Why I shouldn't be allowed to have a cell phone...

Donnie was doing a last minute job on the DVD we made (ahem, he made) for my dad's 60th birthday. In other words, he didn't start making it until 1:30am the morning I needed it. Yeah, not happy.
So, he went to burn some copies for the rest of the siblings. He ended up burning 20 copies, and it took forever, meanwhile I am waiting for him to get back because I need to leave. Hours before. I was steaming.
Lets just say the face he saw when I opened the door was pretty scary.
So to suck up he had gone to fill the van with gas and brought me a coffee, he knew it would be bad no matter what, but since I had no coffee in the house it was probably going to physically hurt.
I didn't drink it until I got in the van and was gone. It was so weak. It could barely even be called coffee. But I needed the caffeine, and there was no gas station for another 1/2 hour to get a good one.
Toward the bottom of the cup it started to get stronger, so I opened the lid and took a drink and found something weird. Yep, that huge brown chunk on the bottom. I was really grossed out. I didn't think that the machines spit out a hunk of powder and then the water, so I had no idea what it could be.
I decided to take a picture of it with Kaytlin's camera phone and email the pic to Donnie to show him what a crappy cup of coffee he had gotten me. (because I am nothing if not quick to get over things, you know) (oh, and I'm not sarcastic at all)
I don't know how to even turn the camera on, so Kaytlin walked me through it. And I got it. So, now to email it. I got to a screen, and I was not asking for help through it. I came to a list of phone numbers and I know that is not right, I need to email it, so I hit what is normally the "back" button on my camera, thinking I'm smart. But what actually happened what I got a "sending message" screen. Oh, I tried hitting end a million and one times, but it didn't seem to want to cancel that order to send the picture to everyone in her phone book.
Try doing that to a 16yo girl. Yes, I ruined her life. Her driving instructors cell phone is in there. He's going to think she's a freak. Not to mention all her friends who are going to wonder what she was thinking. Kaytlin told me that I needed to stick to the cell phone that has great big buttons that say "yes" "no" "push here stupid." Stuff like that. (and yes, the phone really does exist!)
But later she went through to see how bad the damage was, and it turned out it did stop, and it only got partially sent to Drew, but cancelled, and not to everyone.
I thought it was great, I managed to fulfill my God-given duty to embarrass my teenagers in front of their friends. Unfortunately, the message did not go to everyone. (although I don't know that I would want to pay for the bill for all those messages.)
I called Donnie to tell him what I had done. And it turns out that he KNEW all along how weak the coffee was and he tried to cover it by dropping a hunk of chocolate in the bottom. That hunk was what was left after 45 minutes in hot coffee.

Review of Mosaic by Amy Grant

“Like everybody else, I wish I were in better shape or had planned an upcoming event little more thoroughly. I wish I were neater. I wish I weighed what I weighed when I was in the thirties. But all those things are for another day. This day—at a hundred and forty-five pounds, at forty-six years old, with a few gray hairs and not quite enough sleep—this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” p. 144

Grammy Award–winning artist Amy Grant has lived in the spotlight since bursting onto the Christian music scene as a teenager thirty years ago. In that time her work, marriage, and spiritual life have been subject to varying degrees of adulation and criticism.
Now, in her first autobiographical book Mosaic, Grant bares her heart and soul, giving readers an intimate glimpse into her everyday life and the lessons she’s learning along the way. From lighthearted reminiscences of her Tennessee childhood to painfully honest reflections on the journey of faith, her vivid writing draws readers into her world while simultaneously creating space for them to rethink their own perspectives on life.
With honesty and depth, Grant offers poignant and often startling insights on motherhood, marriage, friendship, faith, loss, forgiveness, and redemption. Never-before-shared stories about her husband, country music star Vince Gill, provide a look into her life as a celebrity, while intimate portraits of her mother and musings on the past reveal the various pieces of a life blessed with jagged edges as well as vivid colors. Readers will find their preconceived notions of this music icon stripped away as they settle in for a warmly satisfying conversation with a gracious and wise friend.

