An update and a mani!

Good afternoon, darling readers!  It's about time I'm back, yes?  lol  I'm not sure what my posting schedule will be like, in the next few weeks, but I'll try to post as often as I feel up to it.

I thought this would be a good time to give y'all an update.  My hubby is back to work, as of June 9th.  Last week, they did have a little incident with one of the tanks and closed for a couple of days so they could fire up their other tank, but thankfully, it didn't affect us, too much.

Unfortunately, in order to retain his job, my hubby did have to take a 7% pay cut and give up the company match on his 401(k) plan, but we will adjust.  He still has a job, for now.  The company is still having quite a few financial problems and we still do not know yet if they will remain open, but for now, at least he is working.  Also a little more news, my son also got to return to work, finally, a week ago today!

This work furlough has forced us to take a good look at our own financial situation and spending habits.  We will probably continue to go without some of the little 'luxuries' we had gotten used to, only because we realized we can really live without them.  Instead of going on polish buying binges, I've been learning to shop my own stash and realize I have some really pretty polishes already although there are more I'd like to have, I don't have to immediately go out and buy them.  I've done some trading of polishes I know that I will never wear to get some of those polishes I really want to try and in so doing, found out how much fun that can be.

I also started on the Summer of Untrieds Challenge that Julie of Wishes of A Blue Eyed Girl started on July 1st.  I am behind, at this point, because I decided to do the BlissKiss Oil Challenge, in the middle of it.  I'll tell y'all more about that in a future post.  :)  I'd been sharing most of my mani's on my Instagram page, but have decided to share them with y'all here too.

Day 1 was OPI and unfortunately, I forgot to save the photo to my computer so I will have to link y'all to it here.  This is OPI "Have You Seen My Limo".

Day 2 was Glitter Topper.  I chose to use two of my Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers for this one.  Photo's are below.

From left to right:  BEGL "Electric Icicle", BEGL "Untrodden Snow", and Polish Your Hooves glitter tamer formula (the actual name eludes me just now, lol).

And on the nails.

Unfortunately both of the BEGL's have been discontinued and are no longer available through Julie's shop (link above).  

You can follow Blue Eyed Girls Lacquer Facebook page here, Instagram here, and her blog here.

This challenge is mainly taking place on Instagram and is tagged as #summerofuntrieds.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me through the difficult challenge my family has been facing and for all the support y'all have shown me (it may not show up on the blog as comments or whatnot, but I have had many messages of support over the last few weeks from many of you and it is deeply appreciated!).

I'm not quite sure when I will be back again, but I will try not to let so much time go between updates.  I'm still trying to get back on track, medically speaking, and it's taking me much longer than I had anticipated, but hopefully, soon, we'll have that little monster corralled and I'll be back on my  feet again in no time. :)

Thank you again, for being with me today and taking a moment of your time to check out what I've been up to.  Have a great day!  Huggles!

A lot of changes...

Good early morning, darling readers.  I hope the weekend is finding you all well and you are having wonderful weather wherever you may be!  I am very sorry I have not posted anything lately.  We've been experiencing some rather difficult changes in our lives during the last few weeks and it's put my blog on the back burner, for now.

As most of you know, I've been going through treatment on my back for quite some time.  In April, it was decided to try some more injections and then another radio frequency ablation (RFA) on my right sacroiliac joint (basically the tailbone area).  I did the RFA procedure on May 15th.  I am still experiencing quite a bit of the pre-procedure pain and may have to do another as soon as the doctor deems it safe to and if some of the other changes in our lives will permit it.

That evening, while I was relaxing on the couch, my husband was on Facebook, catching up on the days events, when he suddenly said that the guys he works with were posting that management had just come in (around 6 pm) and told them to finish up what they were doing because they were closing at 10 pm that night.  At first, we really just thought it was a rumor, until more and more people started posting about it.  As it was my husband's day off, he wasn't really sure what to make of it.  We never received any phone calls to let him know that he was laid off or any other notification, except a letter that arrived about 8 days later, to let us know of this 'furlough'.  In my opinion, I think it was a very poor choice to let those on Facebook tell others that they'd just been laid-off.  This letter he received said that since it was a furlough that he could file for unemployment benefits and it also gave us the phone numbers to emergency assistance organizations that *might* be able to help if we needed financial assistance.  It also stated that the furlough was expected to last approximately 3 to 4 weeks.

