REMEMBER ME? LOTS OF PICS!!

Whew! It's been awhile! One of the parts of having puppies in the house that I forgot was the influx of people that come over. The little cuties will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. Already. It's going by way too fast, and I'm trying really hard to not think about them leaving for their furever homes.

Thankfully this time I get to keep one, and I'm also super happy that Seven's owners have decided to get another Tinlee pup this time around. So my little dark blue ribbon boy, Ziggy Stardust, already is chosen. I, on the other hand, am still undecided on who to keep. It's a good thing I only have 2 girls to choose from because having more options than that would be impossible. At this point, my red girl, Queen B, is really trying her best to make me pick her. She is the absolutely smoochiest of puppies and is always kissing my whole face and trying to eat my nose. China Girl has thrown her hat into the ring, too, but I won't be able to decide for probably a couple more weeks.

Regardless, they are all adorable. I wish I could keep them all.

 

 

Seriously....what's not to love here?

I actually have managed a couple of manicures over the past 3 weeks. Of course, in 3 weeks I have only left the house twice, so I'm not doing them very often.

The base for this is an opalescent white by the Target exclusive brand, Defy & Inspire. I found this on a clearance rack, and it had no name on it, but I "think" it's Petticoat. Over that I used MdU Black and Uber Chic 10-01. I managed to snag a couple of those polishes on the clearance rack, and I really am a huge fan. Tyler was here for a week for Griff's 6th birthday and brought the topcoat with her. Just for kicks I tried it over a mani to see if it would smear the stamping, and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't smear the black stamp, and it dried very quickly. 

The lighter orange here is Sinful Colors Skylark stamped with Mundo de Unas Orange. The design is from the Uber Chic 4-01 stamping plate. I was just in the mood for an orange.

This one was actually the first thing I did after putting my nails back on. I had removed them for the birth of the puppies. I wanted something light so I chose Zoya Pandora. Within the first hour of painting my nails this color, I messed up 4 of them. My initial plan was to stamp on top of the pink, but I wore it, damaged, for like 5 days. When I finally felt like doing my nails again, I ended up taking it all off, starting over on all of my nails but painted them the same color all over again. I was just too tired from lack of sleep to go choose something and the Zoya was still sitting on my table. I did finally manage to stamp on them, though!! I used Fresh Paint Emma and Uber Chic 4-01 for the design. The Fresh Paint polishes stamp very nicely.

Last Friday night we had Griffin's birthday party, and I've been hanging on to these Lego water decals for awhile. I finally decided to use them. It seemed appropriate since we gave him a couple of different Lego sets for his birthday. Griff thought they were pretty cool. I did the water decals over a base of Square Hue Monch, which is bright yellow.

Right now I hear some movement in the puppy pen, so I'm guessing it's going to be time to do some cleanup and give some kisses. 

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.

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.

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.

QUITE THE WEEK

It was a long, weird week. The bossman was on a short vacay and was out of the office on Monday and Tuesday. I went in for a few hours on Monday to do a bunch of odds and ends when I got the call that my first mother-in-law had passed away.

I've known her for over 40 years, and even though her son and I divorced, she was still family in the heart-sense. Knowing how painful the loss is for her entire family, for my girls and for my grandkids is tough. 

On Tuesday I spent some time teaching my replacement some of the ins and outs of the office. Wednesday the bossman was back and we spent the day getting everything caught up from while he was gone. He wandered out the door at about 3 p.m. and never came back. So that made for a pretty underwhelming last day. 

After my "last day" of work was over, I stopped over and spent some time with my ex and then I met up with the hubby, Lisa and Laura for dinner. As is the norm, from there we headed to the casino, where luck was actually on our side and we walked out about $300 ahead. We got back home just as Tyler was pulling in from Illinois. Obviously I'm happy to have her and Zero here but wish she hadn't come because of losing her grandma.

Yesterday was the funeral. Painful on many levels, and I would much appreciate not having to see my grandchildren feel like that ever again. For real. 

