Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

A few years ago, I posted a baked buffalo chicken dip.  I do prefer it in the Crockpot though so I'm going to post an easy recipe and then I'll tell you a Crockpot story after that... so you don't have to scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the point. 

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip

1 block of cream cheese*

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup buffalo sauce

1/2 cup ranch dressing (this is what we had... it's not spicy at all, actually)

1 cup of shredded cooked chicken

Turn the crock on high if you want it quickly, low if you have more time. Mine took about 2 hours on high to get where I wanted it. 

Add in all the ingredients. Stir after an hour. 

Serve with tortilla chips, crackers, or veggies. 

For the shredded chicken, you can use rotisserie or leftover or even canned chicken. I baked a chicken breast in the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. I seasoned it with Montreal Chicken Seasoning because that is a one-stop shop for seasoning chicken. It has all the ingredients in the spice cupboard. 

*A lady in Aldi saw me pick up the neufchatel cheese and asked if it was really better than the Philadelphia cream cheese she was holding in her hand. I don't know if I sold her on it and hope she doesn't regret her decision to get it instead. I told her that I switched to neufchatel about 10 years ago and never looked back. I, personally, cannot tell a difference. I think it's just the European version of cream cheese?  My army wife friend from Sweden always used it and that's where I picked up the habit back in Colorado. 

Last week, I realized we have 6+ crockpots (all are not pictured). See, we accidentally bought a house and settled in too much in our last military location 5 years ago and then my father-in-law passed away and we had a ton of storage space available so we took everything that had been his and hauled it back to Missouri and stowed it away in our barn.

Over the last year, we've sorted through a lot of it. I was super excited to see a smaller crockpot last week when we were going through boxes. I've never had one this size and it's perfect for dip. <---quite the transition there

But really: 

Scott had a crockpot when we first met and it's been with us ever since. 

I wanted a larger one for soup, so we got that in 2010 for Christmas and then the heating element broke in 2023 and we replaced it with this one, which I really like. 

I have one of those tiny crocks that only hold two cups (great for simmer pots or fondue!) and I think it's in a box packed away right now. It's about 15 years old. 

We're up to 3.

Then, when Scott cleaned out his dad's house, he found a big 6 quart crockpot and a smaller 2-quart for dips.

5 crockpots.

Finally, Scott needed a crockpot for some potluck function months ago and our crockpots were packed away or in another house or something and it was literally easier to buy a new one. So now we have an extra floating around.

So that's 6 crockpots, currently. 7 if you count the one that broke. I feel like that's a lot.

Friday Things, 1/23

Er, maybe Saturday things. I don't know. The cold weather has thrown me off. Struggling to remember what day it is without Monday night and Thursday night football to keep me on track. 

1. I tried to make this my phone wallpaper last week and it won't fit. Either way, I woke up with this verse in my head every morning last week, completely unprompted. 

2. ICYMI: I wrote this the other day, inspired by the fact that a friend of mine is transitioning from SAHM with kids in school to homeschool mom. It wasn't until I was talking to her about it that I realized how different the two are! 

Also, I saw this on Facebook and it's so true: there are different versions of motherhood and my version is entirely different than my own mom's. I'm not just "bad at it" some days.  

The first two years with Wells were absolute survival mode. He left my sight maybe 20 times in 2 years. The first year with baby Sutton wasn't bad at all because I had preschool drop-off for Wells to give me a break. The next two years I worked were survival mode. 

I will say I have had time lately to reset and be by myself simply because they're 7 and 3 and don't need minute-by-minute supervision. Also, Scott will tote them along now when he goes places because they're independent and that can be done easily (no packing up supplies or diaper bags or bottles). But in the case of a military wife who has a baby every couple of years for a decade or more, there is no respite there. 

But my kids absolutely came to the dentist with me on Tuesday. We have a lot of talks about how children should be seen and not heard and they can answer questions but they can't start yelling and interrupting adults. 

It went well until the floodgates opened when they were asked "how was your Christmas?" (which wass an example I had given them about when they could talk as much as they wanted) and Sutton started talking about "our dog that died" and then educating the hygienist on demogorgons.

There's something about taking your kids everywhere to not-fun places with you though: they absolutely learn how to behave in public. It just takes a few tries. 

3. This is my Roman Empire true crime case. I've listened before but the youtube videos are enlightening. I have my theories. I re-listened over this last week. I can't believe more people don't talk about it.

