Sunday, March 30, 2014

SO MUCH MONEY WE NEED TO SPEND!!

Yesterday was kind of fun. We're in the planning stages of doing some work around the old homestead, and yesterday we began doing some of the more fun things.

We've been getting estimates all over the place and are still waiting for a couple, but certain things are decided. So off we went to the flooring store. Usually that's a chore, but it was surprisingly easy this time. We lucked into a fab laminate for our bedroom that was on clearance....normally almost $6 a square foot, on sale for $2.39. It's gorgeous and because of the price, it's a higher quality than I thought we'd be able to get. 

On to the bathroom flooring! That was easy, too! We're getting Armstrong Alterna vinyl, which is what we have in our kitchen. For the bathroom we're going white with a grey marbling. Gotta look better than carpeting in the bathroom, right? Seriously. I'll never understand anybody putting carpeting in a bathroom.

Just to give you an example of what we've had to work with, here's a pic of my bathroom last year.  I'd like you to be aware that this "stunning" blue is what both bathrooms had along with the same cream colored carpeting. So gross. And please don't fail to notice how nicely the carpeting extends up to cover the side of the bathtub area....so considerate of them.
Last spring I learned about Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations and Giani Granite, which is a countertop refinishing system. And this is what I turned my bathroom into.
That tub was also a disaster, but I found a refinishing kit for that, too!  From THIS!
To THIS!
And that, my friends, is how you remodel on a budget. I'm super happy with how it turned out. But now it's time to continue improving it.

Next stop, Menards! Bought a brand spanking new shower and looked at toilets. The number of different styles of toilets is redonk. It's a toilet. How many options could a person possibly need? Color, height, round, elongated....just pick and be done with it already. Sheesh.

I'm getting a new toilet for both bathrooms. My well water here, even with a water softener, has been the absolute bane of my existence for the past 12 years. No matter what I've done or what I've tried, the toilets were stained badly when we moved in and remain stained to this day. It makes me feel like we're filthy people even when the rest of the house is eat-off-the-floor-clean. 

And my shower....BEYOND disgusting. Stained beyond all recognition. As an example of my water, if we get weather cold enough that freezing pipes is a concern, I'll let the water trickle in the spare bathroom and the kitchen.  Within 24 hours, my sinks are orange. And I'm not talking a smidge of orange. So imagine a shower from 1996 getting that water in it every day. Yeah. It's bad.

I've wanted to replace all of these things but said I wasn't going to do that just to have them get all ruined again. There's a water treatment company an hour from me that guarantees that I will never have this problem again. We had them out a few weeks ago to get an estimate. As I had feared, this perfect system costs over $3,000. We were kind of waiting to see how much money all of this other stuff we're doing was going to cost before making a decision on it, but I think we had resigned ourselves to the fact that it was too expensive.

Then last night the lady called and said they have a rental program for it.  Oh, hellz, yes....I am all over that.  I had Kev call her back 15 minutes later and jump on that so they'll be coming out within the next couple of weeks. I am beyond excited knowing that my brand new white shower will remain white, as will both new white toilets. Finally!!!

This week I'm going to pick up some paint swatches for the bedroom. Flooring guy will come on Wednesday to take measurements, and hopefully the ceiling guy will come out to assess what it will cost to fix the water damaged ceilings. I also have one more plumber to get out here to see about getting the shower installed and to get an estimate from him on the new furnace, air conditioning and water heater.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the deck!! I know you'll be waiting with bated breath to hear all about it!

Back when I was posting all of those half-moon mani's, I forgot about this one.
Zoya Godiva, OPI What Wizardry is This half moon mani
I buy these damn pixiedust/textured polishes and very rarely use them.  Since I was trying for something a little different, I went with the Zoya Pixiedust Godiva. My half-moon is OPI What Wizardry is This.  I like Godiva a lot. The OPI I bought because it's really pretty with a topcoat over it or without.

I'm thinking I'm done with half-moons for awhile. I've gotten my fill of them, and Nail It Magazine didn't even use any of the ones I did. Oh, well, I tried.

Sorry for all of the non-related house remodeling stuff, but you'll be reading more of it off and on for awhile probably since that's what's happening in my life.

Don't forget about the giveaway that will be starting soon!!! 


