Wednesday, February 25, 2015

NOW THIS IS BRIGHT!!

I'm sure you will all be very relieved that we still get to go to the concert. It got rescheduled to Monday, and luckily I struck a deal with the bossman to work a couple of different days so I can have Monday and Tuesday off. 

Right now I'm fuming. I just went outside, fell down on the ice and put a hole in the knee of my jeans. Of course they are one of my favorite pairs. I'm going to do an iron on patch from the inside. Hopefully they'll not look too bad when I'm finished.

Now my knees and the palms of my hands hurt. (insert self-pity here)

I did this mani the other night. Holy brightness.
China Glaze Sneaker Head, American Apparel Poppy, Pure Ice Show Stopper, QRS Love is Blue, Essie The Girls Are Out swirl spiral water marble
This one wasn't so easy. I don't know why I attempt these swirly water marbles. They are a headache. My colors for this one are China Glaze Sneaker Head, American Apparel Poppy, Pure Ice Show Stopper, QRS Love is Blue and Essie The Girls are Out.

I think I had to re-do at least 6 during this process. Sometimes water marbles are no fun.

I'm kind of excited to head home. After waiting for 10 months since getting the estimate to fix all of the ceilings in our house, today was day 2 of the work. By the time I get there, all of them should be smooth. By Friday they should be completely finished. Kiss those hideous popcorn ceilings buh-bye and good riddance.

I was also very excited because I ordered a new ceiling light for my bedroom on Monday and was even more happy because it was going to be delivered today.

Imagine my disappointment when I got a text from Tyler in Illinois. Evidently I forgot to change the shipping address in my account from when I sent her some boots last fall. So she has my new light fixture sitting at her house. I'm not going to pay to ship the dang thing so now I won't get it for probably at least 2 months.

And once again, I hate when I'm stupid.  I think I really should have born a blonde since being fake blonde makes me an airhead.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

SHOULD BE FUN - OR NOT

Looks like my work life is changing again starting next week.  At first the idea didn't appeal when bossman asked if I wanted to work extra hours on Thursdays. Right now I've only been working mornings. It sounded lame. I've liked having Thursday afternoons off because it extended the weekend.

I've also been off all day on Wednesdays since I went back to work. After thinking about it for 3.2 seconds, I told him I'd work all day Wednesdays instead of working on Thursday afternoon. So now I only work Monday through Wednesday, and I get to have full four day weekends. So a bit of an increase in my paycheck. Sweetness.

I took today off because we're heading off to Milwaukee to meet up with my fave pilot friend to go to a Barry Manilow concert. I don't  personally know many 40 something males that are Fanilows, but I know one now. I've had the pleasure of seeing Manilow twice in the past.

Stop laughing at me. Right now!

I must admit I was pretty amused when Pruett texted me about the concert. Of course, he always amuses me. He tends to drunk text me when Kev goes off to meet up with him for drunken shenanigans.  I think he's more excited about the concert than I am. And say what you want and make fun of Barry all you want, but the man can really sing, puts on a good show, and I pretty much love all those songs from the 70's.

That meant I had to put something on my nails that I could live with for a couple days.
OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, China Glaze Admire, Ali Express AP-10 stamp
The base is OPI Lincoln Park After Dark matte, and I stamped with China Glaze Admire, which is a frosty pink that just happens to stamp really well. I used the Ali Express AP-10 stamping plate for the design.

This looks much better in person, and even though I took at least 15 pictures, I just couldn't capture it well enough to satisfy me.

Oh, shitballs. The Graham luck strikes again. Pruett just texted us to let us know the concert is now postponed until March 2nd. Evidently Barry is not feeling well and has doctor's orders to be off for the week. Of course Kev can't go then, and I really shouldn't ask for another day off since it would be the third time this month.

Now I'm not sure what we're going to do now. We could still go and just drink and hang out, or I could stay home and just let Kev go off for their usual drunken shenanigans.

Color me super pissed off.

Friday, February 20, 2015

OH, WHAT A DAY!!

