Dear Mom,
Life lesson #496, as learned by Ron (or, another reason not to watch a boiling pot):
If you forget to put the screen back in the stove-top Italian espresso maker, when it gets up to pressure, it will be a Vesuvius of coffee and grinds, and will explode all over the kitchen. It will get on every surface, including the ceiling.
Love,
Ruth

p.s. No one was hurt, and now we have an extremely clean kitchen.

Dear Mom,
As people are forced to do out here in the boonies, we have done a bit of Christmas shopping online. When Ron did an amazon order, I was told not to look at any of the emails concerning it. Can do! And since a lot of items were coming from amazon sellers, we've been getting emails from them, and I expect strange boxes to start showing up. Yesterday one did. But Ron didn't recognize it, and I didn't recognize it, but it was addressed to me, so we ended up opening it like it was a bomb. I peeled back the packing tape and held my face away and closed my eyes, and Ron peeked in. "I have no idea what that is," he said. What? You don't? I am going to have to look and ruin a surprise? So I looked. And then we were both confused for a minute. I wasn't expecting slippers til Christmas!

Now I have sleeping bags for my tootsies. The funny thing is since they are so short for my little feet, they are proportioned like elephants' feet. Or, actually, they look like camel feet. (Not to be confused with camel toe, which is a totally different affliction.) And they feel like how I imagine camels' feet to feel. WARM.

Thanks for my present.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Look what I did:
http://www.contagious.etsy.com

Love,
Ruth