Thursday, March 27, 2014

TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS. AND A WHOLE LOT OF GLEQUINS.

Just imagine how overjoyed I was when I woke up to 4 inches of snow on my deck. Truly, truly thrilled!

Oh, wait. It's not December. It's almost April. For just a minute there I was considering putting the Christmas tree back up. 

It is pretty warm out, though....34 degrees. Of course, that means the snow is the consistency of kindergarten paste so imagine trying to shovel that stuff instead of eating like we all did when we were 5.  Not so pleasant. It weighs so much it knocked out my satellite service.  A tv addict like me certainly can't survive without it, so I had to trudge out there with the roof rake and try to carefully wipe it off without screwing up the alignment.

I got out there and there was just a tiny bit of snow and no ice on it. Why that knocked it out is beyond me, but I pulled off what little was there and came back inside to reset the box. Success!! Go, me!!

Right now it's half raining/half snowing. I'm assuming Kev is going to have simply craptastic roads driving home tonight. He's supposed to get home around 1:30 tonight so I get to worry even more than usual. Fan-frickin-tastic.

This mani is one I've wanted to do for such a long time but just never had the ambition because it was so time consuming. It's a one-hander again....all glittered up with  no place to go. 
Purple hexagon sequin glequin glitter mani
And oh, how it glittered!! Much more than you can see from the picture. I left it on just my left hand for a couple of days and only lost 2 glequins at the tip of my index finger. Not too shabby!  

I used a light lavender as a basecoat before putting each of the glequins on. It was some Color Club without a name. The sequins are kind of sheer purpleish but they changed colors when I'd move my hand. So fun!

I love it. Maybe someday when I have somewhere fancy-schmancy to go, I'll do this on both hands.  

I should probs go figure out something to eat for supper. I had kind of planned on going into town today to do some running and was going to pick something up, but I didn't think it was worth driving on the icy, snowy roads. So I cleaned the house instead.

Keep an eye out here a few days from now! My one year blogiversary is April 1st, and I'm planning to do my first giveaway. I'll also be doing a separate one on Instagram.

Something to look forward to, right?  :)

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I'M GOLDEN. OR ORANGE. OR SOMETHING.

The next time somebody (i.e. my mother, my brother) tells me to "shop local", I'm going to punch them right in the throat.

We have so many things we want to do around here. It's crazy. First call we made was to the water guy. They guarantee pretty much perfect water, which would be a real thrill for me since I've spent 12 years being annoyed by the disgustingly stained shower in my bathroom and the toilets I've tried everything on to get clean.  The second I do get new water, I'm getting new toilets. And a shower.

Anywho, that company is in Iron Mountain, which is an hour away. Called them, and they were here almost immediately to explain the system, test our water and give the estimate. Pricey...no decision made.

Next step, we're considering a new furnace, central air and a new hot water system, either tank or tankless. Kev stopped at the place I call whenever we have issues with the furnace. Told him they'd call to schedule a time to come out. Two weeks pass with no call.

Now, this kind of thing really pisses me off. I give Kev another company to call. I think he got ahold of them after a couple of days, and they set up an appointment to come out here Monday morning at 8:30.  And they don't show up.

So now I'm even more pissed off. Evidently in this shit-economy town I live in where businesses in general are doing horrible, these guys are so independently wealthy they aren't interested in our business? Seriously? We're not talking a few hundred bucks here, people. We're talking serious money.

Kev calls the no-show people, and the receptionist's response was, "Oh, shit! That was today." Well, DUH. Yes, it was today. Since they had guys not too far from my house, she called them, and they showed up about an hour later.

I then tell him to call the first place to give them one more chance to come out. I want more than one estimate for this amount of work. His response, "Oh, you were on my list!"  Well, gee, maybe if we were "on your list" you should have taken 5 minutes to make a damn phone call to schedule an appointment.  "Supposedly" they will be coming out Friday. Time will tell.

Poor Kev has been listening to me fume for two weeks about it. As I told him, do these companies seriously think I can't call someone in Marquette or Iron Mountain or Menominee to come here? I'm thinking there are people that would love to get a job like this.

So yeah. Shop local, my ass.

