Ahh, Monday, Wish it was Sunday!

This weekend was a major let down. I had a laundry list of things I wanted to get done but I only got a few of them marked off. Why you ask? Well, Friday after work I took a tumble down the stairs at home. I have some bruises in some really interesting places. This is what my Casey-Do (Since I don't have a Honey to do a Honey-do list) list looked like on Friday morning.

1.) Complete Invitations and get them in the mail.
2.) Complete Gift Swag Bags (8 total)
3.) Finish painting the ugly 70's inspired foyer with a fresh coat of Buttercream Yellow.
4.) Cut out 100 Barbies with the Cricut.
5.) Laundry
6.) Gather up all the recycling.
7.) Clean room, change sheets (I'm fanatical about sheet changing)
8.) Repaint 3 chairs Pink and cover them in my damask fabric.
9.) Bake Oreo Cupcakes and Smore's Cupcakes
10.) Grocery Shopping for the next 2 weeks.

You may ask well Casey, since you were pretty much flat on your back on Friday and Saturday what were you able to accomplish?

1.) I cut out 4 Barbies.
2.) Grocery shopping for 2 weeks. (Did this Friday BEFORE I got home and fell down the stairs)
3.) Cleaned room, changed sheets (I'm VERY fanatical about sheet changing)
4.) Laundry (Well at least 2 loads.)

That's pretty much it. I was still very sore on Sunday but I had to get the room cleaned at least, that way I wouldn't imagine the dust bunnies rising up against me in a fit of anger over the state of my room. I didn't get my curtains hung yet. I have these Blackout Curtains, basically they are a very pretty purple but if you untie them and put them in front of the windows 0 light gets in. Picked those up at Walmart - awesome!

My ribs are pretty sore, I don't think I broke anything but it was rough going there on Friday evening and Saturday.

Here is some cool news, I was chosen to receive an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) of JK Beck's When Blood Calls. I was chosen because I do tend to blog about what I read and tell you how great I thought the book was, so stay tuned for more information on that, once I receive it you guys will be the first to know!

 I finished two books by Karen Robards while I was laid up. She has a trilogy about the Banning sisters Scandalous, Irresistible, and Shameless. I was able to pick up Scandalous and Irresistible at the local goodwill for a great price of .50 each. Which was quite cool, I've always been a Karen Robards fan and I hadn't read these two books before. (On a side note I also picked up The Pursuit as well, and am almost finished with this one)

We will start with Scandalous. Basically you have the Plain Jane story with a twist. Our Plain Jane is possessed of a temper and she has a bum leg. I can so relate to the Gimpy leg she has. Anyway, the story is set in 1810 and Lady Gabriella (Gabby) receives word that her half-brother who she has only met a hand full of times has been murdered. See, her father was kind of a nut-job and left her and her two sisters with no provisions in the will, so everything passed over to her Half-Brother Lord Wickham. Gabby wanted to do a come out for her sister Claire so that she could find a match (yay, 1800's London!), but since her brother died everything would go over to her much to be desired cousin and his witch of a wife. So Gabby did the only thing she thought she could do. She pretended her brother was still alive and set about arranging Claire's come out.

This where things go horribly wrong for Gabby. When she and her sisters arrive in London to the home their deceased brother owns, they find that he is in residence. Wait. You are totally going, but Casey, you said he was dead! He IS! That is the weird part, there is this man that says he is Wickham and Gabby is the only one who knows he is definitely NOT. Soon London is watching the pair fall in love and the scandal rocks the old biddies down to their pinafores. I mean come-on they think that the two are brother and sister and are carrying on like an illicit affair (which they are but seriously they AREN'T related, but in public they have to appear to be). Well you got to read this one, I thought it was exceptionally good. Any book that contains, love, illicit romances, scandal, spies (yes there are SPIES!) and 1800's London is always fun.

And now on to Irresistible. Irresistible is Claire's story. Claire is already married to an insanely annoying man who she thought she was in love with, but on her way home she gets besieged by some crazy people who kidnap her, she manages to escape by bashing one over the head with a chamber pot (If you don't know what a chamber pot is, imagine a little kids porta-potty in porcelain, yeah real heavy and kinda nasty.) She gets away but gets caught on the beach by some other dudes who take her on a boat and ship her clear across the ocean to France. See what happened is that Claire was mistaken for a French spy and Hugh Battancourt is the man tasked with bringing in the spy, so when Claire makes it to the beach where the REAL spy is supposed to be she is snatched up by accident. But you are so totally wondering who had her kidnapped to begin with. I'm not gonna tell you, I refuse to ruin the book for you, but just think about it and you will figure it out. Anyway, she and Hugh fall in love of course, since she's married and he's a Spy for England nothing can come of it, or so you think. You totally have to read to find out exactly WHO Hugh winds up being and what that means for Claire.

I enjoyed both books, the only downfall I can see is that I don't think there was that many Spies in England and the who spies in the books (Hugh and fake Wickham) aren't related or know about each other in any way. There is a third book, Shameless, which I bet also has a spy. I just kind of find it weird that those particular three sisters fall in love with spies. I mean, what is the likelihood?

I am now reading The Pursuit about the murder of the first lady so I will let you know what I think when I'm done with that!