SNOWFLAKIES

Yes, I'm a slacker. I'm fully aware that I've been terrible about posting. I'm not sure if it's after-holidays exhaustion or the "I hate winter slump".

We spent the New Year holiday in lower Michigan with Kev's family. Our first night we went to dinner and then went bowling. SO fun. Long after everyone else had gone home, Kev and I stayed and bowled some more. We each bowled eight games. Somehow I managed to bowl extremely well after my first crappy game of 116. I even had one game over 200, so I was pretty pleased with myself.

I also managed to drink way too much raspberry vodka. Luckily it didn't affect me the next day, but it did make me not drink New Year's Eve. We also didn't bother going down to the ball drop because even though the temperature was quite a bit higher than last year, it was really damp out which made it feel colder. We played some games with the fam and pretty much had a laid back night. Once midnight hit, we headed back to our hotel and watched a movie. We are just way too exciting sometimes.

On Wednesday while I was at work I decided I was over Christmas so I asked Kev to start taking down the decorations. We finished that up in the evening, and I finished cleaning yesterday, so my house is officially spotless and back to normal. As usual, I immediately regretted taking everything down. The house is just blah feeling now. That's my least fave part of the holiday season. It always takes me at least a week or two to not miss the decorations and the tree.

Back before we even had snow I was doing snowflake nails. I just love using the snowflake stamping plates, and I've been forcing myself to not do snowflakes every time I do my nails. This was the first one I did for the year.

I started with my fave off-white, OPI My Vampire is Buff, and I used the MoYou Festive 04 stamping plate with Mundo de Unas Black. I topcoated it with Seche Vite but then decided to make it matte instead. I used Sally Hansen Big Matte Topcoat for that.

One of these days I'm going to just have to do a post with a bunch of mani pics of the nails I've done that didn't make me very happy. They've been accumulating for awhile now, but I don't like them enough to feel like featuring them in any way. Poor things.

Well, apparently we are now going out to dinner with my sister and her husband. Kev went over there to help with something and that has somehow turned into a dinner date. Late on we are headed out to the casino to meet up with Seven's owners for some drinks and some football on the big screen. 

No football for me! Football for them means the slot machines are calling my name, and I'm more than happy to answer that call.

OPI DS - ALWAYS A GOOD HOLO

This slump is hitting me even harder than I thought it was. I reapplied my nails last Thursday and didn't even bother to paint them until Sunday. And even then it was just a paint job, no design.

In all fairness to the slump, I did have a busy weekend. I got Razzie on Friday afternoon, and he keeps me busy because he wants to play. 

Then because it was absolutely beautiful outside, on Saturday I invited Seven and her owners for a pool day/puppy play date. They came out and we all spent the day outside visiting and playing in the pool with the dogs. 

That was so fun, we all did it again on Sunday afternoon. The amount of dog hair that was contributed to the pool was outrageous. Even though we were skimming it out all day long, it still managed to block up my salt water system and put it into a low flow error code frenzy. I was out there in the dark on Saturday night trying to determine where the problem was. I honestly didn't think it could be the dog hair because I had put in a brand new filter late in the afternoon and cleaned every portal I could find. As it turns out, I missed a spot, so at midnight I dug around in the dark and pulled out enough hair to make a puppy. Problem solved.

Solved until Sunday night when the same thing happened again. Luckily my new pool vacuum will be here sometime today, and I can't wait to try that thing out. My old vacuum has to have the hose attached and adds cold water to the pool. This new one doesn't need a hose because it has a rechargeable battery. Hopefully it will help keep things a bit cleaner.

One bad thing about all that pool time is the fact that Baylee, even with her not so great hips, decided she could go up and down those stairs to go swim. I think she went 3 or 4 times altogether, but by yesterday, her back end was giving her a lot of pain, and she could barely walk. After a day of taking it easy, pain pills, and a good night's sleep, she seems to be quite a bit better today. And as I type this, Kev is in the garage making a new stair system for her, one that won't be such a steep incline. I'm hoping that will make it easier for her and not cause her hips to get sore. I'll feel bad if she can no longer get her swim on. 

