I ALWAYS FORGET!

This weekend's weather sucked! I got about two hours in the pool on Thursday, but the rest of the weekend was mostly cloudy. I have a feeling my pool days for the rest of the summer are numbered, probs in the single digits at this point. Of course, I can certainly hope for hot weather that lasts throughout September. I can dream, can't I?

The weekend was absolutely fantastic for Hummingbirds, though! They have all just been crazy busy at my feeders. I have an adult male that is being super mean to a younger male, though. I've never seen anything like it. All weekend long I watched him attack this poor bird. I got some great videos and some pretty great pics, too.

The fighting went on all day Friday. I'll give the younger guy credit, though. He never backed down or flew away. He just stuck to his spot, and when the bully would leave, the little guy just went right back to eating. 

After putting the crab ass on blast over in my Facebook Hummingbird groups, I snapped a pic of him. Sassy-pants stuck his tongue out at me.

On Saturday, they were right back at it. After a couple of hours, I guess the juvenile got tired of it because at one point as the bully was resting, the younger guy flew up and knocked him right off the feeder. 

I am now ass-less from laughing.

I also spent a whole lot of time sitting in my chair in the front yard feeding the little darlings. It was seriously crazy out there. If they weren't landing on my fingers to eat, they were dive-bombing each other right next to me. I even had two that were nice enough to share the feeder with one sitting on my left index finger and one sitting on my right. It was awesome.

Last night most of the action seemed to be taking place in the back yard for some reason, and I stood and watched from the doorway as they all played and chattered and jockeyed for feeder position. Finally I had to give in and go sit on the deck, risking getting nailed by one of those wasps that are residing under the siding, but I just couldn't resist. It was worth it. Even the douchebag from the other night landed and ate a couple of times.

I did manage to soak off my nails and reapply them on Saturday and finally painted them last night.

I started off with the lovely green holo, Milani Hi-Tech. Before I even started painting, I knew I'd want to get a picture of it on its own.

And then I went right ahead and stamped over it using Mundo de Unas Papyrus and my DRK-A stamping plate. So yup, I'm a complete airhead once again. You'll just have to take my word for it that Hi-Tech is super pretty all by its lonesome.

With that, here's hoping your week is wonderful!

THE OTHER HALF OF BORED

What the hell is going on in my house? This morning I was standing at the bathroom sink, and water started coming out of the shower. WTF. Not just a couple of drops, either; it was coming down like when you don't turn the shower off all the way. And it was off all the way and had been since yesterday morning. After it ran for about 30 seconds, it stopped.

So imaginary things falling and a shower that starts spewing water all by itself? I'm starting to think I'm going crazy or something. I even woke up in the middle of the night dreaming about being in some hotel that was actually some kind of psychiatric hospital. It was so warped I finally had to get up and stay out of bed to snap myself out of it.

I long for the first 52'ish years of my life where I never remembered a dream or work up from a nightmare. Is this also one of those fun "age" things? Nightmares almost every night? If I ever were to write them down every day and somebody found it, they'd commit me for sure. Seriously effed up stuff that makes me wonder what kind of brain it takes to come up with some of it.

Since I'm still obsessed with playing with those Mundo's, I just had to try stamping over a dark color. This was just a left-hand mani I did before the one from yesterday's post.

I didn't want to use black, but in the end it didn't really matter because OPI Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees is such a dark grey it might as well be black. I used Mundo Tutti and my DRK-A stamp. Speaking of DRK, they have all of their stamping plates in stock right now so if you've been wanting them, hop to it before they vanish again.

I would consider Tutti to be a purple/fuschia mix. This pic shows it very true to color over the dark grey. Of course I had to yellow-up everything else in the pic to show it. I had fun trying this, but I'm not a big fan of the actual mani. It was just a little practice session to test stamping ability. It was a success.

I fully planned on doing my nails last night, but after lunch yesterday I just started progressively feeling crappier. My stomach was mad at me for something, so I took about an hour nap, watched some tv and was in bed just before 12:30.

The plan was to be in bed by 11:30.  I swear I looked at the clock at 11:00 and figured I'd make it right on time. By the time I ate a yogurt, washed my face and put on my jammie-jams, it was after midnight. I don't know how that happens.

It's like a fall into a time warp of some kind whenever I try to get to bed at a normal person time.

