Fourth of July

Yeah yeah yeah, so it’s really late. I just got my net back Monday, so bare with me! It’s been a heck of a week, and unfortunately it’s just Wednesday. Make sure to check out my blog sale before you leave, I still have some AWESOME stuff at REALLY awesome prices.

Like I said before, or at least I think I’ve said it, I married into one of the best families ever. I have wonderful in-laws and one of the best extended families a girl could ever ask for. Most of my husbands step-family have welcomed me, and my son, into their fold with open arms. It’s like I have always been there, and I couldn’t be happier.

Not only that, but they have been in charge of Coffeyville, Kansas’ fireworks show since… Well I’m not sure how long. I know it’s been way longer than my hubs and I have been married. They’re known as the Cactus Hill gang and they put on year after year of awesome fireworks spectaculars.

There is nothing like sitting in the fallout zone of a fireworks show, feeling the reverberation of the salutes and mortar shells going off in your chest. It’s awe-inspiring and magnificently beautiful. Here’s just a taste of what I got to experience that night.

Hope you enjoyed!!!

The Third of July and other Disasters

Growing up, I always looked forward to the summer time. Long nights spent playing outdoors, catching fireflies with my cousins… Playing in the sprinkler and having the odd water balloon fight… Spending long summer months at my grandparent’s house in Wichita and loving every minute of it (except for when I got into trouble) and of course- my birthday.

I hear the same old story every year. On July 3, 1981 at 9:28am I was brought into this world. Weighing in at 8lbs, but three weeks early, the doctor told my mother that if she would have carried me to term, I would have weighed 11 pounds. The only reason I was considered a preemie was the fact that my feet had no creases on the bottoms… Which to this day, I still have completely smooth feet.

Over the years, the birthday parties have ceased, presents few and far between, but the sentiment is still there. Granted, I still consider myself as 29 and holding… I try not to publicize the fact that my birthday came and went.

This year, I tried for a little something different. I decided to “host” a little barbeque. Just me and the fam and our “extended family”, one of my past seniors and her mom. And it was a blast. We BBQ’d, the kids played with sparklers and water balloons, they enjoyed watermelon. Fun was had by all… And here’s a graphic account for all the masses to enjoy.

The birthday cake Tria had made. I was in hog heaven. Not only was it Hello Kitty themed- it was funfetti cake as well! AND she spelled my whole name. I haven’t seen that on a cake in…. Well hell since my name was spelled out when I was three years old in those nasty hard candy letters lol

Showing a little more Hello Kitty love (can you tell I like Hello Kitty???)

Cubby enjoying some watermelon. I love his freckles and beautiful blue eyes. He’s gonna be a lady killer someday.

Hubs showing off our first time purchase- the Poopy Puppy. I saw it and had to get it- if not just for the name LOL It was somethin else LOL

So… After Charles pulled the fuse out of the Poopy Puppy’s…. Er… Posterior… He put it on a stick…… God there is like no way this sentence can sound right…. Upon lighting it afire, we were graced with a large display of sparks and fire coming out of its hindquarter region. Just about the time we figured it would stop, there was a loud pop and whistle, a large amount of smoke and then a “snake” popped out and proceeded to grow on the concrete. Oh god, our nasty potty-brained selves laughed our butts off at this display. Had to be the best thing EVER.

And then it got dark. I didn’t spend a lot of money (much less than I spent last year- I was so proud of myself) on fireworks. All I got were the regular sparklers, smoke bombs, snakes, poppers, etc. Cubby was super excited because we had given him the green light to pop off the fireworks himself and he was in hog heaven. Here he is lighting a strobe firework (which we were erroneously told were illegal- which they aren’t). The kids got a kick out of making all of us laugh at their incredibly hilarious antics. Most of the time they looked like they were something straight out of an old-time movie.

Whilst we were doing that, our neighbors next door were popping off their fireworks, which I must say- were much more interesting than ours by a long shot. This shot was taken with no flash at all at night. The only illumination was from the fireworks and the street lights. While the color version of this picture is pretty in and of itself, the black and white version is much more striking.

Tria decided to get the sparklers out and I got this awesome shot of her trying to get her sparkler to re-light. It really looks like she’s one of those fire breathers from an old time circus.

And we got a pretty awesome shot of Biscuit, Cubby and Tria doing the whole USA thing.

A pretty freaking awesome infinity symbol….

