GOT- valentines

I'm still here, honest! Apologies for absence and all that. Not having the best week and have no energy (for no reason lol). Besides I'm house sitting so not got all my stuff here. Only at the other end of the village to home lol but it means I have to plan manis in advance and I fail at that totally (have I said this before?).
That aside, I struggled with this one simply because valentines doesn't really interest me. I don't find it particularly upsetting to be reminded I'm alone or have other people's love rubbed in my face it whatever.... I'm just not interested. Lol. Sorry. So inspiration was lacking.
In the end it was Tara of tarastalons who gave me a hint.... In that she included little tubes of love hearts with the prototype talons packages. So yes, love hearts nails. Plus two random glitter nails cos I'm feeling lazy :p.

Polishes. Opi my boyfriend scales walls. Old but not unused (you may have noticed I use this a lot lol). Barielle sailors delight. This is old and from a set and I may have used it once but that's about it. Maybelline surreal. About the second polish I ever bought. Pretty much not worn it since. Sinful colors unicorn (why is this called unicorn? Are unicorns yellow?). This is only couple months old tbh but one of very few unused polishes I have, usually they get used at least once unless they're sets and I get distracted lol. The red is a color club with no name on the bottle.
The glitter is a total and utter cheat because it only arrived yesterday....I just couldn't resist using it lol. I'll post about this and it's friends soon. Mattified with Essie matte about you. Which I bought soon after surreal. X

An InLinkz Link-up

Time to talk day (was last week)

Haha yea im a little late. Though it's kinda good in a way. I think time to talk day is a great awareness raising idea.... But it's also something that needs to be continued day in day out. So this is me continuing it. In a garbled way cos I'm a little brain dead today lol.
I don't think the fact I have mental health issues (whatever they're being labelled as at any given time) so I won't ramble on about that. I'm lucky that the people in close to have been very accepting. Obviously some of the things I do hurt them, and I'm sorry for that, but they're always there. And I'm not treated any differently just cos I'm 'crazy' (sorry I will eternally be politically incorrect in my language cos humour is what I do).
That is the point that I think is really majorly important. And I've said it here before I know. It's not about being able to fix things. It's not even about having deep and meaningful conversations about illness constantly. It's about being a friend in exactly the same way you'd be to anyone. It's about sticking around when really it would be easier not to. It's about tea and biscuits and friendly gossip :p.
Like I say, obviously I talk about this stuff all the time. So I figured I'd just add a few of the pics I shared on Fb last Thursday. You can also visit the time to change website.

Tinnitus?

Random lol.
It's tinnitus awareness week (I like awareness weeks and days you may have noticed :p). So I figured I'd paint my nails. Any excuse.
Tinnitus basically is the experience of heating a sound that has no external cause (though not to be confused with auditory hallucinations). It happens when the brain misinterprets, or doesn't properly filter out, meaningless background signals.
The word tinnitus derives from the Latin for 'ringing', but the exact sound heard varies in type, pitch and volume between people. Some people experience only intermittent tinnitus whilst for others it's constant. The sound is generally more noticeably in quieter settings.
Tinnitus can be a sign of an underlying problem but more often than not has no cause (though you should of course talk to your Dr if you're at all concerned or have other symptoms). It's common with an estimated 1 in 10 people experiencing mild tinnitus and 1 in 100 experiencing a level which affects their day to day life. Mild tinnitus generally doesn't affect daily life, though it can have an effect on concentration and sleep.
There is no actual cure but in cases it eventually goes away on its own.
Common causes include exposure to loud noise, inner ear blockages and some medications. It can also be exacerbated by stress or anxiety.

I rarely get tinnitus anymore, only really when I'm very anxious. I had it pretty constantly for a long time a few years ago though (an unexpected side effect of taking too much of a particular drug).
Anyway. If you're interested, or worried or want help with tinnitus related anything there's a tinnitus association.
The mani is supposed to be 'static'  representing 'white noise' which is what I used to hear. Polishes are opi my boyfriend scales walls and L'Oréal something or other Black and White glitter. X

A trio of tarastalons

Phew. Normal services will now resume. Whatever normal is round here :p.
A quick post tonight as I'm, quite unreasonably it has to be said, shattered. I will at some point do a belated post about time to talk day which was on Thursday but polish pictures are easier for now!
Anyway yesterday I eagerly tore into a package from tarastalons. If you haven't checked out all the new subscription options you can find them here. Note that this is a different Web address to the usual as Tara has now expanded to create 'the tara emporium' incorporating the tarastalons polish brand but also much, much more.
Sorry, ramble. When the new subscriptions were introduced I decided to have a change and switched from polish club to 'prototype talons'. Below are three of the four polishes I received. First is glitterous (middle, ring and thumb) over a polish labelled simply <3. As always I misjudged the opacity so this is four coats of <3. I'll use undies in future because I love this and I've already used a significant amount of the 5ml bottle now lol. As for the glitter, well it's purple so obviously I love it. It's also overflowing with variety and super fun. That's what I love about tarastalons glitters, each polish has such an eclectic mix of shapes, sizes and colours and yet they always gel as a whole. I particularly like the random hints of gold which liven it up. Plus you can't go wrong with holo bits. I layered over the light colour to illustrate it better but I'd quite like to try it to brighten up/add depth to a dark purple or similar.
The other is also called glitterous, and is really not my kind of colour at all. But I really kind of like it. It's Brown/bronze but leans strongly towards gold. Plus it's also holo. And it has random little flecks of different colour glitters, Green and blue which sound wrong but look right. It sounds like it should be an autumn colour. But it doesn't feel like one. It's more bronzed skin than bronzed foliage. Or, if we wish to stick with arboreal imagery, a sun dappled wood awakening in spring rather than preparing for sleep in autumn.

