PINK!! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Happy Valentine's Day. Woop-De-Doo.  My hubs and I don't really bother with it, which is fine with me. Every couple of years or so he'll surprise me with flowers, but this year we didn't even bother with cards. One thing about Kev, he never needs a special occasion to let me know he loves me. The guy is a gem and treats me like the "queen" I pretend to be. That being said, I hope someday we're rich enough so I can collect some more diamonds. I love me some diamonds.

To close out this not-so-hot bunch of VD mani's, CNS asked me for a straight-up pink. And that's exactly what I did. 

China Glaze Strawberry Fields is very, very pink. Like, very.  I remember right after I started painting my nails I acquired a bright pink that I tried. It was horrible on me so I really didn't think I was going to like this. As it turns out, I honestly do like it.

Of course we all know there was no way I could just leave it alone. I had done this in the evening and did paint both hands for once, but the next day I was bored so I added a stamp.

For the stamp I used Essie No Place Like Chrome with a pattern off of my Ninja Polish DRK-B stamp plate. I didn't get to wear this one anywhere because I didn't leave the house, but it still looked good. Lord knows I need my nails to look good for myself.

Tomorrow Kev and my son-in-law are going to take Griffin into the city to go to the Chicago car show, and then it's time to get back to Escanaba. I'm not happy that my visit is over. I probs won't see them again for a couple of months because they don't come as often in the winter. So I'll be sad to leave.
 
Now I'm off to watch Project Runway's Under the Gun with Tyler and her neighbor. Kev and Tyler's husband will be super pumped to watch it, I'm sure. 

I hope your Valentine's Day was spent with someone you care about. Luckily I got to spend mine with more than one.

 

NO WORDS FOR HOW MUCH I HATE THESE CANDY HEARTS

Another lovely Illinois day. Evidently the good weather will be here next week. Typical. I arrive and it sucks. I leave, and it will be good. Who the hell jinxed me??

One thing nice about coming here is Sushi Train. No place to get sushi in No-Wheresville-Escanaba. Six pieces later, and I am stuffed. Plus watching a 3 year old wolfing down miso soup is hilarious. That kid is redonk.

Kev arrived today so the Griffster is one happy boy. He is obsessed with his Grampa Kev. That's one of the best parts of having a grampa that isn't even 40 yet...he's still young enough to act like a 3 year old.  Of course, he was also a grampa at 25 so he's got some experience under his belt.

A few weeks ago CNS requested mani's, and this is one they wanted. I hate it SO effing much!! I just cannot manage writing anything small enough for my damn nails. 

Seriously, every time I look at this I'm annoyed. I'm so glad I didn't have to be seen in public with it. I'm even more annoyed that it might show up on some other blogs somewhere. Maybe I shouldn't have watermarked it. Unfortunately for me, my damn hand pose gives me away a lot of the time. lol

Gotta' give me credit, though, people. At least I'm a good enough sport to show the crap mani's, too.

GARDEN OF HEARTS TUTORIAL

Still freezing my ass off here in Plainfield, Illinois. I don't even want to leave the house to go shopping. Thankfully tomorrow it's going to be at least 20 degrees....a veritable heatwave.  

Folks are still not feeling so great here so nothing exciting happening. I did motivate long enough to shower so at least I'm not a complete scrub, and I made chicken for supper. Now for the rest of the night it'll just be more sitting around in front of the tv. In other words, it's just like being at home! 

Here's another mani that I did for Nail It magazine along with a tutorial. I forgot to post the tutorial for yesterday's mani. Oopsie. You may see it on the Nail It website at some point.

 

Since I had just taken off that mani from yesterday's post, I just stuck with using Orly Lift the Veil as my base. (translation - too lazy to go find something else)

I wasn't originally planning to do a "garden".  Actually, I don't remember what my intention was. Somehow whatever I was trying turned into this. In reality, I just wanted to play with the heart rhinestones I had just gotten from eBay.

For all of the green I used my Nail Candy pens. They still have them on Nomorerack, and you should consider getting them.  They are $12 for five of them. I love that they can be a needle point or a brush. I'm really happy with them.

