Turtle soup

Merry Christmas Eve! The tree is sort of up (Mike's mom has dictated that everyone must reach a quota of 10 ornaments today) and we have more cookies and chocolates than we could ever want. Last night we made the Jones family Christmas cookies, which involves lots of food coloring and a great deal of imagination. Mike's dad made a Christmas tree with a handlebar moustache while Mike attempted a Sydney Opera House. It just looks like a big blob of colors to me.
Mike and I just finished rehearsing for tonight's Christmas Eve service and he is now attempting to make turtle soup. With real turtle. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The consistency is supposed to be similar to that of beef tongue, which doesn't comfort me any. I'll stick to eating cookies.
~Ruth Ann

Fargo

Well, we made it to Fargo! It was -2 degrees last night, but thanks to fuzzy PJs I never knew it. I'm amazed at how big the sky really is here...Mike wasn't kidding!
We managed to bring most of our stuff from Bloomington, too. It looked a bit tense for a few minutes, but we crammed the van and car full. The van was so packed that the back tires splayed out and it looked like a little bug struggling down the highway.
We spent the weekend in Nebraska, where I met more of the Friesen and Jones extended families. We got in to Fargo around 9 pm Monday night and have mostly been lazy ever since. Much cooking is taking place--I'm introducing the Joneses to bourbon balls and have batch freezing in the garage right now. (My family would say they're weak on the bourbon but I have to start them off easy.)
~Ruth Ann

13 days............

Well, the buyer for my car fell through. I was highly skeptical throughout the whole negotiation period anyway (like the fact that they told me they had "HALF the money"). After having talked to the BMV, I told these potential buyers that I'd give them the VIN, they could arrange for insurance, and then we'd meet up at the BMV to transfer the title and cancel my registration. Mr. Southern Indiana called me back to discuss all this...He said he understood that I wanted "to be legal and all" but that they wanted to avoid the taxes and thus were hoping I could put less on the bill of sale so they could pay less money. Further discussion led me to understand that they were going to use their old registration on my car and I just needed to put my "plates and registration in a drawer where no one can find them." This just made me really nervous (my tummy hurt!) so I told them to buy the car my way or that they'd have to find another. They chose to find another.
Surprisingly, though, I'm much happier!!!!!!! Even if I get less money, my life will be simplified :)
~Ruth Ann


I can't wait to leave. My finals look like they're going to be easier than I thought. All I have left is two days of classes and one lesson!!!!!!!!
Lunch awaits.....

Michael

15 days and counting!

Hello, all!
This is my first attempt to post on blogger, so we'll hope everything goes according to plan!
Mike and I have only 15 (well, 14 and half) days left in Bloomington. We're making feeble attempts to sell furniture, only to discover that most of the population around here is completely unreliable. Oh well...Goodwill will be getting a nice donation from us at some point! And I have finally found someone to buy my car, so that's a big worry off my mind!
We leave Bloomington on the 15th, then drive to Fargo by way of Nebraska; spend a few weeks there before flying to Portland; then fly out of San Francisco at the end of January. Exact date TBA, but it does look like Mike will get a Fulbright reception at the airport. Hurrah! Someone to carry our bags!!!!
More details as we know them........
~Ruth Ann