Literary Works 2

The next 30, in alphabetical order:

The Centaur -
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Crucible - Arthur Miller
Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Daisy Miller - Henry James
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
The Dead -
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
The Death of Ivan Ilyich -
Delta Wedding -
Desire Under the Elms -
The Deviners -
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant -
Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
The Dollmaker -
A Doll's House - Ibsen
Don Quixote - Cervantes
Emma - Jane Austen
An Enemy of the People -
Equus -
Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
The Eumenides -
The Fall -
A Farewell to Arms - Earnest Hemingway
Fathers and Sons - Turgenev
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Go Tell It On the Mountain - James Baldwin
The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

(to be continued...)

Literary Works 1

I thought I would post this in case any of you wanted to join me in my pathetic attempt to be extra scholarly. Haha. Seriously....the list below contains the most "famous" and most often studied literary works ever (according to data taken from college polls and literature examinations). My attempt is to be able to say that I have read each of these literary masterpieces sometime before I drop dead. (The ones I have read are in red...no pun intended). The first 30, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
All My Sons - Arthur Miller
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
America is in the Heart -
An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Another Country - James Baldwin
Antigone
Antony and Cleopatra - William Shakespeare
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
As You Like It - William Shakespeare
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
The Bear
Beloved
Benito Cereno -
Billy Budd - Herman Melville
The Birthday Party
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
Bless Me, Ultima
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Bluest Eyes
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Candide - Voltaire
The Caretaker
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Cat's Eye - Margaret Eleanor Atwood
Ceremony

Q:What's up? A: My Chin & Spirit

Thanks to all of my wonderful new-found blogger friends for the encouraging messages over the past few days. Things are looking up, and I'm feeling better in all aspects. I'm recovering from my case of "the blues" and a nasty cold as well. My Holiday Open House went pretty well this past weekend. (I will have to post a separate entry about that later). I guess Alan "read" my mood and decided he'd been a bit neglectful lately, because he more than made up for it. He volunteered to take a "holiday" the day before my open house so that he could stay home and help me take care of the girls and get everything set up, which was a blessing. I was stressing about how I was going to get everything done in time. Then, Friday night after my guests had left for the evening, he took me out to eat at my favourite Chinese restaurant in town. The girls went with us, but were obviously really hungry because they ate well and didn't give me any trouble. LOL Afterwards, he suggested that we stop and rent a couple of movies and put the girls to bed early. Another brilliant move. (Chalk up some brownie points). Unfortunatly it was late on a Friday night and everything that we wanted to see had been rented out already. We only ended up renting one movie....Shrek 2. I know, I know...but really...I needed a good laugh and I love that my husband is willing to suffer through something silly like that for me. We turned all the lights out and the room was dimly lit by my beautiful Avon Christmas display and the glow of the Christmas tree that the girls and I decorated the day before. The movie was okay (not nearly as good as the first one)...the snuggle time was much better -- even though Alan fell asleep about 15 minutes before the movie ended. Don't worry...I woke him up! ;)

My Virtual Model

I got bored and found a link to a website where you can enter your height, weight, measurments, body type, etc. and create your own virtual model. Then if you are really bored you can take your model and go shopping in several online clothing stores and "try clothes on" to see how you would look in them. I think the site was http://www.myvirtualmodel.com/del.com/ . Anyway, here I am. It's actually not a bad likeness except for the fact that my face is thinner and I have bangs.

