Baked Potato Soup

This is one of my favorites!

Baked Potato Soup
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes Ready In: 40 Minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
12 slices bacon
2/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
7 cups milk
4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed 4 green onions, chopped
1 1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
2. In a stock pot or Dutch oven, melt the margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
3. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted


My one tip for success with this recipe is to make sure the bacon is nice and crispy. If not, it ends up kind of icky.

Life update

It's been awhile since I've had time for an update. Carter is now crawling (not just army crawling) which definately makes life more interesting. We have definatley discovered what areas we need to do some childproofing. He is curious about anything and everything now.
I only have a couple more weeks of classes which equals a ton of work that I still need to get done. Needless to say I'm stressed out.

To paint or not to paint

So I finished Mod Podging the fabric to my bulletin/white board yesterday, but I can't decide if I should paint the wood edges. My choices are A) No painting, B) Teal and C) Lime Green.
Any thoughts?

New music

I've been adding tons of new music to my blog lately because I keep thinking of songs that I absolutely love. A few
explanations of what/why these are my favorites:
Answer by Sarah Mclachlan: I love her and this is such a beautiful song.
Shimmer by Shawn Mullins: The lyrics are great and they remind me of Carter.
These are the Days by 10,000 Maniacs: A classic. We used this in our picture show for our wedding.
Time of Your Life by Green Day: I love Green Day and most of their other songs are not blog appropriate.
She Walked Away and Mirror by Barlow Girls: My cousin is a fan of this Christian group, which got me to check them out.
Samson by Regina Spektor: No real reason besides I like it.
Better by Regina Spektor: This song always puts me in a good mood.
Rock and Roll by Eric Hutchinson: I am the crazy person in the car next to you dancing and singing to this song.
Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan: With lyrics like "Your love is better than ice cream" how can you not love this song. I've loved this song since 8th grade.
Shine by the Newsboys: One of the first Christian bands I ever listened to. It reminds me of my old dance friend Hilary.
Love Song for a Savior by Jars of Clay: This was the theme song for a retreat I went to in high school.
Summertime by the Sundays: Another song that I was introduced to by dance. It makes me think of sitting outside in the summer sun.
Capri by Colbie Caillet: I heard this song when I was first pregnant with Carter and it made me cry.

ECFE/ Volunteering

We've had a pretty busy week so far. I've spent the past two afternoons working in my mom's school so I could get some of the classroom hours I need for my classes. Being the first couple days back after spring break the kids are crazy!
This morning Carter had his ECFE class. The babies are so much fun now that they're all pretty much mobile. THe oldest two in the class just turned one in the last two weeks. Carter is the third youngest in the class. It was kind of crazy today because two of the moms announced their pregnacies today. I know so many pregnant women right now!
I'm hoping to get the first two projects for my craft corner started tonight. :)

Craft corner

After seeing all of the amazing craft rooms/spaces of many of the craft bloggers that I follow, I've been so inspired to work on my craft space. The problem for me is that I have pretty much no budget for this kind of stuff. I'll just have to get more creative about how I accomplish this masterpiece.
So far my biggest inspiration is Grace Violet's craft area. I just love the pink desk. My current desk is a white hand me down from my brother. Very not inspiring. So far, I'm thinking I might go with a turquise color when I re-paint it.

(Check it out at her amazing website www.graceviolet.com)
My other great need for my craft area is to come up with a plan of how to store all of my precious supplies. I found a couple different other rooms that I really enjoyed on rate my room.

I love how luvmibug uses the color behind the shelves. It's just so fresh and fun.


I love the flow in storage in this room by style by Ka.

My plan so far is to paint the current desk I have, decorate a bulletin board/white board combo that I have, and use/adapt shelving that I already have or that I can get cheap for all of my supplies. I will try to remember to take before and after pictures.

Nothing too exciting

Nothing too exciting to report about us. Carter was only up once last night which was wonderful. There's nothing like a good night of sleep to make you feel good.
We spent the day hanging out with my parents since they got back from Mexico last night. Carter was so happy to see them.

And we have naps!

I think we might have finally mastered the napping in the crib. They aren't long, but they happen. (I think it was maybe an hour and a half between the two.) It's glorious to be able to go to the bathroom without having to hide the waste basket first. Life is good. And we have a break from Tim doing the night shift starting up tomorrow night. It will be so nice not to be on my own with crazy mobile baby 24/7.

Jodi Picolt

Jodi Picolt is one of my favorite authors ever. If you haven't read any of her books, I recommend you check her out. So when I heard she was going to be signing books at Borders, I had to go. Carter and I patiently waited in lint to meet her with my grandma. He was being so good! We asked to get our picture with her. Just as the picture was being taken, Carter decides to grab her hair. She laughed.

Progress

I've made tons of progress on my zig zag quilt last night. I'm hoping to have it sewn into stripes tonight if all goes well. (Productivity has been such a difficult thing lately!)

