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Saturday, October 17, 2020

It’s Only October – 2020

There’s a new routine in our house for the past 3 weeks. Our son got a new job and I am driving him into San Francisco every morning so that he doesn’t have to take public transit and increase our risk of Covid exposure. I don’t mind it. It is a familiar thing for me to drive the kids somewhere, that’s what mom’s do. This is a typical loop drive, hop on the freeway, hop off the freeway, up a couple of blocks, and then back down a couple of blocks and hop on the freeway again. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we don’t.

I have been keeping my eyes open for new things. Here are a couple I’ve managed to catch, thanks to my son who takes the pictures while I drive:

A Big Dream on the side of the hill
Sunrise over the airport
That same sun coming up over the SF Bay

The City itself is a different world. Our drive takes us through downtown and in front of the city hall. Right now in the area across from city hall there are huge tents set up with voting machines. We see lots of “interesting” people as we go too. Seems like every day I see something I haven’t noticed before. It’s kinda fun.

What’s been happening where you are? Any new routines started? Share!



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Monday, October 5, 2020

It’s Only October

Really, it seems like this year is taking forever. Or it’s flying by. I can’t decide which. I feel like I’m in some kind of dystopian novel or huge circus. Things will never be what we thought of as “normal” again but will we be able to have some semblance of the life we had? Who knows.

For the moment, I am grateful that I have been busy with transcription work. It has meant that for the last three weeks I have been typing all day, sometimes up to as late as 10 PM. Fortunately, I work from home which allows me to do that. Unfortunately, that also meant that I was not able to blog as much or even comment on as many other blogs as I usually do. And definitely not able to spend time in the studio, which you know feeds my soul.

I have finished the major portion of one of the projects so I have a brief time to say hello and share some things with you. First off I’m going to tell you about a new nail polish product that my friend, Amy, is selling. You may or may not have heard of Color Street Nail Polish Strips. They come in a package of two strips of eight different sizes.

This one is Caribbean Coral

A few months ago Amy had a virtual party and I bought a couple of colors to try – just to kind of help out a party host. You know how you do that (how many Tupperware items do you have?) I also won a free set for playing one of the games. I love winning prizes! I don’t use nail polish on a regular basis but I do like the way it looks when my nails are longish and they’ve gotten to a decent length so I decided to actually give the nail strips a try.

I chose No Way San Jose for the first go around. I will confess that I did not watch any of the videos that I’m sure are available to show how to apply them. In my mind, they are stickers and being a crafter, I should know how to use stickers, right?

The strips break apart to different sizes to fit your nails.

I chose to apply them before I went to bed. I started with my left thumb and took one of the larger nails. It went on pretty smoothly and I used the file they give you to file down the extra bit. The next ones were a little trickier, but I think it was because I was trying to get two nails out of one strip. I should have cut it in half before starting to apply but I didn’t so it ripped off too short. The instructions say to stretch it a little as you put it on and I stretched another one a little too much. Out of the 16 individual strips you get, those three are what I have left.

I did find it easier to stretch the sheet BEFORE I started to apply it. Then it fit better and it wasn’t so awkward. If you get a bubble or it doesn’t quite meet the edge, you do have some time to pull them off and restart but now that I’ve had them on, they are on there well. The instructions say that you can use regular nail polish remover to get them off.

As I told Amy, I don’t think they will make me type any faster but I do like the way they look. They are not perfect but even when I use actual nail polish I don’t get them perfect and there would have been no way they would come out like this if I had polished them right before bed with standard liquid polish. Plus, usually I put on a base coat, then two layers of color and then a top coat over that. These are perfectly dry as you put them on and it is just the one coat. They are shiny and smooth and even with the adjusting, it only took me about half an hour. I’m sure the next time will go much faster. You may also get a tip or two if you watch the videos – LOL

This is the set I won. I love glittery!

The package comes with a nail prep pad and a file. The prep pad was just a tiny square to wipe off your nails before applying the strip but it wasn’t any special formula or adhesive. The file is okay but I used one of my own after all the nail strips were applied. I had chosen the two colors thinking that they would match with the sparkly Tokyo Lights but when I actually got them all, they don’t really so I may have to find another color because I want to use the glitter as an accent nail.

The bottom line is, if you are looking for a quick and easy way to get your nails polished, these may work for you. I am very happy with the way mine turned out. They have some special ones out for the holidays now too. Lots of interesting designs and some gorgeous colors. You can check out Amy’s shop here:

They have some great names for these don’t they? Of course there are solid colors and different glitters. They even have some that look like a French manicure if you like that style.

I will say that some of the designs go fast but it seems like they restock pretty frequently. I’m sure they will be coming out with some Christmas ones. If you get some, I’d love to hear which colors and how they worked for you. Also, you’d be helping to support a small business owner like me and that’s always a good thing. They would make great stocking stuffers, if we are even going to have Christmas this year. Who can tell?

Anyway, nice to see you all again. Hopefully I’ll be around a little more often!



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