How to Give Yourself a Pedicure

"How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter."
Song of Solomon 7:1

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news."
Isaiah 52:7

"He {Jesus} poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

John 13:5

Warning: Do NOT try this at home if you are 33 weeks pregnant or further along.

I went on a date with Princess this past weekend, and because I really wanted a pedicure, I decided one of the things we would do together was paint nails. We went to dinner, and then we went to buy some nail polish, because we didn't really have any at home. For some reason I forgot how pregnant I was and that I could not really reach my toes and bought some supplies to give myself a pedicure. I don't really have a budget for pedicures, but I on a good year, I might get one about twice a year - at the beginning of spring and in the middle of the summer. Otherwise, the polish lasts me long enough not to worry any more about it, although a pedicure is a nice treat.

Though I'm not sure anyone will be running out to do this, if you want to give yourself a home pedicure, this is what you do:

1. First you need supplies. I bought an at home pedicure kit by Ms. Pedicure, which included nail clippers, nail brush, cuticle push, emory board, callous file and toe separators. I also bought some Sally Hansen Sugar Scrub for cleaning, softening, and aiding in removal of callouses. I also made sure I had some nail polish, and you can choose whatever brand you like - spending more or less, whatever your preference may be.
2. Once you have everything you need gathered, you need to run some warm or hot water in your bathtub, or if you have one of those little foot baths, just use that. Then place your feet in the water to soak. Make sure all of your tools are handy first.
3. Then trim your toenails.
4. Use emory board to shape nails.
5. Use sugar scrub and nail brush to wash your feet and nails.
6. Use callous file and sugar scrub to make your feet soft and smooth.
7. Then use the cuticle push to remove excess cuticles and to push them back.
8. Dry your feet.
9. Now you are ready to paint your nails. Use the toe separators. Depending on how fancy you want to be, apply a base coat, then color. Give it a second coat if needed, then apply top coat. Or if you don't want to be fancy, just apply color.
10. Now sit back, relax, and let your feet dry.
    

Every since I read Robin's post about Teal Toes for Ovarian Cancer, I wanted to paint my toes teal, so this is my finished toes, with an attempt to be teal.

So they are not perfect, but my feet felt nice and fresh afterwords, and I've never been able to paint my toes really well, so I thought it looked pretty good, but I will NOT be doing this again until after the baby comes. Now that I've done it, I would really like to be able to do it for those who might need some pampering but cannot really afford to even buy the kit. I know women's homeless shelters occasionally have pampering parties, maybe I'll help out sometime.