Soup & Snow . . .

What is that I spy out my front door...?  Snow...?

Yes...it is definitely snow...

It makes our back yard tree oh-so-pretty, though!

Usually...I hate winter and I hate snow.  This winter, though, central Iowa has been blessed with a very mild winter.  We've barely accumulated any snow in comparison to the usual feet of fluffy (or heavy wet) stuff we get dumped on us.  I think that's why when I noticed it was snowing early this afternoon, I wasn't angry.  It was rather pretty and it also doesn't hurt that the furthest I have to drive now it across town to work.  (Have I mentioned I'm done with classes....?!)

On my hands and knees with hot soapy water and a rag...all to clean the stairs and floor boards.

Since I no longer have the excuse the time consuming stress of classes and studying, today Wes & I decided to get the house alllll cleaned up!!  I went upstairs to tackle the bedroom first.  I dusted all of the woodwork (dresser, bedside tables, & headboard) and swept the floors.  I even took the bedding off to get washed!  Then I tackled the stairs.  We have beautiful(ly worn) real wooden floors upstairs and I cannot believe how much dust they accumulate.  The floor boards get ridiculously dusty, ridiculously quick!  I also got the bathroom cleaned up while Wes got the kitchen all tidy.  I told Wes we needed a break before we tackled the dining and living room...maybe a week-long break...?  ;)  Just kidding.

While we took our "break", I got supper going in the crock pot.  Since we have pancake and eggs for breakfast on Sundays (and it usually isn't until about 10am), we usually skip lunch.  Last month for our staff meeting a coworker of mine made "8 Can Soup".  It's considered a Weight Watcher approved meal and it was darn tasty!

The line up!

The stars of the show.
Diced tomatoes, sweet corn, vegetable beef soup, chili with beans, chili without beans, veg all (mixed vegetables), diced potatoes, green beans.

"8 Can Soup" is exactly that.  Eight cans...put into a crock pot...and left alone.  I'm glad I didn't see what it looked like while being put together before I tried it the first time.  I'll warn you...it looks like you're putting eight cans of soup together that are not going to blend well.  It just doesn't look pretty prior to stirring.  It just all comes together, though, and tastes great.  It's basically vegetable souop with a little chili addition to it.

All cans added...ready to go.

After 3 hours on high, it's steaming and ready to be devoured.

Typically I'd put this on in the morning and keep it on low all day.  With the breakfast and cleaning, though, I didn't get around to whipping it up until about 1pm, so I put it on high for a few hours.  It did the trick...and the weather turned out to be the perfect day for soup.

Day 4: "bedside"My nook and glasses make for a great morning.