Why I should just stop watching tv

So last night I watched just enough of Jon and Kate plus 8 to learn that they are getting a divorce.  I've been watching this show off and on for the whole time it was on and this year it has really put a bad taste in my mouth.  I just can't understand for the life of me how they can film for posterity what will be one of the toughest experiences for their kids.  Can you imagine living through that then later googling it and watching episodes of your life falling apart?  I can't imagine the emotional turmoil that would cause.  

I for one will not be watching (encouraging) this to happen anymore.  Just like a child, you can't give positive attention for bad behavior.  I will be praying for them and their children.   I'm wondering how many tv shows I'll cut out if I just apply this model of watching to all my guilty pleasures.  I know Real Housewives are out, as are most of the other reality shows (except Top Chef love that show!).   

From this I learned that I am so thankful for the partnership that I have with my husband.  I'm so thankful that we work together to find conclusions and that even when we're upset with each other we don't go to bed angry.  I pray that I would always look to find the best and encourage the best in him.  He is a good, good man and I pray that I will look to see the good in him every day of our lives together.

It all started with a mirror

Well since last I wrote much has happened in Casa de Dirkey.  

For the past two weeks I've been cleaning water off of my bathroom sink.  I finally asked the hubs just how he is washing his hands to get water ALL OVER the sink and he looked at me and said I thought that was you.  He then ran upstairs and flushed the toilet and water came out of my wall.  Yeah you read that right, water came out of my wall.  Toilet water, poop water, if you would.  So I've been cleaning poop water from my sink for two weeks without knowing it.  BLECH!!!  After scrubbing myself with bleach, we started tearing up the wall to check why poop water was coming out of it.  It turns out that we drilled into the pipe when we hung our bathroom mirror.  Oops!

Well that problem was quickly solved but since we had the sink out we decided to put our new bathroom sink in thats been sitting in the laundry room for about a year.  Well the old owners only put the laminate flooring to the edge of the old sink which would look rather silly with our new pedestal sink.  So we decided to change the laminate flooring in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway  (all had the same laminate).  Since the old owners also made the laminate flooring go into the dining room for about two feet (which I hated) we are also redoing the floors in the living and dining room.  So are you following this so far we have a new sink, new floors in kitchen, bathroom, hallway, living room and dining room that are in the works.  Well there is also a weird half wall in between the kitchen and dining room that makes our stove barely fit (the door scrapes when we open it).  So we took a hammer to it BEFORE we decided what to do with it after we took that wall down.  I've since been doing some googling and I'm going to build a built in bookcase to go there for my cookbooks.

So needless to say, my blogging may be a little sparse while I'm frantically googling how to do all this stuff.  Thankfully we did have money saved away earmarked specifically to do the floors and we've gotten them all for a great price and saving a ton by doing most of the work ourselves.  There are also some other projects I would like to get finished; painting the wall on the way up the steps, finishing painting our outside trim, painting the trim in the downstairs, taking the fence posts out of the back yard, fixing my pool, etc.  As you can see I have more than enough things to keep me busy this summer but I think we can get them done!  Wish me luck!

Do you Doula?!

You should!!

Camping Trip

So we left off last week on our way to the campground in the pouring rain. The family that was going with us had a little girl so they weren't so sure they wanted to brave the elements. Well we turned into the state forest and it stopped raining. Wondering if it was just a beneficial fluke we quickly set up camp, worried that it would start raining again. We got the camp set up in record time and the weather held for us. Our friends ended up meeting us a few hours later with their little girl. It was so nice being out in the woods again hearing all the bugs and frogs. I really miss how loud nature can be :)

one of the gorgeous wooded paths

We were pretty much alone at the campsite that night, there were a couple of other campsites filled up but not really anyone that we even saw or heard. It was great spending a quiet night by the fire playing Phase 10, talking and making some smores. We woke up pretty late on Saturday and just spent the day walking around and playing on the playground.

The hubs and his good friend were "super" excited to play on the playground

The hubs caught the fishing bug while we were there and is so ridiculously excited to get back out with his pole.

My hottie

That night was another campfire, more games, more smores and more talking. This was probably one of the most relaxing camping weekends I've had in my life.

There's fish in that there water

A great bonus was how cheap it was, we stayed at the state park so it was $20 a night split by the two couples it was just $20 for the weekend. The campground allows 6 people on a site so it could be even cheaper if we split it three ways. We did pretty frugal meals; Hot dogs and pasta for dinners; eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfasts and sandwiches for lunch.

Oh boy I love him :)

I got a Swagger

So I just joined Swagbucks.. yes I know I'm late to the game but I didn't quite get it.  Now I do and realize that I can earn gift cards for just searching the internet...  Hello, I do that ALL THE TIME!

So you should definitely Join UP, cause you know all the cool kids are doing it.