Spring/Utter failure

Spring may actually be starting here in Minnesota. The temp is in the low 50s today and sunny. For some reason nice weather makes everything seem so much better.
This morning we met my grandparents for brunch. I had intended to go to church, but Carter had been up every two hours after midnight and was still sleep at 8:30.
Training for a 5K is one of my goals to accomplish. So I've been checking out the couch to 5K workout plans, which in theory look pretty easy. Either I'm way more out of shape than I thought I was or it's a lot harder with a jogging stroller. I think I might need to do the first week training schedule for two weeks to get myself in gear. I'm blaming the stroller because it makes me feel much better about myself.

Positive thoughts!

I'm really trying to keep myself in a positive frame of mind, which is somewhat hard with all the bad/sad stuff going on in my life and the lives of everyone I love. I have to believe that good things are in the near future.
On a happier note, I got some good deals on used kids clothes and toys at a MOM sale today. Carter is pretty much outfitted for Spring/Summer now. I think we only need to get some white onesies and some shoes.
Carter is now army crawling and boy is he fast! He is now into everything.

Hmm

My dad lost his job today. He had thought his position was fairly safe and hadn't seen it coming. Unemployment is even harder when you're over 50. Please keep my parents in your prayers (and all the other people who have lost their jobs).

Our weekend

We've stayed pretty busy this weekend. Tim had Friday off, so we went to Como Park to enjoy the weather. Carter loved seeing the gorillas and the seals. After that we did lunch a Chipolte, and a trip to Lowe's to look at some of the things we need for home updates. In the evening we went over to my parents to visit. They were going to the Minneapolis home and Garden show, so we tagged along. Carter loved smelling all the flowers, especially the tulips.
Saturday we helped my parents with some stuff to get my uncle's house ready to sell. There's still a lot of work to do! We also found a new shower curtain for our bathroom. I've been looking forever for something that matches the green, isn't ugly or horrible expensive. We found a great one at Home Goods for only 12.99. I was so excited!
This morning Carter and I went to church. My goal for lent has been to get to church every Sunday (which can be a challenge with a small child). Carter was having a rougher morning (he wanted to talk pretty much whenever the priest was talking), so we spent some of the service watching from the crying room. I'm kind of worn out from everything we've done lately!
In crafting news, I'm having some problems with the tension for my sewing machine. I cannot for the life of me figure out what's wrong with it. This has really slowed down my progress on projects.

Finished!

I finished the diaper bag, which I'll post pictures of it later today if I get a chance. It turned out pretty well for being one of my first projects without a pattern. There definately are a few things that I would change if I made it again.

Not finished yet!

So I ended up working on the skirt yesterday instead of doing the last finishing steps of my bag. (It's the project ADD, I swear!) The zipper I was so afraid of was actually quite easy to put in. In general the skirt has been pretty easy as long as I ignore all of the directions that came with it. And the sizing must be somewhat screwy because I went up a size from what I thought I would need and it's still on the tighter side. Oh well, just keep me away from those Girl Scout cookies and I should be able to get that weight off before summer.
If Carter takes a nap today, I should be able to complete this project and the bag too. (Which probably means he won't take any naps today.)
Carter is so close to crawling. Last night my dad was helping him practice by putting Carter up on all fours and moving Carter's arms and legs in the order that he would crawling. Carter thought this was hilarious and giggled the entire time. We are pretty much baby-proofing as we go.

More project updates

So I didn't exactly get as much done last night as I had planned. I had a online Sociology quiz that I needed to take (and it turns out I probably should have studied more for) and a discussion to help run. And "Big Bang Theory" was on. I've cut back on the number of shows that I watch these days and that one just cracks me up. So while I was watching, I cut out the pieces the the skirt I'm going to make for myself. This will be the first clothing item that I am attempting (besides pj pants which I don't think really count since the don't get worn outside the house.) I'm a little scared about the zipper since I haven't done one since 8th grade home-ec class. (And let's just say that duffel bag was not exactly a thing of beauty.)
Tim's working 4-midnight shifts this week. The downside is that I'm on my own for feeding, bathing and putting Carter to bed, which can make for a long night. On the positive side, I get the evenings all to myself once Carter is in bed.
So hopefully after I get my homework done tonight, I'll have much more project time.

One completed project to show off!

So my husband was able to get me a nice daily planner for free. Very functional, but not very cute. After seeing a great tutorial on Skip-to-my-Lou on how to decoupage notebooks, I was inspired to make this planner so much cuter.
Check out Skip to my Lou
to make your own cute project.

MN Zoo!

We went to the zoo yesterday with my parents, Tim's brother Kevin, his wife Chris, and there four boys: Tyler, Connor, Ethan, and Nathan. I'm not sure how much Carter got out of it, but we had a really good time.

I've been busy trying to finish all of my projects. I'll post pictures when I finish a few of them. And inspired by some of the project tutorials I've seen others post, I designed and made my own baby bag. I'll to get those pictures posted too.