HEARTS. JUST PEACHY.

Evidently winter is not over. Once we don't get any fresh snow for awhile, it's so easy to delude myself into thinking spring is almost here. As usual, I was wrong. We got at least a couple of inches last night and another few inches is expected. I did luck out because Kev is home. I'm guessing since his car is in the shop right now the neighbor must have assumed I'm here alone because once again he plowed the entire driveway. Nice!!

While we were in Illinois I managed to have my other thumb nail pop off for no apparent reason, and yesterday at work my right index nail came off. WTF. They have only been on for a week so I have no clue what the hell I did wrong this time around. 

Today I was picking up some clothes to put away and felt my left index nail go. Seriously! So I had to make the decision of either gluing it back on or just doing a total soakoff.

I went with the soak and reapplication. I really hope I have better luck this time because I cannot figure out where these loose nails are coming from. Maybe I just was trying to go too fast and didn't use enough glue last week. I really took my time today so I'm hoping for the best. 

I took the time to do nails last night, figuring I'd knock out another Valentine themed mani. I just grabbed one of the polishes I bought in Illinois, China Glaze More to Explore.

For the hearts I used an image from the DRK-A stamping plate and Konad white.

This one is cute. I really love that color, and I have always liked this heart pattern. I didn't find it as cute when it was just a single index nail lying on the bed.  I would have worn it for another day if I hadn't decided to remove my nails.

Now I'm typing this with nekkid Custom Nails wondering what I want to do. I can pretty much guarantee it won't have hearts because I've just about hearted myself out. 

In the meantime, while I ponder, I'll just eat some cinnamon hard candy and watch a 3 episode marathon of Gotham. 

I know. You are totes jealous of the ever-so-exciting life I lead.

THROW-AWAYS PART TWO

I'm bummed.  Someone was lined up to come and look at my car today, and I was really hoping it would get gone. Unfortunately, once they showed a picture of the Alero to their daughter, they found out she really wants a four door. Dammit to hell.

I'm a bit shocked that the car hasn't flown out of the garage. It's such a nice car, but I guess poor Kev isn't going to get his side of the garage back yet.

Right now I'm trying to motivate. I'm kind of doing this post because I'm stalling on doing a soakoff. I did manage to do some rearranging of my stash. I went out to the garage to grab a couple of my old plastic bins that used to store my stuff. One of them had several dried up dead spiders. SO gross!! I also heard some movement toward the back of the garage so I got the hell outta' there as quickly as I could. Mouse, squirrel, someone's cat, a bird.....I had no intention of finding out. 

I guess all I have left in my draft pile are these two. I have two others, but they are just plain polish photos. I'm not even sure why they're in there.

The nail decal thingie was originally done for Nail It mag, but I decided I didn't like it enough to submit it. 

This first one was another last minute mani I did. It's hideous, but it matched a spring sweater I wore to work. For the record, the sweater is not hideous.

I used Loreal Rendevous on this and stamped with Zoya Noot and the DRK-A stamp. 

Oh!! Speaking of stamps, I asked Llarowe if there were ever going to be any new LeaLac plates, and they said, yes!! I was so excited I almost peed myself. They are still my faves of all time because the images are so big.

On to the decal nonsense.  I know there are several different ways to do the decals, but this was the first time I tried them. I think the pics are pretty self-explanatory on what I did.

 

After I stamped the pattern from the DRK-A plate on the plastic and it had dried, I used Square Hue Ocean Drive and High School Crush, Milani Yellow Whiz and Salon Perfect Bellini to fill in the flowers. I just used a dotting tool to do that.

Once it was all dry, I peeled them off, cut them and then stuck them on and topcoated.

Technically it's a success. I just think it's kind of ugly. I wish I had used different colors. I'm sure at some point I'll try this again, possibly with the same design. It's just kind of time consuming and lately it seems I have been doing things that go more quickly.

I suppose now that I've finished this I should get off my arse and get these nails off. I wish I had done it yesterday. I considered doing them last night, but it was already 10:30 so I thought it was too late to start.

When I went to bed at 4 a.m., I was kicking myself because if I'd known I was going to be stupid and stay up that late, I would have had plenty of time to get it done. One more time where I just didn't think. 

Am I old enough now where I can use that as an excuse?