It has been an interesting couple of days here. Charter was here when I got home from work yesterday setting us up with cable and our new Tivo box. As usual, we got the workers that didn't really know how to connect things up with Tivo. We had Tivo years ago and really liked it. We've been swearing at DirecTv every damn day for the past couple of years. We only got it in the first place because their dvr recorded more shows at a time, and it was cheaper than cable.

Finally last week after not being able to watch a few of our fave shows due to the pixelating and pausing that happens every day, it occurred to me that maybe we should just go back to cable and look into getting Tivo again.  I looked at the Tivo website and once I discovered they have a box that will record 6 things at once, I told Kev to start looking at our options.

By the end of the next day it was decided. Ditch DirecTv and go back to Charter. Add on Tivo. Discover that monthly it's going to be something like $60 cheaper right now and will only go up $20 in a couple of years. Say whaaaa??  Why did it take me so long to think of Tivo??  

So now everything is installed, and I have to watch everything that's on my DirecTv dvr so we can send it back. And bonus, we get to keep the satellite dish. Why is that? What the hell am I supposed to do with a spare satellite dish? I guess we'll keep it as a decoration to cover the holes in the roof where it's installed. Cute.

When I went to bed at 2 a.m. last night, it was 24 below zero outside. In this cold I've been keeping the water running in the kitchen and the spare bathroom 24/7. It was running when I went to bed.

At 8 a.m., the phone rings. I'm swearing as I get up, wondering who the jerkoff is that's calling me so early. Well, it was Kevin, who got up at 4 a.m. to go to work. He was calling to tell me the pipes were frozen. At that point I was in shock. That means sometime in a 2 hour time span, the pipes froze even with the water running. That is crazy! As we're talking, he asks me to do him a "favor" and run outside to the side of the house where the crawlspace is. Evidently when the cable guys were here they had to go under the house. 

And the bricks that cover that area didn't get put back, so all of the pipes had nothing blocking all that cold from getting to them. So that's fantastic. I put a call in to a couple of plumbers and the one I reached said they were swamped but would be out between 11 and 2. 

Then I wander into the living room and find the bag from the party size bag of Hershey Kisses laying on the living room floor.  Empty.  Rut-roh. I had them out last night and was chomping on them while waching tv and went to bed, leaving it on the end table. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but I guess when Kev left for work, Baylee got pissed and decided to be bad.

So now it's semi-panic time because I have an 80 lb. Lab who has eaten probably 20 oz. of chocolate. She was acting fine, but I called the vet just to ask advice. They told me to give her peroxide and make her puke. I gave her peroxide, and the idiot wouldn't puke. In the meantime, she's still acting fine. I waited a couple of hours and did the peroxide thing again, and she finally threw up. The only thing it accomplished was proving she was the guilty party because I found a wrapper. She then made several trips outside to dispose of her gourmet breakfast from the end opposite of where it went in.

She's fine, thank God. As usual, it caused me more stress than it caused her. 

In the middle of all this, the water came back on as I was talking to the second plumber who had called me back after getting my message from 8:30. So after telling him I didn't need him, I then called the other guy to cancel.

Overall, the morning was eventful, but everything turned out fine. Needless to say the water will be running at a little bit bigger trickle when I go to bed tonight, although it isn't suppose to be nearly as cold as last night. I ain't risking it.

Here's my mani from yesterday.
Nfu Oh 65, China Glaze Take a Trek, Darling Diva Queen of the Night, gradient, Essie No Place Like Chrome, LeaLac LLC-A stamp
I friggin' love this one. All three of the blues are holo although they really don't show it much. The lighest blue is Nfu Oh 65, the mid blue is China Glaze Take a Trek, and the navy is Darling Diva Queen of the Night. Buy Queen of the Night. Immediately. As a matter of fact, go buy a bunch of their polish. It is amazing.

Of course I couldn't just leave it alone, so I stamped on it with Essie No Place Like Chrome with the LeaLac LLC-A plate.

Did I mention I love this one? I'm still wearing it, although I am considering taking it off to play. Or maybe I'll just keep looking at it until Sunday when I'll need to do something else before going to work on Monday.

