Monday, March 30, 2015

PAISLEY

It's so weird when the bossman is on vacation. I enjoyed not getting up early today to come into work. I got ready and went in around noon to get calls, return calls and even had a few people that came in unannounced. One guy almost gave me cardiac arrest because when I came back from the storage closet, I rounded the corner into the office and he was sitting there. 

There is a ton of stuff I want to do in that storage closet, but since he hasn't called to check in, I can't ask what I want to ask about it. Now I can't decide if I should just go forth with what I want to do or not. If I don't do it while he's gone, it'll never get done. When he's here, I don't have time to be hanging out in a closet for hours at a time. 

When I took off that water marble, I did a couple of left-hand only mani's just for shits and giggles.
Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Square Hue Via Montenapoleone matte black, Bundle Monster BM XL10 paisley stamp
I did a base with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and then used Square Hue Via Montenapoleone black for the paisley pattern from the Bundle Monster BM XL10 plate. That Square Hue black is a matte finish, and it stamped really well. I'll be using that again fo' sho'.

I've always been a fan of paisley, and after I took this off, I wished I hadn't. I should have done the other hand and worn it. Not that it matters, I guess, since that was Saturday night and I never left the house until today.

I'm practically dozing off in my chair and it's only 9 p.m. I think I will go find some nail polish to sniff.....I mean apply.
 

 


Saturday, March 28, 2015

SOME PINK AND SOME PUPS

Happy Saturday, Peeps! I hope you are all having yourselves a fantabulous weekend. It's sunny and beautiful here, deceivingly so because as good as it might look, it's only 30 degrees. Lordie, I want summer. I have a cart full of Dinair airbrush makeup in my summer shades and can't bring myself to hit the buy button because it still feels like winter.

I'm still rocking that hot-ass water marble, but I'm thinking I'll take it off shortly to play a bit since I have nothing better to do. I'm just waiting for some inspiration.

I had this one on for a day a couple weeks ago. I had gotten a couple new Sinful Colors I had never seen before and decided to see if the bone color would stamp.
Sinful Colors Rose Dust, Sinful Colors Beaches and Cream, FUN 13 stamp
Unless I go to Walgreens I don't know what's new and what's not with the Sinfuls. I always check at Shopko when I'm there, but their polish selection is so random that I never know what's what. I just know when I saw these, checked my phone list and saw I didn't have these two, I needed to buy them. That's right, needed to.

The pink is Rose Dust, and the light one is Beaches and Cream. As you can see, while it did stamp, it's very light and sheer. I'm not going to try it again as a stamping polish, but it is still a really nice off-white neutral. I used the FUN 13 plate for the stamp.

In a completely unrelated matter, one of my puppy owners posted pics of all of the puppies today. They turned 8 months old last week. I have been seeing a few of them because they come over to play or a dogsit for a weekend. This is Seven's second home and I've had her for a few weekends; I've had Razzie for 2 weekends; Major came over for the first time last Sunday; and of course Zero is here every time my daughter is in town.

I threw all the pics at the bottom so you can stop here if you want.







If you are still reading, aren't they just the cutest bunch of puppies?? They all have their mom's face. All but Major have the same hair as her, too. Major is darker red and has much coarser hair just like his daddy. Tinlee made good babies. :)

I love them all so much and am still kicking myself for not keeping one. I'm so thankful I have contact with all of their owners and get to see 4 of them when they come to play.

It's simply a winning bunch of puppies - and a winning bunch of owners. Love-fest!! 


Thursday, March 26, 2015

HELLZ TO THE YES!!

The bossman is on vacay, so my work hours are pretty random for a week. Yesterday I wandered in at 1:00 and worked until 5:00. I got a lot of work done, all of the kinds of things that are hard to do when I'm doing actual work. I closed so many files that I completely emptied one of the file drawers, which is awesome. Now all I need to do is convince him that it's time to purge some old files from our storage closet. Nobody needs to keep files that are 15 damn years old. At this point I've stacked boxes so high I practically need a ladder to get them down. Not so fun.

I had been there about ten minutes, and my left eye was super irritated. I keep contact solution at work so I took out my contact, cleaned it and put it back in. It still felt kind of scratchy, but since I thought being able to see was a good idea, I just carried on.

After I'd been home for about an hour, I decided to take my contacts out and throw on my specs. If I'm not going anywhere, I do that often. Not that it matters because I'm pretty much blind as a bat no matter what I'm wearing. Low and behold, I discovered that my contact has a rip in it. No biggie, I figure; I have one spare left in my traveling makeup bag.

