It was fun reading all these titles, so many of which are favorites of mine. And one un-favorite: I hated Memoirs of a Geisha so much, I wanted to write to the publisher and demand my time back. I can forgive a lot of things, but not bad writing! It prompted me to send out an email to my friends and relatives asking them what book they hated to the point of outrage. (Clear winner: The Celestine Prophesy -- boy, do people hate that book!) I adore Bryson. I am just finishing A Brief History of Nearly Everything, and I love love love it. I won't repeat the ones others have mentioned. Here are a few you may not have heard of that are absolutely wonderful: A Lesson Before Dying New York Trilogy (read them as one book) The Metaphysical Club (don't let the name fool you) Defining the Wind (beautiful writing and hilarious) The first two are novels, the other two are sort of history of ideas. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Don't give up on War and Peace! It's just long, not hard, and it's terrific. He LOVES people -- if you like Ann Tyler, you'll like Tolstoy. The only tricky part is the names. One edition of W&P even comes with a bookmark that keeps them straight, or you can keep your own chart. But new translations of Tolstoy simplify the names as a matter of translation, which made Anna Karenina very easy to read. Reread Charlotte's Web now that you are an adult and can appreciate what an incredible piece of writing and philosophy it is. Some book!

Thank you, everybody for the good wishes and big welcome back to this side. I really hope I can spend more time here. Now, now, Sharon, the Patriots are only the best football team in history. Stacie, I'm happy to hear Aiden is doing so well. He sounds like a fighter. Shaun, have a drink at the tiki bar for me, please! Alexa, good luck with your busy upcoming week. Nancy, a big happy birthday to Kim. I hope dinner was the best - well, I KNOW it was the best since you made it, but I hope your celebration was just as good. Pat T, congratulations on your grades! You should be proud. I'm not even going to respond to your Patriots comments...LOL Cathy, I cheered for the dolphins to get their ONE win this year ;) And yes, Brady is a cutie. Michael/Lyra, a sincere thank you for giving me the biggest laugh that I've had in a long time. Your posts always make me smile. This one made my day. Duane, don't work too hard. At least enjoy the time before things get too busy. Pam, I hope you feel better. Don't eat too many cookies! Jcrowley, thank goodness no bifocals for you...I'd be walking into walls with them. Annie, you work so hard, I don't know how you do it! I hope all goes well with your dad. Best wishes to him. Ellen, I hope the party was fun Susie, jeez, feel better, soon. Good to hear Wendy is better, now let's get you there. Maggie, dentist - Yuk!!! You have a right to vent. SharonCB, recycling can be a PITA, and they're real sticklers around here, but at least you're helping out the environment. Gina, glad to hear you're keeping up with the lessons. I think I remember you saying you had hit a plateau awhile back. I bet you're back to kicking butt again. Teresa, enjoy your movies. Wow, that's alot Katie, sounds like the snow will be around awhile. Try to stay warm and dry San, my son is in NH and he said the snow is insane. I heard more Sunday night/into Monday. Boo-Hiss! Thanks again, all, for the hugs!

that's awesome: I swear: I heard that word weekly: Oh: expo Oh: expo: expo this and expo that. Oh, expo has this and why don't you all? Because we aren't them! It could be that it's so "trendy" I never went : so I have no experience. I know several of our granite customers got their sinks there and splash material. Yes their prices are high. But over all: it's a nice way to look at things presented nicely. It's great all the people who research pricing and use the internet and find the discount sites and stores. How is it. The business for remodeling is slow right now here in north texas: slowed down right after october bank failure! We were 5 weeks out on jobs. Last year we were 6-7 weeks out on jobs. Right now. one week out. Vendors here have gone out of business. More than one. Vendors have slowed their shipments down: like 4x4 tumbled splash material. We had to go buy from Lowes because three of our vendors was out last week! And Slabs: I was told by one vendor they are moving that many slabs in that aren't popular: Slab shipments into Dallas has slowed down. That never happened before. Frieght on slabs use to be free: now it's $75: I have a guy who brings slabs 10 miles for $55. Customers are tight with money now here. 4 of our customers who were going to sign for graite in kitchen : Dec: lost their jobs. These were upper class homes. I have just not experienced this in the 19 months that I have been in the granite, tile, slate, travertine business. Good luck all! Keep finding the great deals! (my experience with lowes: or home depot when I go there: I know more than they do "sometimes" about tile or grout questions that I might have. or the durrock sheets. Like: I had to help a lowes customer one day in the tile isle because the clerk didn't have a clue re: a grout and durrock question. It's all good! I am not talking mean: just don't expect too many of your questions to be answered all the time there: hit or miss! LOL

