Review: Kiss Stick-on Nail Strips

I know, I know... I've been MIA. In my own defense, I've been super busy with school and two littles in school. BUT! There are 6 weeks left in the semester and I'm currently sitting with 3 A's and one B. I haven't made grades like that since... ever. So I'm very proud of myself for that! Aside from school, I'm going next week to get a diagnosis for my tummy troubles (Yayyyyy... not.) I've had an endoscopy and a hydrogen breath test (sucked!!) since my last post, so hopefully my doctor will be able to figure out whats going on.

Now, on to my review for Kiss Stick-on Strips.

I bought these on a whim two weeks at at Family Dollar for $3. They were considerably cheaper than the Sally Hansen counterparts, which are almost $10!! The Kiss Stick-on Strips come 18 in a pack, which is enough to do your nails and even your toes, if you are careful.. which is a great deal in my book!

So the two designs I bought were "Bustier" which was a really pretty, classy silver and black flower pattern that had a little bit of texture on it. There were three designs in that pack, two plain silver/black flower designs and one that was black down the sides with the silver/black flowers in the middle.

So "Bustier" was the first design I used.. the package boasts that these last "Up to 10 days!" but in reality, mine started peeling after 5 days... which still isn't too shabby when you consider that was 5 days of showers, hand washing, hair washing, dish washing (by hand! oh the horror!) and baths for the kids in those 5 days.. again, not too bad! I put a clear topcoat on the night I put them on, so they probably would have lasted a bit longer if I had kept up with putting the topcoat on, say, every other day or so. Either way...

Here's my first attempt... I think they turned out pretty good and took way, way less time than it would have to file/paint/design.. I definitely do not have a steady hand enough to do any designs.

This week I am sporting my second selection, called "Book Smart" (how ironic.. lol) Unfortunately, I couldn't find a stock photo of this design to put up, but it's a white-kinda pearl- background with a pretty neon pink/orange peacock feather design complete with the green/blue "eye" on the feather also. So gorgeous! I put these on last night, and what do you know.. Here I am at work, blogging, and I was assisting a guest and she commented on how pretty my nails are.. lol. Here's a pic right after I got finished applying them.

I don't know if you can tell so much from the pics, but my nails are a bit longer this week! With these Stick-on Strips, I don't bite them at all so it's a good way to grow your nails out also without having to paint/remove/paint again or having acyrlics put on, which we all know is terrible for your nails anyways.

Before I put them on, I do wipe my nail down with regular old alcohol and let that dry before applying. I use a cheap nail file to file the ends off, then I apply the topcoat, which helps in my opinion.

I honestly do not even want to try any of the other more expensive brands. I am seriously so stuck on these. I plan on picking up a few more packs this week. I think eventually though, I will end up scraping the bottom of the barrel and putting whatever is left over on my nails... lol.

Oh! And from last weeks batch, I also put the biggest one on my big toe nail.. you can paint the rest of your toenails with a coordinating color or cut the small strips into pieces to go on your smaller toe nails. Endless options, I'm telling ya! If you are looking for an easy, inexpensive way to fancy up your hands, this is certainly the way to go!

It's Friday.. Friday.. Gotta get down on Friday!

Ah, long time no blog, huh?! Sorry about that. It's been a cuh-raaaaazy couple of weeks.

On the 13th I had a CT scan on my liver and kidneys. The procedure wasn't bad at all, but the prep for it was borderline miserable. I had to drink two bottles of Barium to get ready. It was like cold, chalky, milky Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil.

After I was finished, I seriously felt like there were radioactive rocks in my tummy.

The next week, on the 18th, I had a ummm gastro procedure done as well. That was a blast, as you can imagine! I was extremely terrified but everything went well. I go on the 8th of October to get the results from both of those, so hoping for the best! Then we will see what the next step is.

School is going pretty well so far also! We are almost half way through the semester and I'm pretty sure I have 3 A's and one B.. I haven't made grades like that since the beginning on high school. I'm hoping I can keep my grades up until the end of the semester and get on the Dean's List or even the President's List. That would be amazing, and I would be so proud of myself.

