A MILESTONE

It is such a gloomy day again today. I would love to see some sun. I'm pretty sure it's possible to have sunshine even when it's cold out. It would be nice to see it happen.

I actually woke to a bit of snow on the ground. Horrifying thing to wake up to!! It didn't stay around for very long, but I am really not ready for winter to start. It is November in Michigan, though, so I could easily wake to a foot of snow any morning. 

Rumor has it the winter is going to be brutal again this year. Last year at this time I had my shoulder surgery and didn't leave the house much, thereby avoiding the freeze. This time I'll have to suck it up just like everybody else. 

When I got to the blog today, I noticed how many views it has had since I started it, and it hit the 100,000 mark! I am shocked, humbled and grateful that there have been so many lookers. For those of you that have taken the time out of your day to pop in, look, read and feel it was worth coming back, thank you! You are honestly and truly appreciated, and I thank you from the depths of my normally cold, hardened, black heart.

Seriously, though....THANK YOU!!

Now on to what brings us here, nails.

I actually did this one even before going to Cancun.  I have quite a few manicures in draft form from when I would manage to do nails during the puppy months.  

I seem to recall having a specific reason for doing navy blue, but damned if I can think of it now.  When I was going through my swatches I landed on this navy, Ruby Kisses  Deal with the Devil. It is a nice deep and true navy blue which can actually sometimes be hard to find. The stamp was done with Essie Blue Rhapsody and the Ali Express 12-52 stamp.

I liked this one. And I can always count on those Essie mirrors to stamp well. When I bought them, I wanted them for the supposed mirror finish which I ended up being kind of disappointed in. I don't even know why I cared; it's not like I wear a plain polish normally. The fact that they are great stamping polishes turned out to be a bonus.

Now I need to decide if I feel motivated enough to shower. The bar I used to be part owner in with my ex and his sister is having karaoke tonight. I knew about it because the bar sent out invites on Facebook, but it hadn't really occurred to me to actually go. Then last night the ex texted to ask if Kev and I want to go.  As is typical with the timing of things, Kev left yesterday. 

Back in the day it would have been a no brainer, and I would have already been planning to go.  I used to love karaoke! And bowling! And after league bowling late shift on Wednesday nights, karaoke followed every week. Had a lot of fun in my mid 30's. Now I think I might just go and watch. Don't quite have the singing confidence I once had, but I do enjoy listening to my former family sing.

The voice, as is true with many things, is an "if you don't use it, you lose it" kind of thing. I'm thinking I may have to rest on my past laurels and keep that secret to myself.

It's these stupid little physical tidbits that remind me that I'm way past my prime in almost everything. 

Me --------->> mourning lost youth.

CANCUN MANI #2

Work day ended at noon, the laundry is all done and the house is all clean and shiny.  Kev is gone for the weekend, so I guess it's going to be a very quiet few days.

It feels weird here already because I'm alone and it's quiet. It won't be as much fun as last weekend when I had Razzie here to play with and keep me busy. Sometimes I really wish I had kept one of those dang puppies.

I figured since I posted Cancun mani #1 on Tuesday, I may as well post the one I did mid-week of the trip. I regretted it the minute I started it. Even though I had tried it on one nail before I left home, the yellow really gave me trouble once I started doing it for realz.

It's a really nice yellow, Orly Lemonade. For some reason when I tried it at home, it did fine with two coats. I don't know if it was a weather or air conditioning issue in Cancun, but it took three coats, and even that was difficult. That third coat had to be pretty thick. 

The grey I used to stamp with my AliExpress 12-51 plate is Sinful Colors Smokin.  This is one of those rare cases where either my memory is fuzzy or this actually looks better in pics than I think it did in person.  I know it couldn't have looked too bad because I had several women comment on it during out thousand hour layover in  Atlanta on the way home.

Gee, I guess that's all I have for today. I've been starting at the blank area on this post and can't think of a single interesting thing to say. 

But at least I posted a mani!

 

ORANGES PORANGES....WHO SAID?

Does the title of this post mean anything to anybody, or am I just really that old?  Even though I hated the show, for some reason this song from HR Puff-n-Stuff that was sung by Witchie-Poo has been stuck in my head forever. OMG, that show really sucked balls. I shudder at the thought of it.

Lordie, and from there my brain went to The Banana Splits.  Somebody shoot me.

I'm pretty excited today. A couple of months ago we decided it was time for me to get a new vehicle.  I've been driving my current vehicle for 11 years. That's a record for me. I've always been pretty spoiled and have never owned a car for more than 3 years. Thank you, leasing. My current car we purchased, and I have to say I have enjoyed not having a car payment, but I am so ready for something new!