I agree with Cat about the marriage situation. I think the adult children problem will work it self out. It maybe that they will never be close to you, does that bother you? If you love the man try to work out a solution. I really think in most cases the 'kiddies' are jealous. Just be sure to discuss it with him in a calm manner and let him know how you feel. Try to keep emotions in check and a trip to a professional does help. It does seem that many adult children are not very 'adult' at all. I met DH when I was 47 and we started a romantic relationship when I was 48. He had transferred from the state where his adult children lived and each year he would pay for 4 to 5 of them to come for a week or two vacation. This cost about $5000! For some strange reason it was always the same oldest daughter that came with her children. I stayed out of it and they were polite. Then he retired and I still worked, they expected the same trips, plus send one of hers to France on a school trip, another two of hers wanted to come each year at Christmas, all at our expense. He had been buying Christmas gifts for each grandchild (12) from a list they provided, plus giving all three of his daughters $300 for gifts and $100 each to shop for themselves. Can you spell guilt lol!!!!! And his 3 girls took advantage of it. I was paying the house payments and other bills and the oldest had the nerve to ask him who was getting the house when he died. I told him we could not afford all of this after he retired and he agreed. That's when they started to get nasty with me, they do not even say hello when I answer the phone and my name is never included on the cards. Of course, it was all my fault. I explained to them we didn't have the same amount of money as before. I guess to punish him they stopped calling, send no cards Christmas, Father's Day, or his birthday. This hurt him deeply and he talked to a counselor. After we had been together for 6 years and a Christmas without hearing from them I called one of his sisters and explained what was going on. I asked her if she thought I was out of line if I called them, she said no, that she thought they were selfish. I wanted until DH went to bed (3 hour time difference, we were later) and I e-mailed one and told her how disappointed I was that as big of a family as he has not one of them could call him on Christmas or the other holidays. I said I would send her the pre stamped cards if that was the problem. I had the phone number for the oldest and I called her. I politely and calmly told her the same thing. She started screaming at me so loud I had to hold the phone away from my ear. She said everything was fine until I came along, he was retiring in their state until he met me. They all 3 did send cards the next holiday so it was worth it. They will not come to visit unless we pay for it. It is not that they can't afford it. We moved to a small area and they say there is nothing to do here. Doesn't visit your father count???? When we send gifts we never get a thank you and DH will call to see if they received the gift. The last time I embroidered 4 burp cloths and we mailed the gift. We had been invited to the shower in another state, but no one sent a thank you or even bothered to send a birth announcement. I told him this hurt my feelings and I would no longer make personal gifts for them. If he sends a gift it's up to him. We have discussed the situation and we met with an attorney and had all papers drawn up and the house is in both our names. It finally came to an understanding for him when his oldest called us last year and was telling him she had to put the kids school clothes on credit cards. I did fell a little sorry for her. 3 months later he receives a post card from Italy, she was on a 2 week vacation with her boy friend. His chin fell to the floor, but now he understands his daughter perfectly!!!!! His brothers and sisters treat me very well, but I did let him visit last year alone when his brother was in hospice so he could visit his children without the tension of ME lol!!!!