I'm nothing if I'm not ridiculous :)

So being my special brand of crazy, I'm leaving for an exciting (wet) weekend of camping.  Its been steadily raining all day long but the car is all packed.  I have playing cards and scrabble thrown in the mix as well.  I'm leaving my computer at home (ahhhhh) but I'm really excited!  I haven't been camping for over two years and I've found a small state park near our house that I can't wait to explore.

Yes, I also packed some ponchos.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Heart Breaking

Today I'm heading to a funeral.  I haven't seen this man for about 11 years but still my heart breaks a little thinking about it.  The last time I saw him he was a few days out of a coma and shortly after he had to be admitted to a rehabilitation center as his injuries didn't allow him to be  cared for at home.  He was my best friends dad and was in a coma due to the car accident that took my best friends life.  A few weeks ago it was the 11th anniversary of that accident and every year I can't help but think how that accident changed their family's life and also my own. 

 They had a small family just a mom, dad, son and daughter.  I used to go over often to play when I was little and to hang out as we got older, I'll never forget the love that they had for each other and for myself as well and I will always treasure those memories.  

That day, my friend Amanda, was driving from the mall to a Bible study with her dad in the car.  She didn't gauge the turn correctly and ended up being hit by a car.  She died a few hours later.  

I got my own license a few months later and I know her accident caused me to be a more cautious driver.  Personally it is what showed me there was a God and that He loved me.   Yes, it was a horrible horrible time in my life but through it I felt God's love for me in a real and tangible way. Since that day I have been able to rest in that knowledge knowing that love has carried me through some of my toughest days.  

As for Amanda's family, her mother died a couple years after she did while I was on a missions trip to Haiti.  I wasn't able to go to that funeral but I did visit her shortly before her passing.  Now her father has also passed.  My heart and prayers go out to her brother, and I ask you to also keep him in your prayers today.  That he would feel that same love strengthen him to get through these tough days ahead.

O...M...G... Soo good

So yesterday I got inspired and I made Mozzarella Cheese. It was alot easier than I thought, once I found the ingredients. I used a gallon of organic milk from an Amish Farm, about a teaspoon of sea salt, citric acid and some Junket Rennet. Lacy from Razor Family Farms has some fantastic directions, the only thing I found was that when I was finished and put it in the salt water mixture the edges were a little mushy. Also maybe I mixed it a little too much because the inside was harder than regular mozzarella. That being said the taste was fantastic and when shredded the texture and consistency were spot on.

Today I used the homemade mozzarella in a homemade pizza. My default pizza dough recipe is soo stinking easy.
I use:
1 cup of warm water
2.25 tsps of yeast
Mix together than add:
2 Tbsp of oil
1 Tbsp of honey
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1.5 cups of white flour
a shake of dried onions
dashes of oregano, garlic pepper, parsley, and sea salt.
Let rise for 10 minutes and bake at 450 degrees for 10-14 min.

Then I take one can of Crushed Tomatoes and open it and add about a teaspoon of sugar, then doctor it up with my spices. I use the can to mix up the spices so I'm not dirtying any other dishes.

(go ahead I know you want to click to enlarge the goodness)
I also carmelized some onions and picked basil from my garden and also some roasted red pepper.

One Word:

DELISH!!

I want a Wii

So many of my friends have gotten a Wii recently. They tell me about their wii fits and all the fun they have with them, how much of a work out they get with their boxing and what not. We haven't been able to justify the cost but I wouldn't turn one away if I won one thats for sure! Well CPF is celebrating 2 years of blogging with a giveaway. I'm totally crossing my fingers that I win, you should try too. :)

The Plague has Passed

So last week I was down and out. I felt like a truck ran me over most days so wasn't too into the blog. Then this weekend I started feeling a tiny bit better but then the husband got hit by the sick truck. There was a good amount of hot tea and ramen soup to be had over at Casa de Dirkey. Today I woke up to feel a little bit better, there are so many good things going this week. First I get to see my sister and her family who I only see maybe once a year (any family reading this is a surprise so shhhh). Last time we saw them was for about 30 minutes at the Minnesota airport on our stopover to Hawaii so I'm pretty excited about that. I also got my substitute teacher certificate so I'll be able to pick up some more work each week. I also have plans to make some mozzarella cheese the fresh milk I get from an Amish Farm.
What you got going for this week?

Easier than Pizza

Sorry I haven't been around lately I've been focusing on other things. I thought I'd share an easy peasy recipe that I got from a local friend.

Tuscan Soup
1 can of tomatoes (large can)
2 cans of beans (I like Cannelli)
put it in food processor then heat up on stove. I doctor it up with basil, dried onions, etc and serve it with some parmesan cheese and it is GOOOD!

