End Of Winter On Rockhouse Road

Winter may be over on Rockhouse Road. I hope so. But my son Rob, who is a meteorologist, says we may have a cold blast before Spring comes for good. In the meantime I am enjoying what little hint of Spring we are given, before it comes in all it's glory. But,as a tribute to winter and the "different" kind of beauty that it does display, I add these pics I took the other day.

Our New Horse

Bella needs a friend since the four cows are gone. We found just the right fellow. His name is Friday. His owner says he is a sweetie. Tomorrow he will come to his new home. We hope he likes us. Gatlin sure did like riding Friday when we went to see him. Maybe we will make a horse lover out of him.

Kitchen Aid to Bosch

Many years ago when I was a younger mom, I use to bake whole wheat bread pretty much on a regular basis. In our kitchen we had a Kitchen Aid for a while which I like very much. Later we had Bosch mixer. I really liked it too but probably ran it to death because when we moved to the country it did not come with us and it disappeared from my memory.

Lately we have been trying to work harder on our supply of food storage and my thoughts have turned to wheat and other basic types of food storage items. Around Christmas-time I got a super deal on Gold Medal flour and bought up a pretty good amount while it was available. For some reason I began to think of how I needed to use this flour in rotation. My mind began to be focused upon baking bread again and using the white flour with our wheat. Along with that thought came the thought to buy a mixer that would be handy in mixing bread. Having had a Kitchen Aid in the past and knowing that Paula Deen and other famous food stars usually use a Kitchen Aid, I did some research and found a beautiful aqua Kitchen Aid on the Macy's website. The decorating "queen" in me took over and the beautiful aqua color coordinated so well with my new kitchen that I ordered it pronto. It was a beautiful machine.

I used it a few times. But, several design changes from the old style bothered me and I found out it could not do but two loaves of bread comfortably. That is when my memory kicked in and I remembered we did have a Bosch mixer years ago too. Why didn't I remember that? A Bosch will do many loaves of bread and hold 15 pounds of dough comfortably! I immediately did my homework and found that it got best reviews all over the internet along with lots of complimentary You-tube videos. I was hooked and found the best site on the internet to order one. It is Pleasant Hill Grain. I sent back the Kitchen Aid to Macy's. They were gracious enough to accept my return and refund my money.

For the first time today I used my new Bosch Universal Plus and love it. It mixed my four loaves of whole wheat bread just fine and kneads it too. I love the large capacity bowl. It has a blender attachment that is suppose to blend with super speed. This thing should last me the rest of my life.

Time Marches On-Anticipating Daffodils

Can't believe it is already 2011, and almost to the end of this first month of January too. Today the first day of the second semester of school starts for all the kids in our family. Lindsay is in 9th and Chris moved back from Indiana and is a senior, if you can believe it? We have lots of projects to finish around here and can't seem to get going on them. It has been snowing a lot since Christmas so that keeps us kind of "locked in". But February is almost here and toward the end of February the daffodils begin to bloom so in about 4 short weeks we have that to look forward to.

I am posting a picture here of my favorite flower and the flower of my birth month. I can't wait to see them blooming on the road to our church as they do anywhere from the 3rd week of February on. They kind of represent HOPE to me, as they are the promise that God is going to send springtime and warmer weather to brighten our days, just as he promises us eternal life through the sacrifice of his Son.

Hey, I learned to spell daffodil by writing this post today. lol

Cat Likes New Window

The Lowes installer came last night to install our new window over the kitchen sink. The window we had was ok, but was a double window which restricted some of the view to the outside. The molding was old and original to the house and did not look too good anymore. This new window is a slider and easier to open. It is amazing what a new window can do to a room. It has opened up the view and makes the kitchen look bigger. You can see that the cat, who normally does not sit in the kitchen window, is enjoying it already. The installer is coming this morning to finish the molding, etc. and tonight Adam is going to help me with the tile back splash. Thanks Adam! After that, I think this whole kitchen redo will be done. As you can see by the last picture, Briggs was busy at work putting in the new kitchen faucet. I consider this new makeover a blessing and of course anything new you do to your home lifts your spirits.