I've been in love with my daughter's Subaru Tribeca ever since she got it. Just for kicks last fall when we had gone out of town to my shoulder doctor, we had stopped and looked. It was then that we decided we liked the Outback better; a bit less expensive and better gas mileage. We also decided it would be a good idea to wait. Our brains actually worked for once and logic made an appearance.

We've been kicking the idea around ever since. Driving the Alero in the winter is not pleasant. Kev always lets me take over his Equinox in the winter which leaves him traveling the two hours on wintery roads to get to work. Since he is now going to be moving up to a bigger plane and will make a smidge more money, we decided to bite the bullet. So off he went in July to find me my dream Outback. It was such a dream that they actually had to custom order it. I guess the pearl white ones with all the good stuff are hard to find. We've been waiting ever since and thought it was supposed to get here next week, but it's here a week early. 

When I drive home from work today, that will probs be the very last time I drive my little red Alero. This does actually make me kind of sad. I've loved that car. So much so that it was my second one. I owned the 2000 version of it, exact same color and options as the one I have now. I still look at it when it's outside and think it's cute. If they still made it, I probably would have bought it again.  I'll just have to force myself to drive the brand-spanking-new Outback. Poor me.

I am so far behind on blog posts that this is a mani I seriously do not remember doing.  That probably means I did it in July when I was brain dead. Or maybe in August when I was brain dead. Whatever.

It is very orange. Very. 

I actually  like it. I wonder if I liked it when I did it. Sad that I can't remember. Thankfully I did at least write down what I used so I must have had one working brain cell.  The gradient was done with Sinful Colors Cream Soda, Julep Gloria and Loreal Precious Coral. I stamped on it with the AliExpress 12-51 stamp using China Glaze Drive.

So yup....very orange.

I am wearing a mani now that I did on Sunday night, and I actually  might do my nails again tonight! I think that's going to be the fewest days I've worn a mani since July. 

Maybe I really am going to get back into the swing of things.

DAINTY

Oh, boy. It's amazing how fast the puppies change from day to day. I swear they get more comical with each passing minute. They are really starting to get into people and now come to us with those little tails wagging. Lovin' it!  It's also hilarious to watch them with Tinlee when they are at the milk bar. Last night they were all perfectly lined up, and their tails were going so fast they were vibrating. Again...cuteness overload.

They are also really starting to pee like pro's. Everywhere. Hopefully they'll learn to use the potty box pretty soon.

I did manage to soak off my nails and redo them Sunday night. It meant getting to bed way too late, but it had to be done.

I seldom manage to do a white base that I'm satisfied with, but even though it was late and therefore a risk to even attempt it, I just really wanted it.

I started out with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure White Out and was happy I got it to go on evenly, but it did take me 3 coats to do it. I wanted to stamp navy blue over it. I used CQ Deep Blue Sea which, on its own, actually is navy blue. Unfortunately, that did not translate well as a stamping polish so I got this kind of pale navy-ish blue design using the 12-52 plate that I got from Ali Express.

All in all, I'm calling it a success.  I still have it on today. Last night a few people were over to see the puppies so I didn't have time to take it off. But I'm not mad at it at all. It still looks good today, and I really like the daintiness of it.

Because I'm nothing if not "dainty". (snort)

BEFORE AND AFTER!

Have you forgotten about the giveaway? Don't! It ends next week!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter and got your fill of ham. I know I did. My sis decided to do the cooking and sent me home with plenty of leftovers. Yummers.

I think today I won't complain about anything.

Now that you've picked yourself up off the floor, I'll show you something positive I did this weekend. I got motivated!

As you all know, we're doing stuff around the house. I finally picked out a color for our bedroom. We were sitting around chatting it up about all the work that needs doing, and I got the brilliant idea that we might as well paint the laundry room, too, even though that wasn't really ever part of the plan.  It's a small room, I said. It'll be easy, I said.  It won't take long at all, I said.

Holy shitballs, was I ever wrong! For some reason it didn't occur to me to consider what a difficult room that was going to be. SO damn many places to cut around. Jeebus! There's the doorway into it, the doorway to the porch, the closet door, the furnace door, the water heater door, the electrical box door and all of the tubes and shelves behind the washer/dryer. Between that, having to move the washer and dryer by myself and then squeezing in back of them to paint, it was the most difficult room I have ever painted.  

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to get the first coat done because of all the nooks and crannies and edgework. Then since I was using leftover paint from the kitchen, I ran out of paint. I thought I was so clever on Friday and went to the paint store with the intention of getting a gallon of that paint, 2 gallons of the bedroom paint and swatches to repaint the spare bedroom. Because yes, I have now decided to repaint that room, too, for no apparent reason other than I feel like it.

Got all the way to the paint store and found them closed because of Good Friday. Poopski. Just my luck. So bright and early Saturday morning I went back and got what I needed, headed home and did the second coat.

