Friday, August 5, 2016

REMEMBER ME? LOTS OF PICS!!

Whew! It's been awhile! One of the parts of having puppies in the house that I forgot was the influx of people that come over. The little cuties will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. Already. It's going by way too fast, and I'm trying really hard to not think about them leaving for their furever homes.

Thankfully this time I get to keep one, and I'm also super happy that Seven's owners have decided to get another Tinlee pup this time around. So my little dark blue ribbon boy, Ziggy Stardust, already is chosen. I, on the other hand, am still undecided on who to keep. It's a good thing I only have 2 girls to choose from because having more options than that would be impossible. At this point, my red girl, Queen B, is really trying her best to make me pick her. She is the absolutely smoochiest of puppies and is always kissing my whole face and trying to eat my nose. China Girl has thrown her hat into the ring, too, but I won't be able to decide for probably a couple more weeks.

Regardless, they are all adorable. I wish I could keep them all.


 
 
Seriously....what's not to love here?

I actually have managed a couple of manicures over the past 3 weeks. Of course, in 3 weeks I have only left the house twice, so I'm not doing them very often.
Defy & Inspire Petticoat, Mundo de Unas Black, Uber Chic 10-01
The base for this is an opalescent white by the Target exclusive brand, Defy & Inspire. I found this on a clearance rack, and it had no name on it, but I "think" it's Petticoat. Over that I used MdU Black and Uber Chic 10-01. I managed to snag a couple of those polishes on the clearance rack, and I really am a huge fan. Tyler was here for a week for Griff's 6th birthday and brought the topcoat with her. Just for kicks I tried it over a mani to see if it would smear the stamping, and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't smear the black stamp, and it dried very quickly. 
Sinful Colors Skylark, Mundo de Unas Orange, Uber Chic 4-01
The lighter orange here is Sinful Colors Skylark stamped with Mundo de Unas Orange. The design is from the Uber Chic 4-01 stamping plate. I was just in the mood for an orange.
This one was actually the first thing I did after putting my nails back on. I had removed them for the birth of the puppies. I wanted something light so I chose Zoya Pandora. Within the first hour of painting my nails this color, I messed up 4 of them. My initial plan was to stamp on top of the pink, but I wore it, damaged, for like 5 days. When I finally felt like doing my nails again, I ended up taking it all off, starting over on all of my nails but painted them the same color all over again. I was just too tired from lack of sleep to go choose something and the Zoya was still sitting on my table. I did finally manage to stamp on them, though!! I used Fresh Paint Emma and Uber Chic 4-01 for the design. The Fresh Paint polishes stamp very nicely.
Square Hue Monch, Lego, water decal
Last Friday night we had Griffin's birthday party, and I've been hanging on to these Lego water decals for awhile. I finally decided to use them. It seemed appropriate since we gave him a couple of different Lego sets for his birthday. Griff thought they were pretty cool. I did the water decals over a base of Square Hue Monch, which is bright yellow.

Right now I hear some movement in the puppy pen, so I'm guessing it's going to be time to do some cleanup and give some kisses. 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

THE WAIT IS OVER - PUPPIES!!!

My entire last week has been just getting ready for the puppies and waiting for the puppies. Her first due date was on Friday, and on Monday we took her to the vet to have an x-ray, hoping it would show us the number of pups. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed at the x-ray because it only showed us 6 puppies. We left the vet and came home and hoped that maybe there were 1 or 2 pups hiding.

I started keeping track of Tinlee's temperature over the next few days, knowing that once it dropped to around 98, I could plan on puppies arriving in 12 to 24 hours. Finally on Friday at 5 p.m. I took her temp and it was 98.2. I immediately took it again to be sure, and then the waiting began.

The whole rest of the evening she did a whole lot of panting and was just generally uncomfortable. I spent my night trying to sleep in the recliner (trying being the operative word), and when I wasn't in the chair, I was sitting in the whelping box with her. She did the same thing with her last litter. When Kev got up, I went to bed for a couple of hours but then got back up to continue the waiting. I kept telling Kev he should go golfing because I thought he had plenty of time to do that. 

He finally decided late in the afternoon that he would go golfing. He literally said, "If we want her to have puppies, I probably should try to golf." He made it to the second hole of the course when I messaged him to come home because she was having contractions. 

I was delivering the first pup when he walked in the door 15 minutes later. Things went very smoothly and pretty quickly from that point. Her first pup was born at 4:56 p.m., and the last was born at 7:24 p.m. I'm happy to present Golden Grahams Diamond Dogs (a/k/a The Bowie Litter). My daughter again got to name the litter, and the pup's names are China Girl, Queen B, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Starman and LDB (short for Little Drummer Boy).


 So here's just two quick shots of these precious little bundles.
 I couldn't resist this shot of puppy butts.
We are in love.

Right now my Custom Nails are off since I removed them when Tinlee's temp dropped. I wanted my nails short in case of any birthing problems. I'll probably put them back on later tonight or tomorrow. Right now I'm too tired to care.

I did this radial gradient awhile back.
Square Hue Kewpies and Tomorrowland, Sinful Colors Rose Dust, radial gradient, Cult El Porto, Uber Chic 9-01
I use Square Hue Kewpies, Square Hue Tomorrowland and Sinful Colors Rose Dust for the gradient. I wanted a soft white stamping so I used Cult El Porto with a floral pattern from Uber Chic 9-01.

I was a fan of this one. I didn't even do too badly of a job centering the design. I don't remember if I used a clear stamper on this one or not. Lordie, I really am suffering from brain fry from lack of sleep.