4. Landman is over for another season. I spent the last two months hating it and then, all of a sudden, the season finale was GOOD and that annoys me. Was it their plan to redeem 9 crappy episodes with the last half of a 10th episode?.... probably. 

5. 

I told Scott we're done going to football games together. Many years ago, we went to a Penn State game and Joe Paterno lost his job two weeks later. 

Why are they like this? I don't understand. It's a sensory nightmare for a parent, in a bathroom that echoes, too. 

The 2016 thing is super annoying just because we were literally all here in 2016. (It was 3 years ago, right?)

Either way, if you're on the internet now, you were on the internet in 2016. 

Linking up with Friday Favorites

SAHM with young kids vs SAHM vs Homeschool Mom vs. Working Mom

These are all entirely different versions of motherhood. I've done 3 of 4.

Let me explain.

SAHM with young kids <--- 2018-2020, 2022-2023

These are the baby and toddler years. Whether you have one (like I did at home for 2 years) or some in school and one or more at home,  you are tethered to a small child or baby 24/7. They are always with you and you are also tethered to nap time. I'm not using tethered in a derogatory way; that's just what it is. I was home exclusively with Wells for 2+ years. Just me and him. Then, after some transitions, he went to preschool at 4 for half a day and I was still with baby Sutton all day long. She didn't leave my side for a year and a half, basically. 

This is the version of motherhood that is the most time-intensive and where you have to be the easiest on yourself. Sleep every chance you get (just my advice). It's not the time for "getting up before the kids". 

SAHM 

A stay-at-home-mom sends her kids to school. She then has the day to do whatever she needs to do. Generally, she's busy, if she's naturally industrious. Cleaning, appointments, errands, running the house and managing the family. This is the traditional view of motherhood. If she works part-time, that's this category because she makes her own hours (your MLM is not full-time work). She's not held to a time-clock or schedule, working full-time from home. Working full-time from home is still working full-time. 

Getting up before your kids is a good idea if you want them to get to school on time. 

Homeschool mom <--- in this exact stage of life, I am here. 

This is not a SAHM. This is an entirely different thing. I was not aware of the difference until I tried it. This is a mom who is doing everything all at once all day long. The kids don't leave, so it's like taking the SAHM with young kids and just making the kids independent. They're still around. Your house will be a disaster at times because the kids are there; baseboards aren't dirty from neglect, they're full of crumbs because kids are eating snacks all day long. There's no dust, only crumbs (everywhere). There is generally no quiet, no peace, lots of cajoling and explaining and bargaining because You Are Trying To Teach Them Something. Like the SAHM w/ YK, you have kids with you when you go places, but they can walk in stores by themselves and can also buckle themselves into their own seatbelts. 

This is the version of motherhood where it makes sense to get up before your kids. You're not as exhausted and you can create the day's schedule. 

Working mom <---- 2020-2022, 2023-2025

This is usually survival mode. It takes a lot of forethought and planning to thrive, but I also found it pretty rewarding. I don't know about you, but I grew up with a working mom and never thought I'd do it differently. This is for the planners and the do-ers and the overachievers. It's also necessary in most households. In this category, the kids go to daycare or school and the mom goes to work. Your baseboards are dirty from neglect, not crumbs. 

The single worst part about this version of motherhood is getting phone calls that your kid is sick and making arrangements for staying home from work. 

It makes 100% sense to get up before your kids if you are a working mom. I think you have to in order to accomplish anything. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two points I'll make to round this out:

1. I don't actually think it matters what you do. I think it's up to you and your family. I'm no feminist but this is a case of "you do you". I literally change up our life every year or two, depending on the best fit for us. I do think you should try to stay home if you have a baby. I don't think any child under age 1 has any business being in daycare but that's my preference. I don't recover, mentally, from childbirth easily so I needed like a full 8 months to feel like a person again after Wells was born (maybe the two moves in 6 months had something to do with it) and it was probably 3 months after Sutton was born until I felt normal again. I could not have imagined going straight back to work and adding daycare into the mix. 

2. From the time we got engaged, Scott has told me, in the nicest way possible, that he doesn't care what I do. His only real opinion on it, at this point, is that it's good to stay home if you have babies or toddlers, if you don't have to work. I don't think I appreciated that point of view enough at the time because, when we were dating, I was ironically the one with steady work. He was finishing school when we met. 

So when I reflect back, the working, the staying home, the years off, it was all pretty much my choice (again, I'm no feminist). Now, it's more complicated so I have to think about what's best for the kids, year by year. That's how I landed on homeschooling for this year. While where's like seven possible scenarios for what the army can tell us to do next, I can definitely say that I literally have no idea what next year will hold, so that keeps things interesting I guess. 

