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 stamped with Cult Breakwater using Bundle Monster + Lucy's Stash BM XL-209 stamping plate.

Sinful Colors Endless Blue stamped with Julep Tali. The design is from the new Uber Chic 10-01 plate.

The light purple is Zoya Kendal, and I used the Cooi 035 stamping plate with Mundo de Unas Violet.

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!!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

I wanted to stamp on it but not cover it up.

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.

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!!

The yellow is Milani Yellow Whiz, and the scrollwork is done with Mundo de Unas White and the Uber Chic 6-01 stamping plate.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.