After that was over, we headed over to the bar that is owned by my ex and his sister. It was lots of family and friends that had been at the funeral, and they had a whole spread of food set out. I think we got there about 5:30 and by 7:30 this girl needed to go home and sleep. I hadn't eaten, had taken a Vicodin earlier in the day and then drank 3 mixed drinks. At this particular bar, that is actually more like 6 drinks when it comes to alcohol content. I was more than a little toasty. I either needed to drink more to get past the sleepy stage or go home and sleep. I chose to go home and sleep. Kev headed back over there an hour later to hang with the family and watch karaoke and came home with some video of both of the grandkids singing. I'm pretty pissed that I missed out on that. I guess it didn't occur to me that they would be at the bar, too.

I had ordered a couple of LynB Designs polishes that came in the mail on Wednesday. After swatching them, I decided to use the neutral holo as my mani for yesterday.

The picture did not capture the prettiness of this polish very well. It's actually got a lot of holo goodness. I absolutely love the color, so if you're looking for a nice, neutral holo, I will for sure recommend LynB Designs Defender of the Downtrodden.

I tried a couple of different designs with my MdU Black before deciding on this one from the Cooi 026 stamping plate that I got from Ali Express. I bought six of these plates, and they are really nice! And at $1.18 a piece, they were a fantastic deal. I received them pretty quickly, too, less than two weeks. It ended up being a good mani for what I wore to the funeral, which was black leggings with a neutral and black sweater dress. This polish matched the neutral of my sweater perfectly.

Overall, I am very impressed with my first LynB polishes and with those Ali Express plates. 

Today I had a lazy, quiet afternoon. Kev went off golfing, and when he was done, he went and stole Seven so she could come over and play with her brother. Zero was very happy to have her here to play. Tinlee only puts up with him for a certain amount of time and then wants to take a break while Zero would play non-stop for hours. Seven accommodates him.

Quiet went out the window at that point. I'm worn out just from watching them.

TWO ORANGE MANI'S

Since I'm so lazy about blogging lately, I just accumulate pictures just waiting for me to take the time to write about them. Just to get 'em out there, I guess sometimes I should just post more than one pic.

This first mani I did Thursday night. It ended up being a disappointment, and it came off tonight.

The light coral is a pretty color by Funky Fingers, Pluto 4Ever. While I do have a tendency to grab up any coral shade I find, I did get this one specifically because it was supposed to change colors in sunlight. It "should" have gone from this color to a darker color. It did not.

I also had a difficult time finding a good color to stamp with. I tried three different regular polishes before caving and just using Mundo de Unas Orange with the Uber Chic 8-02 plate. 

Frankly, I didn't find this one to be Funky at all. I found it Fugly. And that's why it's gone.

Way back in January I did this orange one that I liked so much better.

It probs didn't hurt that the base is one of my all-time fave corals, Sinful Colors Mardi Gras. And of course, you can never go wrong with MdU White for stamping on top of that color. The design is from the Stampaholic 2 plate.

Tonight I really should have taken the time to soak off my nails because my left thumb came loose, but I was not in the mood. I shoved a bit of nail glue under it to keep it on for another day or two.

Bossman is on vacation until Wednesday which means I don't have to get up early on Monday or Tuesday. So if I stay up too late tomorrow or Monday night to do the reapplication, no biggie. 

Of course, very soon now I won't have to worry about staying up late ANY night since I won't ever have to go in to work early. This coming Wednesday is supposed to be my last day working. 

I say supposed to be because the bossman called me already to ask if I'd work May 9, 10 and 11th because my replacement had already made plans to go out of town before she took the job. So I'm retiring for a week and then going back in for a week.

Figures. I knew I'd never get out of there that easily.

SPRINGTIME....FOR REAL THIS TIME!

I do believe spring is finally here for real. Our weather for the next ten days or so is looking pretty good, 50's and even some 60 degree days. It definitely felt like spring while I was cleaning the house yesterday. Of course, it also felt a lot like spring a couple of weeks ago, and then we had a couple of big snowstorms. So who the hell knows. I remember it snowing on May 5, 1979, so anything is possible.

It was sunny and beautiful outside all day. It did take me about an hour longer than usual to clean the house because it seemed like every time I looked out the patio door or kitchen window, there was a cute bird to look at. 