Because he had hours worked during the week he was laid off, it disqualified him from any unemployment for that week, then the following week, with no work and no income, that one was considered his waiting week, that Ohio requires all workers to have when they first file for unemployment benefits.  He was able to file those 2 weeks, but did not receive any benefits for them.  It was only during the 3rd week that he actually qualified and got any type of benefits.  So for 3 weeks, we either had a lot less or no income coming in.  We were able to apply for some basic public assistance since there was such a drastic change in our income.  But because we no longer have minor children living at home and I do receive a small disability check, once his unemployment is factored in, it will put us over income to qualify for any further assistance.  We do still have medical insurance, at this time, if we can manage to pay his portion of the  cost of it, which would normally be payroll deducted, but now we have to pay it out of his unemployment benefits, as well as our other monthly obligations.  Luckily, the check I receive each month will keep the roof over our heads, but it won't cover anything else.  It's all going to have to come out of the u/e (unemployment) checks now, until mid-August, when it will be no longer made available to us unless we pay both portions (called a COBRA plan for those not familiar with it).

With the costs of my medication, even with co-pays, being so much, I decided to quit taking them because it came down to the choice to either get my medications or pay our electric bill to keep it on another month.  Right now, with co pays, my medication comes to approximately $275 a month and his insurance will be another $400, just to keep it active through June, then another $400 will be due to keep it active through July.  It's all been pretty stressful trying to figure out how we are going to make it through because you see, he found out yesterday that he was mailed what is called the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) that is required whenever a company such as his is considering shutting down their operations.  They have to give all their employees a 60 day notice, even if they decide, ultimately that they are going to stay open, as we are really hoping and praying they will do.  But in the event they decide not to reopen, they'll have already done the required notifications of closure.  If they had not given this notification and decided to shut down without it, they would have to pay each employee the wages they would have earned during this time period, since they are a union shop.  In this way, they have covered their own hind-ends and made sure they followed their contract with the union regarding proper notification in the event they do decide to shut-down permanently.  From what we can gather, the decision as to if they will remain open or not will be made during the week of August 11th.  if they do close and our insurance is no longer available, the costs for my prescriptions will jump to about $1400 a month.

As with any large company, rumors are running rampant.  We've heard many different ones:  1) Yes, they are definitely closing.  2) No, they aren't closing, but are going to be asking employees to take a major pay cut, lose their 401(k) plans, and do away with their insurance. 3) They will be restarting production tomorrow on half of the plant.  And many others.  Since my husband has been with this company since he was 20 years old and would be starting his 25th year with them in September, we've learned not to believe the rumors and only what actually happens, although hearing them make us nervous about what is going to happen in the next few weeks.

Additionally, my son also works for the same company so he is now going through the same things we are.  Even though he is 26 now, he may end up moving back home so we can pool our resources and get through this, hopefully, without losing as much as we are anticipating at this time.  My husband and I already made the decision to let our car go back to the bank.  Without his full income, we can no longer afford the payment.  We've also cut back on everything else we could think of:  cable/internet will be shut off next week, home phone has already been shut off and cell phones will also be going.  We're running as little electricity as possible so in the event it gets shut off, it won't be so difficult to have it turned back on, once we're back on our feet again.  I've cancelled the little things I was getting monthly, such as my Ipsy and Nail Art Society subscriptions and I've put myself on a 'no-buy' for polish until such a time as I can indulge again.