Wrong. I have 3 right contacts and no left ones. So now I'm sitting here wearing a torn contact. Not pleasant. I've been meaning to make an eye appointment so I called and can't get in until April 7th. I did get lucky, though, because they do have the lens in stock. Good news for me, so I'll be picking that up on my way to my physical. 

Last night I took off that pastel water marble. And decided I wanted another water marble. It was a great decision.
Sinful Colors Black on Black, Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty,  Too Cute-icle Enchanted Lagoon, water marble
Sinful Colors Black on Black, Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty,  Too Cute-icle Enchanted Lagoon, water marble
I couldn't be more happy with this one. I am in love with it. Even though I've never had much luck using holo polish for a holo, I figured I'd try it again.

The stars aligned perfectly on this one. I did one coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black as a base and then used it with Too Cute-icle Enchanted Lagoon and Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty.

All three of them worked great. I only had to re-do one, and that's only because I accidentally marbled over it when it was already done.

I went for just a no pattern look, mostly because I didn't even start this until 10 p.m. and didn't want to waste a ton of polish trying to make some perfect loopy thing.

There isn't one thing I would change about this. IMHO it is gorgeous, and I'll be wearing it for at least 2 days. I wish it was sunny out so I could go freeze my ass off to get the holographic effect to show up better.

Sometimes these water marbles are just so fun. And if you don't like this one, then I'm pretty sure we can't be friends.

Monday, March 23, 2015

WHAT A PITA MARBLE

I was kind of shocked when I saw that I hadn't done a post since Thursday. WTF? I don't even have an excuse other than just pure laziness.

After all the cleaning I did on Thursday, I guess I hit that wall I sometimes hit when I keep staying up too late and not getting enough sleep. Which basically is every day for me, but after about 2-3 months, I'll have a day where I can't stay awake. That day was Friday. I swear I fell asleep at least 4 times throughout the day. Just quick little nappy-naps, but I still hate it. They leave me feeling completely sluggish and out of it for hours.

I was determined to do a water marble. As I was pulling out polishes on Saturday evening to start it, I popped a nail off. Oh, I was pissed!! Rather than just glue the one back on I figured I might as well just soak the suckers off.

Of course that meant the water marble was out because you can't put your hands in water for 3 hours after application. Normally I will put them on at night so I know they will stay dry overnight.

That meant I had to throw something on just because I didn't want naked nails. I decided I would do a fan brush manicure because I haven't done that in a really long time. 

And oh, I did one that turned out so horrid I didn't even take a picture. On Sunday afternoon I tried stamping over it to cover up some of the ugliness, and even that didn't work. It was really bad so I took it off and threw on a coat of white in preparation for the water marble.

Since we had a couple of the puppies over for playtime yesterday afternoon, I did the marble last night.
Sinful Colors White on White, China Glaze Pelican Gray, Studio M Sweet Pea, Sally Hansen no name pink, water marble
This one gave me SO much trouble! I think it took me almost 3 hours to finally just call it done. I would have liked to do a couple of nails over, but I couldn't look at swirly polish another second.

My colors on this one are Sinful Colors Snow Me White, China Glaze Pelican Gray, Studio M Sweet Pea and some really pretty baby pink from Sally Hansen that didn't have a name.

The trouble I had on this one was finding polishes that would all work together. I tried 4 different grays, 2 different light pinks and 2 of the darker pink before I finally got them all to cooperate.

And that is why I don't do water marbles as often as I  might like. Sometimes they are simply an exercise in frustration like this one was. My lack of patience often times gets the better of me. I was being stubborn on this one because I really, really wanted a pink, grey and white water marble.

Now I want it gone because I'm mad at it. I'm going to force myself to leave it on until tomorrow night.






Thursday, March 19, 2015

GOT ME SOME PEEPS

After exhausting myself last Wednesday after work, I decided to hold off and clean today instead. Actually, when I got up I thought I'd just kind of do a lazy cleaning and just concentrate on the living room and kitchen.

I should know better. I'm one of those people that is either doing it or not doing it. There is no half-assing it. So not only did I clean like I normally do, I had an A.D.D. day where as I'm cleaning one thing, the idea of cleaning something else pops into my head.

I started with pulling one of the pans out of the ammonia and cleaning that off. Now I have the last two pots and covers sitting in the fumes until tomorrow.