A REALLY cool star….

And a really cool thingy-ma-gig…. All these awesome things lead to:

This. Which is my favorite of my birthday. Stay tuned, friends, for another installment.

One more day to D-Day

So… July 2nd, eh? One more day until the dreaded 3-2. Yesterday my son came home from my sisters house after being gone for a looooong month. So we proceeded to have some good ole fashioned family fun.

We started out the afternoon with some smoke bombs. Which, I wanted to get some super close shots of but couldn’t get close enough without getting fumigated. I really need a bigger zoom. Or a gas mask.

Kind of reminds me of the Isle of Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. Except it’s the Isle of Burnt Smoke Bombs. And not as cute. Or snowy. So it’s really not like it at all. *sigh*

Then we had to do the obligatory snakes. They burn up in a blink of an eye, but they’re fun. And I’ve been doing those since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

Oooo wee. Those are spectacular, huh?

Now these are some powerful poppers. They were labeled Thunder Poppers and at $2.99, I told myself they better be worth it or I’d be pissed. A couple years ago, Jakes Fireworks here in Indy were selling what were labeled as “Adult Poppers”. Come to find out, there was as much gunpowder in there to equal a black cat firecracker. We didn’t find them the next year, so imagine my surprise when I found these at Sizzboom Fireworks here in town. I was a little apprehensive. But I picked up a couple boxes and decided to give them a try. They’re a good inch long and pack QUITE a punch. The picture in the bottom right is of one of the poppers intact, the other is one blown up. Quite a difference, huh???

Here’s my boyo, trying to hide from me, sure I was going to throw one of the poppers at him. I’m not even that mean, those suckers would hurt.

And of course, we had to do the typical boy shots with the streamers from the party poppers…. Mohawk, snot, puke, a tail and poo. Yup. We’re special…..

And here’s my wild prairie child Biscuit out in the north 40 of our yard, as far away from the gigantic poppers as she could possibly get.

She also held court with some of the neighbor girls as well. If they start hanging out more, we’ll have to call them Biscuit’s Buddies.

A little well-deserved brotherly/sisterly love. You’d think I was holding a branding iron to their backs with the looks on their faces.

Soooo pretty

A contemplative Cubby.

Oh, and my Fool’d You Pepper is growing!!!!

And it’s growing a butt crack. As evidenced by the red arrow pointing at it.

Lookit the pretty Shamrock flower.

And my pretty New Wonder. This one is doing fabulously.

I part with you on this fine day and leave a friendly little caterpillar (or if you say it like me- callipilar). Have a great Fourth of July, everyone.

Polish Review: Kawaii Nail Lacquer’s Stars and Dots

Another polish perfect for the Fourth. I’ve worn this pretty twice since I bought it (which is pretty much unheard of with me LOL I usually wear once and call it good lol) Jamie over at Kawaii Nail Lacquer doesn’t fail to tickle our patriotic fancy with this little gem.

She lists this beauty as a white crème jelly base with tiny red, white and blue hexes, small red and blue stars, and medium red, blue and holo circles. She sells this limited edition polish in her shop on Etsy for a whopping $9.00, which is more than fair for the craftsmanship and customer service that you receive.

What she doesn’t say is how awesome this polish is and how beautifully it translates onto the nail. For being a “crelly” it glides on effortlessly smooth and most of the glitters lay completely flat, except for a stray holo circle that I always have problems with sitting flat on my curved nails.

This is two coats over a naked nail, with a coat of Gelous and a topper of Out the Door. You can see on the pointer fingernail I have a bit of an issue with one of the circles. But that’s my nail’s fault, and my fault for not placing them better.

Here’s a menagerie of stars, circles and stars. And this was just two coats. Perfection! Please excuse the dryness.

A closer shot of the offending circle, which it wasn’t really “raised” as much as it was an optical illusion of sorts.

Here it is the second time I wore it, one thin coat over Zoya Purity. Purity isn’t one of my favorite whites, but it was the easiest to find on short notice. And I got a little over-zealous with my cleanup on a couple nails. Oh, and the poppers that I showed here? They’ll be featured in my next blogpost. They’re freaking awesome.

And the last one with my son’s party popper spoils.

All in all, this polish is fantastic. It’s bright, colorful and full of patriotism. I strongly urge you to get this beauty while you still can! Go stop by Jamie’s Etsy and buy this, and other LE Fourth of July polishes!