Thankfulness

As promised, I thought I would share some breathtaking shots of not only a few of our CHRISTmas decorations, but the areas around our house. Usually I go outside to take pictures of the sunrise, but I loved how the sun was coming up behind my little church in the bay window. You can see the heavy frost on the grass and in the field beyond. It is so very cold out this morning. When my husband checked the temperature, it was 21*F. Brrrr! So this picture is perfect, especially for the crisp coldness outside and the warmth the inside of the house brings. :)

This is just to the left a bit from the picture above, but without a flash. The frost is absolutely beautiful! It is covering the trees and makes such a lovely landscape.  J

This is the view from my dining room window toward the back yard. The sun isn't completely up above the trees yet, but I just love how our yard looks, so crisp and lovely.

I don't know if you can tell or not, but I like snowmen and angels. J Our mantle is decorated for Christmas. There are only a few stockings missing.

I you haven't noticed by this point in reading my blog, I've changed the music to my Christmas playlist. It is located at the bottom of the page. If you take a look at it, you'll see that our Christmas picture from last year is on it. We were in Florida for Christmas last year and the picture was taken from the steps looking down at my in-law's house.

I have Pumpkin Rolls planned to make today. I'll make 4 of them and take 2 to share with the lovely ladies at our home school group on Monday. So far this year has proven to be so very much different than years past without my mixer. It has given me such an appreciation for how much easier things were with it's availability. Because we're not on a credit system in our home, but a cash system, we need to save money for buying another one. My husband mentioned finding one on ebay, but they are selling for close to what the new one's cost, so it doesn't make sense to get one now, but to just buy a new one when we have all the money saved and earmarked for it. I'd like to buy a food processor to go with it as well, so I don't have to buy one separately. I am also planning to purchase the pasta maker to make whole grain pastas as well as the meat grinder to make our own deer sausage. They sell casings down at the little corner store up the road, so that isn't a problem. I'm moving toward making things that are increasingly healthier for my family and replacing my mixer with the attachments I need to make that a possibility is well worth the monitary investment because we're investing in our health. You can find all the Bosche Universal products at pleasanthillgrains.com. By far, the Bosche Universal has a bigger, more powerful motor at 800 watts than any of the Kitchen Aid Mixers.

This was my Bosche Universal.  I had it for 12 years.  It was by far the best mixer I have ever had and worth it's weight in gold.  If you're anything like me, baking in bulk and freezing the extras to save some money, this brand of mixer is worth the money paid for it.  Considering the amount of baking we do, to do the same amount with an inferior mixer would take us through a mixer each year at $50 each.  If you multiply that by how many years I had my Boshe, that is $600!!!  Using my Bosche saved us so much time and money that it paid for itself within one year's usage.  It will be sorely missed this Christmas season.  I know I will have another one within a few months, so I'm ok without it for a little while.  I know another one will be here soon enough.  In the mean time, we do smaller batches and the convenience of having the frozen items ready to pull out of the freezer will not be there so much.  When we get the new one, we'll have some making up to do.  LOL   I love the thought of having muffins, pancakes, waffles and tortillas in the freezer ready to pull out when we need them.  I enjoy knowing what has gone in to our foods because I've seen them added to the mixing bowl. 

My loving husband told me that we have 3 kids who could do all the mixing for me due to my carpal tunnel problems.  I love the thought of training my children in how to do things without the simple conveniences of electronic devices.  This gives them such a valuable experience for their future.  I know my daughter is beginning to enjoy preparing foods and making things look "pretty".  The practice of making things by hand is very good for her.

The day she made this, she made it for her brothers to enjoy. The tortilla is a Sun Dried Tomato Basil tortilla with her  own home made guacamole in it. She garnished it with a slice of jalapeno, pesto, tomato slice and orange zest.  Her brothers were so very thankful for her thoughtfulness! 

As with everything else, we're so very thankful for God's provision for us, not because we deserve any of these blessings, but because we don't deserve such wonderful blessings.  We love and serve an awesome, loving, wonderful heavenly Father who sees to our every need and our wants too.  What a blessing!