First up was my female Cardinal. She's been hanging around a lot, so she must have a nest nearby again. She took off before I had time to get pics. He hubby was across the driveway in the trees, though, so I did manage to stare at him for a bit and get some pics. 

Next pass through the kitchen and there was a very pretty bright yellow Goldfinch, so I had to stop again to take pics. And lastly, I managed to catch a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the feeder. They are notoriously hard to me to catch in pics because they never seem to hang there for very long. I was very happy this one let me snap a few. So the birds pretty much made my day.

Now I just need my hummingbirds to come back.....I'm counting the days. My first sighting was May 6th last year, so it's getting close!

A couple of weeks ago the nail group decided on purple for the week. As always, my intentions to play along were good. I managed to do this mani but never got around to posting it.

The purple is Color Club Sweet Pea, and I used MdU Lilac with the Uber Chic 8-01 stamping plate.

I wasn't a big fan of this one. It's a nice purple; I just wasn't excited about the design I chose. 

Right now I'm wearing some water decals that I did last Sunday, and they are looking rough. They are going to come off, but I just cannot decide on what I want to do.

Feel free to telepathically send me some fantastic idea.

I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS

Last night I stayed up way too late. When I was at my mom's house during the holidays, I decided to steal a bunch of the old family photographs so I could scan them into my computer. I finally got around to doing it and was up until 3:30 a.m. cropping them to normal size. It was fun looking back at pics from when I was little and seeing pics of loved ones now long gone. Some of them also made me seriously question some of my "fashion" choices over the years.

When I did finally go to sleep, I vaguely remember having some kind of weird-ass dream about ghosts, and then I was awoken by this godawful beeping noise. In my stupor I reach over to Kev's empty side of the bed to practically break his alarm clock before realizing that wasn't where the sound was coming from. So I stumbled out of my room into the living room and stood in the dark trying to discern where the screeching was coming from.

Finally it became apparent that it was coming from the spare bedroom. I went in there and found Tinlee on that bed, completely unconcerned by the sound but looking at me like I was the crazy one. I flipped on the light and saw that it was the weather warning radio my mom bought me for Christmas. I wanted one basically to warn me of bad summer weather, not stupid snow. And why it chose 4:40 a.m. to start squawking about a winter storm warning is baffling. My phone has been warning me for days about the winter storm. And for the record, the damn storm started before midnight. Not only that, just exactly what kind of warning do I actually need for a bunch of white, fluffy stuff falling down in my yard?

I don't know who sends the signals to that thing, but if a tornado is coming, I'd appreciate the warning ahead of time....not 5 hours after it hits. I could be lying naked and dead in a field 2 miles from my house by that time.

So thanks for nothing, weather warning radio. You suck at life.

I shut it off.

I took off that really cute pastel saran wrap mani and did this. And if it wasn't 12:40 a.m. right now, I'd take it right back off. I hate when I take off something I really like and then follow it up with crap.

The base is a night neutral, Morgan Taylor Birthday Suit. I tried stamping on it with a couple different light neutrals and wasn't satisfied with any of them. I finally just used Mundo de Unas Cream, but it isn't what I wanted at all. I had a couple of regular polishes that I tried that I would have liked better, but they just weren't showing up. Maybe I should have just gone with white.

I got my Uber Chic 7 series of stamping plates today so I got this design from UC 7-03. Scrolly, flourishy goodness. My fave thing.

Kev will be home in the morning and then we are heading off to Manistique with Seven's parents to eat and go to the casino. Then he has to leave right away on Saturday morning. Short trip home this time around.

And after he's gone, so is this mani!

MAYBE TOO SUBTLE?

So much for spring. I woke up to a completely snow covered yard once again. Pretty annoying. All of the old snow had melted, and the muddy parts of my yard had finally dried up. Evidently we are supposed to really get a huge dump on of that white shit later this week. I heard 7-10 inches, but I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope that my Esky banana belt status will do its magic and keep most of that away from me.

When I did a reapplication of my nails this last time, I did what I always do and chose something light colored. I wore this for two days before taking a pic, and I can see that my fingers still look a little pink from the application process.

The peachy base on this is  Zoya Lulu, which is a very sheer polish. I wanted to do something equally light and breezy for the stamping, so I chose MdU Peach and the Bundle Monster collaboration plate with Lucy's Stash, BM-XL209.