Amy Grant's new book Mosaic is now available in bookstores. I decided to review this book because Amy Grant's music is amazing and I wanted to see what her life is like. I enjoyed the stories about her life. I did not like how it was put together, it didn't seem to flow for me, however, the title probably says it best, it is a Mosaic. Just not my style. I believe that if you love Amy Grant you will enjoy her book.



Amy Grant's honesty and openness in her book is endearing to readers. It is encouraging to know that someone who is as famous as Amy Grant struggles the same way I do; weight, aging, lack of sleep. That encourages me. It is a good book for when you do not have time for a long read, you can pick this up and read a small bit without getting lost. It is perfect for squeezing in a minute or two of reading.



Amy Grant is the best-selling Christian music artist of all time and the first to garner the number one spot on Billboard’s chart. Since beginning her career at age 17, she has earned six Grammy Awards and twenty-five Dove Awards, and last year she received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Grant’s numerous television appearances include Oprah; Good Morning, America; and Late Night with David Letterman. In 2007 she’ll tour nationwide, performing with local symphonies in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and elsewhere.
To purchase a copy of Mosaic, CLICK HERE.

Love Letters Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered and blogged about the book! I wrote down all the names and numbered them and each additional entry, then I used a random number generator to pick the winning number.
I am so thrilled with the amount of people who wanted a copy of this book! There were 58 individual entries.

Oh, you want to know who won?

The winner is..... (drum roll.................)

Sallie of Everyday Me....

Congratulations, Sallie!

(If I don't hear from Sallie, I will pick a new winner on Thursday)

Out for the day

I'm apparently not able to manage more than one blog at a time when I am stressed. here is what I was intending to post on this blog! Out of Town Check it out for hints to what posts are coming up........... pictures!

A little craziness

About four years ago, maybe a bit longer, actually, I was pregnant with Trinity and had been in the hospital for morning sickness. The day after I was released I was resting, I was still very weak and not much better. I got a knock on my door. It was our neighbors adult son, who is probably old enough to be a grandfather, he seemed older than my dad, even. He was really, really worked up! He demanded that I come outside right this minute and see what my kids had done.

Wait a minute, I just got out of the hospital last night, and I am not going outside without you telling me what is going on. He is very insistent. So I asked him if my kids were ok and he said they weren't hurt but I needed to go outside right now. Sorry, bud, but I am not going outside, I JUST got out of the hospital.

Well, he said that my kids were cutting branches off a tree. Whoa! "My kids are cutting branches off your mom's trees?" I was NOT happy. He said "No, they are cutting branches in your tree that my mom has to look at out her window and it looks ugly."

Oh. My. Word. Is he serious?!? Yes, he was quite serious. And still insisting I come outside. But I told him that I could not, and that my husband would deal with it shortly when he got home. And he starts freaking at me that those tree branches wouldn't grow back and it was ugly, blah blah. I told him that the church we were renting from were going to cut those trees down and put in a parking lot, anyway, what is the big deal? Oh, no, he insisted they would leave the trees in there, they wouldn't cut down the TREES for a parking lot! Umm, yes, they will. Still, he insists I come outside. And I said "Look, do you think I can glue the branches back on the tree? Somehow, my coming outside right now because you are freaking out about tree branches on a tree in our yard is somehow going to make things better, and it just can't wait until my husband comes home?" Well, that got him back tracking a bit, because obviously there is no solution to his anger. Anger he has no right to feel. So he threatens to call our landlord. Go ahead, buddy.

The church laughed. And cutting the bottom branches off had actually ended a problem of the tree catching the trash blowing around town. Did us a favor.

Why did the kids do that? Because Donnie had been pruning some broken branches and they were helping him.

And there are more stories with this neighbor, lol.

Book Reviews

I am doing a couple of book reviews this week, and I have some free copies to give away. If you are interested in doing a book review, send me an email at qtpies5 at msn.com.
Update*
Oh, the books are Mosaic by Amy Grant and Boo, Humbug. I have a Mosaic book review up right now. Boo, Humbug needs to be reviewed the end of the month. I have one of each left to give away. Only by email.

