2nd late night

And for once, neither one was attributed to Nico. He must be slipping. LOL No, I actually wish it had been that (how sad is that) as that's almost easier to deal with. Last night we had friends over for dinner and a talk. Normally that's more of a cause for rejoicing but in this case, we were trying to play counselor and help them talk to each other and get their relationship started back on the right track. Still not sure if we did much good but hopefully we've gotten enough started and they will get in with a real counselor who will hopefully help them.

Tonight it was Chris. Love that boy dearly but oh, man, teenage hormones are not fun. So the backstory is that I spent Friday and Saturday helping to direct them in cleaning their room a bit. Sunday I spent basically the entire day in there with them helping them get the floor cleaned up and some of the toy storage decluttered. Monday I was in there and helped them get both bookshelves decluttered. Yesterday I told Christopher to get everything out from under the bed. He got most of it out and then all work stopped. They got home from camp and Matthew got through his shell collection and then all work stopped. This morning I was back on their case about getting everything picked up. Remember, this is JUST the stuff that was under the bed and most of that was in storage boxes! They spend 1½hrs playing dress-up and when I went in to vacuum under the bed, things were still a total wreck and you couldn't walk in the room again. I vacuumed and put all the storage boxes back and told them to finish putting the toys away and get the trash picked up. It was barely touched before they broke for lunch and spent much of that time with their noses in books. (For the record, I was working on bill paying, dishes, laundry, and other household stuff when I wasn't in there with them, not on the couch eating bonbons LOL)

They get home from camp and I tell them to get in and pick up the crap on the floor and table. Now it's dinner and they want a game. We had already told Nico on Monday that we would play Apples to Apples on Tuesday and since that didn't happen and he was asking again we figured we would do it. After dinner, the new schedule is whoever is bathing picks up the bedroom while the other 2 pick up the dining room & living room and then they bathe while the vacuuming is being done. But it's been over 20min and while there is a lot of yelling and playing noises coming out, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of picking up going on. So I set the timer for 10min and tell them after that, they go in the bath and I'm picking up and throwing out whatever is left.

Now I've never taken this approach. I've always tried hard not to because I know how much I hated it when it was done to me. But the one thing I remember is that I never had the timer set, it was just sort of, my parents snapped and that was it. I'm sure they'll remember it differently and I'm equally sure the truth is somewhere between their recollections and my own as it so often is. I'm not going to debate all that. I can only hope that my children have seen me in a fairer light as I've been in there with them every couple of months doing this exact same thing trying to help them learn how to keep things clean in there.

Of course, I'm sure it's easy enough to see where this is going. The timer went off and it wasn't done. I sent them to their assigned tasks and went to picking up. Of course, they were constantly coming in to see what was being tossed and beg for those items they didn't wish to lose. Of course, I end up finding a memory card for the Gamecube which belonged to Chris on the floor right as he came in. He watched me throw it in the trash but didn't see me take it out to hide it for later redemption.

Then we had the meltdown. He was all pissed off at me for throwing it away, himself for not picking up the previous 36hrs, his brothers for not picking up more. The whole usual list. He went to vacuum and didn't do a good job but when called on it (as usual), he threw the cat off the couch. I admit, I probably didn't handle it wonderfully well at that point as I told him not to dare throw the animals and that if he was pissed that was fine but not to take it out on innocents. Sounds reasonable put like that but I was yelling as I'd already had enough of his screaming at me by that point.

Mark finally got him calmed down and we talked long about better ways to handle it and I was able to finally show him that I had saved his memory card and that I had had every intention of working with him on a way for him to earn it back. Part of me is glad that he seems to have gotten the point that I can do it but it hurt that not only did he think I have no compassion and no regard for what he loves most in the world but that at one point when talking about what would have happened had he actually hurt the cat when throwing her, he said I would beat him up. Now I have never EVER hit my children in anger. NOT EVER! I know this is currently how he is handling his anger and emotions, by lashing out at those smaller than himself (poor Jonathan is the favorite target of both Christopher and Nico right now) but that's not something that has ever been done to him. Needless to say that we had a long talk about that as well.

We finally ended things without the bag of stuff they are losing being dumped out so they can see it. We are going to do that tomorrow. But I sent Christopher to bed and told him I want him to think it over and come up with a rational way to approach me in the morning on how we can deal with the memory card since my idea could no longer proceed as I had planned. I'm hoping this type of lesson where we talk after his meltdown and then give him time to come up with the correct response will help that type of response sink more firmly into his repertoire. I do think we need to spend some more time modeling and practicing it when he's not in that mood as the outburts that I thought were getting better are starting up again. I can only guess hormones are to blame at this point especially since it's over the stupidest stuff (like just going up and taking the lightsaber Jonathan was playing with for no reason).

Boy the teenage years are going to be some fun.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
It one assumes a humble attitude, one's own good qualities will increase. Whereas if one is proud, one will become jealous of others, one will look down on others, and due to that there will be unhappiness in society.

It's all about Nico

Ok, I know that 90%+ of my posts are about his Nickness's antics but I thought I'd take a chance to post some of the better things currently going on with him these days (or what happens between all the chaos generating and temper tantrums).

• We've been seeing a language explosion recently. It's now maybe up to where an 18mos old should be but that's a huge improvement for him. We have a smattering of new signs and new words tho it's funny as if he has a sign, he won't even attempt the word and vice versa and if he has a sound but not the correct word, he won't attempt the actual word. So right now we have a bunch of animal noises going along with a weird engine type noise for car but he won't even attempt to say cat, dog, bird, pig, bunny, sheep, chicken, snake, or duck (all things he has noises for) or fish or crab (which he has signs for). Very strange. But in words/noises we have added hop, boom, baa, *snort*, quack, *bwack*, hiss, why, new car noise (can't even figure out how to put that down phonetically so anyone could understand it), up, down, stop, go, and out (all in addition to the words he had before). He has also added signs for thank you, crab, and fish. So it really is coming for him which is wonderful to see.
• His new favorite game is red light, green light. This started when he wanted to erase the white board while Jonathan was using it for his sight words during phonics. Jonathan started using red light, green light to let Nico know when it was okay to erase. He understands it really well now and listens for his cue. When Jonathan says "green light", Nico says "go" and starts erasing. When Jonathan says "red light", Nico says "top" (stop) and takes the eraser away. This is now also translating to walking anywhere with him as he will just say "top" and stop where he is and everyone else needs to stop as well. Problem is, he takes forever to say "go" afterwards. LOL
• We got new Cars underwear in last week and today is his first day wearing them. No, we aren't actually potty trained yet but he had a good day running nekkie after getting home from dropping big brothers off at camp with his only accident being a little pee at dinner. He managed to stop himself tho and make sure we knew and got him to the potty where he pooped two times (I'm sure he's going to love knowing that I put tons of info about his pee/pooping at the dinner table on the web as he gets older) so I allowed him to wear his underwear in honor of having such a good day. We also find a new bribe for getting him to sit on the potty (always the biggest challenge with him) which is the new Cars books I found at Costco (are you sensing a theme here? LOL). He will happily sit on the potty for 2-3 books which is long enough for him to go if he needs to. Not sure how long these will keep his interest so I think I'm going to have to be on the lookout for some new ones to pull out of my hat to keep him sitting still. But hey, a few books and some special underwear is a heck of a lot cheaper than diapers. And a whole lot less disgusting. LOL
• He is now sitting still trying to do "schoolwork" like Jonathan. I keep extra papers that Jonathan doesn't use on hand and bring those out when Nico wants to do his "schoolwork". It's very cute how he tries hard to do what he thinks he should be doing on them. Today he was using some of Jonathan's 3 digit addition column paper and he was trying hard to only "write" in the boxes on the paper and was very proud of the job he did.

It's things like these that help make up for all the temper tantrums, days where I can't put him down or do anything because he's attached to my leg, the messes, and everything else. Getting to really watch him "get it" and figure things out really is amazing.

