RANCH STYLE OYSTER CRACKERS

I made these this afternoon and they were really good!

I've had them before but they were made with saltine crackers instead of oyster ones. Here's the recipe for........

Ranch Style Oyster Crackers


Ingredients
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix

1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 (12 ounce) package oyster crackers

Directions
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
In a mixing bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, ranch-style dressing mix, dill weed, lemon pepper and garlic powder. Pour this spice mixture over the crackers in a medium bowl, and stir until the crackers are coated. Arrange the crackers on a large baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated 275 degrees F (135 degrees C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

SATURDAY NIGHT

Last night, we had our annual Christmas party for the church.

Since we are still not in our new building we decided to have it a local restaurant called Mom's.

I have to say the food was really good, it's just a home cooking kind of place.

They had chicken, ham, dressing, and all the fixins'.

We had a great time, afterwards a group of us went to the Assembly of God church and went through their "Walk through Bethlehem."

It is a marketplace set up like what they would have had in Jesus' day.

They had some really neat things for the kids to do.

They were able to weave baskets, make ropes, bake bread, make boxes, taste different foods, make perfumes, grind wheat, taste "wine", and a number of other things I can't remember.

A good time was had by all....here are a few pictures I took before my camera went dead.

Maybe, Tracy will post the ones she took on her blog, I think she took about 1,000 more than I did:0)

If you want to see the pictures follow the link to my facebook page....it's way faster to upload there than to blogger!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=749619975#/album.php?aid=167199&id=749619975

SCATTERED

There has been lots going on in the Dillinger home, lately. Although, I haven't been able to find the time or energy to post about it all.

So here's a peek at what we've been up to...........

This is kids eating supper at Captain D's in Blytheville after seeing the Christmas lights.

Evan on his 11th birthday. He picked Grecian's for his birthday lunch.(I tried to get him to go to Shogun's, but he was a no go!)

We all bundled up on the night of Evan's birthday and met a bunch of our friends for the Dyersburg Christmas parade. This must be before it started....what was I taking a picture of???

We had the Rochesters at our church last Wednesday night, we love 'em like they're family.

We took the kids to see the Lights on the Delta in Blytheville, last night. My pictures didn't turn out great. This is of the Nativity at the end....my camera batteries were getting low and they took a picture of everything, until we got to this and they just wouldn't stay on....that's the Devil for ya!

It's blurry, but is says, "Love Thy Neighbor" and that's a cross in the background.

A cute gingerbread girl and house:0)

This is called a Painted House.

Archway Entrance.

Kids in the car about to drive through the lights.

John and our friend Jonathan took Kailey and Mary Klaire to see the Nutcracker last week and this is the only decent picture John was able to get. They all had a great time on their "daddy date."

I know this was scattered and random and the pictures aren't in the right order, but that's how my weeks been,"Scattered." Hope everyone is in the Christmas spirit. I know I am~~~

WEEK IN REVIEW

We have been gone all week visiting our family in Arkansas. We had a great time and did lots of eating, shopping, seeing family we don't see nearly enough, having birthday parties, going on dates and much more.

Tuesday

John and I went on a date, something we rarely get to do. We went to lunch at Fuji's, one of our favorite places to eat and then went to see the movie The Bilnd Side. It was a really good movie. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a movie to see. The ASU basketball team showed up and watched it at the same time we did. I had no idea who he was, but John says I sat next to John Brady the Head coach who used to be at LSU and was in the movie although, you couldn't see his face. Did that make sense? lol

Wednesday

Mama, Flora, Angela, Katie, Aly, and myself went to Jonesboro shopping for last minute Thanksgiving things and had a great time. We had lunch at the Mongolian Grill, which was Aly's choice. I can tell you that I've had my fair share of Chinese and Japanese food this week. :)

Thursday

We went to my Aunt Flora's. Almost everyone was there. My aunts on my daddy's side always drop in to see us..... we don't see them nearly as much as I'd like. We ate more than we should and had really good day.

Friday

We went shopping. No, we didn't go at 4am like most people, but we did go around 10am. I got everything at Walmart that I wanted to get. So, I'm glad I didn't go really early because the things I wanted were still there at 10. I have to say A BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Janet. She was going to stand in line and called to see if I needed anything, that's a great person right there! She was able to get me one of the $199 laptops. This is the second one I've bought in the last 2 months. I'm trying to decide if I should keep the other or not. I was keeping it for Christmas for Evan, but this one is $100 cheaper than the other I got him, so we'll see.

Today

We just stayed around Mama's until lunch time. We ended up going to the Fire Pit with everyone to eat before we left town. John says they have the best cheeseburger in Trumann, I think he may be right.

Well, I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Now, we are getting ready to decorate the tree tomorrow night since we don't have church. We're going to make a night of it.

