GUESS I'M A BIG HONKIN' LIAR

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

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

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

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

So I lied about no more hearts. This one was supposed to be my actual Valentine's Day post because it's red.

I used Kleancolor Metallic Red with Konad white and the new DRK Themes Enlaced stamping plate. The Kleancolor metallics can really stain, so I did this one because I knew I'd be soaking off my nails later that day.

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

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

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

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

AND A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

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

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

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

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

Here's the final heart-themed mani I did, and hopefully the last one you'll see for awhile.

The lighter purple is Sinful Colors Baby Blues, and the darker purple for the Ali Express 12-51 heart stamp is Morgan Taylor Ultra Violet. This is another one I thought was cute but didn't wear it anywhere.

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

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

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

OF MICE AND NAILS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Over the weekend I got ambitious and did 5 mani's, all of which are kind of Valentine related.  Three turned out decent; one is a super fail in pics, and this one is just a big ol' disappointment.

I had soaked off my nails before doing this one, and by the time I decided I didn't like it, it was too late to start over. 

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

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

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

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

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

 

JAZZ - THESE HEARTS SHOULD BE BROKEN

Those of you who have been hanging out here for a bit will remember the sadness my group of friends felt over the loss of the beautiful Jules. For those of you who weren't here, he was a gorgeous Golden Retriever that left his loving owners way too soon.

I wasn't on Facebook yesterday until late in the evening when I got a private message notification. So I picked up my laptop only to discover that this dear woman very suddenly lost Jules' playmate, Jazz.  To say we are devastated for her and her husband would be an understatement, as there simply are no words. Once again, we are all in shock and shedding tears right along with her.

If I had known, the mani shown here today would have been much different. It would have matched how I feel, which is heartbroken for her loss and for the pain she's going through. We love you, MJ. Truly.

As you can see, she was a very "chill" girl. I couldn't resist this pic, especially since I have one of my Lab in almost the exact same position. It's just cute....not very ladylike, but cute. Jazz just chillin'.

And she was patient! If I try something like this with either of mine, I just get sad eyes or dirty looks. Jazz seemed just fine dozing off with her antlers on.

I had to include this picture; it was taken at the same time as the gorgeous one of Jules that I posted. What's prettier than a Golden lying in the golden sun? Damn near nothing.

This one is a repeat pic from November just because it shows a whole lot of my fave pictures of these two all dressed in their finery. They had LOTS of finery! And they looked mighty fine in it!

And finally, just the most perfect picture. Jazz and Jules. Best friends. Playmates. The reunion at Rainbow Bridge must have been simply amazing!! I wish we were allowed to have a glimpse of that joy.  Run free, Jazz and Jules!! You now get to be healthy and happy and joyous. And together forever.

Now I'll throw in a mani just because I'm supposed to. Gotta' say I pretty much don't give a shit about it right now.

The pink is Color Club Blushing Rose which I stamped using Square Hue Wartime Romance and my Ninja Polish DRK-A stamp.

So that's that. Sometimes I don't think I want so many furbaby friends. Sometimes it just hurts too effing much.