DARK - MATCHES MY MOOD

Could I be anymore annoyed with my doctor's office right now? Nope!

With new laws that went into effect on October 1st, I  now have to get an actual written prescription for my Vicodin. Now, for years I've been taking it 4 times per day for my headaches. For the most part, it has been a very good solution for me. Not perfect, but certainly what has worked the best without making me loopy or becoming an addict.

That might seem weird, the fact that I live on Vicodin with no worries about addiction. My fave doctor-man retired a couple of months ago, and he's been on board with how it works for me. Since I don't get any kind of buzz from it, it's fine for me. 

Headaches for me are a serious issue. For years every doctor, and I, pretty much assumed they were migraines. My sister gets classic migraines, and unfortunately so does my daughter and now my oldest grandson. Starting in the early 80's, I was given Fioricet, primarily because it wasn't addictive.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. SO addictive. I loved it. It gave me the nicest fuzzy little buzz, and it was so nice I did become addicted. Badly. Took a ten day stint in a rehab center to detox off of it back in the 90's.  Good times.

In the past they tried prescribing it to my daughter with the same "not addictive" line. She wasted no time calling bullshit on that and doesn't use it.

The only other thing that really helps my headache is what I consider to be the absolute best drug on earth, Excedrine Migraine. Seriously. Tylenol, Advil, Alleve.....name it; I've tried it. Nothing works but the Excedrin. The problem with that is when you wake up with a headache every day of your life, you take a ton of Excedrine. And then you get ulcers that are one-third the size of your stomach. So yeah, that's awesome, too.

In the end, my doctor determined that I don't actually have migraines. I just have what is known as chronic headaches. I think I'd be better off with migraines since there are so many medications you can take for those.

Anyway.....I was supposed to pick up my monthly supply of pills yesterday. I went through the website and requested my prescription on Sunday, knowing they would see it Monday morning and I could pick it up on Tuesday in time to get a refill.

Uh, yeah. Not so much. My new doctor, who I've seen once and am not impressed with so far, is on vacay. The covering doc needs to sign it. Fine. So sign it. I messaged them and spoke to them twice on the phone to really let them know that it needed to be done so as not to screw up my schedule. I mean, how long does it take to physically put pen to paper and sign? It's written out already.

It's now Wednesday at 3:15 and I'm still waiting. I finally called them a few minutes ago, and it's still not signed.  I'm 6 Excedrin in at this point today. And I'm not happy.

Done venting.

I did this mani the other night. I still have it on because I still like it and sniffing polish fumes right now does not appeal.

I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but the base is a really dark green, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Olive Branch. I stamped on that with OPI's French Quarter for Your Thoughts and the DRK-A stamping design. I was actually very impressed with how well the OPI stamped.

My sweater was this color green, and the sleeves are that color grey in thermal material, so this stamp kind of looks like that pattern.

I think I did it up good on this one as far as smatchiness. I'm thinking I may change it up tonight.

Unless that damn office doesn't call, in which case I may just paint over these solid black to continue the mood smatch.

SO DUMB!

I'm pretty sure I'm DONE Christmas shopping for my kids, grandkids and the rest of my side of the family. I'm a happy camper. Now, if I could only get Kev's side of the fam done, that would be perfection. I always leave it up to him to get the ideas. I always have a bit more time to shop for them because we don't get there until New Year's sometimes. I'm not sure this year yet if we're going down on my birthday on the 26th or if we're holding off until the following weekend.

As usual, I spent way too much money. I'm pretty sure I spent a lot more than last year. I'm not even sure how it happens. I love giving gifts so no matter what I buy, it never, ever seems like enough. I'm terrible. It's especially hard when some things are outrageously priced. I'm so old I can remember when I used to think 20 bucks for a sweater was crazy expensive. Now I look and often the ones I like are anywhere from $65 to $100. Sorry....not paying that.

Anywho, it's just nice being done. Just a few more things to wrap, and I will feel very much ahead of my game for the year.

Sunday night I started this mani with this light pink, Color Club Blushing Rose.  I really like this pink.

What I was supposed to do then was stamp on it with a darker rose (which obvi I did), so I grabbed another Color Club. For some reason there's no name on the damn thing, but whatevs. 

For my stamp I first tried out the argyle pattern on my thumb and decided I didn't want to use it. So I went with this one from the DRK-A plate instead. It pretty much turned out just like it should have.