Now I'm off to the puppy pen. The little stinkers were born needing their toenails clipped, so I'm going to deal with that. I'm sure over the next 8 weeks I'll post puppy pics. My live puppy cam is also up and running over on Ustream and you can find it here. I usually turn that on as soon as I think of it in the morning and leave it on until I go to bed at night. 

They'll be much more fun to watch a few weeks from now when they're running around. Guaranteed.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

MOSTLY BRIGHTS

This should be the week. The puppy pen is all cleaned and set up in my living room. I forgot how much I hate that thing in my living room. It sits in the only corner large enough which happens to be right in front of the door. Immediately after they brought it in, I remembered how much I hate not being able to open my front door. Thankfully the plan is to only leave it in that spot for the first couple of weeks. After that we are going to  move it into the dining room so that the pups can run out of it right into the kitchen.

I had a doctor's appointment in Green Bay last Thursday, and on our way home we stopped at the Goodwill store where I found four very nice baby blankets to use in the pen. I had also saved the old quilted couch cover that had ripped on the edge, so on Friday I cut that into four pieces and used my little $10 handheld sewing machine to stitch it up real quick. Not exactly a great looking or expert job, but I don't think the pups will care.

Puppy cam stuff is all configured and ready to go, too. Yesterday Tinlee had an x-ray to give us an idea of how many we can be looking forward to, and it looks like there's 6 pups for sure, very possibly more. In other words, we'll find out when we find out. No cheating allowed. I was surprised at only 6 because she is huge compared to last time. I hope those puppies aren't gigantic. I want this to be as easy as possible for her. 

I've been taking her temp three times a day waiting for the drop so I can officially start Puppy Watch 2016. I'm ready now and won't be  un-stressed until the pups are here. I  lay in bed every night just thinking of things that could go wrong, puppy names, things I may have forgotten.....in other words, sleep is not really happening much. Between my mind not shutting off and hearing Tinlee's every move and panting, tired has been my word of the day for the past week. It's been two years since her first litter; I forgot about the no sleep part of all of this.

With the July 4th holiday last week, I think I only painted my nails one time. Tyler was here with Griffin and Zero, and for whatever reason, Griff slept at our house almost every night that they were here. I don't usually waste time with nails when I have a grandson to play with. 

But I do have some to show you.
China Glaze Aquadelic, Mundo de Unas Cream, Uber Chic 7-02
I used China Glaze Aquadelic with MdU Cream for this one. I pretty successfully used a clear stamper and the Uber Chic 7-02 plate for the stamp. I'm still struggling with the clear stampers. I think I used the one from FabUrNails for this mani.
QRS Sunshine Energy neon
This bright orangey-pink is QRS Sunshine Energy. It was actually a much brighter neon in person. I fully intended to stamp on this but simply never got around to it.
KB Shimmer Sarong Place, Sarong Time, Mundo de Unas Black, Dana2 stamping plate
I apparently was in a bright mood because after I took off that QRS, I immediately replaced it with this neon from KB Shimmer, Sarong Place, Sarong Time. The design came from my Dana2 stamping plate using Mundo de Unas Black.

Now I'm thinking I'll clean the house. Kev is gone for just today, and then he's around for awhile, and it's always easier for me to clean when I'm here alone even though I do appreciate that he does the vacuuming if he's here. I had him bid to get the days off when Tinlee is due, and luckily he got off all of the days I wanted. Today he is gone to his annual physical in Green Bay and then is off to Madison to meet up with my fave of his pilot friends for a visit.

I've been putting him to work around here getting things ready, so he deserves the break.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

ANOTHER BUNCH

I'm not sure where time goes. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is July 1st already. 

Retirement is a beautiful thing. I did work three days last week to fill in, and even though it was only about 15 hours total, I was not a fan of it. Getting up early to get ready for actual work was not something I enjoyed. I did enjoy seeing the bossman and doing some typing, but I got over it pretty quickly. 

Other than that, my days have been spent laying in the pool, cleaning, gardening, sitting with hummingbirds and getting ready for puppies. Tinlee is due in two weeks, so we are pretty excited about that. 

As absent as I've been on here, once the puppies arrive, I'll probably be even more missing in action. As I was sitting in the pool today, thinking about how lucky I've been to have so much time to be that lazy, it dawned on me that once the puppies are here, my days of lounging from 11 to 3 in the pool are probably over. I'm sure I'll sneak some pool time in, but it sure won't be like it has been the last two weeks. I remember with the last litter I was sad that I couldn't go sit with the hummingbirds as much, so I'm sure I'm going to run into the same issues this time around. 

Puppy breath trumps the pool and the hummers, though, so it's totally worth it.

For now, here's some mani's I've had on over the past month or so. I'll list everything I used, but other than that, they are what they are.
Cult The Roxy, Cult Breakwater, Bundle Monster + Lucy's Stash BM XL-209
Cult The Roxy stamped with Cult Breakwater using Bundle Monster + Lucy's Stash BM XL-209 stamping plate.
Sinful Colors Endless Blue, Julep Tali, Uber Chic 10-01
Sinful Colors Endless Blue stamped with Julep Tali. The design is from the new Uber Chic 10-01 plate.
Zoya Kendal, MdU Violet, Cooi 035
The light purple is Zoya Kendal, and I used the Cooi 035 stamping plate with Mundo de Unas Violet.
Fresh Paint Matte in the USA, Mundo de Unas Turquoise, Ali Express XY-J13
The light blue is Fresh Paint Matte in the USA, stamped with Mundo de Unas Turquoise and a plate I got from Ali Express, XY-J13.