As I cleaned, I decided to wash some windows. And then I decided I'd get out the Old English and wipe down all of the wainscotting, and that carried on to doing all the furniture in the living room and my bedroom. Somehow from that it occurred to me that I should scrub the track on the patio door. Obviously there is no rhyme or reason to anything I do. I considered cleaning inside the oven, but it really doesn't need it. Which was good because I was sorta' over it.

My reward for all that work was some Peeps which I totally stocked up on yesterday on my way home. 

I even picked up some other types of candy. The rest of the weekend I'll probs spend an inordinate amount of time just deciding what candy to eat. Is that bad? 

I did this mani Monday night. I should have waited to take the pic until Tuesday because I see some yellowish fingers happening here.
Julep Evangeline, MoYou Fashionista 04 stamp
I really love this color. It's Julep Evangeline. It has a really nice suede finish, but I always end up putting topcoat on it even though I shouldn't. I used the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate for the stamp.

This one was a hit. The mail lady commented and so did one of our clients. That's a win no matter how I slice it.

I'm trying to think of something fun to do with my nails right now just because I feel like playing.  I'm just drawing a blank, though. I guess I'll have to wander around looking for some inspiration.

Or mabes I'll just eat a box of Peeps and take a nappy-nap. That sounds fun, too.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

A SMIDGE TOO SUBTLE

Is it 5 o'clock yet? This day has just been dragging for some reason. I want it to be over so I can move along to my four days off. It doesn't help that this work computer's ass is dragging. Few things drive me crazier than a pokey computer. It keeps freezing with a script error, usually when the bossman wants something from the internet. Explaining to him why I'm being slow is kind of pointless since he doesn't really know how it works.

I really did want to throw it through a wall today. For realz. That's probably they only way he'll buy a new one unless it literally blows up. Somebody told him about the portable clouds you can buy to back up the contents. I laughed and laughed....this old XP system doesn't even have a spot to connect any such thing. He's hilarious. 

In the meantime, I just burned all of my docs onto cd's. At least if this thing dies, I won't lose the important stuff. I'm a saver. Anytime an old client comes in, if it's for something after about 1995, I still have it in this thing. It makes my life easier.

Enough bitching about that. I did this purdy little gradient on Sunday night and really liked it and enjoyed staring at it at work on Monday.
Fresh Paint Alex's Lemonade, Color Club Blue Ming, QRS Cruiser gradient, Orly Shine on Crazy Diamond, Bundle Monster BM XL02 stamp
For the gradient I used Fresh Paint Alex's Lemonade, Color Club Blue Ming (which for the record is blue, oddly enough) and QRS Cruiser. Once that was done I stamped using the Bundle Monster BM XL02 plate.

And then I screwed up. For some reason I thought adding a bit of bling would be a great idea. I grabbed one of my fave glitters, Orly Shine on Crazy Diamond and threw on a coat of that. 

That's where I should have stopped. But nooooo....I didn't think enough bling was showing up so I did a second coat. And then watched as the stamping pretty much vanished beneath it. 

While I liked the subtle white stamp, I didn't want it quite this subtle. For a brief second I actually considered stamping it again on top of the Orly but thought better of it.

So don't overdo even a delicate glitter over an already soft stamp. Got it. Lesson learned.

Oh, I am so anxious to get out of here. I want to go to Walmart and buy Peeps. I've been out of them for a couple of days which is completely unacceptable. I only bought ten boxes last time. Sometimes I buy too many and then comes the point where I'm over it and don't want to eat anymore. Now I have to decide how many more boxes I should get. I'm thinking I'll do ten again. If I'm still not over it before Easter, that'll give me time to buy one more round before they disappear from the stores.

And since Kev is gone, they might just make a delightful supper tonight.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

HERE'S YOUR WATER MARBLE, MARTHA!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, all you Irish folk. 

Yesterday was Kev's birthday, and I thought we were going to have over a week together. I love when that happens. But work called him today, and he decided to pick up an extra four day trip, so now I won't see him again until Saturday night.  The extra money is nice, but I surely do miss him when he leaves.

Sometimes it sucks to like your husband.

I've been so busy at work I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get around to posting this one before the "holiday" was over.  A few days ago Martha from Polish Makes Me Happy posted a picture of a shamrock water marble. She kind of hinted that one of us that does marbles should do it. 