Now I'm going to marathon watch some more television. I've been trying to watch while typing this, but it isn't working. I've rewound the show 5 times now because I'm not paying attention to it.  

I wish I had some Hershey Kisses to nibble.


Wednesday, February 18, 2015

TEEN MOMS

For many years, back before spring 2012 when I started this tiny nail obsession, I spent a few hours of each day entering sweepstakes. Not only did I enter for myself and Kev, I also entered for my girls, their hubbies and my ex husband. Translation - hours entering with 8 different email addresses.

While I realize this might sound even more insane than doing my nails every day, it provided some pretty amazing things over the years in the way of vacays and stuff. It gave Kev and I trips to New York,  Palm Springs, and a trip to Cabo.  The travel certificate I won we used to go to what became our fave place in Cancun. It also gave us a fantastic, one of a kind trip to LA to attend the Screen Actors Guild awards, and if you were watching it, you would have seen Kev on the red carpet. We stayed at the Four Seasons, had limo service the entire trip, dinners at a couple of the hottest restaurants, professional pics by People Magazine and not only walked that famous red carpet into the event, we had admittance to the after party where we schmoozed with the stars. To say it was amazing would be an understatement. I even had a professional hair person and a makeup person come to our room to get me all gussied up. Now that I typed all that, I just want to relive that experience all over again.

The same week we were notified of winning that trip, we were notified that we had won a ten day trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately, we had to either choose one or the other because Kev couldn't get the time off for both. We've also turned down a trip to the Dominican Republic. Two years ago I won us a trip to Vegas to stay at Caesar's and see Shania Twain during her opening weekend. I have the autographed guitar I got still boxed up in the closet.

I have completely digressed from what my point was to be. But if you're bored, go enter some sweepstakes. lol

Because I entered all of these sweepstakes over the years, I get a ridiculous number of emails every day. I'd say 99.9% of that is junk which I barely glance at before deleting.  As I glance, I read the so-called "news" headlines, and I'm using the word "news" loosely.

Even as a tv junkie that is unashamed to admit watching every episode of every Real Housewives show and just about any other reality show I can stuff onto my dvr, I want to know in what universe is "How the Teen Moms Spent Valentines Day" news? Shit....does/should that even count as "entertainment" news?

Every day I delete literally dozens of emails that are about any Kardashian or Jenner (puke), Bieber (puke), a ton of rappers or their "ladies" that nobody should ever care about (puke), and of course, Kanye, the biggest pukiest douchebag of all time.

I bet every one of you reading this remembers when entertainment news actually referenced people that had talent. I'm still waiting for somebody to explain to me what talent any Kardashian has that makes them even slightly entertaining. Unless, of course, you consider the "talent" Kim K. must have exhibited in that sex tape. 

And since when is becoming pregnant while still in high school considered entertaining? While I do realize that sometime people aren't careful and do get pregnant, what about that situation warrants a tv show and the resulting reality fame and income? If I'm not mistaken, I think a couple of them have now had more than one child. News flash, gals; science has pretty much cracked the code on how to get laid and not get preggers. Let's pretend you have enough brain power to blow the snot out of your own nose and then give you a child to raise. God help us all.

Methinks the world is going to hell in a hand basket. The whole thing just makes my stomach churn.

My brain hurts now.

This mani hurts my brain, too.
OPI My Paprika is Hotter than Yours, Konad white, DRK-C  stamp
I had a completely different plan in my head when I started this. I wanted to do a saran wrap orange/black with a white stamp on top, but I hated how the plastic wrap was making it look. Rather than fight with it, I gave up.

The orange is OPI My Paprika is Hotter than Yours, and I used Konad white for the DRK-C image.

I wore this for a day before doing the grey mani from yesterday's post. All day long at work Monday I just kept thinking how orange this is.

Maybe I'll wear just a plain mani tomorrow. I don't know. I have a few pretty dark holos I haven't worn yet. Can I be happy just wearing a color all by itself??

My brain hurts.

 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

IT'S A GREY DAY

Today after work, I watched my cute red Alero drive away for the last time. I'm happy for the young lady that bought it, and she was super excited about it. When we were messaging early this afternoon she said she was considering taking a nap so the time would go by faster.