Now, on the flip side of these idiots is my roofer/contractor. I'll tell you what, if you live anywhere in my area and want something done, T. L. Brunette Contracting. Seriously. The owner, Tony, is the best guy ever. When my ceilings were getting wet from the ice dams, he came out here right away, went and bought the special salt, climbed his ass up on that roof and fixed it. And then came back the next day with another bag of salt and did the front half of the roof.  He must have been up there for almost 2 hours between the two days. I tell him to send me a bill, and he goes on his merry way, and I have a smile on my face because he rescued me while Kev was gone.

A couple of weeks pass, and we still haven't gotten his bill.  In the meantime, Kev called to set up an appointment with him to see about getting some work done around here.  New deck railing, storage attachment to the garage, new side garage door and a new front picture window.

HE shows up. Fast. In fact, he showed up 2 hours early, and I sent him away because Kev wasn't home. He came back right when he was supposed to be here.  We showed him what we wanted done. When Kev asked about a bill for the roof stuff he did for me, Tony said he had done it "no charge for the salt or the labor".  And for the record, he didn't do it for free because he knew we wanted other things done. He did it for free because he's just that kind of guy.

And that, my friends, is how you run a business. Or should, anyway.  He'll have our business for years to come because he actually gives a shit. 

VOTD over.

I did this mani last week, and yes, I actually did both hands because after I did one, I really liked it.  
Kleancolor Holo Orange, China Glaze Harvest Moon striping tape mani
I hadn't originally planned on striping it. I was just looking through my polishes trying to decide what to use. I wanted to use something I hadn't tried before. I came across the Kleancolor Holo Orange that I've had forever and decided it looked kind of pretty on the swatch. 

And it was pretty on its own, but it was also a bit boring. I thought about stamping and did try a few different colors with a pattern, but they just weren't showing up very well. I actually wanted to stamp with the China Glaze Harvest Moon because I liked the contrast. It was just vanishing into the orange, so I grabbed my striping tape and did this.

I love how it turned out. My striping tape skills were in good form, and I didn't even have to redo anything.

Whew! I feel better after all that venting I just did. It's one of the benefits of having a blog.

Monday, March 24, 2014

PUPPIES? MAYBE!!

I'm about to take on a very exciting thing. At least I think it's exciting. After a couple of years thinking about it, we have finally decided to go forward and breed Tinlee, my Golden Retriever.

Man, there is a lot to consider and lots of preparation for this. I've called all over hell and back trying to see where to get her clearances and how much each one costs. Crazy pain in the ass trying to figure it all out. 

Finally through a FB friend I got the solution. She pointed me to a place in Madison, Wisconsin, and they can actually do all of the necessary tests in one place, and the cost is about half of what I would have paid if I went to three different places to do them. It's the only place that can do them all. It'll suck having to drive 5 hours, but it will be worth it in the long run.

I'll be relieved when that's done. God forbid something comes back that prevents breeding. I also am going to be very sad if I find out that she has something that could turn into a problem as she gets older. Obvi Tinlee being healthy is the most important thing, and I would never breed her if she doesn't have good clearances.  

I'm excited about the prospect of maybe having pupsters running around here, but it's pretty scary when I read about all of the things that could go wrong. I guess we shall see and hope that everything works out the way I want it to. Cross your fingers for us!

I have so many mani's stored up that just need posts written. It's redonk. 
Barielle Ocean Breeze, Essie Trophy Wife, Llarowe LeaLac LLC-A stamp
I haven't really had much of a plan for anything I've done lately. I'm still not feeling super inspired by any particular design options. This one I just did because I like the colors. Reason enough, I guess!

The lighter one here is Barielle Ocean Breeze. I used Essie Trophy Wife with my Llarowe LeaLac LLC-A plate. I don't think I've used that particular design before....kinda funky. I'm  not sure what it's supposed to be, if anything.  

All in all, successful, and very pretty colors.  I like the Barielle polishes. I've only bought them a couple of times.  The first time I snagged them when they were on Hautelook.  I LOVE Hautelook and check it every day to see what they have.

I think the first thing I bought from them was polish. Since then I've bought a ton of stuff. I've gotten clothes for myself, clothes for my daughter, shoes for myself and the cutest clothes for Griffin I've ever seen.  I'm mad crazy for Go Couture stuff. I got a top for Tyler for Christmas I was just praying would be too small so I could keep it, but the damn thing fit her.  Dammit.