Then, Evan's birthday is Monday and we'll celebrate the day with him.

I can't believe he's going to be 11!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving!

SECRET SWAP AND CHARLIE BROWN

I had completely forgotten that I joined in on a Secret Ornament Swap.

I have never done one of these before and thought it would be fun!

Today, I got an email telling me who would be on the receiving end of my gift.

The ornament has to be mailed by November 26, so I have a couple of weeks to find something great.

The rule is you have to spend at least $20 before shipping.

I can totally do that!

Do ya'll think I should send more than one ornament or get one really nice one?

What kind of ornaments do ya'll like?

There are a million questions that I need answered.

Oh, and speaking of Christmasy things, I am really wanting to go see this this year.

It is in Nashville at Gaylord Opryland.

The last time the theme was, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I didn't see it, but some of our friends did and really liked it.

I love Charlie Brown, so I'm planning on going and taking the kids.

It's not even Thanksgiving and here I am talking about Christmas.

And speaking of Charlie Brown....tomorrow night on ABC "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" will be on at 7pm. I have the videos, but there is something about watching it every year when it comes on TV. We are planning on carving pumpkins tomorrow and we will defintely be watching this. I love this time of year!!!

Now, I'm off to read up on my swap's blog to find out more about her. This should be fun!!!!

ALOT OF NOTHING

I finally broke down and got me a new camera. I've had my Kodak Easyshare forever and it's my second one. It's on it's last leg, so I hope when my new one comes in that I'll be able to post more pictures on my blog. I decided on this one because I'm a sucker for people telling me how good something is on TV. When I should know better because it's their job to sell this stuff. Another reason why I shouldn't watch Home shopping channels. Although, John did agree that it was a good deal and it was a Today's Special and it sold out. I opted with the purple one and it came with an added bonus, a Photo printer. It's a HP 12mp like I know what that means, but it sounded good, so I went with it.

My good friend Laura went on a little vacation last week to Gatlinburg and called me when she went to the Coach store because they were having a great sale. I'm also a sucker for great sales. She walked out of the store with a purse and a new wallet for me. You have to understand that it was a REALLY GOOD deal!! I'm not in the business of buying purses that cost hundreds of dollars, but if one goes on sale for really cheap, then I'm all over it. (and when I say cheap I mean like a couple games of golf cheap *wink, wink*)She didn't have to do much convincing that I needed a new purse. John says, he's going to get me if I keep buying purses:)




I guess my Christmas came a little early this year. It seems like that happened last year as well.

I have been working on getting our Harvest Festival ready for the church. It's this Saturday night and I hope it turns out as good as it did last year. I always stress over these things because I want people to come and have a good time and for our visiting kids to hear the gospel while they are there. I think it would be a shame to have that many people in one place and never give them the gospel. It's a great witnessing tool. We make sure every childs bag has a Chick Track inside it, so they can go home and read them, they look like comic books. We also have either a puppet skit or John does a devotion by carving a pumpkin and telling a story.
This time we decided to the bouncy things and we also rented a 25 foot slide. I hope to get lots of pics of the adults on that one:0)

I'll post later on and let you know how it all goes. Everyone have a blessed week!!

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Ephesians 3:20

FALL

I am sooooo loving this fall weather!

The fall is my favorite time of year, so I decided I would tell ya'll some of my favorite fall things and must haves.

I love to have candles going in the fall more than any other time of year.

This one from Yankee Candle is one of my favorites.

SMORES!!!

Pumpkin Patches!!!

Hayrides!

I miss having hayrides SO MUCH!!

We used to have them all the time, but living in town isn't a conducive atmosphere for hayriding! ;)

Razorback Games

(actually John's favorite, but nothing says fall around our house like SEC football:)

I love to put out Bath and Body works Pumpkin and Apple scented soaps in the bathroom and kitchen.

Throw Blankets

And last, but not least, comfy PJ's. I love to wear these all day on cool fall days!

What are some of your favorites things for Fall? :)

TUESDAY'S SUPPER

Quick and Easy Pot Roast recipe!

I''m sure alot of you make your roast this way, but in case you don't here's how........

3-4 lb Roast

seaoning salt

1 pkg. Onion soup mix

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 can of water

1 pkg. of baby carrots

potatoes chopped (as many as you like)

I always cook put my roast in the crock pot on high, around 12 noon and it will be ready by 5:30 or 6:00.

First, sprinkle your roast with a little seasoning salt on both sides, then sear your roast in a hot skillet. (i sear mine in a cast iron skillet) While roast is searing peel and chop potatoes and place in bottom of crock pot, then add the baby carrots. After roast is seared place on top of carrots and potatoes. Mix onion soup mix, mushroom soup, and water and pour on top of roast. Set roast to high if you put it on around lunch, and it will be ready by supper time. You can also cook it on low all day if you put it on in the morning. It should be tender enough to shred with a fork.