Portable scanner, A Traveling Businessman's Friend!

My husband used to travel all the time for work. He would be gone several weeks at a time. So he needed to keep receipts and report them in order to be reimbursed for his expenses, like hotel, food, car rental and airline tickets.
Well, after 3 weeks those receipts were either worn down from being folded and squished in his wallet or lost in his suitcase or briefcase. It was trying some trips.
A portable scanner tucked in with his laptop would have been a great friend to him. He could just scan his receipts in and forget about them. The Scanshell 2000NR is easily tucked in the briefcase and does not need it's own power source, a USB cable provides the power, one less cord to pack. Scanshell also has 600 dpi resolution for better picture scanning. The software comes with the product and loads when you plug it in, or you can use your own software, like Paintshop Pro.
Scanshell also comes with Scan2Contacts for scanning business-cards for MS Outlook ®. It is a much easier way to keep up with business contacts without carrying all those cards with you. And you still maintain the ability to keep anything handwritten on the card or drawn maps. That would have saved me tons of work when I was an administrative assistant hand typing in each and every business card my bosses received so they could look up contacts on the computer.
If you're in business and need barcode
products like a credit
card reader or a reciept
printer, you can go online to find barcode printers
and other barcode
scanning products.

Thursday Thirteen~ e-proverbs

Thirteen e-proverbs for the 21st century~ 1. Home is where you hang your @. 2. A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click. 3. You can't teach a new mouse old clicks. 4. Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice. 5. C:\ is the root of all directories. 6. There's no place like home page. 7. Don't byte off more than you can view. 8. Fax is stranger than fiction. 9. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks. 10. Virtual reality is its own reward. 11. Great groups from little icons grow. 12. Windows will never cease. 13. The geek shall inherit the earth. And because I have totally lost my mind, (you do see I have 7 kids up there, right?) I did a second TT on my contest blog~ Thursday Thirteen #1 Win a Wii . Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway for this wonderful book and 5 items from Wiggitybang!

Wordless Wednesday~ My hero's hero!

Ok, not so wordless, lol. This is my hero's hero! Three dogs were harassing our dog this morning, and they didn't care if Donnie was out there swatting at them, so he went for the big guns. Seriously, they were St. Bernards harassing our dog. We do not have a small dog, I cannot walk him, he can drag me down the alley or pin me to the ground. (luckily he doesn't like squirt guns, hehe) This is my husband in his pajama's and jacket defending our dog from the bullies.

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway for this wonderful book!

I am also having a give-away of 5 items from Wiggitybang!

And there are tons more contests listed on my contest blog.

Update***

All the comments about Donnie being a redneck are so funny! LOL No, he definately was born and raised in Minnesota. But nobody messes with his dog! (he drove the kids to school in his jammies, lol, thats why he was in a hat and coat)

I got a call from the Sheriff

Oh, yes I did. About one of my kids.

My little prankster called 911, again.

That's right. Sam is a little trouble maker.

My quest continues..........

My goal for this year is to win big. Now, I have won big, I won the Learning Tower, along with some other amazing prizes so far. But I have a goal. One single prize eludes me. I am way to much of a tight wad to pay full price for it, even with online coupon codes. I enjoy a great bargain, and I do search out those fantastic online deals, but I am still too much of a tight wad to fork over the money.
I must win a Nintendo Wii! I want to play games and lose weight at the same time. I want to play games. I have to share my computer, you know, so I need something fun to do off the computer. The kids would love to have a Wii, and it would get them some exercise, too, without me nagging them!
Playing games together is a family past time at our house. We all enjoy it. I would even post a video of me playing the game if I won one from Ultimate Coupons.

Quelf Give-away!

I got a package in the mail the other day and look at what was inside! These lovely items are from WiggityBang for me to give away to my readers!
I admit, I did harass the man by email. But I really do love his games!
Why did Mr. Wiggity Bang (not his real name, by the way) send me these give away prizes? (besides the fact that I am annoying)
Quelf is now being sold at Barnes and Noble!


