no use even getting up, she'd have to come right back and change her pad.

For many women the "help" has come in the form of hormone pills or hysterectomy.

I don't want either for me if I were to go through this condition called menorrhagia.



Dare to Wear White is a website created to support women who are going through this. Stop by and take the survey at Mom Central if you have very heavy periods and are done having children, the first 250 women who take the survey will earn a $10 Amazon.com gift card.



Dare to Wear White is promoting a new procedure to eliminate the menorrhagia without hormones or hysterectomy. It is called NovaSure. It is a quick, out-patient procedure that will lessen or even eliminate periods. But you will still have your uterus and not be forced into menopause. NovaSure uses some type of energy to remove the lining of your uterus. So it is not applicable if you are not done having children.



Don't forget to do the survey if you have menorrhagia, the first 250 get a gift card!

Kids are so incredibly funny sometimes!

Trinity has been on a roll lately. Not that Sam hasn't been a little amusement box himself.

At church last week, Trinity fell on the stairs. Grandma went to comfort her and Trinity said "I will get better, Jesus makes me better." Isn't that sweet??? Then she went on to say "Jesus doesn't like spankings, Jesus didn't like my mom when she spanked me."

Last night she was playing some sort of Donkey Kong game and she is pretty good, but she wanted help with some robot alligators or something. Then she asked me to get her past that part.
me~ I don't know how to play that.
Trin~ You push the green button.
me~ Trinity, I don't have a clue.
Trin~ I gave you a clue. Push the green button.
Later, when Hope-Anne took over just before I killed off her guy following that clue, Trinity asked Hope-Anne for a clue, lol.

A few days ago Samuel was fussing in his sleep and started scooting down the bed. Then he flipped himself off the bed! Drew happened to be standing outside our room and he picked him up and handed him back to me. Well, Sam was mad. Really, really mad. I think he was cursing out the floor.
"Ah dadada, da dadada. Dada dada DA! Dadadadada, dada dada dadada!" We were cracking up!

And last night at bedtime I took him upstairs to say goodnight to Grandma. I teased him and put him down in grandma's bed and tucked him in. He grinned and started pretend snoring, lol! He is such a little ham bone.

Now I become a critic

A movie critic, that is. I've always been good at criticizing things. And movies in particular. It drives Donnie nuts. However, I must review the last two movies I went to. The Superhero Movie and The Bucket List.
Donnie and I had seen the preview for Superhero Movie and it looked kind of silly and fun. And we are quite the comic book hero family. (you have NO idea!) We bought our tickets and our popcorn and Twizzlers and took our seat for a nice evening of laughing.
And we sat and we sat and we sat. Waiting for the funny part in the parody of Spiderman. The film the movie was made on was worth more than any part of the movie. It was the biggest waste of my life. Seriously, take your $7 and flush it down the toilet; that will be more fun to watch than the Superhero Movie.
Was I clear that the movie was not funny?


Oh, but the Bucket List! I think that was one of the top 5 films I have ever seen. I can't even think of one that tops it right now. OK, The Lake House was pretty near the most awesome movie ever, but I think The Bucket List is actually better. Not because they are not both great, but because The Bucket List is for everyone, not just romantic saps like me. I laughed and laughed through the movie. And then I cried. And then I laughed while crying. I laughed because I was crying. Then I laughed until I cried. This movie is worth paying double price to see. It is a must-see for everyone.

I went to see it with my mom and my friends Jody and Jeannie. We all just loved it. Between the four of us, that is 8 thumbs up, my friends, 8 thumbs up.
Maybe some of the joy was from our fun sneaking candy and soda into the theater. We bought a 2lb bag of Twizzlers, 3 movie size boxes of candy and 4 20 oz bottles of drinks. Now how were we going to get those into the theater? Jody barely carries more than a wallet. I just switched to a smaller purse, but I was able to fit 3 boxes of candy in there after I emptied the contents. Jeannie didn't have a big purse either. My mom, however, has a deceptively enormous purse. We fit 2lbs of Twizzlers and four 20 oz bottles in her purse! LOL The check out lady at Walmart got quite a kick out of our planning.