My kids, especially Kailey, when I make this. We had this Tuesday night for supper with fresh green beans and yeast rolls.... it was delicious!

DID I MENTION

I love this!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax_2GFJYJqw

KIDS AND SCHOOL

I just wanted to express my love for this material. Teaching Textbooks, thus far, have been great. Evan likes it so much that he asks to do 2 lessons a day. This make me happy, because last year was a very tearful one at the end. Saxon math was being mean and ugly and taking up way too much time.

Sawyer, on the other hand is giving me fits about handwriting. I have sat here today for over 2 hours trying to get him to the letter Cc. The boy just will not do it. I'm so about to pull my hair out. He is just being defiant about it. So needless to say, he's gotten a lot of whooping's today and probably will get a few more when his daddy gets home. :0)

Kailey is learning her multiplication tables because of a mishap with her curriculum from last year. So, we are a little behind, but she is doing well, hopefully, she will know them all by next week.

Landon is doing great and I'm going ahead and having him start on his multiplication with her because he seems to catch on to them pretty quickly.

That pretty much sums up what is going on with us today. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

EVEN SO

This was sent to me in an email today. I can't help but think how much closer we are to the coming of the Lord. This nation that was founded on the Holy Bible is slipping faster and faster away from being the Christian nation that we once were. It's a sad day in America when we as Christians won't stand up and pray for our country. Now we have Muslims wanting to pray from morning to night in a country that most of them HATE! Even so, Lord Jesus come!

Washington, D.C. - On September 25th there will be a national prayer gathering of Muslims on the west front of the U.S. Capitol Building. They are expecting at least 50,000 to attend from mosques all across America . They will gather to pray from 4:00 AM until 7:00 PM. The gathering will take place by the site where U.S. Presidents have been inaugurated since 1981. The organizers say that it was Obama's inauguration speech in January and his speech broadcast from Egypt in June that gave them the idea for this prayer gathering on Capitol Hill.

They have a website set up for this event. If you never look at another website look at this one, especially the final words: islamoncapitolhill.com

OH WHERE IS MY MATTRESS??

We finally got our new bed in, minus, the mattress. Long story short, we went to pick up the bed Tuesday, after we were called Saturday, letting us know that it was in. Well, we get there to get it and everything was there including the box springs, except for the mattress. So, here it is Friday and still no mattress...upside, is that they are delivering it for free...down side, they only come to Dyersburg on Wednesday and Friday, and the truck is full for today, so it will be next Wednesday before they deliver it. UGH!!!!!

This is the bed I bought not even 6 months ago.


If you remember, you'll notice that I didn't buy the King size that time because our queen mattresses aren't that old, but we decided it was time for a King size bed.

This is the bed we got this time.


It still matches our new bedroom furniture. The only difference is instead of being a sleigh bed, it's a poster bed! I think I like it better than the sleigh. We put the sleigh bed in Kailey's room, she needed a new bed anyway. It was a win/win situation.

I don't have any bedding for a king size bed. So, this meant I had to buy all new bedding. John was like, "you have got to be kidding me." lol I have been shopping online for a new comforter set and finally ordered one today. This is it.....


I hope I like it when it comes in. Sometimes, you can't tell about things just by seeing them online. I thought it was a really good deal. When I checked out it was $15 cheaper than advertised and it was already over half off, plus free shipping and handling! It was not a whole lot more than the one I was looking at Walmart at and it comes with 2 shams, 2 euro shams, bed skirt, 2 decorative pillows, and the comforter.

Now, I'm looking for good sheets that are inexpensive. I like a good thread count on my sheets. There is a difference, don't let anyone tell you otherwise!!

A couple of weeks ago my Mama and Mark came and stayed the night. When they went to bed he yelled, what kind of sheets are these, they feel like silk! He said they're nothing like the ones we have at home. So, I guess Mama will be going out for new sheets! lol

My only complaint is Kailey's stuff doesn't match the black bed because she has brown and blue stuff and it clashes. It kills me that she has matching lamps and curtains and now they don't work. She has my black and white comforter but the rest of my stuff I'm keeping in my room. Maybe I'll eventually get it all matching again. Not anytime soon though. I wonder if she'd consider that stuff good Christmas gifts??? lol

Enough of my endless rambling.....Have a Blessed Day All!!!

UPDATE ON SLOPPY JOES

I need to make clear on the Sam's Sloppy Joe recipe, that it HAS to be KC MASTERPIECE BBQ SAUCE to tsste right. It's what makes them so good!!!

TASTY THURSDAY

Last night, I fixed a different version of Sloppy Joes, and by different I just mean without the can of Manwich:)

I don't like Sloppy Joes, but I do like this kind.