I know I was happy with this while I was wearing it. Now in looking at it in the picture, it almost seems too subtle. It's always funny to me how I can love something at the time and then look back weeks later and wonder why I ever did it in the first place. I guess it just depends on my mood on any given day.

Right now I'm wondering if maybe I should just go back to putting snowflakes on my damn nails. I don't feel like I should have to even consider that in late March. But mabes I'll do it just to be obnoxious.

And then my brain reminds me of the gazillions of times I've seen snow in May. Reality checked.

SPRING IS SPRINGING

Why does it have to be Sunday already. I'm not ready for Monday and work. Adulting can be so hard.

It was a pretty darn good weekend, though. Friday night we went to a St. Patrick's Day party. Yesterday the girls came over with Seven to watch American Idol and then left Seven her overnight. So lots of fun with good peeps and a great dog.

For the party I didn't feel like doing green again so I decided to just do a saran wrap smoosh.

I used Glitter Gal White Pointer for my base. When that was dry I put dots of the white in random spots on my nails and did the same with dots of China Glaze More to Explore and OPI DS Sapphire. Then I laid saran wrap gently on top of the wet blobs and tapped lightly to spread the colors.

I was pleased with how it turned out. Of course, that was two days ago so I got bored with it. With Seven here I didn't really want to spend much time changing them up, so I just did a quick stamping job on top of it.

I just got the new 8 series from Uber Chic so I used a design from the UC 8-02 plate and Mundo de Unas white. I wasn't sure how well it was going to show up on top of the white nails, but it turned out pretty cute.

It's at least cute enough to get me through tomorrow. Maybe by tomorrow night I'll think of what I want to do next.

The only thing I know for sure is next is placing another Uber Chic order. The 7 series were out of stock when I got this latest batch so I think I'm just going to have to get them, too.

TEARS FOR MY NEW SHIRT :(

It probably would come as no surprise to anyone that has seen a pic of me that my hair is colored. The hair of my youth was a nondescript mud brown color, fine in texture and thin. Luckily after having my first child, my hair did improve in texture, but gradually over the years I went from blonde highlights to just being blonde. I can't imagine ever going back to natural, especially since it's more than likely a whole lot of grey by now.

Unfortunately, with that comes the upkeep, and for some reason I just really hate going to get my hairs did. I finally went in last night for a cut and color, and I hadn't been there since November 3rd. Kind of outrageous. Luckily my hair is just worn straight, and I've learned how to cut my bangs just to avoid going in.

Don't get me wrong; I love who does my hair. She's been a very dear friend since the 80's, so we go way back. We always have a lovely visit when I do go, and last night was no exception. When I got home, I was going to heat up some supper and decided to take off my pink shirt to avoid having it splattered on. When I took it off, I was horrified to find the entire upper back of it was covered in a brownish color which I immediately knew had to be hair dye. I'm assuming it had to come from the inside of the cape I was wearing. I immediately sprayed it with Oxyclean and threw it in the washing machine and crossed my fingers.

While it was washing I texted her for ideas on what to use to remove the dye. When it came out of the washing machine still stained, I tried both of her ideas and threw it in again. While it was washing that second time, I wandered the interwebs for more ideas. Since it came out still stained, I tried the other ideas I'd found and tossed it in one more time.

That shirt has officially been washed more than it's been worn. I bought the same shirt for Tyler for Christmas, and I loved it so much I got one for myself in February, so I've worn it exactly twice. Color my shirt ruined, and color me sad. It took me about one second to decide I was just going to buy it again, and of course my size is sold out because they are on sale and not being restocked. I decided to risk getting the small instead of the medium. It's a long sweatshirty thing that isn't fitted at all, so I'm hoping the small will work. If it doesn't, be prepared to see me whining about it some more because it's not returnable which means I'll have two shirts I can't wear.

By the time I got done with all of that shirt drama, it was too late to do my nails, so I'm still wearing this one from Sunday night.