I do have more manicures sitting around just waiting to be shown, so hopefully I'll actually post them at some point. When I look back at a couple of them, I'm rethinking even showing them. They were ugly when I did them; they've gotten uglier to me over time.

I hope your summer is going as good as mine is!!





Friday, June 17, 2016

THREE TO SEE HERE

Nothing too much happening around here for the past week. I did finally get two days in the pool last weekend, but so far this week the weather has not cooperated. Luckily the forecast for at least the next couple of days is great.

Right now I have Seven. She has been here since about 4 o'clock and will be here until early evening tomorrow. She is dying to go in the pool. I had to make sure to lay a raft on the stairs so she wouldn't go flying in without permission. It's a good thing I did that because right after supper we went outside, and the minute I turned my back she was partway up the steps. Little stinker loves the pool so she is going to be one happy little girl tomorrow.

It's hard to do nails when she's here. She spends most of her time depositing toys in my lap. I figured since I'll probably not get to doing anything with them for at least a day or two, I'd show a few in this post.
Fresh Paint Passion Fruit, Mundo de Unas Tutti, Uber Chic 10-3 stamp
This very bright pink is Fresh Paint Passion Fruit. I stamped on it with Mundo de Unas Tutti using my brand spanking new Uber Chic 10-03 stamping plate. I used one of my clear stampers to do this one, and it didn't pic up the design very well, unfortunately. It was way too late for a do-over. I actually was painting these around 2 a.m. the other night and told myself that I'd wait to stamp until the next day. 

Then for whatever reason, I totally forgot what I had just told myself  and just kept right on going and did the stamping, too. By the time I got done it was almost 3 a.m., and I decided I simply did not care enough to worry about trying to improve them.

This next one is from several weeks ago.
Zoya Kelly, MdU Light Gray, Cooi 030
I used Zoya Kelly for the dark gray base and stamped with MdU Light Gray and the Ali Express Cooi 030 stamping plate. I really want them to make more of these Cooi full image plates. They are really nice!
Julep Lindsey, Julep Marisa, Uber Chic 5-03
My monthly Julep polishes came last week, and I loved all three that I received. This pretty coral is Julep Lindsey, and I decided I would stamp with a navy blue since the shirt I was wearing to bebop around town had coral and navy in it. I don't own a navy stamping polish, so I used Julep Marisa with my Uber Chic 5-03 plate. I have found that Julep polishes stamp very well indeed, and I loved the combination of the coral with the blue.

So there ya' go. I might not be posting much, but at least I'm throwing a few here for you to see just so you know I'm not completely ignoring my nails.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

STAMPING TIMES THREE

What a fun afternoon we had here today. I've had Razzie since Tuesday. He's going back home tomorrow. I figured while he's here he should have some sibling fun. Seven's owners aren't available this week due to some long work hours, but I was super happy that Major was able to come over. He hasn't been here in a long time, and it was awesome to see him.

Out of my seven pups, he's the only one that takes after his daddy at all. He's very dark red, and his coat has lots of curls and is more wiry than his sisters and brother. He does have the same super sweet disposition that the whole family has, though. 

It didn't take too long for him and Razzie to get into some rough-housing. Lots of bright, white teeth flashing and snorting with tails wagging the entire time. So cute!! Tinlee doesn't pay too much attention to the pups anymore when they come to visit. Now that she's pregnant, that's just as well because I don't really want her to engage in any rough play right now.

After Majorleft, Razzie ate his supper, and Tinlee's, and has been passed out ever since. Poor guy is tuckered!!

The other night I decided I'd do something triple-stamped. 
Nicole by OPI Back to Reality....TV, Mdu Black, Pink, Velvet, Uber Chic 5-01, triple stamp
My purple base for this is OPI Back to Reality....TV. It's a great medium purple. On top of that I used my Uber Chic 5-01 plate and stamped first with MdU Black. After the black I restamped with MdU Pink and then one more time with MdU Velvet.

I've had this on for a couple of days and still don't know if I like it or hate it. It kind of looks like an oddly colored camouflage to me.

Since Kev is home to help occupy Razzie, I'm hoping that I'll be able to take this off tonight and soak off these damn nails that have only been on for 16 days. I somehow managed to knock my right index nail loose when I was monkeying around in the garden last night.

Only getting 16 days of wear is really annoying me. I've almost always gotten at least three weeks of wear time, more if I switch to dark colors to hide my cuticles. I'd kill to have a new set made.

I'm not going to hold my breath on that, though. It's been well over a year since Custom Nail Solutions had full pink sets available. I wish some other company would start up something similar. At this point I'd absolutely jump on a new bandwagon.

Sad.


Monday, June 6, 2016

GRADIENT PLUS VINYLS

I cannot stress enough how much I love not having to go to work. I would love it even more if the stupid weather would cooperate with what I want to do. My pool is up and sparkling blue, and while that pretty water isn't warm enough for me to actually go in it, it's warm enough that I would happily lay on top of it on my raft.

Too bad the weather has either been rainy or simply not warm enough. For the first time ever, I paid for an unlimited package at the tanning salon in June. Normally I do that in May, get my base and never look back. After watching it rain off and on for the past four days and not get above 65 degrees, I'm starting to wonder if I'll even need a tan. I've worn shorts outside once.