The stuff I got for Griff was clothes I never could have afforded if I hadn't gotten them there. I'm not paying friggin' $50 for a damn shirt for a 3 year old. I can't believe people actually do that in the first place, but I sure as hell don't have that kind of money.  On Hautelook I was able to afford them because I can afford $12, which is what I paid.

Tyler freaked out when she saw the one shirt. I don't remember the brand, but it was a white long sleeved shirt with a couple of buttons and the bottom half has a New York City scene in shades of grey. It's spectacular. She just told me again yesterday that she hopes it fits him forever. Um, not likely, but unless he gets a major growth spurt it should fit for awhile.

For myself, I was looking at the designer dresses just for funsies the one day and got myself a $900 Halston maxi dress for $79.  That's right....Halston....$79. It's yellow and flowy and gorg, and I can't wait to wear it in Cancun.  

Anywho, bottom line is if you haven't perused Hautelook, you should.  They add new sales every day at 11 a.m. Sometimes I'll go for weeks and not see anything I want, but it's worth looking. They have clothes, shoes, jewelry, household stuff, beauty items, menswear....tons-o-stuff!  Another great thing they've added in the last few months is that most of their stuff can be returned to Nordstrom Rack instead of mailing, and their return policy is 90 days. Nice!!

Wow....rambled on today.  Guess I'm in a chatty mood.  Poor Kev....he might be happy he's leaving in the morning. 

Saturday, March 22, 2014

NAILED IT....RIGHT TO MY WALL! CHECK OUT THE REVIEW!

I could not be more excited about today's post. Recently I received a Facebook message from Cara over at Fox Claws asking me if I'd like to review one of their brand new nail polish racks.

Since I was breathing, was awake and have an IQ higher than 12, I jumped at that opportunity. Seriously, I really would have to be an idiot to turn that one down. I've seen their racks in person before, and I already knew they were pretty spectacular.

The exciting part of this one is that it's their new line. It's made of solid oak, not some craptastic fiberboard or plastic. And believe me, this bitch is solid.  I'm an oak fan in the first place. You'd just have to see my bedroom to know that.  Then she said they were doing a new stain, "ebony". I was excited about that part, too. Little did I know....

I got the shelf a couple of weeks ago but wasn't able to get it hung until yesterday.  In the meantime I've been inspecting it, figuring out where to put it and deciding which drawer of polish I'd be filling it with.

Now, I expected it to be pretty much a solid black. I was looking forward to that. What I got instead is a gorgeous, richly stained ebony/dark brown kind of combo that really enhances the look of the wood grain. I'm in love with it.

It's also made to perfection. You can see that from the pics. Be forewarned, this is a piece of wall furniture. It's oak, and it's quite heavy. If you plan to hang it, it does need to be hung attached to wall studs to keep it secure.  It doesn't have to be hung, though. It's made well enough that it will be perfectly stable standing on it's own on a desk, a dresser....whatever it is you use as a work station.

Now the fun part...the pics!!
Notice the nice edges on each shelf?  Just perfect for keeping those polishes in place.
 Look how beautifully the oak wood grain is enhanced by the stain. Oak is such a rich looking wood.
Here it is hung on my wall.
And here it is once I took every grey polish I own and almost filled it up.
Here's a little bit of info on the small Roxy shelf from the Fox Claws site:

Quick stats:
Capacity: 45 large (CG/OPI), or 54 small (Zoya/Essie)

Size: 22"x16.5"x2.5" - 3 shelves, single tiered (i.e. 1 row of polish on each shelf)

Hardware/Hanging: Includes 2 mounting screws. Mounting holes are set at 16" for standard wall studs. Polish is heavy! We absolutely recommend fastening your rack to your wall studs. If you are unable to do so, please use anchors. We are not responsible for injury, loss of product or damages incurred from racks that have not been properly fastened to the wall. If not hung, rack may tip if not placed against a wall or on an sturdy surface.

They do make other sizes, colors, different styles and have numerous options/upgrades. You can also contact them for custom ordersYou can even buy fancier trim as an add-on if you want something a smidge fancier, which is a great option.

If you're in need of some fantastic polish storage, I highly recommend The Fox Claws racks. They are exceptionally well made, by hand, and are beautiful as well as functional. Choose something small like a desktop display shelf right on up to a large cabinet with doors. There's a size for every need and a color for every decor.