When I was all done, I headed off to find something to wear for work. And guess what I chose without even thinking....

.....a friggin' grey and pink argyle sweater.  What an idiot. I totally missed an opportunity to be all cute-ish and smatchy. I'll freely admit that I kind of pouted about it all day.

Sometimes my brain cells just do not connect properly. It must be an almost 55 old age thing.

55? How did that even happen??  Gross.

And now I'm depressed and off to mourn my lost youth. *sigh*

STOP!!!!!

And so it begins. Winter.  For realz. Oddly enough, I don't like it any more than I did last year.

It started with a winter storm warning on Sunday night letting me know to expect 3-5" of snow yesterday, with an expected 6-12" more today. Fan-frickin-tastic.

First casualty, Kev unable to get home from Atlanta last night because the flight into Escanaba was canceled. Awesome sauce.

On a good note from last night, the bossman came out and plowed my driveway with his truck. A huge thanks for that!! He's basically my driveway savior when Kev is out of town.

I awoke this morning to noise on the bathroom skylight. Great. That can only mean one thing.....rain. Now, this can mean one of two things; either it's really warm out, or it's raining and freezing.

I'll give you one guess as to which one it's doing here. I hopped in my lovely new vehicle and even with that nice all wheel drive, the fact that my road isn't plowed (and probs won't be for days) means the road was trying to pull me every which way but straight. And of course, because it's raining, I had to stop and get gas. I can't believe there isn't a damn full service gas station anywhere because today I would have liked that.

I got to work and after firing up the computer, I figured I'd message Kev to tell him what the weather is doing. He messaged me just as I was about to and told me he was getting on the plane to Detroit and wanted to know what I thought his odds were of making it here. Ummm.....not good. But since he has nothing better to do, he decided to risk it. Worst case scenario, he said he'll get to Detroit, eat some Taco Bell and then hop a flight back to Atlanta. Unfortunately, if that happens I won't see him for another week because there's no point in coming home for 8 hours.

So yup. Great start to our Tuesday.

I did do my nails again last night. That's two days in a row! Go me!!

This one is a little different than my normal stuff.

I have to say I rather like this one! The brown is China Glaze Soft Sienna Silks. I did the usual Seche Vite topcoat before stamping with Sinful Colors Black on Black and the DRK-A stamp. Then I used the Sally Hansen Big Matte topcoat. I'm a fan of the topcoat and this mani.

I'm sitting at work waiting for the boss to make his revisions on a divorce judgment. After that I have no clue what we'll be doing. The courthouse is closed for Veterans Day, and we have no clients on the calender. 

When I drove into work, it looked like half the damn town was shut down because of the weather. I swear, not only do people forget how to drive during the first couple of storms, they act like this weather is foreign to them. I understand the schools being closed but don't understand the wusses that are evidently sitting home right now. Seriously, you DO live here, correct?

It's not like this stuff is abnormal. It's Upper Michigan. It's winter. Same shit, different year.  You should have learned how to function in it by now.

Crap. I just checked the flight status. Delayed. Just as I thought, doesn't look too promising. 

SOOOO FAR BEHIND

What a last few months it has been. It has easily been the busiest summer I can ever remember having. 

For a lazy person, that kinda' sucks. I'm a relatively lazy person. I'm thinking life will be back to my completely normal, uneventful manner starting Monday.

In actuality, I'm not really complaining. How could I complain about living with puppy cuteness (and the mess) for over three months. And how could I complain about spending a week in Cancun? (more on that later because I can)

Also, after missing the puppies for a bit, Tyler came home for a weekend, bringing Griffin and Zero with her, so I got a puppy fix last weekend. Oh, lordie....that pup is hell on wheels! She has her hands full. Griffin is madly in love with him and according to Tyler, every day he says he is so happy to have a dog now. He stayed at his other grandma's while Zero stayed here, and when he got back to my house the following day, you'd have thought he hadn't seen his dog in a month. He sat on the floor and held him and kissed him and just kept saying "awww" over and over again. Ridiculously cute.

I could really inundate you with the 8,000 pictures I took of the two of them, but I'll just do these three, at least for today. The shot with him in orange I got a bunch of other shots because he spent 15 minutes on the floor with him, and Zero got at least 50 kisses. Baylee walked up on that, and he told her to go away. When Tinlee went and stood by them, she got kisses, too. He still wants to steal Tinlee from me.

