Friday Randoms..

This week has flown by to me for some reason, it seems like I was just running my Sunday errands and here it is already Friday. Casey is coming to hang out for the weekend so we are looking forward to that.

I finished a book this week that was amazing and am still working on one that is equally amazing. I finished Still Lolo: A Spinning Propeller, A Horrific Accident, and a Family's Journey of Hope. The title of the book pretty much explains this one, but it was an amazing read. In the book Lauren Scrugg's and her family recounts her horrific accident, the struggles they went through, and how they powered through her horrific accident  yet the miracle of her recovery because of their faith. I definitely recommend reading!!

 

The book that I am still reading is Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker which is just as amazing. It has taken me a little longer to finish it because I have been making notes, and it is also an actual book that my sister gave me for Christmas. I love still reading books, but when I am holding Audrey I usually read on my phone so therefore I was able to finish Lolo quicker than I have been able to finish The Circle Maker. The book is about praying big prayers and praying circles around them until you hear from God. I am really enjoying this book and it is really making me re-evaluate the way I pray!

I am planning to read Praying Circles around Your Children next. It is actually on sale right now on amazon for $2.99 or you can download the kindle version for $1.99. So I may just download this one on my kindle, I can't decide.

 Tuesday, my friend Susan that I taught with called and was actually out of school because she had to do some observations so Audrey and I got to go meet her at Copper River for a lunch date. It was a nice surprise!

 Right before we left in her sweet bubble we got from Miss Emma Claire. We love it!!  I was trying to wear her out so maybe she would sleep during lunch, no such luck, but she was quite the good little baby.
Wednesday, Audrey went to Nana J's for the day so I was able to run errands, clean the house a little and just have a little me time. I went to Clemson and decided to try to find organic sweet potatoes to start making Audrey's baby food. I went to the Ingles there that I had not been to since I was in college and boy has it changed. It now has a Starbuck's, a salad, vegetable, and pasta bar the size of a football field that actually looked really good, and is almost half organic. Who knew? I was telling Joy about it and she said what happened to college kids having to eat ramen noodles, apparently they have more money these days. They sadly were out of organic sweet potatoes but they produce guy said they should have some by yesterday, but no such luck, maybe Saturday he says. Apparently they are a hot commodity. I did however get to enjoy Sonic happy hour while I was out and about.
I have also started trying to do much better at meal planning on Sundays, and it is actually feeling like winter these past couple of days in SC so I am getting excited about cooking some soups next week. I decided since Kelly was hosting favorite soups for SUYL today I would share mine even though they are pretty easy peasy:

Our go to soup is definitely this baked potato soup recipe that I got from Pearls, Handcuff's, and Happy Hour's blog many moons ago.I love her recipes because they are always pretty simple and that is definitely my style.  I make this quite often. I used to do it the crock pot way, but have found I like it much better if I just throw it on the stove about two hours before we are ready to eat.

Outback Style Potato Soup:

8 oz cream cheese

3 cans of 14 oz Chicken Broth (I just use 2 because we like ours thicker)

1  30 oz bag of hash browns

She uses an onion, I omit the onion and just use Paula Dean's House Seasoning

Black peeper to season

Combine everything in a stock pot and cook on low heat for about 2 hours. Or you can combine everything but cream cheese in a crock pot, cook on low for the day, and then add the cream cheese about an hour before you want to eat. 

Another favorite is just buying the McCormick Chili for the slow cooker and following the directions on the back of the packet, haha. I don't like the McCormick mix for the stove top though, only crock pot kind will do!!