2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Third & Fourth Ornaments Received.

Kat sent this amazing dress ornament!  Buffy's dress from "Prophesy Girl." 

Sharon sent this hilarious snowman, quoting Captain Hammer's famous line.  

Should I call him Captain Frozen Hammer? Ouch for him!

Santa Nail Art

HO HO HO

"Cranberry Sauced" by indie polish Nine Zero Lacquer, and some of my own free-hand nail art.

2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Second Ornament Received

Danielle asked us all to list 4 or 5 favorite Whedonverse things; couples, scenes, props, whatever we liked.

I emailed her my likes and she chose 4 of them:

Mal & Inara

Giles as he busts in on Evil Willow and says "I'd like to test that theory." (I still go "WOOOOOO!" when it happens.)

Fred & Wesley

Jaynestown.


Thanks Danielle!

2015 Ornament Swap: First Ornament Received

For real!  This awesomeness came from Christi Jo.  THANKS!  I love it.

2015 Buffyfest Ornament Swap

YEAR 8! My year 7 of participating!

If you want to see previous entries, click here: Buffyfest Ornament Swap

I couldn't think of anything original, I'd done cross-stitch before, so I did the cross stitch and added them to ornaments.

I asked the people in my group to choose from one of 6 characters (I have patterns for 6 Buffy characters) & then I stitched their choice and added it to an ornament that was their first name initial.

Two people chose Buffy. 

Buffy

Willow

Giles

Spike (or SPOIK)

These have been mailed out. So let the waiting begin!  I can't wait to see what I get.

Oh Hey! It's September!

September?!?  UGH.  Blogging fail.

Our daughter got artist of the year at the end of her 5th grade/Elementary school year in June, as well as Honor Roll all year.

Summer was spent at home, going to the beach a couple of times, the zoo once, a few swimming lessons for the gal. Low key.

Happy First Day of Middle School to our gal!  She's not really too happy, but what can you do?  I believe I was more stressed than she was.

Oh, I celebrated TWENTY years at my work this August.  Twenty years!

Happy Lucky 13th Anniversary to Us!  This year was low-key because we're working hard to eradicate debt.  (Paid off one last flight school loan, down to one last car payment, then we tackle our one credit card bill.)  We spent $50 each on goodies (macro cell phone lens, book and Matthew West cd for me. Video game and two blu-rays for him) and went out to dinner with our gal in tow.

Next week, Happy Birthday to me!

Still working on my nail art.  LOL  Hey. I'm getting much better.


Life's been pretty low-key.  Like I said, buckling down on finances (See Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course for more info.)

Make Your Own Nail Art Stickers

This isn't my invention and it isn't even a new thing, but I finally attempted to make my own nail art stickers and THEY WORKED!

So here's how it works (you can find a myriad of tutorials on the internet):

Take a plastic sandwich baggie.  Outline the shape of your nail.

Then, using your nail polishes or acrylic paints, start working on your desired design.  I wanted a Sailor Moon silhouette image.

Let this completely dry.  I waited overnight.  Then, taking some tweezers, slowly peel the design off the plastic baggie.  At first I thought "This is impossible. It's not going to work." but I eventually worked my way under one of the corners and presto!  The entire design lifted up.

I have no pictures of this.  Fail. 

Prep the nail you want to apply the sticker to.  I tried one nail with just a clear base coat, but that was a mistake, as the nail sticker didn't completely cover my nail.  On my other nail, I colored the nail the same color as the background of my sticker.  Much better.

Place the sticker where you want, cover it with a clear top coat, use a nail file to remove any excess from the tips, and Voila!

Nail Sticker!!

For this manicure, I did a galaxy nail manicure and then on the accent nail with the sticker, I added some of the same glitter as the rest of the fingers, to make it all look uniform

FUN!  This opens up so many possibilities!  It's so much easier painting on a flat surface than it is on a nail, and if you mess up, just try again without having to completely remove all the base coats on the nail you were working on. 

Thanking a Mentor

My husband & I are taking a financial planning class at church. We're enjoying it very much and have realized we're kind-of ahead of the curve. We're ahead of where the class says we should be and in this I thank two people, my mom and my former manager Jeff Cole.  Mom for being a hard-working woman who showed us girls that no one owed us a darned thing and if you wanted something, you worked for it.  Jeff for putting me into action.

I've been with my company 20 years.   When I started, I was still married to my ex and our finances were in shambles.  It was about bankruptcy, bounced checks, and constantly getting fired (not me.)  After the divorce, I was a single mom with a pretty decent job, but if I balanced my checkbook and had $10 left after paying bills and buying food, I was doing the happy dance.

In came Jeff Cole.  Jeff had been with our company a while, but had been promoted to a regional management position, which meant he was our new regional manager.  Immediately, IMMEDIATELY, Jeff would speak to all of us about investing in ourselves.  Paying ourselves first by putting money into our savings accounts via direct deposit, investing at least 10% pre-tax in our 401k, having life insurance, etc. etc.  

