Evidence of a problem

I think I have a problem. Okay, I have LOTS of problems, but this post is specifically about my neurosis involving having things JUST RIGHT and the way I want them. Some might call this  obsessive compulsive disorder, but I am able to function semi-normally under most circumstances, so I don't think this really qualifies as OCD.

When I was a kid, I would count everything. The worst was steps. I would count my steps as I walked to and from school. Even if I was thinking about something else, my subconscious mind would be counting. I learned to kind of ignore the counting or distract myself by reading a book, but to this day I still find myself counting steps. And stairs ... I can tell you that there are 89 stairs leading down to the beach we like to go to from the highway where we usually park. I can tell you that there are 36 stairs from the first floor to the third floor of my doctor's office. If I were ever to be suddenly struck blind, I could probably get around pretty well just by counting steps.

When we got married, we registered for Fiestaware dishes. We got four sets of blue and four sets of white. I stack my dishes in the cabinet blue, white, blue, white. Apparently this is strange to my husband and my mother-in-law, because when they put the dishes away, they refuse to stack them blue, white, blue, white. I can't tell you how difficult it is for me to resist fixing them when I see they're stacked out of order. In fact, I have yet to resist fixing them, even if my mother-in-law is standing right there. Ugh, why am I so ungrateful?  When she first moved in with us, it drove me bananas and I would get physically angry with them for not getting it. I realize now that this is MY problem, not theirs, so I need to just get over myself. However, I still can't resist fixing the dishes when I see two whites next to each other ... *shudder*

I cook a lot. I have three cookbooks from which I get the majority of my recipes. I have a couple of others, but they are in Spanish, and a bit hard to follow, so I generally avoid those unless my husband asks for something specifically. My main beef with these recipes is their lack of any kind of organization. I can't stand it when the ingredients list is in random order. One cookbook I have doesn't even mention all the ingredients in the instructions. I mean, seriously, why don't we put crushed glass in this soup recipe to see if they're really paying attention? ...  I also get upset when, in a recipe that's just "throw everything in the pot and boil for 20 minutes" or "blend all ingredients until smooth," the wet ingredients are listed before the dry ingredients. I hate having to wash and dry my measuring cups and spoons just so I can get a teaspoon of onion powder and have to wash them again. It's so much simpler to measure the onion powder first, then pour the wet ingredients into the spoon. No washing or drying necessary!

My pots and pans are special to me. Especially dear is my griddle. It's non-stick, so it requires extra love and attention not to scratch it and ruin it. My griddle has its own drawer in the hallway cabinet, where it sits perfectly content in its original packaging while the cockroaches fan it and feed it grapes. (Kidding! Our cockroaches don't fan or feed, they just sing La Cucaracha while dancing across the countertops.) (Never mind, that was funnier in my head where it belongs ...) Anyway, no one is allowed to wash it because I don't want them to scratch it, and no one is allowed to put it away because the molded Styrofoam won't fit in the box if you don't put the pieces together just right. It's like a giant foam jigsaw puzzle. When it's right, it just slides in. When it's wrong, the box bulges and it tears at the corners, and it doesn't fit in the drawer. I could just store it without the box, but then it wouldn't stay as clean. I actually had three arguments with different people who insisted that it just didn't fit the same way.

And then, there's the clothes. I love folding clothes. If I were asked to choose my favorite chore, folding clothes would be it. I love seeing that stack of uniformly folded shirts. I love meticulously folding sweaters so that they sit just right on the shelf and wear wrinkle-free. I love (or used to love since I no longer work) hanging my work clothes according to function and color. I still have my work clothes organized just so in my closet even though I haven't touched most of them in almost a year.

I'm sure this obsession is just some immature response to remind everyone that I am responsible enough to run my own house. However, it makes everyone else crazy, and it ultimately makes more work for me. But I really just love having a place for everything and everything in its place.

Hey, at least I don't vacuum my vacuum ... very often ...

