Girl's Got Nails

14 July 2015: After 22 days, these nails were ridiculously long!

As I blogged back on June 22nd, Sarah, Danielle, and I had a girls' afternoon out to pamper ourselves with pedicures and manicures. For myself, I'd chosen to get a set of fake nails, my first ever. Since then, being a nail-biter since childhood, I've discovered that having fingernails takes some getting used to!

I'd asked the manicurist to make the nails short, but what I ended up with was not what I'd call short. This posed a problem because, of course, as my own nails grew out, so did the fake nails. Everything I was used to doing with my fingertips now, suddenly, became a challenge. 

As the next three weeks stretched on, it became difficult and then nearly impossible to type or text (usually hitting two letters at a time); to give my scalp an invigorating fingertip massage in the shower without slicing and dicing; to pick up coins or other small objects (I had naively thought that would become easier); or to put on makeup without leaving scratches. One night in bed, a hair blew across my forehead, and when I reached up to move it, I gouged my eyebrow. Even flossing my teeth became a prickly nightmare!

The manicurist told me to come back in 2-3 weeks for a "refill." Ordinarily, I would have simply taken the fake nails off when they began to lift at the corners, figuring it was fun for awhile but now it's time to get back to reality. However, I decided that this time it would be fun to start the school year with fingernails. So I put up with the inconvenience for three weeks and a day before returning to the nail salon on Tuesday (after lunch with my pal Debbie).

Still not short enough, but better.

I had a different manicurist this time. I told her right away that I wanted the nails as short as possible. She shaved them down quite a bit, but then I asked, "Can we make them a little shorter?" She said she would do that when she filed them. I asked twice more that she make them as short as possible, but she finally insisted she couldn't go shorter than this.

I actually think the nails are the perfect length--at this moment. I can use my fingertips again (blissful sigh). I can't help but wonder how long they'll be when I return to work in 11 days, or when school starts two days after that.

I'd really hate to go all Edward Scissorhands when I get crazy grading those study guides and essays again!