Up late thinking...

As usual napping late in the day backfired. I woke up around 12 am and could not fall asleep. My mind was reviewing all the OCD and idiosyncrasies I proudly possess. There are a lot and well, I thought I would share them.

1. I hate to wear shoes around the house, but I can't stand to feel dirt on my feet. So I have to constantly sweep the floors and remind my family to take off their shoes at the door. I also cannot stand to wear shoes when I am driving, though I keep them on during the winter months.

2. I cannot stand sleeping at hotels. I have to buy a cheap pillow and pillowcase at Walmart beforehand to use while I am there. Then I can only use the one side and I leave them there when we checkout. I also cannot go barefoot (despite the above) and freak out if I see the kids without socks as well. I also will not use any sheets when I sleep and wear long sleeve shirts and long pants to bed even if it's summer. I'm a joy to my family on vacations!

3. I do not like eating out at restaurants, even if they are so called upscale. I waitressed and saw first hand things in the kitchen that are burned into my brain. Plus I can't touch the utensils/glasses to my lips. And if it's a buffet. Forget it. Too many people breathing over the food. I also cannot touch the tables. My kids love this one. One time at a local diner, my son placed his face on the table and licked it. I couldn't eat after that. He and Paige thought it was hysterical.

4. Which leads me to my fear of people talking too close to me when I am eating. This is more a problem at work. If I am eating at my desk and customers come over I want to die if they breath near my drink or food. I've had to throw away more drinks/food over this one.

5. I also do not like any one's scent except my husband and children's. I often think about them and how they smell throughout the day. It was wonderful when I was nursing. I could let down my milk in a heartbeat! But I do not like to smell other people's scent. I often hold my breath when I hug my friends and other family members. This leads to my next weirdo problem...

6. Although I will freely pass on clothing to others, I have a hard time wearing other people's clothes and have the same problem with the kids. I accept clothes when they are offered, but rarely use them and just pass them on to charity. My daughter and her friends used to love to play dress up with her every day clothes. Yay, I had anxiety attacks all the time over that one!

7. Related to the above, I have to wash my children's sheets after sleep overs. Not that their friends are dirty or any thing, but it's the thought of their scent on my children's sheets that freaks me out.

8. Washing clothes is also an issue with me. I have a specific order that I do my laundry in. This stems from when my husband worked as a golf course superintendent and I feared the chemicals would linger in the washing machine and get on our regular clothes. Then when I had children, I couldn't wash their clothes with our clothes. Just last summer I got over that one. I can now mix my 10 and almost 8 yrs olds clothes with ours- see, you can over come some ocd quirks!!

9. I have to use a paper towel to dry my colanders. Despite all the scrubbing I do, there is always some little bit of pasta starch lingering and the thought of it getting on my dish towel disgusts me. My sister in law is all to familiar with that one as I freaked out one day when she tried to help me in the kitchen and accidentally dried the colander with the dish towel. We laugh all the time about my irrational reaction!

10. Although I could happily wear the same t-shirt and jogging pants days in a row, I have some how got my children in the habit of wearing new pajamas every night to bed regardless if they have taken their bathes. Except in my house, it's a rare night they go to bed without a bath/shower.

11. I've never gotten over that childhood thing where you think everything is alive and/or has feelings. Seriously. I have to talk myself out of it!! When I break something or have to throw things away, I catch myself feeling bad for it. I am ok if I can recycle something and I am a huge recycler and composter. Probably to get over the whole everything has feelings thing.

12. I cannot kill anything. Bugs, spiders, worms, etc. I free them all to the outdoors and when I am in the garden or edging around the house I keep praying to God to please let all the worms and bugs get out of the way. Or at least don't let me see them when I do chop them in half or kill them. If you were with me in the garden you would see me crying sometimes over this one! I also hate when I see a bug hit the windshield. Go figure!

There are just a couple- and I didn't go into my cleaning habits! Most people would have no idea about my quirks. I generally do not announce them although my kids love too! I'm guessing everyone has a few things that freak them out or will bother them.

Right?