Over & over, every visit, Jeff would ask if we'd set up the direct deposit, if we'd started 401k. Here I was, 26 years old or so with a kid, ZERO child support,  and not 2 nickles to rub together and this guy wants me to save?  Is he crazy?

He decided to go into business on his own.  Before he left, he had a meeting with me and told me I was getting a substantial raise BUT it came with a caveat; the raise money would be used to fund my savings and 401k.  Basically, I would not feel the raise. The difference would be going into savings and a 401k.  I agreed.  I started saving, investing in our 401k and got myself a life insurance policy with both work and an independent insurance agency and prepaid my son's college in 5 years.

Here I am, 15 years from that conversation, and to this day, I credit him and my mom's common sense inherent in me for not having credit card debt (we have one card debt that we're working down with this class' help - I tend to have $$ and not want to give it up. We also have an old school loan of my husband's and one car payment we're working to eradicate ), for having a 401k in the six digits, for making my husband prove to me 8 years ago when all the real estate craziness was happening that we could make the new house payments on paper and actually getting it done,  for being the one who says "No, we are NOT charging that, we don't need it," for paying for all the furniture in our house with cash, and for taking vacations in cash. (Colorado vacation? Paid for in cash.  We enjoyed ourselves and aren't paying interest months later on it.)

We're not rich.  I had someone tell me years ago  "That's cause you're rich!," a bit snidely I might add.  Combined, we do not make six digits, people.   We  just know how to work with what we've got. We are not slaves to the lenders.  We don't pay interest.  We don't have the money? Guess what, we're not buying it.

I want so much to tell younger people to please invest. Please pay cash, don't charge things, Sacrifice.   Please don't buy a new car and make payments.  Save and buy a used one now, so you can save, trade that in and buy a better one later.  

I blinked and I'm 45.  You'll be here so quickly. 

Thank you Jeff.  Thank you for making a 20-something gal just give up already and invest so you'd stop bugging her already.  My future is here and I'm so grateful.

To Grey or Not to Grey.

Grey hair.  We'll all get them. Some of us earlier than others.  It's inevitable.

I was 19 when I got my first grey hair.  Since then, it's been boxed dyes and professional dyes over and over and over.

At what age do you give in?  At what age do you just let go and let "life" take over?

I'm still pretty young, I know.  I'm in my 40's.  But I've been dying my hair for almost 25 years.  It's exhausting, but we all know, especially in this day & age, that greying gracefully at this young of an age is not an option.  The stigma that I would feel going grey would be unbearable.  Isn't that horrible? I don't want people to think I'm old or think me stupid for wanting to go grey eventually.

I just don't want to be that 65-70 year old lady still dying her hair dark brown.  I do not want to be her.  We all know them; I know several.   "They can do whatever they want, Kaaren!"  Of course they can. I just don't want that for me.  I want to age gracefully, yet that sentence in itself is ridiculous.  For though we want  to say "She's going grey, kudos to her!" and "She's aging gracefully!" what we really think is "Good Lord, she looks OLD!!"  We don't think "Smart, learned, experienced, wise, sexy, attractive."  We think "OLD!"

Do I really want be the one going down fighting, wearing embarrassingly inappropriate clothes, getting Botox or plastic surgery or having inappropriate hair for my age?   Shoot, I don't like the current length of my hair too much. I think long hair after a certain age is a no-no.  Granted, I won't go buzz-cut short, but to my shoulders would be nice.  This hair down my back, that I have to dye every 4 weeks, is too long.   I am not 20. I don't even like bangs after a certain age.  My preferences are outdated, perhaps.

My husband's temples are grey.  He's got dirty blonde/light brown hair, so it's hardly noticeable, and I think he looks darned sexy that way anyway.  MY hair is dark brown. HOW do I "go grey" when I have this dark hair?  When I eventually decide it's time (when?? 50? 55? It's not too far away!)  How do I go from dark brown to grey; let the roots grow out? UGH!  NO!  Do like a lot of women I've seen online and just BOOM, go grey?  I'm a BRUNETTE.  What a thing to have to deal with, huh? (First World Problems; don't think I don't get the ridiculousness of all this, too.)

Ladies, tell me your feelings!  What do you think? What would YOU do?

Elevensies

Our little gal turned 11 this month.  Eleven!

We threw her a skating party and we had a blast. Our family from S. Florida and Tampa drove up and over to come FOR THE DAY to be with us.  For two families, that was six hours of driving/ 3 each way. Four to five for the Tampa people.

You can't understand how much I love them for that.  Isabel didn't invite a lot of classmates.  Four, to be precise.  She didn't want to invite the entire class. Just her 4 closest pals.  Two of the 4 showed up.  Having my sisters, their spouses and a combined total of 5 nieces and nephews just made the party.

Thank you sisters and brothers-in-law.  We love you so much!!

She designed this outfit and drew her shirt herself.

Attack on Titan cake.  Too hard to explain.  Japanese Anime.

Isabel and a classmate.

Sister Vicky and Lissette's husband John playing free video games.