I just checked over on that site, and they have some other decent polish-related bargains. 

Guess I'll end this now so I can peruse the site and try to not buy anything.

 

PITIFUL FREEHAND HEARTS

My younger daughter, Tyler, came home on Friday night so she could see my granddaughter in Charlotte's Web on Sunday. She came to my house and then planned to stop and see the play on her way back to Illinois.  On Saturday night around 2:30 a.m. I was pretty much whining (for the umpteenth time) about the fact that she didn't bring Griffin with her on this trip. And she (for the umpteenth time) told me I would just have to go to Illinois for a visit. 

At that point I half-jokingly said that maybe I would just stowaway in her car and go back with her. Ten minutes later I was packing.  So Sunday we headed off to see the play, and home I went with her. Now here I am in Plainfield, and Kev is home alone for a couple of days without me for the first time. He's going to come here on Wednesday, and we'll go home on Saturday.  So a whole bunch of days with my sweet boy. 

He was sleeping when we got here last night, and it was soooooo hard to not be able to see him right away. And the poor kid has a nasty cold. He was pretty surprised to see me this morning. We've been having a ball. Luckily other than a cough, he doesn't really feel or act sick so there's no crabby kid syndrome.

I did bring a few polishes with me but nothing to do anything fancy. At least I have a few things I can post in the meantime. This is one that Nail It asked for. I think it's awful, but they seemed to like it.

For the pink base I chose Orly Lift the Veil. It's a good pink that covers well and evenly. I used my Nail Candy nail art pens to do the hearts and then added some rhinestone hearts.

Once again, not a fan of anything I do freehand, and this one is no exception. But it's not like I actually had to wear it anywhere. 

On. Off. Done deal.

 

STILL FUSCHIA WITH HUGE-ASS HEARTS

Is there such a thing as a stomach transplant? If not, I will happily volunteer to be the first to have one. I have been trying so hard to do everything right to get this ulcer to heal, but here I am, still hurting. Me = disgusted.

I can see, though! I think my new trial contact lenses will be the ones I order. It's nice not seeing double and being able to read street signs.  I decided I'd get new glasses, too, even though my insurance only covers either/or each year. I haven't gotten new specs for about 4 years and figured since my prescription had changed so much I'd just pay for them out of pocket. 

Now, I've worn glasses since I was ten years old. And I hate wearing glasses. I'm jealous of people that look cute in their glasses. It's just not fair. So anytime I decide to get new ones, my one goal is always the same: find a pair that I will be willing to leave the house in. When I started wearing contacts in my 20's, being seen in public in glasses ceased happening. I just hate them on me. Hate them.

Since I figured I would price out a pair before deciding to buy them for sure, I started trying on frames. The pair I have now are a wire rim, my theory being if they are wire, they will be invisible. Not true. This time I decided I'm going to go just the opposite.....bigger and in-your-face bold.  Of course I see a cobalt blue pair, throw them on and think they're kind of cute. Price of that frame? $249. Oh, hellz to the no. I'm not paying that for something I'll never leave the house in.

Then I found a flat black metal pair that I thought I liked. And they were on sale for $50....much better! I look up and discover they are men's glasses.  Fantastic. Then I went to the unisex section and the "trendy" section. I just wasn't seeing anything. The girl asked me if I wanted plain or bling. I told her I was too old for bling. And then started laughing when I realized I was wearing a rhinestone garden of hearts on all ten nails. Ooopsie.

I finally threw on that men's pair and asked what she thought, and she said as long as they fit, it doesn't matter if they're in the men's section.  I decided to go with that pair. Then of course add in the fact that they are bifocals, and $275 later I'm on my merry way home. If things go like they have in the past, I like them right now in my mind and when I get them home, I'll hate them just like ever other pair. Whatevs.

Before opting for the stainfest of removing my KC Metallic Fuschia, I threw on a heart stamp just for funsies.  I should have used black stamping polish because the Sinful Colors Black on Black that I used didn't really stamp black enough.

