Good Morning ...long time no post BUT I am reading when I have time. Christmas Exchange - I'm in! French Lick - I'm out. I will be in San Diego for my oldest DS's Police Academy graduation. Diet - I am doing very well on WW. I actually really love the program and it is working for me. I needed accountability and I was not good at all. I love food and as much as I loved some of the low carb diets...I cheated too easily because I missed some on the things that I loved to eat. On WW, I can have a potato, banana, popcorn...etc. I am not putting down low carb, it works for some but I don't remember the last time I lost 10 pounds so easily. I am doing their Core plan and I don't count points unless it is a treat like a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich, fat free chips or something like that. I have to pay each week to get weighed and I find the meetings pretty good. I am doing with the SO and he is losing too. He needed to lose weight and I really was not into making different meals for each of us so I said I would do WW with him. He is losing too and being as competitive as I am...I think it keeps me on task. Work - BUSY and I lost my assistant so I have twice as much work again to do. Working out - I work in an office full of IT geeks. I was talking to one of them the other day and he was telling me about this program for the XBox. ( Video Game Machine ) It is called Yourself Fitness. It is like having a personal trainer. It creates different work outs for you according to your fitness level. It keeps you interested because the workouts change all the time. They even ask you what kinds of other workout items you have and incorporate that into the workout. ( weights, fitness ball, step ) I am seriously considering this because I really want to get back into shape. My car accident in 03 has really messed up my back. I haven't worked out since then because it seems like any little thing give me sciatica. I put on 10 pounds on top of what I needed to lose and that only added to having low self esteem about myself. I have one of the momentus birthdays next year and I really really want to look good for it. Kids -They are all well and happy! I cannot ask for more. I really feel blessed each day because they are so good and well adjusted. Alright - I wrote more than I thought I would have time for! Hello to all and prayers for those who need them! Gretchen

Rosefolly - What a surprise to find someone here whose father invented the very thing we're talking about! Since I didn't touch the epoxy (wore new workmen's cotton gloves), that isn't what caused my skin to react. It was on my face only. The lumps were below the skin surface. But, it was combined w/ paint; so the mix is maybe what did it? After the anti-biotics, my skin was as smooth as glass. And the project? A great success. I'd painted the porcelain wall tiles, tub, sink, toilet in my new apartment. Not only did it look custom-made, but it shone as if all new. Even scrubbing w/ scouring powder didn't mar the finish -- that's why epoxy is needed in the paint. People asked me if I'd had the bathroom remodeled...a neighbor saw it, did his w/ epoxy paint, too. In spite of my little debaucle w/it , I recommended it to everyone. Sarah Canary - Maybe one reason "Smilla's Sense of Snow" appeals to us so much is because we're both January babies? ... As to the characters -- I'm not having any problems keeping them straight in my mind. Could be because they have such different first and last names...makes it easier. Yes, I agree, the atmosphere is a big part of this story -- really sets the mood.

Just finished the book a couple of days ago, and have been letting it "simmer" (as Hazel so accurately describes it). I found it to be a tough story to get into initially, but once I got sucked in, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me in many ways of Hemingway and how he writes for some reason. I agree that Port and Kit were both revolving in their own worlds for their own reasons - it's such a shame that Port missed her change to a woman based on feelings/senses rather than rational thought. I think he would have liked that side of her more than the side she presented up until he died. The descriptions of the desert, the color and vast size of the sky, the peoples who live there - all wonderfully done. I could feel the dust, the dryness, the sandy grains.... You could tell that Bowles had lived there and experienced some of this - they were wonderful descriptions of a hostile place in some ways. Interesting that his wife has been compared to Zelda Fitzgerald, as I also found the book to be similar to "The Great Gatsby" - disaffected aimless rich/well off young adults adrift in a world they know little about and just floating from one place/situation to another without planning anything much. I would not have read this in a million years if we hadn't mentioned it on RP, so thanks for doing it. I enjoyed it, although I am not sure I would read another one of his. Do you think that Kit, in the third part of the book when she changes so much -- is she reveling in the freedom she feels or is she retreating from having lost her bearings/lover etc? I mean, is her changing from being a very rational person to a person who uses her senses a positive change or a negative one? She seems as though she is sleepwalking in some situations - the sexual violence from the camel traders etc...

I was horrified by the behavior of the children in this novel. It took me back in time to a place where a "good" friend of mine and I competed for attention driven partly by a kind of jealousy we had for each other. It made me think of times when both of us were unkind to each other, but the young girls in this story really take it to extremes. I felt myself wanting to fight back for Elaine, all the while knowing I could not. So I guess this story really hit a familiar yet uncomfortable place in my heart which is why I had such a strong reaction to it. In spite of this, I have more Atwood stories in my TBR pile, as I do overall like her writing because she does a good job of pulling me in emotionally.