Mommy Manicure Day

It's so rare that I find time to take a shower anymore.  Any when I do, I usually have to hurry. On the scarce occasion that I don't have chores or projects to work on while Little J naps, I relish the opportunity to pamper myself a little bit.

I realize this may be misleading... when I say "pamper" what I mean is: taking a shower and actually shaving my armpits.  Or putting lotion on my stretchmarks.  I've never been one to spend a long time on the beautification process (and yes, I have a tendency to jealously judge other girls who do...) so when I take the time to paint my nails, it's a big deal!

Today was my first day alone with all the babies.  Jared has the luxury of working from home whenever he finds the need, so I haven't yet had a day without him here to assist with the puppy wrangling.  Luckily (for now) Leia has been napping at the same time of day as the human baby, so I have a true "break" from momtown.  Once everyone fell asleep, I did a mental calculation to try and figure out when my last shower was... The general rule I follow is "if you can't remember your last shower, it's probably time for another one!" So today I pampered myself :)

Here's my (novice) manicure/pedicure routine:  I always start right after a shower, so my skin is nice and clean.  I moisturize with my favorite lotion - then let it really soak in while I do my hair or let the dog out for a potty break in my bathrobe.  Then I take care of my cuticles with these lovely products:

notice my freebie manicure kit? yeah, i'm cheap.

 Once my cuticles are nice and tidy and moisturized, I do a quick once-over with acetone (so the nail bed doesn't have residual lotion or dirty stuff on it) before I polish with 2-3 coats.  I don't like spending a lot of money on nail polish, which I always regret.  Expensive nail polish is indisputably worth the cost in my book.  I avoid anything that says "quick dry" as well, because I end up with over-confidence about the dryness of my nails and smudge them immediately. 

bathroom floor is the best place for a pedicure

imagine these feet tromping up to Mordor...

 I feel extremely self-conscious posting pictures of my feet for the public to see... but a good pedicure post would just not be complete without one!  So please ignore the Hobbit-ness of my toes and appreciate the paint job. 

I will not be posting a picture of my fingernails... because they smudged.  I ignored my own advice and brushed on some yellow "insta-dry" polish before playing with the puppy.  Big mistake. 

Here's what everyone else was doing in the meantime:

nice and... comfortable?

zzzzz....

imagine her paws twitching during puppy dreams.