Saturday, September 18, 2010

When You're Strange...

My daughter Em confesses that she cannot leave the house in the morning with the bed unmade. No matter what other distractions are going on in her life, she can claim “inner peace” if she knows her bed covers are neatly arranged. 

I have the same idiosyncrasy. A made bed is a place of instant refuge where I can fold clothes, spread out homework, or talk to a son. An unmade bed leaves me feeling that not only is my bed out of order, but my entire house.

Her confession got me thinking about the odd little things that make us unique--those things that mark us as individuals. For example, Gnome can mess up a cliché better than anyone I know.

Gnome: What’s it called when something is like a conglomeration for a tragedy?
Neo: You mean a recipe for disaster?

Son Weston also has his own little oddities.

1.    He refuses to eat from silverware. Only plastic will do. He doesn’t like metal in his mouth.

2.    He won’t wear work gloves if someone else wore them first because he doesn’t want to touch someone else’s sweat.

3.    At night, after I sit with him for a few minutes in his room, he must yell one more “I love you,” after I close his door. If he thinks I haven’t heard him, he will keep yelling it until he hears me yell it in return.

4.    He won’t let me dish up his food until he has inspected his plate and cup to make sure there are no residual food pieces that the dishwasher didn’t catch.  My word isn’t enough.


Computer Geek has a few little strange habits of his own.

1.    He is very mild tempered. He only yells when the TV is on and a politician is spouting some intentional disinformation. “Which is pretty much any time they talk,” he says. If the news is on, you can pretty much expect the obscenities to be rolling at our house. Loudly.

2.    When he drives, he gravitates toward oncoming traffic. It’s scawy.

3.    The eggs in the carton must always be symmetrical.  This is what I saw when I opened the carton the other day:




You didn’t think I would expose the bizarre habits of others without throwing in a few of my own, did you?

1.    I can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. I have been known to sit down at my computer after school and wake up an hour later. Today I sat on the couch and woke up three hours later. If CG and I are driving somewhere and it takes ten minutes, I can tell him “Wake me up when we get there,” and have a good nap. But, when it’s night, and it’s actually time to sleep in my bed I can’t go to sleep unless a fan is blowing.

2.    Onions are anathema to me. I look for them in the ingredients of any entrée. At restaurants, I always have to ask if the item is made with onions. I have discovered a truth—people who don’t hate onions lie. They tell me there are no onions when really there are. Mom.

3.    I could eat a whole carton of ice cream by myself. I’ve never done it, because I don’t want to have to admit to the rest of the family that I ate all the ice cream, but I know I could if I had to.

Well, it’s off to bed for me. With my fan. But before I go I want to know-- What are some of your little idiosyncrasies?

17 comments:

  1. What size carton of ice cream? They come in different sizes.

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  2. I always lick my lips when I wring a wet cloth out.
    Like your daughter, I too always make the bed...especially if I think someone might visit. An unmade bed is just too personal I've concluded.

    Apart from these, and the list Bev has for me, I'm reasonably normal (I think).

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  3. I'm with Ken; I don't think I have any idio....whatever you call 'em.
    There are things I like a certain way, but that's a preference, not something about which I come undone if it's not just so. Now, if you asked my husband, he'd probably make a list, and I could make one for him, too.

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  4. Randi -

    I can't eat ice cream or milk, slight lactose intolerance. Tim's car might need an alignment.

    Ok here's a couple of my weirdo things:
    (1) I put on deoderant BEFORE going to bed every night (Mitchum).
    (2) I drink one Mexican coke every Sabbath
    (3) I have two pictures of Smokey by my bed, two downstairs (not excluding her mega pastel portrait - I didn't draw it), her pawprint in the hallway, scrap of fur.
    (4) I pray about what socks I should put on in the morning.
    (5) I am hypoglycemic & I hate breakfast (which for me is usually the first sugar filled thing I can find)

    I can out weird anybody :)

    God Bless,
    Adam

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  5. Randi my dear, I will gladly share my weirdness with you.
    1. If it comes in a set I cannot buy it unless I have the whole set, especially books and movies.
    2. I HATE SPOTS ON MIRRORS! Any mirror. I have even found myself cleaning mirrors in public bathrooms...heh heh
    3. I don't like anything under my fingernails or anything sticky between my fingers. That would be a form of torture for me. Actually I just hate dirty hand.
    4. I have an unnatural obsession with jelly beans. Anything that comes in so many delightful colors that I can eat scores big with me.
    um...I think that is enough..LOL

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  6. Ok, ok, here it is.
    1. I am OCD, not as bad as in the movie As Good As It Gets, but in the I can't walk past the curtains without making sure all of the creases are perfectly even kind of way. I also cannot walk pass the couch without arranging the pillows and cushions.
    2. I have an uncontrollable need to talk. Sometimes it comes in handy and other times....not so much.
    3. My closet is color coordinated. All of my pink shirts are together, all of the blue, etc. etc.
    4. I have to be perfectly comfortable before I can fall asleep. My pillows and blankets have to be just right. This annoys my husband greatly.
    5. I am addicted to 19 Kids and Counting.