It kind of makes me wish I had less polish and more wall space.




Wednesday, March 19, 2014

SAD TODAY

There are so many days I wish I actually was the heartless bitch I sometimes appear to be.  

There are so many days I wish I didn't care so much for all of the wonderful people I've met on this loveliest of things, the internet.

There are so many days I wish I could turn off tears for the loss these wonderful people feel when they lose someone, person or pet.

Today is one of those days.

For the past few days there are many who have waited and prayed for a beautiful Golden Retriever, not quite 2, who got into something she shouldn't have. We waited and prayed to see if she'd be fine on her own; we waited and prayed to see if she'd come through her surgery; we waited and prayed to see if she'd beat the resulting infection; we waited and prayed even harder to find out what the second surgery would find.

And then we cried. Buckets of tears, just like the ones that are falling down my cheeks right now because that beautiful little Haven just couldn't conquer what she had gone through.

I remember when Martha and Rick got her. It's always such fun when one of us gets a new puppy. Seriously, is there anything better?  She joined a family full of the love of her people parents as well as some other furbabies who I'm sure found her annoying at first but who I'm sure ultimately grew to love her, too.

Seriously, just look at that face with that smile that Goldens are so well known for.
Haven was well loved throughout her too short time here.

We "meet" these people just through a computer screen a majority of the time. We take the time and make the effort to "know" them as well as we can through that screen. We spend hours reading about their lives, commenting, laughing, giving advice, and yes, learning to love them as if they were actually sitting in our living rooms.

And because of that, when they have hard times...or pain...or grief of any kind, we feel it. We feel it so hard.  Maybe that seems ridiculous to some.  To those that don't/won't/can't get it, I say, "It's your loss".  Because I wouldn't trade these people for anything even though it means I feel the pain as well as the joys.

There are a lot of hearts hurting today in sync with Martha and Rick, and there are a lot of friends, actual and virtual, who wish they could take away their pain.  Simply put, we love them, and we'll keep right on praying, this time to ease their sorrow.

And yes, you do get to see a mani because I happened to have one from a couple of weeks ago.
Ruby Kisses Dark & Delicious, Zoya Brigitte, Zoya Rue, saran wrap, Cheeky H stamp
I happen to love this. I know you're shocked to see me say that because I seldom do.  For the deep burgundy, I used Ruby Kisses Dark & Delicious. I crumpled up some saran wrap and dabbed on Zoya Brigitte. I had also planned on stamping with Brigitte, but it wasn't showing up very well, so I stamped with Zoya Rue instead.  The stamp pattern came off of my Cheeky H plate.

It turned out exactly like I wanted it to, and I love the marbley kind of effect I got with the saran wrap.

That'll do it for me today.  My heart just isn't in nails or manicures today.

My mind and my heart have business elsewhere.

Monday, March 17, 2014

WE'LL JUST CALL THIS IRISH

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Not that I care since I don't have an Irish bone in my body. And I don't like green beer. I never really understood the fascination with this particular holiday. I will admit that years ago I did use it as an excuse to go out and drink a smidge more than usual with my best friend. Of course any excuse back then was excuse enough.

I could tell some great stories about those days, but then I'd have to kill you.

This year our major partying for the day was ordering Dominoes for supper.  Last night we went to dinner at the casino for dinner. It was Kev's 40th birthday, and we figured what better way to mark the occasion than by losing some cash. We did have fun, though!

Now today we've both just been lazy, catching up on over a week's worth of tv because he was gone for 8 days straight.

I didn't bother with a festive manicure to "celebrate", but I did have this green one from a few weeks ago that I'm going to count as a St. Paddy's mani.  
Julep Susie, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Loreal Hyde Park, Square Hue Bikini Beach, Ninja Polish DRK-A stamp
I started with a gradient of Julep Susie, Essie Turquoise & Caicos and Loreal Hyde Park. I used the Mash white stamping polish and the flowers from the Ninja Polish DRK-A plate and then just did the centers with my dotting tool and Square Hue Bikini Beach.

Some of my flowers kind of smeared. Pissed me off but not enough to redo them. 