Once they left on Sunday I had a few quiet days where I got caught up on cleaning and laundry. Then on Thursday afternoon I got one of the other pups, Seven, to puppysit for the weekend.  She's asleep under my kitchen table right now. She is an absolute gem, very cuddly and quiet and well-behaved. She even goes and scratches at the screen door to go out to potty so we haven't had a single accident. She's amazing.

I also took 8,000 pics of her. And the weekend isn't even over yet.

In the midst of all the busy, I have managed to do my nails quite a few times. I just haven't had the time to just sit and do a post. In fact, I have a few where I didn't even remember to take note of what I actually used. Sheesh.

I did take note of this one, and it doesn't even have a name. It's a Color Zone yellow. The stamp was done with Sinful Colors Black on Black and the DRK-A plate.

I love the combo. I hate that it's kind of smeary. Normally I may have tried to re-do some of them to see if I could get them a little more clear, but re-do's have not been on my agenda.

With any luck, I can go back to my lazy life where I sit in front of the tv and do nails. Blog posting regularly would be nice, too. I do find that it was so much easier to blog when I worked full-time. Now that I only work part-time, I actually have to work the entire time I'm there. 

It's awful!! I wasn't aware people really did that.

YAWNING

Wow. I am so glad I had today off. It's the first day I've been home alone for something like ten days. And I'm a person that needs time alone to stay sane.

Unfortunately I spent it with a headache, and that sucks. So it was one of those lame-ass wasted days where I spent part of it dozing off and on, not really accomplishing much.  The only things I did were clean the puppy pen and make cookies.

I did get more sleep last night. The puppies only got me up one time, which was awesome! I look forward to the day when I can permanently go back to sleeping in my actual bedroom.

I won't kill you with a ton of pictures (and believe me, I could), but I will post a couple along with this YouTube clip to see a cute bit I caught yesterday.

So  yeah, I do have to post a few actual pictures.

It's so amazing to watch their little personalities develop, even at only 9 days old. I think a couple of them are going to be hell on wheels.

I also did find time to do a mani the other night. I just made sure to do it while Kev was still here because you just know those puppies would have needed something while my nails were wet if he hadn't been here.

One of things I like about the Sally Hansen Color Foils is that they dry really, really fast. This one is Minted Metal. Then I just did a quick stamping with Square Hue Patty's Pint and DRK-A plate.

Now I'm off to clean the puppy pen again. In typical form, I cleaned it and 15 minutes later one or more of the brats made a mess. My washing machine is really getting a workout trying to keep up.

Those little gold bundles are worth every second. I don't even want to think about them leaving to go to their forever homes 8 weeks from now.

Tears will flow.

WE'LL JUST CALL THIS IRISH

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Not that I care since I don't have an Irish bone in my body. And I don't like green beer. I never really understood the fascination with this particular holiday. I will admit that years ago I did use it as an excuse to go out and drink a smidge more than usual with my best friend. Of course any excuse back then was excuse enough.

I could tell some great stories about those days, but then I'd have to kill you.

This year our major partying for the day was ordering Dominoes for supper.  Last night we went to dinner at the casino for dinner. It was Kev's 40th birthday, and we figured what better way to mark the occasion than by losing some cash. We did have fun, though!

Now today we've both just been lazy, catching up on over a week's worth of tv because he was gone for 8 days straight.

I didn't bother with a festive manicure to "celebrate", but I did have this green one from a few weeks ago that I'm going to count as a St. Paddy's mani.  

I started with a gradient of Julep Susie, Essie Turquoise & Caicos and Loreal Hyde Park. I used the Mash white stamping polish and the flowers from the Ninja Polish DRK-A plate and then just did the centers with my dotting tool and Square Hue Bikini Beach.

Some of my flowers kind of smeared. Pissed me off but not enough to redo them. 

And that, my friends, wraps up my very non-exciting Monday, March 17th. If you happen to be Irish, I hope you found a way to celebrate the day!

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.

I'M ABOUT TO LOSE MY EVER-LOVIN' MIND

Ugh. I'm so bored with my nails lately. And I don't want to be bored; I want to be doing a bunch of mani's because I know I'll be out of commission starting next Wednesday. I'm sure by next Friday I'll be complaining about not being able to paint 'em. But I can't do a bunch if I can't think of a bunch to do. Woe is me.