So she's happy, and I'm sad. I really will miss that car, especially when (if) summer ever gets here. I like driving an SUV in the winter, but I loved having a smaller car when it's nice out. I'm assuming I'll like my Outback in the summer since it has a moon roof just like the Alero. I'm just going to convince myself of that.

Oooo, I got my Macy's card in the mail today, too! When we were in Illinois shopping, I decided to sign up at checkout because it saved me an extra 20% off everything I bought. After she finished ringing up my rather ginormous sale, she told me that not only did I get the 20% off that day, she said when my statement came I'd be getting an additional 20% off. As soon as the card came I set up my account online, and sure enough, an additional $68 was taken off the bill. Super sweet!! Definitely worth getting the card that I'll probably never use.

I'm so tired of this weather. It's just cold and wintery and gloomy, and I am over it. Well, I was never under it, but at this point I would be thrilled to just have some 30 degree weather. That'll practically be shorts weather.

Last night I decided to do a mani that reflects the mood of the weather.
Julep Winter, Julep Janae, MoYou Fashionista 04 stamp
I actually forget to use grey polish. It's the only color I keep on that fantabulous polish rack that Cara from Fox Claws made. Somehow even though it's hanging right there above my Helmers, I just never think to grab a polish off of it.

But last night I did. I even used one with an appropriate name, Julep Winter, which is the light base. Julep Janae is the darker grey I used with the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate.

Speaking of stamping plates, I got an email from Bundle Monster today advertising their new XL designs. I didn't think I'd be interested, but then I made the mistake of looking at them. I had to buy two of the three sets, and I'm excited about it. They are larger versions of earlier designs. 

I'm going to be happy to get them because I have most of these designs on the original round plates. I bought them from Amazon way back when I first started doing my nails, and I can't use any of those because the images are way too small. So many of them I really love and wanted to use but couldn't, and now I'll be able to.

I guess it didn't take me long to spend that extra Macy's savings. It did make me feel less guilty about buying them, though.

Monday, February 16, 2015

NOT A HEART IN SIGHT

And a big hello to Monday. I slept for a solid 6 straight hours last night. I got out of bed as soon as the alarm went off just like normal, but for some reason I was completely disoriented. On any other day I would pop up, go around the end of the bed and go into the bathroom. This requires taking a right, a right and a left in a pretty short area.

Today, however, I decided I would pop out of bed and instead of taking that first right at the end of the bed I angled left which leads me to my long dresser. Too bad I wasn't conscious enough to realize that. I fumbled around for a few seconds, lost in my own damn bedroom. SO weird. 

I didn't actually figure out where the eff I was until I reached onto the dresser and knocked off my sisters angel figurine. I knew right then I wasn't going to be happy once I turned the light on, and sure enough, one sister no longer has wings. I'm sure I can easily glue them back on. Unfortunately the wings fell behind the dresser, and there is no way to get to them. Of course.

I wore this mani for a couple of days last week and didn't have time to take it off until last night. 
Zoya Blu, China Glaze Man Hunt, DRK Themes Enlaced stamp
I'm really having a hard time picking colors I feel like wearing lately. I do like this baby blue, though. It's Zoya Blu. I stamped with China Glaze Man Hunt and the DRK Themes Enlaced plate.

Even though I liked it, I was really sick of looking at it after a couple of days. And then I had it on for 4 days longer than that. Even seeing it here, I'm sick of it.

I'm in a mood in general, I think. Slump city. Nothing I'm doing is tickling my fancy, which pretty much takes the fun out of it. I need my brain to fire on some more cylinders and get my imagination working.

I mean, everybody likes their fancies tickled, right?

 

Sunday, February 15, 2015

GUESS I'M A BIG HONKIN' LIAR

I actually got some sleep last night. Not a lot, but certainly more than Friday night. And it was a consecutive almost 5 hours which made it even better. Did I want to get up at 7:45? Not really, but I've gotten lots of puppy play and tv in today.