If you buy Quelf from Barnes and Noble and they sell out, B&N will pick up Wiggity Bang's other two games, Flapdoodle and Quao (Cow). These games really should be out there as much as Monopoly or Cranium are. They are excellent, excellent games!

Here is what we are going to do to help Wiggity Bang celebrate B&N selling their games, we are going to give away each of these prizes through the month of October. (really, I don't know WHY the underwear, lol, I did NOT request those!) There will be 5 chances to win something here. Unfortunately, I can't enter because I really want that Quao shirt.

1. Biscuit Farmer Hat. The Biscuit Farmer is a character in Quelf. He's a tall, skinny farmer who tries to grow biscuits.


2. Red Super Ninja Monkey shirt, size M girls. I think somewhere between a 10-12 yo girl.


3. Green Super Ninja Monkey shirt, size XL. It would probably fit me, but think teen boys or smaller adults.


4. White I am the Quao shirt, size L (42-44) this is like XXL adult, maybe XL.


5. Then there are the undies. They are brand new, lol. They are black with a white band and they say "I am the Dude." The Dude is a Quelf character, of course. They are a boys small, fitting probably a 10-12 pants size kid.

Quelf is an amazingly fun and crazy game. You will end up looking silly, but so will every body else. You pick one of 8 characters and then move around the board, depending on the color you land on, you will get one of 5 different category cards. You may prefer the green cards for some nice, safe trivia, or for some crazy fun you may want a roolz card, where the entire group may have to stand and say "Pizza Party" every time the phone or door bell rings. But, if you are really crazy you will enjoy the cards that have doing things to amuse and entertain your friends, such as writing an opera to an opponent and then singing it to them, or doing a belly dance. I don't want to give away all the crazy things that are in the game, but I do want to tell you that I have forced let my friends play with me and they request that I bring the game with me to our Ladies Nights.

The Chicago Tribune listed Quelf in the top 10 games, Full Story+. It also won a
The MAJOR FUN Awards in December of 2006. This is a fun game. Let's help WiggityBang get all their games in B&N! If you do decide to join the IN crowd and buy Quelf for your friends and family for Christmas, would you buy it at B&N, please? Thanks!



So, here are the prize details:

1. You need to enter each prize separately.

2. Answer the question and leave it in the comments.

3. Contests end October 31st, winners to be announced on November 1.

4. Contest open only to US residents, or people who can get the item shipped to a US address, I will ship to APOs, our military families are definitely welcome to enter.

• Underwear
• Red Shirt
• Green Shirt
• Hat
• White Quao shirt

Please enter at each individual post, not on this post. If you purchase Quelf through this link, and there are at least 5 people who do, I will do another drawing for those people who buy it and leave a comment here that they did. I will give away the game Quao to a random winner. This will be out of my pocket, not a give away from Wiggity Bang.

Sunday update

What is going on at the Qtpies house?

Well, things are going well with our foreign exchange student. Being from Germany, he is very fluent in English, so there is very little language barrier. He doesn't understand some slang, like "shotgun." We were coming home from the Mall of America and the kids asked if he wanted to ride shotgun, which he didn't understand, and he didn't want to do, either. He preferred the way back seat. But, he is starting to spend some time with us. Choosing not to go to church, as he has never been before, except one time for a wedding, but I think he will join the kids for youth group and dodgeball on Wednesday night. Max is even starting to eat our food. I was getting a complex! I don't want him to starve, but Donnie doesn't want me cooking foods his way because Max needs to experience and try American things.

Tonight the kids are having their weekly movie night at our house, so my house is slowly filling with teens right now.

I am a featured blogger on Five Minutes for Mom's 5 minutes around the Blogosphere today. That is really cool! I am excited to have new visitors and people entering for the book I am giving away, Love Letters to a Child! Welcome, newbies!
Five Minutes for Mom is a great website for moms run by two moms, Susan and Janice, who happen to be twin sisters. They both have stores that are really cool: A Rocking Horse to Love and Peddle Cars and Retro Collectibles.
I love how they help promote mom blogs and stores. You can find links to their readers' blogs and mom owned stores. They also are always running really great give aways like their Digital Camera Giveaway!!!