I did manage to get a lot done last week in spite of the weather, though. I painted the computer room and ran around town buying flowers to plant in the garden. I had one day last week where it was actually nice enough to plant, so I'm glad I got that done. I was a lot pissed that my go-to flower place didn't have the big potted supertunias this year. I've gotten one the last couple of years that I put on the deck under my kitchen window because they are in huge pots and really full of flowers and look gorgeous all summer. So I'm trying to decide what to get instead.

I was very happy that this year they had some Foxglove, though. Last year nobody in town had any! I bought the last four that they had, and I bought two Bellflowers to go along with them so now I have another section of perennials that hopefully will survive over the winter. I also bought purple, red and white Salvia again even though I hate them, but Hummers supposedly like them and they grow like crazy by my garage. I bought two colors of Snapdragons because they also usually flourish next to the Salvia, but what they had was terribly root-bound. They didn't look too great when I planted them. I hope that being free of their pots will revive them.

I haven't spent too much time doing my nails. Right now I'm just super annoyed with them. My nail beds have changed some, and my nails don't seem to be fitting as well as before. I'd love to do new impressions and get a new set, but the company still isn't selling solid pink sets, only the French tip, and I definitely do not want those. I painted them last night and after being on for less than two weeks, they are already looking like crap at the cuticle because they aren't fitting properly. Irritating to look at; irritating to polish.

I played with another of my vinyls from Ali Express a few weeks back.
Glitter Gal Serpent Black, ILNP Birefringence, ILNP Masquerade, gradient, nail vinyls
I started off by doing a solid black using Glitter Gal Serpent Black. After I placed the vinyls, I did a gradient with ILNP Birefringence and Masquerade.

I loved how this came out. I'm a fan of gradients in general, and I was very pleased with how these polishes from ILNP sponged on.

Now I suppose I should make myself some actual food for supper. Then again, it actually stopped raining a few minutes ago. Maybe I'll throw on a sweatshirt and go sit with the hummingbirds instead.

Having a hummer sit on my finger sounds like much more fun than cooking for one.



Sunday, May 29, 2016

A PARROT AND SOME GHOSTIES

Well, we went to our very first ghost hunt and lived to tell the tale! It ended up being a completely fun, amazing experience. The building was awesome! We got there a little before 7 p.m. and stayed up all night investigating, finally pulling out of there at 6:30 a.m.

I snapped a ton of pictures, and I have probably 11 hours worth of audio recordings to analyze. That's going to take some major time to do, and I haven't even begun. I'm actually dreading it, but I'm also really hoping I will have caught something.

Since we were investigating in the dark, I didn't really bother doing much with using video on my camera, but during our final walk through, I took a couple since it was a bit brighter out. I was very shocked when I loaded them onto my computer. The second to last video I took I walked into a room and caught a shadow that wasn't me moving in the room. I reviewed it a bunch of times and then sent it on to the man that works at Ashmore, and he confirmed that I did, indeed, catch something. I was pretty tickled about that.

Then yesterday morning I was going through the last video when I suddenly noticed an unfamiliar voice. I was walking slowly from room to room while I videotaped. My daughter and friend were in the next room over, and we were the only three people in the building. As I'm walking, the soft voice of either a woman or a child says something. I immediately knew it wasn't my daughter and was 99.9% positive it wasn't my friend, but I posted it up on Facebook and asked her if it was her. She confirmed that it is not her, and the workers and another investigator who is very familiar with the place also agree that I caught an evp, possibly of a little girl who is known to inhabit the estate. I haven't listened with headphones or any audio programs yet, but hopefully when I do, I'll be able to make out what she's saying.

I've been super lazy about doing nails. I've actually been wearing a plain white for almost a week. I had planned on maybe stamping over it with navy blue, but I have a feeling it might just get taken off without ever adding to it. 

Here's one I did awhile ago.
Parrot Polish Emerald Sands, Mundo de Unas Mint, Uber Chic 5-01
I wanted to stamp on it but not cover it up.
Parrot Polish Emerald Sands, Mundo de Unas Mint, Uber Chic 5-01
This gorgeous color is Parrot Polish Emerald Sands. If you don't have any of their polishes, I suggest you check them out. The owners are fantastic, and they ship lightning fast. On top of this is a design from Uber Chic 5-01 using Mundo de Unas Mint.

I thought this was a win. Can't hate on that color, and I really like how the mint showed up on top of it.

Now I'm going to head outside before it rains and feed me some hummingbirds. I've got at least two males and two females, and they've been very willing to come see me to grab a bite to eat. I've got one girl I'm calling "The Guardian". The entire time I sit out there holding the feeders she sits in a tree across from me. Every time somebody comes near me to grab a snack, she flies over, chases them away and then goes back to her perch. She's really being a brat. She lets the others eat from the garage feeders across from where I'm sitting but is just bound and determined she's going to be the only one going near me.

Every so often one will sneak in a chance, though. I had a male sit on my finger for quite awhile yesterday, and I actually had a girl on each hand for a little bit. Then she came over and chased both of them away. She's mean, but when she comes to me to eat, she's still completely adorable.

I feel like they've been brave enough to come to me sooner this year. Maybe they remember me from last year. I can't really say that I actually recognize any of the ones I've seen. I do know that my original male that was here for a few years is not around so I guess he must not have made it through the winter.

Makes me sad.

Monday, May 16, 2016

HERE'S ANOTHER THREE

It's been a good last few days. I took Tinlee to her boyfriend's house on Friday and Sunday, and I'll take her one more time on Tuesday. It's a three hour drive to get there, so it is time consuming, but the drive isn't too bad.