Seeing the -17 temperature wasn't so great. Poor Tinlee and Seven were having a very hard time with it. They would go out, and their feet were so cold they could barely walk. Tinlee would try to come in but would only take a step or two at a time because it was hurting her. It makes me feel so bad when that happens. It's warmed all the way up to -3 now so it isn't quite as terrible for her. I imagine later tonight it won't be good.

On a good note, I finally sold my old car! She's coming to get it this week. I'm happy for her, and I think she's going to be happy with it. At least I hope she is. I want her to love having it as much as I did. And even better, Kev will love having his side of the garage back.

I completely forgot I had this mani in my drafts. Probably because I had temporarily titled it "failure". I had put the good mani in as well as the craptastic one so when I was doing my posts, I didn't even look at it because the fail is so bad I decided not to post it at all. 

So I lied about no more hearts. This one was supposed to be my actual Valentine's Day post because it's red.
Kleancolor Metallic Red, Konad  White, DRK Themes Enlaced stamp, Valentine hearts
I used Kleancolor Metallic Red with Konad white and the new DRK Themes Enlaced stamping plate. The Kleancolor metallics can really stain, so I did this one because I knew I'd be soaking off my nails later that day.

It's red; it's got hearts; it's cute; I like it. That's all I need to say about it.

Now.....I promise that's it. No more stinkin' hearts for awhile!  I just need to think of an idea for this evening after Seven goes back to her actual home. 

And then keep my eyes propped open long enough to do it.


Kleancolor Metallic Black, Kleancolor Metallic Red, DRK Themes Enlaced roses Valentine stamp

Saturday, February 14, 2015

AND A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

It is viciously cold here. As in "under a civil emergency" alert for the Upper Peninsula. The temp for most of the day at my house has been right around 0, but the 30 mile per hour winds with 40 mile per hour gusts have made it file like a steamy -25. 

Not the best kind of weather for puppysitting. I feel bad every time Seven and Tinlee want to go outside. Baylee doesn't care about the heat or the cold ever, but poor Seven and Tinlee are out there picking up their feet because they're freezing. And since the puppy plays so hard, she drinks a lot and has to go outside a lot more often than my dogs usually do.

She's still such a little love, but the little love didn't so much want to sleep last night. For some reason she thought jumping on me to play at 3:30 was appropriate. I disagreed. I let her outside and let her chase the laser for a bit to try to wear her out. She then woke me again at 5, 6 and 8, which is when I finally  just said screw it and stayed up.

Tinlee hasn't been too interested in her this time around. Seven has been trying to play more with Baylee, who really isn't interested but she hasn't learned the fine art of staying out of Seven's way. My ex sis-in-law stopped out with Razzie, though, so the siblings got to raise hell for just over an hour. They roughhoused non-stop for the entire time, and Seven completely passed out within a minute of them leaving.  Even I then managed a half hour nap.

Here's the final heart-themed mani I did, and hopefully the last one you'll see for awhile.
Sinful Colors Baby Blues, Morgan Taylor Supra Ultra Violet, Ali Express 12-51 Valentine heart stamp
The lighter purple is Sinful Colors Baby Blues, and the darker purple for the Ali Express 12-51 heart stamp is Morgan Taylor Ultra Violet. This is another one I thought was cute but didn't wear it anywhere.

Seven finally woke up long enough to eat and play for a few minutes but has now gone back to sleep. Methinks I might be in trouble again tonight. I think she's planning to sleep all evening, saving up her energy for 4 a.m.

My dvr is pretty full from being gone last weekend.  Do I keep on watching right now?  Or do I take another nap to prepare for an all-nighter with the pupster? Quite the conundrum.

Geez, I remember when all-nighter meant something completely different. 

Thursday, February 12, 2015

GOTTA HAVE PINK, RIGHT?

I am ready to shove these fingernails right up somebody's ass. Not even kidding. After trying so hard to apply them more carefully yesterday, that damn left thumb popped off after work today. What was I doing? Unbuttoning my jeans. Really.

Not only that, the only ones that actually feel secure right now are my pinkies and my left ring and middle fingers. I honestly don't know what the problem is. I went through this a few months ago where I was having problems, and just as weirdly as that started, it then stopped. I don't get it. I've had these almost three years and never had these kinds of problems before. 

