Cutting my nails was a big event

To prepare, I needed to first wash my hands and feet, then sit by the glass doors where there's lots of sun, and spread out a paper towel. When things were just right, I would sit like a little ball and clip and file away, oblivious to the world.

I always started by clipping the left hand first, because I'm a righty and I like warming up with my good hand. On the hand being clipped, palms were face down with fingers spread. Eventhough this was "what girls do" I didn't care. It's easier to squeeze the clippers in this position. The first cut on each nail is in the middle, so the curve of the nail matches the finger tip. Then the two ends are snipped off. It goes: index, middle, ring, pinky, and finally the thumb, which needs the big clipper 'cuz the curve on the regular clipper is too small for the big honkin' thumb nail.

After the fingernails were clipped, then it's time for filing. Left hand first, same order of fingers. Filing is what took the longest. First I would file the sides until they were round. Otherwise you'll get holes in your sweaters and socks. Then the uneven spots where the cuts overlapped would be shaved down. After that, the whole nail needed to be shaped so that it was a perfect curve. I liked my nails really round. The final step in filing is smoothing down the thin nail edge so that it doesn't hurt when you scratch an itch. But sometimes, the nail isn't perfectly smooth and beautifully round, so I would have to start over and clip it again. Usually on a do-over, I would have to cut a little bit into the pink part and it would sting or even bleed. But that's the price of perfection.

After the hands were done, then it's the feet's turn and it's pretty much the same thing. Well, except for the cheesey stuff that needed to be scraped out from under the big toe nails. Why does it smell like parmesan cheese? Yuck! Filing the big toe was kinda fun 'cuz it was like sculpting. The nail is so big that you can chip and sand for a long time.

When everything was nice and round and smooth, then the paper towel full of goodies would go in the trash. Then it was washing time. I would hop up on the counter and sit with my feet and hands in the bathroom sink, and soap up everything real good, especially under the nails. After drying off, I sometimes smelled my feet to make sure they were squeaky clean. When it was all done, usually two hours later, I would look at all my brand new shiny nails, and feel proud.