And that, my friends, wraps up my very non-exciting Monday, March 17th. If you happen to be Irish, I hope you found a way to celebrate the day!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

COACH NAILS - SMATCHING MY PURSE

What the hell? Winter is back in full swing. Again. I realize that I just said I can't ever remember what day it is, but I sure as hell remember that it was in the 40's on Monday.  I also know that last night at 2:30 a.m. it was -6. Stop already!! We are tired of freezing our asses off up here!

On a happier note, I got my first shipment of new nail plates yesterday. SO fun! They were so well packaged it took me about 30 minutes to open the package and then another 30 to peel that damn blue protective film off of them. That might or might not be an exaggeration of the time frame, but you get my drift.

I'm super happy with the new plates. The images are extra large even though the description of the plates says "medium".  They are also a fantastic price. I paid $19.20 for four plates, which is crazy when you consider that I paid between $18 and $20 for each of my other large plates. You can check them out on AliExpress.  In fact, they are even a little bit cheaper than when I bought them. I ordered them on February 26th, and I'm satisfied with how fast I got them from overseas.   So no complaints here.

The plates are well made, and the engraving seems to be good.  I've tried several of the designs, and they all worked perfectly. I was very happy to see a small design for The Big Bang Theory which is a fave show of mine, but they spelled it "Theoay".  Not a big deal, and it did make me laugh.

I messed around just trying stuff out on a paper plate for part of the day and did do one other mani before this one. I sat and pondered the Coach symbol for a bit and then decided it might be fun to try and match my purse.

It turned out better in my head. I tried multiple yellow-oranges, but none of them wanted to really show up properly over the blue. I still think it's pretty adorbs.
Zoya Ibiza, Salon Perfect Bellini, Fresh Paint Coconut, AliExpress 12-50 stamp, Coach mani
My navy blue on this one is Zoya Ibiza, and I stamped with Salon Perfect Bellini and Fresh Paint Coconut. The Coach stamp is found on the AliExpress 12-50 stamp.

Cute, right? I'm actually sitting here debating whether or not I want to do the right hand, too. It's only Thursday, and I have no plans to leave the house so I don't know if I should bother because I may want to play more with some of these plates.

Ahhh, all this playing with Coach stuff really makes me want a new Coach purse, but I really can't justify another one. The one in this pic is my newest one that I got from the Coach online outlet store, and I got it for $80 which was a steal!!

I love that site. My daughter had to send me an invite so I could join. Then they send you invites when you're eligible for a sale. I've never waited for an invite; I just log in to see if there's a sale going on that I can get to.  If anybody would like an invite to join, give me your email address, and I'll log in and send one to you. They are slow to do it, though, so don't rush right off to your email expecting to see it there.

Now I'm off to each some Peeps and jelly beans. It's a perk of being a grownup....candy even though it's getting close to dinner time.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

NOT A CLUE

I swear half the time I'm not even sure what day it is anymore. Without working every day runs into the next. At least three times today I've questioned whether it was Monday or Tuesday. Then I remember watching The Bachelor last night so I know it's Tuesday today.  Pathetic.

And speaking of reality tv, did any of you watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta this week?  Cuz if you did, that resort they went to in Mexico is my resort in Mexico, The El Dorado Casitas Royale. The presidential suite that crazy Kenya was staying in is in the section where we stay. Our membership gets us the rooms like the rest of the ladies have with their own pool that leads to the lazy river. It's my favorite place on earth, and I can't wait to go back again in September. 

I also don't remember what day I did this mani. Last week? The week before? Did I do both hands? Couldn't tell ya. Since I don't go anywhere very often I tend to do just paint my left hand lately. 

So I'm not sure when or why I did this one. I don't think I had a reason for the color scheme, either. 
Zoya Normani, Zoya Taylor, DRK-C stamp
I started with Zoya Normani from the 2014 Zoya Naturel Collection. I bought all six of them, and they are all fabu. I just love Zoya. I stamped on it using Zoya Taylor from that same  collection and the DRK-C stamp from Ninja Polish.

It's not very exciting, but I like it.  I've been kind of bored with my stamping plates recently, and I finally broke down and bought a bunch more. I'm excited to get them so I have something new to play with.

I just remembered why I used these colors. All six of the collection were still sitting next to me on the end table after swatching them.