I Just Don't Get It

Why is it that men seem to think that when they say "I Do" they no longer have to say "I love you" and "I want you?" I was a virgin on my wedding day and I often end up asking Alan if he wanted me until he got me and now he doesn't want me anymore. I know that's really not it, but I do get frustrated. He doesn't get that I need to be more than just a Mommy and a Maid. I need to feel valued...to feel that I am important enough for someone to spend 10 minutes out of their 24 hour day listening to what (if anything) I have to say. My husband gets home from work and I apparantly am the fartherst thing from his mind. I understand that he works 12 hour shifts and deals with idiots all day. I get that. Really. But when he gets home, I have been dealing with two toddlers all day. Feeding them, chasing them, cleaning them, playing with them, entertaining them, teaching them, protecting them, kissing boo-boos, wiping tears and wiping bottoms. Yet I still take time to stop what I'm doing...go sit in whatever room he has migrated to, and ask him how his day went....what he did...who he talked to...what about...what went well...what went wrong. Then I fix his supper, feed his children AGAIN...give them baths, brush what few teeth they have at this point...and tuck them (often times kicking and screaming) into the bed for the night. By this point I'm exhausted and ready to turn the "mommy" switch off. Usually as soon as the girls are in bed the "work" mode kicks in and I sit at my computer for an hour or so trying to get some work done while it's quiet. Alan is watching tv anyway and not paying me any attention. At some point while I am working, my husband migrates from the den to the bedroom where he continues to watch tv. Sometimes he tells me he's going to bed in which case I usually immediately turn off the computer and join him. Most of the time though he doesn't say anything, and I think he's still in the den until I cut the computer off only to discover that not only is he in bed, he's asleep without even telling me goodnight. I have to take his glasses off his face (he wears contacts all day and takes them out when he gets home) and cut the tv off. Sometimes he wakes up and talks to me for a few minutes, but gets mad at me if there is something I want to discuss. He wants to go to sleep, he doesn't want to talk to me. But I haven't seen him all day and he hasn't bothered to make time for me. He does play with the girls when he gets home and pays them quite a bit of attention which I am grateful for. But I'd like to be worthy of a few minutes of his time as well. I don't think that's too much to ask. On the rare occasions that we do mangage to go to bed at the same time...if there is any affectionate activity partaken in, 99.9 percent of the time, I am the one who initiates it. About 70% of those times I'm rejected. And it's not just my husband. Sometimes I feel like life is going on without me and leaving me behind. No one seems to have time for me anymore. Not my husband, my mother, my sister...or my friends. If I call...I get put on hold, or they say they'll call back and don't. I swear I'm not a nasty, annoying person. I just don't get it! I am thankful for all that I have and count my numerous blessings daily. My "treasures" are stored in Heaven and not here on earth. My desires are emotional and not material. Does that make sense?

Blue Christmas?

*Sigh* Really, I just did. Sigh, that is. I don't know what it is...a change in the weather, the season, a lack of caffeine, or hormones (as most men would probably say), but I've been feeling a bit blue lately. Slightly depressed. I have to drag myself out of bed in the mornings and force myself not to run around in my pajamas all day. I'm feeling...lonely, useless, tired all the time...undesirable. :( I don't know why. Things have actually been better, so I don't know why I feel this way. I have a big Open House planned for this weekend which I have to decorate and cook for. Things I enjoy. My house is cleaner than it has been since we moved into the stupid thing (big mistake but that's another story). My kids woke up in a good mood this morning...that's a plus. And yet, still...all is not quite right with my world. I need a change of scenery. Alan gets off work at 6 tonight and will be home Monday and Tuesday before returning to work on Wednesday. I wish we could find a babysitter and just disappear together for the weekend. Something we've never done and doesn't look like we'll be able to do for a while. In the short time (only 4 years) that we have been married...we have only been "out" together one time since our first daughter was born three years ago and that was only for a couple of hours. We've never left the girls with anyone overnight or gone anywhere without them (not counting the two nights I spent in the hospital when daughter #2 was born). I kinda skipped over the whole independent, free college years. I went straight from the dorm room, to the alter, and then found myself pregnant four months after that. I just want....I don't know...I know I'm needed...but I'd like to feel wanted and desirable as well. I find myself wishing I could go out on dates again and experience a bit of the single life. Not that I want another guy in the picture...just some alone time with the one I've got would be nice.

