What Zenkitty said: it's lovely to hear your engagement stories.

Plus -the family diamond ring? That is a totally rocking story too.

When one can't have the ring you're going to wear, heirloom jewelry seems the perfect replacement. I think Miss Manners would find it charming.

Ahahaha, we called people within 3 minutes. *Maybe* 5.

Heh. Well, we were about to see our families for Christmas, so we figured we'd wait and give them the good news in person. Except that Mark was going to Oklahoma first, while I went to Massachusetts, and then we'd planned for him to fly up to MA on Christmas Day, but OKC got hit with a major blizzard, so instead he and I spent two days texting and calling each other with updates like "Well, this flight got canceled too, but there's a chance I can get there by midnight tomorrow," until finally we realized it wasn't gonna happen. So then I told my family by myself, and immediately burst into (happy!) tears. Holding that in all throughout the holiday was hard!

Aww, Kate, cutiestory!

I would totally block, sj. Oh, I have a friend who is one of those product selly people and I was getting ready to unfriend her when she finally started a business account. And now? She spends all her time on the personal account pimping the business account. MISSING THE POINT, FORMER ROOMMATE!

Okay, I am showered and now I have to go give the ring back to the jeweler. Sure, it's to get re-sized, but still.

I'm a ridiculous combination of Gollum and the "Mine! Mine! Mine!" seagulls from Finding Nemo.

They will give it back to you, Tep! It will be more awesome and you can wear it forever and ever!

They're taking the precious! t edit I wonder if the jeweler (it's an independent store; his name is Paolo) will smack me if I talk like Gollum the whole time.

How can you resist the temptation to say He's Taking The Preciousssss Noooo in Gollum-voice at least once?

I've skipped over bunches of posts to ask the hivemine - San Franciscans specifically - for some advice.

The mother of a friend has been injured and won't be able to drive for several months, if not forever. She has family in the area - not my friend, unfortunately - so she'll have someone who can drive her around, but they're not the most reliable people. I'm wondering if you know of any transportation modes that she could use for convenience and to maintain some independence. She's in the East Bay area - Danville specifically. She'd qualify for "senior citizen" benefits.

Any suggestions?

How can you resist the temptation to say He's Taking The Preciousssss Noooo in Gollum-voice at least once?

And you can save the Nemo Gulls and go Mine!Mine!Mine! as they hand it back to you.