Ice, Ice... and more Ice.

Along with about 80% of the United States, Dallas has been knocked to its knees this week by winter weather. I was extremely skeptical on Monday as they were predicting all of this, but come Tuesday morning, I was definitely proven wrong. Ice everywhere, schools closed, gusting winds, news stations breaking into regularly scheduled programming... all that fun stuff.

And Leo and I were stuck inside for about 40 hours straight. So today-- we busted outta here! We were out of flour, and therefore it was an emergency. Because we can't make super awesome, homebaked cookies without it! Luckily, they just opened up a Tom Thumb grocery store about a mile away. So we put on about 4 layers of clothing each, and started walking.

And it was COLD! It hit us very quickly that we never got those gloves for Leo like we'd planned. (Oops) And while he was confident at first, and completely ignoring my warnings about how slippery the ice was, he smartened up very quickly after a few close calls. It doesn't matter which shoes you're wearing when you're on a sheet of ice. Traction is out the window. There were a few grumblings of: "America is crazy! Let's go back to Africa" and I couldn't help but giggle... and agree. 

There's a sidewalk under there somewhere.

And while there were several almosts, we managed to get there without even one fall! We loaded up on just the necessities- bread, flour, eggs, wine, etc- and headed back.

Technically, we could've probably driven and been fine. But we didn't even want to chance it. Mostly because in order to get out of the apartment complex, we'd have to conquer this:

There in the middle is about 3 inches of solid ice. We've watched cars slip and slide on it all week. And I'm NOT excited to drive over it to get to work tomorrow morning... But we'll worry about that later.

Our mission was an ultimate success...

Our apartment smelled like cookies the rest of the day, and I discovered this awesome new recipe.



Oatmeal chocolate chip-- But made with whole wheat flour, apple sauce instead of oil, egg whites, extra fiber... and tasty! And that my friends, is how you turn a frown upside down.

It really was reminiscent of Peace Corps life. No driving, walking to the grocery store, hauling it all back home (and having to think about what you could carry), baking the day away, Leo watching soccer in the background... I loved every second of it.