I am also about to post another set of give aways here. Mr. WiggityBang sent me some prizes for my readers, it is just kind with the amount of talk I subject everyone to about Quelf. I'll be getting those set up this week, hopefully kick it off tomorrow or tonight. We'll see if these teens let me stay in the room while they have their movie night.

Fuel me!

snorgtees.com and fuelmyblog are having a contest for $500! Check out the competition page for details.
I am #13! Please keep voting for me! And I'd love you forever if you spread the word, too! My competition is crazy rich with voting friends. He says he doesn't want the money, but I don't believe him, lol. He has 74 votes so far this month, I have 19. I'm very thrilled with 19, really, but it is not going to win me the $500.
I'm not really a big deal blogger, like the competition rules state to blog about, but I want to be. I love blogging and meeting new friends and reading new blogs. I get a lot of joy out of some of the posts I read. I get a ton of joy out of the comments I receive, they mean the world to me! Blogging is all about the readers, not about the blogger.

I have some prizes I will be listing soon from Mr. WiggityBang himself! Now you all know how crazy the game Quelf is, if you read my blog, or are my friend in real life and have been forced to play it a time or two. Guess what he sent me to give away............
A pair of boys underpants. Oh, yes he did. Now I thought that was freaky weird, but not only do you pretty much have to be freaky weird to make up the games he made, but Drew thought they were incredibly awesome and wishes they were in his size!
Thankfully, for us slightly more normal people, there are t-shirts and a hat, also.
Why is he doing this? Could it be all the emails I send him begging him? Well, sure. I'm good at sucking up, and I truly love the game and want to promote it. But the reason is because Barnes and Noble picked up Quelf and they want to sell out the games so B&N will sell his other two games.

Our foreign exchange student is here. He's a bit withdrawn right now. Not shy, really, just not easy to get to know. Maybe if he'd come out of the bedroom.... lol. Or maybe we are just really weird. I don't know.
We planned to take him to the Mall of America (MOA) today, but apparently his German friends planned to go, too, and they called about driving him today, but since I didn't know about it, I said we were driving him. Now its kind of a big snafu. I think I'll just drop him off with his friends and let him have fun while we go take care of the car we are buying. (and that is a blog post in itself!)

We're getting there!

I thought you would all enjoy some pics of Sam and his obvious love of our kitty, Midnight. They will entertain you through my boring post.

So, we finally are getting there! Yes, getting through all the crazy stuff that has been happening to us.

Can you believe that we have fixed the washer and dryer and Donnie's car? Plus the fridge is replaced with the fridge that came with the house. Donnie fixed the furnace for $13!!

The van and the Geo are next, plus getting a new fridge, but that can wait a bit.

Now we just have to finish getting the house ready for our guest. Make the DVD for my dad's 60th birthday. Survive.

Hmm, I just may get there! (we're pretending the roof leaking will go away if we ignore it)

Awww, doesn't he just love the kitty soooooo much!?

(that is a part of a grape in his mouth)
Doesn't Midnight look like she's having fun? She really doesn't run away from him, either. She just gets him back when he is standing in front of the couch. She sneak attacks his feet. He thinks its really funny.

Sweet love!

Thursday Thirteen~

Thirteen reasons I'm not doing Thursday 13 this week.

I know, I'm actually "doing" it, but I'm not going to be blog hopping so much.

1. I have a foreign exchange student coming to stay with us for 2 weeks tomorrow.

2. I have to clean my room, I don't even know what color the carpet is at this point, lol. Ok, so I know its purple, but I haven't done a deep cleaning in ages, and with my laundry room problems, my room became the place for every one's dirty clothes.

3. I need to wash every floor in the house.

4. I need to freshen and wash all the bedding in the house, ok, so at LEAST the room Max is going to be staying in.

5. I have to finish moving things from switching Trinity to Hope-Anne's room and Drew to Trin and Sam's room.

6. I need to make a DVD of pictures for my dad's 60th birthday party next weekend. I have not even started beyond getting most of the pics scanned.

