Misadventures of moving

ok so if you know me, you know one thing, I am COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS but only sometimes. See God did some good things when he made me. Like for one thing, He knew I wasn't going to be good at getting gas when needed so He makes it so when I stall out from lack of gas, its at the gas station. As far as the ridiculousness goes, I'm only completely and utterly ridiculous at times when I'm soo stressed out that I really need to be sane. Some may say, well how is that a good thing, let me tell you, it makes for good stories.
So a few weeks ago, i got eaten by an army of small bugs. To date I'm not exactly sure what kind of bugs, I think they were either fleas or chiggers ( i live in the woods). Well my cat was going over my best friend's parents for an extended vacation and all my stuff was coming over the red headed families house. I couldn't very well infest anyones house if it was fleas, so I bombed my house, got the kittie a new collar, and decided to wash every piece of fabric I own before bringing it here. I worked a full day went home and packed up seventeen loads of laundry! I know some of you who know me, know that I'm proned to exageration but I'M NOT HERE!
I loaded up all seventeen loads of laundry and headed to the laundromat. I started unloading the truck and loading the machines. By the time I got done loading SEVENTEEN loads of laundry in the machines, the machines were starting to get done. So I started loading them in the dryer. By the time I got them all in the dryer they were done so i started folding and loading them back in the truck. I get to the last load and I can barely lift my arms to bring it in the truck and I'm literally delirious. I call the Schmoop crying because a. I'm in Medford Lakes and not in my bed b. I have to drive to Sicklerville still c. I have to unload my crap d. I have to drive back home from Sicklerville e. I have not stopped moving for 5 hours.
Anyways I start calling people begging them to help me, noone answers their phone, then my friend answers. She says of course she will help me, do I mind if she plays the saxophone in my car on the way. My answer is, of course, cause its the life of Dirkey and nothing is ever as it seems; but its always funny.

sidetrip

Sorry I've been flying below the blogging radar this past week. I've been moving, however i do have a fun sidetrip for you. This is a shout out to the brand new Mama K, i was reading another mommy blogger Loobylu What she has on her site is probably the creepiest thing I've ever seen. However, strangly fascinating! So Mama K you want this for Christmas?

WW week 14

I gained one! Its ok, I was expecting this gain. Looking back it seems I gain at certain times, and if you are a woman you completely understand. We will see what next week holds, i'm hoping for a big loss! :)
Have a good week, I'll be updating later.
Going to my Gracie's 3rd birthday party which will be attended by a triple threat; Gracie, Mason and baby Meghan. I'm sure I'll be uploading tons of pics.
Also I've been trying to go through my pantry and cooking with whatever i have to get rid of it and help stick to my budget. I think all this house hunting stuff has made me all domestic. I made Jason lasagna and chocolate chip cookies for his birthday dinner. I also have been making some 0 point soups.

31 things I love about you!

Schmoops birthday is tomorrow, as I'm writing this he's settling down to bed tonight getting ready to fly out tomorrow morning for business. The wonderful, handsome Schmoop has to go away on business on his birthday, really early in the morning. Hopefully he wakes up early enough in the morning to see this. Happy Birthday baby!
31. I love the way you smell
30. Looking in your eyes
29. Being in your arms
28. When you tell me stories
27. Waking up to your texts
26. When you pull up on Friday nights
25. Your eyes
24. Running my fingers through your hair
23. the way you tease me
22. that you like to eat anything
21. your kisses
20. your sillyness
19. how much you love your family
18. how much Gracie and Mason love you (I'm sure Ryan will too)
17. your smile
16. your honesty
15. your heart after God
14. your love of music
13. your compassion
12. when you "hold me"
11. driving with you
10. planning with you
9. that you humor me
8. your strive to be a better person
7. your desire to serve God in missions some how
6. your youthful soul
5. that i trust you with my whole heart
4. your nerdiness (I really do love it, you Star Wars watching hottie!)
3.That you are the answer to all my prayers
2. The way you love me
1. That you are the man of my dreams, the most wonderful man in the whole world. I am the most blessed girl ever to call you my schmoop.

I love and miss you, 2 more days till schmoop day! All my heart and love forever,
your ski, spy, pirate..... dirkey

My best friends, the Producers

So my best friends were busy this weekend!
Mama K produced a baby. Wesley was born 1:04 pm on Saturday August 12 at 8 pounds 11 oz's. I went to see Mama K and baby on Saturday evening and both of them looked incredible! Mama K was sporting her brand new Pedi and Wesley was just sooo sweet! He had huge baby hands and looking into his eyes was like looking at his Daddy, we'll call him Papa K. I'm amazed at Mama K, she pulled through like a champ despite a tough labor, she had no epidural!! She's my hero for the week! Oh my gosh and isn't he ADORABLE!!!


Tamara, my other best friend, made an incredible cake for her sister Shasta's bridal shower. Tamara is probably one of the most artistic people I know. She can take that artistic eye and apply it to whatever medium is in front of her. I have soo many things at my house that came from her hands. A hat, paintings, Christmas ornaments, stuff she widdled. She's nuts! Here is the amazing cake she made!! Please comment and tell this woman she needs to start her own business, she truly is amazing!

WW week 13!

So here its been almost 3 months. I started this whole WW online on May 10th, and here it is August 9th.
I've lost a total of 22.5lbs! I notice it alot in my clothes and also my face. I'm so happy with WW online, I'm defintitely going to continue with it.
Here is my before

and for accurate comparison here is a horrible pic of me today.

