Busy last week

For someone who rarely has any sort of a social life, I had quite a busy week last week.

Monday: The "week o fun" started out with a "passion party" at the neighbor's house. What is a passion party, you ask? Why, it's all about sex...and toys and props and stuff. It was the first time I had ever been invited to one, and it was a hoot! Three hours and a significant credit card charge later, I was walking home. I'm not sure I've laughed that hard in a long time. It was super fun.
Tuesday: While not planned, we had a horrible hail storm in the evening. The hail at my house was quarter to golf ball size. I haven't really been able to tell if I have roof or siding damage, but it knocked tiny little twigs off my trees out front, making a mess of my sidewalk and lawn. Guess it's a good thing I hadn't done my Spring raking yet. Also, it was scary as hell. It sounded like every window in the house was breaking. The tornado from a few years ago was less scary.
Wednesday: Some of you know the struggles I'm having with actually taking real life vacations this year and what that means for Lucky. I've spent a lot of time and energy stressing over finding a kennel that is affordable, close to my house, and decent. I've toured a few the past few weeks, and the last tour on my list was Wednesday. I loved this facility and the couple that runs it SO VERY MUCH. So, he is booked in Bangor for my trip to Florida in June.
Thursday: Certainly not exciting, but quite time consuming was making a batch of dog food so the pooch didn't starve come Saturday. I had the whole evening planned out, and I figured how much time I'd have left when I got done, and then my mother showed up at my house unexpected and unannounced. (sigh) Mom and I aren't really seeing eye to eye these days, and she just stood there and criticized while I prepped food. So I lost a lot of time trying to entertain her.

Weather: Have I mentioned that the weather here sucked last week and is on par to suck again this week? It's making it impossible to get a start on any sort of outdoor project (or the indoor one that will require me to also spend some time on a ladder outside). Although it is supposed to be sunny and in the 50s today, raking seems futile since we have more snow in the forecast at the end of the week. (sigh) My tulips are already halfway up and ready to bloom, so I NEED SPRING!

Books: With as crappy as the weather was last week, and as bored as I was at work last week, I got through a few books.

• Effortless by S.C. Stephens. This is book 2 in this series. It was quite good, and Kellan Kyle is my #2 book boyfriend of all time. For realz. There is a book 3 in this series (Reckless) that just came out in the last 4-8 weeks. The first chapter was included at the end of Effortless, but I'm not sure if I'm going to give Reckless a chance. All the reviews in the first week Reckless came out were that it was long and not necessary. Most readers thought the author would have done better by just writing a short epilogue to the characters' story. Effortless had a really great ending, and I might be OK just thinking that's how Kellan and Kiera's story ends.
• Fight or Flight by Jamie Canosa: This was a fairly short book, as I read it in just a few hours on Friday. It was a good story, but extremely emotional. It had a "happy" ending, but not in a traditional sense. The angst and drama and storyline were real, and that's what I liked about it.
• Saving Wishes by G.J. Walker-Smith: This is the first book in the series (not sure how many there will be total). This story takes place in Tasmania, and the main female character is 17. Again, this genre is sorta what I've been reading lately, but the story seemed very different from the "romance" I have been reading of late. The book is long, but the story is good. (The book could use some editing, though.) I enjoyed this book and opted to spend the $2.99 to get book 2 rather than wait for next month and use my lending library pick on it.
• Second Hearts by G.J. Walker-Smith: This is book 2 in the series to the book I mentioned above. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, and it's good so far. If it ended now, the story would have a cheesy happy ending. Since there is still 2/3 left to go, and I don't know if there will be more books, I'm guessing that there is drama and angst and maybe no happy ending. TBD.

Latest weekly book update

Another week has begun, and I am bored at work yet again. This is REALLY starting to get old. I have a busy week ahead of me (including a very exciting passion party at the neighbor's), but I think that maybe next week I have to start thinking about making a career/job change.

Until then...here's an update on what I've been reading lately.

1. Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire: Seriously? I'm not even sure I need to give this a review. Holy hell...Travis Maddox can be my book boyfriend...FOREVER. For those that aren't familiar, this is the Travis POV version of Jamie's Beautiful Disaster. So, the story was basically the same, but there were a lot of little interesting tidbits when told from Travis's POV. I will have to re-read this one eventually because I kept forgetting that "I" meant Travis and not Abby in this book. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: READ THESE BOOKS! I cannot wait for the movie to get cast. They better not F*#@ it up!
2. Light in the Shadows by  A. Meredith Walters: This was book 2 in the Clay and Maggie series. Some may remember my Facebook post a month or two ago after I read the first book about it basically being the life story of my senior year of high school. This book was an amazing ending to the story. I cried numerous times, but it was so good and so real. Unless the author writes an epilogue or a book about a sub-character, there should only be the two books in this series. I highly recommend this series as well.
3. Battlescars by Sophie Monroe: I picked this one up as my April Kindle Lending Library read because it was supposed to be a rock star book. This books was so pukey HEA and had very little rock star drama or angst. If you want to know what I thought of it, read only the 1-star reviews of it on Amazon. It pretty much sums up how I felt about it. Please do not waste your time or money. 

As this week at work looks grim yet again, I see a lot of reading in my near future. I expect to start Effortless by S.C. Stephens (book 2 in the series) later today. After that, I think I'm going to start some darker reads that I've been accumulating. All the HEA books are, again, making me sick.

Have a great week, and happy reading!

Long week...and it's only Thursday

What an insane week!

• The plumbing backed up (Easter) Sunday morning - into the living area of the basement nonetheless - and I couldn't get it fixed until almost 4pm on Monday.
• Had to take a day off on Monday to deal with it. Had a 32-hour panic attack while I went to the neighbor's every time I needed to go to the bathroom. Had an anxious, barking dog for the 6 hours there was a plumber in the house. Ugh.
• As I sit here and type this at work (because I'm bored), I have accumulated 6.15 hours of work in three business days. I am making quite a dent in Walking Disaster, though.
• I am forced to say good-bye to a friend and co-worker tomorrow as her life takes her on a new journey. 
• Did I mention I'm so bored at work???
• I was able to do wheel pose in yoga again yesterday. This is a pretty big accomplishment. However, my arms, legs, back, and knees screamed at me when I attempted to do yoga today.
• The stress from the first part of the week has taken its toll on me, and I'm just exhausted...even after getting close to 8 hours of sleep each night.

The good news is that we are celebrating new journeys and birthdays at work tomorrow, and there will be a never-ending supply of food. Also, it's freaking Friday!

Next week, I get one of my fave friends and co-workers back from maternity leave. I have missed her immensely.

Here's to hoping for a gluttonous day tomorrow and a weekend full of recently added Bond movies on Netflix.