7. I need to somehow steam clean my living room furniture and carpet. (2 couches, a loveseat, a chair and a large throw rug.)

8. Put laundry away, while constantly washing more. Now that I have my washer and dryer fixed!!!!

9. I need to go to the store and get some food and some baking soda to freshen the old fridge we replaced our broken fridge with. But I don't have a running vehicle right now.

10. I need to go see my son Devon's home football game tonight.

11. I need to make the kids actually CLEAN, the house and their rooms. (do I hear a "good luck with that?")

12. I have a 3yo and an 11 month old at home "helping" me by messing things up faster than I can clean them.

13. I need to get votes for a contest on Fuelmyblog.com. Please be kind and vote for me, as you can see, I really need the $500! If you enjoy my blog, would you go vote for me, please? You can vote once a day. I'll be your friend, give you links on my blog, show you lots and lots of bloggy contests to enter, what do you want? lol Oh, and I will be giving away some shirts and hats soon, so keep watching my blog for details!

Make an account at fuelmyblog.com, confirm your email, then you do a search on qtpies7, my blog will come up, click on "fuel" and then put what you like about it, click "fuel blog" and your done! I'm in the top 100 right now, and I was blog of the day yesterday.

Snorgtees.com

snorgtees.com and fuelmyblog are having a contest for $500! Check out the competition page for details.

I am a big deal blogger and deserve to win this funny t-shirt and win $500 because no one else is willing to amuse you and entertain you and horrify you like I am with just my daily life as a parent. It is funny to you, because you are not the ones dealing with these things.
I lived through the 2 years Trinity would play with her poop. Painting her crib daily, finger painting her sheets and walls with poop. "White washing" her doll house fence with poo. She even made little poop figures to decorate my staircase with. I survived that. Just those years alone should qualify me to win that $500, or at least a t-shirt, but it didn't end there.
Now I have Sam. This is Sam. After his trip to the litter box. Yes, that is cat litter stuck to the snot on his upper lip. Why, yes, he does enjoy eating cat poop.

And lest you think I am kidding, click on this picture and you will see the litter inside his mouth. I know, he seems to be such a cute kid, but really, he's a disgusting monster.

Don't believe me? This is the SAME night. That is not cat poop. That is HIS poop. And yes, it IS on his mouth. He decorated the chair, the carpet, his sister's toy AND ate it.

But he sure cleans up good!

So, who else is willing to not only admit that their kid does this, but also post pics of it to amuse and horrify you? That's right, only me.

So, since I need that $500 to help us fix all the things that have decided to die around here recently (furnace, van, car, dryer, washer, fridge/freezer, to name the biggies) I would appreciate it if you would all show me the love and go vote for me and put me in the top 100.

I promise you, if I am elected the winner of the $500 I will end the posting pics of my child eating poop. I will bring you more entertaining stories of my life with 7 kids. And I will even make a cake.

Please go vote! You do have to register and confirm your email, but after that it is easy to do, I promise! Remember, if I get in the top 100, I will never post another poop picture on my blog again!

Wordless Wednesday~ Lily pads

This was taken by my son, Drew, at the Como Zoo in Minnesota.

My bookends

Sam and Drew have both given me a great deal of laughter recently.

Yesterday I was at the computer and Sam was behind me crying, so I turned around to get him and couldn't find him. But I could hear him crying, then I saw something moving through a little slit, he had fallen into the toybox and the lid had shut on him! LOL

Drew came home from work today, he takes care of a kid. He supervises his soccer then drives him home. Today it is raining. Drew comes home and tells me "OK, it's really wet out there. So I took shelter under a tree, which really wasn't shelter at all. And the tree is covered in moss. And that moss, when it gets wet, smells like butt. I smell like butt."

I have been rolling since he told me! It is just so comical! He keeps saying "I smell like butt." because it makes me crack up.

Our Stick Family

This is our stick family, lol. Aren't we cute?
Get the details at Renee's blog and see more stick families.