I've enjoyed spending time with the owner of Copper, who is the father of Tinlee's last litter. They also have Copper's daddy, who is 14 and one of Copper's sons, who is 2 and gorgeous, just like Copper. Mary, the owner, is really fun to talk to. Her husband, John, is a cutie, too. I brought them some banana cake that I made last night. When I went inside to use the restroom before making the drive back home, he had already finished his piece. It's fun to bake when somebody appreciates it.

Saturday was spent taking pictures of the neighborhood birds. It was bird-crazy at my house for some reason. I even had a female Hairy Woodpecker on the feeder. I've never seen one on my feeder before. I also had some Cowbirds and a whole lot of Goldfinches. I also took a whole lot of pics of hummingbirds. Adjusting to using my new camera is proving to be challenging. It's so much bigger and clunkier that I just can't get to it as quickly as my old point and shoot. I hope I get better with it as the summer progresses.

Sunday for the first time I had a Rose Breasted Grosbeak on the feeder, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera because I had the wrong lens on it at the time.

This first mani is from March!!
Milani Yellow Whiz, Mundo de Unas White, Uber Chic UC 6-01
The yellow is Milani Yellow Whiz, and the scrollwork is done with Mundo de Unas White and the Uber Chic 6-01 stamping plate.
Essie Peach Side Babe, MdU Orange, Uber Chic 7-03
This orange thing is what I had on Friday. The base is Essie Peach Side Babe, and it's stamped with MdU Orange and the Uber Chic 7-03 plate.
Glitter Gal No Worries, MdU Green, Cooi 035
I like this green one more now that I look at it again. I used Glitter Gal No Worries and MdU Green. The design is from the Cooi 035 stamping plate that I got from Ali Express a few weeks ago. 

I really recommend wandering over there and getting these Cooi plates. I'm super happy with them and if they come out with more full coverage designs, I'll for sure buy them. I bought all of the ones they currently make. They also had some plates with smaller designs, but I didn't get those. I tend to only buy full coverage designs.

Truth be told, I really should just stop buying for awhile. I have so many plates now that it makes it even harder to decide on a design. Of course, I say that right after buying the latest Uber Chic 3 set.

I suck at not buying.



Friday, May 13, 2016

A FEW TO SHARE

It's weird, but now that I'm retired I feel like I've had less time to post. I've been doing a lot of putzing around the house, and we've been spending quite a bit of time with our friends. 

I've also been spending time running to the vet's office getting Tinlee ready for puppy-making. Today we took the first of three drives to her boyfriend's house.

I've been still doing nails every couple of days, so I'll share a few different ones with you today.
Sephora by OPI Metro Too Chic, Mundo de Unas Black, Uber Chic 7-01
The brown base on this one is Sephora by OPI Metro Too Chic, and I used Mundo de Unas Black and Uber Chic 7-01 for the design.
Square Hue Lake Louise, Julep Sonia, Uber Chic 5-02
I really liked this blue one. The lighter blue is Square Hue Lake Louise, and I used Julep Sonia and Uber Chic 5-02 for the stamped design.

Finally, I had mentioned this flop awhile back.
Julep Brigitte, Julep Kimball, Uber Chic 4-01
I had just received my monthly Julep box which featured some sheer polishes. It also included a bonus white to use under them, Julep Brigitte. For some stupid reason I thought I'd try stamping with the pink sheer, Julep Kimball using a floral design from Uber Chic 4-01. 

While I will say that the sheer polish stamped very well, I loathed this mani. I did end up wearing it for a full day, and I actually had a couple of people compliment it, but I thought it was hideous. Still do.

I'd have to say the blue one is for sure my fave of this group, but I liked the brown and black combo, too.

Now I'm off to fix my thumb nail. I managed to knock it loose when I was cleaning the house yesterday. Last night I got it all cleaned up and reapplied, and for some reason the damn thing popped off after my shower this morning. I did a quick reglue, but I still don't feel like it's very secure for some reason.

I really need Custom Nail Solutions to start making the pink nails again soon. I really want to get a new set.

Oh, I almost forgot the most important thing - the hummingbirds have finally arrived!! I saw my first boy the other day, and I had a girl here this evening.

That is what officially starts summer for me, even if they are predicting freezing temperatures tonight.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

QUITE THE WEEK

It was a long, weird week. The bossman was on a short vacay and was out of the office on Monday and Tuesday. I went in for a few hours on Monday to do a bunch of odds and ends when I got the call that my first mother-in-law had passed away.

I've known her for over 40 years, and even though her son and I divorced, she was still family in the heart-sense. Knowing how painful the loss is for her entire family, for my girls and for my grandkids is tough. 

On Tuesday I spent some time teaching my replacement some of the ins and outs of the office. Wednesday the bossman was back and we spent the day getting everything caught up from while he was gone. He wandered out the door at about 3 p.m. and never came back. So that made for a pretty underwhelming last day. 

After my "last day" of work was over, I stopped over and spent some time with my ex and then I met up with the hubby, Lisa and Laura for dinner. As is the norm, from there we headed to the casino, where luck was actually on our side and we walked out about $300 ahead. We got back home just as Tyler was pulling in from Illinois. Obviously I'm happy to have her and Zero here but wish she hadn't come because of losing her grandma.

Yesterday was the funeral. Painful on many levels, and I would much appreciate not having to see my grandchildren feel like that ever again. For real. 

