The First Step Is Admiting

Disclaimer: Please know that this post is meant to be humorous and an outlet to make fun of myself (and others who want to join me). I understand that OCD is a serious problem for some people and I am in no way making light of this disease. Please hear my heart, join the fun, and laugh at me and maybe yourself too.

So a few post ago I mentioned one of my OCDs and from the responses I received I found I am not alone. Which of course made me feel better (and also gave me more to laugh at). And I thought to myself, "If there are more people like me and finding this out makes me feel better, maybe there's someone out there who would be helped by hearing about all my other 'quirks'."

So I've compiled a list of all my OCD tendencies that I could think of because I'm sure that someone somewhere needs this.

• I already mentioned my need for dials to be set to a multiple of five. You can read about that here if you need to catch up.
• I unload the dishwasher the same way all the time. I unload the bottom rack first and pile everything in the proper categories on the counter and close to the cupboards they belong in. And then I unload the top rack. To me my process saves time and energy. To my husband it's weird.
• When I'm singing or humming and someone asks me a question I have to finish the line I'm singing before answering. If I don't it's like the song is skipping in that spot in my head. I've worked at getting better about this since having kids.
• When I load the laundry into the washing machine I always follow the same order: sort clothes, start the water, soap, color safe bleach, fabric softener, load clothes.
• When I fold the laundry I fold my towels to face the same direction with the tags tucked in and on the same side. If someone else does laundry for me I don't let it bother me. Anymore. I used to fix it. Before I had kids.
• When I take a shower, like with the laundry, I have an order: face, body, hair, shave. I know that you really wanted to know this one didn't you! In my defense this one is so that I don't forget to wash my hair. If I mess with the routine I forget what I have and haven't washed.
• When I read a book I always start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start... (You just started singing Do, Re Mi didn't you. I'm powerfully suggestive like that.) Anyways, I have to read it from intro to postlude. And I have to finish it. Even if it takes years. I have to finish the book. I started War and Peace a year ago and it's killing me that it's not finished yet. But I will finish it. I fought through Great Expectations and I won't let War and Peace get me down either! I also just finished The Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyers. I started that one two years ago. And I'm not a slow reader. That one was just waaaaaaay to convicting to read in a few weeks. Or maybe I'm just waaaaaaay to lazy. I'm going with the first one.
• Even though I'm not perfect at it myself proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar are a big deal to me. I've been known to disown people because of their lack of using capital letters. Not really. But close. I can't really get into text speak either. Some of it is cute. And I get the easy part but I still can't bring myself to do it.
• I have this thing with cotton balls. They make noise when you rub them and feel funny to me. I avoid them as often as possible. As for the aspirin bottles with cotton in them, I don't buy them or I have someone else take it out.
• I don't like things pointing at my eyes (ie. fingers, pencils, knifes, forks, straws). When I have a drink with a straw the straw has to point away from me or I feel like it's going to poke my eye out. Even if it is five feet away. Nathan of course takes advantage of this and tortures me by holding his finger by my eye. My dad used to do it too. Actually he still does.
• As odd as it may sound, especially after this post, I have an eclectic collection of coffee mugs. I love variety. And to me there are definitely boy mugs and girl mugs. Well, it's more like girl mugs and girl mugs that work for guys too. When I make coffee for me and Nathan I always make sure he gets the more masculine mug. Sometimes that means he gets a bird instead of a lady. But sometimes I get the bird mug and he gets an elephant mug.
  

So, for now, this is my list. I'm sure if Nathan were here he could add a few for me. But he's not so I get away with it for now. Now I want to hear from you. What are some of your OCD tendencies? Leave a comment below!