Thank goodness for that!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
One aspect of compassion is to respect others' rights and to respect others' views. That is the basis of reconciliation. The human spirit of reconciliation based on compassion is working deep down, whether the person really knows it or not. Our basic human nature is gentleness; therefore, no matter how much we go through violence and other bad things, ultimately the proper solution is to return to human feeling and affection. So affection or compassion is not only a religious matter, but in our day-to-day life it is quite indispensable.

7/21 ToDo List

It's amazing. This week's ToDo list looks remarkably like last weeks with just the bits removed that I actually managed to get done (which wasn't much *sigh*).

• School with Jon (Ok, I actually got this done last week but we aren't quite done with ESY yet so it's still a necessity)
• Speech and OT with Jon (no therapy for 3wks so I need to be totally on top of this)
• Call to schedule leveling (stupid thing to have not gotten done)
• Balance Checkbook, Pay Bills (yes, I know how long this has been on here, and no, I'm not happy about it)
• Menu, shopping list, WW (had this done in my head at least last week and started getting stuff tracked on WW again, hopefully this week I'll get even more on top of it)
• Contact Larissa re: Discovery Toys Party
• Get Discovery Toys blurb up on CMC Business site and in Classifieds
• Continue work on decluttering boys' room
• Work on decluttering Master Bedroom and Bathroom
• List things for sale on CMC and Craigslist to try and get them out of here
• Make cake for Matthew's party this weekend
• Get refs for last game of the summer season
• Try not to lose my mind (yeah, I know, but still)

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
According to Buddhist philosophy, happiness is the result of an enlightened mind, whereas suffering is caused by a distorted mind. This is very important. A distorted mind, in contrast to an enlightened mind, is one that is not in tune with reality.

Master Bedroom & Bathroom ToDo Lists

Unfortunately my bedroom seems to be the dumping ground for everything everyone doesn't know what to do with and my desk is home for every paper known to man. So yet again, I get to roll up my sleeves and delve into it all and try to find homes for everything (hopefully much of it in the recycling or donation piles).

Master Bedroom

• Top of Mark's nightstand
• Lamp corner
• Top of dresser
• Dresser nooks and crannies
• Very top of dresser
• Dresser drawers
• Top of video rack
• Video rack shelves
• Drawer of video rack
• Jewelry making supplies
• Replace video rack with bookshelf
• Desk nooks
• Top of desk
• Working surface of desk
• Desk Drawers
• File sorters
• Top of file cabinet
• 2nd drawer of file cabinet
• TV Stand
  
• Under crib
• Top of momentos boxes (and if possible, find a new place for them)
• Top of Jonathan's Dresser
• Top of Nico's Dresser
• Top drawer of Jonathan's dresser
• Jonathan's clothing drawers
• Nico's dresser drawers
• Top shelf of closet
• Middle shelf in closet
• Floor of closet
• Clothes in closet
• Foot locker
• Wolf Corner
• Top of Bookshelf

Master Bathroom

• Declutter medicine shelves
• Organize overstock
• Organize Pet nets
• Declutter jewelry chest
• Remove reading material

As you can see, I've been making progress on the bedroom and it's not like I've never found these areas before, they just seem to attract clutter which then breeds out of control when I get too busy with everything else. *sigh*

Feeling discombubalated

Is that a word? I don't know but it's the only word I can think of for how I'm feeling right now. We've got so much stuff up in the air right now and so much going on all at the same time and between burn-out and now my mind racing all the time, I'm not sleeping well either. I just feel like everything is in a haze and I'm waiting for the air to clear to figure my way out. I can't even put it plainly as we are still in a waiting game to see how things are going to fall. Ugh!

Maybe this is how Nico feels with the apraxia hampering his ability to talk to us.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
It is ironic that the more serious problems emanate from the more industrially advanced societies. Science and technology have worked wonders in many fields but the basic human problem remains.

52:60 Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments by Myles & Southwick

A lot of good information in this book tho it didn't directly address some of the issues I'm having to deal with. Thankfully Christopher's tantrums are diminishing but he's turning it more inwards instead so it's quieter but harder to detect before it's deep into the cycle. This book didn't deal much with that aspect of things which was unfortunate. What it did have that I found particularly useful was a good overview of AS and what that entails for those living with it, both having it and living with someone who has it. It also had a very good chapter on self-awareness, self-calming, and self-management with overviews of lots of different techniques and the books that they came from for further research as well as a whole list of books to help teach the hidden rules of social skills in ways that the AS person can relate to.

Found the most amazing thing....

The floor of the boys' room!!! Good grief! It only took them working on it for 5 days before there were enough patches of blue for me to be able to stand being in there to help them. *sigh* So instead of having the room done this week so we'd be all set for Matthew's birthday party next weekend, we have managed to find the floor, go through the toy chest, go through the small toy storage, clear off their building table, and cram all the legos neatly onto their shelving unit (not sorted mind you, just thrown into whatever bin had space). This coming week I really wanted to work on some of my projects but mornings are going to be spent on decluttering one area at a time in their room and I'll get whatever time is left over from that and schooling with Jon. *sigh*

Oh, and so far we've removed one huge box of stuff for donation, one full garbage bag of trash, a paper bag half full of recycling, and emptied the vacuum once. And I haven't even done the full vacuum of their floor yet!

Ugh!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Good human qualities--honesty, sincerity, a good heart--cannot be bought with money, nor can they be produced by machines, but only by the mind itself. We can call this the inner light, or God's blessing, or human quality. This is the essence of mankind.

Just plodding along

It's been one of those weeks were the days just sort of all blend together in a weird combination of children's activities and various household chores. I've been working on several of my projects tho none are anywhere near to completion but at least things are moving in the right direction. I have tons of stuff left to do in every sense but somehow I blink and another day has passed without much seeming to get done. The whole taking an hour in the middle of the day to drive kids to camp is definitely taking its toll and adding in late afternoon activities and morning therapy 2xs/wk doesn't help any. I'm very thankful that we don't have therapy for 3wks. Not because I don't think my kids benefit from it. I know they do. But simply because I'm starting to hit major burnout trying to make sure the kids get everything they need and I get time to do the other stuff that needs to get done in my life. Mark's job has him so stressed these days that most evenings are just spent trying to get the basics done and maybe a little time together but little else, especially with Nico napping in the car these days which means a later bedtime for him and a harder time getting him down again. Blech!

Right now it's looking like he's going to be gone all day Saturday dealing with other stuff so I'm going to be dealing with all 4 boys and trying to do the massive declutter on their room. They still haven't even found their floor yet so I'm not looking forward to having to become Drill Sergeant Mom with them since they aren't working without constant supervision and trying to keep Nico out of there so he's not undoing everything we manage to do the second we turn our backs. Gee, can you tell how much I'm loving this idea? Yeah, I thought so.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
With love that is simply attachment, the slightest change in the object, such as a tiny change of attitude, immediately causes you to change. This is because your emotion is based on something superficial. Take, for example, a new marriage. Often after a few weeks, months, or years the couple become enemies and finish up getting divorced. They married deeply in love--nobody marries with hatred--but after a short time everything changed. Why?

Poor little funny dude

With the big boys new schedule for College for Kids, Mark has been driving himself to work these last two weeks so he can pick them up and bring them home. It's been nice not having him race off to bed to get some sleep before his dad calls and having a few minutes with him in the morning before he races off to work again.

But there's always a downside.

Every morning, without fail, when he puts on his boots Nico grabs his sandals and puts them on and waits by the door. While Mark is checking to make sure he has everything, Nico is patting himself down making sure he's ready for a similarly busy day of ...well, whatever he thinks he's going to be busy doing. It's funny to watch him go through this as he has such a serious look on his face and is so earnest copying his daddy.

Then tragedy strikes. Daddy says good-bye and doesn't take Nico with him. You would think the earth had opened up and Cthulu himself had arisen from the depths to devour daddy. The wailing starts. The tears of absolute desertion and the knowledge that things will never ever be the same because daddy left and didn't take him. It's truly the most horrible thing you could possibly ever do to a 2yr old who idolizes you and I personally think Mark should be ashamed of being such a horrible brute to a helpless little toddler.