For the hearts I used my Llarowe LeaLac LLC-A stamping plate. It only took me like ten minutes to do. If I had actually been planning to go somewhere I think I for sure would have switched to stamping polish.

I do need to do something else tonight because tomorrow I am leaving the house. My granddaughter is in a play tomorrow so we are heading to Marinette to watch. She's playing Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web", and I'm so excited for her! She's been in several plays, and she is one talented 8 year old.  It should be fun. I always love seeing the grandkids on stage. :)

In the meantime, I'm off to decide what, if anything, I can eat for supper without ending up doubled over in pain. No drinking of pumpkin pie booze for me tonight, I guess.

Bummers. :(

OH, THIS SHIZ IS GONNA' STAIN

Geez, where did the last few days go? I just realized I haven't posted in damn near a week. Shame on me.

I don't really have an excuse; I'm once again not working until who knows when. I've cleaned some random things around the house. I did all the laundry only to discover on the last load that the freakin' thing was leaking again. What's more fun that having to pull out the washer and dryer by myself to clean up a lake? Answer: almost anything.

Yesterday I cleaned the entire house. I bought a new floor steam cleaner because my 4 year old one finally died. My new one has a hand-held section that comes off, so I lifted the top on my gas stove and got to steaming. I love the thing and keep looking around the house to see what else I can use it on.

Other than all that fun I spent quite a bit of time working on CNS requests and a couple of tutorials for Nail It.  CNS wanted fuschia, and I always go through my previous pics to see if I have anything to submit. Evidently I don't wear a lot of fuschia. All I found was one that could barely be considered fuschia so I had to do a couple last night. It's a good thing I did this one last because when I take this off, something tells me I'm going to have very pink fingers.

This is Kleancolor Metallic Fuschia.  And there is no denying it's fuschia.  When I first put it on my left hand I thought it was a bit much. After living with it for about an hour I actually decided to put it on my right hand, too. I'll probs wear it for today and then maybe stamp over it with black tonight. We'll see.

And now I'm thinking I might just grab the steamer and do the grout in front of the fireplace.  Just for funsies.

LOVE ME SOME BLURPLE

Hey! Have I mentioned lately that we have "some" snow?? Here's a couple of pics I snapped from my patio door today. It looked worse yesterday, but the bossman was kind enough to come and plow the driveway last night.

This first shot is looking to the right.  That blue thing is the plastic tarp over my deck table. As you can see, there's a "couple" of inches there.

Off to the left is where the majority of the snow builds up from snowblowing and plowing. Baylee doesn't mind plodding her way through that huge-ass snowbank, but Tinlee won't even attempt it anymore. I wish the pic showed how high the snow really is.

I would love nothing more than to wake up and have it magically disappear.

On to the nails!

For Christmas this year one of my lovely nail/Golden Retriever friends sent me a bunch of great polishes. I was happy when I opened the package and saw a fantastic China Glaze "blurple".  I do love me a good blurple. Then I turned it over and saw the name of it and started to giggle. It's called Queen Bee. I have no idea how she managed to find a polish with my "name" on it, but suffice it to say, I love it. The color and the name.

Since I had only swatched it I thought I would attempt a water marble. I pulled 4 colors to go with it, set up my new "work station" in front of my recliner and got to it. Yeah, right.

Sometimes that damn heart water marble comes together, and sometimes I just can't get it to work. I went from 5 colors, to 4 and then tried just 2 colors. No luck with it at all. 

It was at that point I said, "screw it"....all I could see were drops of my precious Queen Bee going to waste. I finally just used the last 2 colors and did the easiest one I know of to do.

At least when I do this pattern, it's a one shot deal with no do-overs. So this is the beautimous China Glaze Queen Bee marbled with Essie Absolutely Shore.

It turned out, and after all of the issues I had been having, I'm happy with it.  I'm betting I will still try to accomplish a heart water marble before the big V-Day.

I'm also betting it will take me many tries and a whole lot of bitching before I get it to work.