Thursday, August 06, 2009

A little-known fact about me

So here it is: I seriously have obsessive compulsive tendencies. Okay not REALLY, I mean I don't think I actually have a psychological issue, but it is a common joke in our home that I am obsessive-compulsive.

I cannot go to bed at night if there are toys out. Or books that remain unorganized. Or if the kids' rooms aren't picked up. Or dishes laying around. Or a dining table that isn't cleaned, or swept under.

I'm also a procrastinator so I can allow some things to be messy or unorganized (our garage, the unfinished part of our basement, occasionally my closet), but once there's some semblance of order, I'm fanatical about maintaining it and keeping it clutter-free. I have to do certain housework stuff once per week, otherwise I feel like I can't relax or like I failed. I have to clean my fridge each time I do a big grocery shopping trip (before I put the new groceries in).

And here's the really creepy thing: I think this is somehow hereditary. My dad, for as long as I can remember, would zip around, picking things up, putting away cooking ingredients BEFORE MY MOM HAD THE CHANCE TO USE THEM, and putting your drinking glass in the dishwasher before you had the chance to get more. Whatever this trait is that I have, it comes from him. I always used to give him a bad time about it, but now I do the very.same.things.

Sometimes it's a virtue, but sometimes it's a vice. And I'm now passing it on to my own children...Anna likes to organize things, and Kevin and I joke that I'm raising my own OCD children.

So there you have it. An odd quirk about me. Do you have any quirks???

8 comments:

The Hattons... said...

We joke here too about me having OCD, but it's sometimes referred to by some family members as being a-n-a-l [hyphens don't really make it that much more polite!].

You know when you have more than one light switch for the same light? I can't handle it if a light is off but the switch is in the on position. I'll walk as far as I need to, to make them right.

I can't go to bed either if there's dishes or toys out. Things have to be put away everywhere for me to feel like I can relax and the day is done as I crawl into bed.

When my son came home from Ethiopia, we were concerned that I'd not let him be a kid, but he ended up just being as bad as me. When we'd put the toys on the floor for him to play, he'd pick them up and put them away. He'd have to eat with a cloth at hand so after each bite he'd wipe down the high chair tray, his hands and face, then take another bite. We had to teach him how to make a mess!

Joanie said...

I only wish I could get that much done!!!

My mom does that glass in dishwasher thing too. Funny!

Bekah said...

um, are you my mother in disguise? seriously, she is exactly like that. except worse. even when we were kids, i don't remember our house EVER being messy. ever. how is that possible?--i'm one of three kids--how did she manage to never have a messy or dirty house.

i didn't manage to inherit it though. unfortunately. i could use a little more cleanliness around here.

the funny thing about your dad cleaning up your mom's ingredients--sometimes i do that to myself. when i'm cooking i hate having a bunch of ingredients on the counter so i put them away as i go. sometimes though i realize that i got out and put away some ingredient before i've even used it. yikes.

hope you guys are doing well. it's been awhile. hopefully we'll see you on sunday. and/or maybe we could get together sometime next week.

Rachel said...

I wish I was like that. I shut down when I am overwhelmed or stressed and cannot function. You may actually see my house messy tomorrow. Potty training is hard!

Shonni said...

Well, with 10 children, many of my "organizational tendencies" have been replaced with just keeping order...however...
I cannot live if my kitchen is not CLEAN;
and I cannot breath if my windows are dirty....they just make the whole house feel dirty;
and I REALLY NEED everything to be in its place...not clutter!
OK, I feel better after this confessional...
Thank you. My windows need some cleaning tomorrow by the way!

lisa said...

i sure wish i had that tendency! i'm always trying to do better at keeping my house in order, but it's certainly not something that keeps me up at night if it's not done. good for you!

i reject order. i reject predictibility. i reject schedules and deadlines. not because i'm trying to be difficult or rebellious, but i just can't function like that.

i don't do well in utter chaos, but i'm even worse with a scheduled life. i'm trying to find a balance that results in a clean house that is 'mostly' organized at the end of the day. havent' found it yet!

Coalescence said...

I'm the same way, except for when it comes to dishes. I hate doing the dishes, so that's my husband's job. Unfortunately he only does them once a week. So I spend all week trying to reuse dishes so they don't pile up. I call it the "wash as i go" method. lol. The rest of the house falls under my OCD domain. You should see me with the bathroom. It has to be spotless.

From Diapers To Dorms said...

I totally hear you Brianna! I am the same way with much of that. My brother used to call me one of two names- Niles or Frasier because of those characters' love for order and neatness (as well as their vocabulary he said). (-: Oh well. There are worse things, right?

I wanted to mention that we are now active blog-o-sphere members. We just started a new blog to chronicle our adoption journey and would love to have you and your readers stop by if you are interested. You can stop by any time. We are at http://dreaming-little-dreams.blogspot.com/. We hope to see you there!

Angela H.
(now using our new blogger account)

 

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