Sorry I'm tired. And I always get crazy over excited about this brand. I just love it. And I get the feeling Tara loves it. And I love that.
Shut up and sleep Katie. X

GOT- Green

Haha this is a slightly pathetic effort. Largely because I did it in a rush before going away. But also partly because I don't have many old greens. When I organised my polishes I was surprised how many greens I did have.... But several of them were from Christmas so not recent. Most of the others were from grab bag/mystery bag type things.
One of those was part of my very first taras talons order. Another was from my first nail lacquer UK order. Yea I love mystery polishes lol. The Tara is the dark green and called eat your greens, I like it but wouldn't wear it alone just cos.... Well cos it's Green lol. The nail lacquer uk is Green budgie and is one I actually like but never remember to wear. x

Nail art weekly project 2- tv/film

Ah I said last week that I wasn't exactly a fashionista.... I'm even less a film buff! I'm the person who everyone stares at in shock because I've just confessed to not having seen something huge like titanic or starwars.
So tv it is. Though a lot of the shows I like are not within my nail art capabilities... casualty for example?! Guilty pleasure :p.
Anyway....a quick scan of my iplayer favourites and I came up with QI. I dunno why I didn't think of that in the first place it's one of my favourites.
I'm pretty sure the base is nails Inc the mall. The silver is a models own nail art pen. And I think that's it? Oh the ring finger is stamped. This is to reflect the title sequence and the backdrop behind Stephen Fry. The words, however, have no relevance was just the only writing stamping plate I have lol. X

Super simple Chinese New year nails

My brother is a chef down the local pub, so we try to support their events. That and he colds really good food. Anyway, this IS relevant because tonight they had a chinese themed set menu for Chinese New year.
I've been ringing all afternoon (and was working this morning) so I confess this is a somewhat hasty effort but still, I like an excuse to play. Nails Inc again, the boltons (metallic red) and chelsea embankment (gold full coverage glitter). Also models own gold nail art pen and unicorn embellishments from she sells seashells. If you're wondering, these were the closest thing I could get to symbolise the year of the horse :p lol.
Not the slickest mani ever by a long shot but red and gold is always nice so hey.
Also, why are my hands such a mess atm? I moisturise like mad, hand cream, cuticle cream, cuticle oil, whatever. Still they're du and my cuticles are rough. On the plus side I'm kinda starting to get used to the dreaded straight tips Haha. X

Ps. Yea in played it kinda fast and loose with the whole Chinese symbol thing lol. X

Dignity action day

A day greated by the dignity in care council, to promote....well, dignity in care.
You wouldn't really think it'd need promoting woukd you? I mean, most of us will grow old some day and, when that time comes, many of us will need care. Of course there are many other people who need care and support, those with physical, mental, learning disabilities etc. It's just that care for the elderly is what I know.
But anyway, to regain tge tgread of what I was saying, tge idea of dignity in care seems so obvious. And yet so often, for so many reasons it gets horribky lost amidst other things. There are the obvious cases, horrendous abuse at the hands of carers be that theft, physical harm, plain neglect or any of the other hideous things humans can do to each other. You may have seen the stories about abuse in care homes in the news recently.
In a way though that's almost not the point. There will always be people who abuse their power over vulnerable induviduals and willing behave in horrible ways.
There will also be people who behave in horrible ways UNwillingly. People who are just trying to do their job but, for whatever reason, skip the dignity bit. Lack of time is often a major culprit. Simple things like allowing a service user to retain independence by buttoning their own shirt, get lost in 'I'm in a rush it's quicker if I do it'. It saves time to just grab some matching clothes rather than ask an individual to pick an outfit. Over worked you forget how someine likes their tea, their porridge, which way they like their sandwiches cut. Service users merge into one and daily routines become autonomous and standardised, with less thought for what is easiest for any specific person. Frustration at yet more rota changes, rule changes, communication errors means the service user ends up listening to your complaints, shouldering your problems, their own emotional needs get edged out.
In short, the individual gets lost amongst the bullshit.
Not bad carers, not bad people. Just good people with bad habits.

I'm not, of course, saying all carers behave in all these way all the time. But it happens. It can creep in. And inadvertently vulnerable people suffer. I'm lucky, I have an easy time. My mental health issues mean I have a light workload, and a supportive family mean I can maintain that. But there was a time where I was working 60 plus hours a week, often not taking days off and generally just being an idiot. And I didn't always behave in a way that was best for each individual. I ended up compromising between the absolute best for one person and doing the best I could for as many people as I could. And it sucked.
I love that now I get to take my time,  and not always be panicking about keeping up with a crammed schedule in order to make sure I'm not getting people up at midday.
God knows I'm not a perfect carer, there are times I feel like a useless carer (but there are also times I feel like a useless human being so who knows). I do care, and I do try to do whats best for 'my ladies'. But it's always worth stepping back and examining your motivations, asking youself am I treating this service user as a person or as a job?
It's important. It makes a difference. And one day that will become abundantly clear. The system is mainly rubbish and in need of change. The carers are mainly not rubbish, and in need of help. But we can all do little things.

I feel like im preaching. The colours of this mani are from my uniform. But I'm not meant to post about the company online :p. And DAD is for Dignity Action Day, of course, rather than father lol. X