I actually did this two years ago, but it didn't turn out so great. So I figured I'd give it another shot.

 China Glaze Exotic Encounters, Square Hue Flower Power, St. Patrick's Day, shamrock, clover, water marble
I remember when I did it the first time the hardest part was finding a couple of greens that would marble. I sort of had the same problem this time around. Eventually I got China Glaze Exotic Encounters and Square Hue Flower Power to cooperate to make my four leaf clovers.

It took a few tries on a couple of the nails, and I would have like to redo a couple again, but my China Glaze wasn't full to start with. Once a polish gets down to below half full, I don't like using it for marbles. While they are fun and cool to look at, they certainly can be a bit wasteful.

I do love the colors on this one. Very St. Patrick's Day-ish. I'd like to do some more water marbles because I'm kind of in the mood for them, but I can't seem to decide on a color scheme. I'll just have to keep thinking.

Enjoy yourselves if you're going out to drink some green beer this evening, and don't forget to not drink and drive. For realz.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

SHAMROCKS

Well, I give up on the glasses. Considering how cheap glasses are, maybe I'll just buy new ones. I'm over it. All my pan covers look awesome, though!

The only other exciting thing I did was laundry. So not so much a "fun" four days off, but at least I accomplished something.

Now I'm just waiting for the hubster to get home around 9. He went out with his brother last night so I'm wondering what kind of shape he'll be in. I'm guessing tired. My bet is he'll stay up long enough to watch Walking Dead and Talking Dead and then go to bed. Nice rhyming there, hey?

Not a drop of Irish in this gal, but I did do a couple of green manicures. I did this one yesterday.
Essie Absolutely Shore, Barielle Date Night, FUN 13 shamrock stamp, St. Patrick's
I got a couple of new stamping plates, FUN 13 and 15. The images are barely big enough for my thumbs, but they are pretty good sized otherwise. I did manage to make it work on my thumbs. Nobody ever looks at those anyway.

The light green on this one is Essie Absolutely Shore. I used the shamrock design from the FUN 13 plate and stamped with Barielle Date Night.

I like the color combo of the super light green with the true green. And I do think shamrocks are cute.

That's about it for tonight. I just don't have anything worthwhile to say. My brain appears to be in lockdown for some reason.

Maybe the ammonia fumes finally got to me.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

FIGURES. NOW I LIKE IT

Maybe it's spring fever, but I decided to start cleaning weird things around the house.  After having awful water for so many years, my T-Fal pan covers were completely covered with this sticky yellowish-brown film that I couldn't get rid of no matter how hard I tried. It has always grossed me out.

A couple of years ago I discovered that if I put my gas burner covers in a ziploc bag with a little bit of ammonia and let it sit overnight, all of the cooked on crud wipes right off. So it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps that might work on those covers.

I found a big ziploc, poured about a 1/4 cup of ammonia in it and then put one of the covers inside and let it sit overnight. Yesterday I held my breath, opened the bag and rinsed it off. Every bit of that crud came right off, and that cover looks like brand new. I was completely tickled.

So last night I threw in 2 of the burner covers and 2 more pot covers. I just got done washing those, and now I have the last 2 covers and burner covers in soaking until tomorrow.

Next project, get the damn cloudiness off of my glasses. I just hate them and anytime I need to give someone a glass around here I have to look through all of them to find one decent enough to use.

I had tried the vinegar trick a long time ago without success. I checked out an antique site that said to use Dow bathroom cleaner. Nope. They said to rub with alcohol. Nope. They said to pour ammonia in them and let them soak. Not gonna' do that because with those fumes, Kev will get home tomorrow and find me unconscious. So I grabbed one and threw it in the bag with the other stuff.  I'll find out tomorrow if that worked, and if it does, I'll be doing a happy dance everywhere in the house.

Hmmmm....now I'm wondering what would happen if I put a pan in there. The outsides of all of them are cruddy looking with that same sticky film the covers had. That might be my next experiment. I really want to buy a really good set of stainless cookware without non-stick properties, but damn, they are pricey. One more thing to add to my list for when my ship comes in or Kev wins the lottery.

I always see these mani's using that leadlight technique, and I almost always think they're pretty.  I didn't really have many sheer polishes so didn't think I'd ever try it. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and broke down and bought the OPI Sheer Tints.