In other words, I was too damn lazy to go find something else.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

FOIL TOPCOATS - BEST SO FAR

In the ongoing saga that is my shithole of a house, today my front picture window thought it would be appropriate to start leaking. It did this a few years ago, and if I'm not mistaken, it has something to do with the ice melting on the roof.  Figures it's finally warm out, and I don't even get to be happy about it. I call bullshit.

Whatevs. Not a damn thing I can do about that for now so I'm just going to pretend it ain't happening.

I got some pretty great news today, too. My 14 year old grandson sang a duet at solo and ensemble, and they did great! So great, in fact, that they are moving on to the Wisconsin state solo and ensemble festival. It's pretty unusual for freshmen to accomplish that, and I couldn't be any prouder than I am right now. I have many fond memories of making it to state competition in Michigan for that, so it makes me very happy that he is continuing the family tradition. I hope he cherishes these trips. I also hope he behaves better than I did on those trips. (yikers!!!!!)

After playing around with foils a couple of weeks ago, one of my readers suggested a topcoat by Revolution. Then I wandered around the web to find it, read about it and see what other people say about it. As usual, I got sidetracked by another link. I don't remember where I saw it, but somebody posted about a topcoat on Amazon that supposedly worked for foils. 

I went to the link and decided I would grab it to try. I posted a question about it, and the seller contacted me almost immediately. She told me that it works without ruining her foils and that she would refund my moolah if I didn't like it.

I've played with it over a couple of different foils now, and I have to say, I am impressed. It still isn't perfect, especially over a smooth silver or gold. I have a feeling that I'm just not going to find a perfect topcoat that doesn't affect my foils.  

I am, however, quite pleased with my results.  
 
My method on these were after I applied the foils, I let them dry for a bit and then put the topcoat on. The topcoat stayed a tiny bit tacky for awhile. I did a second coat, and I made sure that I really went a bit past the cuticles and sidewalls of my nails. I wanted that topcoat to get the edges really well. 

Once that second coat dried and I finished cleanup with my tiny brush, I put on two coats of Orly Glosser.  During my wanderings I had also seen somebody say that the Orly worked on foils. It does not.  It did work well as a more normal shiny topcoat on top of the foil topcoat. I think a traditional topcoat as a finisher was the best way to go. 

I am now planning to buy that Revolution topcoat to see if it's any better. The Amazon one is a mini bottle and doesn't come any larger, so I suppose I should also buy another one of those.  After that, I'm done. I think I'll be satisfied enough with what I just did, and it's nice to know I can at least use my more patterned foils if I want to.

I bought all of my foils from Dollar Nail Art. They have a great selection and a great price. A dollar! I bought a bunch over a year ago, and my nail group did a group buy because they do have a $25 minimum order.

I see Amazon has some good deals on foils, and I think I might buy some from there. One thing nice about Dollar Nail Art is you can choose just what you want, but I hate that minimum order nonsense.

When I was digging through my stash of foils, I had to laugh when I saw the little bags of 48 rhinestones I bought for a buck. Little did I know back then that I could buy thousands of them for only a few dollars more. Of course I never thought I would ever want to own thousands of rhinestones.

Little did I know.
 

Friday, March 7, 2014

HALF MOON AND STARS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY

Today is my daddy's birthday. He would have been 86. I don't remember him ever being sick up until his 72nd year. He was diagnosed with colon cancer on July 5, 1999 and was gone in November. I was a daddy's girl, and I miss him terribly. I have very few photos of him. This younger shot of him was given to me by the funeral home. It's in a nice frame with a lovely saying that I keep on my dresser, and I talk to him every time I pick it up to dust. 

The other shot is a 4th of July pic, but I'm not sure from what year exactly. It was my dad's tradition to take my girls to a neighboring town on the 4th to the parade and then to his best friend's grocery store. They came home with way too much candy every year, and that part of the 4th was theirs and only theirs.  I don't believe either of the girls have gone to that parade since he died. Actually, Tyler decided immediately that she would never go to that one again. 

He was a good dad, a good grampa and was genuinely a nice person.  To this day if anybody mentions him around town, I'll be told how cute he was and how much they loved him. He drove a milk/ice cream truck when I was a child and was still working for a dairy company as a salesman when he died at 72.  He was a people person, and it suited him well. I don't think he had even considered retiring.  He bowled the shift before me every Wednesday night, and every week was the same. I'd come in, give him a kiss and tell him I love him. Then my best friend would do the same. The guy was just simply adorbs. Truly. I can say that in a completely unbiased way because you wouldn't be able to find a single person in this town that disagrees.