Operation Open House

As some of you know, I have planned to host a "Holiday Open House" this year to promote my Avon business and hopefully generate some Christmas sales. (Santa needs all the help he can get this year!) I got the idea to try this venture from a dear friend and fellow Avon lady, Yiota. (Thanks girl!) I woke up this morning and suddenly realized that I have exactly two weeks to finish planning and setting up for this event which is set to take place November 19th and 20th. TWO WEEKS! OMG! How am I ever going to get it all done? My husband has exactly three days off between now and then, so he won't be able to help much. This means that I am left to do it all by myself while attempting to maintain some semblance of a sane household and exert a reasonable amount of control over the daily actions of 3 and 1. My mom is down in her back and unable to help, my sister lives out of town and is busy attempting to graduate college, and my best friend just had a baby! Yikes! I'm on my own for this one! What was I thinking?!?! First of all, I have to find time to get to the library so that I can finish printing my invitations. I have sent out 25 already and have about that many more to post by Monday. Then, considering that people are going to be walking around my house, it has to actually be clean. Not just the quick, throw the toys in the basket, straighten the couch cushions and sweep the floor kind of clean that I usually manage. THEN, being that it is a HOLIDAY open house, I have to decorate. I have made a new wreath for my front door and purchased the ever-popular icicle lights to hang from the roof. I have a lovely Avon light-up snowman to go in the front window, and the new Avon musical nativity to go in the center of the entertainment center atop the tv. I've got to pull out my poinsettia garland to drape the mantle and find my Christmas candles. (I think I used them when the hurricane came through and we lost power...but where did I stash them afterwards??? hmmm.) I've got to dig my artificial tree out of the garage and assemble and decorate it. I still need to purchase a tree skirt as I'm sick of that artificial snow crap that leaves sparklies all over creation. (The baby would probably eat them and the last thing I need is to change an irridescent diaper...fruit loops are bad enough). I am supposed to pick up the rest of my "decorations" from my DSM at our next sales meeting on the 15th. Miss V is allowing me to borrow her entire Avon Christmas display which consists of all the popular products from this year's Christmas brochures. Hopefully, I will be able to derive some orders by displaying them prominently throughout my house. Ok, what next. Oh..the food. Something simple...easy to eat with ones fingers...slightly festive. I've decided on a cream cheese and salsa dip with tostido scoops, a dish of mixed nuts, Hello Dollies (a delectable bar cookie consisting of coconut, chocolate chips, and caramalized sweetened milk on a graham cracker crust... YUM!), and then a plate of apricot scones. I'm also serving my Cranapple Orange Holiday Punch. (Email me if you'd like any of the recipes). Why I have to play Betty Crocker and serve homemade refreshments I will never understand other than the simple fact that I'm far too anal to open a bag of store-bought cookies and dump them on a serving tray. Oh well. Now on to the guest. Each guest will be given a brochure and an order form (oh crap! I knew I was forgetting something...I still have to type up and print out the order forms! argh!) and a pen upon arrival. The brochures will be numbered for door-prize drawings which will be held at 15-20 minute intervals throughout the "party." Each guest will also have the opportunity to reach into a stocking filled with lip balms, mini bubble baths, holiday shaped soaps, mini shower gels, mini body lotions, mini shampoos, mini deodorants, etc. and pull out a "welcome gift." No one will go home empty-handed. Hopefully, my guests will be able to either sit and browe through their respective brochures or tour the room and write down any products they are interested in on their order forms. All available display pieces will be marked with an index card containing the item number and current sale price. I also plan to hang some posters hi-lighting other great "gift ideas." I hope to be able to have four distinct areas in which to display and demo various items. I want to have a Mark. table, a regular Avon table, a Men's table, and a Wellness table. I will also have a recruiting area for anyone who might be interesting in selling or learning more about selling. On each table there will be various products for people to try, samples to pick up, extra brochures and flyers, and ready made gift baskets to purchase. Hopefully I will be able to get everything together in time. My main worry now is that no one will show up! If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment or email! :)

Rubber Eyeballs

Halloween came and went this year without any serious tragedy for our family...which I might add is a HUGE relieve compared to the year I had to walk around the neighborhood in tears of worry and anxiety, excorting my costumed baby and various other kiddies on the trick-or-treat journey, while my husband was hugging the hubcap of his patrol car and being shot at! Yes, this year was definatly mild in comparison. Thank God! Once again Alan was at work, so I met up with the wife and children of his sargeant and the step-daughter of another officer, and we all went trick-or-treating together. The only "rough" spot was when 3 became upset over some Spongebob candy she was given at one stop because as she put so plainly "we don't like Spongebob!!!" Which translates to "Mommy and Daddy won't let me watch Spongebob cartoons on TV." Thank God for Skittles which she, to my embarrassment, received in place of the offending candy. We continued making our rounds and finished up around 7:00 mostly due to the fact that 1 was getting cranky, apparantly not understanding the point of receiving all these goodies in a pumpkin without actually eating any of them yet. By the time we had completed the smaller circle in our neighborhood, 1 had put up with as much as she was going to take and it was time to call it a night. The sargeant's wife and I parted ways, and the step-daugher rode with me and my girls back to her parents' house where Alan was supposed to meet me after work. Well, while we waited 3 helped her teenaged friends pass out candy and scare the crap out of other little kids with this big ugly mask. When she put it on, literally all you could see remaining of 3 was her ankles and light-up Care Bear tennis shoes! I mananged to catch some of it on video for future humiliation purposes. I have to admit it was pretty funny! That is until the teenagers discovered that they could REALLY freak kids out by pulling candy out of the troll-like mask's HUGE nose rather than the candy basket. This resulted in numerous "oh gross" "uggghhhhhhh" and "Oh my God's" followed by several little kids fleeing in tears which of course was then accompanied by teenaged laughter and 3 with hands plantly firmly on what would have been her hips demanding in no uncertain terms to know "what's so funny you guys?!?!" What I failed to notice, in my efforts to keep up with both 3 and 1, is that 3 was sneaking candy out of the basket and eating it in between trips to answer the door. I know, I know, it should have been obvious...but...somehow I missed it. Only when we walked through our front door later that night and I heard three groan "Mommy...my tummy don't feel so good" did I start to question her willpower and ability to handle so much candy without consuming it. We had just made it down the hall to the bathroom when 3 was violently sick. "Are you ok?!?!" I asked. "Yea." She said. "I just ate too many eyeballs." I assumed she meant the little chocolate balls wrapped in decorative "eyeball" foil. In her case they seemed to be made of rubber!