Hygge on Marshmallow Ranch

English Muffins!

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 02:30:00 -0600

Finally! I got the English muffins to rise enough to bake. They were tangy and crunchy when toasted and tasted great with butter and jam. However, they were still pretty dense and a bit chewy on the inside. Really, the only room in our house that stays toasty warm is the family room but even with the bowl of dough sitting right next to the gas stove, it was still too cool to get a proper rise. I even tried to set the bowl on a heating pad but it kept timing out and turning itself off after 10 minutes. Sourdough is a tricky animal. Its performance is highly dependent on perfect conditions. I think I’ll try a different recipe next time.

I haven’t ventured out in the snow yet. Mr. FixIt has to run to town today, but I’m staying home. I will have to give in and go sometime soon. When I was flossing last night, one of the caps on my front teeth came off. I’ll need to get in and have that cemented back on. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another, right?

We watched the special ceremony at the capitol last evening when they brought President Carter’s coffin into the rotunda to lie in state. As they were firing the cannons in the 21-gun salute, I teared up. For one thing, it reminded me of the gun salute at Mr. Virgo’s funeral. I still can’t hear Taps without tears stinging my eyes. As the camera shot from the top of the Capital Dome down into the Rotunda, I was struck by the goodness of that man. He may not have been the best president we ever had, but he sure ranks up there with the most honorable.

We finished off the last of the beef stew yesterday. I have a piece of fish in the freezer. I think I’ll take that out and we’ll have fish and rice and a nice salad for supper. What are you all cooking these days?

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

#snow #sourdough #baking #homebody #hygge

Kitchen Magic

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 02:30:00 -0600

I am constantly amazed by sourdough. It is just water and flour and wild yeasts. Yeast is everywhere but when you make a sourdough starter from scratch, it takes a while to get established because the yeasty beasties it needs may not live in your kitchen yet. Now, I was actively making sourdough all the way through the covid lockdown so those little yeasties are thriving in my kitchen. I bought a fresh starter from King Arthur Baking Co. It was a really strong starter and was bakeable in about ten days.

Mr. FixIt went to town yesterday to get his tires changed then ran a few errands. He got gas for the generator to make sure it’s in good working order. We’re supposed to get snow tonight and again Sunday night so we need to have everything in place.

I made a double batch of granola yesterday. I may have baked it a bit too long, but it’ll have to do. I fed my starter to get it ready for baking Sourdough English Muffins. I’ve only made them once and I can’t find that recipe. So, while Mr. FixIt was in town, I browsed through some YouTube videos and found a recipe I want to try.

I’ll be baking today and working on the market bag I’m crocheting. I’ll have the house to myself for a little while as Mr. FixIt has to run to town for a bit. I think he’ll wait till the afternoon since we may have some snow overnight. I found a wonderful music channel on YouTube that features classical cello and that’s a wonderful way to spend a quiet afternoon…especially if there’s snow on the ground.

“Give us this day our daily bread,” Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

#snow #sourdough #baking #crochet #granola #baking #sourdough #bread #englishmuffins #crochet #snow #hyggehome

A New Day…A New Month…A New Year!

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 02:30:00 -0600

Well, after four years of not so much as a sniffle, I woke up yesterday morning with a scratchy throat and a cough, tired and achy, and generally just…blah! I’m so disappointed, but I wouldn’t trade spending time with the kids for anything. Little germ bombs! lol I’m sure it won’t last long…right? At least I have cookies!

I pretty much spent the day in the Big Red Chair. Mr. FixIt cooked oats for me for breakfast and brought me a sandwich in the afternoon. I started crocheting an Artisan Market Bag and watched educational YouTube videos in between football games. It was all I could do to stay up to ring in the New Year with Mr. FixIt.

2024 was busy as usual with the addition of so many unexpected expenses. We got to travel a lot which was fun…the beach twice and our annual trip to Colorado. We’ve been blessed to have good health, a roof over our heads, and food on our table with enough to share with those less fortunate.

I remember when we moved to Colorado when Hubby #1 was in the Air Force. That New Year’s Eve, we were at a party ringing in the New Year. I happened to look at the time when it was 10:00. I knew it was midnight in WV and I just had an overwhelming urge to talk to my mom. This was LONG before cell phones, so I used our host’s phone and charged the call to my home phone. We didn’t talk long…we couldn’t afford it in those early years of marriage…but I just HAD to hear her voice! Oh, I would give just about anything to hear her voice again. She’s been gone 21 years this month and I still think of calling her to tell her about something.

I don’t know what the future holds for us in 2025, but I know who walks with me so I never have to do it alone. I pray you always have enough.

Keep hope alive, dear ones!

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

#newyearsday #newyear #cold #undertheweather #crochet #home #hyggehome

The Big Red Chair

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 02:30:00 -0600

I swore I would NEVER eat in front of the TV again after Mr. Virgo died. Actually, I swore I’d never have TV again and I didn’t for several years. Every night he would put a thick bath towel on the coffee table in front of us and we would have to sit and watch whatever it was he wanted to watch. I hated it. I didn’t care for TV and I certainly wasn’t crazy about some of the TV shows he watched, but he was my husband and you can’t always get your own way in a marriage. There were some shows he watched that I enjoyed, like The West Wing and Law & Order. But overall, I don’t care for a lot of television.