Of course, I then sweep in with hugs, kisses, and otter pops and make it all better.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Buddhist texts speak of four principal obstacles that one must overcome for meditation to be successful. [The fourth], at a more subtle level,...is mental excitement, or agitation, which stems from the fluctuating, changable nature of our mind.

Home again

You know, I actually like camping but man, it's even more work than a normal vacation to pack up and it's even worse on the return trip. It was really bad this time because of how crazy last week was so the house is a wreck and I'm trying to get things cleaned and put away and not just the camping stuff. *sigh*

But camping was fun. Mark and I took turns chasing Nico on whatever trail he wanted to go on while the other got to hang out and chill. We were there with Matthew's playgroup so lots of other families, lots of other kids, lots of good friends. Hard to believe all these kiddos are turning the big 1-0 this year which means many of us have been together as a group for over 9yrs.

The big boys got to feed chickens, goats, sheep, and pigs. They collected eggs, put animals to bed, and were up with the rooster in the morning. They took hikes down to the creek to build dams and had water gun fights. We had smores on Saturday night around the campfire and a glow-stick light show while being serenaded by the crickets who were drowned out by some of our own musicians on guitar and bass.

No one was eaten by a coyote, stung by a bee, bitten by a tick, kissed by a black widow, or touched by poison ivy. Everyone is a little pinker (ok, maybe red for a couple of us LOL) than before but still, definitely a good weekend.

(for the record, while I did bring my camera I was too busy either doing nothing or chasing Nico so barely used it tho I think I got some cute pics at the Saturday night campfire which I'll post when I have a chance)

7/14 Weekly Todo List

• School with Jonathan
• Call to schedule getting the house leveled
• Balance checkbook and pay bills (didnt' I just do this?!)
• Menu, shopping list, WW (been really bad about this and it's showing *sigh*)
• Camping stuff all cleaned and put away properly
• Write and send invites to Matthew's bday party
  
• Finish buying and wrapping his gifts
• Costco run
• Refs for 7/19 game
• Contact lead about Discovery Toys party
• Get Discovery Toys blurb up on CMC Business listing and classifieds chat forum
• Start working on major declutter of the boys' room

Of course, all of this needs to be accomplished in between therapy, soccer practice, KSW, playgroup (hoping to find out what is up with that), getting big boys to College for Kids, and all the regular household maintenance stuff like the never-ending dishes and laundry.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Although meditation can sometimes mean sitting in a particular formal posture and stilling the mind, it can also include continuously familiarizing ourselves with positive thoughts. This is where we regularly read and recite the texts of scriptures and prayers.

Boys' Room, Boys' Bathroom, and Office ToDo Lists

So here's the next installment of my complete household ToDo lists. This week I'll be starting to tackle the Boys' Bedroom and Bathroom and Christopher's mess in the Office (and getting on Mark's case about his mess too).

Boys' Bedroom

• Declutter stuffed animals (mostly done but not totally)
• Sort through clothing
• Find Floor
• Clean rat cage and come up with a good way to make sure this gets done on a regular basis (cage was actually cleaned not too long ago but the last part of this still needs to get tackled)
• Toy Chest
• Under bed
• Video shelves
• Game shelves
• Toy bins
• Closet shelf
• Bookcase 1
• Bookcase 2
• Lego shelves
• Entertainment shelves
• Memento shelves
• Building table
• Wash futon cover
• Make top bunk
• Window sills
• Wash windows

Boys' Bathroom

• Sort bath toys
• Under sink
  
• Counter
• Medicine cabinet

Office

• Find floor
  
• Christopher's desk surface
• Under Christopher's desk
• Behind door
• Preschool stuff
• Comics
• Under Mark's desk
• Christopher's loft
• My books
  

52:59 Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

The third in the series sees Phedre on a quest on behalf of her enemy, Melisande, and a personal quest to try and find the name of G-d in order to release Hyacincthe from the bondage he undertook to see the Alban army safely through the Straights in the first book.

I found in some parts the book dragged a bit which is a shame but when it was moving, hold on tight! I thought things got wrapped up a little too neatly but I can also understand why and I thought it interesting that all the different flavors of gods from all the different lands were becoming more manifest and involved than just a slight coloring of vision and such that we've seen before. Not so horribly involved that you are left going "oh, come on now" but there was definitely not the same mystique of "is she doing this because it's really G-d directed or because that's how she's interpreting things" which was a bit different.

It looks like the next trilogy will be more centered on Melisande's (now Phedre and Joseclin's) son and his growing up and all the intrigue that will entail. I'm interested to see how this plays out and have the first two books and will grab the other one soon. Unfortunately, I have to put the series on hold a bit so I can catch up on some of my other reading because it does tend to suck me in and not let go and I leave off all other reading. *sigh* Hopefully I'll feel better about where I am on my reading in a few weeks to get back to it tho. It's a hard decision to put it down.

52:58 Haiku Mama by Kari Anne Roy

Quick fun read that only a mom could understand and truly appreciate. I finished it at different stops in the car on the way from the house back to the campsite and spent most of the time laughing loudly and getting strange looks from my kids.

A camping we will go!

So it's our brief stop at the house after dinner with Mark's grandparents to grab all the stuff that Mark totally forgot couldn't fit in the truck while I was with Christopher at the Drs getting his foot checked. The good news, Christopher didn't break his foot with his stupid stair trick so he's just in an ace bandage with a crutch for a couple of days rather than a cast and a pair of crutches for a couple of weeks.

So now we are off for the rest of the weekend. Hope everyone has a great one!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Any conflict within humanity should be considered as a family conflict. We must find a solution within this atmosphere.

Updated To-Do lists

So it's Friday and we'll be leaving this afternoon to go camping so I thought I'd take a look and see how well I did on getting everything done on my to-do list.

• Call Ocean Grove and make sure they got Christopher's registration papers
• Make packing list for camping trip
• Find refs for Saturday's soccer game
• Balance checkbook & pay bills
• Find out plans w/ grandparents
• Catch-up laundry
• Make camping menu
  
• Make shopping list and pick-up everything
• School with Jonathan (in what time we can find)
• Speech with Jonathan
• Call to schedule carpet cleaning (carpet desperately needs it but with trying to potty train I'd rather wait, still talking this out with Mark)
• Start tackling Kitchen/Laundry Room to-do list

So almost everything done on the list. Yeah!!! As for the last part, here's what I got done in the kitchen this week (not as much as I would have liked but isn't that always the case):

• Junk drawer
• Knife drawer
• Utensil drawer
• Little pantry
• Under sink
• Breakfast bar

So yeah, not much but something and something is better than nothing.

Random Update

• Christopher's GA also earned hazard pay yesterday when saving him from breaking his neck as he decided to go leaping down the stairs to the tennis courts to see if he could do it in just 13 steps without a guide rail. He is really scraped up and looks to have bruised something in his foot so is now gimping around in an ace bandage on crutches. Haven't taken him to the Dr yet but will if things don't seem to be improving. Lesson learned? Probably not. *sigh*
• Jonathan just whizzed through his first unit of Math3 in about 10min. I took one look at what they were asking him to do and handed him the unit assessment which he aced. I hope we can get to the harder stuff quickly before he gets bored again.
• Nico is running around nekkie as usual but this time I managed to figure out he was going to pee before he did the deed and he consented to sitting on the potty and did a great big pee in it!!! Needless to say there were some serious high 5s and m&m candy to be had afterwards.
  
