Question of the Day, Friday, May 15

Good morning!   And Happy Friday!   I'm just waiting for 4:00, so I can get out of here and start my weekend. It might be a long weekend, too, as I'm thinking about taking next Monday and Tuesday off work. 4 whole days off! 

One of my quirks is that I'm afraid of the dark.Have been since I was a little girl. It's only been within the last few years that when Rick would go away overnight, I could go to bed with only the bedroom tv turned on very, very low. That way, the bedroom isn't completely dark. It used to be that when he left, before it got dark at night, I'd turn every light on in the house and outside the house. I wouldn't even walk back the hallway to the bedroom once it got dark....I'd sleep on the couch in the living room. And forget about going into the basement...not going to happen. Not once it gets dark outside. I know there's nothing in the basement; I also know that I'm not going down there so that "nothing" can get me.

Another is that I never sleep with any part of my body sticking up from under the blanket or sheet. It can be the hottest, most humid night of the year and I will cover with at least the sheet. My feet won't stick out and my hands won't stick out. Nobody's grabbing my toes! 

So let's talk about your quirks. What are some of your quirky habits?

I have a thing about objects being too close to the edge of the table/counter etc. It's like I'm worried they'll fall off, even if there's little chance of this happening. I don't go crazy and measure with a ruler or anything but I try to keep things at least 3-4 inches away from the edge.

Oh, it also drives me crazy if the cuff of a sleeve is turned up accidentally. If cuffs are rolled up on purpose it's fine, but one random cuff turned upwards bothers me.

Good question, Winchester! I'm looking forward to seeing what other people post.

I think the main thing with me is that things have to be straight.

I have  two rugs in my living room and they are on a hard wood floor and the rugs have to be lined up with the edges of the planks. My sofa cushions have to be just so too, they have stripes and I have to have certain cushions a different way up to others and I'm not able to go to bed at night until everything is just right.

In the kitchen too, I'm not able to have anything on the surfaces that's not supposed to be there (apart from a cat now and again, they don't bother me at all) but things like mobiles on charge or the bread left out really get to me and I never ever have dishes left in the sink. 

When people visit they often comment on how organised I am, which I am, but if they only knew!

It doesn't bother hubby and its not like I'm always running round after people putting things straight, I understand that a house is to be lived in but once I'm home alone the cycle starts all over again....... Straightening......fluffing......putting things away!!

It's crazy how things bug me and I wish they didn't. I'm sure I have an OCD..................

My worst one is, I check things over and over again before leaving the house. I look at lights, ceiling fans, coffee pot, check for locked doors, the kitchen stove, refrigerator door and anything else I can think of to check before I leave. It is an obsession. When we were children, dad always had cars with only two doors. He and Grandma would be in the front seat. As he would start to back out the driveway, she would say, wait. She would always sent me back in the living room to be sure we didn't leave socks or gowns around the old wood heater. So I think this is where I learned this behavior. I make a point now to tell myself, yes, I turned off the hair roller, the iron, the closet light, and the list goes on. Sometimes I can actually leave without having to ask hubby to stop the car and wait for me to do a recheck. :lol3:

Keeping cabinet/drawer doors closed.  Makes me crazy if they are left open.  

I really can't think of any other things which are habits.  Although I have a lot of things which annoy me about other peoples habits (nail chewing, gum snapping,. nail clipping, etc. ROFL)

Hmm.. I can't think of any crazy quirks- but my parents think its strange I always close the toilet lids and I'd go after them to close if they forget. I keep it closed for my cats and it just became a habit. Not sure if I'd count it as a quirk.

Oh, I just thought of one! Being a graphic designer, I always comment on the packaging in my hands.. whether there's an error that only a designer would pick out, or a nice design. my mom would always roll her eyes if she's with me. If its an obvious flaw, I'd write the company, saying "This would not have happened if you'd hire me!" in hopes for a new job. I've gotten responses back but no job yet, lol

sivyaleah said:

 
Keeping cabinet/drawer doors closed.  Makes me crazy if they are left open.  

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Funny, I have that same 'thing'.  I have one cabinet in the kitchen that needs repairing--it doesn't close all the way.  I KNOW it won't close completely and yet every time I walk by it, I try to close it.  

Everything has to be in it's place all of the time.  When I change clothes, they either go in the hamper or get hung up, never do I leave clothes where they should not be.  I like to find things exactly where I left them and if anything is moved, I will know about it. 

I have stuff on my coffee table in the living room such as the TV Guide, the remote, the book I am currently reading  and other things, that have to be exactly in their place.

When my SO is here, he knows to leave everything where he finds them.  Because I lived alone for so many years, it's become a habit with me and I have become very picky about this .