Last weekend I decided to give it a try. Even with all the stamping plates I own, I had a really hard time trying to figure out a design to use. After looking through all of them at least three times, I opted for this one from the MoYou Pro 10 plate.
OPI Sheer Tints, China Glaze Keepin' it Teal, MoYou Pro XL10 stamp
Evidently I need to find a sheer polish that is actually red. I wanted red.  I used all of the OPI Sheer Tints,  Be Magentale with Me, Don't Violet Me Down, I'm Never Amberrassed and I Can Teal You Like Me. For the green which you can't really see much of here, I used China Glaze Keepin' it Teal.

I only did my left hand because I really wasn't impressed and really didn't like it much. I took my pics and then took it off.  After I put this picture in my blog drafts and looked at it again, I decided I really do like it. Dammit. I hate when that happens.

I don't love it nearly as much as others I've seen, but overall it was pretty fun to do, and I'm sure I'll eventually try it again.

Now I'm going to eat some oatmeal scotchies I made last night and watch Grey's Anatomy. Sounds like a productive day today!


Thursday, March 12, 2015

SORTA' GOLD

I've been an avid fan of typing since I was in 7th grade. Thinking of how long ago that is makes me want to puke. I took a required typing class that year, and I loved it. Like loved it to the point where I would go home, sit on the basement floor with my sister's crappy portable typewriter and practice. For hours. I'm pretty sure it was right about then that I really did decide that I wanted to be a secretary when I grew up.

The remaining years of my schooling included the taking of any class I could that involved office work. I excelled in all of them, and typing has always been my strong suit. When I applied for my current job, I had to do a typing test on an electric typewriter. I was literally too fast for the machine. I think at that point my typing test at the local employment place was 132 wpm. 

That being said, yesterday at work taught me something new. If you type non-stop for 7 hours with long nails, your fingers get sore. I think I was probably 5 hours in when I realized that my fingers were getting a bit sensitive. While I'm typing this, I'm paying attention to what part of my fingers hit the keys, and it's kind of a combination of nail and finger. All that tapping for so long got to me. Weird!!

I also learned something else on my first full work day Wednesday. Normally I'd be off, and then normally I would work until noon on Thursday at which point I would come home and clean the house. That would leave me with a nice clean house and nothing else important to do.  I decided I would work until 5 yesterday, come home and clean, and then have a full 4 day weekend with nothing else to do.

So what I learned is that if you go to bed at 1, get up at 6:20, work 8 hours, clean the entire house, make a late supper and then sit down to watch tv at 9'ish, you are asleep in the recliner before 11 p.m. Not a fan of being zonked out that early. From there I woke up around 1 and then watched 2 hours of tv.  I may have to make some adjustments in this Wednesday after work schedule.

I did this mani on Tuesday night. Is it just me, or do my nails seem shorter lately? I can't figure it out.
Kleancolor Americano, Kleancolor Metallic Brown, Ali Express AP 21 stamp
I really didn't know what I wanted to do. This Kleancolor Americano is kind of a weird gold with a brownish cast to it, and the Kleancolor Metallic Brown worked really well for the stamping. I only have a mini bottle of that brown. I may need to buy a full size at some point.  The design is from the Ali Express AP 21 stamp.

I still have this on now, and it held up very well throughout house cleaning. And I was doing some serious cleaning. After having the ceilings done, we cleaned really well, but for anyone who hasn't had ceiling or wall work done, the dust from it settles for quite awhile. So I was working it last night. I'm impressed that this gold didn't chip or wear at all.

My next goal for the weekend is laundry. I also have a party to attend and hopefully two of the pups are going to come over to play.

The laundry part doesn't sound very fun. Maybe I'll skip that part. I still have a drawer full of clean underwear.







Tuesday, March 10, 2015

JUST A QUICKIE

Tuesday felt like Monday. Normally Mondays are my catchup day after getting off work at noon on Thursday. We've been so busy lately that it took me until almost the end of the day to be caught up.

I have conflicting feelings about this. On the one hand, being non-stop busy can make the day go by faster. On the other hand, I miss having down time where I can do other things. Important stuff....like blogging.

It's also kind of curious to me that according to the bossman in December of 2013, he should be retired now. Which would also mean I should be retired now. Somehow "retiring" turned into being busier than we were before. It's weird. Somehow I feel like in ten years I will still be able to write this exact same first three paragraphs. 

He's been talking retirement off and on for years, and I just don't think it's ever going to happen.

On a nice note, though, tomorrow is Wednesday which is now my new Friday. He also told me today that it's possible I won't actually have to work full days on Wednesdays. In any event, having a guaranteed four day weekend is something I'm sure I'll like.

