Sunday 'fess up...Anni had a long week

This week's 'fess up is brought to you by...REIDAR! Who is, in this picture, playing "hide and pounce" using my bath towel as camouflage.  I've been such a downer lately that I wanted to start the blog off with something cute and a little silly.

Silliness aside, Himself is home.  His mom isn't doing well.  He's just glad he got to see her because shortly after he left she took a downward turn.  She's stable now but they're back to measuring her in days instead of weeks or months.

Health issues are unresolved.  I go to the doctor on Monday so with any luck we'll have a solution after that.  At least, I hope we will.  It'd be nice to figure out what's causing the issues.

I'm doing the A to Z blog challenge.  If you really want to see all my posts from A-H this week, they're here on the blog.  I've been choosing random topics like crazy and sometimes scheduling posts on those nights when my imagination is really working and I can knock out two or three posts at a shot.

On the writing front, I've decided after listening to some rather awkward writing (my own...I recorded the first few chapters of Only A Name) that I'm going to have to rewrite a major portion of the novel to include Colwyn's POV.  Certain scenes in the first few chapters would be improved by including his POV and where the book slows and drags considerably I could add in a chapter or two of conflict centered around him.  So it's back to the drawing board for Only A Name.


I had a dream last night that would make an excellent story.  Only problem is...I don't remember enough of it to work with.  It was some bio-engineered guy and two kids and something about a family kind of like the mafia (the old Italian style mob families).  And that's it.  The nice thing is I'm likely to dream about it tonight so when I wake up and it's still fresh in my mind I'm going to jot down as many notes as I can.

I had a request from @KDSarge to put up the recipe for my broccoli cheddar soup.  Now I'll admit I'm a semi-homemade cook.  I'll take an ingredient that's from the store and turn it into a much grander homemade meal.  That's what I do for my soup and EVERYONE loves it when I fix it.  So, here's the recipe I use when I make my Semi-Homemade Broccoli Cheddar soup.

2 packages Bear Creek Cheddar Broccoli Soup mix (I use 2 of the 8 serving packages)
1 kielbasa smoked sausage, chopped (the horseshoe shaped one, not the links I've recently seen)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 1 lb. bags of frozen broccoli florets (you can use chopped if you prefer smaller bites of broccoli)
2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder

Cook the Bear Creek soup mix as it says on the package.  That's 16 cups of water brought to a boil and the soup mix whisked in.  Yes, you'll need a big pot.  Turn down to medium and let simmer for 10 minutes.  While the soup is simmering, take a large skillet and put in about a tablespoon or so of olive oil.  Toss in your onion and start sauteeing.  As soon as they start to soften, throw in your chopped sausage and brown the sausage together with the onions.  Once they're cooked, set them off to the side.  You'll need them in a few minutes.

After the soup has simmered for 10 minutes, throw in your broccoli.  Let that cook for about five minutes and then throw in your grated cheese and the garlic and chili powder and stir well.  Make sure there's no lumps of grated cheese floating around and then toss in the sausage and onion.  Let the soup simmer again for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Serve immediately.  It's an awesome recipe, takes maybe half an hour or so to prepare, and is sixteen servings of soup.  Probably more if you're going for smaller servings.

I've also added potatoes to this, pasta to this, chicken instead of sausage, and even added mushrooms one day with the chicken.  That's why I love the Bear Creek soup mixes.  They're very versatile and you can doctor them up however you like.  I'm inherently a lazy cook so making broccoli cheddar soup the normal method (which I've done and if you're really interested, I'll share my favorite recipe for the long way next week) isn't my favorite way of doing things.  So I tend to take shortcuts and it still turns out really, really good when I use the pre-packaged mix.

Vlog is up as usual.  I ramble on about my crocheting projects and a few various other things.  I'm including the vlog in the line up of videos down below as always.