• Things are progressing with Nico's weaning. He's not happy about it but I'm not happy with him thinking I'm a cow and he can just latch on and off all day long. His insistence upon that arrangement over the weekend brought us to the "every other day" stage of weaning. Hopefully we'll actually be done before he hits 2½.
• I'm still running around trying to get the laundry all folded, the packing for camping all done, do some lessons with Jonathan, and keep up with Nico. Of course, I've ended up on the phone half the day dealing with some paperwork issues for Christopher's enrollment with Ocean Grove and my brother was here overnight so the morning was spent playing and hanging out with him since I'm not sure I'll see him again before he leaves for New Mexico for a year. Yeah, I know he'll be back to visit occasionally but still....New Mexico?! I only hope and pray he finds what he's looking for.
  

Thank You Guardian Angel!

Well, once again Nico's GA earned hazard pay. I swear, I'm not the irresponsible parent that some of these posts seem to portray. My children just have a freaking knack for trying to kill each other. Today it was Nico and Jonathan. Those two plus Matthew were outside playing in the backyard. Apparently behind the shed (someplace I never go) was one of those stand-on weed pullers where you jab the tines into the ground around the weed, twist and pull. I could have sworn we got rid of it but apparently not. A few minutes later Matthew brings in a crying Nico and informs me that Jonathan had pulled the weeder out of the ground and brandished it at Nico who ran into it with his face. I run to look and find that thankfully, all he got for what could have been a horrendous situation was a couple of scratches just beneath his bottom eyelashes. After a thorough checking, there is no damage to his eye and he was good as new after a couple of otter pops.

Jonathan, on the other hand, is grounded for life and that thing is locked in the shed.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
I often joke that if you really want to be selfish, you should be very altruistic! You should take good care of others, be concerned for their welfare, help them, serve them, make more friends, make more smiles. The result? When you yourself need help, you find plenty of helpers!

52:57 The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun

A little darker than previous books with much more of the behind the scenes stories of Pickax revealed. Still light reading but this one had a little more meat.

What's that smell?!

You'd think I'd have learned that if I have to ask that question, I should run, not walk, to find what Nico is getting into. The same holds true for strange sounds or silences. None of them are good signs.

I got reminded of this fact today.

Let me preface this by reminding everyone that I'm not used to having just me and Nico in the house. Usually there is a houseful of people running around so he doesn't get left to his own devices without being caught within a few minutes.

Today I had the audacity to make dinner, and not just any dinner mind you, but one that required real prep time since I had a craving for green beans and the only ones I've found recently were fresh at the farmer's market and required trimming. Very time consuming when we are talking 2+lbs of them.

So while I'm busily trimming green beans Nico ran amuk. First he took out all the math flash cards and scattered them all over the dining room. Just as I was getting suspicious of the silence, he went and turned on his figure 8 Cars track. I figured he was fine if I heard that and glancing over proved he was happily playing with it so I continued on the green beans. Next I hear his electronic drum set going off and I glance over to see that he'd gotten it out of the music box and was happily grooving to the beat. Hey, things are going well. I continue to hear the figure 8 and the drums going and I'm just about done trimming the beans when I smell something. It's something I recognize but I can't place. I finish up and then go investigate only to find that Nico had found the foaming hand cleanser and pumped several doses onto the counter, a few books, a few dvd cases, and himself.

At least he was trying to clean.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If one's cause is supported by sound reasoning, there is no point in using violence. It is those who have no motive other than selfish desire and who cannot achieve their goal through logical reasoning who rely on force.

Doing a happy dance by the light of the two moons!!!

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=358068083&blogID=413291526&Mytoken=735B442B-DEF2-4CA4-82EAF63B4A933FDF150373

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i2a7c68761043a405c4e527c10b0cc474

http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN0932864920080709

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=22889

Looks like the movie dream is finally going to come true. There have been so many deals that have fallen through but this looks like the right deal at the right time to actually happen! Finally, after so many years, we may see EQ up on the big screen. I've been reading this comic for over 20 yrs and now share it with my boys. I can't wait to take them to see the movie!!!

Feeling blessed

It's been one of those days where it's so easy to focus on the negatives like the kids not behaving, getting sick from the heat, seeing everything that needs to get done not getting done. But I've been reminded just how precious life is and just how blessed I am and I'm choosing to focus on that instead. I have a wonderful husband who loves me and whom I love deeply, who works hard outside the home so I can work hard inside it teaching our boys. I have four boys that may drive me crazy but that is because they are happy and healthy. We have a house that we can afford, cars that run, books to enrich our minds, food to fill our stomaches, our health and insurance to help when we are sick. For all this I'm grateful.

What brings this up? I heard that an old acquaintance of mine from an online group lost her husband yesterday. He was her life and she loved him deeply but he suffered a heart attack and is gone leaving her and their 5 children to go on living without him. I found out that another acquaintance lost her younger brother 2mos ago. These are women who are my age. Another friend is leaving her husband and a few other friends are worried about the state of their marriages. Many of these haven't been married as long as Mark and I.

It just all served to remind me to stop and remember to be thankful for all that I have, for how blessed I have been and continue to be. I hope you do the same.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring greatest happiness is simply that from the core of our nature these are deeply appreciated. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent we may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when we are sick, very young, or very old, we must depend on the support of others.

Survived the first day

All things considered, it actually went really well in fact. Everyone got where they needed to be early. Jonathan had fun at camp except for the "really, really, long, long walk that really, really hurt my feat a lot". However his team name was Wall-e and he found out that's the movie he is seeing on Wednesday for his Laser Tag & a Movie field trip. Poor kid has a rough life.

Matthew enjoyed his first day at College for Kids. Got to play with a bunch of different cameras including older styles, started learning how to draw a bit more realistic stick figures for costume design, and came home saying "Konichiwa" and learned how to write his name in Japanese. He also found out that they'll be making ramen and ice cream moochies next week. Poor kid has a rough life.

Christopher played some fun games in his acting class. I really think that's a great class for him and I hope he continues to enjoy it as much as he did today. Algebra went well with the teacher starting off using fun word games to demonstrate basic algebra principals. Hopefully this will help him get some of the concepts better even tho we are planning on retaking it again in the fall to make sure he really has a solid footing in it. He had a blast playing tennis apparently and is looking forward to playing again tomorrow. Poor kid has such a rough life.

Nico played for an hour at speech while I went to the gym. He drove around with me all over the place getting all his brothers where they needed to go and ran around like a suddenly free zoo animal every time he got out of the car. He napped on the way home from dropping the older two off so I took a chance to switch over another load of laundry, make a few phone calls, and write a few emails before waking him up. Unfortunately, I'm not expecting him to sleep tonight as a result. *sigh* After he was woken up from his nap, we each had an otter pop while I read "That's not my pirate" 5xs before playing Othello. Then we picked up Jonathan (I told you he spent all day in the car) and he ran around and jumped on the school books while I attempted to do some art and language arts with Jonathan. Poor kid has such a rough life.

As for me, I got everyone everywhere they needed to be. I managed to get to Curves and do my workout. I called Ocean Grove and found out everything is fine there and got the first draft of our camping list done and the first email out to try and get refs for this weekends soccer games. I also washed and dried a ton of laundry. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of it folded. Kind of hard to do that while driving so my bathtub is currently doubling as a clean laundry holding tank. I hate that its like that atm so first priority is to take care of that tomorrow. I also got under the kitchen sink and little pantry straightened out and the breakfast bar is almost done as well. I did 2 lessons of science, 2 lessons of language arts, and 1 lesson of art with Jonathan plus did some speech in the car on the way to camp this morning. So a few things can actually get crossed off my list and dents have been made in other areas. Unfortunately, I found a few other things that need to get added to it. Oh, well.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes half so well.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Here is a general statement about Tibetan medicine: Human physiology is spoken of in terms of the three humors--wind, bile, and phlegm imbalances occur respectively from the "three poisons", or primary mental afflictions; namely, attachment, anger, and ignorance.

Othello, 2yr old style

So one of the things we did today when it was just Nico and I was to play Othello. Why? Because that's what he wanted to do, why else. I had a feeling I knew how the game was going to go and I was right. He followed Toddler Rules absolutely perfectly.

