Help with convection/toaster oven decision & flowers

Hello Friends ~ Hope you in cold parts of the world are keeping warm and those in the warmer part, keeping cool. I worked outside Wednesday morning for about 3 hours. It felt wonderful and I even worked up a light sweat. It seemed a little chillier that evening, but I didn’t even think to check the weather. I woke up to COLD temps, the coldest being 39 and real feel was 30, not as cold as the earlier cold we had a week or so back when the real feel temp was 26. Needless to say, yesterday was pretty much an indoor day. I did some ironing.

On the 11th, we had some snow fall here at Plum Cottage. Pollen snow that is, from the palm tree.

Miss Tork has been sleeping in a comfy nest, about 5 ft. away from the old radiant heat space heater that I’m using. DH and I found this many, many years ago curbside. We never used it on high, and right now I have it on 3. It could be a little higher, but we are doing ok., keeping the elec. bill down.

This photo is from yesterday.

The next two are from this morning with the sunlight through the window filtering in.

Today is another indoor day. Tomorrow will be another one as BIL Todd and I will be working again in the living room and bedroom.  Both rooms are a wreck, but my bed and chairs in liv. room are clear. I’ll post pics when we’re all done. We won’t be finished tomorrow, but will make more forward progress. Todd is a blessing and I have told him that you all think so too.

Now for the dilemma of making a choice between two convection/toaster ovens that I’ve narrowed my choice down to. I’d like to hear what ones any of you may have and are very happy with. I’ve been reading reviews, watched some you tube reviews also. My old one is an Oster, that is very small, and the door now hangs open about 1/2 an inch. Since there is just me now, I’d like a larger one to bake casseroles, etc. in. My GE range has convection baking, which I use all of the time. Less energy and less time. But, I’d rather have a decent counter top one so as to not have to heat up the big oven.

My kitchen space is small, so I cannot get a ‘large’ countertop one, which I did see a couple I’d like to have chosen, but space deletes those two from my choice.

This one I like because of the manual knobs, but it does lack a light on the inside. Lots of pro reviews though, but then there are the negatives. People getting burned by touching the glass when they go to open it, flimsy rack, it gets hot, (what toaster oven doesn’t).

Oster Large Convection Toaster Oven TSSTTVSK01

This next one is also an Oster. Todd & Sue have one of these, have had it since last May and like it.

I like this one because it has a light inside. Reading the cons though always influence our thinking. Buttons don’t always respond, rack flimsy, slips on the counter. Although, there are a lot more pros. This one is cheaper also by about $20. I don’t know what the reason is for the difference in price.

Oster Digital Convection Toaster Oven TSSTTVMNDG 

So, there are the two choices I’ve narrowed it down to. They are both under $100. I can’t afford to buy the most expensive and best in the reviews, so I just kept reading reviews until my mind was getting boggled. and narrowed down my choices to these two.   Please let me have some input from you who have a convection/toaster oven. Living on a very limited budget, I want to get the best I can that will last me awhile without breaking my bank. I don’t want to have to replace one every year. The old one I’ve had a long time.

Now for some flowers. I know you all that are buried under snow or just have barren brown to look at, will appreciate them.

Blue clock vine.

Blue Sage

Four o’clock

Phlippine Violet backlit by afternoon sun.

Seed heads from Blue Mist flowers

Azalea ~ hard color to photograph

Spicy Jatropha ~ popular with Zebra longwing butterflies.

Mom-of-millions ~ these spread like crazy, just by a leaf dropping off. They bloom a couple of times a year.

Scented begonia has a wonderful scent

every day variety of begonia

Plumbago

A raggedy zebra longwing, our state butterfly taking nectar from Penta blooms.

Gazing ball

Old light fixture I mounted to a post. This has the orange colored acrylic glass with the design painted on it on the inside.  I don’t have a light in there yet, this is sunlight behind it.

A ‘carpet rose’.

An unknown.

I took the desk, that is under the marble top, that DH had made for using out in his workshop, and put it in the little screened entry porch off the kitchen. I painted the top, since I hadn’t painted it when I did the rest to move it into the bedroom.

Here it is now. This was a fun, little artistic project that gave me a mental boost.

That’s it for now. Enjoy each day, seeing beauty in the simple, and being thankful for all that you have.

Happy January ~ FlowerLady