After that was over, we headed over to the bar that is owned by my ex and his sister. It was lots of family and friends that had been at the funeral, and they had a whole spread of food set out. I think we got there about 5:30 and by 7:30 this girl needed to go home and sleep. I hadn't eaten, had taken a Vicodin earlier in the day and then drank 3 mixed drinks. At this particular bar, that is actually more like 6 drinks when it comes to alcohol content. I was more than a little toasty. I either needed to drink more to get past the sleepy stage or go home and sleep. I chose to go home and sleep. Kev headed back over there an hour later to hang with the family and watch karaoke and came home with some video of both of the grandkids singing. I'm pretty pissed that I missed out on that. I guess it didn't occur to me that they would be at the bar, too.

I had ordered a couple of LynB Designs polishes that came in the mail on Wednesday. After swatching them, I decided to use the neutral holo as my mani for yesterday.
LynB Designs Defender of the Down Trodden, Mundo de Unas Black, Cooi 026 stamping plate
The picture did not capture the prettiness of this polish very well. It's actually got a lot of holo goodness. I absolutely love the color, so if you're looking for a nice, neutral holo, I will for sure recommend LynB Designs Defender of the Downtrodden.
LynB Designs Defender of the Down Trodden, Mundo de Unas Black, Cooi 026 stamping plate
I tried a couple of different designs with my MdU Black before deciding on this one from the Cooi 026 stamping plate that I got from Ali Express. I bought six of these plates, and they are really nice! And at $1.18 a piece, they were a fantastic deal. I received them pretty quickly, too, less than two weeks. It ended up being a good mani for what I wore to the funeral, which was black leggings with a neutral and black sweater dress. This polish matched the neutral of my sweater perfectly.

Overall, I am very impressed with my first LynB polishes and with those Ali Express plates. 

Today I had a lazy, quiet afternoon. Kev went off golfing, and when he was done, he went and stole Seven so she could come over and play with her brother. Zero was very happy to have her here to play. Tinlee only puts up with him for a certain amount of time and then wants to take a break while Zero would play non-stop for hours. Seven accommodates him.

Quiet went out the window at that point. I'm worn out just from watching them.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

TWO ORANGE MANI'S

Since I'm so lazy about blogging lately, I just accumulate pictures just waiting for me to take the time to write about them. Just to get 'em out there, I guess sometimes I should just post more than one pic.

This first mani I did Thursday night. It ended up being a disappointment, and it came off tonight.
Funky Fingers Pluto 4Ever, MdU Orange, Uber Chic 8-02
The light coral is a pretty color by Funky Fingers, Pluto 4Ever. While I do have a tendency to grab up any coral shade I find, I did get this one specifically because it was supposed to change colors in sunlight. It "should" have gone from this color to a darker color. It did not.

I also had a difficult time finding a good color to stamp with. I tried three different regular polishes before caving and just using Mundo de Unas Orange with the Uber Chic 8-02 plate. 

Frankly, I didn't find this one to be Funky at all. I found it Fugly. And that's why it's gone.

Way back in January I did this orange one that I liked so much better.

Sinful Colors Mardi Gras, Mundo de Unas White, Stampaholic plate 2
It probs didn't hurt that the base is one of my all-time fave corals, Sinful Colors Mardi Gras. And of course, you can never go wrong with MdU White for stamping on top of that color. The design is from the Stampaholic 2 plate.

Tonight I really should have taken the time to soak off my nails because my left thumb came loose, but I was not in the mood. I shoved a bit of nail glue under it to keep it on for another day or two.

Bossman is on vacation until Wednesday which means I don't have to get up early on Monday or Tuesday. So if I stay up too late tomorrow or Monday night to do the reapplication, no biggie. 

Of course, very soon now I won't have to worry about staying up late ANY night since I won't ever have to go in to work early. This coming Wednesday is supposed to be my last day working. 

I say supposed to be because the bossman called me already to ask if I'd work May 9, 10 and 11th because my replacement had already made plans to go out of town before she took the job. So I'm retiring for a week and then going back in for a week.

Figures. I knew I'd never get out of there that easily.

Friday, April 22, 2016

FULL NAIL WATER DECALS

Yesterday I took the hummingbird window feeders out of the closet. I debated whether or not I should hang them yet, but the migration map seems to show the little cuties showing up a little earlier than last year in some places. I decided I'd wash them and made up a batch of nectar for them. 

While that cooled down, I washed the windows and searched around the deck hoping I'd find the suction cup that went missing at the end of last summer. No luck there. Luckily when I bought my mom her first window feeder as a Christmas gift, I bought one for myself, too. I absolutely need to have three window feeders.

It was starting to get dark out when I finally filled them and hung them up. And so begins the obsessive window watching, waiting for my first sighting. One thing about having these feeders, I'm pretty sure I have spectacular peripheral vision. I see every little movement at those windows. I really hope the birds show up sooner than last year.

When I finished up with the pink flower nail foils, I decided to use a set of water decals that I bought many months ago.
Cult El Porto, water decals
I did one coat of Cult El Porto. The white base definitely was necessary to show off the decal colors. I was pretty happy with these decals. I've had them so long that I don't remember what website I bought them from. There was a bit of a learning curve, and I did manage to damage the first decal as I tried to move it around on my left thumb.

After making that mistake, I didn't really have any more problems. I found that as long as I didn't try to slide them around, it was very easy to lift them off to move them if I needed to. That was a good thing because the set came with exactly ten.