• I like black so there fore all the pieces on the board must be black
• I can put down as many black pieces as I want
• You may put down as many black pieces as you want in order to further aid my domination of the board
• You may NOT under any circumstance put down a white piece, shrieking will follow if for any reason you fail to follow this rule
• You may NOT under any circumstance flip a black piece over to expose it's white side, shrieking will follow if for any reason you fail to follow this rule

Needless to say, the dark side won that game. The light side never stood a chance.

7/7 To-Do list

What's going on this week:

• Jonathan has camp MWF all day
• College camp starts for Christopher and Matthew this week which is M-Th and over the hill
  
• Mark's grandparents come to town on Thursday
• We leave to go camping on Friday
• Nico has speech on Monday and gymnastics on Friday
• Jonathan has a soccer game on Saturday morning
• Jonathan is MISSING soccer practice all week (can't figure out how to get him there w/ everything else going on)
  

What I need to do this week:

• Call Ocean Grove and make sure they got Christopher's registration papers
• Make packing list for camping trip
• Find refs for Saturday's soccer game
• Balance checkbook & pay bills
• Find out plans w/ grandparents
• Catch-up laundry
• Make camping menu
  
• Make shopping list and pick-up everything
• School with Jonathan (in what time we can find)
• Speech with Jonathan
• Call to schedule carpet cleaning (carpet desperately needs it but with trying to potty train I'd rather wait, still talking this out with Mark)
• Start tackling Kitchen/Laundry Room to-do list

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
When people get angry they lose all sense of happiness. Even if they are good looking and normally peaceful, their faces turn livid and ugly. Anger upsets their physical well-being and disturbs their rest; it destroys their appetites and make them age prematurely. Happiness, peace, and sleep evade them, and they no longer appreciate people who have helped them and deserve their trust and gratitude.

Kitchen/Laundry Room To-Do List

All the things that need to get decluttered and organized (hopefully this summer):

• Top of fridge
• Little fridge
• Small freezer
• Big freezer
• Top of big freezer
  
• Big pantry
• Little pantry
  
• Top shelf of lower cabinet
• Bottom shelf of lower cabinet
• Junk drawer
• Knife drawer
• Utensil drawer
• Under sink
  
• Tea shelf
• Counter tops
• Breakfast bar
• Extra food shelves
• Travel mugs
• Spice rack
• Above stove cabinets
• Spice shelf
• Baking shelf
• Breakfast bar
• Top of Dryer
• Vacuum out dryer vents
• Laundry Room cabinet

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
The practice of morality, which means guarding your three doors of body, speech, and mind from indulging in unwholesome activities, equips you with mindfulness and conscientiousness. Therefore, morality is the foundation of the Buddhist path.

General Summer ToDo List

In case you hadn't figured it out, I'm one of those insane people who likes their ToDo lists. Why put them on my blog tho? Well, I figured it out. It's a two-fold thing. First, my papers all have a tendency to either grow legs and go walking or scream out "Color me!" at the 2yr old who will happily oblige. So they don't stay neat for very long, even if I can find them. The other reason, is that putting it down on my blog tends to make it more "in my face" (maybe because I can find it?) and I feel more like I NEED to get cracking on it rather than procrastinating further.

So with that all out of the way, here is the General ToDo List for Summer 2008 (not to be confused with the room specific cleaning/decluttering lists that will be making their way up here soon):

• Clean-up email
• Sort through jewelry supplies and sell off what I'm not going to use
• Create MOTH school schedule
• Create at least 1mo (preferably 3mos) of Preschool Lesson plans for Nico
• Find, sort, and organize preschool supplies
• Update movie database (and maybe start playing the game again)
• Create Library database with cuecat
• Clean & photograph cake pans
• Create cake pan rental website
• Get cake pan rental fictitious name license
  
• Sort and organize all digital photos on my computer and transfer to external hard drive
• Finish years worth of graphics and board templates for Feb2006 board
• Finish setting up Chore Packs and PEGS board and USE it
  
• Sort out 2005 tax mess Mark handled
• Refill boys fluoride prescriptions
• Take "Last Hurrah" photo with Nico (you'll have to wait to see what this is about)
• New siggie pic
• Photograph finished jewelry
• Update jewelry website
• Renew JJS fictitious name license
  
• Work on getting Discovery Toys business off the ground: advertising, setting-up parties, etc
• Read the complete works of Jane Austen
• Frame cross-stitch pieces, Jonathan & Nico's name scrolls (money allowing)
• Return K12 materials
• Organize browser bookmarks
• Create classics list from various sources and put books on Amazon wishlist
• Take boys portraits
• Fix my jewelry
• Make Crystal's (belated) birthday present
• Ship package to Crystal
• Mending
• Get house leveled
• Fix boys' bathroom
• Get new homeowner's insurance policy
• Work on Nico's cross-stitch
• Go through 1001 book list and add those to Amazon wishlist
• Get morning and evening routines well established for me and the boys
  

All this on top of trying to declutter and organize list (detailed lists to come), keep up with the boys school stuff and activities, and all the normal stuff like laundry/dishes/cooking/etc that needs to be done constantly to keep the house running.

No sweat! (heading off to bang head on wall now)

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Insight from Dalai Lama:
Our intention should not be spoiled by the eight worldly preoccupations:
gain or loss, pleasure or pain, praise or criticism, and fame or infamy.

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Found this list on a Shelfari group and I'm considering it a new challenge. It's all prose fiction so there are a lot of authors not listed on it that surprised me but hey, it will open up all sorts of other books, right? *big grin*

ETA: I counted and it looks like I've read 22 of the books on this list. I lost count on how many I had in the house waiting to be read and how many were already on my wishlist but I'd guesstimate it at about another 100. Guess I need to get cracking on adding them to my wishlist, buying, and reading them.

http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm?content_id=22845


"1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"