Color me frustrated/annoyed/pissed....take your pick.

Here's another heart mani. WooHoo. 
China Glaze Spring in My Step,  Essie Bachelorette Bash, MoYou Festive 04 stamp, Valentine
I decided to use China Glaze Spring in My Step and Essie Bachelorette Bash for this one. The sweater-ish stamp is from the MoYou Festive 04 plate.

It ain't perfect. It was during my "knock five mani's out in a day" stint so I pretty much was just letting things go as they wanted. I didn't want to take the time to redo anything. I was in that weird space of motivated to do lots; not so motivated to be careful while doing it.

In any event, it does count as a Valentine themed manicure. I wore it nowhere, and that was just fine and dandy with me.



Wednesday, February 11, 2015

HEARTS. JUST PEACHY.

Evidently winter is not over. Once we don't get any fresh snow for awhile, it's so easy to delude myself into thinking spring is almost here. As usual, I was wrong. We got at least a couple of inches last night and another few inches is expected. I did luck out because Kev is home. I'm guessing since his car is in the shop right now the neighbor must have assumed I'm here alone because once again he plowed the entire driveway. Nice!!

While we were in Illinois I managed to have my other thumb nail pop off for no apparent reason, and yesterday at work my right index nail came off. WTF. They have only been on for a week so I have no clue what the hell I did wrong this time around. 

Today I was picking up some clothes to put away and felt my left index nail go. Seriously! So I had to make the decision of either gluing it back on or just doing a total soakoff.

I went with the soak and reapplication. I really hope I have better luck this time because I cannot figure out where these loose nails are coming from. Maybe I just was trying to go too fast and didn't use enough glue last week. I really took my time today so I'm hoping for the best. 

I took the time to do nails last night, figuring I'd knock out another Valentine themed mani. I just grabbed one of the polishes I bought in Illinois, China Glaze More to Explore.
China Glaze More to Explore, Konad white, DRK-A stamp, heart,  Valentine mani
For the hearts I used an image from the DRK-A stamping plate and Konad white.

This one is cute. I really love that color, and I have always liked this heart pattern. I didn't find it as cute when it was just a single index nail lying on the bed.  I would have worn it for another day if I hadn't decided to remove my nails.

Now I'm typing this with nekkid Custom Nails wondering what I want to do. I can pretty much guarantee it won't have hearts because I've just about hearted myself out. 

In the meantime, while I ponder, I'll just eat some cinnamon hard candy and watch a 3 episode marathon of Gotham. 

I know. You are totes jealous of the ever-so-exciting life I lead.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

VD STARTING NOW

Oh, what a great time we had for the past five days! It's always fun to visit with Tyler's adorable little fam. Good eats, good shopping, good company and just good times in general. I love it there....I'd move there if we could.

Nobody told Griffin we were coming, and the look on his face was pretty priceless when we walked in the door. I love doing that. Not much better than the excitement of a 4 year old.  Zero was also very excited to see us. Especially me. For once there's a dog that seems to like me best. Even Tyler says he's obsessed with me, and oh, lordie, is he ever cute!! I had lots of fun smooching on him.

The first night we ordered sushi, which was fantastic. There is no place in Esky to get sushi so we always have it when we go someplace that does. The other nights we had home-cooked meals, and since both Tyler and Bob are great cooks, that worked out well.

One thing about me, when I go out of town, I am not afraid to shop it up. I hit up Sally Beauty to replenish my supply of non-acetone and throughout the trip I only bought three nail polishes. That's pretty well-behaved for me, but TJ Maxx had nothing good at all this time around. Throughout the weekend I did manage to score 4 new pairs of jeans, a pair of shorts, a pair of cropped jeans and 6 shirts. Tyler and I even managed to find Kev 2 pairs of jeans that he liked and kept. He's pretty fussy about jeans, so I was really happy we found some.

On Sunday we took Griffin to Legoland. OMG! That place is amazing!!! Here's a sampling.