That being said, I married another TV watcher. He does hold off on the shows he knows I won’t watch and saves them for times I’m busy doing something else. But most of the time we sit in our Big Red Chairs and watch the news or whatever show we’re interested in. Again, I don’t get to make all the choices in this marriage either. And really, we’re of an age where things just aren’t such a big deal, right?

When I got up yesterday morning, I realized I was going to run out of one of my meds and of course, I called it in and it was out of refills. They were predicting a big snow storm for last night into today and I wanted to get that prescription so I didn’t run out. So, guess what we did yesterday afternoon? That’s right…another trip to town. On the way in, I suggested Ham & Potato Soup for supper, which was the perfect dish for a cold night.

I grew up with Potato Soup. My mom made the BEST ever. I’ve never been really good at it and I don’t think I’ve ever made it for Mr. FixIt, so it was time to try. We bought a small bag of red potatoes and some celery at the store. I sautéed a chopped onion and one chopped up celery heart in some EVO. Then I washed the potatoes and cut them up in cubes and added them to the pot. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and celery seed along with about three tablespoons of butter. Then I added one box of chicken broth, covered the pot and let it simmer for about 40 minutes. As soon as the potatoes were tender, I added about a cup or so of cubed ham, half a cup of heavy cream, and enough milk to make the desired consistency. Just before serving, I took a potato masher and mashed up just enough of the potatoes to make a nice creamy soup.

You know how certain smells and tastes can transport you across a lifetime? Well, I was sitting in my Big Red Chair eating my soup, but my heart was with my sweet mama at the little Formica table in our sparse kitchen on 55th Street. In my mind, I was just a little girl, at home, sick from school with a cold, in my flannel granny gown as my mom took care of me. I can still feel her soft, cool hand on my fevered brow. In four days it will be twenty years since my mama died. Two decades. I always know how long it’s been because Big was born just six weeks after her great-grandmother died.

We’ve all had losses in our lives, but losing our moms is one of the hardest things to deal with. If we had a wonderful and loving relationship, we grieve that loss profoundly. If we had less than a stellar relationship, we mourn the fact that there’s no more chances to get it right. I wish I would have been a better daughter to my mom. I comfort myself in knowing she is in Heaven and I’ll see her again and all will be forgiven. Isn’t that glorious?

After supper, I went to my studio and knitted up another pair of mittens so I could do the handwork in the Big Red Chair while we waited for the snow storm. And watched a little TV.

*sigh*

❄️🩵❄️

”You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.“
Psalm 74:17 ESV

Who Killed Tim Kono?

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 02:30:00 -0600

Oooooooh…it was so cold Tuesday night that the water bottle on my windowsill froze! And I didn’t have the window opened more than an inch. It’s actually supposed to warm up overnight, but not by much. I had a lovely day playing with my new knitting machine. I made a pair of wool mittens that are so cozy and warm.

It was really nice to stay home yesterday. Mr. FixIt had to go to town so I was in my studio all afternoon. When he got home, I heated up the leftover chili for us and we watched the movie he bought me for Christmas. It’s really hard for me to sit down and watch a whole movie. Oppenheimer was well done and sometimes painful to watch. I really didn’t know the history of what happened to him after the war. I won’t ruin the ending for those who may not have seen the movie and would like to. While I wasn’t sitting on the edge of my seat, the movie did hold my interest as I did the hand work on the mittens.

Once the movie was over, we caught up with Only Murders in the Building. Mr. FixIt and I caught our first episode of the series over the New Year’s weekend and we’re hooked. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selina Gomez make the most unlikely trio of amateur investigators of the murder of Tim Kono in their high rise. There are so many twists and turns. It’s clever and funny and intriguing. I have no idea how many episodes or seasons they’ve made of this, but I’m looking forward to watching every one of them…then watching them again! I’m not a big TV fan. So much of it is just drivel that dumbs you down, but occasionally a show comes on that’s is entertaining and worth watching.

I get to spend more time playing with my new knitting machines today. I think I’ll make some more mittens and work on a baby blanket I’m making. They say every knitting machine has its own quirks and this one is no exception. For some reason, the first three rows are really picky and the yarn has a tendency to split. So I use my loom pick to fix them, but it’s slow going. But, once you get past that third row, it’s a little easier. You still have to watch closely because occasionally it will still throw a split stitch. It’s not nearly as fast as the other machine, but it’s still a lot of fun to work with.

They are predicting some real snow tonight here in West Virginia. I’ve learned to take what the weatherman says with a grain of salt around here. They’ll call for 1-3” of snow and send a torrent of folks to the stores to wipe out every loaf of bread, every jug of milk, and every package of eggs in sight. Fortunately, I have a full pantry and enough food in the fridge and freezer to last a month or more.