While that was drying, I took a break and was texting with Kev. I was telling him how hard the room was and said if it needed a third coat, he'd find me hanging by my neck from the garage rafters when he gets home. Lucky for him (and me), two coats took care of it. 

I even took off the grating that is on both sides of the door that are screwed on (tight) so I could clean out the slats. May I say, DISGUSTING! Just a shit-ton of black lint and dust that has accumulated for probably as many years as the house has been there. Now that I've done that once, you can bet it's not something I will neglect in the future. I was completely grossed out.

So here's the before and after. I never have to look at those damn flowered walls again.  Before....yucksville.

And the after....me likey much more.

Personally I think it's a drastic improvement. We keep that door between the kitchen and here closed so we don't have to listen to the furnace so every time I go in there now I do a double-take. 

When I finished that room I would have loved to start painting in the bedroom, but since I'm not a body builder, I don't have the ability to move furniture. A task for a different day, I guess.

I do have a mani to show although it isn't what I'm wearing right now. I actually had a pretty gold on over the weekend, but it was completely destroyed by the time I got done painting. I didn't even take pics of it beforehand. That'll teach me.

So this is one from a few weeks back when I first got my AliExpress plates. 

After doing one coat of black, I did one coat of HITS Mari Moon Cool and continued on with the Sinful Colors Black on Black to do the stamping off the AliExpress 12-52 stamping plate.

As always happens, I forget how much I love those HITS polishes until I use them. I'm amazed by them every time.

It's kind of an odd stamping image, different sized chain links is what I think it's supposed to be. Very "un-me". I tend to like designs that make more sense. I'm trying to make myself use some of the more quirky ones, but it's hard for me to do.

All in all, a decent mani.

Now, since I am back to work 2 1/2 days a week, I guess I'll go do some!

And for the record, all of that convo above about the difficult laundry room painting was not a complaint. I wasn't mad about any of it. Just exhausted....and sore. This old body doesn't appreciate being all pretzeled up to squeeze into small spaces.  lol

THE SAGA CONTINUES

Have you entered my giveaway and been sharing it every day? It ends on the 30th so get to it!

On to the continuing house shenanigans.

First of all, you know I was super excited about the new water system. God forbid, that would have panned out as I thought it would.  Kev got a call yesterday, and evidently because our water is so "special", she had forgotten that we need something extra on our system. It has something to do with bacteria in our well water. So that changed the monthly rental fee up another 30 bucks. It also meant that only have of the monthly fee would go towards the purchase and only for the first 3 years. So in 3 years we'd owe $1,700 to completely pay it off. Long story short, we're going to end up paying for it up front or mabes in 3 installments in order to not have to end up paying almost $2,000 more for the system. So much for not having a big expense up front. Gawd!

Now, the bathroom! We went to pick out flooring and decided to go with the same kind of vinyl tiles we have in our kitchen in a white with a light grey marbling in it. It's super pretty, and we love that kitchen tile. Since the bathroom is so small, we're figuring it won't be too pricey. I bring home a sample tile and throw it on the floor in front of the vanity. It's awesome. 

About 8 hours later I decide I should probs put it up against the side of the tub because yes, that disgusting cream colored carpeting also runs up the side of where the tub is.  I wanted to see what the tile would look like when it was right against the fake marbley looking refinish I did on the tub surround last year. And it looks completely hideous. Great. Now what the frick do I have to do.

I start thinking maybe some kind of white subway tile will look good, and subway tile is super cheap. Sounds perf.  The flooring guy came out to the house the next day to do measurements on the bedroom and bathroom. OMG. He wanted to see what was behind that tub carpeting. It's some flimsy shit board that bends if you push on it. In order to tile it, the vanity needs to come out, a solid wood panel has to be applied and then the tile. We're talking 2 days labor just for the side of the tub.

He calls me the next day. A smidge over $700 for that dinky little bathroom floor. And over $600 just for the side of the tub. I wanted to puke.  And there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. It's way too complicated a deal for us to try to do it. Just kill me already. That bathroom is going to be the death of me anyway, so somebody may as well just take me out now.

When we went to pick out wood laminate for the bedroom, we had no idea what to expect. Before we had an employee helping us, we were just looking around, and they were all at least $5 a square foot. Luckily our guy brought us to the back to the sale stuff. They had a clearance laminate that was a higher end that normally was $6.59 a square foot. They were blowing out what they had for $2.39! What's that you say? WE actually found a bargain?? I was starting to think that wasn't even possible for us. Damn floor is still going to cost us $1,200. Whatever. At this point I don't even care anymore. It's going to be gorg when it's done. For those prices it damn well better be.