Cheaper and Quicker than Pizza

In Case You're Curious

How to Make a Baby

Hamilton Beach has AWESOME customer service

So about 3 weeks ago I was using my faithful Hamilton Beach crockpot that my Mother-In-Law had given us when we got our house to make us something scrumptious. As I went to stir whatever it was that was in there the crockpot slumped over and almost fell off of the counter. After further review I realized that one of the legs broke off my poor crockpot. Needless to say I was pizzed. I wrote them an email letting them know what happened and that it wasn't under warantee but how disappointed I was that it happened to begin with. They wrote me back within a day and enclosed a Fed-Ex label to send it back to the company. Coming home today I found a brand new crockpot that is nicer than the one we sent in on my front doorstep. I'm so impressed with their customer service on this, they went above and beyond what was necessary to make sure I was happy. Now I have a bright shiny new crockpot to play with! :)

Earth Day

So you guys all know I'm a fan of all things green.  The further I've gone on this green journey the more I see how it fits so well in with my faith journey and my frugal journey; making three seemingly different pursuits merge into one.  I believe that this earth was created by God and as a worshipper of God I should be doing my best to take care of this great gift that we have been given.


 The same holds true for my finances, my money is not my own but has been entrusted to me to utilize to the best of my ability.  Many "green" choices are also very frugal choices some of them that I've noticed are cloth napkins, cloth rags for cleaning, using all natural cleaners (vinegar, baking soda are my main cleaners), gardening, cloth bags (some grocery stores pay you .05 cents every time you use them), thrift store shopping and so many more.  

I encourage all of you to take a small step today to take care of the earth that we've been entrusted with.

With a side of insomnia thrown in for fun

When we were getting married I was adamant about not having a t.v. in our bedroom. One way or another when we were moving in one made its way up there. Over two years later we've had one there the whole time, oops. I've noticed recently that my sleep has been affected. I'll stay up watching dumb sitcoms and have a hard time falling asleep then will wake up in the middle of the night because I forgot to turn it off. The hubs doesn't want it in there either. Last night we tried just leaving it off, it took me over two hours to fall asleep, I ended up going downstairs and grabbing my ipod and listening to praise music. This worked and I soon fell asleep and was listening to something positive. So today we're going to remove the tv and put one of our stereos in its place. With the insomnia I've been really reflecting on what I allow time in my life. I've realized that I haven't been watchful over many things I've allowed to give influence.  I'm paying attention now and removing things that don't need to be given my time.  Spring cleaning my brain :)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phillipians 4:8

Quick Fix

I've been going crazy the past couple years because we have about 30 frames in our back room of all different colors, materials, sizes and shapes. Every time I went into that room it bothered me a little bit. Well I found a cheap quick fix, I bought a can of flat black spray paint and painted all of our frames the same color. Not only is this employing what I have already instead of spending $10 + each on new frames. I also never have to worry about getting matching frames. I can pick up frames from the thrift stores or yard sales for .50c to a couple dollars and have them fit perfectly into my room.
Nice!

Inspiration

Wow, just wow.
If you haven't seen Susan Boyle then you need to watch this.
All I can say is wow. Definitely goes to show you should never give up on your dreams no matter how unlikely they may seem.

I fought the sap and the sap won

I've been working the past few weeks on my garden.  I tripled the size from last year and we're almost ready for planting.  I had a 4 foot square garden last year, this year I have 3 of them.  While I've been out in the yard I realized that our back yard looks so sad!  So I took my scrub brush and bucket out and went to town.  The backyard looks significantly better especially the crawl space door(which was crazy mildewy).  Our outside furniture has been scrubbed now but there is sap all over it, blech.  I cleaned off the benches on our back deck but now realize that we need to put a fresh coat of paint on.  Two steps forward one steps back is ok we're slowly getting the things done around here that need to be done.  No matter what things I see that need doing it still looks better than it did a few weeks ago!

Anyone have a suggestion for removing sap?

Exciting things

I've been working really hard on getting my doula business going.  I have my website very close to launching, I'm just waiting on getting my new business cards and some promotional materials in hand.  The website looks great if I do say so myself, Its definitely still a work in process.  I am really excited for the La Leche League conference in New Jersey and finally getting to hear a woman with whom I hold a great respect for, Ina May Gaskin.  This month I've picked up a few more clients so I'm really happy things seem to be moving with this as its such an amazing "job" to have.

I bet your in some crazy suspense waiting on that link to my website, but you'll just have to be patient.. Have a great day!

Fun with substitutions

So we had my whole family over for St. Patricks Day to eat some corned beef and cabbage, YUM! Of course I decked the house out to celebrate my favorite holiday.

It was so great having my family over as we usually have the hubs family over just cause they are so close. For my bridal shower the wishing well was decorations for my house which was the best idea since I love decorating for every holiday. So we have a ton of St. Patty's decorations

Well the kids asked for some juice with dinner and since we generally stick to water at home we didn't have any. This auntie felt so bad so we improvised and I taught them how to make lemonade.

Let me just say they loved "squishing" the lemons and tasting to make sure that it was just right. They probably drank 5 glasses each and had a blast. This no-spend month will probably be filled with substitutions and creativity, I've been really taking inventory of what I do have so that I can make the substitutions when the time comes. Hopefully they will be as fun (and as cute) as my lemonade sub :)

I just had to get one of her shirt, says Irish Temper and Italian Attitude, lol, what a pair!