Would you eat it? Boca Burgers Veggie Burger 1pt

Bacon Bonanza Boca Burger
As prepared
1 Boca Burger-prepared in microwaive
2 slices of bacon
1 piece of low fat string cheese melted on top
small amt of barbecue sauce.
3pts for the whole thing

Shouldn't do it if you have a problem with the whole "meat" thing and thats why you're eating Boca Burgers. I have no such problems, I like eating cows and chickens and such. In high school my family bought half a cow and kept it in our freezer. When we were hungry we would say what should we make with Windy (the cows name). Sound harsh? Well I'm a hick, I've eaten our goats, pigs, chickens, bunnies, etc. Most times I wasn't told what I was eating it was just set in front of me. Yum mystery meat!
Anyways didn't have too many points for dinner so this was a good "cheap" meal but as far as cost affective not so much.

PS. Do you like my retro flower plates?! I love them, they used to be my Grams

Have Mercy!

A fun part of dating a twin is Happy Birthday Double Dates!
Schmoop and I, Renee and Josh went out to see Mercy Me on Sat for Schmoop and Josh's birthday! Happy almost birthday guys!! It was a great time, one of my favorite parts was watching the rump shaker during the praise and worship music! Was it bad that Renee and I spent alot of the concert doing the Beyonce butt thing?!

Girls weekend! NYC!

Ok so I got to Manhattan and got the phone call that my girls are stuck on the Garden State Parkway. I started waisting time in Manhattan, the Path let me off right at the Manhattan Mall and Old Navy. A few hours later I got a phone call and they were picking up Irish J. So I started window shopping waiting about 20 min before I start to catch the subway to meet them in Astoria. I get off the subway and walk to L-Bear's apt and get a message that they are in traffic. OH crap!! Well they ended up getting there shortly after I did no biggie.
Only problem is we have tickets to Counting Crows at 6 and its now 7:30; but we were determined. We got there just in time for Counting Crows to go on! We spent the whole concert watching the girls in front of us, they were hysterical! Very into the concert, and very bad dancers. After the concert over to Mike's Diner and to the Bar but no return of the mysterious drinking monster the Tamaranamal. I think he only comes out with Tom Jones.

Dirkey and Tamaranamal (my other BFF)


Laura bear


Irish Jen

Big Sister

I was just looking through my pictures and I realized just how cute my Gracie is. Look at her sweet curls! She sure loves her little sister! Meghan is pretty cute as well, I am a lucky aunt Dirkey I have 9 wonderful nieces and nephews including new additions this year of princess Hanastasia and Baby Meghan!

Would you eat it? Pumpkin Muffins 3pts!!!

Hi All,
Sooo Dirkey is pondering joining the adult race and thinking of buying a house... woah, yeah I know crazy isn't it. I actually have a good job in the land of mortgages and I'm now pre-approved with a realtor(who just happens to be Mama K's mom)! Ahh!!! I'm going to see my first place on Thursday, its a little too much for this Dirkey to handle so I decided to cook tonight. Boy did I cook, yum!!
The girls on my message board for Weight watchers gave me this one.
Pumpkin Muffins
2 cups canned pumpkin
18.25 cake mix
1 cup water
nutmeg and cinnamon to taste

mix all together top with a handful of chocolate chips and bake at 350 till done.
Sooooo good!
Good night all!

If your dad talked as much as hers

you'd be pissed off too....

Sisters

So I came up to Hoboken to see my Gracie and Meghan. We had a really good time.
Here are some squishy baby pics

Gracie being a good big sister

Meghan sleeping

Meghan sleeping some more, she's got a big job keeping her mom and dad up all night, poor kid.

an awake and smiling little baby

The Melting Pot experience

Mama K posted on this and had all the pics so I'm going to link to her blogging magesty on this....

WW week 12

So I weighed in yesterday because Mama K and I went out to dinner at the Melting Pot (incredible fondue restaurant!) last night. I budgeted all my food for the day just having a large salad for lunch and used most of my weeklies there. We skipped dessert cause we were stuffed. I was pretty proud of myself, I told them right of the bat to bring out more veggies with the cheese and with the regular dinner and we finished all of them!
There was a ton of bread left over, I don't think that has been the case the last few times I went. So really most of my points were just cheese. Granted it was alot of cheese but I really hadn't had too many calories/fat all day. So it should all work out!
Also I'm going to Hoboken to see my beautiful nieces tonight then going to NYC with Tamara, Laura and Jen tomorrow till Friday! Busy few days but it should be an incredible time! We'll see how I manage to stay on point with eating out all meals but I'm planning on it!

Ok ok so this week I lost 1.5 lbs, for a total of 21 lbs. I'm pretty happy with that, I'm staying within healthy ranges of weight loss and I really see a change in the way I'm eating.
I'm currently reading a book Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy which talks about saving money (one of Mama K's finds, she's the queen of saving money and researching!) It is really interesting when it talks about ratios of food, your body needs mostly veggies and a little bit of protein. Our culture tends to go overboard in the other direction. I've noticed recently if I take a recipe and add tons more veggies than they call for, the taste is better and the points value lower per serving. Generally I see that most recipes call for outrageous amts of sauces that are to be sopped up with breads, rices, pasta's. What if we use veggies to steal the flavors of those sauces and bring our fiber and nutrient count up and the calorie/fat count down. I know this is not revolutionary but its interesting to me that even cookbooks cater to a protein/carb full lifestyle now and we wonder why we are overweight.