I shouldn't be in such a shit mood today; I slept in bed last night and actually did some sleeping for a change. It was kind of a nice surprise to wake up and realize I hadn't woken up 15 times during the night. Hopefully that's a trend that will continue for awhile, and hopefully I won't go back to not sleeping once the surgery is done.

No mouse action last night at all, so I'm thinking I've caught them all. I'm going to leave the traps out for another week just to make sure, but I'm pretty sure I've seen the last of them for this year. They are cute, but good riddance. The dish towels sitting out on the counter are not considered good decorating. It's def a look; it's just not a good look.  Martha Stewart would be horrified.

On a bright note, I reached 1,000 Instagram followers yesterday. That is crazy!! It never ceases to amaze me when I get a new follower, whether it's here, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram. I know it's a small number compared to a lot of other nail painters, but I'm pretty happy about it. It certainly isn't anything I would have imagined when I first tried out that first color back in April of 2012. I do love my small slice of the nail polish/nail art world, and I hope it continues for a very long time.

Here's the mani I wore yesterday. Once again, not exciting, but I got both of these Zoya's fairly recently and never used them and thought they'd look nice together. I was right. 

Don't laugh! Sometimes I AM right.

The lighter color is Zoya Neely. I snagged it on eBay for $4, and I love a good light green.  Zoya Evvie is one that I got with my gift certificate from winning the Halloween nail art contest on The Beauty Clutch FB page. I used my DRK-A plate for the stamp. This design is one of my all-time favorites.

I suddenly decided just now that I need my hairs cut. Well, I actually decided that about 3 weeks ago; it just took me until this minute to actually do something about it. I got lucky because she has an opening today right after I leave work. I don't know why I always put it off for so long; it takes all of 10 minutes. So rather than going straight home and possibly eating dinner, I'll lose some split ends.

Good times.  I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect. 

UNACCEPTABLE - NO, REALLY....UNACCEPTABLE

What the hell is this shit! The last couple of days my feet felt weird at the end of the day, but I figured it must be something going on from the sandals I was wearing.

I got home yesterday, looked down and saw.....

CANKLES!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't know me really, but I'm a skinny-ass thing. As in long legs like toothpicks with ankles that coordinate quite nicely with them, thank you very much.

So yeah....feet swelled up like a pudgy baby's complete with accompanying cankles. Seriously, not a good look. Not to mention I was a little concerned as to why that would happen. After looking on the wonderful internet, apparently it isn't uncommon when it's toasty out. *insert sigh of relief*  

While I'm happy it's no biggie health-wise, I don't want cankles. I like my skinny ankles. Now after sitting here at work, I just looked down and sure enough, feet are swelling again. Guess I get to have cankles again today. I'll probs have them this weekend, too, after sitting in the car for 5 hours tomorrow. Not awesome.

I tried sitting outside last night, and damn, those wasps were cranky! And they really wanted the sugar water! They were so pesty even my birds didn't come around. I was saddy-pants.  I was sitting with the feeder in my hand, fly swatter on my lap, looking even crazier than I normally do, especially every time I jumped up, swore and smacked the front window with the swatter and then ran away. I did manage to kill two of them that way.  I don't even care that I looked redonk.  I figure it's only a matter of time before I get stung. Kev went and sprayed them again last night and said he soaked the nest.

Someone should have mentioned that fact to the critters because when I got home at lunch, guess what I saw buzzing in and out of their usual spot on the porch. Yup. The bastards are bionic or something.

Once I gave up on the bird-sitting, I watched some tv and did my nails.  I really like this one, but it's a little fall-ish. Hopefully I'll have time to take it off tonight once I get done packing for the weekend.

I used Ruby Kisses Solid Copper; first time ever, and it's really pretty! Now I remember why I bought it.  I then used my Mash black stamping polish for the first time. I always had the Konad special black before, and I'm quite happy with the Mash brand to take its place.  I went old school and used my Ninja Polish DRK-A stamp plate.

So yeah. Pretty. And it is super-duper shiny in person. That's not something I usual pay much attention to, but this sucker is glossy as all get out.