Oh Pam, I just had to laugh about the feet or any body part hanging out of the sheets at night! I used to always have my feet tucked into the sheets at night. Now however, since I've had the bone spurs on my heels, they get too hot at night

from the inflammation. I have to soak my feet in ice water every night just so I can get to sleep. However in the middle of the night my feet get hot and I HAVE to kick off the sheets. It creeps me out and I try not to think

about it!! Lol. When Bruce isn't here at night, and I'm by myself, it creeps me out and I have more lights on than usual. It doesn't help that I watch scary shows  on tv! I try to watch them during the day! The chicken that I am!   

I too have to check that things are off and unplugged!  At our old house I had to check to be sure the couch wasn't pushed into the wall; pushing the couch against the plug for the lamps.  The couches would slide on the carpet any time you sat down; so that was a legitimate safety concern.  It seemed more quirky when I'd ask our house sitter to be sure that didn't happen...    I have to check door locks and window latches too.  

I might have a couple, if they count!

- I can't leave important things (purse, camera, laptop, dance bag etc) outside my bedroom at night. I absolutely *have* to bring everything into my room or else I can't relax. They have to be safe secure near me in my room.


Not sure where that one comes from, I never been through a house robbery, nor had anyone from inside a household steal from me. I did have my purse stolen in high school, where all my cards and cash were taken after the bag was recovered, not sure if that is why?

-Toilet lid needs to be down at all times inbetween use. A must! I'd go bonkers otherwise.

And of course I have the usual cat owner and ballet dancer quirks! too many to point out.

Funny that your scared of the dark @Winchester  I absolutely love the dark and quite often sit out on the deck at night until it's pitch black, listening to the kitties charging around and ambushing each other.

I guess one of my quirks would be lining things up. The sofa and table edges have to be parallel to each other, all can and bottles have to have their labels facing outwards and perfectly lined up, teapot spouts and mug handles all have to face the same way.

I've got a thing about symmetry too. For example there have to be two bowls of dry food left out for the cats with their big water bowl between the two and an equal distance between all the bowls. Can you imagine what would happen if someone broke in while I was out and the bowls weren't all lined up and symmetrical? Oh, the horror!

All the money in my wallet has to be right-side up, facing forward, and arranged from smallest in front to largest in back. I can't bear to put it back in my pocket if even one bill is 'wrong'.

catspaw66 said:

All the money in my wallet has to be right-side up, facing forward, and arranged from smallest in front to largest in back. I can't bear to put it back in my pocket if even one bill is 'wrong'.

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LOL! I do that too. I even hate it when I get money from the bank & it isn't all faced correctly. You would think it would be at the bank at least! 

I like everything to be in order at home as well. I'm not as bad about it as I used to be, but I do like to try & get my cleaning done on a Thursday or Friday afternoon after work. (after cleaning other houses all week!)

This way, I feel like I can relax for the weekend, or be free to do things.  I like things lined up, symmetrical, in their places, on order too.  It just feels better, then, I can relax!  

I'm also obsessed about making sure everything is unplugged before going to bed and especially when leaving the house. Oh, but I don't unplug the TV's, although I know some people do.

Also, I hate to take a shower when I'm alone in the house. I think it goes back to that old movie Psycho, and the famous shower scene.

We keep the toilet lid down, simply because of the cats. Even the grands know they have to put the lid down when they're finished. It's pretty much because of the cats, though, not any quirk...for the most part. That's the same reason I don't like open cabinet or closet doors; it's pretty much an open invitation for the cats to have at it!

I walk around and unplug stuff, not so much before bed, but before I leave the house. I unplug the microwave and the Keurig. Open the dishwasher just a hair, so it's not completely closed. Before we go on vacation, I unplug the TVs and such. Hit the wall switch back in the computer room and that will kill the computers while we're gone. We also turn the water off to the washer in the basement.

Kathy, you know, Stephen King is like that, too. He doesn't like his feet sticking out from under the sheets. He also looks under the bed every night before he goes to bed; he said his wife put a bed ruffle on their bed and he was not happy!  I've gotten really good about being alone at night. As long as the TV is on, I'm good to go. The other night, I kept hearing noises outside and it creeped me out a bit. But I rolled over, grabbed Molli, and went to sleep. And that was that. When I hear something, I'll look at the cats; if they're OK, then I'm OK. Now, I don't know what would happen if we got a t-storm and lost lighting. I couldn't handle being alone in the dark in the middle of the night.

I'm OK about showers, but I prefer to take them while it's still daylight outside, if I can. It's difficult during the winter because it starts to get light so late in the morning.

Oh, there was one I thought about this morning when I was making the bed. I don't like crinkled sheets. I just don't. If my feet touch a crinkle/fold in the sheet at night, I'll get out of bed and fix it. Hopefully without disturbing Rick, but well, it's been known to happen. And then I hear, "Pamela, what the .....??