Now we get to the OCD part of my post. I'm obsessive. I live with an obsesser and we are both pretty compulsive. The household just teems with it. Some days are worse than others and the actual obsessions vary.
For instance, one day I might obsess about cleanliness. I will go around sterilizing everything that doesn't run away. (Watch out, Lola! You are next.) I see germs where ever I look and march out to extinguish every offending microbe. Bleach permeates the air and sears my lungs. Ahhh, heaven!
The next day it might be drawer and closet organization. The clutter mocks as I toss junk, buy bins, inserts, and hooks for compartmentalizing, and take anything we haven't used in the last month or so to Goodwill. ( I have lived to regret a few of those purgings.)
Later I might turn to the yard or bill-paying or cooking. It's a sickness! I'm not like Monk or Howie Mandel. I don't wear a mask or wash my hands until they're raw. I do use those wipes at the grocery stores, however, and I've started being real squeamish about public bathrooms. It's all I can do to use those disgusting conveniences, but it beats peeing my pants (Don't think I haven't thought of that as an alternative.)
Rick is obsessive too but his rituals are more along the line of just doing one thing over and over for weeks or months on end for hours at a time until I just want to shoot him. He varies from hunting, to fishing, to reloading, to just annoying the heck out of me. He NEVER gets on the cleaning or organizing jags. He is more of a clutterer-messer-upper than a cleaner. Argh!!
Right now I have a fetish about finding bargains at thrift stores and consignment shops. I am all about the low price, the cuteness, and the way the treasure might look in my house. I could care less if the item is really vintage or valuable to the rest of the world. And then we get into the germy thing. I worry as I slog through piles of trashy treasures that I'm exposing myself to vermin and bugs and microbes from all those who came before me. So I bring 'em home and try to sterilize, but then you can't do that to some wooden or upholstered items sufficiently without destroying them. What to do? What to do?
So I can't think about that too much or I'll drive myself crazier. I think I'll go shower now and wash some clothes in hot water and Clorox and then go tackle those dreaded taxes to send off. (I stay awake nights worrying about the taxes and can't rest until they're finished.) Help me!!
5 comments:
I'm a locker. I have to lock everything. I double check the lock in my car multiple times. But it's just for my own safety, I swear!
I don't think I have any obsessive tendencies. And congratulations on the 33-year anniversary!
Well, happy Groundhog Day indeed! Definitely a good reason to celebrate.
At least you OCD about good things...not, like, collecting old empty toilet paper rolls or something. That's a positive, right? ;-)
I am OCD about locking my house when I leave. I have to check it at least twice. When my son is with me I have him check it for me. My family laughs as I go back to check the locks. I have been known to drive off, turn around, and check the lock again.
Thrift stores and garage sales make me feel icky. I get the creepy crawlys and have to make sure I have my hand sanitizer in my purse. The person holding the garage sale could be the queen bee of clean and I will still feel icky.
I try not to think about the conditions in public restrooms or the number of people who are touching door handles, etc who do not understand the importance of handwashing. If I think about it too much I would never use a public restroom again and probably be wearing latex gloves everywhere I go.
Congratulations on your 33 year anniversary. I admire you for getting out of a bad situation.
Just reading that made me tired! I think I'll go take a nap for you now. And congrats on the "new" life.
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