Do you use quick dry? Do you let it dry between coats? how thick are the coats? I only ever have a problem if I cake it on too thick or use cheap polish that isn't "quick-dry". Current fave is Sally Hanson Hard as Nails or something like that. I only do my toenails, though. First coat is dry by the time I've finished it, second takes about 5 mnutes. It's pretty cheap, too.

I used to use Hanson. Should do again.

And yes, the fact that I haven't gone crazy about this in a while suggests it's the nail varnish. This one just caught my eye around lunchtime and I thought - ooh! haven't painted my fingernails in ages! So it might be a cheapo one - honestly can't remember.

I can still make an indent in it now. Ridiculous.

Best to spend a bit more (maybe buying when they're on special?). Also, if they're old the can get pretty gummy.

And yes, do nice thin coats and let them dry as much as possible between coats, but in the end, they're still going to take over an hour to be totally dry. Maybe even a bit longer.

dented and smudged as they are, they are still intact.
I might even make it to 24 hours without a chip this time!

Swings & roundabouts.

Just signed up for a 6 mile Midnight Walk with Mum. July 14th.
it's for the hospice where Nanny and Mum's friend Breda died.
£15 entry fee but that mostly covers admin/ medals/ t-shirt.
So if anyone wants to sponsor me, it's for a good cause and all money will go directly to the charity.

I'll be 40 by then, might not even make it!!

Three lucky people.
Nom nom choccy nom nom:
Some pleasure to come.

I'll sponsor ya :)

Thanks hon!
Here is the official website. http://gemstonewalk.co.uk/
I've signed up Mum and I. It might be that donations are accepted online, which would be marvellous.

Trust me, I'll be all over the board with it in the next few months :)

please can i not have to get up in 5 hours, because I really really don't want to go to bed yet......

Hush li'l darlin', it's time for you to be Cellar dreamin'. Nighty nite.

Thinking and preparing for school tomorrow and remembered something.
Nowhere else to put it. No innuendo there as I am about to write about children.

As well as my two official wards, I also work unofficially with two other boys.
Both are 5-6 and have difficulty reading and writing. One, H, I have been charged with sitting on the carpet with, to ensure his attention (something I should be doing with Tiger, but Tiger only really requires an occasional nudge, being a conformist. Ideally I sit btween the two and try to stop Tiger nuzzling my arm for comfort).

I've found with Tiger personally, and from training courses, that children on the Autism spectrum respond well to music. S is not Autistic, but may be dyslexic. And he loves singing. So with Tiger and S I often incorporate songs when we are learning, especially on the Word Wall where words are out of context. Example - Tiger spent three weeks unable to get Where and There. So I sang him A Mouse Lived in a Windmill in Old Amsterdam, including a finger dance of a little mouse with clogs on... And S had real trouble with ladder - so I kept singing him the THRASS mat song (phonics teaching tool, if you don't know it don't worry) about My Dog Spot. but changing it to his name. In the song, the dog "climbs a ladder to the top". Yes, he finally recognised ladder. In the middle of other words, on its own and in sentences. And then we got a book with ladder in (Can You Get Our Ball?) and he knew it by sight. I danced the fandango. In my head.

But H.
H!
He started a new series of books in the last week of term.
These started including more complex words, including those on the THRASS mats. It all ties in, see?
So I began singing to him, as I did the other two.
Tiger grins and joins in. S smiles and enjoys it - H recoiled in embarrassment. And giggled uneasily. As if I'd licked him or something.
I persevered, but realised he really, honestly finds it extremely intimate and embarrassing to be sung to. Just for the record [obligatory] I was singing to him, in the classroom, not sitting him on my lap or singing into his ear or anything even approaching a line that can't be crossed.

Need to find a new approach for him next week.
Might see how he reacts to the Singing Cat.
I'm not obsessed with the singing idea, but THRASS imparts a lot of spelling systems via song, and the children sing every day in Assembly, culminating in a Music Assembly once a week.

Might have to ask the amazing Mrs J (HLTA I work with) for ideas.

If you're sure it's the social/intimacy aspect, you might try puppets or toy action figures, pretending it's them singing to each other rather than you singing to him. Or he might respond better to a simple recording of you singing instead of sitting through it in person. I don't know what the Singing Cat is, but if it's a separate object that plays songs, that would serve the same effect.

But there is also the possibility that it is the actual sound of singing that bothers him, and he's just being as polite as he can about it when what he really wants to do is clamp his hands over his ears. Both of my kids absolutely couldn't stand to listen to people singing in person, although singing on TV or the radio or whatever was fine. Minifob is long past it now, and Minifobette has learned to accept her therapists and teachers singing, but anyone else even starting to hum is still going to be met with tears.

I've had a guy for two years who is doing better now, but last year he'd put his hand over his aide's mouth every time she tried to sing. He responded better if the first time he heard a song it was from staff not a recording. *shrug* Good luck!

Maybe he's just the sort of kid who thinks people who sing in public are embarrassing. Mav is a lot like that. He wouldn't respond well to it, but Max would.

I am so fed up with my stepson and how I react to him that I am contemplating moving to Tucson to live with my mother. This morning I got so mad that I threw his alarm clock against the wall and broke it. I hate myself for being this way...for getting so irrationally mad at him all the time. I suck.

What did he do? I'm thinking doesn't sound irrational to me if he was a shit.......