I got the recipe from one of the sample ladies at Sam's a couple weeks ago.

I'll call them.......

Sam's Sloppy Joes

2 lbs. ground beef
1 bottle of KC Masterpiece Original BBQ sauce
onion powder

In a skillet, brown hamburger meat, sprinkle with onion powder and drain. Next, pour in the entire bottle of BBQ sauce. Simmer.

Place onto hamburger buns with a slice of cheese! Super Easy and a real quick way to get supper on the table in no time!!!

Added bonus: THE KIDS LOVED THEM!!!

GETTING THINGS DONE

I've been trying all day to get the house ready for school. I cleaned out our school closet and put away all the books that I may need again, into totes and stored them in the basement. Our curriculum should arrive tomorrow. I am not that excited about it:)

I have been LOVING this weather. It makes me want to get all my fall stuff out. John started getting some of it out of the basement today, but then Mr. Tarry came over and he got out of it, lol maybe he'll finish tomorrow.

Tonight is the teen's bible study, but I decided to stay home and try and get more done. John took Evan and Kailey, and had to go by and pick up some of the youth to take out there.

We've been busy lately. This past weekend we went to Arkansas for Jonathan Skagg's ordination. While we were there we bought new tile for the entire house in Trumann. I'll be so glad when all of that is done. We're remodeling it, in hopes to sell it within the next 2 years. We're putting in new countertops, new flooring, trim, siding, and a ton of other things.

The Dyer county fair is next week. I'm excited about that, because nothing says fall like the fair. We plan on going Tuesday night, it's one of the cheapest nights, only $10 a person. That's still $60 stinking dollars to go the fair, good thing it's only once a year.

I also purchased a new bed yesterday. We bought a new bedroom suite about 6 months ago and stayed with our queen mattresses. Why, I have no idea, but we decided that we should have gotten a king size, so we upgraded. Ashley Furniture was having the sale where you get a King for the price of a Queen, so that's what we did. We saved over $600 by getting it when we did. I had to go ahead and purchase a new bed, but I was able to keep the same style that matches the rest of the furniture. Now, I have a sleigh bed, which will go into Kailey's room, and I bought a matching poster bed for my room. I just hope John's legs aren't too far away from me now, because I can't sleep without them!

Well, I'm about to go spray paint a side table I got the other day and enjoy this lovely weather. See ya when I see ya!!

HALLELUJAH! HOME SCHOOL CURRICULUM

I have been looking through home school curriculum until my head could easily explode!

This year all of my kids will be in school, that means I will have a kindergartner, 2nd grader

(who will be doing 3rd grade work), 4th grader, and a 6th grader. I have pretty much got down

the curriculum that I like to use. I know that I love Easy Grammar for 3rd grade on. I know that I like ACE for Social Studies and Science, because of the Biblical teaching. I have been using Bob Jones spelling, but decided that I would give ACE another try with Word Building this year.

Now, Math is where my dilemma comes.....I have used ACE and do not like it, period. I do use it until 3rd grade, but after that it is dead to me! Then I move on to Saxon, which I loved for 4th and part of 5th grade with Evan, but towards the end of 5th grade it lost its luster to me. I almost feel guilty for saying this because lots of people have RAVE reviews of Saxon, btw, Saxon math is what I used in public school and I'm terrible at Math, which doesn't necessarily mean the curriculum is bad. I just don't have the knack for anything Math related.

Anyway, I was reading the Pioneer Woman's blog the other day and I think I may have found what I've been looking for! This post made my day. I started researching Teaching Textbooks and it just looks like what I need!!!! So, I ordered it and I'm waiting for it to come in. John and I both looked at it and decided this was an option we wanted to try. The only down fall so far is the cost, it's $150.00, but I look at it as an investment because I have 3 more kids after Evan who will be able to use it.

Those of us at the church who home school don't start our year until the Monday after Labor Day, even though our public school kids have already been going nearly a month now! How crazy!!! Wish me luck with this new program, it's not set in stone, if I don't like it, I can always try something else.

Pray for me and all the ones homeschooling this year. It's a big job and some days it gets very stressful, but I always remember that this is what God has called ME to do as a Mom, not everyone is called to do this.

I'll leave ya'll with a picture of the kids first day of school last year and when we start this year I'll post that one and compare how much they've grown and changed in the last 12 months!

TASTY THURSDAY

This is what we're having for supper tonight!

It's another Paula Deen recipe.

Chicken Georgia

Ingredients:
4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) butter
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoon minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 ounce grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and shallots and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes on each side, or until tender. Transfer chicken to platter and sprinkle with grated cheese. Top with mushroom mixture. Cook and let stand 5 minutes or until cheese melts.
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes Ease of Preparation: Easy Yield: 4-6 servings