Content I'm Consuming

I'm all for sharing recommendations. It's why I've kept up with blogs over the years. So much of my entertainment choices come from others telling me about it online. I also often forget to share these one at a time in other posts or the timeliness is off, so I'm putting all this in one place. This is from the last few days.

Watching: This weekend was all the football which was disappointing and annoying but anyway.

I watched all 6 episodes of His & Hers on Netflix this weekend, too. I loved the book a few years ago and I'm glad I read it awhile ago because I didn't remember much! This show is set in Georgia instead of in the UK and I'm okay with that. I am a huge fan of Jon Bernthal, if you remember The Walking Dead days on this blog (first 2 seasons great...all downhill after that). He was the perfect choice to play a detective in Georgia. 

Very much recommend if you need something to binge! And, again, I have NO IDEA how well it matched up to the book because I read the book many thrillers ago but I do remember how much I liked it. I called it one of my best reads of 2022. 

Listening: Hear me out. I'm not a stan for Lila Rose. I agree with her on many things but I actually am not a fan of her personally because I think she (and many other conservative influencers) can be hypocritical. 

However, I love watching or listening to debates. I listened to this while I did some cleaning on Saturday and, my God, does it pull you in....the comments alone are worth a read. Lila represents a normie and Stephanie represents a broken record. Every single American woman should listen to the debate and decide which wagon train they'd prefer to be hitched to because they are going in opposite directions.

Reading: Okay, well, I'm not exactly off to a running start with 2026's reading but that's mostly because I'm a serial do-not-finisher and leave a lot behind me and never think about it again. 

Last week, I read College Girl, Missing by Shawn Cohen and cannot recommend it enough. There's a few true crime cases I cannot get past and desperately want to be solved; Lauren Spierer is one of them. I love that the book gives more information than the podcasts I've heard so far. I'm really hoping The Prosecutors deep-dive into her case, at least with a two or three-parter, because I want to know their opinions. 

Friday Things, 1/16

For my birthday this week, I kind of wanted to share 40 random things and thoughts but I'm pretty lazy and honestly don't have the vanity (currently anyway) or spare time to think on coming up with a list that long. 

Here's what I got to before I gave up:

+The only acceptable topping for a hot dog is mustard. 

+I don't trust people who don't go to the dentist for cleanings at least once a year.

+Friends and How I Met Your Mother are pointless TV shows.

+The only wrong way to educate your child is if you have no idea what they're learning or aren't aware of their academic abilities. Public school isn't inherently good or bad. Private school isn't always the best value. Homeschooling doesn't work for everyone. As long as you understand where your child is, academically, and you're advocating for them, it's all fine. Literally, the only wrong way to do it is to stick your head in the sand. (In the same vein, enrolling your kids in an online program that has virtual teachers and the kids are learning via computer is NOT homeschooling.)

+I have never played Wordle. 

+ Never in my life have I threatened to quit a job. I ride it out and hand in my resignation with proper notice like a responsible adult. I actually see a lot of people I've worked with posting online about how much they love their jobs and they are the same ones threatening to quit every two months and crying in their classrooms. I don't get it.

+I would always rather be cold than hot, but being *out*in*the*cold* is never my preference. 

+I've figured out that you don't need $$$ skincare. I went back to cheap skincare this fall: my skin has never looked better. **If you have a particular issue to solve, that's different. But generally, I think we over-do it.** I went by ingredient instead of brand names. The same ingredients are in e.l.f. compared to the high-end brands. 

+I legitimately do not believe the chem trails theory. Whenever I see someone be extra-crunchy and talk about how the government is poisoning us from above, I unfollow. 

+I do think the moon landing is pretty questionable though.

+I loathe the color "periwinkle".

+I've considered myself an introvert for my entire adult life. Scott told me recently that, actually, I'm an extrovert so I have no idea what I'm talking about. I really had to think about it...I think I may be an extrovert? The evidence for this, honestly, is that I was working as a bartender when I met him and no 22 year old introvert works as a bartender. Also, I hate going places but I do feel a buzz after being with people? Like, that's how I get my energy? Lots of question marks here. I was absolutely an extrovert as a young person. I hated being at home and not out with others. I was a leave-the-house-at-9pm-person for quite awhile there.  

+I will never turn down a massage. It's by far the bougiest thing about me; I've had a massage place I'd frequent in every state we've lived in so far, except Alaska. I would go every couple of months in Colorado. 