I kind of like how this one looks. The lighter brown base is Fresh Paint Never Go Out of Style. You know how I love my Fresh Paints. After topcoating, I stamped with MdU Black using the Uber Chic 6-01 stamping plate. I really liked the matte look of the black on top of the brown, so I did not topcoat this mani once I was done stamping.

Oh, yikers. Hopefully I will remember that if I ever do that again, it's going to have to be a one day mani, not a three day. The black design is completely gone at the tips from typing, and it's just worn off in other random spots, too. 

Now that my work week is almost over and it's house cleaning time when I leave here, I guess it doesn't matter too much at this point, but it sure ain't cute.

My plan is go home, clean the house and then do a soak off of my nails. I can't remember when I put these on last, but I smacked my ring finger earlier and knocked one loose, and when I was painting them Sunday night, the growout was starting to look bad to me. Do I feel like doing a soak off? Nope! As much as I love my nails, sometimes they are a big ol' PITA.

And I seriously don't know what I'd do without them.

LATE NIGHT QUICKIE POST

Well, it's after 11:30 on Sunday night, and even though I should be smart and just go to bed, I figured I'd throw up a quick post.

We had a busier than normal kind of weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner and then to the casino with some friends. It was a very late night. I had already planned on making a big dinner on Saturday, and we invited those friends over to help eat it.

As I was cooking, I got a text from my older daughter saying they wanted to come over. They had come to town to go to a play and originally the plan was to go to her dad's, go to the play and then they were coming here and spending the night. But since they got bored waiting for play time, she headed over here with my granddaughter, my grandson and his girlfriend.

Before they were even in the door, our other friends arrived. After dinner, the kids headed out to the play and we spent a few hours visiting. Once they left, the kids came back, and it was time for Posh face masks and some game playing before finally going off to bed around 2:30 a.m.

For me, that is a whole lot of social interaction. I'm a "like to be alone" kind of person most of the time. I loved all of the company, but I was not sad to have several hours by myself tonight before going back to work tomorrow.

I did do my nails tonight, but the following mani is from weeks ago.

I'm not sure what inspired this mani, if anything. Mabes I was planning to wear a blue shirt to work? No clue. The light blue is China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer, and the stamping was done with Mundo de Unas Sky Blue and the Uber Chic 6-03 plate.

This would fall under the "it's okay" category. Nothing wrong with it; nothing spectacular about it. 

And now I guess I'll go figure out what I'm wearing to work tomorrow and get myself ready for bed. At the speed with which I normally get ready for bed, that should actually put me in bed in approximately 45 minutes.

I hate having to go to bed. I'm a firm believer in being awake for as many hours as possible every day.

SO PRETTY, I THINK

I guess at some point last weekend Baylee got a little carried away. On Sunday we noticed her left ear was completely swollen. She wasn't in any pain, but almost her entire ear flap was full of fluid. I'm not sure if she hurt it while playing with one of the pups or if she banged her head in the driveway. Her fave thing in the winter is to start walking down our downward sloping driveway, take a few quick steps as she dives face first onto the snow/ice, flip to her back and slide. Then she'll get up and do it again. It's hilarious to watch, and she thoroughly enjoys her self-propelled sledding action. We think it's possible that perhaps on one of her flips, she hit her ear on a hard spot of ice, causing it to swell.

Kev brought her to the vet on Monday, and they had to sedate her, cut her ear and insert a tube which she has to have in for 3 more weeks so the ear can continue to drain as needed. Our job is to massage it and keep her from injuring it or taking out the tube. Enter the "cone of shame". The plastic, huge cone the vet gave us lasted less than 24 hours. She kept walking into things with it and managed to break it. Twice. I ordered her a Comfy Cone from Amazon which got here today, and that is a much better size. 

At this point we only make her wear it to go outside to prevent her from sliding because she couldn't care less about that tube in her ear. She doesn't seem to even realize there's anything going on, which works out well because not once has she attempted to scratch that ear. As long as someone is home with her, we aren't forcing her to wear the cone. I'll be very surprised if the vet leaves the tube in for the full 3 1/2 weeks because there isn't really much draining going on at all. I guess we'll see what happens next week. She has doctor appointments for the next three Thursdays.

Tonight around 11 o'clock I decided to take off the Snail Vinyl mani. I had the other polish that Tyler bought me sitting here next to me so I decided to try that out.