Tomorrow is work until nooner, and then I'm heading off to Illinois to stay with a friend from one of the Facebook nail groups. I've met her before, and there are a couple of others going for the weekend who I haven't met yet. I'm looking forward to it; lounging in the pool, drinks, playing with polish and probs some polish buying. Not thrilled about making the drive by myself, but no way I'm missing out on the shenanigans and tomfoolery.

Not sure if you'll see a blog post while I'm gone. I'll have my camera and my computer.....maybe we'll compose a whole party of a blog post with all of us contributing. If not, hopefully I'll at least get pics of whatever we do on nails for a post next week.

That is assuming, of course, that I don't drink one too many pina's and drown in the pool.

A NEW FAVE BABY BLUE

Not feeling particularly perky this evening, but as much as I loved yesterday's gradient marble, I didn't want to wear it another day. After swatching a couple of new Zoya's I got in the mail, I decided I'd just use one that was still sitting next to me.

I had no luck trying to get a decent pic of this. Since the blue is so light, the white isn't showing up very well. It looks more prominent in real life. Honest.

My Konad white and black polishes are pretty much crapped out so when I did my shopping on eBay to get more, I saw the Mash stamping polishes and decided I'd try them. I'm disappointed in them. They don't have the same thickness I've gotten used to with the Konad brand; they act much more like regular nail polish. It stamped well, but I think the Konad special polish might have shown up a little better. I'll keep using these, but I have a feeling I'm going to end up buying some Konad.

As for Zoya Blu, easily the best light blue I've got. Almost one-coat coverage and smooth as silk. I do always like my Zoya polishes, but this one really is amazeballs.

Since I was just going for quick, I just pulled the first stamping plate that was on top, my DRK-A plate from Ninja Polish. I order their DRK-C plate the other day even though I told myself I wasn't going to. Had to do it; couldn't help myself.

So that's it for today. I'm crossing everything I own hoping this headache is gone when I get up. I'm blaming it on the weather change.

Now my goal for the rest of the night is to get to bed before midnight.

Wish me luck.

IT IS HOLO....HONEST!

Either I blinked and missed summer, or we just aren't getting it this year. I did wear shorts one day last weekend for a total of about four hours. It appears that all those new shorts I bought for summer should have been left at the store. Mabes I should have bought a new winter coat instead since that's what I had to wear to work this morning.

May 23rd....that's right. A fricken winter coat.  Now, I know we aren't known for the warmest weather on earth up here in Yooperville, but 38 degrees? For realz?? Methinks Ma Nature is being a real bitch. PMS'ing much there, Muther----?

Tomorrow afternoon I get to go have my EGD done. I'm looking forward to the nappy-nap I'll be getting. It does waste part of my long weekend which kind of blows, but whatevs. Gotta' do it.  After I awaken from my slumber, hopefully I'll be able to get to refinishing my bathroom cabinets.  Doesn't that sound like funsies? If you said yes to that question, turn your ass right around and go play on someone else's blog. :P

On to the mani! I actually did this Tuesday night but for whatever reason I just felt like posting that old marble. This actually is quite holo-fantabulous in the light with the black over it. If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.  And unless those EGD results say otherwise, I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon. I'm assuming I have at least another decent 50 years in me.

The holo basecoat here is Layla Flash Black. I'm in love with the Layla holo polishes. Great in two coats with nary a bald spot. Rather than use a stamping polish, I used Kleancolor Metallic Black with DRK-A. Their metallics are sooooo great for stamping!! The black one is weird, tho. It's not like a true, solid black. It has the weirdest  tiny silvery pewtery shimmer to it. It's hard to explain (obvi).

I'm not impressed with my stamping job on this one. About all I can say is they are all crooked at the same angle. No matter; it's coming off tonight to be replaced by I have no clue what. Everything I feel like doing is light, and I can't do light until I soak off my nails.  That's the other thing I'm hoping to accomplish this weekend.

Loving all the comments you guys have been leaving!! Awesomeness!! Now I need you, my loyal friends, to go snag me some more followers! The FB page is up to 97...woohoo!! I even have 199 following me on Instagram already, but I seem to be stuck here at 118. Not shabby by any stretch of the imag, but I'm greedy and not afraid to admit it. 

Almost time to head on outta' here. I love Thursdays because I know tomorrow is Friday. Gonna' get my tan on, figure out supper, see how much the hubster got done in that bathroom (hopefully it's painted) and then do my nails while I watch the 'vision.

