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.

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.

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.

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.

NOT SO ME-ISH

Having Razzie for the weekend was a nice distraction since the only thing I could seem to find on Facebook was more sadness. 

Seven came over and played with her brother, and Razzie was probably the best behaved he's ever been. He seemed not quite as pesty as last time, and he actually lets me sleep until almost 9 a.m., unlike his sister, who is used to an earlier schedule than he is. It's pretty sad when I have to force myself to go to bed earlier because the dog might wake up. As always, I was sad to see him go back home. He's just a little love-bug, always quick with a smooch and a tail wag. 

It was also cute to watch Tinlee as he pulled out of the driveway. She just stood on the deck at the top of the stairs and watched them leave. I think she was actually sad about it. As for Raz, he was hanging his whole upper body out of the truck window and was still looking back at the house as they drove off. Tinlee then came in the house, plopped next to me and let out a heavy sigh before falling asleep. She was definitely in full-on pout mode.

After he left at 6, it was time to get busy and soak off my nails. Evidently my real nails just didn't grow much during the past month because my Customs were still rock solid. It's funny when they've been on for a long time, that little bit of length I gain as they grow out actually becomes an issue while typing. It's like suddenly my nails are too long, and I start hitting the wrong keys more often.

Once I reapplied, I didn't really feel like stamping or anything so I threw on the other new Julep I had gotten and then decided to throw on a glitter that I had won on Instagram last summer.

The base is a very light pink, Julep Janie, and the topper is KB Shimmer Precious Petals. As you may or may not know, I am not a ginormous fan of glitter. When I had initially gotten this one and swatched it, I thought it was quite pretty just by itself on my swatch stick. I knew if and/or when I used it, I would for sure want it to be on something very pale. It works perfectly on Janie.

Sometimes I find glitter to be a real pain to apply, but this one actually went on very nicely. The glitter pieces dispersed without too much monkeying around, and I did two coats before topcoating.

If I have any inspiration this evening, I'll take this off, but if I do end up being too lazy or too involved watching the first two episodes of X Files, it won't break my heart to leave this on.

Besides, I'm sure if I want to break my heart, all I have to do is wander around Facebook for 3.2 seconds. I'm sure something shitty will have happened to someone.

I think I'm cried out anyway. At least for this moment.

RAINBOWIE GRADIENT

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was hectic, just as I had expected. Extra dogs, extra people....things still aren't back to normal. Tyler went back home but left Griffin and Zero here, and I'll be driving to meet up with my son-in-law on Thursday to give him back his son and his dog. 

I felt bad for Zero the past few nights. Even though none of my dogs have ever had a fear of fireworks or thunderstorms, sweet little Zero does. Luckily it isn't too intense of a fear, but he was definitely anxious when the booms were going off around the neighborhood. The holiday is over, and I'm hoping everyone used up the rest of their fireworks last night.

Over the past year or so I've seen lots of these rainbow type gradients on the interwebs, and I finally got around to doing one myself.

I did a white base with Cult El Porto, and the gradients were done with Kleancolor Tangerine Burst, Neon Green, Neon Purple, Neon Yellow and KB Shimmer Lei It Again and In Yacht Water. I added just one thin coat of Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond for a smidge of sparkles before ending with my usual Seche Vite topcoat.

Actually, I did this one last Sunday night and on Monday morning before work I decided to re-do my ring finger and pinkie. The blue I used on Sunday was a darker neon, and since the other fingers kind of had a light/dark contrast happening, I knew it would drive me insane if I didn't change that blue. It was the right decision. I can't stand anything unbalanced.

Now I'm off to either take a nap, do some sweepstakes or do my nails. We just finished supper, and I'm paying the price for eating too much. My stomach is not happy with me at all. 

I probably wouldn't be so tired if it weren't for Zero. That dog is too happy for my own good. He doesn't wag his tail; he wags the entire back half of his body, and that tail is deadly. In the bedroom no matter where he wags, it hits something.  Several times during the night he apparently got happy and whacked that thing on the bathroom door. Loudly. And woke me up every time.

He is super cute, though, so it's worth losing a little bit of sleep to have him here.

LOVE IT? HATE IT? CAN'T DECIDE.

It is hard to get back in the swing of normal life after a vacation. Being at home seems too quiet after living with a crowd. To top it off, Kev left yesterday after being off since the 12th. He comes home Friday and then leaves again on Saturday. I miss him when he's gone so much.

I also am missing Tennessee weather. It's actually summer there. Here, not so much. We're barely cracking the mid-60's even though it's almost July. At this rate I'll never get to use my pool. Of course, even on the few days it has thought about being warm enough, it has rained. Awesome-sauce.

On Sunday night I decided to use this little sunshine in a bottle.

This blazing yellow is Studio M Neon Caution. I grabbed it at Meijer while we were on our trip. I topped that off with KB Shimmer Dust in the Bottle which is a really fine glitter. It's "almost" a holo but it doesn't quite get there for me. I love it, though, since I really love super fine glitter.

I had planned on taking this off after work but instead I decided to just stamp over it.

For the added flowers I used Mundo de Unas Violet and the LeaLac LLC-B stamping plate.

I've been looking at this one a lot today. I can't decide if I love it or hate it. In the sunlight the KB Shimmer flashes a whole lot of rainbow specs, which is cool, but it's not like I get to sit outside all day to stare at it.

I'm already contemplating what to do tonight. I might have to break down and use something dark. It's only been two weeks, but I feel like my nails need to be redone already. The cuticle line is bugging me. I want to hold off for at least a few more days if I can.

Once my hair starts getting caught under them in the shower, though, I know their days are numbered.