Which leads me to another reason why I've shared all this with you.  I've made the difficult decision to sell most of my 'babies' in order to feel like I'm contributing to helping support us.  I will be using Store Envy and will be including other cosmetic items as well as maybe some books and clothing.  I do not have everything added as of yet, but I will post the link in the side bar to the right.  You will also notice I have added a 'GoFundMe' widget there.  As difficult as it is for me to do, I decided to ask for help to get us through this difficult time since we really don't know, yet, as to how much longer this shut-down will last.  The company has been really hush-hush and not providing anyone with any kind of information as to what their decision, ultimately, will be.  If you are looking for a particular polish, please take a look at my Store Envy site to see if it may happen to be there.  If you could share both the StoreEnvy and GoFundMe links, I would deeply appreciate it.

I plan to try to keep blogging although it may be sporadic at best.  Even though I will not have internet in my home, a neighbor has offered to let me network with her so I can have access and can occasionally update y'all as to what is going on and when I may be able to resume a more regular schedule again.  It will also depend on how my body reacts to being off my medication as well.  Before the doctor and I figured out what medications worked best for me, I was pretty much bedridden and I expect it will happen again now that I am no longer taking them.

Thank you, to everyone, for reading and for helping me learn so much in the last year and a half.  It's been wonderful to be part of such a warm, caring community and I hope I can get back soon.  Until then, darling readers...huggles!

A Valentine's Day Mani....in April.

Another scheduled post that did not post when it was supposed to.  Again, my apologies for not making sure it posted.  Here it is, in it's original form.  (May 31, 2014 8:58 pm)  After reading, I realized I never actually finished the post, so I edited it a bit after all.  lol  The edited bits will be in this color.

*all items purchased by me*

And here I am again....can you believe that?  Three days in a row.  I think it's close to a personal best, as far as days posting in a row go for me.  lol  We've had a cold front come through so our temperatures have cooled off a bit and ugh,  I had to turn the heat back on.  I really thought Old Man Winter had gone into hibernation, but there he was this morning, with frost on the windows.  *sigh*  Pretty soon I'll probably be complaining that it is way too hot, so I'm going to enjoy the 'cool' days while I can.

Today I have for you a polish I bought from Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer out of her My Indecisive Valentine Collection.  This is called Newly Impassioned Soul.  This is a hot pink with green flakies.

I used 3 very thin coats with seche vite top coat.  Isn't she a pretty pink?

4 thin coats without top coat.

A close up on my thumb because I was able to get the flakies, a little, here.  With seche vite top coat.

And without top coat. 

The formula on this polish is great.  It dried quickly and with the top coat, looked really squishy.  :)  Since I've been using a glue base-coat with anything that remotely has a bit of glitter in it, removal was a breeze and I had no staining.  I even used this color to stamp over another BEGL that I have and although you have to be really quick, it works great.  

I had originally scheduled this post for another time, but for some reason, it didn't post as scheduled, so I am now finishing it up, as I realize I hadn't quite finished it.  :)

I really love Julie and her creations at Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer.  You can find her shop here.  She is also on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Do you own any Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer (or BEGL's as I fondly call them) and if so, which is your favorite?

As always, thank you for spending a little of your day with me.  Huggles!

Hubby spoils me, this I know....

This post was originally scheduled for 4/29/14 but did not post, apparently.  I must apologize for not checking earlier to make sure that it did post.  So here it is, in it's entirety, please forgive the incorrect mentions of days and/or dates given.  Thank you!  (May 31, 2014 8:43 pm est)

*purchased myself, nothing to declare*

Good morning, darling readers.  I hope your Tuesday is going well so far.  The other day, hubby and I went shopping and as we passed a polish display, he surprised me by stopping and said to pick one.  I then said, why don't you pick a color for me and then said anything but green or yellow.  So this is what he picked.  I guess this is what I get when he forgets his glasses.  lol

This is Sinful Colors Mint Apple and yes, it's a green.  :0)  I'm still not sure how I feel about it quite yet, with my pale skin color.  It's a pretty color, but I think it makes me look even more pale.  What do you think?

What I used:  Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat, two coats Sinful Colors Mint Apple, and one coat Seche Vite.

I think I'm getting better with my clean-up.  I bought a Smudge Eye Sponge by ELF that I've been using and think it works pretty well.  I've also slowed down when I apply my polish so I'm more precise and don't have as much clean-up as I did before.

Here you can see that I nicked my thumb before my polish was completely dry.  It really wasn't that noticeable until I took the photo's  Photo's really do catch all the blemishes, don't they?

The formula on this polish was a little streaky on the first coat but evened out on the second.  For a bargain brand, it isn't bad and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more.  I only have 5 total of this brand and this is the first one I've used so I'm not sure how they compare to each other, formula wise.  When I use the others, I'll try to remember to compare them to each other.

Do you own any of the Sinful Colors brand and if so, what is your favorite color(s)?

As always, thank you for spending a little of your day with me.  Until later...Huggles!

I feel like cheering....O-H...

Good afternoon, darling readers.  Can you believe it's the end of April already?  It seems like this month has just flown by.  Actually, it seems like this year is starting to fly by.  When I was younger, my grandmother used to tell me that the older you got, the faster time went, but I always thought it was an old wives tale, until I got a little older myself and realized that she was right.  So I decided to try to enjoy each day for what it is and try not to worry about the next one too much.

Today, I have another Polish Yer Hooves polish to share with you.  This one is a bit special to me because it represents something I love and that  is OSU Football!  Leigh Anne was offering hand painted bottles so when I saw the one with the Ohio State design, I knew it was the one I wanted.  When she reopens her shop in mid-May, I'm not sure if she'll be offering these hand painted bottles again or not.

The base I used was Essie's Ridge Filling Top Coat, which I forgot to include in this photo.  On my thumb, middle, and pinkie fingers, I used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement and on my index and ring fingers, I used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Cherry Red.

Isn't this hand painted bottle cute?  The polish itself is a mixture of red and pink hearts, and silver and red hexes in a clear base.

I think this will be a great mani to wear on football Saturday's for the 2014 season.

Right now, Leigh Anne is only taking custom orders through her Etsy store but she plans to restock/reopen sometime mid-May.  You can find her Etsy shop here.

You can also check for updates on her blog Polished into a Corner or her Facebook page.

Do you watch college football and if so, who is your favorite team?

As always, thank you for spending a little of your time with me.  Until later...Huggles!

Cowabunga, dude!

Good early Sunday morning!  It's just after 3 am and I hope most of y'all are sleeping.  Because my hubby works swing shift and because of the problems I have with my back, I'm somewhat of a night owl most of the time.  I do try, when he works day shift, to get to bed at a decent hour, but I usually find myself staying up most of the night and going to bed just as he leaves for work and getting up for the day as he gets home from work.  That is, if I'm lucky enough to sleep for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time.  If any of y'all suffer chronic pain, like I do, you know how hard sleeping for more than a few hours at a time can be and how common insomnia is.

Today I have for you a polish made by Leigh Anne at Polish Yer Hooves called Cowabunga.  As soon as I saw this polish, I knew I had to have it!  It's a beautiful mix of navy and lavender holographic glitters with a sprinkle of diamond dust glitter in a clear base, to make it a true glitter bomb.  Leigh Ann and I have a few things in common:  we are both from the state of Ohio (although she currently does not live here), love Ohio State University Football, and we both have a love of cows that began in our childhoods.  We both served in the military and most important of all, we love nail polish!

As of today, I'm going to be starting something a little new with my photo's.  I'll be doing one that shows all the polishes I used when I did my mani.  I did, in this one, and for the post I plan to do for tomorrow, forget to include the base coat I used, which is Essie's Ridge Filling Base Coat.

The polishes I used for today's mani.  From l to r:  Sally Hansen Hard As Nails, Rock Bottom:, Polish Yer Hooves, Cowabunga; Polish Yer Hooves, Anti-Cow Licker, and Seche Vite Top Coat.

This is 3 coats of Cowabunga, with no undies, and 1 coat Seche Vite.

This is 2 coats Rock Bottom, 1 coat Cowabunga, 1 coat Anti-Cow Licker, and 1 coat Seche Vite.

And this is the same as above, just the full hand.

Anti-Cow Licker helps smooth glitter polishes and gives your polish a good shine.  I used Seche Vite to help speed up the drying process although, after using the anti-cow licker, my polish felt very smooth.  I just wanted to make sure it dried a little quicker since the kittens were playing on my bed.  

Leigh Anne currently is only taking custom orders on her Etsy shop, which can be found here, but she plans on expanding her line again sometime in mid-May.  You can check her blog and her Facebook pages for updates on when the exact date will be.

Do you have any Polish Yer Hooves polishes and if so, which ones do you own?

As always, thank you for spending a little of your day with me.  Until later...Huggles!

 

Liebster Award, revisited.

Good morning, darling readers!  Surprised to see me again so soon?  lol  I'm really trying to get on some sort of schedule and I've found if I start writing a post, save it, and then come back to it, later in the day, I actually am getting more done.  So I think I've finally found a method of blogging that works, for me, anyway.  This is going to be a rather long post, so please bear with me.

Back on March 6th, Leigh Anne of Polished into a Corner, nominated me for a Liebster Award.  I had to do a bit of research about what the Liebster Award is and then find blogs with less than the required number of followers to nominate.  That was no easy task for me to do as most of the blogs I read every day have hundreds of members.  I found this site that has a lot of info for the Liebster Award here and found out that it has gone through multiple versions since it was first started.  The rules I am following for this Liebster nomination can also be found there.  

To read the questions and answers that Leigh Anne asked me, please continue after the jump.

April 2014 Ipsy Review

*contains referral link*

Hello again!  I'm baaaccckkk.  lol  I know I am really hit or miss with my posting and I apologize for that.  Unfortunately the up and down weather over winter really affects my bones and when my pain levels get to a certain point, I don't feel like doing much, not even my nails.  I have, however, still been getting and enjoying the items in my monthly Ipsy bags even though I haven't posted them all here for you to see.  If you would like me to a 'catch-up' post on the bags between the last one I posted (November I believe) and now, just let me know in the comments and I will do that.

For those not familiar with Ipsy, it is a monthly beauty subscription plan where you receive 4 to 5 deluxe to full-sized beauty products per month for just $10.  They do have a points program where you can earn points for referrals, reviewing the items you receive, and site participation.  They do have a wait-list from time to time so if you are considering joining, you may be put on the list for a short time.  You don't have to, but if you'd like to join, I'd consider it an honor if you'd use my referral code by clicking here.  When you join, you fill out a short quiz and then they start personalizing your bags from there and from the reviews you do on each product every month.  During these reviews, you can tell them that you love something, hate it, would like it in your bag again, or not like it.  You can also retake your quiz at any time to sort of re-set things.

The theme for April is Beauty Rocks.  Your items will come in a make-up bag that is different each month.  This month's bag looks like this:

In this photo it looks purple, but it is actually a very dark navy-ish blue, with a 45 record & needle printed on it.  This one is more square shaped than ones I've received in the past and I actually do like it.  I may not use it to carry around in my purse, but I will definitely find a use for it.

I received 5 items in April:  Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant (sample size); Demeter Roll-On Perfume Oil in the scent Jasmine (full size); Mary Kay @ Play Jelly Lip Gloss in Berry Me (full size); Elizabeth Mott Pop Goes The Shadow in Champagne (full size), and Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencil Travel Size in Black Velvet (deluxe size).

Swatches of Elizabeth Mott Eyeshadow on the left, Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil in the middle, and Mary Kay @ Play lip gloss on right.

Price breakdown:

     Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant 0.25 fl oz approx $9.75

      (full size is 2 oz and sells for $78)

     Demeter Roll-On Perfurm Oil 0.29 fl oz $10

     Mary Kay@Play Lip Gloss 0.32 fl oz $10

     Elizabeth Mott Pop Goes The Shadow 0.07 oz $12.99

     UD 24/7 Eye Pencil 0.03 oz approx $15

     (full size is 0.04 oz and is $20)

Total value approx $57.74.  For $10, that is not a bad deal at all.  I may end up putting the Dr. Brandt up for trade as I have very sensitive skin and am very particular about what I use in my skin care routine and I'm not quite sure the Jasmine scent is up my alley quite yet.  I'm not usually a floral scent kind of person, but this one does smell quite nice so I may keep it.  Even if you don't like all the items you receive every month, it's usually a really good value for getting to try something you might normally not.  Since joining a year ago, I've discovered several new to me brands, tried colors I never would have, and thanks to the trading board that Ipsy has on Facebook, I've been able to trade the items that wasn't quite right for me for items I preferred.  This is also great for those who are just starting out with beauty items as a way to start building their collections.

And there we have my April 2014 Ipsy bag.  Do you receive Ipsy and if so, what did you receive in your bag?  Please let me know in the comments!

As always, thank you for spending a bit of your time with me.  Until later...Huggles!

A lemming....SQUASHED!

*nothing to disclose*

Good afternoon, darling readers, and welcome back SPRING!  I think it has finally arrived here in southeastern Ohio.  It is still a bit chilly at night, but the day time has simply been gorgeous this past week, and I don't know about you, but I was way past ready for spring to get here!  It felt like we just had the never-ending winter, didn't it?  The only thing I do not like about spring is allergies.  This year they are calling allergy season, the pollen vortex.  First we have a polar vortex and now a pollen vortex.  What's next?

Today I have a beautiful polish that has been on my wish list since I first saw it right around July or so last summer.  It is Girly Bits, Blue Eyed Beer Drinking Music Lovin' Lawyer.  This polish was made to celebrate the one year blogaversary of Wishes of A Blue-Eyed Girl.  It is described as a deep cobalt blue with micro blue and silver glitter, and micro iridescent blue/green shifting glitters on the Girly Bits website, which you can find here.  I think it is just simply stunning and I am glad that Pam (of Girly Bits) and Julie (of Wishes of A Blue-Eyed Girl) collaborated to come up with this polish.

Here she is, in the bottle.  Yes, it does look like I've used a lot, but I made a trade with a sweet lady that I'm in a group with for some polish of hers, so it looks like I've used more than I actually have.  

This is 2 very thin coats, topped with Seche Vite.  I still had a bit of VNL, but I can live with it.  Next time I know to use just a bit thicker coat or add a 3rd.

Because it does contain micro glitters, I decided to use a peel-off base coat of glue.  I've been trying that method out with my glitters lately and it does make removing them a lot easier for me.  

This polish is still available for $10 (plus s&h) on the Girly Bits website, but supplies are limited as it is a special edition polish.  I'm seriously thinking about buying another to have as a back-up because I love it so much.

If you are not familiar with Girly Bits, they are located in Canada and is run by Pam, who I think, is extremely creative and talented.  

Other places to find Girly Bits:

     Facebook

     Instagram

     Twitter

     Pinterest

What do you think of Blue Eyed Beer Drinking Music Lovin' Lawyer?  Do you love it as much as I do?  Do you currently own any Girly Bits polishes or have any on your wish list?

As always, thank you for spending a few minutes of your day with me.  Until later....Huggles! 

Rainbow Honey, March Challenge, and some ink.

*PRESS SAMPLE*

Hello darling readers!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far.  My hubby works swing shift and his days off rotate so this is the first full week-end he's had off in awhile.  A couple of weeks ago, on my birthday, we stopped in at the tattoo shop that we like to go to, just to see if they had any walk-in appointments available because I've been wanting to get a hummingbird tattoo for about 6 years now as a tribute to my grandmother, who passed away in 2009.  She loved to watch the hummingbirds everyday when they would come to the feeder and she would tell me all about them every time I talked with her with such excitement and it made me happy to know how happy they made her so when I found this photo, I knew I had to have it done one day.  Unfortunately, the night we stopped in, they were competely booked, so we had to make appointments (my hubby also wanted to get a memorial tattoo for his Dad, who we lost 6 months ago) and the first available one that we could take was for last night.  Anyway, long story short, this is what I had done last night.

And now  onto the nail stuff after the jump.  :0)

A Birthday Give-Away at Rainbowify Me!

Today is Rainbowify Me's birthday and to celebrate she is having a give-away.  Pop on over and wish her a Happy Birthday and tell her I sent ya!  :0)

Happy Birthday, Rainbowify Me!

My ELF haul....

Good early morning, darling readers!  First off, I have to apologize for not having the give-away started.  I have a couple more items I'm going to be adding to it and will be getting a gift card/certificate/code for my international readers for this one, so it will be a few more days before I get it started.  Please bear with me during this time.  :0)  I also wanted to say another reason for the delay is that one of my kitties gave birth on the 10th to four gorgeous little kittens!  Here is a quick photo.

The two orange tigers are male and the other two are female.  We have found homes for all four when they are old enough to go and Momma Kitty will be getting spayed as soon as possible.

This morning I have a quick ELF haul post for you!  The first two photos was the first order I received last week and the third photo is what I received today.  I'll add a break-down of everything I received sometime later today so y'all know what everything is.  And now for your viewing enjoyment, the photo's!

First order.

Mail kitty isn't looking too happy with all the stuff on HIS blanket.  lol

A few items from this may or may not be included in the give-away!

And that, my darlings, is all I have for you this early am.  It's already almost 1:30 am and I need to try to get myself a little sleep since I need to be up at 4:30.  

As always, thank you for spending a few minutes with me.  Huggles!

Up for a challenge? And a Give-Away soon....

Good early morning, darling readers! I'm back again.  :)  I didn't intend to take a break again after having my injections done, but my body had other ideas, unfortunately.  I ended up having a second set of injections done, then I had what is called Radio Frequency Ablation or RFA, for short, done.  During that procedure, they go in through a very thin needle and burn the nerve endings off.  The idea is to lessen the pain I was having in my tailbone area.  I had thought the procedure worked, but am not so sure of that now.  Anyway, that is the reason I was gone for so long.  But I've decided, pain or no pain, I am going to do my nails.  It's a good way to help distract me from what's going on with my body and I enjoy the process.  And now for nail stuff.  :<)


I would like to take a moment to say a giant THANK YOU to Leigh Ann of Polished Into A Corner for nominating me for the Leibster Award.

I will be answering the questions she asked when she nominated me and will be making my nominations within the next few days as I've been, to be honest, struggling a little to find blogs that fit the requirements to be nominated.

In my last post, I had mentioned maybe starting a monthly challenge of some kind.  Well, now is as good a time as any to get started.  :0)  For March, our challenge will be to use the color green in a mani.  Since St Patrick's Day is on the 17th, I thought the color appropraite.  I wanted to start off with something fairly simple that everyone can do.  In the coming months, I may start doing an and/or type of challenges, or beginners/advanced type challenges.

Now, the question I have for y'all, because I would love to see all of your challenge mani's, is how would y'all like to submit your photo's?  Do y'all want to use inlinks or would you rather just e-mail them to me and I can post them to a challenge page?  Either way, you should watermark your photo (if you aren't sure how to do this and we go with the e-mail option, I can do it for you) before submitting so we know who did each mani.  :0)

Before I go, I have one more item I want to talk about and it's a fun thing....since I missed my 1st year blogiversary and I didn't do anything for the holidays, I'm going to have a Give-Away!  It'll be starting this Saturday so please be on the lookout so you can enter.  

That is all I have for the moment.  I have been working hard, doing a few mani's and getting photo's and all that good stuff for another review for Rainbow Honey and for an indie company that is up and coming.  Until my next post, take care of yourselves and be kind to each other.  Huggles!

Something New I Would Like To Try...

Hello again, darling readers.  Yes, a second post from me in the same day.  Y'all go for months without a word and suddenly I'm chatty Cathy, aren't I?  lol  It's 10:36 pm where I am so that means it's been just over 9 hours since I had my injection done.  The numbing medication has long worn off and my tailbone where the injection was done aches like crazy and if I move too suddenly, my spine lets me know, but the early outlook (knocking on fake wood here) is looking kind of promising that this set of injections might actually work.  I don't want to get too hopeful yet though because it's just to early too really tell yet.

Anyway, because I can't do much for 24-48 hours after these injections other than surf the web, paint my nails, and other desk type stuff, or sleep, I got to thinking of things that I might be able to do with my blog to help make it better and came up with an idea I wanted to run across you, my darling readers, because it would require a little bit of participation on your part as well.  Would y'all like a page dedicated to your mani's?  You would edit them to include whatever watermark you would like and if it doesn't include your name, then somewhere in a corner or wherever you want it, put your name, then you would e-mail it to me.  I would then resize it, if necessary, then upload to a Member's Mani Page.  Or, if y'all would  prefer, we could do some type of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly challenge(s).  They could range from the very simple (use a single color) to the more intricate (a water marble with rhinestones).  If y'all would like something like that,  please comment and let me know.  I would love to hear any suggestions any of you have for helping make Older Ladies Like Color Too a better blog, besides posting more often.  I am trying to work on that one.  :<)

I did get one hand painted today, but haven't been able to get any photo's yet.  Since my hubby starts the early shift in the morning and I need to be up just before 5 am, I've decided to wait until he leaves for work to get them then and hopefully it won't take me too long to get them posted afterward.  I may use my small camera instead of the big one so it doesn't take quite as long either because I am anxious to share with y'all how this one turned out.  :)

For now, I bid you all to have a good night and to rest well.  As always, thank you all for spending a few minutes of your time with me!  Huggles!

Angela

It's A New Year!

Happy New Year, darling readers!  I can't believe it's 2014 already.  Where did 2013 go?  Does anyone else think it went by incredibly fast?  Did you accomplish the things that you wanted to during 2013?  Did you make any resolutions for 2014?  I pretty much quit making resolutions on New Year's Eve in 1985 when I was expecting my daughter and made just two that year.  One was to be the best Mom I could possibly be and the other was to never make another resolution.  Both of my children lived through their childhood without any major problems cropping up (I did have one call from the police department asking if I knew where my daughter was and they were very surprised when I answered yes because she had just called me to tell me and they seemed very taken aback by that) and I have not make another resolution since then, so I think I did okay with those two resolutions, don't you? :<)

Alas, I do not have a nail post for you today.  This is more of an update post since I've been gone so long.  As  y'all know, I had surgery at the end of September and within a few days of my surgery, we lost my husband's father.  Then I lost the hard drive in my desk top computer, where all my photo's were stored.  I've been trying to see if I could gain access back into it, but so far, I haven't had any luck with it.  I then started having more severe trouble with my stomach again and had to go in for a bunch of testing for that.  I had a CT Scan, a gastric emptying test, and an EGD (scope) done, as well as blood work.  I was finally able to get in today to get all the results.  Thankfully everything, except the EGD & blood work, came back normal.  Oh, and the CT Scan.  The CT Scan showed that I do have some very small kidney stones but the doctor said they are so small I probably wouldn't even notice them when they pass so they aren't worth worrying about.  The EGD & blood work kind of go hand-in-hand and we kind of knew going into it what it might say.  I have a bacterial infection in the lining of my stomach called H. Pylori and I'm now being treated with 2 anti-biodics as well as Nexxium and Pepto Bizmo.  He's going to treat it aggressively since the last time I was treated for it (over a year ago) the treatment failed.  My husband now also has to be tested for it because there is a chance, that if he has it as well, he could give it back to me (via kissing, sharing a soda, etc) and then I'd have to start all over again with treatment.

So now you are caught  up on the fun that has been the life and times of my life during the last few months.  :0)  I did paint my nails today though and I hope to get some photo's tomorrow after I get home from getting my injections and when I feel a bit more like myself, I will post them for y'all.  So until then, thank you for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me.  Have a GREAT 2014 y'all!  Huggles!