Everybody always said I was his favorite. Well, I always said it, too, and I was damn serious. As with most relationships, it's possible I was wrong, but I don't think so. We had a different bond than he had with my siblings, I think. We weren't big on deep conversations, but we always said I love you every time we saw each other. I wrote him a letter a few weeks before he left and told him everything I wanted to say.  He gave that letter back to me with tears one of the last times I saw him and said it was only for us to see. I made sure I was the last one at his casket before they closed it, and I gave that letter back to him.  It was a pretty long letter, but I told him what I think was important; I told him that even if I really wasn't his favorite, he always made me feel like I was.

Like I said....he was a really good daddy. 

Now that I'm done with that bit of rambling, I do actually have a mani to show.  It's another of the half moon mani's I had done a couple of weeks ago.
China Glaze Bogie, Color Club Fashion Addict, Cheeky A stamp, half moon mani
It's purple, so I for sure like the color. It's China Glaze Bogie which is an oldie but a goodie for me.  After trying quite a few different stamp patterns I decided on the stars from my Cheeky A plate and used Color Club Fashion Addict for stamping. If you don't already own Fashion Addict, you should. It stamps amazingly well, and it's a very pretty shimmery/almost holo light purple. I love it.

I didn't love this manicure, but I like it all right. I moved on to another one immediately afterwards, of course.  But it pretty much turned out exactly how I wanted it to, and I can't really ask for more than that, right?

I'm trying to get inspired to do some playing over the weekend, but I'm not so much in nail mode at the moment. 

Right now I'm in missing daddy mode so I think I'll just go ahead and wallow in that for a bit. 

Sunday, March 2, 2014

HUMMINGBIRD FINGERS!!!!

Today I spent a whole bunch of time looking at my hummingbird pictures and videos. I just really miss that adorable chirping. I'm just dying for spring so they'll come back.

For months I've been thinking about getting a puppy pawprint tattoo on my foot, and today it occurred to me that maybe I'd also like a hummingbird tattoo. Why it took me this long to think of that brilliant idea is beyond me. 

Of course the first place I went was google to look for pictures. I know that I would want one that's tiny.  I have no tats now, and I'm certainly not gonna' get a nice big tramp stamp at my age. Lordie, that would be pretty effing hilarious, tho.  I also wouldn't want something big enough to give my mother cardiac arrest, although that is a distinct possibility no matter what size I get.  I've already been advised on many occasions that, a) I dress too young b) I should stop being blonde and c) at some point,  meaning SOON, I'm going to have to cut off my hair.  I never know quite what to say when she does that to me. It's not like these kind of convos are new, but I refuse to force myself into gumpsville. Ever.

So yeah, me getting any kind of tattoo might just push her over the edge.  Just one more thing in a very long list that she won't approve of.  So I'll be pondering that tattoo. I think it would be cute on the inside of my wrist, but I don't know if there's anyone around here I would trust to do a photo-realistic hummer that small. We shall see.

In the meantime, I decided I would settle on a hummingbird on my nails.  I bought my first water decals on eBay a few weeks ago. I've never used them before and have been hanging onto them until I'd actually be wearing them so they'd be seen.

Today I couldn't wait any longer. Since I didn't want to use them up, I opted for just doing one on each ring finger. Then I matched my other nails to the flower of the decal. 
I'm pretty happy with this. Really happy, actually.  I did ruin two decals in the process, but I still have enough left to do a complete set. And they were cheap so I'll probs buy some more. I'm thinking I might just get some Golden Retriever ones, too. Just for funsies.

My pink here is LA Colors Electric Charge. I can't remember ever using an LA Color to just do a normal paint job, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. For such a cheap polish its formula was great. I'm not even sure where I got this one. It was in my top drawer of pinks which means I got it way back when I first started doing my nails.

And that's my afternoon in a nutshell. Kev is on his way home so this evening will be spent getting caught up on our tv shows and discussing some things we're thinking of doing around the house. Fun things like a new furnace, water tank, etc. Actually, those aren't fun things at all. Just mother-effing expensive as hell things.  

I need my ship to come in or a money fairy to stop by. Soon.