Au revoir until mañana!

 

TIME FOR BED, DAMMIT!!!

Ahhhh, Monday. You can suck it. I just don't see a reason for you to even exist. If only I could just sleep through it because my ass was dragging today for some reason.

Holy shizballs!! We just got insurance info for my 6 hour hospital stint: over $3,000!! Unbelievable. $69 for "after hours", $53 for the x-ray, and I would love to know what the rest of that bill breaks down into. All they did was put Prilosec and Nexium in an IV and give me that godawful "cocktail" to drink. That's IT!! I wonder what it would have cost if they had actually had to DO something!!

I'm really struggling with inspiration lately. I spend hours wandering around just trying to find something to do. Do you all have that happen; where no matter what you see you just don't know what mani to do?? Hate it when I really am in the mood to do my nails but not in the mood to even do an MSMD, let alone something original. Maybe it's spring fever....or the basic lack of spring, that's doing it to me. Having it snow in the middle of May is not conducive to a good mood.

One of my honorary daughters came to visit tonight, which I always love. She is simply the sweetest, and I adore her....I wish she was actually mine. Feels like she is.  She brought me a Mother's Day present....five nail polishes, and not a single one that I already have, which is pretty remarkable! Of course I immediately had to use one for a mani.

This is Milani Gold Dust. It took three coats to get the coverage I wanted, but it's really a pretty muted gold shimmer. I struggled with an idea to go along with this and decided I'd try one in a dark burgandy. The first one I grabbed was an unnamed Color Club which I stamped with a design off of the DRK-A stamping plate. Done deal. 

I'm glad it went easily because I had actually done almost an entire mani before she came over that simply was not turning out like it looked in my head. I was more than happy to remove it. lol

Sorry so late tonight, but Jackie is much more important than a mani. :)   

SPRINGTIME SMATCHY DAY!

Ooo, sunny for like the 3rd day in a row. It's even supposed to be in the 60's for most of the week. Time for the hubster to get that pool set up. At this rate I might even get to use it once July gets here.

I will say this sunny, semi-warm weather is really a mood lifter! Time to get my tan on and get rid of the winter-white paste skin so I can put shorts on without blinding anybody if/when it's warm enough to wear them. I did press my luck today and wear shoes without socks. Oh, that's right....I did that. At work, in the law office, in a pair of blue jeans and sockless. Aren't I the rebellious one?!? Not to mention classy and professional. We all know that describes me to a tee. 

I'm not really feeling very professional today. As of ten minutes ago, I am super annoyed at the bossman. As far as I was told, he was only here until noon tomorrow and then gone until next Tuesday. Some golfing fun with his sons, I think. Not that I asked. Not that I really shiv a git. But whatevs. Now he tells me he will be here all day tomorrow. Jerk. I'm so ready to be alone here for a week. I'm simply just burned out job-wise. We all get that way sometimes, I'm sure. It's just nearly impossible for me to ever get out of here since it's just me here with him. He, who literally does not know how to turn on the computer let alone do anything with it. Job security to the nth degree, so I probs shouldn't complain, but damn! I get so sick of it at times!

Enough venting!! At least for today. ;)

All in all, I'm feeling especially springy and smatchy today. After doing my nails last night I conveniently decided to wear a new summer cardigan I bought while visiting Tyler in Illinois that conveniently is almost the exact same color coral. Isn't that spechul?

My basecoat for this one is Sinful Colors Orange Cream. I love a nice summer coral, in clothes, polish, jewelry...damn near anything at all.  And since I was lucky enough to get Julep's Evangeline in one of their mystery boxes, I was anxious to see how it would stamp. I think the pics answer that, right? I really love Evangline; it's a holo, but not a very strong one. The shimmer it has is something special all on its own.

Purdy, right? And as you can see above, it stamped really well using my DRK-A plate to get even dots. 

I don't "smatch" too often, but I always like it when I do. When I first started doing my nails last year, I would pick out clothes and then pick out polish to go along with it. That got old fast. Now I do my nails with whatever and don't even worry about whether they match. I certainly can't imagine anybody commenting on it. 

Well, maybe my mother would, but that's a whole other story. lol

Have a great night and thanks for stopping by!