Freezing Rain and More

Overnight, we had our first real freezing rain in BG. It took quite a bit of extra time to scrape off the windshield this morning, but the trees sure look pretty all covered in ice! In our area, there didn't seem to be any major problems, but up in Toledo they had some power outages and fallen tree limbs (including one in my friend's driveway!). Right now, we've got heavy blowing snow, and up to 6 inches are expected overnight. They're also talking about another potentially big storm later this week. So, I guess after a nice break that included temps in the 50s, we've got more winter to get through before spring is really here. I think Mark and I are both looking forward to the change of seasons....

 I noticed the little icicle at the top, which is upside-down after driving the car.

Here's the back windshield--you can see the ice left at the top and on the trunk. Mark really had to yank on his door to get it open this morning, too, because of all the ice on his side. Here's a few shots of a tree in front of our building:

Uganda

Some of you already know, but I wanted to go ahead and announce it here: I'm going to Uganda this May! It's a short-term mission trip with Hoffmantown (my family's church in ABQ). My Dad is one of the team leaders for this trip, and he's been to Uganda previously. We'll be there for the dedication ceremony for the school/orphanage they've been building, and I'll probably have the chance to do some work with the girls' ministry they have. You can see some pictures from the 2009 trip here. Since my parents have been really involved in Hoffmantown's work in Uganda, I've been able to follow most of what they've been doing, and I think it's a really great partnership with the local missionary there from AMG.

I wasn't really expecting to have the opportunity to go, but when the dates for this trip didn't conflict with my teaching duties, I started looking into it. Dad talked with the missions pastor at H-town, and with his approval and support from my parents, I'll be able to go! Mark, of course, has also been really supportive.

I'm sure I'll post more about the trip as it gets closer and I have more information. I would like to ask for prayer as I (and the rest of the team) prepare. There are, of course, details to take care of, like getting my immunizations updated, that will take some time and money. The travel agent is also working on the logistics of having me meet up with the rest of the team coming from ABQ. In the coming weeks, we'll start meeting on Saturday mornings, so we're working out the logistics to allow me to participate in those meetings long-distance. I'm really excited to have this opportunity, and I'm eager to see what God does on this trip!

Verse 4

In January, when I finished the devotional book I had been working on (The Power of Praying through the Bible--highly recommended, by the way), I started reading through the copy of the chronological narrated Bible I got just over a year ago. I had always thought it would be interesting to read a chronological version of the Bible, and now that I have one, I decided to do it. Meanwhile, I'm keeping an eye out for verses to memorize this year. In the last few weeks, I've been reading about Moses. I was struck by the song he and the Israelites sang after God parted the Red Sea. So, my next memory verse comes from that passage. It's important to remind myself, in the face of the things I worry about, that I belong to a God who has done great things for His people.

Exodus 15:13

"In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation."

Pizza Perfection

Well, I've posted about my homemade pizza here before, but I thought this beauty deserved a nod. I took a before and after baking pic, because I feared the shape might not be quite as lovely after transferring it to the pizza stone. That was a good call. Here it is:

Tonight, I made the crucial final tweak to my recipe. Instead of making one pizza (with a really thick, kind of heavy crust), I tried making two medium-sized pizzas. PERFECT! (Well, actually, one turned out a little thin, but I'll just make it a little smaller next time to fix that :-). So, I'm realizing that I've now made enough adjustments to the original technique/recipe from Our Best Bites that I should describe my own approach (should anyone want to give it a try).

So, here goes. I make this sauce, leaving out the onion powder and doubling the recipe. It freezes well, so I almost always have some on hand. It also seems to have a nice flavor if I have time to let it simmer for a few minutes. I used about 3/4 cup tonight to make the two medium pizzas. I've learned that too much sauce can make the crust and cheese a bit wet, so if I have more than I need, I just heat it up to dip my crust in later.

I started with this technique and this dough (through the first rise). Here's how I do it. Use quick rise/bread machine yeast, and test the temp of the water. I found that I was actually using water that was too cool, so my yeast never got bubbly enough. I add about 1/2-1 cup of whole wheat flour, to give myself the illusion of "healthier" pizza dough. I also think that amount gives a nice flavor without being too earthy. While I'm getting the dough started, I preheat the oven and a big glass bowl to 200. Once it heats up, I turn the oven off. (Since we keep our apartment cool, having a warmer place for the dough to rise seems to make a big difference). I've also learned that the dough turns out to have a lighter texture if I'm careful to not put too much flour in. Stop when it's just barely sticking to your finger, and use a little flour on your hands to get it out of the mixer without too much trouble.

When the dough is ready, I put a little olive oil in the bottom of the glass bowl and spin the dough around to coat it so it stays supple during/after the rise. The dough needs to rise for 45 minutes. After it's been rising for 30, I take it out of the oven and put the pizza stone in, cranking the temp up to 500.

When the dough is done rising, it needs to be punched down, divided in two, and rolled out. Of course, it helps to have flour handy to coat the work surface, rolling pin, and your hands. Once the dough is rolled out, I carefully take the pizza stone out and transfer the dough to it. Move fast, or it'll stick in place. (It helps to use the rolling pin to move the dough over).

Then, I brush the outer 1-2 inches of crust with a mix of olive oil, garlic powder, and "pizza seasoning" (just a blend of herbs I have in the cupboard). Next, it's ready for sauce, cheese, and toppings. Our favorites are pepperoni and Italian sausage. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425.