All we're waiting on now is the estimate to fix the water damaged ceilings which I'm sure will be 3 times more than I think it should be. We're also awaiting an estimate for installing the new shower and for 2 more estimates for the furnace, air conditioning and water heater. Then we can finally get started on all the fun.

I'm calling this mani a fail. It was the first time I used one of my AliExpress stamping plates, and the gold stamp just didn't show up as well as I wanted it to.  

I do like the burgundy, though, China Glaze Skate Night. As for the gold, I should have just gone with my standard fave Essie for it, but instead I went with China Glaze Mingle With Kringle.  Who knows, maybe I chose it because we had a ton of snow so it felt like Christmas.  The AliExpress stamp is 12-50, which is one of their medium sized plates.

Here's a link for these stamping plates. Four big plates for under 20 bucks is a damn steal considering I paid 20 bucks each for my other large design plates.

Nice to know I can get a bargain basement price on something.

OH, JUST PEACHY

Since this bargain is only good for 35 more hours, I'm tossing this in here! It's a great price at $19.99 for 6 full-size OPI's with a train case. You can get it here!

It's finally acting like spring around here. Kinda' sad that I actually was happy to see a fly. I'm sure there are robins out and about, too, but for me, I get a damn fly. Little pleasures, my friends...little pleasures.

I'm super annoyed the last couple of days. It doesn't seem like I have a reason to be, but I am just in a "mood". I've always been a moody bitch in general, but usually I keep it in check because all in all, I shouldn't really complain about anything. When it comes right down to it, life is good. Unfortunately my attitude at present simply does not see it that way.

Hopefully I'll snap out of it soon. I did just buy a new pair of shoes on 6pm.com, which is one of my all-time fave places to shop. I've gotten so many great deals there on shoes and clothes. I used to check there every day but decided it's too expensive for me to do that because I might just find something. Or eight or ten somethings!!  Poorhouse, here I come!!

Actually, I'm honestly trying to not spend so much right now. With all of the things we want to do with the house, every little dime counts.

We got the estimate from our guy, Tony. Methinks we were aiming too high. No new picture window for this girl! Maybe next year on that. He IS going to put an addition on the garage so the hubs can store the lawn tractor, snowthrower and who knows what else in it. That will free up a lot of room in the garage. The side door on the garage needs a new door and frame, so he'll do that, too.  We also got an estimate from him to put a vinyl railing on the deck. 

Now I'm going to digress just a smidge back to that great water system I said I wanted. We had pretty much ruled it out because it was so expensive. (stay tuned, that sitch coming up in a second). 

We did still decide to buy a new shower since we're going to do the bathroom floor. After searching, I found a couple on the Menard's site, so after picking out flooring at another store, we headed over there. We found one we both like so we snagged that.

Once we finished picking the shower, I suggested we go look at the vinyl deck railings to see what we like. 

That was a very good move!!  First off, I wasn't impressed with the vinyl. It just felt cheap to me. They have these other resin ones that are much nicer.  Of course, they are also more expensive. But while I was wandering I found the resin stuff that looks like wood and comes in planks that goes right over your existing deck. OMG...genius!! So now instead of having to strip the deck and refinish it, Kev is gonna' ask his brother and cousins to come and they'll put that stuff on and a new railing. It's going to be fantabulous!! No upkeep on it at all, doggie nails won't scratch it and has great reviews.  And cheaper in the long run because they'll do it for free. I'm super excited about it.

After we got home while we were looking at color ideas for the deck, the phone rings, and it's the water lady. Kev tells her we're not going to do it because it's too expensive. Then she tells us we can rent to own. Kev hangs up, and I'm all, "wtf...tell her yes right now!" If I had been told that option before, we'd already have that bitch cleaning our water. They're coming Thursday to install it. I'm absolutely giddy with excitement, which I guess shows how non-exciting my life really is.  

So now I've got a new shower sitting in my garage, and I'm going to get two new toilets, too. Suck it, rust.

Enough house stuff; next time I'll talk about the disaster that is my bathroom and the great bedroom flooring we bought. 

On to the nails! It's "peach week" over in Nail Fun and for once I managed to play along. 

These are two I don't think I've ever used before, China Glaze Sunset Sail, and it's stamped with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure So Much Fawn. The design is from the 12-51 stamping plate I bought from Ali Express.

I know you're all just dying to hear about the bedroom flooring and the latest bathroom fiasco, but you'll just have to wait for another day.

COACH NAILS - SMATCHING MY PURSE

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

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

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

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

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

It turned out better in my head. I tried multiple yellow-oranges, but none of them wanted to really show up properly over the blue. I still think it's pretty adorbs.

My navy blue on this one is Zoya Ibiza, and I stamped with Salon Perfect Bellini and Fresh Paint Coconut. The Coach stamp is found on the AliExpress 12-50 stamp.

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

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

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

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