semi-homemade with stacie lynn

ok. so who doesn't love a hearty, yummy soup when it is cold outside. so this recipe is easy breezy. all you need are a few ingredients and some time. this delicious soup recipe was passed along to me from my fabulous friend, ashley (lovell) dalton. it was passed along to her from another wonderful woman, julie hunt.

baked potato soup

2/3 c. butter or margarine
2/3 c. flour
6 c. milk
1 bag frozen chunky hash browns
3/4 tsp. salt (or to your taste)
1/2 tsp. black pepper (or to your taste)
4 green onions (i used 3 tsp. of freeze-dried chives)
6 pieces bacon or bacon bits (i used one bag oscar meyer bacon bits found in the salad dressing aisle)
1 c. cheddar cheese (or more if you like!)
8 oz. sour cream

~Melt butter and add flour and milk. Stir until thick.
~Add potatoes, salt, pepper, green onions, and bacon.
~Add shredded cheese.
~Cook until thoroughly heated. (This takes about 2-3 hours.) Stir in sour cream. Allow time for soup to "reheat."
~Add more milk if necessary, or water, if soup is too thick.

jay and i enjoyed this soup tonight and will be enjoying left overs for many more days and nights to come. hope you enjoy it soon, too.

happy thanksgiving

well, it is after thangksgiving. but better late than never, right? lots has been going on during this sleepy little month of november. mom, pam, janet, mama mac and aunt betty came to asheville the week before turkey day. they came thursday and stayed until saturday. we spent an evening enjoying the candlelight tour at the biltmore house. i still had not been when we went that thursday and was amazed at the size and beauty and can not imagine having all of that luxury and opulence at the turn of the 20th century. or even now. it is incredible. we spent friday doing some shopping and enjoying the display of the gingerbread houses at the grove park inn. and saturday they left for home. short vist, but a good one. here are a couple of pictures that mom emailed me.


strawberry shortcake's house... in gingerbread


me and mom posing in front of one of the grove park inn's massive fire places

and then last week was spent working busily and getting ready for a kingsport thanksgiving. the first one jay and i have spent there and the first time he's been in kingsport for thanksgiving since high school. and, we went up on friday after b/c i had to work thanksgiving night. but we had a great time. we stayed with larry and mitos and were able to visit with isaac, jay's half brother. we visited with cousins and their new babies and aunts and uncles and mamaw. we watched a very long ut football game. and we ate. a lot. and that's about it.

we are getting ready for a visit to nashville. we should roll in sometime on the 7th and leave around the 11th of december. it will be our christmas there. we are busy finishing some early christmas shopping. fun fun...

santa's little helper

ok. so i am sure that i will have more pictures to share soon, but i realized that i hadn't shared any pictures of my sweet little niece, courtney, in awhile. so here are some that i have borrowed from her own little baby website her mom and dad started for her. but, i like to dote on her too, so here are my favorite recent pictures of her.



seriously! could she be any cuter!?! i am sure she could. but this is the only proof i have for now. enjoy!

shoe update...

ok. so i wore my new shoes to work last friday night. for more than 12 hours. and my hips did not hurt. my feet didn't hurt. my calves didn't hurt. it was fabulous!!!