I tried something last night that just wasn't working out, and it was too late to fight with it, so I just threw this on.

Orly Sweet Peacock, Bundle Monster BM XL08 stamp
This is a pretty blue, Orly Sweet Peacock. I don't think I've used any kind of animal print stamp since I first started doing my nails, so I used the leopard print from the Bundle Monster XL08 plate.

It is what it is. What was in my head was better than this, but this got me through the day.  The mail lady liked it. So that counts for something. Of course, she also always says "hi, beautiful" when she brings the mail. And then we have a mini bitch session about the weather, and off she goes.  So she's a keeper!

And on that note, I'm going to eat a Rice Krispie treat and watch some Real Housewives.

The perfect end to a very decent evening.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

ANOTHER DARLING DIVA

I might not look human yet, but the antibiotics are doing their thing. A lot of the swelling is gone. I'm hoping by Monday that will all disappear along with any remnants of the pain. Things are looking up!  

I might even try sleeping in bed tonight. A good night of real sleep is really needed.  If I can manage that, I might even have the energy to do nails tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have another Darling Diva polish from last week.  I absolutely love this one.
Darling Diva Dark Ritual

Darling Diva Dark Ritual
This one is described as a "blackened evergreen", and I can't think of a better way to say it. It is deep, rich and dark. It's got a strong holo which makes it a ton o' fun to look at. As always, the formula is fantastic and I've gotten several days of wear without any tip damage.

I did want to play with my new creative stamper and my new Bundle Monster plates, so I stamped on this with Nicole by OPI Mer-Maid for Each Other and the BM XL18 plate.
Darling Diva Dark Ritual, Nicole by OPI Mer-Maid for Each Other, Bundle Monster BM XL18 stamp
The design on this is a larger remake of one of their designs that was on the typical round stamping plate. It was nowhere near big enough for my nails which is why I was happy to get the XL plates from Bundle Monster.

As for the creative stamper, it's a life changer. It made completely  covering my thumb nails super easy. I'm not sure if the stamper material just stretches a bit when I stamp or what the deal is, but I was surprised when I looked at my thumbs and saw there were no bare spots.  It's a win.

I got mine through a group buy that a friend of mine did, but they have it in stock here.  I post that link because when I went to look at my Facebook groups to see where to get them, that's the first link that popped up. 

If you like to stamp or if you have a love/hate relationship with stamping, I recommend it. This sucker is life altering.

Well, as life altering as anything nail polish related can be, I guess.


Friday, March 6, 2015

OUCH!!!

We had a really good time on our little overnight trip. It was fun seeing Pruett (Kev's pilot buddy). We stayed at the Hilton and after having drinks at the bar, we ate dinner at Chops in the hotel. OMG. The food was unbelievable. After being sick all weekend and not really eating, I was kind of worried about doing the whole food thing, but I completely ate like a horse. Crab cakes, a large filet and a baked potato. Everything was perfectly delish. No one around here has crab cakes anymore, and I love them. These were large and spectacular.

Then it was off to the concert. Pruett had bought the tickets, and I couldn't believe what great seats we had. Floor seats and almost close enough to touch the stage. While it was obvious that Barry Manilow was still suffering from the respiratory illness of last week, he still put on a great show. We left there happy. Well, Pruett and I did....don't know if I can say the same for Kev. Actually, perhaps Kev was the happiest to leave there.  A Fanilow he is not.

And that's where the fun ended and the shit began.

While we were hanging out, Kev asked what was wrong with my lip. Huh? I realized I had a sore spot and figured it was a minor zit that was going to be showing up soon. No biggie. I've always been very lucky and had relatively clear skin my entire life, but I'll get the occasional spot every now and then. I wasn't going to lose any sleep over it.

I was wrong. I've lost a lot of sleep. That spot didn't get bigger or come out at all. Instead, the entire right side below my lip got progressively more painful. And bigger. And bigger. And bigger. I didn't sleep much Tuesday night because my face was throbbing, and when I got up to get ready for work the right side of my bottom lip was so ginormous that I couldn't close  my mouth on the left side. Attractive. And not only was that swollen, so was the whole right side of my face. It was even moving under my jawline.

The swelling had gone down a bit by the time I left for work and during the day it stayed that way. I assumed I was probably on the mend. Until the evening when the whole thing started all over again. I went online and scheduled myself an appointment for Thursday afternoon. Then I "slept" in the chair hoping I wouldn't be quite as swelled up for work.