This is Target's Defy & Inspire Make it Work, which she basically purchased for me just for the name. We are huge Project Runway fans, and Tim Gunn is famous for saying "make it work". I love the names of these polishes; things like Toddlers and Tiaras, Big Brother, The Final Rose, Tribal Council....perfect for a reality tv junkie like me.

For the design I used one of my new Bundle Monster plates. This one is from the blogger collaboration with Nailstamp4fun, BM-XL206, and I used Mundo de Unas Mint.

I'm way happy with this whole thing. At some point I'm really going to have to get a bunch more of this Target brand polish because I'm in love with it. Tyler had Toddlers and Tiaras pink with her, and I was so hoping she'd forget to take it back home. I know there are at least six more that I want so the next time I'm near a Target, nothing is going to stop me.

Either that or I'm going to keep watching them online and hope for a sale. But I will have them one way or another.

Everyone should have a goal, right?

THE "OTHER" HOLO TOPCOAT

When I took off the gray manicure from last night, I figured I may as well go forward with trying out the other holo topcoat.

I didn't really have any ideas in mind so I decided it would just be fun to play. 

I started out with a deep orange, China Glaze Bend Over Backwards. When that was dry, I put on one coat of the holo topcoat I bought on eBay, Spectraflair Holographic Topcoat. 

Immediately I preferred this one over the Pixie's Polish from yesterday's post. The formula is a bit thinner, and it didn't seem to add as much of a silver cast to the polish. Don't get me wrong; I do like the one from Pixie's. I just personally prefer the thinner, smidge clearer look.

It seems to me that I got a stronger linear holo effect with this one, but part of that might simply be a result of my base being a darker color. At some point I really will need to try the Pixie's Polish over a darker color. Perhaps when I take this off I'll re-do one nail just like this and compare. Or perhaps not. I don't want to lock myself into being ambitious. LOL

I think the topcoat made this polish really pretty. On its own it's kind of just another dark orange. The holo brightened it up and made it "pop".

I could have just left it alone after that, but heaven forbid I just wear a plain polish. I hate doing that!

I really struggled trying to figure out what to use on top of this orange. I tried using a purple holo polish for stamping, but it wasn't showing up very well.

I grabbed my MdU Violet, which is a dark purple and threw it on one nail using Uber Chic 5-01 for the design. 

Hated it.

I was just not digging the flatness of the dark purple on top of all that holo goodness. I decided the only option was to once again do a holo topcoat over my stamping.

This ended up being a grand idea because this mani is the shiznit in person. I've been staring at my nails a LOT today. I really love the purple over the orange, thanks to the holo topcoating.

So there you have it. My thoughts on the two holo topcoats I purchased. If you're in the market, I've given you the links, and they are both still being sold. 

Not that I'm encouraging anybody to spend money, of course. I would never, ever do that. 

NEW HOLO TOPCOAT

A few posts back I discussed holo topcoats. After wandering the web to find some, I ended up buying two on eBay. They weren't expensive, and I figured I'd try them out to see what I like.

On Sunday night I tried out this one from Pixie's Polish. Her swatches looked great, and the price was perfectly acceptable.

I started with the light gray from Square Hue, Vice and then stamped using MdU Dark Gray and the FUN13 plate from Fab Ur Nails. Over that I did one coat of the holo topcoat.

It did make for a very nice holo effect, but as is often the case, it isn't quite as sheer as the first holo topcoat I purchased that I'm almost out of. I really wish there was a name on that damn bottle.

I'm not unhappy with the Pixie's Polish topcoat, but I do need to try it just over a color that has no stamping to see how much I really like it. If I'm feeling ambitious when I take this mani off, perhaps I'll try it over something darker on its own. For this one, I'm wishing I had done the holo and then stamped rather than covering up the stamp.

It's not a bad effect, especially in person. The stamping design is just super muted due to the topcoat. It's quite pretty in person.

Overall, I'd recommend it, I think. I like a linear holo the best, and this fits the bill even though it doesn't show that much in the photo.

One down, one more to try that I purchased on eBay from Spectraflair. I'll try that one soon so I can show you how good/bad it is.