When I added topcoat, the excess decal that was hanging off the edge at the tip pretty much melted away, and cleanup around the rest of the nail went very easily using non-acetone.

I'm kind of obsessed with full coverage water decals right now. I'm looking forward to using some of the floral ones that I bought, but I need to wait until they get to me from Ali Express.

I think I left these on for 5 or 6 days, and I have to say they held up pretty well. It's fun to use something like these just to change things up once in awhile. Lately I've been uninspired when it comes to colors for stamping manicures. Having things like decals and foils to play with gives me a little bit of motivation.

What keeps you motivated when it comes to mani ideas? I see so many gorgeous, intricate stamping manicures, but some of them look like they took forever. Back when I first started doing my nails, it wouldn't have bothered me to spend all day doing something on my nails; now I just don't want anything I do to take that long.

I bought the Uber mat and have purchased plates that would be good for doing decals, but they are so involved. I made a half-assed attempt one night awhile back, but as soon as the decal dried, it curled up horribly and was unusable. I haven't tried since. 

Maybe this weekend I'll try again. So if you hear swearing and don't know where it's coming from, it'll probs be me.



Sunday, April 17, 2016

PLAYING WITH FOIL

Oh, yesterday felt so good! Sunny and probably at least 60 degrees out on my deck. Nothing feels better than the first time opening up the screen door and letting the fresh air inside after months of being closed up. It just makes a body feel good to breathe in.

The past week or so I was kind of stumped on stamping ideas. I recently bought a bunch of new nail foils and water decals on Ali Express, so I've been doing some playing with those.

This first mani I left on for a few days. It seemed cuter in the night time light when I did it. I was less pleased with it in broad daylight, but people that saw it seemed to like it.

Before placing the foils, I did a basecoat with Julep Janie.
Julep Janie, Ali Express nail foil
After that was dry and topcoated, I cut up specific sections of the foil pattern. One thing I'm noticing with all of the floral nail foils I bought is the fact that it takes some finagling to actually place them. In order to have any kind of halfway decent look, I did a lot of cutting up into usable pieces. If they were expensive, I'd complain about that, but they were super cheap. I also find that I rarely use any kind of foil more than once.

One nice thing about the floral type foils is the fact that topcoat has no negative effect.

Then Friday night when I was getting ready to do my nails, I thought I'd try this black and silver number.
This one required some slicing and dicing, too. It didn't really apply all that nicely. I was pleasantly surprised that using Seche Vite didn't hurt the silver part of these foils, either. But since I wasn't too happy with the whole look, I only did the one hand, took a pic and then took it off.

After I took it off, I did a stamped mani that I'll show in another post. I really was in the mood to do my nails last night, too, but I really like what I have on so I didn't touch them.

This morning some friends and I headed off to Christmas, Michigan for a slot tournament at the Kewadin Casino. We came home losers, but it was still fun. It was almost 80 degrees there. 

I probably should have just sat my ass in the parking lot and got a tan. It would have cost me less.

Friday, April 15, 2016

SPRINGTIME....FOR REAL THIS TIME!

I do believe spring is finally here for real. Our weather for the next ten days or so is looking pretty good, 50's and even some 60 degree days. It definitely felt like spring while I was cleaning the house yesterday. Of course, it also felt a lot like spring a couple of weeks ago, and then we had a couple of big snowstorms. So who the hell knows. I remember it snowing on May 5, 1979, so anything is possible.

It was sunny and beautiful outside all day. It did take me about an hour longer than usual to clean the house because it seemed like every time I looked out the patio door or kitchen window, there was a cute bird to look at. 

First up was my female Cardinal. She's been hanging around a lot, so she must have a nest nearby again. She took off before I had time to get pics. He hubby was across the driveway in the trees, though, so I did manage to stare at him for a bit and get some pics. 

Next pass through the kitchen and there was a very pretty bright yellow Goldfinch, so I had to stop again to take pics. And lastly, I managed to catch a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the feeder. They are notoriously hard to me to catch in pics because they never seem to hang there for very long. I was very happy this one let me snap a few. So the birds pretty much made my day.

Now I just need my hummingbirds to come back.....I'm counting the days. My first sighting was May 6th last year, so it's getting close!

A couple of weeks ago the nail group decided on purple for the week. As always, my intentions to play along were good. I managed to do this mani but never got around to posting it.
Color Club Sweet Pea, Mundo de Unas Lilac, Uber Chic 8-01
The purple is Color Club Sweet Pea, and I used MdU Lilac with the Uber Chic 8-01 stamping plate.

I wasn't a big fan of this one. It's a nice purple; I just wasn't excited about the design I chose. 

Right now I'm wearing some water decals that I did last Sunday, and they are looking rough. They are going to come off, but I just cannot decide on what I want to do.

Feel free to telepathically send me some fantastic idea.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

FINALLY I LIKE SOMETHING!

For quite awhile now I've just been really over being at work. I've been very lucky to have been working at a job I actually loved most of the time for a boss who, for the most part, is a great guy to work for. For reasons I'm not sure I understand, I'm just no longer finding the enjoyment that I used to in the work.

After many, many months of talking about it with the hubster, I finally bit the bullet yesterday and told him that I will be done at the end of the month. Of course, I also told him I'll still be around if he's in a pinch or needs help with something. Unless he can find somebody with experience, I expect I'll get occasional phone calls for awhile.

It is also a possibility that I will just switch to one day a week. He offered that to me just in case a year from now I decide I'm bored and made a mistake by quitting. At this point I'm undecided if I'll do that or not. Part of me thinks it's a great idea, and part of me is afraid that it just means I'll end up doing exactly as much as I do now but only having one day to do it. That's kind of what my three days a week has been; a five day amount of work that I get done in three.