Here's the plain mani I did on Sunday night.

It actually wasn't so bad. It is a holo, after all. This one is OPI DS Signature. I forget I have a few of those DS polishes. They really are gorgeous.

Then last night I was planning to take this off and actually "do" something, but instead I spent time outside watering the garden and then sat for a bit with the hummingbirds, even though the little brats wouldn't stop and eat while I held the feeder.

By the time I sat down to mess with my nails, it was after 10 p.m., so I decided I would just grab my black Mundo de Unas and stamp right over it.

I chose this design from the MoYou Fashionista 04 stamping plate. It looked pretty cool with the matte black so I decided to take a pic.

And then I made the mistake of topcoating.

Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly fine with a topcoat. I just wish I would have left it dull. I think it looked groovier that way, and it felt pretty groovy, too. My fear was that maybe the black would chip off if left without a topcoat.

I'm hoping that tonight I can motivate and take this off. If I could actually think of an idea for a mani, I'm sure I'd make the effort, but lately I just sit and think and don't come up with any ideas. Even when I wander the web looking for ideas, nothing is tempting me.

Hell, even choosing a color has been problematic lately. I don't know what would jumpstart my creativity, but I wish something would.

COLORS BY LLAROWE

It's pretty amazing how nature works sometimes. First my hummingbirds show up within a day of last year's first appearance. I caught my first Goldfinches eating within a day or two of last year, too.

Last year for the first time I had seen Indigo Buntings. They are simply the most amazing blue I've ever seen. A friend of mine asked me last night if I'd seen any yet. I told her that I had not but that my first sighting last year was on May 18th. That's the beauty of snapping pics upon my first sighting; it lets me know exactly when something shows up.

This morning when I let the dogs out, I saw a large black and brown bird fly up into the tree across the driveway and immediately grabbed my camera. It was a brown and black Cowbird, which is also something new I'm seeing around this year. I guess they aren't a good thing because they are little jerks that lay an egg in another species' nest, sometimes knocking out one of the original inhabitants so the unsuspecting momma bird will raise its baby. Complete asshats.

In any event, as I let the dogs back in, I looked down at the feeder and saw an Indigo Bunting. Yay!! And how convenient that I already had my camera in my hand. Some days I just get lucky.

My little girl hummers were very busy this morning, too. I love the early morning hours because they wake up hungry, and it's super fun to watch them zooming all over together. At one point there were two little girls at the back feeder and when they flew off, I think it was a third one that went to that same feeder. Hopefully that means I have three girls, and maybe I'll see some babies soon.

Today I've got on my one and only Colors by Llarowe polish, CbL Show Off.

This is one of those multichromes that work best over black, so that's what I did. It's a beauty! Another one that makes driving a hazard. In the car it showed a straight up bright coppery color.

As pretty as it is, I didn't feel like wearing just another mani with nothing on it. I didn't want to cover up the whole thing, and I went with the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate for the design using the Mundo de Unas black stamping polish.

I liked this one enough that I'm wearing it for the second day, but I did a ton of typing yesterday so I do have a smidge of tip wear. I'll have to take it off tonight.

I'll now spend the rest of the day trying to decide what to do with them tonight. 

It's hard work!

GOT ME SOME PEEPS

After exhausting myself last Wednesday after work, I decided to hold off and clean today instead. Actually, when I got up I thought I'd just kind of do a lazy cleaning and just concentrate on the living room and kitchen.

I should know better. I'm one of those people that is either doing it or not doing it. There is no half-assing it. So not only did I clean like I normally do, I had an A.D.D. day where as I'm cleaning one thing, the idea of cleaning something else pops into my head.

I started with pulling one of the pans out of the ammonia and cleaning that off. Now I have the last two pots and covers sitting in the fumes until tomorrow.

