money money money!

Yes folks!
It IS the time!

It is the time of 'back to school'!!!

New backpacks, new clothes, essencials, school photos, & fees - oh, the fees!!
School fees.
Extra-corricular fees.
Dance, skating, guitar lessons, beaver meetings etc....
the list just goes on & on.
& if you have more than one child as I do --
this spending can damn near kill you!

This year, I am mostly prepared...
for school mostly.
The extra stuff ~ I'm just not sure at this point.
*sigh*

♥♥♥ g.m.

ahhh-HA!

manicure ~ day 1

I have explained in an earlier blog

that nail polish & I just don't 'get along'.
Generally speaking,
I can't get more than a day or two out of my manicures
before they are chipped & terrible.
I have been searching for a top coat that will stand up to the 'beating'
that my everyday life will give it.
I think I have met my match!

***China Glaze Topcoat ~ Ghoulish Glow***

I have had my manicure in tact now for 4days & still going!

I have done all the 'normal' stuff.
Sewing, laundry & stain removal, cleaning, dishes, cooking&BBQ, gardening, lawn cutting
child-chasing, general toy wrangling, etc.
Still, it keeps going!
FABULOUS!!!

& as an added bonus, it glows in the dark without changing the colour or appearance of your original nail polish!

♥♥♥ g.m.


manicure ~ day 4

carpe vinum!

So, my girlfriend Annie & I
both enjoy a glass of wine (or two) in the evenings.

We share conversation, relax, smoke a cigarette or two,
& just generally unwind ~ vent ~ from the days events.
We realized that we consume vast amounts of the stuff
through-out the period of a month
(which doesn't take long having only a glass or two each evening).

Needless to say, we decided to take the 'u-brew' plunge!
We have made two types now.
Both are deeeeelicious ~ I might add!

We made a 'California White Zinfandel' &
a 'Wildberry White Zinfandel'.

The whole process was ridiculously easy.
& cheap too!

$225 for 2 batches = 60 bottles.
(including bottles, corks, labeling, & shrink wrap)
That is approximately $3.75 per bottle
which, if compared to the $15+ per bottle we were spending is quite the savings!

We cleansed bottles, filled & corked 60 bottles in approx. 1/2hr!
Then came the shrink wrap tops (we chose colours)
& designed our custom bottle labels.
"Annie's Ally"

We wondered why we hadn't done this earlier!
& we will be doing it again ~ soon!

♥♥♥ g.m.

Eeeeks!!!

What a great freakin' way to start my day!
I walked into (through actually) a humongous spider web as I let the dog out this morning!

(& btw, "what the crap" is with all the spiders & earwigs this year???)
Probably the lack of sunshine & warmth this 'summer' has caused a perfect breeding ground for these disgusting creatures!

Anyway, I took it right *smack* in the bloody face!!!
Giving me the total body creepy-crawlies!
I am still trying to 'shake' it off!

Few things in this life gross me out & make my skin crawl.
Simply put, here is the list:
Spiders, centipedes, slugs, leeches, beetles/roaches, silverfish, earwigs.

I can handle most things with ease, but, these bring me to my knees!

♥♥♥ g.m

purrfect nails?

Being a stay at home mum (SAHM), I don't get the opportunity to dress up, wear make-up, & do my hair very often. Sooo many other things come first.

And, well to be perfectly honest, functioning in my day-to-day life while chasing around children wearing heels & worrying about my appearance just doesn't work!
I'm usually barefaced & natural with my hair pulled back in a messy bun or ponytail.

One thing that I do enjoy very much is a nice manicure. It makes me feel feminine & pretty ~ even sexy depending on the colour.
I take the time in the evenings to do my nails quite often.
Purrrfect relaxation & pampering.

I kinda have a very large collection of polish in every colour you can think of!
I love all reds for my toes, & black based purples and blues are usually the colour of choice for my hands. I feel sleek & 'polished' even when I'm - well, not!
I have tried them all ~ brands that is.
Cheap ($3) to Expensive ($15+)!!!
What ticks me off about this is that not one brand can stand up to my everyday abuse!
In a mere few days, it is completely chipped, peeling and looks like shyte!



I go through the whole routine.
Moisturizing, cuticles, filing, buffing, base coat, polish (X2), top coat.
It still doesn't stay put!
I guess I am looking for the perfect top coat.
Closest thing I have found is 'European Secrets Rock Top Coat'.
It gives me at least 3-4 days of nice nails before I have to do it again.
Suggestions are welcome if you know of something better than 'the rock'!
I have yet to find one.
♥♥♥ g.m.

Just a trim...

I have to ask 'why?'.

Why do they do it?
It seems to me that at some point in most every child's life, comes the infamous haircut done by themselves or another child.

And who did it this 'thing' to their hair you might ask them?

The child's answer is almost always one of three - in my experience.

#1'I don't know!' or,
#2'Not me!' or,
#3'So-and-so did it!' which is usually a child too young to even hold the scissors properly.

Afraid mostly, that because of the reaction that they have already seen from the parent(s) that they will be in trouble.

This has happened to a friend of mine very recently.
Her 4yr old daughter decided that she needed a 'trim' out of boredom while at her fathers house. They had been working on growing out her hair all one length & now this has been set back due to the new bangs that she gave herself.
Initially, the blame was placed on my 3yr old. Whom, I might add, is just learning how to hold the scissors properly enough to cut paper. She is quite aways from mastering the skill let alone able to cut a straight line in someone else's hair.

It seems that this is a right of passage for children at exactly this age. I have known of many in my life doing this.
Thank god, so far, it hasn't happened to me directly.

♥♥♥ g.m.

Simple, Sexy

Beauty comes in all shapes & sizes.

I love the vintage pin-up's!

When women could be women,
& every man noticed
they were just what women should be ~ themselves.

♥♥♥ g.m.