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  7. Honestly its hard to think of things I personally do because to me its normal. I loved reading about you guys though. Yelling I love you is just sweet and the eggs made me laugh. Oh! I just thought of something- I HAVE to punctuate my texts! Just because you're texting doesn't mean you get to ignor the English language rules!

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  8. Auntie M: I have to admit that my imagination has not yet tackled the one gallon plastic tub. So far I have been content with my imaginary consumption of the lesser cardboard one,whatever size that is.

    It was way easier for me to make my husband's list than my own. :)

    Ken: I laughed at the image in my mind of you sticking your tongue out when wringing a washcloth! I think I'd love to see Bev's list! :)

    Adam: (1) I think you SHOULD put deodorant on before bed because what if there's a fire or something in the middle of the night? You want to make sure you're covered. (2) Someday I will have to try the Mexican Coke. Coke always tastes too sweet to me though...(4) I think if you would make it a habit to only put on your own socks, then you could skip the praying about socks step.

    Queen Lizzy--welcome to Foreign Quang, Good Queen Bess!
    What happens if you buy a book, then later discover that the author is planning sequels? Sell the individuals, then re-buy as a set? I'm totally with you on the sticky dirty hands thing. When eating finger foods, I can easily use 10-12 paper napkins.
    Jelly beans really are pretty--taste the rainbow!

    Levizmom- (2)I can only laugh. (3) Before I had kids, I had my clothes in my closet hung in order of the spectrum. (5) I love that show! The Duggars rock!

    Taleah-I am so there! I always punctuate my text messages. Sometimes, when texting, I will give myself permission to not capitalize "I" or will abbreviate TTYL. Before I actually hit "send" I will go back and type it correctly.

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  9. Well, I know there are many more, but one that really drives me crazy...and we have these ALL OVER my house...are light switches. Not the regular ones, but the ones where you have two switches on opposite sides of the room (or staircase) that control one light.
    I can't stand it if they're off kilter. We have no less than 5 sets of these in our house and one set is controlled by THREE switches...oh, when that one gets off kilter there's a lot of flipping and running up and down stairs!

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  10. We actually have 6 sets of these....and it really bothers me that I can't go back and edit so my original post is correct. Like you all care. But I KNOW. And it will haunt me....
    =)

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  11. I love to straighten up before I go out. I'm one of those always on the move straightening gals. I have to make sure everyone has breakfast before me. So even if someone is sleeping in a little late, I tend to wait before I eat. Nutty, I know :)

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  12. Not sure i have any idiosyncrasies. I shall ask my kids from whom it would be inherited.

    My eldest daughter is the weird one.
    She has several, but the one I notice the most is the radio in the car which must be on an even number.
    Oh and she reheats her food no matter its already hot..

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  13. Nah, it isn't the alignment, it's the subconscious fear of deer jumping out at me from the right side of the road.

    I still haven't hit one since moving here 13 years ago. Knock on wood...

    BTW: Obviously, 18-egg cartons work far better than 12-egg cartons.

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  14. Yeah I really can't do milk or eggs. I like almond milk, cheese or yogurt (which don't have lactase). As far as the "Coke habit", I am hypoglycemic & talk to a talking Australian shepherd... (its too long of a day when you have to explain your whereabouts to an Aussie) so leave me & my stash of Mexican coke be :)

    I do like jelly babies too, but much prefer candy corn or the green fig leaf candies (or the orange ones).

    That's right forgot about the deer & elk in the valley, course the place I am looking at is famous for its lamb traffic...

    God Bless,
    Adam

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  15. I can totally relate to Queen Bess, I am exactly the same way with books. Movies, not so much. I actually did buy Breaking Dawn, before I bought the rest of the set, and I ended up selling it so I could buy all four at once in their nice little case. And, the other day as I was walking through Borders I saw the ENTIRE BOXED SET of Hunger Games. I actually got down on my knees (prays, curses, oh sweet Benedick! j/k) and cried "WHY OH WHY?!!" because I own the whole series, but NOT in the box. I've been thinking of selling mine because they aren't in a beautiful box. :( I also will openly admit my terrible cliche defeat. It's so severe that at this point Nate is actually falling into it too. He will usually yell at me soon after when he realizes he can't remember the original cliche. "This mix and match stuff has to go!" Along with that, I can NEVER read ahead in a book, I can't even skim ahead, because it makes me feel like I'm cheating on a test. I will close my eyes if it falls open to avoid seeing something important in the next few chapters. :P I've also found I MUST put lotion (and only St. Ives face lotion) on my face after I finish scrubbing it. I will seriously wake up in the middle of the night, feel the dryness and emerge, lids half open, fumble with the top of the can and apply it, sauntering back to bed, content. =)

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  16. Hi Randi,
    This is my first time seeing your blog, I like all of your pictures.

    sincerly,
    Hannah

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  17. Why hello there, girl in an orange dress! Please come back any time! I think I will go check out your blog now!

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