Anyways, this morning I had court for child support. Always a fun way to spend the morning! My ex is $19,000 behind and has only made just over $200 in payments (July of this year) and we have been split for 5 1/2 years. This hearing was for his "failure to comply with a court order" (gee, ya think?) He had the option of making a lump sum payment, or going to jail today. I was almost sure he was going to go to jail, because if he can't pay his ordered $375 a month then I was sure he wouldn't have a way to make the lump sum payment. But no! Bank of Mommy came and made the payment for him! Wasn't that such a sweet and thoughtful thing to do for her 33 year old son? I thought so too. So the lump sum payment was $960 (5% of the current arrears.) Either way... I don't care where the money comes from, or who pays it, or how it gets paid... but someone needs to do it. I will just say, it would be a cold day in hell before I paid my childs' child support payment, but hopefully I will never have to cross that bridge because I'm raising my babies to be respectful, responsible citizens.

Besides that though, that's all that's new with me!

oops.. fell off the blog wagon.

Sorry, it's just been a super hectic few weeks. Both kids are in school full time now! It's amazingly quiet in the house in the mornings now.. I can drink my coffee or get ready for work/school in peace without being bugged a hundred and sixteen times to change the channel on the tv, put Netflix on, get a snack, get a drink, blahdy blahdy blahhhhhh. Carter man's birthday was yesterday! He is FIVE years old now. It's so crazy how my little baby is so big and smart now.

Here's a "first day of school pic" which is actually Carter's first day of school and Ava's sixth day of school. Carter is in preschool and Ava is in first grade this year.

And a birthday picture for my Coco!

I printed out a little "I'm 5 today!" graphic from google and pinned it to his shirt. He liked that a lot. He brought cupcakes to school yesterday also.. he picked out Toy Story but no pics of those. Apparently it was a hit.. why wouldn't it be, for 15 4 and 5 year olds?

All the important stuff aside, I did finally get into all my classes and everything there is going smoothly. I take 10 credit hours, which is considered to be 3/4 time. Three online classes and one campus class. So far, so good there though. 

a little overdramatic

I just want to have the biggest cry of my life. Everything is falling apart.. maybe for the better, maybe not. No way to tell until it's all said and done. I'm so lost.

A good day!

Today is actually a GOOD DAY!

My babies and Steven left Sunday morning to go spend the week in FL with his dad. They are doing tons of shopping and going and eating out and all the good fun stuff I always miss out on. Oh well, I've got a ton of stuff going on this week anyways so I guess it's better that way.

My classes started Thursday and I'm STILL trying to get my financial aid stuff situated so I can (finally) pay my tuition and get my books. I have assignments due on wednesday (tomorrow!) at 11:59 p.m. that I need to get done. I have to go to the DMV to get my license (well, switch it from one state to another) so I can get my in state tuition. Then I can get my books and all will be well in school-land.

Speaking of the DMV.. I went yesterday first thing in the morning to go get my license. The first guy I talked to was super nice, told me I had all the documents I needed and I was all set, just listen for your number and blah blah blah. Great! So they finally call my number (Ah, I say it like it was a long time but the wait was really only 10 - 15 minutes, and for anyone who has ever been to a DMV you know that's pretty good!) So I get back to the desk to start doing my tests (vision, signs and written) and the guy there was a complete and total asshole! He told me I needed proof of insurance for this state, which I guess makes sense but the state DMV website says they are able to issue a license without proof of insurance, but there will be a restriction on the license. No biggie, I guess. So this man is so hell bent on proving me wrong. He gets up and starts looking all over for a handbook. "Didn't you read your handbook?!" he asks me in a disgusting tone. Well no shit I read the handbook... I'm here to take the tests, right? I told him to just give me my shit back so I could go.

At that point I was beyond frustrated.. I was ready to just say "FUCK IT!" and drop all my classes and just wait until spring. I couldn't get a hold of Steven on the phone and he's usually my voice of reason since he's so, so much more level headed than I am. So I go home and start looking on the computer to see what I can do to just go ahead and get it taken care of so I can get my in state tuition and get it over with. Then I had the brilliant idea to call my dad and see if he would be willing to add me to his insurance so I can get this stupid license. So I called the DMV again and the lady I talked to said that would be fine. So he went this morning and added me on his policy and faxed me a copy to my work. So that is all done and I'll go back to the DMV first thing in the morning again to try to get my license. Hopefully I can get my books tomorrow because I really, really need to get these assignments done ASAP.