As I cleaned, I decided to wash some windows. And then I decided I'd get out the Old English and wipe down all of the wainscotting, and that carried on to doing all the furniture in the living room and my bedroom. Somehow from that it occurred to me that I should scrub the track on the patio door. Obviously there is no rhyme or reason to anything I do. I considered cleaning inside the oven, but it really doesn't need it. Which was good because I was sorta' over it.

My reward for all that work was some Peeps which I totally stocked up on yesterday on my way home. 

I even picked up some other types of candy. The rest of the weekend I'll probs spend an inordinate amount of time just deciding what candy to eat. Is that bad? 

I did this mani Monday night. I should have waited to take the pic until Tuesday because I see some yellowish fingers happening here.

I really love this color. It's Julep Evangeline. It has a really nice suede finish, but I always end up putting topcoat on it even though I shouldn't. I used the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate for the stamp.

This one was a hit. The mail lady commented and so did one of our clients. That's a win no matter how I slice it.

I'm trying to think of something fun to do with my nails right now just because I feel like playing.  I'm just drawing a blank, though. I guess I'll have to wander around looking for some inspiration.

Or mabes I'll just eat a box of Peeps and take a nappy-nap. That sounds fun, too.

IT'S A GREY DAY

Today after work, I watched my cute red Alero drive away for the last time. I'm happy for the young lady that bought it, and she was super excited about it. When we were messaging early this afternoon she said she was considering taking a nap so the time would go by faster.

So she's happy, and I'm sad. I really will miss that car, especially when (if) summer ever gets here. I like driving an SUV in the winter, but I loved having a smaller car when it's nice out. I'm assuming I'll like my Outback in the summer since it has a moon roof just like the Alero. I'm just going to convince myself of that.

Oooo, I got my Macy's card in the mail today, too! When we were in Illinois shopping, I decided to sign up at checkout because it saved me an extra 20% off everything I bought. After she finished ringing up my rather ginormous sale, she told me that not only did I get the 20% off that day, she said when my statement came I'd be getting an additional 20% off. As soon as the card came I set up my account online, and sure enough, an additional $68 was taken off the bill. Super sweet!! Definitely worth getting the card that I'll probably never use.

I'm so tired of this weather. It's just cold and wintery and gloomy, and I am over it. Well, I was never under it, but at this point I would be thrilled to just have some 30 degree weather. That'll practically be shorts weather.

Last night I decided to do a mani that reflects the mood of the weather.

I actually forget to use grey polish. It's the only color I keep on that fantabulous polish rack that Cara from Fox Claws made. Somehow even though it's hanging right there above my Helmers, I just never think to grab a polish off of it.

But last night I did. I even used one with an appropriate name, Julep Winter, which is the light base. Julep Janae is the darker grey I used with the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate.

Speaking of stamping plates, I got an email from Bundle Monster today advertising their new XL designs. I didn't think I'd be interested, but then I made the mistake of looking at them. I had to buy two of the three sets, and I'm excited about it. They are larger versions of earlier designs. 

I'm going to be happy to get them because I have most of these designs on the original round plates. I bought them from Amazon way back when I first started doing my nails, and I can't use any of those because the images are way too small. So many of them I really love and wanted to use but couldn't, and now I'll be able to.

I guess it didn't take me long to spend that extra Macy's savings. It did make me feel less guilty about buying them, though.

SO NOT FAIR!

Well, not the best start to the weekend. I got home from work and found it was only 63 degrees in the house. That's not cool! Actually it was cool, just not the kind of cool I want in January.

I managed to get in touch with my furnace guy, and I decided I'd start cleaning so I'd stay warm. It was also at that point I realized I didn't have enough dog food to make it until Kev gets home on Monday. Dammit. That meant I had to go back into town.