+My favorite way to make coffee at home will always be the Keurig. Fool. proof.

+I am anti-ChatGPT. 

+I have unfollowed every cOnTeNt CrEaToR who is also a military spouse. I don't want them in my algorithm. In fact, unless you're a military spouse who I personally have had a friendship with, I'm not following you anymore. I don't want the comparison trap. Same reason I also haven't followed a lot of teachers over the year. I cracked the code on what I want my social media to look like at this point, and honestly it's just niche memes.

I bought one sweater from Shein, one time, for like $9 because a blog friend turned influencer swore by them. It smelled like plastic through multiple washes and then I threw it away. 

Very niche: If you get this, we can be friends. ^^^

If I have to wake them up, someone is either sick or they were already up (and kept me up) all night. 

Linking up with Friday Favorites!

In case you missed it, I did some Amazon buys and a birthday post this week. 

Amazon in December/January (so far)

(Apparently I buy everything in packs of two)

Hair repair treatment. This is worth the money. I tried a few different products because my hair was very dry from, weirdly, just highlighting it two or three times a year. Bleach is bleach is bleach, I guess. I love this stuff. You can buy little single use packs at Walmart to just try it out. I can get 2-3 uses from a little pouch of it, but I have been using it a few times a week. 

LG Universal Remotes. Maverick ate the remote awhile back and eventually it stopped working so this is a two-pack, overnight delivery for free because of Prime <3. 

Beeswax candles. I gifted some for Christmas and also bought myself a couple. I am all-in on these and I recommend everyone give them a try. Here's the benefits to burning beeswax. 

Sourdough Starter Warmer. I gifted this for Christmas and I need one for myself but I'm really just worn out from attempting sourdough. I need to pull my starter out of the fridge. It just seems like one more thing that I don't feel like doing. 

Nuk Orthodontic Pacifiers. Still fighting the battle of the pacifier over here. Taking them away before we left home for 2-3 weeks was not in the cards so I'll work on it this winter. (I honestly just need Scott to leave for a few days.)

Pill organizer. Scout the Dog takes medicine twice a day and, while I understand what and when since I'm in charge of it, I find that Scott gets mixed up when they're hunting. And, since we were leaving the dogs with my parents for a few days, I needed a system for his medicine. This was only $5 and honestly has made life a lot easier because I just reload it once a week. The only thing I don't like is that I have to have a better handle on the refill schedule because I'm not opening the bottles twice a day to notice how much is left. 

Galaxy projector. We had a galaxy projector last year and it broke/stopped working after a few months. VERY annoying. The kids had loved it though so Scott went out and got them a new one for Christmas. This one is different, better quality, and I like it a lot so far. I think it's worth a try if you're in the market for one! They use it as a nightlight (Sutton has a different one and Wells has been using this.)

Not a great pic, but it's very realistic and kind of rotates around the room:

Chiefs onesie. I have a new nephew arriving this year and his dad (my brother) is a Chiefs fan. 

(If you are new here, we live in the KC area and are not Chiefs fans. My brother lives nowhere near KC and is a Chiefs fan.)

Infant headbands. A Christmas buy for our baby niece. You can never have too many of these with a baby girl and the more colors the better. 

Land's End Snowboots. I got these snowboots for our trip east. They are great and I recommend them because they're waterproof and I spent a lot of time in puddles in Buffalo. They run a little big. I've only had two pairs of actual snowboots in my adult life: a $35 pair in Alaska and now these. I expect them to last at least 15 years, doing that math. I bought from Amazon, specifically, for the ease of returns if they didn't fit. 

Maybelline 4-in-1 Instant Perfector. This is my second tube. It's what I use as concealer and instead of actual foundation. I blend it in with a brush and do some light powder over top.  I thought I was ordering one (my original came from Walmart but they don't have it in-store anymore) and they sent me a two-pack for $9. Quite the value!

Some books for Christmas:

The Wild Robot for Wells

The mouse and strawberry book for Sutton. I remember reading this to a kindergarten class two decades ago lol. 

I know a lot of people like to cut back in January on purchases and especially purchases on Amazon. I generally don't buy things unless I need them or require them for something. And if Amazon keeps me out of a store where I'll buy even more or saves me an entire day of driving around town, so be it. 