Other than that, today has been good! I had an interview this morning at 11 and a home visit from Carter's teacher at 10:30. I thought to myself, "Oh shit, I'm cutting it a little close." but explained to the teacher yesterday that I had an appointment right around the corner from my house and I needed to be there at 11. She understood so we whirled through all the paper work and information she had for me and they were on their way. I brushed my teeth and went to go run out the door... and the phone rings. It was my mother. Awesome. So I picked it up and told her really quick that I was on my way out the door for an interview that I'm on the verge of being late for and I would call her back as soon as I was done.

So I get to my interview JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME (whew!) and it went amazing! She told me I was very qualified and we talked a bit and she told me she couldn't "officially" offer me the job yet since all the paper work has to be completed within 3 days of an offer being made... but we discussed my (crazy!) schedule and pay and everything and she told me to come back Monday to do paper work and training. She is going to hire me as a keyholder which is really exciting! It pays better than a regular employee and the shop is 5 minutes tops from my house. Since the "boss lady" lives 45 minutes away, she said she needed someone close who could come in in the evenings if someone called out or if they needed to shut down the shop for the night. She told me they are a VERY family oriented place (which would almost be a given, if I told you lovely readers the name of the place, haha) Closed on Christmas, close early on Christmas Eve, close at 6 on Saturday's and only open a few hours on Sunday.

I was seriously so, so close to not even look for another job anymore. I mean, the job I have now is a cake job and it does pay the bills but there isn't much left over after everything is said and done. I've been looking for months and have gone to probably a dozen interviews and been either passed over or just never heard back. That will really take a toll on someones morale after a while. I guess this whole "be persistent" thing is really working out for me and I am getting a lot more done by being proactive rather than sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I think I have changed a lot in the last few months, and for the better.

Hopefully this is the beginning of something good!

Feeling very PROUD today :)

TODAY!!! was the first day of classes for me! I'm taking three online classes and one on campus class. I work (on campus) after 1 p.m. so I took a M-F 12 to 12:50 p.m. class. It gives me just enough time to haul ass across campus before I have to be at my desk. So far, so good though!

I still need to work out the specifics on my in state/out of state tuition. As long as I can get an in state license ASAP I will be able to get the in state rate which is 1/4 of the out of state rate. *pick jaw up on floor* $670 for 10 credit hours vs. $2610 for the same 10 credit hours. NO THANKS! So I'm going to go tomorrow I guess and see if I can get a license. Then all will be smooth sailing!

Today I'm going to go pick up my books after I get off and get my student ID. Two of them I'm going to order through Amazon because they have great deals on textbooks. The other ones need to have an access code for parts of the class so I'm going to just buy the books at the bookstore on campus.

So basically today I feel amazing and accomplished and like I'm on my way to doing something great with my life. Baby steps, of course. But baby steps are better than no steps at all. It will be sooooo worth it in the end.

Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute.

This is totally me. Sure, I have known for months that fall semester starts in August and everything HAS to be done before then. I did my FAFSA back in January and it was all processed and ready to go... or so I thought. I went to go register on Friday after being "deathly ill" all week with a man cold. Picked out my classes, got all ready and then BAM!!! That wall I'm always running into? Yeah. There it is again.
Come to find out my school has me classified as an out of state student (paying 4 times the tuition of an in state student) AAAAAAAND on top of that, no financial aid! Awesome. So today I went with another girl in my department and she got me seen quick fast and in a hurry when it would have been impossible to be seen. My financial aid was in suspension from when I was 18 and I had asked months ago to have it appealed. Instead of appealing and reinstating... they just left it "on the list" of appeals. What? Luckily that was a relatively easy fix and is now taken care of.
I turned in my appeal packet for residency so now I'm just waiting to hear back from that. I have called the assistant registrar twice this afternoon to see if it's going to be possible to get it taken care of today. If I don't get my residency taken care of then more than likely I will not be taking classes this semester :( The difference between what my Pell covers and what the total costs not including books is anywhere from $400 to $600 depending on how many credit hours I take. I really just don't have that kind of money to just give away. Soooo.. we wait and see.

Anyways, about my man cold. I was down and out completely for THREE DAYS with a fever and chills and a demon cough from hell. Took Monday off work to not infect anyone else in the office with me. Finally back to normal now except this terrible demon cough. Ugh... if only Ava hadn't dumped the rest of my cough drops into a bottle of water and shook it out all over her bedroom floor.