Potato Soup Anyone?

I have a really good recipe I thought I'd share with y'all. It's fast, easy, hot, and very good! (If you think you can top that I'd like to have the recipe:) This is one of my favorite soups, and I love to have it for an easy lunch on a cold afternoon. (It's also good if you have just had braces put on:) Here's the recipe:

Cheesy Potato Soup

1 pouch of Betty Crocker four cheese instant potato flakes
1 cup of coffee creamer
1/4 cup of bacon bits
1Tablespoon of parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onions
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Before you rush off to the kitchen to make it make sure you use Betty Crocker Four Cheese Mashed Potatoes! We usually get this at Wall-mart. It does not work as well with the Greater Value four cheese potato flakes TRUST ME! I also use less cayenne pepper than it calls for, probably about half, it just depends on how hot you like things. What is cool is you can make it up and store it till you need it. I also prefer the Betty Crocker bacon bits, but its not as big of a deal.

Now for the rest of the directions: Boil 3 cups of water, and right after it starts boiling add the mix and stir with a whisk. turn down the heat to where it isn't boiling,(I turn ours to about low) add about 2/3 cup of milk and let it sit for 3 minutes.

here's all the supplies I used for the mix

here is the mix before I added it to the water

Right after you get the soup in your bowl put grated cheese on top so it melts, and I like to add more bacon bits for more of a crunch.

Enjoy!

Braces

Yesterday I got braces on. Ugh! They are very sore right now, and I can't eat anything but very soft food. But, hey, I don't have to do school right now so that's a plus:) It's kinda weird though because they didn't start hurting until a few hours after I got them on. Oh well, I guess I'll survive;) Here's a picture of me after I got them on yesterday morning.

Exciting Weekend

I have had a very fun weekend! My friend Lauren came down for a visit as part of my Christmas to her. The first night we stayed awake till about 4:30. The next day we went shopping, and went to a scrapbook workshop. When we finished with that, we went to Mark and Chari's for a dual birthday party. That night was Ryan's(Mark and Lauren's brother) birthday, and Mark's birthday was Sunday. We had a lunch/party for him after church. Sunday night, Lauren and I stayed up till about 4:00 o'clock Sunday night(or Monday morning) Scrap booking. We got up Monday morning and dad went and got us donuts. Then Chari took us to Hobby Lobby to get scrap booking paper. Then for the highlight of the week we went to see The 5 Browns. They are totally amazing! They are 5 brothers and sisters that play five Steinway grands at the same time. There are some solos, duets, etc... they are incredible pianists ranging from age 20 to 27. We got to get their autographs and talk to them, which was a real highlight for me! We went out for ice cream afterward. Then we stayed up till after 6:00a.m.! (:yes we are crazy:)

Here's me and Lauren

me, Lauren, and our friend Mary

the signed program

Lauren and me at an antique shop(we like to get funny hats and try them on at the stores)

oh yeah, and I taught Lauren a simple crochet stitch on the way to drop her off

here is a video from you- tube of the Browns - we weren't supposed to take pictures during the concert

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas! I got this video off of You-Tube; it really makes you think about the true meaning of Christmas. I'll post some pics of Christmas later.



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Hard Candy Christmas

Here is a fun idea. Mom and I just finished this tree and, it's really fun to do.
What you need:

a foam cone from a craft shop(ours is about 9 in. tall)
a bag of peppermints( ours is a 16 oz. bag)
plenty of T- pins
a bow for the top
a mom or friend (not a must but, a lot more fun:)

You start out on the bottom of the cone and work your way up, layering as you go.

then when you're finished top it off with a fun bow! To get the candy just pick one and pull down.

Hope you enjoy!

Catching Up (Sort Of)

Well, between nasty colds, Crohns flare up, being lazy, and Christmastime in general, you can see I haven't exactly had this at the top of my to-do list. Last Saturday we had our church Christmas dinner. Thats a lot of fun. This year was our second year to do a white elephant gift exchange.
here's the pics:

Jonette opening her gift( with Ashlynns help:)

Kaelin managed to get in to Grandpa's gift (ya gotta love that grin:)

well, I opened the most wanted gift there, just kidding!

we also gave the pastor and wife their Christmas gift $

Well,it's getting late and,the computer has frozen up more times than my liking. So I might post some more later. Just thought I would let y'all know I'm still around. Good night!

Writing

I had writing classes this semester, and I finished last week. It was with other home school kids and I really enjoyed it. By the end of the semester we all had to have a short story written.

Here are most of the kids from the class

me, Rae-Anne, Brianna, Hannah, Mrs. G(our teacher) Katherine, Julia, Dakota

Here is the first part of my story. I'm going to do this in different increments .

Train of Courage

“Don’t you ever trespass on Carter property again!” Emma screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes flashed warning signs.

Slade Porter was a backwoodsman who trapped and hunted for a living. Nobody cared much for him. He had a scraggly beard and always chewed tobacco. It was even rumored that he had a still hidden in the hills, but that could never be proven.

Emma raced to the now motionless body of the doe.

“She’s dead!” Emma glared at Slade. The stench of whisky on him seemed to overpower the fresh smell of the woods.

“ ‘Course she’s dead,” his words slurred together. “I killed her.”

“But she has a fawn,” cried Emma through clenched teeth.

“Ain’t nuthin to me. This’n’s gonna feed me for a while, then I’m gonna sell ‘er hide with the rest of my furs,” he said while picking up the lifeless doe. “Like I told ya, ain’t nuthin to me.”

You'll have to keep checking my blog to read the rest of the story:)
Scroll down to see my other post for today.