The last 10 years

For my 30th birthday in January 2016, we went to Denver for the weekend. I was very apprehensive about turning 30 and facing down 2016 because it was a deployment year. Scott was in Afghanistan from February-November 2016. While I’m “grateful” for the “opportunity” to “learn and grow” that year, it was not easy. I didn’t exactly feel like I was being set up for success and had no idea what the rest of the decade would hold for that reason alone. I had already spent full years of my 20s alone because of deployments. 

2017 was failed fertility treatments and, ironically, pregnancy. 

2018 was having a baby and moving. 

2019 was moving. 

2020 was moving. 

2021 was moving. 

2022 was having a baby. 

2025 was moving. 

I also taught at 4 schools in 3 states in the last decade, and took 4 years off to stay at home. 

Sprinkle in lots of TDYs and a few shorter deployments too. 

One dog passed away and we gained a puppy. 

We sold a remodeled house, bought 3 more, and took on remodeling another house as our family’s personality (again). 

We also traded in a truck for a bigger truck and bought a new SUV. 

Truly, almost everything looks different than it did 10 years ago. There is nothing familiar in my surroundings except Scott and Scout the Dog. Super weird, right? I guess we do have a lot of the same furniture. You only buy new furniture as a must when you know it'll get all dinged up during moves. 

While being a military spouse isn’t easy, it’s never boring. I literally had no idea where I would be at 40 so this last 10 years was a lot of big and little decisions that added up to what life became for my 30s. I couldn’t have planned it or done it any better and have been blessed with much more opportunity and goodness than I deserve. 

So I’m going to be super cryptic and superstitious and prayerful when I say I literally have no idea what’s next because I could not have laid out any of this 10 years ago. 

Friday Things. 1/9

 +I'm rebranding Friday Recommendations into Friday Things. I had Stuff and Things on Thursday for years. At some point I couldn't do both Thursday and Friday. And Friday Favorites isn't really my thing, mostly because half of those who ever write the abbreviation for favorite spell it "fav" with the short /a/ and I struggle to get past that. But also because I'm a glass half-empty kinda person and picking out favorites from the week when I'm completely worn down by Friday isn't my thing. I could do it on a Tuesday, I bet. So anyway, just Things for Fridays now. Some favorites, some not, some whatever. 

+I remain unimpressed by the Stranger Things finale, mostly because some of the fan theories were so good that the actual thing was a letdown. Either way, we enjoyed watching it through the years.

+Maverick found the empty dog food bag in the basement yesterday about 3am, got stuck, and Scott sent me this picture. Said he was banging into walls trying to get out. This is after he ate a bag of cough drops the other day. He has been on a tear lately, and seems to have a death wish.

+I made it back from Pennsylvania with these two items from my parents' house because they don't use them. This heavy metal weapon ice cream scoop is at least 40 years old. I have broken two or three ice cream scoops in the last year. We had the same one for 13ish years and it finally gave out and, apparently, they don't make them as well as they used to. I considered buying a heated one but they're like $40, so that was a no. 

And this wooden cutting board was my aunt's and is probably 50 years old. I don't have a wooden board right now so maybe this is just what I need for all that sourdough I don't see myself being successful with this winter. 

+I read that dark showers are supposed to calm. your nervous system. We put in this exhaust fan with different colored lights and connects to bluetooth to play music or whatever too. The kids love that in the bathtub but a dark shower with just this blue light on is really relaxing. 

My parents' bathroom (the one I grew up with) has a window right over the tub and the difference between showering in the dark and showering in bright natural light is really obvious once you compare! 

Scott thinks bathrooms should not have windows. 

Do your bathrooms have windows? It's probably been 50/50 on all the houses we've lived in. 

(don't mind the mess)

+I am constantly going back and forth on my feelings concerning homeschooling and I wrote this the other day on substack. I tend to put more substantive topics over there. What I realized later that I completely forgot to include: a lot of moms I've talked to think of homeschooling as an option only *if* they can find a "co-op" that meets "2-3 days a week". .....that's not homeschooling. That's hybrid schooling. That's part-time schooling. And you pay thousands of dollars for it every year. They will admit that it "still costs $3,000 a year" to "join a co-op" so why bother?

 

...because that's not homeschooling. Our co-op was $50 for the year. It's literally just an extracurricular day most weeks. It has nothing to do with their actual schooling. 

This is what I mean when I say that moms just don't *want* to homeschool. It's fine not to want to, but let's be honest about it. 

+

Speaking of substack! I wrote this too, quite awhile ago!  I stand by it. I can't imagine how exhausting it must be to never post a picture of your child. 

+ 

Linking up with Friday Favorites!