Every time I see that commercial--and the one before it, when he calls to tell her that the storm's so heavy no one can travel, then he dashes off into the night--I say to Hubby, "Don't ever do that, OK?" And he says, "I know, you'd yell at me for risking myself in that bad of weather."

Huh. I 've never seen the first one, only the one. And FTR, I think it's dumb. But, you know, it probably hits its romantic target market.

I've managed to miss those. Just as well.

And I'm into emeralds, not diamonds, so they really wouldn't hit me where I live.

Hmmm. Feeling another one coming.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire

I'm holding on to you. You're what I've loved, from the moment I saw you, holding out a hand, telling me your name. The hand had a ring on it, third finger. I crawled away and wept.

Some say in ice

Then she cheated, and I slipped through the crack in your happiness. I rescued you, fed you, warmed you. Now I'm burning, your lips at my throat, my legs wrapped around you.

From what I've tasted of desire

Don't let me go. Please.

I hold with those who favor fire.

Iced Tea

We are a strange family. We have the most particular tastes. We only like things one way. We each order our favorite things from restaurants, rarely wavering. And when we do try something new, it’s usually a disaster that congeals in a Styrofoam take-home container for weeks. But the one thing I will remember for the rest of my life is my grandmother ordering iced tea.

“Take the glass. Fill it with ice. Pour in the tea just shy of the top. Add more ice.”

Everywhere we went. At every single restaurant for my entire life.

The woman is strange.

shakes hands with Aimee's grandmother, since that's precisely how I like my iced tea done

How else does one make iced tea?

I remember this as a quote, but I don't remember the source:

"Americans are crazy. They brew a perfectly normal pot of strong tea, then they pour it over ice to make it cold and weak, they add lemon to make it sour, sugar to make it sweet, and mint to make it green."

It's not so much that that's how she likes her tea- I do too for that matter, it needs to be frigid cold! - but Sally Albright isn't as anal retentive about her chef salad as my grandmother is about her iced tea. She's had pitchers of just ice delivered to her table so she can do it if they fail to do it right. It's high-larious.

My grandmother used to travel with her own sheets, in their own damned trunk.

I think maybe being a grandmother comes with some sort of software thing that non-grandmothers aren't told about.

This explains a lot about my mother's recent behavior.