The Chicago stuff went on for quite awhile, showcasing a lot of the downtown area.  That tiger was just one of several, and they also had tons of other animals. It was better than a real zoo!! They have several other sections to visit as well as a store. I knew we'd have to buy Griffin a little something because he loves Legos, and he really wanted the firehouse. When Tyler and I headed out to Target Sunday night, Bob and Kev put it together, but they saved the helicopter for me to do. It is so much fun building that stuff!
After Griff left for preschool yesterday, it was time to head back home. Tyler sent me this next pic while we were still driving. She said Griffin got all posed with Zero and told her to take the picture and send it to us because it's "soooo cute". That kid cracks me up. Of course, he's not wrong. It is soooo cute!
I really did think I'd sneak in a blog post while we were gone, but we just ended up busier than I thought we'd be. And that's why I had done so many the previous weekend.
Sinful Colors Amethyst, Essie Nothing Else Metals, DRK-D stamp, Valentine
First up a purple one because it's purple week in the nail group. This is Sinful Colors Amethyst stamped with Essie Nothing Else Metals and the DRK-D plate. This Essie is actually kind of a lighter purple, but for some reason it looks more silver here.

I rather liked how this one came out. Of course I only did one hand since I was doing multiple mani's that day, but I wish I had actually worn this one for a day. Both hands.

I do still have a couple of others to show. I might even manage to post one a day until the "holiday" is over.

As I close this out, I'm pondering the title of this post and wondering how many of you remember the old-time ad; "VD, is for everybody....not just for a few" (sing along with me if you remember it, peeps!)

Now that's stuck in my head.  Which, for the record, is better than a Taylor Swift song in my brain.


 



Thursday, February 5, 2015

OFF WE GO

Dang it all to hell. I don't have time for this nonsense. I was all set to leave for work this morning, and as I tried to zip my coat, my damn left thumbnail popped off. I just applied them the other day and used the replacement nail I got last week.

I should have known better. It seems the first couple of times I use a new nail, I get some pop off troubles. Since there was no way in hell I'd be going anywhere with a naked finger, I hurried up and grabbed my glue and stuck it back on.

And now I'm sitting here at work looking at it, and I applied it a little bit crooked. Way to go, genius. Now I'm going to have to waste time when I get home at noon to soak it off properly, reapply it and then paint and stamp it so it matches the rest of them. Since I'll be in Illinois until Monday night, I highly doubt I'll have time to mess with them until at least Tuesday. 

Hopefully Kev won't be super annoyed that I'm slowing us down. Sheesh. 

All day yesterday I pondered what I'd want to look at for that many days. Of course that led me to doing something multi-chromey. Then I don't get so bored.
Parrot Polish Arco Iris, LLC-B stamp
I'm completely kicking myself for not taking pics of this before I mucked it up with a stamp, but I just had other things to do. In fact, I didn't even realize what brand I had grabbed. It was a square bottle so I assumed it was Square Hue. Turns out it's Parrot Polish Arco Iris, and I'm really mad at myself for not realizing it.  The stamp design is from the Llarowe LLC-B plate.

 And now we are in the road, nail not redone. I tried to pry it off, and that sucker wouldn't budge! I guess they only come off when they make that decision on their own.

 I guess I'll just hope it stays put!

It is not easy finishing a blog post in a car from my phone. Just sayin`.




Tuesday, February 3, 2015

NOT BAD

Life is back to normal in my little town, and we have that fancy electricity just like they do in the big city. Bossman had me go in an hour early today so we could catch up on what didn't get done yesterday. Since we were supposedly going to still have rolling blackouts, I wore way too many clothes. I fully expected it to be about 60 degrees in the office, but everything was normal.

Even though I didn't actually have to get up any earlier, I'm super tired. I'm not sure why going in at 8 instead of 9 made a difference, but it did. I've been fighting to keep my eyes open ever since I got home. I'm trying to think of a mani to do just to keep me awake, but so far I haven't come up with anything.

Last night I was very happy to take off that weird-ass heart mani, and this is what took its place.
OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, Julep Olivia, Ali Express AP 17 stamp
I stared at a whole lot of polish before deciding on this one. The base is OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, and I stamped using Julep Olivia and the Ali Express AP 17 plate.