I hope you are staying warm and safe through these storms. Be careful out there.

❄️🩵❄️

”“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,“
Isaiah 55:10 ESV

Crocheting in the Snow

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 02:30:00 -0600

I don’t know…maybe I should stop complaining about having to go to town so much. I mean, we are blessed to have a quiet home in the country, to have the means to travel when we need to, and we have each other. Our health is “good for the shape we’re in,” to quote my Uncle Dudley. At least this trip was relatively quick. Mr. FixIt had a medical appointment, then we went to one of my FAVORITE stores…Rural King. We get our cat food and bird seed there. The birds had gone through our suet cakes like there was no tomorrow so we bought two cases this time. We are filling the feeders every week, sometime twice a week.

Our dishwasher bit the big one last year so I’ve been washing by hand. At first, I hated it. But it has become a quiet time of mindfulness and I don’t mind it at all. It doesn’t hurt that there is a feeder hanging right in front of the kitchen window that’s over the sink and I can watch the birds dart in and out. They sit in the old crabapple tree and take turns swooping in to feed. I try to move smoothly and quietly so I don’t disturb them. One of the most beautiful sights is when we get 15-20 cardinals out there in the tree. It’s amazing how the females kinda blend into the grey background, but those red males stand out in stark contrast and I’m telling you…it’s breathtaking to see.

Someday, I would love to have one of those feeders that has a camera attached and you can take photos of the birds as they land and eat. I’ve seen some beautiful images caught on them. I have a cousin that we refer to as the Bird Whisperer. He can stand out there by the feeder and hold his arm out and the birds will land there and eat right out of his hand! I think my birds get used to me watching them and after a while they don’t start at every movement. But I still can’t imagine getting them to the point where I could hold them. I don’t think I’d want to. They are meant to be wild.

We dropped by the Mrs. FixIt 1.0’s house to drop off the hat and scarf I made her. It fit her much better than the other hat I made. The difference was in the yarn…it was much softer and knitted up looser. The light was getting dim when we left and stopped at the discount bread store before we headed home. Just before we started out the two-lane to our house, I remembered we needed eggs. We stopped at the Dollar General so we wouldn’t have to go back into town. Mr. FixIt might have to go into town today, but it will depend on the roads. When they clear a little mid-day, I’ll go over the hill to the Post Office and pick up my new 22-needle machine that arrived Saturday. I’m thrilled to see what else I can make with it.

We didn’t have knitting group yesterday. A couple of the gals were worried about the possibility of snow on the roads and texted Sunday night. They thought it best if we postpone to next week. Better to be safe than sorry, I always say. I worked on the market bag again as we watched Monday Night Football. I’ve never gotten into football quite like I have this year. To the point that I told Mr. FixIt we won’t know what to do with ourselves when the season is over! I guess it will be time to watch movies and maybe catch up with some episodes of the few shows I’ll sit still long enough to watch. And only if I’m doing something with my hands. I always have to feel like I’m being productive.

One of my Noom lessons deals with taking time for yourself without guilt. I’m pretty good about taking some me time, but again…I feel like I need to be doing something worthwhile at the same time. It’s difficult to convince yourself that doing nothing isn’t wasted when you’re refilling your well. So, one of the exercises in Noom is just to sit for five minutes doing nothing without thinking of all the things you SHOULD be doing. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

We may actually have measurable snow on today! What’s it like in your neck of the woods?

❄️🩵❄️

”For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.“
Job 37:6 ESV

Cuteness Overload

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 02:30:00 -0600

Bubby was pretty excited to get his Toy Story book with sound effects!

Our day was full from start to finish. We had family time and went to our great grandson’s fourth birthday party. You know how those things are…you sit around the playground in a fast food restaurant, happy children screaming with delight, parents trying to talk over the cacophony, with nothing on the menu you can eat except a wrap with no meat and a kid’s portion of applesauce.

It’s all worthwhile when your little guy flashes his sweetest smile and climbs up in your lap for a hug. Then, he stroked my long hair and stared into my eyes and said…”

“What you name?”

I was taken aback. “It’s me, honey. It’s your Gigi.”

He looked confused and kept playing with my hair. Finally his mama whispered, “It’s been a long time since he saw you with your hair down.”

I got it! I pulled my hair back like a ponytail and his little face lit up like sunshine. He gave me a big hug and said, “Gigi!!!!” 🩵melt

Bless his little heart.

When the party was over, we ran a few errands then Mr. FixIt went to the bowling alley to visit his buddies. I came on home and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I turned the TV to YouTube and started the fireplace video. I’m working on another “Tote of Many Colors.” We have knitting group this morning, and I don’t have anything else scheduled for over a week!!! Who is excited to stay home? THIS GIRL!

It’s hygge time! Time to get cozy and spend long days in my winter cozies in my Big Red Chair…creating something out of nothing for all you beautiful people. This is what gets me through the depth of the dark days…creating. And, knowing each day gets incrementally longer.

❄️

”You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.“
Psalm 74:17 ESV