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.

I LIKED THIS

It's Friday, so I'm already well into my weekend. So far so good. I did all the house cleaning Wednesday night after work, specifically so I can now be lazy all the way through Sunday. My sweetheart of a husband had done the laundry which means that's something I don't have to do that I had planned on doing.

I spent a few hours in the pool yesterday and this afternoon, and it's already calling my name for tomorrow. It's all nice and clean now, too. The new salt water system is doing a great job. Last Saturday I discovered that my favorite pool raft has a leak. I decided it was time to suck it up and spend the money on a non-inflatable. When I was searching to buy one, I came across a pool vacuum that I promptly purchased brand new on eBay for $40 cheaper. It has a rechargeable battery and doesn't need a hose, which is awesome. My other vacuum can clean the pool bottom, but it adds freezing cold water the entire time.

The new raft and the vacuum got here, and they are both amazing! Kev had done some pool cleaning with it Tuesda, and today I walked around in the pool with it and cleaned up some more. I wish I'd known about it 5 years ago when we bought the pool.

Kev also finished the new stairs for Baylee, and she approves. After a good night's sleep the other day, she was feeling much better, and she was completely back to normal on Tuesday. She went in the pool a couple of times with Kevin Wednesday afternoon, and her hips aren't bothering her at all. Success.

I'm still stumped for mani ideas, and this is one from a couple of weeks ago.

This gorgeous holo is Parrot Polish Curcubeu. I love, love, love this polish. It can be seen a few other posts of mine. This time I was smarter when I stamped over it. I made sure I used a more delicate design using the Bundle Monster BM XL03 plate with my Mundo de Unas black. It let me have the design but didn't diminish the joy of the holo or the thrill of the color shift since this one also happens to be a multi-chrome.

Now I'm thinking I will go play with my nails. I'm pondering a water marble, but it's pretty warm in here so it might not want to work. If I start now, though, I have three days to get it right. 

OFF WE GO

Dang it all to hell. I don't have time for this nonsense. I was all set to leave for work this morning, and as I tried to zip my coat, my damn left thumbnail popped off. I just applied them the other day and used the replacement nail I got last week.

I should have known better. It seems the first couple of times I use a new nail, I get some pop off troubles. Since there was no way in hell I'd be going anywhere with a naked finger, I hurried up and grabbed my glue and stuck it back on.

And now I'm sitting here at work looking at it, and I applied it a little bit crooked. Way to go, genius. Now I'm going to have to waste time when I get home at noon to soak it off properly, reapply it and then paint and stamp it so it matches the rest of them. Since I'll be in Illinois until Monday night, I highly doubt I'll have time to mess with them until at least Tuesday. 

Hopefully Kev won't be super annoyed that I'm slowing us down. Sheesh. 

All day yesterday I pondered what I'd want to look at for that many days. Of course that led me to doing something multi-chromey. Then I don't get so bored.

I'm completely kicking myself for not taking pics of this before I mucked it up with a stamp, but I just had other things to do. In fact, I didn't even realize what brand I had grabbed. It was a square bottle so I assumed it was Square Hue. Turns out it's Parrot Polish Arco Iris, and I'm really mad at myself for not realizing it.  The stamp design is from the Llarowe LLC-B plate.

 And now we are in the road, nail not redone. I tried to pry it off, and that sucker wouldn't budge! I guess they only come off when they make that decision on their own.

 I guess I'll just hope it stays put!

It is not easy finishing a blog post in a car from my phone. Just sayin`.

IT'S A 2-FER TODAY!

I'm happy to say that the Parrot Polish from the other day, Curcubeu, wore very well throughout a full day of tapping away on my computer. Nice.

Before I put it to that test I did stamp some snowflakes on it Sunday night. Unfortunately that must have been a hint to Mother Nature because the 43 degrees and rain that got rid of almost all of the snow in my yard turned into 20 degrees and about 8 inches of snow.

I'm staying away from the snowflake stamps for awhile.

After I did these, I was sorry for it. I never should have covered up Curcubeu. I should have just waited to use snowflakes until I had changed polish. The great holo and color change did still show up around the snowflakes, though, and that was kinda' cool.  The snowflake pattern is from my MoYou Festive 04 plate.