I'm really hoping this doesn't end up being a mistake. I know I'm going to miss typing all the time, and I will miss the bossman. It would be so much easier to quit if he was a jerk.

So that's the most exciting news in my life right now. The other exciting thing is I actually finally did a mani that I liked after doing several that I hated. Sadly, after wearing it for five days, I am now wearing another one that I hate. It is for sure coming off tonight.

But here's a good one. Yay!
Julep Claire, Cult El Porto, Sinful Colors Blue Crushin, MoYou Pro XL06
I hadn't done any double stamping in a long while, and I really like the colors on this. The light blue base is Julep Claire. I then tried a couple of different things for the stamping. I tried doing white first and then dark blue....hated it. Then I did dark blue and used MdU white on top....hated that. The MdU white just stamped way too bold.

I finally stamped with the MoYou Pro XL06 plate and Sinful Colors Blue Crushin. When that was done, I tried a Sally Hansen white for the stamping, but that was too light. I then used Cult El Porto with the same design as the blue, facing the opposite direction, and I was satisfied with the intensity of the white. It showed up just enough while still allowing the darker blue stamping to show.

The entire time I had this on I was happy with it. When I took it off last night, I was saddy pants over it. I was even more saddy pants when I finished what I replaced it with.

Gawd, it is just butt-friggin'-ugly! I may not even photograph it. That's how bad I think it is.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

TWO YUKS IN A ROW

I don't know what my deal is, but I'm just hating everything I did for like the past week. I ordered a bunch of different nail vinyls from Ali Express, so I decided to give them a try last weekend.

First of all, they were super cheap at $1.44 a sheet. I bought 8 different designs from this seller. I see now they are $1.80 per sheet. I haven't looked, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone else had them for less over there somewhere.

The quality of the sheets is pretty damn good. I only used three from the sheet to do all ten of my nails.

So it isn't the fault of the vinyls that this mani is crap.
Fresh Paint Blank Space, Different Dimensions Coral Rose, OPI DS Signature, Ali Express nail vinyls
I started with two coats of the very light pink, Fresh Paint Blank Space. Once that was dry and topcoated, I placed a vinyl and sponged on Different Dimensions Coral Rose. I then used an eye shadow applicator to fill in the small spot with OPI DS Signature.

It just turned out kind of jumbled mess. Maybe I was tired; mabes I was just doing sloppy work. I don't know. I have no excuse. I was embarrassed wearing it out to dinner with the fam on Easter Sunday and was happy nobody made a comment.

The clerk at the grocery store loved it, though. I thanked her and went on my merry way back home to remove it.

Bottom line, Ali Express vinyls are a win at a great price. And I received them in 13 days, which isn't too shabby. 

I should probably stay off of that website. It makes me want to buy ALL of the nail stuff!

Friday, March 25, 2016

I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS

Last night I stayed up way too late. When I was at my mom's house during the holidays, I decided to steal a bunch of the old family photographs so I could scan them into my computer. I finally got around to doing it and was up until 3:30 a.m. cropping them to normal size. It was fun looking back at pics from when I was little and seeing pics of loved ones now long gone. Some of them also made me seriously question some of my "fashion" choices over the years.

When I did finally go to sleep, I vaguely remember having some kind of weird-ass dream about ghosts, and then I was awoken by this godawful beeping noise. In my stupor I reach over to Kev's empty side of the bed to practically break his alarm clock before realizing that wasn't where the sound was coming from. So I stumbled out of my room into the living room and stood in the dark trying to discern where the screeching was coming from.

Finally it became apparent that it was coming from the spare bedroom. I went in there and found Tinlee on that bed, completely unconcerned by the sound but looking at me like I was the crazy one. I flipped on the light and saw that it was the weather warning radio my mom bought me for Christmas. I wanted one basically to warn me of bad summer weather, not stupid snow. And why it chose 4:40 a.m. to start squawking about a winter storm warning is baffling. My phone has been warning me for days about the winter storm. And for the record, the damn storm started before midnight. Not only that, just exactly what kind of warning do I actually need for a bunch of white, fluffy stuff falling down in my yard?

I don't know who sends the signals to that thing, but if a tornado is coming, I'd appreciate the warning ahead of time....not 5 hours after it hits. I could be lying naked and dead in a field 2 miles from my house by that time.

So thanks for nothing, weather warning radio. You suck at life.

I shut it off.

I took off that really cute pastel saran wrap mani and did this. And if it wasn't 12:40 a.m. right now, I'd take it right back off. I hate when I take off something I really like and then follow it up with crap.
Morgan Taylor Birthday Suit, Mundo de Unas Cream, Uber Chic UC 7-03
The base is a night neutral, Morgan Taylor Birthday Suit. I tried stamping on it with a couple different light neutrals and wasn't satisfied with any of them. I finally just used Mundo de Unas Cream, but it isn't what I wanted at all. I had a couple of regular polishes that I tried that I would have liked better, but they just weren't showing up. Maybe I should have just gone with white.

I got my Uber Chic 7 series of stamping plates today so I got this design from UC 7-03. Scrolly, flourishy goodness. My fave thing.

Kev will be home in the morning and then we are heading off to Manistique with Seven's parents to eat and go to the casino. Then he has to leave right away on Saturday morning. Short trip home this time around.

And after he's gone, so is this mani!