Missing in Action!

Hello to all my faithful readers!!! I hope you're both having a great weekend! ;^)

Seriously, though, I am still alive and kicking -- doing well with school, home and ministry responsibilities. Life is good! It's been a bit hectic around here, but I've managed to stay caught up on laundry and grading school work. That's an accomplishment for me! My blogs, however, have been neglected. Well, we can't all be perfect!

The obnoxiously hot, sticky weather rolled out a week early this year, and we were praising God for His mercy! Then the humidity rolled back in last week, so our relief was short-lived. The heat always gets worse just before a big storm, so we checked the hurricane center last night.

I'd like to introduce you to Rick.

From the advisory I just read, it looks like we'll get to meet him up close and personal by late Monday night. I've decided to cancel school tomorrow so we can weather-proof a bit. There are quite a few things around the yard which won't stand up to 100+mph winds.

Last night, Rick was a Category 5 storm with winds steady at 180mph, with higher gusts. The weather service said that Rick would be the largest storm on record since Hurricane Linda in 1997. That's not good, considering we had a storm here 6 years ago which wiped out houses and restaurants all along the coast and flooded Guasave, too.

Please join us in praying that Rick turns left and heads harmlessly out to sea. Also pray for the fishermen who depend on being able to go out on the ocean to fish for their livlihood. It's been a tough fishing season, and the storms really don't help. Pray that above all else, God would be glorified through the storm...whichever direction it turns!

If you'd like to see where Hurricane Rick is "in real time", click the NOAA button on the left-hand side of the screen.

Here's Sunday's advisory, straight from the National Hurricane Center (for the benefit of Mom, who will want all the details! BTW, Mom, I will call as soon as we get our phone turned back on! ;^) )

...RICK WEAKENS SLIGHTLY BUT IS STILL A DANGEROUS HURRICANE...

INTERESTS IN SOUTHERN BAJA CALIFORNIA AND THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF
MEXICO SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
HURRICANE. A HURRICANE WATCH MAY BE REQUIRED FOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTHERN BAJA CALIFORNIA TONIGHT OR MONDAY.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.

AT 200 PM PDT...2100 UTC...THE EYE OF HURRICANE RICK WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 16.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 109.4 WEST OR ABOUT 450 MILES
...725 KM...SOUTH OF CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO. (note: we live at about 24N 109W)

RICK IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH...22 KM/HR. A
TURN TOWARD THE NORTHWEST AND THEN TOWARD THE NORTH WITH A GRADUAL
DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED IN THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS. A
TURN TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED BY MONDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE DECREASED TO NEAR 160 MPH...260
KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. RICK REMAINS A DANGEROUS CATEGORY FIVE
HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. WHILE GRADUAL WEAKENING IS
EXPECTED IN THE NEXT 24 TO 48 HOURS...RICK IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN A
DANGEROUS HURRICANE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES...95 KM...FROM
THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175
MILES...280 KM.

THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 921 MB...27.20 INCHES.

LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY RICK WILL AFFECT PORTIONS OF THE
SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF MEXICO DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...
CAUSING POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS.

I figure we'll be without power for a couple of days, so I'll post on Thursday or whenever I can to let you all know how things turned out.

And I'm going to charge my camera batteries now, so I can take storm pics.

It's My Party; I'll Have Pie if I Want To!

I promised a friend that I'd post the recipe for my peanut butter cheesecake a.s.a.p. Here ya go, Tresta!!!

This recipe was given to me by my Aunt Nancy and it's been a family tradition for years. I only make it once a year, because it's so incredibly rich!!!

You'll need one pie crust of either graham crackers or chocolate cookie crumbs. I do my cheesecakes in a 10" springform pan, but you can choose the pie plate you want to use. If you use a standard 9 inch pie plate, you'll need two.

Aunt Nancy's Peanut Butter Pie

Cream together:
1 cup peanut butter
1 8 oz. pack cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar

add:
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla

Mix well.

Fold in 2 small (8 oz.) tubs of Coolwhip.

Mix well.

Pour into 2 small or one large pie pan. Chill and enjoy!!!

Told you it was eeeeasy!!!

Of course, it's a little different making this recipe here in Mexico. I haven't been able to find Cool Whip anywhere. That's surprising to me, since that stuff stays good in the freezer for years (practically). You'd think they'd be able to import it. Sigh.

Fortunately, I was able to improvise a bit. I ended up not making a cheesecake exactly, but it should be yummy!!!

Happy Birthday to meeeee!

Tackle it Tuesday -- More than I Bargained For

We started school on Monday and are getting back into the rhythm of life here in Las Glorias. One of our main projects for Monday was to be cleaning the school shelf thoroughly, but I threw my back out on Saturday night, so we had to put off the serious bending and lifting until Tuesday.

No, I have no idea what I did to my back. I think I sneezed wrong or something. Age is creeping up on me. At any rate, I was able to finish a novel I've been working on, so something good came of my enforced down time!

So, on to my Tuesday's tackle:

Ta-Dah!!!!

I'm happy with the way it turned out; but it took about twice as long as I'd hoped. I didn't take any "before" shots. Too embarassing! Of course, it's not ALL my fault. The shelves are, afterall, the kids' responsibility. I just let it slide too long.

What took so long? Well, first I had everyone pull all their stuff off of their shelves and pile it on the table. Then they went through their old notebooks and etc. and threw away the garbage. Then we reassembled the shelf. After they were all finished, I took everything off the bottom shelf and found this...

This why we don't like to be gone during storm season. Mold. My poor encyclopedias are toast. I guess that will be on my list to replace next furlough. The "Your Reading Power" looks great on the outside, but inside all the story folders were melded (or molded) together and completely ruined. Sigh.

So, everything came back off the shelf, the books were scrubbed, the shelves were carted outside to be scrubbed and left in the sun and the floor was scoured. I was glad I had bought some Febreeze while we were in Arizona last month! By Wednesday, we were mold-free and back in business.

Notice that the shelf is now up on bricks. We're hoping that the added ventilation will keep things drier. Someday, oh someday, my house will be weather proof. If it doesn't happen in this lifetime, I've already put in my request for my celestial mansion: no leaks, please!!! ;^)

Praying that your week is blessed!!!