The Daily Blitz

After we had been married a while (read: 3 years ... I'm a little slow, don't hate me), I got tired of the house being clean and presentable only two or three days a week. I would clean the whole house on Thursday, and the clean would last until about Sunday. If someone wanted to come over on Tuesday, I had to a) scramble to sweep, mop, vacuum, and pick up dog toys, or b) tell them not to come until Friday. In the first three years, this was not a big issue since I had no friends. But when my neighbor Melissa moved in down the street, she would drop in from time to time to chat, and I started worrying about the condition of my house on a daily basis. Thus, the genesis of the Daily Blitz clean. I don't always get everything on this list done, but it's a jumping-off point.

Daily Blitz

Bathroom:
Shake rugs
Spray shower
Clear and wipe down counter
Wipe down soap dispenser

Bedrooms:
Make beds
Pick up shoes
Put away clothes
Pick up toys (dog and baby)

Kitchen:
Wash dishes
Clean dish drainer
Wipe down stove
Wipe down countertops
Wipe down and store small appliances
Wipe down and clear table
Sweep floor

Living Room:
Pick up toys
Clear clutter
Sort mail and file or recycle

And that's it! It seems like a long list but it only takes me about half an hour if I don't get distracted by my kiddo.

Week one sum-up

Well, it's Friday, and in our house, the weekend starts Thursday night. We are blessed to have a 3-day weekend every week. So today I am planning a lovely trip to the mall while Robert watches baby K during her nap time. I need a few things for myself, and I have a gift card to spend, and then I'll be hitting the storage aisles at Target. (Oh, how I've missed you, my love! If I could hug a store ...) Also, since K is rapidly outgrowing her clothes, and the extent of her 9-12 month wardrobe is five plain white onesies, three dresses, and two sleepers, I probably will wander in to Baby Gap or Gymboree to scour the sales.

So Spring Cleaning week 1 was a success! I gave myself two weeks to finish the living room, and I finished in one! The walls, floors, and sofas are vacuumed and scrubbed; windows, baseboards and front door are shining; and the furniture is dust-free, even the tables with their pain in the patookis fancy-pants carvings. I swear, these tables are the stuck-up, high-maintenance Paris Hiltons of tables. I took a picture of a small section of this pretentious mess, but I haven't figured out how to integrate it into the text on my Blogger app for Android. So I guess it's at the bottom of this post ...? Anyway, there are four of these stinking tables. That was a whole day right there. I have three more items on my to-do list for today: wash pillow covers (though Robert suggested buying new ones! Yay!), make a Goodwill pile, and pack up all the Christmas stuff. So since I finished the living room so fast (I have never been so ready for a Sabbath nap! I am exhausted!) that gives me four weeks for the kitchen!

I read my Bible faithfully this week. I'm reading a new-to-me version, The Message, and I'm reading it in chronological order. The Message is definitely different. I really like how the verse numbers are not integrated in to the text, but rather show up only at the beginning of paragraphs. I can imagine if you were to conduct a Bible Study, that would make things difficult, but if you're just reading for the sake of reading, it's nice not to be distracted by the numbers. I have my issues with it, though. First, it's not very well-written. It's full of clichés, sentence fragments, and strange wording. It's like the author was trying to make it so different from the King James that he didn't want to use ANY WORDS that ol' King James used. Second, I'm no biblical scholar, but I have my doubts about the accuracy of interpretation. I definitely would not recommend it to a brand new Christian, but for reading for pleasure, it's fine.

I haven't lost my head once this week, mostly because K had a fantastic week of sleep. She is really such a good baby. More on her next week, though. I'm preparing a special 9 months old post for Wednesday.

Cooking ... Well, I did not cook every day this week. We had lots of leftovers from New Year's Day, and Robert didn't come home for lunch, so I didn't really need to cook. I should have made something for Sabbath, but I'll have to do that this afternoon. Or maybe I should get off my butt and do it now while everyone is still sleeping.

Before and after photos for the living room? Are not interesting, really. I didn't rearrange anything or re-organize anything, so you'll just have to be satisfied that eveything is clean. Sorry. Kitchen should be more fun. Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend!