Nayll Custom Polish: Puppy Breath

purchased by me

My next custom polish from Nayll is kind of a bitter joke on my dog.  Friends have told me that their dogs have pleasant puppy breath, especially when they're waking their owners in the morning.  My dog eats mulch and the dirt from houseplants and will catch and kill mice and once even a rat, so not even the best breath-freshening chewies are much help.  So if my girl's breath smelled like the good things she eats, there'd be green for mint, white for yogurt, orange for carrots and gold for corn.  And of course, it would all be kibble-shaped, i.e. round, in a pale, milky peach jelly base!

All swatches are two coats of Puppy Breath, no top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

The cost of polishes varies depending on what you add to them.  Mine averaged $9.40 each and shipping was $3.50.  I can't say enough good things about Nayll, especially their super-helpful FAQ and How-To sections.  Sara, the owner of Nayll has very generously offered my readers 20% off and with code BAUBLES and it's good until June 30th at midnight.

Foster dog nails

products purchased by me

Yesterday I mentioned that it hasn't been the best holiday season ever at Casa de Jammies, and part of that was the passing of my 14 year old Yellow Lab foster dog, Mouse.  Mouse came to me in January of 2012, and gave me a ton of undemanding love and companionship.  To honor him, I decided on a simple manicure of Sally Hansen Crackle polish in Antiqued Gold over Revlon Parfumerie Fresh Linen.  Simple colors that reminded me of his coat.

Shelter dog nails!

purchased by me/press samples

Thanks to the lovely and talented Erika of Icy Nails, I now know that October is Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month!  Of my four dogs, two have been rescues, one is a foster dog, and one is a shelter dog.  Inspired by Little Miss Piggie Pie, aka Smoky, I've done a manicure intended to give the impression of her fur.  She's mostly black, with orangy-tan eyebrows and a tan belly and lots of scattered white hairs which inevitably show up on my black pants!

I started with a base of Zoya Raven, then added sloppy small moons of e.l.f. Desert Haze, then a coat of Sally Hansen Tweedy, followed by a coat of Ulta Salon Formula matte topcoat for a satin matte finish.

So how'd I do? :-)

Purple Week: Color Club Fashion Addict and Wild at Heart

I should warn my readers that this is not strictly a nail polish post, it's also a bit personal and maybe a little philosophical and probably a lot sentimental. In 2009, I had to have my beloved heartdog, Stormy, euthanized and in 2010 I had to have my other sweetheart, Beau, euthanized. I donated the outfit I was wearing when I took Stormy to the vet's to Goodwill, and I haven't worn Color Club Wild at Heart since the day of Beau's euthanasia. It's a beautiful polish, and I own the holo version, but every time I looked at it, I remembered my nails on the steering wheel on that sunny August day, and I'd put it away in favor of something else. It's been a year and a half, and I decided to see if I could wear it and maybe fade the memories or merge them with new ones.

I didn't start out with a full Wild at Heart manicure. Instead, I wore Color Club Fashion Addict, a pale lilac holo, for a couple of days. I did actually manage to get a shot of this one in the sun. This is two coats of Fashion Addict and one coat of Nubar Diamont (which did not affect the holo at all).

In the sun:



Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



After a couple of days, I got out my circle labels and did a half-moon mani with Wild at Heart, which is a gorgeous deep purple holo. This is just one coat, and thank goodness the polish is gorgeous, because my stickers need to be replaced! Sadly, I was indoors during the approximately four minutes we had sunshine today, so I just have indoor pics.

Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



Am I going to be able to wear this now without mourning Beau? I think so, largely because I'm so vexed with myself for screwing up the half-moon nail art and because I'm wondering how the word "holographic" which translates to "wholly written" and is used in the legal field to mean an handwritten will became a word meaning "related to the use of coherent light from a laser in order to make a hologram that can then be used to create a three-dimensional image."

This is what happens

...when the doglet wants to help me swatch:



Really, though, it's because she is pretty certain the camera is a treat dispenser, and so if I'm taking pictures, she wants to be in them so she can have a cookie!

A few good things

can make a huge difference.

Yesterday was the most Mondayish Monday I'd had in months. Littlefoot woke me up several times overnight because he had diarrhea, we had computer problems at work, I have an ear or sinus infection that is giving me severe ear, jaw and head pain on the right side, Little Miss did something so gross I can't reconcile it with my cute babygirlpuppy who sits on her haunches and pulls up her paws like a little bunny, I realized I forgot to tell Imp I am not able to get to WV for Turkey Day, I missed water-walking, and it just sucked.

Today, while I was a little hurt that three co-workers I thought were friends deliberately excluded me from lunch, the servers are back up and I was able to burn through all the work I couldn't finish yesterday and still bring some OT stuff home with me. Then, on the drive home, the radio station played three of my favorites in a row--Jesse Cook's "Havana," Keiko Matsui's "Black River" and "A Song for You" by Christina Aguilera and Herbie Hancock, plus I got to hear the traffic report after I was safely out of it. I am going to spoil myself tonight, and re-paint my fingernails, then use an entire Lush French Kiss bubble bar instead of only half, and finally I am going to go to bed early.

Six books, eight volumes, ten days...

How to have incredibly smooth yet furry legs

In a warm shower, scrub legs with a clean-rinsing sugar scrub, such as Julphia's Whipped Sugar Scrub or Skindecent's Body Buffer. Rinse well.

Cover legs with shaving cream or bath butter. Shave with a good razor (even if it's not the one you loved for so many years). Rinse again.

Scrub a second time with an oilier scrub, making sure to scrub your heels and toes. Rinse very well.

Finish your shower, and before drying legs completely, smooth on a body glaze, massage bar, dry oil spray or body butter.

Wrap a towel around yourself and run to answer the phone. Tell the siding salesman he's an asshole. Hang up phone, turn around and trip over needy dog in the middle of blowing coat. Ta-da! You now have the smoothest, furriest legs around.

Thanks, Lush

My tax refund order arrived last night, and I unpacked and put away most of my things and set aside Maresche's items to take to work today. Somehow, I missed a little sample of Herbalism, which I noticed this morning when I was folding up all the packing paper. I set it on the shelf unit which runs the length of the back wall of the breezeway, intending to try it tomorrow morning.

As much as I love Lush's bubble bars and ballistics, I've been resistant to getting into their face care because it's so very expensive and I have very odd skin, oily yet flaky, with overlarge pores. Still, I was going to try the Herbalism.

Tonight, when I got home from work, I let Bigfoot out and fed Littlefoot, then let Littlefoot out and fed Bigfoot. When they were both fed and I had changed out of my work clothes, I ran out to the curb to get the mail and bring in the trash can and recycling bin. In the two minutes that took, Bigfoot found my sample and decided Herbalism was a nice dessert. Since the sample was about two ounces, I'm not too worried about the nettle irritating his innards. However, the kaolin may prove to be a bit of a constipator for the old man.

So thanks, Lush, but I won't be trying your skin care this time around.

Thanks, I needed that.

Work was just peachy until about 2 p.m. when Manufacturing exploded at me and got my boss involved. When everything was fixed up and done, I was just thrilled to get the heck outta Dodge and go walk with my mom and my dogs.

We went to the same park, but tried some different routes on the trail and got in a good forty or forty-five minutes of walking and climbing. I fell once, but thankfully I landed on my fat ass, so no damage was done. Bigfoot lost his footing once and sat down hard, but after Tuesday evening's walk, he was the only one not limping, so I think he's in better shape than I am.

Now that I'm home, I'm debating whether or not tonight calls for one of my hoarded Lush Marathon bubble bars. They're a little stinky, but a lot effective for sore muscles, and stupid Lush is discontinuing them. I have six left, which is twelve baths, and I'm campaigning like mad to get Lush to put them on the Retro menu. That's where they offer small amounts of discontinued items and I definitely will always need my Marathon!

Skindecent saved my life last night

Reallytruly.

I'll tell the story in a moment, but I have to preface it by telling Scott that if he makes one freaking comment about inside dogs, I will burst into tears and kick him sharply on the ankles. Stuff happens, I need to vent about it, and I don't want any extra grief. So there!

This has been a difficult and draining week at work. I've got one book that is the first revised edition in seven years, and another where the authors wanted an extra month to get us really lame content revisions and the head office wants us to still have it out by August 30th. Add to that my night-of-not-sleeping thanks to Ophelia's canine soulmate, and it's been hard.

Last night, I came home, had coffee, let the dogs in & out and fed them, ate dinner myself and went to water the plants. To do that, I have to bypass my fancypants new water softener, which involves a trip to the basement.

Down in the front half of the basement, aka the dogs' half, there are two room-sized pieces of carpet from when Mom & I re-did the bedrooms. They are down there because I felt guilty locking my dogs up on concrete floors all day. In the last 3 or so years, there have been some accidents, but I've cleaned up right away and it hasn't been too awful.

That is, until yesterday. When I went downstairs, I could both smell and see that someone had been very sick on both pieces of carpet. I switched the water over, zipped out and watered the tomatoes, then went back downstairs to deal with the mess.

On closer examination, it was very clear that the carpet was unsalvageable this time. Back upstairs I went, and then I returned to the basement with my good snips. I grabbed a couple of rags, cleaned up what I could, and then cut both pieces of carpet in half. Then came the bad part.

I had to get the carpet upstairs and out last night, because my trash pickup was early this morning, my city will only take one room's worth of carpet per pickup, and I didn't want all of it sitting around until next week. Not only was the carpet disgusting, it hadn't aged well--years in the basement had cause the backing to dry up into thoroughly rough and scratchy burlap.

By the time I had wrestled three of the four pieces upstairs, I was filthy, sodden with sweat, itching from head to toes and still had to get the blue pieces out to the curb. After I'd done so, all I wanted to do was remove all of my skin and hair from my body and grow in new stuff.

There was no way I was taking a bath in that condition, so I rummaged around in my bathroom cupboard, found a sugar scrub and bath cream in Pillow Fight scent from Skindecent, used it in a cool shower, and finally felt clean and human.

Then my dad called. When I told him what I'd been up to, he said in a very sweet and slightly chiding voice that he would have come over to help. I told him I knew that, but it needed to be done right away, and I wasn't going to haul him out of the house just to help me deal with something that was the fault of my dogs. He said he'd try to recover from the hurt feelings. ;)

We had a lot of thunder, lightning and wind last night, plus a teensy amount of rain. My plants didn't get any extra water, but my trash can got knocked over, the cardboard I had out for the recycling truck got wet, and the carpet got unrolled and wet. Bless them, the trash guys picked everything up anyway, and next week I will be securing the carpet with duct tape.

I'll get the last piece out of the basement after I duct tape it first so it doesn't unroll on the stairs, and then all I have to worry about is Kentucky tort law!

Even more progress

Despite an ugly bout of powerbarfing first thing this morning, I managed to get myself together and get some things done. There are only four bags of mulch left in the garage, and I can get my car in again. Those last four bags are earmarked for the spot in the back flower bed which needs a layer of limestone gravel laid down to absorb the water before I can mulch.

The laundry is almost done, the bathroom has been scoured, and all but eight of the houseplants are now outside where they can revel in sunshine and fresh air. My sheets are changed and I've done a quick inventory of the linen closet. I need another set of nice twin sheets, and I'm down to only fifteen Ice Hotels. If Lush NA ever gets their act together on offering Retro products, I foresee a great poorness in my future, especially with new scents from Skindecent and BPAL. Oh, and my second invention has made the Skindecent scent list. The first, as my few loyal readers will remember, was Treefrog Jammies, a blend of green scents & lavender. The new one is a combo of key lime, maraschino cherries & ginger ale, named Ultrasonic by a fellow Lushie named Andromedi.

Thanks to my assorted addictions, I'm rather spoiled for choice. Right now, for example, I am trying to decide what scent to use for my bath tonight. Whatever I decide on, the bathtub is one of my most important refuges. The other is my garden, especially when I am out there watering.

I was trying to describe to a friend what I love about watering plants. It's hard to verbalize because I am not a particularly philosophical person, but there's a ritual aspect to it, a definite sense of being connected to the earth, the plants, the water and a sort of calm chance to contemplate whatever my little butterfly brain feels like thinking about. I guess articulating the process doesn't really make much difference--it still feels good.

And now I have to go retrieve Bigfoot, who is outside barking hysterically at poor Rooter. *eye roll*

My fancy pants don't fit

When Mom & I went to Gabriel Brothers, I was very excited to get two brand-new pairs of Lane Bryant pants for $2 each. One was turquoise twill, the other a black and white extremely fine check and both were size 24.

I'm now sure that they were at Gabes because they were mislabeled--both pairs are about six inches too big in the waist. It's a bummer because I really liked them both and they were one heck of a bargain, but good from the weight loss/morale point of view.

Despite the lack of fancy pants, my first week at work went well. I caught two errors in different books that caused other people to tell me "Good spot!" and generally felt useful. I'm overwhelmed by the jargon and acronyms, but I've grown up a lot since my last stint in corporate America, and I am not afraid to ask for a translation into English. There's a great mix of people on my team in terms of age, background, ethnicity, interests, and while everyone keeps warning me that the next few months will be a time of pressure and possible misery, I have enough lead time to brace myself and get settled in before the rush begins.

I spent this morning at the other office with Bosstopus, and we got much done. She went home for a four hour bike ride, as she is building her endurance for the MS Pedal to the Point in two weeks, and I came home and napped. *grin* I saw both a Monarch butterfly and a Swallowtail butterfly flitting around outside, but didn't manage to get any pics. I'll have to keep trying.

Josh is currently cutting the grass, and sadly, Amy did not come with him. I've got a lovely bag of Skindecent goodies for her birthday, as the scent she likes isn't currently available. I've also enabled Mallie, my friend Doc, and possibly a co-worker. I need to get a SuperEnabler suit (no cape).

As long as the size is marked correctly! *grin*

Edited to add the following, which I forgot to post:

Bigfoot poked the bathroom door open Thursday night while I was taking a bath. He sniffed the water, grunted sort of dismissively (and it was carnation, too!) and left.

None of this would be a problem, but he doesn't shut the door behind him, it's directly across from my curtainless kitchen window, the window looks out onto a major street, and it was night and all the lights were on.

I have no idea how many motorists I flashed before I could grab a towel and shut the door. Eep.

Embracing my inner whatever

Over the weekend, it was my inner drama queen, as I dealt with episodes of dizziness and was just positive it was the MS returning. Then I found out I've got an ear infection. *blush*

Earlier today, I embraced my inner cheapskate, as I whined about $210 worth of dog shots. Yes, it was time for the Annual Torturing of the Hounds. Dr. Bob said Bigfoot was a complete gentleman from start to finish, and Littlefoot behaved himself until it was time for the blood draw to test for heartworm, Lymes disease and erlichiosis. He decided Dr. Bob was going to use the needle to amputate his foot and he wasn't going to let it happen. Apparently, even though he was muzzled (at my insistence, the staff at the vet hospital have blanket permission to muzzle either of my dogs--they're too big to take chances with), he howled, thrashed, snarled and heaved his body all over the exam room. Brat.

Of my two former co-workers with MS-like symptoms, one apparently had some abnormalities in her spinal MRI and the other has no lesions whatsoever but disturbing symptoms. Both have follow-up appointments at the Cleveland Clinic, and hopefully will get some answers. I've had nothing but stellar care at the Mellen Center there (especially with Nurse Tardy retired *grin*). I wish them all the best and the amazing luck I have had.

Right now, I am embracing my inner raisin, after a long soak in the tub. It was, of course, a Lush bath, specifically one-fourth of a Blue Skies bubble bar. This one is pretty old--the nice blue color has faded, and there weren't many bubbles, but it still smelled great, and now so do I. And uh-oh, Lush has all kinds of new stuff out...good thing I don't have real credit cards, or I'd be embracing my inner bankrupt in about 20 minutes!