When I woke up yesterday, I greeted my sweetheart and said, “How can it possibly be Sunday again already?” The time flies so, so fast anymore. I grabbed my coffee, Mr. FixIt his tea, and we headed into the family room for church. I know it is important to have fellowship with other Christians, but I’m telling you…I like not having to drive all the way to town and back on a Sunday. I like to sit in my comfy chair and listen to the worship music and the encouraging words of a good sermon. We can hit “pause” if we have to take a little trip down the hall. Hey, we’re older now. And, we can discuss and openly encourage each other as the message is being preached. 

Yesterday, one of our associate pastors gave us a wonderful message. I love when visuals are used to demonstrate points. I have always been a visual learner and think in analogies, so I especially enjoyed it. You can catch it on YouTube HERE.  (They actually go live about 9 minutes, 45 seconds in.)

I had a hankering for some comfort food yesterday. I bought a small chuck roast the other day so I browned it on either side and put it in my slow cooker around noon. Mr. Virgo used to put a can each of Cream of Onion and Cream of Celery soups in with garlic, onions, mushrooms, and a can of water. This always made a wonderful gravy. Unfortunately, I found my last two onions were too old to use and I forgot to buy mushrooms. Well, guess who dehydrated mushrooms and onions this summer and stored them away for occasions such as this? Me! I added about a cup of dehydrated mushrooms and 1/3 cup of dehydrated onions to the slow cooker, stirred it all around a bit, put the lid on and turned it to high. Five hours later, I served the roast with some of my home canned green beans, home canned applesauce, and herb roasted tiny potatoes. It was fabulous and we have enough leftover for tonight, too.

I’m back to baking sourdough again. I took a few weeks off when I was so busy canning. While I wasn’t baking, I fed my sourdough starter once a week and kept it in the refrigerator. That slows the feeding down. I was thrilled when I took it out Thursday to warm up, fed it, and it overflowed the jar. That’s the sign of a good, strong yeast. I fed it again Friday night, then Saturday morning, I worked up my dough, formed the loaves, and set them in the garage fridge to rise overnight. A cold rise is supposed to allow the acids to build up in the dough and make a more sour loaf, so I’m looking forward to having some for breakfast this morning. I’ve found it doesn’t cut well and the flavor isn’t as pronounced until the day after baking.

Once the bread was finished, I spent the afternoon writing an article for the winter issue of Girl Camper Magazine. The magazine comes out four times a year and you can’t get it at the newsstand. If you are interested, you can order a subscription HERE.

I love Sundays and it was wonderful to have a nice, slow day…gentle rain…fire in the family room…the smells of homemade bread and a roast cooking…spending time with my sweetie. I was thrilled to get the news from my Colorado peeps that snow has fallen in the mountains. Hopefully, this will help knock out the wildfires and we can put that to rest for the year. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you are staying healthy.

❤️

“Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns. In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That’s why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.”

Exodus 20:8-11 CEV