Got Nails?

Ever since Junior High, I have had an obsession with hands. I remember discovering this one day when somehow I realized that I could picture the hands of every single person that I knew. I had a friend test the theory by calling out name by name, and sure enough, I was able to picture in my mind's eye exactly what the person's hands looked like. Not the eyes, not the hair, but the fingers, all the way down to the fingernails and cuticles. Weird, I know, but I sort of hopped right on that obsession and began buying nail files, and then clippers, and then polish, and then buffers, and then ridge filler, and then ridge smoother, and then cuticle nippers and cuticle dissolvers and on and on. It fit right into my habit of snatching up gadgets, any item marked "new" on the shelf and whatever could be remotely attached to a commerical.

Over time, I didn't think much about my growing collection until I would pull out my "toolbox" complete with the Craftsman logo and unload the metal implements, sandpaper files and the plethora of base coats, polish colors and top coats and my friends' jaws would drop. Apparently I'm the only person that I know who can outfit an entire spa party with the implements and polish choices that I have on hand. I have actually done that twice, at overnight girl's weekends, and everybody left with a newfound respect for what a little filing, cuticle nipping and smoothing can do for the soul. My routine grew do include a Saturday night ritual of taking off polish, doing the whole sanding, smoothing, polishing routine and having fresh nails for Sunday morning church and it didn't cost $12 and chip by the next morning. For the record, the Craftsman toolbox was a lot bigger and a lot cheaper than the Caboodle they had over in the cosmetics section. I really needed the extra space.

As I've grown older, I've realized my obsession comes from wanting really girly-type hands, and I just don't. No matter how much nipping, smoothing, filing or painting goes on, my lifestyle is just too rough, what with a family, 4 pets and kickboxing. I'm thinking it could also have to do with the fact that I've taken to watching suspenseful shows while I am trying to nip my cuticles, and mishaps result from startling at what you are watching at the same time as using sharp implements on tender skin. Blood never complements polish, no matter which color you've chosen for that week.

The polishes above are not from my own collection. I purchased them today in my "bargain-finder mode" at CVS for .75 cents each. We are going to do a spa day at the MOMS group I attend, so everyone will have their own little bottle of "pamper" to take home themselves!