Even though it did still look great last evening, I just felt like marbling. I thought it might be fun to do a two-tone marble, one where I don't try for any specific pattern like I normally would.

This is what I ended up with.

That pretty purple is China Glaze Coconut Kiss. I just used one of the cheap Sally Hansen blacks for the marble.

I am loving how this turned out. I've been looking at it a lot today. It also made for a very fast marble since I didn't really care what the design was. Funsies!!

I'd probably better think of something to do with them tonight. Tomorrow night Tyler will be home for Thanksgiving with Griffin and Zero. While Griff goes to bed and is also old enough to let me play with my nails, Zero is not quite so helpful.  So it's tonight or not at all until the weekend.

I think we all know I do not want to still be wearing this come Sunday. Puh-leeze.

On a sad note, one of my friends had to help ease one of her precious Goldens on to Rainbow Bridge today. Cooper fathered many puppies, and there are a lot of good genes floating around out there in the form of some beautiful dogs.

He was well-loved, not just by his human family, but from what I've seen, by every person that ever had the pleasure of his company.

Cancer claims another Golden gem.

Run healthy, happy and free, sweet Cooper!! Although many are shedding tears today, you've left a trail of happy memories in your wake. 

And you're going to have a grand old time with your buddies!!!

FAIR WARNING - YOU NEED THIS!!

I'm not even sure where I first saw a pic of any polishes by Parrot Polish.  I'm thinking it might have been on Instagram. It doesn't really matter. Bottom line is I saw a swatch and sped over to their website immediately to check them out.

My interest was piqued because they had some with Romanian names, which reminded me of my 23 days there when I was 17. I remembered that "frumose" means beautiful. I digress.

Normally I am not so willing to pay 12 bucks for a polish, but I threw 2 in my cart and didn't buy. A week later I wondered why I hadn't gotten them yet. Once I remembered that I hadn't actually purchased them, I did. For the record, they are based in Florida, and they have free shipping!

Let me say this before you look at the 8,000 pictures I've posted. Within a few hours I received tracking info with a very nice note from Dave, the owner. That was four days ago, and I got the polish today.

Once I got them opened, I was so excited by them that I swatched them immediately.  Then I was even more impressed and decided I wanted to email Dave and tell him what I thought. I logged into my email and found an email from him, just checking in to see if I had received them.  Pretty damn good customer relations.

My plan then was to do a blog post with a review of both polishes. Once I started taking pictures of this one, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I really don't normally like pic-heavy posts so there was no way I could do both polishes on the same day.

Without further ado, feast your eyes on Curcubeu, which means rainbow in Romanian.

Ya' know how sometimes holo or multi-chrome polishes need a couple of coats to look good? Or how they are best over black?  Not so with this. I did swatch over black, too, but it really made no difference in the look.  These first three pictures are ONE coat.

I'd say it's pretty amazing in one coat.

This next shot is taken with flash, and the rest have no flash.

I think this is one fantastic polish. It flashes strong green, aqua, silver, blue and quite a strong purple, but as with all things purple, I wasn't really able to capture it. I was also just looking at it as I sit here in the living room, and it also flashes that "not quite black" black color that you get with black holos. Suffice it to say it is striking. Each color that comes through is gorgeous.

This is one of those rare treats of a polish that exceeded my expectations by a mile. Their own pictures don't do this one justice. I love a strong holo, and anything that shifts colors automatically becomes one of my faves.

You can look forward (or not) to a similar post on the other one I bought, Arco Iris, which coincidentally also means rainbow, but in Spanish. I didn't know that until just now. lol

They also included a mini of Emerald Sand which is a green/blue holo and 2 of their homemade soaps which they sell for a buck.

Overall, if this is any indication of how this little company is run, they deserve the business. For the record, this rather strong opinion you're getting right now is strictly my own. They've offered me nothing, promised me nothing; I'm raving because it's just.that.good.

And in case you haven't noticed over the time period of this blog, I'm a smidge picky.

If you haven't checked out Parrot Polish before, I think it's pretty apparent that you should.