Vicky's daughter Ava with her Aunt Lissette.

Me, Isabel, Lissette, John & their daughters Lyric & Giana.

November Nails

What does the Fox say?
Design by Elleandish on YouTube

Maleficent nails.  Also an Elleandish design

Water marble attempt.  UGH!!

Another Galaxy nail design

Random stamping/design.

Burberry nails by EZNails.

A CutePolish doticure design.

Thanksgiving nails with stamped images.

Christmas nails with stamping again.

I'm Here, I'm Here!

Sorry for the quiet, oh you 3 people who read my blog.  LOL

Isabel doggy-sat little Pumpkin here for a month while her mom and dad took a one-month vacation in southwest Florida, where no pets were allowed.  She was  A DOLL!!!  A toy poodle who was the sweetest thing ever.

We miss you Pumpkin!

Other than that, we've been enjoying the cool weather, going bike riding, plane flying and generally just enjoying ourselves.

We rode 16 miles this day,

At The Cheesecake Factory

Valentine's Day was spent riding bikes and then going to Bahama Breeze for an early dinner.  Call Ahead Seatting is a MUST people.  We called an hour ahead (they don't do reservations, just same-day call -ahead seating) and when we got there, the walk-in wait time was 55 minutes.  We were seated in less than 5.  Whoot!!

Hope you're having a good year so far!

2014 Revelations

2014 was a trying year.  It started out immediately with a swift kick in the throat.

I was left stunned, hurt, pained.  I reached out to exactly fourteen people. The responses were so varied.

For the most part, I was loved. I was supported.

It also revealed things about people I did not expect.

The one person I thought would have my back most, did have my back, but only if I reacted in the way they felt I should.  When I chose a different path, the anger and disappointment from their part was an ironic revelation; they forgot their own past that I supported wholeheartedly.  We're not as close anymore.

And wonderfully, some people who I thought would rage and yell and overreact...didn't.  When I chose my path, they walked with me.  They said it was my choice and accepted everything with open arms.  It was such a revelation to know that the ones I thought would lash out said "We support you, no matter what you choose."  We're closer than before.

I lived in constant anxiety for about 5 months.  My reading dropped.  I didn't want to.  I didn't want to work out. I didn't feel like blogging.  I didn't want to think.  Sadly, that's all one can do.  You can't escape your own brain.

The strength I had and have to get through it all is my deep love for God/Jesus.  I prayed a lot. I read the Bible. I went to church. I socialized with like-minded people there.  I talked to close friends and relatives.  It soothed me.  It makes me a happier person and makes me sad for those people who are just so angry all the time.

2014 revealed a strength I knew I had, but not in the way most people today would expect.  I don't live in a disposable, "that happened 5 minutes ago" world.  In my world, actions have long-reaching repercussions. Everyone has to take the accolades as well as the blame for the path they choose. This life takes work and sometimes it "ain't" pretty.

The rest of the year was a time of growth and revelation of the good in life.  Not perfection.  Just satisfaction in the good that surrounds me, in the people I adore. It was a really good rest-of-the-year once I gave up the reigns.

I pray that 2015 allows you, and me, to continue to grow in awareness and understanding of all the good in your life.  It's there. You just have to be open to it.

You're Painting Your Nails Again?!?

This is what I hear from my husband almost every time I do my nails.

Let me explain something.  Although I love new designs, it's quite time-consuming to do and sometimes I adore what I am wearing BUT I cannot keep a manicure for more than two-three days tops.

I don't WANT to always be doing my nails.  I can't keep a manicure to last. It's not the nail polish brand; it happens no matter what.

Yes, I know to use a sticky base coat (Orly). Yes, I use a top-of-the-line top coat (Seche Vite or KB Shimmer's Top Coat.)  They just don't help.

I decided to track the life of a nail design.

This is Kermit. Kermit is SO CUTE!!!

The nail polish is called "Kermit the Frog" and it's from an independent nail polish maker in Miami, Whimsical Ideas by Pam.

The Kermit nail was done with acrylic paints covered in Seche Vite top coat.  This was done around 5 p.m. on a Monday night.

Tuesday around 4 p.m., 23 hours later, after 9 hours at work, I get in the Jeep, go to put my keys in the ignition and notice my right hand thumb.

This.  This is not even a day later.

The rest of the manicure is not too bad.  

24 hours later - left hand. A little wear on thumb tip.

24-hours later - Right hand

By the end of that Tuesday evening though, after dinner and dishes, this is what I have.

While watching tv at the end of day 1, I repaint the thumb and middle finger.

Day 2, Wednesday, 48 hours later:

I touch up my nails AGAIN.

Now we come to Thursday morning.  2 & 1/2 days later.

The acylic paints finally peeled off.  No repainting now!

Right doesn't look bad.  Remember, I repainted them last night.

Two and a half days, and two retouches later, I now have to do a new manicure because I am not about to repaint Kermit.  He took forever.  :(

This, my dear, is why I am doing my nails....again.