My Dad, The Great White Hunter

As promised, here is a guest post from my very own father, Allen, about his buffalo hunting trip that my brother, Ricky, won and gave to Dad.


My son, Rick, bought a hunting magazine and of course there was a contest to enter. He won a buffalo hunting trip for two. He asked if I wanted to shoot it. Being the great white hunter I keep thinking I am, of course I said yes. Now, being able to shoot anything from rabbits to deer, a buffalo should be a piece of cake!!!

Not owning a high powered rifle I decided to use my muzzle loader. Just as well do it the old way. Well, after using many different amounts and kinds of powder and different weights of bullets, I found the right combination. I found out not to shoot too close to garage if you have vinyl siding. With a full load of powder and an over sized bullet and it being cold outside, the blast will put a nice hole in the siding!!! Well, I have summer to repair that.

In spite of hole in siding and a sore shoulder the date is coming up fast. Of course it always helps to look at a book to find the right combination of powder and bullet. Next is the right sights. A red dot scope is perfect. When you look through a scope it really makes a rabbit look big!!!!

Rick's 11 year old son, Damien, went with us. He has been deer hunting with us for a while. The guides had never had a 3 generation hunt before so they were excited to have one to put in their web site. When we got there, of course we sat around talking with them. Being the great white hunter that I am, I mentioned that it should only take one shot anyway. Not being real up to date on buffalo hunting, I find out they like to charge you after you shoot them, and it doesn't involve money either!!! I was told I better know how to load a muzzle loader real fast. No wonder nobody else wanted to shoot it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To top it off they wanted me to shoot a cow that has been fighting with the rest of the herd and had left. Well I thought it would be better to be trampled by just one buffalo than a whole herd.
We found it out in the sticks some place. I had no idea where we were. Some place in a 5 mile by 7 mile area. We seen her way off and she was coming our way so we got set up. Shannon, one of the guides, said she would come up on the back side of some trees. So I got set up ready to shoot and she came up on our side of the trees. Well with her standing 10 yards from us Shannon kept whispering not to shoot. I think it had something to do with a one second charging time and my thirty second loading time. Huh, there was that charging thing again!!!! Well, it took off running and we couldn't see her now.
While we were figuring out what the next move was she came back and stood about 80 yards from us through some trees. I didn't like the looks of the shot so held off. She stood there for a while looking the other way but did turn and come our way. Don't know why because she knew we were down there.
She came down the tree line and I sighted in on her, now if you think a rabbit looks big in a scope you haven't seen anything yet!!! When a buffalo gets with in thirty yards of you, all you can see is brown. I moved the sight in front of her and brought it back to her chest and shot. Now through all this talking we had done with the guides, we expected this thing was going to run 100 to 150 yards if I hit it right the first shot, which they said never happens. All the hunter sees is brown and they shoot and a wounded animal is on their hands. Huh, how I can relate to that!!!!!!

It was at 25 yards when I shot and it just stood there lifting one front leg. Lets see 25 yards 2 seconds, not enough time!! Ever wanted to hide behind a tree and the only one is behind you and only a sapling!! I didn't move and noticed nobody else did either. It finally walked about 5 yards stood there and fell over. Shannon said "Did you put a hurt on her!!!!!"

Allen and dead bully buffalo.

















Things learned:
1. Hole in siding, too much powder.
2. Sore shoulder, too much powder and too heavy a projectile.
3. Leave scope at home, buffalo get too big when seen at 30 yards.
4. Do not have head mounted and hang in bed room. (Will be sleeping alone.)
5. Do it again? HEAVENS, YES!



Allen, Rick and Damien with dead bully buffalo.

He listens well, my son.

So, I'm working on some potty learning with Samuel. I know, he is young, but he has been using the potty since maybe 4 months old. He is getting less and less cooperative, however.

So today, when he woke up dry I knew he would need to go potty. I took him in the bathroom and told him to sit down and go peepee.

Sam squatted on the floor and peed.

Next time I need to mention the potty chair.

Wordless Wednesday #57

What is wrong with this picture?