After I did that, I got to cleaning. It did help me stay warm, but the repairman got here after about an hour so that wasn't too bad. He reset whatever it was that needed resetting and told me I needed to put in a new filter. Fantastic. That meant I had to leave the house and go back into town again! Once I did that, I finally managed to get the house clean and shiny, but it took me until 6 p.m. instead of the usual 3 p.m. Annoying.

It's also annoying when I keep attempting things on my nails that just aren't working.  A few months ago I had tried using foils on top of stamping with only "minor" success, which to me is a fail even though people liked it.

Now some little stinker over in one of the nail groups did it, and for her it works perfectly. She did a video which shows exactly how I'd been doing it. Only difference in it is the fact that it works for her. How is that even fair?

So last night I was determined to try it again. I had the same troubles I had last time, and I finally said screw it and gave up. Again. It's even more frustrating now that everybody else is doing it successfully. 

Once I gave up that left me with about 30 minutes to figure out what else to do.

I did this quick and didn't bother to redo any that weren't centered very well. I actually really like this. The blue/green is China Glaze Deviantly Daring. It's underrated, IMHO. I think I've only ever used it in marbling way back when because I don't remember ever just polishing with it. It's super pretty.

I just grabbed Essie No Place Like Chrome for the design, which is from the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate.

Like I said, I like it. It's dark enough that it's covering the beginnings of the gap at my cuticle line, so that's a plus. It seems like it's too soon for a soak off, but I guess that might be something I have to accomplish this weekend at some point.

Maybe I'll fight with the foils some more in the next day or two. Based on what I'm seeing in the groups and all over Pinterest, I guess it's time to consider throwing on something Valentine-ish, too. What a useless pretend holiday. 

On a brighter note, I did find some Peeps today!! I scored myself 6 boxes of Easter Peeps. It might be too early for Easter candy, but I'm pretty happy about it. 

I just polished off 6 an entire row of those cute yellow chickies. I'm pretty sure the rest of that box will be gone before the end of the night.

Yummers!!!

NEW STAMPING PLATE - YAY!

I really want to do a major whine-fest about work, but I will refrain from doing so.

I could also easily have a whine-fest about this weather, and by golly, I think I will. It's too damn cold out!! We haven't had a break from these frigid temps in so long I'm not sure when the temps actually went above 15 degrees, and for the most part it has remained in single digits, oftentimes below that lovely zero point. This morning it was -6 on my way to work. 

I wish I was a bear so I could sleep through all this shiz and wake up when it's hot out.

The Polish Sickness Facebook has gone crazy!! I was pretty much stuck at something like 975 followers when all of a sudden I noticed I was getting a bunch of new page likes. It was weird. Somebody finally sent me a private message explaining that someone that runs a nail page likes my stuff so they started sharing a bunch of my fingers over on that page. I've gained almost 200 followers in the past few days.

In the time it took me to write that last sentence, I got 15 new notifications over there. It's insanity. The one page has over a million followers, and that goofy ass decal mani from the other day has almost 7,000 views. Um, what the what? People are going through all of my pics and sharing them like crazy. 

It's pretty amazing to me, and I'm way flattered. My Instagram followers have increased by quite a few, too. I wish I had more time so I could make that dang page more interesting with stuff other than my blog link. If any of you are friends of mine or likers of the page and would like to contribute on the Polish Sickness Facebook page, send me a message over there because I'd love to have you post nail stuff!! 

All of that has led me to feel like I really need to put my other leg over the horse and start doing my nails more often. 

I was going to do a water marble last night, but I got two new MoYou plates yesterday before the mailbox was destroyed. (and yes, I'm still pissed about that)

This is off of the MoYou Fashionista 04 plate. It's a great plate. It feels like they made the design area a smidge bigger on this one. It fully covered my thumb without issue.

The base for this is OPI Taupe-Less Beach, stamped with OPI Get in the Espresso Lane.

Love the plate; love the mani. I don't have a single critical thing to say about this one.

First time for everything, right?