Then, transfer the baked pizza to a large cutting board (I use one of those flat, flexible ones). If it's fully cooked, it won't stick to the stone. This time, I had fully prepared the second pizza on two sheets of parchment paper, so I got Mark to help me move it onto the pizza stone and slide the parchment paper out. That's where we had trouble. It seems I'd need to flour the parchment paper a little too, or wait to assemble the second pizza until I got the crust on the stone...I guess I'm still tweaking that part.

So, there you have it. I'm guessing we'll be eating it again next Sunday! (Oh, last week we used this recipe to make calzones instead--they were pretty great, too ;-).

The sad fate of my mini-snowman

Earlier this week, the giant icicles on our building started to fall down. My poor mini-snowman was decapitated:

 As if the poor guy wasn't pathetic enough to begin with!

Quick Updates

Well, we've had a little bit of excitement around here so far this weekend. The first thing was some fairly major work in our apartment. To tell the story, I'll have to start with last weekend, when we noticed this in our shower:

That's a big bubble of water under the paint, on the side opposite our shower head. We started to realize that this must be the source of the puddles we've been finding on the bathroom floor (we had thought the toilet was leaking...). So, I emailed these pics to our apartment manager and called the office on Monday to confirm that they got my email. On Friday, someone finally came to take a look. Mark was home, and he said that when the maintenance guy poked the ceiling, his finger went right through the drywall. They called the plumbers over, and when I got home, we had a handful of guys in and out of our bathroom and the one upstairs. It was a total mess, but they found the problem, which was a leak from the neighbors' tub. They got it temporarily fixed up, but will have to come back next week to replace the tub upstairs and patch our drywall. For now, we've got this:

I'm just glad we finally found the real problem and a fix is in the works! (And, we can use our shower in the meantime).

In weather news, we had several more inches of snow yesterday. They forecasted only 2-4 inches, but they said last night that our area got anywhere from 4-8. It snowed all day. Thankfully, we didn't have anywhere to go, and when I can stay in and just watch it, I can really enjoy the snow more! They came and plowed our parking lot late last night, and I can't believe how tall the snow piles are. In fact, if this keeps up, we won't have a view out of our windows at all! At the moment, the temperature is "warmer" and there's lots of noise from dripping icicles outside the window. Here are a few pics from yesterday and this morning. The last two are from the bedroom window. You can see the plants are coated with ice, and the pic is fuzzy because of all the water dripping down.

Big Storm

So everyone knows about this week's big storm...here's how it went down for us. On Monday night, we had about 3-4 inches of snow here, which was just the precursor to the main storm. So Tuesday was pretty much business as usual (despite the snowy roads). But we kept hearing the news about how bad the approaching storm could be, and I felt awfully nervous about my 8:30 class on Wednesday. Thankfully, I had discussed some possible scenarios with the ESL program director a couple of weeks ago, so I at least had an idea of when it would be appropriate for me to cancel class (even if BGSU didn't).

It started snowing here at about 6, and we were thankful that Mark's evening rehearsal had been postponed till later this week. The weather people were saying we'd have 6-10 inches overnight, with the possibility of sleet and freezing rain. Counties in our area began declaring snow emergencies using Ohio's 3-level system. Level 3 is the worst, and the BGSU policy is to only close if we're at a Level 3. But, during my previous conversation with the director of our program, she suggested that it would be appropriate to cancel class if we reach a Level 2. So, when Wood County declared a Level 2 emergency last night, I went ahead and canceled my 8:30 class. I checked again in the morning (several times, and after sleeping a bit restlessly...). By about 8am, I decided to cancel my office hours and 11:30 class. That is my small one (with 4 students), and since snow was expected to continue falling through the day, I decided it was fine to let it go.

Mark, on the other hand, did go in to teach his 9:30 class. He'd been in touch with his supervisor and thought he should only cancel if she canceled her morning classes. When he didn't hear from her, he braved the storm! He left the house as bundled up as possible, thinking he might walk or drive, depending on how it looked. The snow was still really deep on the sidewalks (they were just starting on the snow removal at our place), so he opted to drive. It took him 15 minutes to get the ice scraped off the car and get out of the parking lot, but he did make it to school safely. (I was pretty anxious till I knew he got there ok). Thankfully, his supervisor did decide to cancel her meeting with the TAs later in the morning, so Mark was able to come right home after class.

I have firmly decided that the winter weather is infinitely more pleasant when it can be enjoyed from inside without having to worry about traveling in it.

However, I did realize that I wished for this much snow as a kid, and now I have it. So I bundled myself up in layers (2 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, thick socks, boots, gloves, coat, hat) and went out front to build a snowman. Unfortunately, as you'll see below, the snow was totally uncooperative. The mini-snowman was the best I could do. So, I guess I'll have to give it another try next time we get a few inches (I probably won't have to wait too long!).

Here's some assorted pics from today. Most of them are the typical out the front window shots, but I did take one looking out of the back side of the building, and I caught the snow removal in our parking lot. I also dragged Mark out to document my playing in the snow--you can see the big piles thanks to the snow plows.

 This one shows how much snow ended up in our patio area. That's all wind... (I'm SO glad we sprung for the furniture cover!)

Verse 3

So I should probably admit that this memory verse project has been harder than I expected. Even though I'm one month in, I'm finding that I haven't made it part of my daily routine, which is really the key to learning these verses well. I hope to improve this time around. So, here's my third verse, Colossians 1:17:

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.