I'm liking how this turned out, and I'm pretty pleased with those stamping plates. I have to say I do wish the designs were a smidge bigger. Getting full coverage is a challenge. I really have to stamp them in just the right spot, especially on my thumbs. The design is in a triangle shape, so it can be tricky.  I only had to restamp a couple, so it wasn't unbearable.
 
Now I'm off to watch The Blacklist. It's such a good show, and James Spader has never played a better character. IMHO, of course. But there is just something about that guy!
 
I know some of you ladies will agree with me on that.

Monday, February 2, 2015

OF MICE AND NAILS

I woke up 20 minutes late this sunny Monday morning, wondering why my alarm didn't go off like it should have. It was set correctly, and it took me a few minutes to decide I really was supposed to be up already.

After I got all ready for work, I was doing my usual stuff on the internet when I heard my most recent genius mouse finally wander into the trap and heard the door close. I had been wondering for about a week if I'd been hearing one but never found evidence until a few days ago. The first night I had the catch and release trap in there I heard him monkeying around, but when I went to see if he was caught, all I found was the cracker pulled out from the back and the door still open. How he dragged that cracker all the way through that tube without the door closing is beyond me. If I close the dishwasher too hard those doors shut.

I didn't see or hear him again until this morning, and this time the door closed. I was just getting ready to leave a few minutes early so I could take him for the drive a couple of miles away so I could let him go when the phone rang. It was my bossman's wife telling me to stay home. Evidently a transformer at the city's power plant exploded last night in a huge ball of flames so the entire city had been without power since the middle of the night. Not a good sitch for those without heat. It was only 1 degree out when I was getting ready to leave here.

Thankfully I'm not on City power so my electricity is fine and dandy. Parts of town have been going on and off for most of the day so far, and they are saying it might be a day or two before things get back to normal. Nice to have the day off but annoying since I got up so early for no reason.

I did have to run to the store up by my house, and of course I still had to let the mouse go. Rather than take the mouse for a ride, I decided I would just walk across the driveway to the woods and release him.  For a mouse smart enough to steal food without getting caught, he sure wasn't very smart about getting away. I  opened the one end and was trying to tip him out but nothing was happening. I was actually afraid the poor little guy had dropped dead from fright.

I carefully opened the other end, peeked in and there he was; all cute little bright eyes and wiggly nose looking out at me. I bent down to let him out, but he still wouldn't go. Finally after a few shakes, off he ran into the woods. Seriously. So effing adorable I can hardly stand it. I laughed all the way to my car.

I did put the trap back in the cupboard just in case he decides to make a return appearance. I know they are filthy little creatures, but I am always so tempted to pick them up and keep 'em.

Over the weekend I got ambitious and did 5 mani's, all of which are kind of Valentine related.  Three turned out decent; one is a super fail in pics, and this one is just a big ol' disappointment.
Zoya Bela, Pure Ice Taupe Drawer, Ali Express 12-48 heart stamp, Valentine
I had soaked off my nails before doing this one, and by the time I decided I didn't like it, it was too late to start over. 

One of the things I do like about reapplying my nails is feeling like I can wear super light colors because the nails are so tight to my cuticle area. This Zoya Bela is so light it's practically not even a color. It's pale pink in the bottle but looks even lighter on my nails.

I thought these hearts off of the Ali Express 12-48 plate were kind of cool and different so thought I'd stamp with a darker pink. Unfortunately I chose Pure Ice Taupe Drawer. I really should have gone with something darker with this stamp. I had briefly considered using black. I wish I had.

Right now I'm considering doing something else. I feel like I have done enough heart nonsense for one week. And it gives me backups for here when I don't have time to do a mani. 

On Thursday we are heading to Illinois to visit Tyler, Bob, Griffin and Zero. Even though it's only been a month since they were here, it seems like I haven't seen them in forever.

I highly doubt there will be any nail painting Thursday through Monday. Grandkid, grandpuppy and playing Yahtzee with my daughter are for sure more fun than swearing at my nails.