1. 2000s
1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Saturday – Ian McEwan
3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
4. Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
5. Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
6. The Sea – John Banville
7. The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
8. The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
9. The Master – Colm Tóibín
10. Vanishing Point – David Markson
11. The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
12. Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
14. Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
15. The Colour – Rose Tremain
16. Thursbitch – Alan Garner
17. The Light of Day – Graham Swift
18. What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
20. Islands – Dan Sleigh
21. Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
22. London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
23. Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
24. Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
25. The Double – José Saramago
26. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
27. Unless – Carol Shields
28. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
29. The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
30. That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
31. In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
32. Shroud – John Banville
33. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
34. Youth – J.M. Coetzee
35. Dead Air – Iain Banks
36. Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon
37. The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
38. Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi
39. Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald
40. Platform – Michael Houellebecq
41. Schooling – Heather McGowan
42. Atonement – Ian McEwan
43. The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
44. Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini
45. The Body Artist – Don DeLillo
46. Fury – Salman Rushdie
47. At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill
48. Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
49. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
50. The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa
51. An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma
52. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
53. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare
54. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
55. The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
56. Under the Skin – Michel Faber
57. Ignorance – Milan Kundera
58. Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace
59. Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy
60. City of God – E.L. Doctorow
61. How the Dead Live – Will Self
62. The Human Stain – Philip Roth
63. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
64. After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
65. Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande
66. Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard
67. House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
68. Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates
69. Pastoralia – George Saunders
.
71. 1900s
70. Timbuktu – Paul Auster
71. The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra
72. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
73. As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakuli?
74. Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy
75. Fear and Trembling – Amélie Nothomb
76. The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
77. Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee
78. Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
79. Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq
80. Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi
81. Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
82. Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks
83. All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom
84. The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon
85. Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
86. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
87. Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
88. Another World – Pat Barker
89. The Hours – Michael Cunningham
90. Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
91. Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
92. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
93. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
94. Great Apes – Will Self
95. Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
96. Underworld – Don DeLillo
97. Jack Maggs – Peter Carey
98. The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin
99. American Pastoral – Philip Roth
100. The Untouchable – John Banville
101. Silk – Alessandro Baricco
102. Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
103. Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker
104. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
105. The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
106. Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse
107. Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
108. The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin
109. Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
110. The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
111. Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
112. The Information – Martin Amis
113. The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie
114. Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth
115. The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
116. The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
117. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
118. Love’s Work – Gillian Rose
119. The End of the Story – Lydia Davis
120. Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster
121. The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst
122. Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
123. Land – Park Kyong-ni
124. The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee
125. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
126. Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi
127. City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
128. How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
129. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
130. Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor
131. Disappearance – David Dabydeen
132. The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm
133. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
134. Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
135. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
136. Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy
137. Operation Shylock – Philip Roth
138. Complicity – Iain Banks
139. On Love – Alain de Botton
140. What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe
141. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
142. The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
143. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
144. The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd
145. The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
146. The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald
147. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
148. Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar
149. The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch
150. A Heart So White – Javier Marias
151. Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
152. Indigo – Marina Warner
153. The Crow Road – Iain Banks
154. Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
155. Jazz – Toni Morrison
156. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
157. Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg
158. The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe
159. Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates
160. The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín
161. Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
162. Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
163. Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud
164. Arcadia – Jim Crace
165. Wild Swans – Jung Chang
166. American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
167. Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
168. Mao II – Don DeLillo
169. Typical – Padgett Powell
170. Regeneration – Pat Barker
171. Downriver – Iain Sinclair
172. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
173. Wise Children – Angela Carter
174. Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
175. Amongst Women – John McGahern
176. Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
177. Vertigo – W.G. Sebald
178. Stone Junction – Jim Dodge
179. The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
180. The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
181. A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
182. Like Life – Lorrie Moore
183. Possession – A.S. Byatt
184. The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
185. The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle
186. A Disaffection – James Kelman
187. Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson
188. Moon Palace – Paul Auster
189. Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow
190. Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
191. The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai
192. The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
193. The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway
194. The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago
195. Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
196. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
197. London Fields – Martin Amis
198. The Book of Evidence – John Banville
199. Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
200. Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
201. The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White
202. Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson
203. The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
204. The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
205. Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
206. Libra – Don DeLillo
207. The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
208. Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
209. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
210. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
211. The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble
212. The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke
213. The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
214. The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
215. The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind
216. The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
217. Cigarettes – Harry Mathews
218. The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
219. The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
220. World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle
221. Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul
222. The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae
223. Beloved – Toni Morrison
224. Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
225. Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
226. Marya – Joyce Carol Oates
227. Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
228. The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
229. Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt
230. An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
231. Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
232. Foe – J.M. Coetzee
233. The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
234. Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel
235. The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann
236. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
237. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
238. The Cider House Rules – John Irving
239. A Maggot – John Fowles
240. Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
241. Contact – Carl Sagan
242. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
243. Perfume – Patrick Süskind
244. Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard
245. White Noise – Don DeLillo
246. Queer – William Burroughs
247. Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
248. Legend – David Gemmell
249. Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavi?
250. The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman
251. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago
252. The Lover – Marguerite Duras
253. Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard
254. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
255. Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
256. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
257. Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker
258. Neuromancer – William Gibson
259. Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes
260. Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis
261. Shame – Salman Rushdie
262. Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett
263. Fools of Fortune – William Trevor
264. La Brava – Elmore Leonard
265. Waterland – Graham Swift
266. The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
267. The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing
268. The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
269. The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
270. If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
271. A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White
272. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
273. Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard
274. A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
275. Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
276. The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
277. The Newton Letter – John Banville
278. On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin
279. Concrete – Thomas Bernhard
280. The Names – Don DeLillo
281. Rabbit is Rich – John Updike
282. Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray
283. The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
284. July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
285. Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin
286. Broken April – Ismail Kadare
287. Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee
288. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
289. Rites of Passage – William Golding
290. Rituals – Cees Nooteboom
291. Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
292. City Primeval – Elmore Leonard
293. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
294. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera
295. Smiley’s People – John Le Carré
296. Shikasta – Doris Lessing
297. A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul
298. Burger’s Daughter - Nadine Gordimer
299. The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll
300. If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
301. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
302. The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan
303. The World According to Garp – John Irving
304. Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
305. The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
306. The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell
307. Yes – Thomas Bernhard
308. The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt
309. In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee
310. The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter
311. Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
312. The Shining – Stephen King
313. Dispatches – Michael Herr
314. Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
315. Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
316. The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
317. The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke
318. Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo
319. The Public Burning – Robert Coover
320. Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
321. Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg
322. Amateurs – Donald Barthelme
323. Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf
324. Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez
325. W, or the Memory of Childhood – Georges Perec
326. A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
327. Grimus – Salman Rushdie
328. The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme
329. Fateless – Imre Kertész
330. Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan
331. High Rise – J.G. Ballard
332. Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow
333. Dead Babies – Martin Amis
334. Correction – Thomas Bernhard
335. Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow
336. The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle
337. Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee
338. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll
339. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré
340. Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
341. Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
342. A Question of Power – Bessie Head
343. The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell
344. The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino
345. Crash – J.G. Ballard
346. The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene
347. Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
348. The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
349. Sula – Toni Morrison
350. Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
351. The Breast – Philip Roth
352. The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
353. G – John Berger
354. Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
355. House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson
356. In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul
357. The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow
358. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
359. Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll
360. The Wild Boys – William Burroughs
361. Rabbit Redux – John Updike
362. The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
363. The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark
364. The Ogre – Michael Tournier
365. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
366. Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke
367. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
368. Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett
369. Troubles – J.G. Farrell
370. Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson
371. The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard
372. Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado
373. Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover
374. Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines
375. Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
376. The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
377. The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
378. Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth
379. The Godfather – Mario Puzo
380. Ada – Vladimir Nabokov
381. Them – Joyce Carol Oates
382. A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
383. Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen
384. Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal
385. The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch
386. Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen
387. Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
388. The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
389. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
390. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
391. Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
392. The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz
393. In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
394. A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
395. The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf
396. Chocky – John Wyndham
397. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe
398. The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa
399. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
400. The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
401. Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
402. The Joke – Milan Kundera
403. No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson
404. The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien
405. A Man Asleep – Georges Perec
406. The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West
407. Trawl – B.S. Johnson
408. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
409. The Magus – John Fowles
410. The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras
411. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
412. Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth
413. The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
414. Things – Georges Perec
415. The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
416. August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien
417. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
418. Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor
419. The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector
420. Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey
421. Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme
422. Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
423. Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
424. The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras
425. Herzog – Saul Bellow
426. V. – Thomas Pynchon
427. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
428. The Graduate – Charles Webb
429. Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol
430. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
431. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark
432. Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess
433. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
434. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
435. The Collector – John Fowles
436. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
437. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
438. Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
439. The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
440. The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
441. Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
442. Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien
443. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani
444. Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
445. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
446. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
447. Faces in the Water – Janet Frame
448. Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
449. Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass
450. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
451. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
452. The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor
453. How It Is – Samuel Beckett
454. Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino
455. The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
456. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
457. Rabbit, Run – John Updike
458. Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary
459. Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
460. Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse
461. Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
462. The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
463. Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes
464. Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
465. Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
466. Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll
467. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
468. The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
469. Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe
470. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
471. The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon
472. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
473. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
474. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
475. Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan
476. The End of the Road – John Barth
477. The Once and Future King – T.H. White
478. The Bell – Iris Murdoch
479. Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet
480. Voss – Patrick White
481. The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
482. Blue Noon – Georges Bataille
483. Homo Faber – Max Frisch
484. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
485. Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov
486. Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
487. The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber
488. Justine – Lawrence Durrell
489. Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
490. The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon
491. The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary
492. Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
