Menu Plan Monday & A Little Miscellany

Well, y'all have greatly encouraged me in my new look--thank you very much! It was funny at church today to see friends do a serious double-take:) I'm starting to feel comfortable with my dark hair now. Did I mention that my daughter LOVES it? I find that very sweet--she likes it because it's so much closer to her hair color now. My son on the other hand doesn't really seem to notice, which is good, I guess. Aunt Kari must've gotten them well-adjusted to the many possibilities of hair color (hehe).

We have had a nice, quiet weekend. Vince was out-of-town Friday evening and Saturday speaking at a youth retreat in Tennessee. The kiddos and I had a quiet day Saturday at home doing some cleaning. Although I've discovered that trying to clean your house with young children there is like trying to shovel your sidewalk in the middle of a blizzard--it's just about impossible. I can't even tell you how my standards for a clean house have lowered since having children! We had it looking pretty good though (notice I said had...today is a new day). Our friend Song came over for a visit and all-in-all it was a good day. Today we attended church, had some good Mexican food for lunch, then while the kiddos napped I baked all afternoon. This evening we went over to some friends' house for a yummy dinner of spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and heath bar cake with a delicious side of fellowship!

And now a new week has begun...let's see what's on the menu:

Monday: beef vegetable soup with cornbread

Tuesday: oven-fried chicken with baked potatoes & green beans

Wednesday: turkey meatloaf with rice & veggie

Thursday: our small group's Thanksgiving dinner; I'm making turkey & crockpot dressing (recipe below)

Friday: loaded bbq potato casserole (from the freezer)

Saturday: leftovers

Crockpot Dressing

(from Aunt Oma Lee)

1--8" pan of cornbread
8 slices day-old bread
4 eggs
1 med. onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 1/2 Tbls. sage or poultry seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth

cooked chicken or turkey, shredded (if desired)
2 Tbls. butter
********
Crumble breads together into the crockpot. Add all other ingredients except butter. Mix very well. Dot the top with butter pats. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours OR on low for 4 hours. Makes about 16 (6 oz.) servings. Absolutely delicious!! And cooking the dressing in your crockpot gives you more room in the oven for everything else at Thanksgiving!

See more menu plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

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