So that was yesterday. I worked until noon and went to the doctor on my way home. She looked without touching since that would have sent me through the roof. My lip is so swollen it is now cracking and is swollen on the inside. She gave me an antibiotic and told me to continue with hot compresses 3 times a day. 

I have to take a pill twice a day, so I have 4 in my system now. I was hoping for a miracle that would make me feel better faster. My expectations were too high. I slept like crap in the chair again last night. I have a sore below my lip that I'm unsure if I should keep wet or let it dry out. My lips are cracked so I have to keep putting stuff on them. I drool when I drink, and the throbbing on the right side of my face and neck is almost unbearable.

I've spent the day alternately napping, watching tv or holding heat on my face. I am utterly, completely miserable. I do think the pills are doing something because there seems to be a higher concentration of red skin closer to the spot, as if everything is starting to get concentrated into one area. And I can almost move the side of my mouth. Almost.

I don't feel like doing anything. I've barely looked at the computer, and I'm sure not going to do nails. This is one from last week.
China Glaze Sneaker Head, LLC-A stamp
All I did was grab the China Glaze Sneaker Head that I had used in that swirly water marble and then stamped a design from the LLC-A stamping plate.

Now I'm off to heat compress my face again. I really need my face to go back to its normal size before I have to leave the house on Monday. The doctor said if the pills don't work, call, and she'll give me an injection in my ass of some other antibiotic.

Right about now if that would work faster, I'd bend right over.

Monday, March 2, 2015

A LOSER AND A WINNER

I blinked, and now it's March. Hopefully that means the weather will start warming up, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it.

Tuesday through Friday of last week the workers were here everyday refinishing the ceilings, and I have to say, they look fantastic! I get very happy every time I look up. It might have taken them 10 months to do it, but it was worth the wait. 

Next step; get the carpeting cleaned. I've been waiting awhile to do that. I wasn't going to have that done and then get the ceiling mess all over it. I'll be glad to have the "fluff" back in my living room.

I spent the entire weekend sick. We went out to dinner at the casino with some friends Friday night, and I honestly think I might have gotten food poisoning from the steak I had. Today is the first day I've even felt slightly normal, and that didn't happen until this evening. Even  now I feel like somebody ran over my insides. Not fun.

Tomorrow we will again attempt to go to Milwaukee to see Barry Manilow. So far it hasn't been canceled so that's a good sign.  Even the weather looks promising. Mid 20's....it's going to feel like summer!

I did my nails very quickly the other night, and they were so awful I didn't even take a picture. Then I did one very quickly on Friday that was also horrid. I just didn't leave myself enough time to do a good job. Cleaning the house after having all of the ceiling popcorn removed was a huge chore, and even now there is still dust settling. I did take a pic of it, but that's my excuse for the craptastic stamping job.
Square Hue Kewpies, Color Club with no name, BM XL01
My pink base is Square Hue Kewpies. I just got the new XL Bundle Monster plates last week. I bought two of the three sets, and I'm pretty glad I did. I used some unnamed Color Club with the XL01 plate for this one. The awful stamping is not the fault of the plates; it is complete and utter user failure. The color I chose just wasn't made for stamping, and I just didn't have time to go digging for something else.

I am much, much happier with the one I did tonight. I even remembered to take a picture of the polish on its own. Color me proud of myself.
Darling Diva BEWBS!, Color Club Cosmic Fate, BM XL19 stamp

Darling Diva BEWBS!, Color Club Cosmic Fate, BM XL19 stamp

Darling Diva BEWBS!, Color Club Cosmic Fate, BM XL19 stamp
This absolutely spectacular polish is Darling Diva BEWBS!  And when I say it's spectacular, I'm not kidding. It is amazing and rich and holo and a gorgeous color. Their formula is really awesome, too.  There is only one thing I would change about this polish, and that is the brush. Minor detail, and it sure wouldn't have stopped me from buying it. 

For the design I used another of the new Bundle Monsters, BM XL19.  I stamped with Color Club Halo Hues Cosmic Fate. 

I love how this turned out. Holo stamp on top of a holo polish  equals win/win.

And now I'm off to bed even though I have been sleeping off and on almost non-stop since late Friday night. Hopefully being sick is completely over.

If Barry shows up for the concert and I'm not sick, that will be another win/win.