493. The Floating Opera – John Barth
494. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
495. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
496. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
497. A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen
498. The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett
499. The Quiet American – Graham Greene
500. The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis
501. The Recognitions – William Gaddis
502. The Ragazzi – Pier Paulo Pasolini
503. Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan
504. I’m Not Stiller – Max Frisch
505. Self Condemned – Wyndham Lewis
506. The Story of O – Pauline Réage
507. A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia
508. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
509. Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
510. The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley
511. The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
512. The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
513. Watt – Samuel Beckett
514. Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis
515. Junkie – William Burroughs
516. The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow
517. Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
518. Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
519. The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt
520. Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
521. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
522. Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor
523. The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson
524. Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
525. Malone Dies – Samuel Beckett
526. Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
527. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
528. The Opposing Shore – Julien Gracq
529. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
530. The Rebel – Albert Camus
531. Molloy – Samuel Beckett
532. The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
533. The Abbot C – Georges Bataille
534. The Labyrinth of Solitude – Octavio Paz
535. The Third Man – Graham Greene
536. The 13 Clocks – James Thurber
537. Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake
538. The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing
539. I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
540. The Moon and the Bonfires – Cesare Pavese
541. The Garden Where the Brass Band Played – Simon Vestdijk
542. Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
543. The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge
544. The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
545. Kingdom of This World – Alejo Carpentier
546. The Man With the Golden Arm – Nelson Algren
547. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
548. All About H. Hatterr – G.V. Desani
549. Disobedience – Alberto Moravia
550. Death Sentence – Maurice Blanchot
551. The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene
552. Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
553. Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann
554. The Victim – Saul Bellow
555. Exercises in Style – Raymond Queneau
556. If This Is a Man – Primo Levi
557. Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry
558. The Path to the Nest of Spiders – Italo Calvino
559. The Plague – Albert Camus
560. Back – Henry Green
561. Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
562. The Bridge on the Drina – Ivo Andri?
563. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
564. Animal Farm – George Orwell
565. Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
566. The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
567. Loving – Henry Green
568. Arcanum 17 – André Breton
569. Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi
570. The Razor’s Edge – William Somerset Maugham
571. Transit – Anna Seghers
572. Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
573. Dangling Man – Saul Bellow
574. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
575. Caught – Henry Green
576. The Glass Bead Game – Herman Hesse
577. Embers – Sandor Marai
578. Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner
579. The Outsider – Albert Camus
580. In Sicily – Elio Vittorini
581. The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien
582. The Living and the Dead – Patrick White
583. Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
584. Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf
585. The Hamlet – William Faulkner
586. Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
587. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
588. Native Son – Richard Wright
589. The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
590. The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati
591. Party Going – Henry Green
592. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
593. Finnegans Wake – James Joyce
594. At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O’Brien
595. Coming Up for Air – George Orwell
596. Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood
597. Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
598. Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys
599. The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
600. After the Death of Don Juan – Sylvie Townsend Warner
601. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
602. Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
603. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
604. Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler
605. Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
606. U.S.A. – John Dos Passos
607. Murphy – Samuel Beckett
608. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
609. Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
610. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
611. The Years – Virginia Woolf
612. In Parenthesis – David Jones
613. The Revenge for Love – Wyndham Lewis
614. Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)
615. To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
616. Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner
617. Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley
618. The Thinking Reed – Rebecca West
619. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
620. Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
621. Wild Harbour – Ian MacPherson
622. Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner
623. At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
624. Nightwood – Djuna Barnes
625. Independent People – Halldór Laxness
626. Auto-da-Fé – Elias Canetti
627. The Last of Mr. Norris – Christopher Isherwood
628. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – Horace McCoy
629. The House in Paris – Elizabeth Bowen
630. England Made Me – Graham Greene
631. Burmese Days – George Orwell
632. The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers
633. Threepenny Novel – Bertolt Brecht
634. Novel With Cocaine – M. Ageyev
635. The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain
636. Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
637. A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
638. Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
639. Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse
640. Call it Sleep – Henry Roth
641. Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West
642. Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
643. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
644. Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
645. A Day Off – Storm Jameson
646. The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil
647. A Scots Quair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Grassic Gibbon
648. Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
649. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
650. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
651. To the North – Elizabeth Bowen
652. The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett
653. The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
654. The Waves – Virginia Woolf
655. The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett
656. Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
657. The Apes of God – Wyndham Lewis
658. Her Privates We – Frederic Manning
659. Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
660. The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
661. Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico
662. Passing – Nella Larsen
663. A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
664. Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett
665. Living – Henry Green
666. The Time of Indifference – Alberto Moravia
667. All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
668. Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
669. The Last September – Elizabeth Bowen
670. Harriet Hume – Rebecca West
671. The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
672. Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau
673. Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe
674. Story of the Eye – Georges Bataille
675. Orlando – Virginia Woolf
676. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence
677. The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall
678. The Childermass – Wyndham Lewis
679. Quartet – Jean Rhys
680. Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
681. Quicksand – Nella Larsen
682. Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford
683. Nadja – André Breton
684. Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
685. Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust
686. To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
687. Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson
688. Amerika – Franz Kafka
689. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
690. Blindness – Henry Green
691. The Castle – Franz Kafka
692. The Good Soldier Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek
693. The Plumed Serpent – D.H. Lawrence
694. One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello
695. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
696. The Making of Americans – Gertrude Stein
697. Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos
698. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
699. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
700. The Counterfeiters – André Gide
701. The Trial – Franz Kafka
702. The Artamonov Business – Maxim Gorky
703. The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
704. Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville
705. The Green Hat – Michael Arlen
706. The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann
707. We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
708. A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
709. The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet
710. Zeno’s Conscience – Italo Svevo
711. Cane – Jean Toomer
712. Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
713. Amok – Stefan Zweig
714. The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield
715. The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings
716. Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
717. Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
718. The Glimpses of the Moon – Edith Wharton
719. Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
720. The Last Days of Humanity – Karl Kraus
721. Aaron’s Rod – D.H. Lawrence
722. Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis
723. Ulysses – James Joyce
724. The Fox – D.H. Lawrence
725. Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley
726. The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
727. Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
728. Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence
729. Night and Day – Virginia Woolf
730. Tarr – Wyndham Lewis
731. The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
732. The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad
733. Summer – Edith Wharton
734. Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsen
735. Bunner Sisters – Edith Wharton
736. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
737. Under Fire – Henri Barbusse
738. Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke
739. The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
740. The Voyage Out – Virginia Woolf
741. Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
742. The Rainbow – D.H. Lawrence
743. The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
744. Kokoro – Natsume Soseki
745. Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel
746. Rosshalde – Herman Hesse
747. Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
748. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
749. Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
750. Death in Venice – Thomas Mann
751. The Charwoman’s Daughter – James Stephens
752. Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
753. Fantômas – Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre
754. Howards End – E.M. Forster
755. Impressions of Africa – Raymond Roussel
756. Three Lives – Gertrude Stein
757. Martin Eden – Jack London
758. Strait is the Gate – André Gide
759. Tono-Bungay – H.G. Wells
760. The Inferno – Henri Barbusse
761. A Room With a View – E.M. Forster
762. The Iron Heel – Jack London
763. The Old Wives’ Tale – Arnold Bennett
764. The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson
765. Mother – Maxim Gorky
766. The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
767. The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
768. Young Törless – Robert Musil
769. The Forsyte Sage – John Galsworthy
770. The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
771. Professor Unrat – Heinrich Mann
772. Where Angels Fear to Tread – E.M. Forster
773. Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
774. Hadrian the Seventh – Frederick Rolfe
775. The Golden Bowl – Henry James
776. The Ambassadors – Henry James
777. The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
778. The Immoralist – André Gide
779. The Wings of the Dove – Henry James
780. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
781. The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
782. Buddenbrooks – Thomas Mann
783. Kim – Rudyard Kipling
784. Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
785. Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
.
. 1800s
786. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. – Somerville and Ross
787. The Stechlin – Theodore Fontane
788. The Awakening – Kate Chopin
789. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
790. The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
791. The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
792. What Maisie Knew – Henry James
793. Fruits of the Earth – André Gide
794. Dracula – Bram Stoker
795. Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz
796. The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
797. The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
798. Effi Briest – Theodore Fontane
799. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
800. The Real Charlotte – Somerville and Ross
801. The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
802. Born in Exile – George Gissing
803. Diary of a Nobody – George & Weedon Grossmith
804. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
805. News from Nowhere – William Morris
806. New Grub Street – George Gissing
807. Gösta Berling’s Saga – Selma Lagerlöf
808. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
809. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
810. The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy
811. La Bête Humaine – Émile Zola
812. By the Open Sea – August Strindberg
813. Hunger – Knut Hamsun
814. The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson
815. Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant
816. Fortunata and Jacinta – Benito Pérez Galdés
817. The People of Hemsö – August Strindberg
818. The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy
819. She – H. Rider Haggard
820. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
821. The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
822. Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
823. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
824. Germinal – Émile Zola
825. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
826. Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant
827. Marius the Epicurean – Walter Pater
828. Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans
829. The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
830. A Woman’s Life – Guy de Maupassant
831. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
832. The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga
833. The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James
834. Bouvard and Pécuchet – Gustave Flaubert
835. Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace
836. Nana – Émile Zola
837. The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
838. The Red Room – August Strindberg
839. Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
840. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
841. Drunkard – Émile Zola
842. Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev
843. Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
844. The Hand of Ethelberta – Thomas Hardy
845. The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert
846. Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
847. The Enchanted Wanderer – Nicolai Leskov
848. Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
849. In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu
850. The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky
851. Erewhon – Samuel Butler
852. Spring Torrents – Ivan Turgenev
853. Middlemarch – George Eliot
854. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
855. King Lear of the Steppes – Ivan Turgenev
856. He Knew He Was Right – Anthony Trollope
857. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
858. Sentimental Education – Gustave Flaubert
859. Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope
860. Maldoror – Comte de Lautréaumont
861. The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
862. The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
863. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
864. Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola
865. The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope
866. Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
867. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
868. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
869. Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
870. Uncle Silas – Sheridan Le Fanu
871. Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
872. The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley
873. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
874. Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
875. Silas Marner – George Eliot
876. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
877. On the Eve – Ivan Turgenev
878. Castle Richmond – Anthony Trollope
879. The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
880. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
881. The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne
882. Max Havelaar – Multatuli
883. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
884. Oblomovka – Ivan Goncharov
885. Adam Bede – George Eliot
886. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
887. North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
888. Hard Times – Charles Dickens
889. Walden – Henry David Thoreau
890. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
891. Villette – Charlotte Brontë
892. Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
893. Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
894. The Blithedale Romance – Nathaniel Hawthorne
895. The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
896. Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
897. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
898. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
899. Shirley – Charlotte Brontë
900. Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell
901. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë
902. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
903. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
904. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
905. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
906. The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
907. La Reine Margot – Alexandre Dumas
908. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
909. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
910. Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
911. The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
912. Lost Illusions – Honoré de Balzac
913. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
914. Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol
915. The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal
916. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
917. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
918. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
919. The Nose – Nikolay Gogol
920. Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
921. Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac
922. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
923. The Red and the Black – Stendhal
924. The Betrothed – Alessandro Manzoni
925. Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
926. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg
927. The Albigenses – Charles Robert Maturin
928. Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Robert Maturin
929. The Monastery – Sir Walter Scott
930. Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
931. Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
932. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
933. Persuasion – Jane Austen
934. Ormond – Maria Edgeworth
935. Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
936. Emma – Jane Austen
937. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
938. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
939. The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth
940. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
941. Elective Affinities – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
942. Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth
.
. 1700s
943. Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin
944. The Nun – Denis Diderot
945. Camilla – Fanny Burney
946. The Monk – M.G. Lewis
947. Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
948. The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
949. The Interesting Narrative – Olaudah Equiano
950. The Adventures of Caleb Williams – William Godwin
951. Justine – Marquis de Sade
952. Vathek – William Beckford
953. The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade
954. Cecilia – Fanny Burney
955. Confessions – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
956. Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
957. Reveries of a Solitary Walker – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
958. Evelina – Fanny Burney
959. The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
960. Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett
961. The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie
962. A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne
963. Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
964. The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
965. The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole
966. Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
967. Rameau’s Nephew – Denis Diderot
968. Julie; or, the New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
969. Rasselas – Samuel Johnson
970. Candide – Voltaire
971. The Female Quixote – Charlotte Lennox
972. Amelia – Henry Fielding
973. Peregrine Pickle – Tobias George Smollett
974. Fanny Hill – John Cleland
975. Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
976. Roderick Random – Tobias George Smollett
977. Clarissa – Samuel Richardson
978. Pamela – Samuel Richardson
979. Jacques the Fatalist – Denis Diderot
980. Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus – J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, A. Pope, J. Swift
981. Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding
982. A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
983. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
984. Roxana – Daniel Defoe
985. Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
986. Love in Excess – Eliza Haywood
987. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
988. A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift
.
Pre-1700
989. Oroonoko – Aphra Behn
990. The Princess of Clèves – Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette
991. The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
992. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
993. The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe
994. Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit – John Lyly
995. Gargantua and Pantagruel – Françoise Rabelais
996. The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
997. The Golden Ass – Lucius Apuleius
998. Aithiopika – Heliodorus
999. Chaireas and Kallirhoe – Chariton
1000. Metamorphoses – Ovid
1001. Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

A to Z

Lifted this from a friend's blog (you know who you are :) )

A - Attached or Single: attached
B - Best Friend(s): hubby, Crystal, Mona
C - Cake or Pie: cake
D - Day of Choice: Sunday (only generally free day on the calendar)
E - Essential Item: Books
F - Favorite Color(s): purple and green
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: gummy bears
H - Hometown: San Francisco
I - Indulgence(s): chocolate and tea
J - January or July: July
K - Kids: four
L - Life is incomplete without: my husband and children (well, and books and chocolate *big grin*)
M - Marriage Date: 1994
N - Number of Siblings: 8
O - Oranges or Apples: neither, blueberries
P- Phobias or Fears: something happening to my husband or children
Q - Quote: Favorites? "It's like living with a car alarm that sh*ts" and "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" From my mouth? "What did Nico do now?"
R- Ring size: 5½
S - Season: summer
T- Tag 3 Friends: ???
U - Unknown fact about me: hmmmm... I don't know?
V - Very favorite stores: Target and B&N
W - Worst Habit: procrastinating
X-ray or Ultrasound: u/s = babies. xrays = dentist, work it out
Y - Your Favorite Food(s): sushi, dim sum
Z - Zodiac: scorpio

Lovely Dye Job

Jonathan set Nico up to play with his do-a-dot paints on Monday (I tell you, this kid has been AWESOME playing with Nico lately). Nico did do some artwork on his paper but decided his head was a better canvas.

For the record, it's not nearly as washable as it used to be since it's now over 10yrs old. He still has pink splotches in his hair. LOL I guess it goes well with Christopher's blue and Jonathan's green. Funny tho, he keeps telling me that blue is his favorite color but then he used purple to color it. Hmmmm.....

2nd pair funny

This morning apparently Nico wanted to go out. I'm moving kind of slow due to working out more and 5hrs at the zoo yesterday plus grocery shopping so Jonathan on his own got out Nico's clothes, changed his diaper (just wet), got his shorts on him, and is currently trying to get his shirt on him. No prompting from me and what's more amazing is the patience that Jonathan is showing Nico and how Nico is sort of listening to him.

Wow! So nice to see a loving moment between them when so often recently their interactions have ended with Jonathan screaming when Nico bites him.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If we do not have truth on our side, we will have no alternative but to keep suffering. Having truth on one's side gives one the pride to be transparent about everything and to speak reason in face-to-face exchange.

Things pass

It's weird. I knew this day was coming but now that it's here, I almost feel like something is missing. We've been homeschooling Christopher with CAVA since Jan05. I knew we were switching him to the new charter school and that even tho we told CAVA we were uncertain what our plans would be, that he would be disenrolled as of June 30. Not that it matters as with him going on to high school, he would have been off the OLS by Sept anyway since CAVA uses APEX for high school and not K12.

I knew all of this well ahead of time.

So why is it so weird to go up to the OLS today and only see Jonathan and Matthew?

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
True friends share genuine closeness and remain friends irrespective of fluctuating fortunes.