Have you ever had someone stop you while you’re doing something a little bit on the… “odd” side and say, What ARE you doing?!
[Reading time: 7 minutes. Hopefully each one is entertaining.]
And initially you’re like, Er no, isn’t this completely normal? Doesn’t everyone do this? All the time thinking It’s not me that’s weird, it’s them…
Over the years I’ll admit to quite a few of these types of weird things I do that I don’t even think about. I’m sure everyone reading this will have at least ONE thing that they do that others find really odd, weird or irrational. But we’ve done them for so long, and they’re so ingrained into our psyche, that we do them without a second thought.
And if it’s not weird things that we DO, then it’s probably weird things that we have a bit of a phobia about. They’re usually irrational. The things we’re afraid of are usually completely harmless. They’re not at all frightening to any normal, sane human being…
(Speak for yourself, Catherine! says everyone reading this)
…but still we go on, finding them creepy, scary or both.
So just for a bit of fun on a Friday, here’s My Top 11 Weird Sh*t for your amusement.
And if you – or anyone else you know – does this stuff/finds these things scary too, tell me in the comments so I know I’m not alone. Don’t forget to share your OWN weird sh*t, too…!
Stay safe XOXO
10 weird phobias I have – or things I do – that you might find bizarre…
PHOBIAS:
1. Bubble baths
This is my number one weird phobia… I cannot STAND bubble baths. Ughhhhhhhhh the idea of bubbles touching my skin makes me shiver at the very thought. They just stick to you and feel all creepy and won’t get off your skin. When I was a kid my mum would run me a bubble bath, and I’d have to push all the bubbles down one end before getting in. And then spend the whole bathtime trying to keep splashing at them to stop them touching me.
Just, no. NO, NO, NO to bubbles.
2. Spread scraped out the tub unevenly
You know when you have a tub of butter spread (or equivalent) and it has deep knife marks in it where people have scraped it out? I can’t stand it being scraped out unevenly. Even worse, when it’s all scraped down to the bottom on one side and the spread is still high on another side.
AAAAAAAAAAARGH NO MAKE IT STOP
I absolutely HAVE to scrape it out so that the level of the spread is even all over every time I use it, right up until the tub is empty. I’ve often “respread the spread” in the tub when Keith has scraped it all out on one side just to restore the balance of the universe. However, I told him about my weird phobia of this only recently – it’s what gave me the idea for this post – and he had no idea. I’d obviously kept this one well hidden from him for nearly 20 years.
You know what? I didn’t ask him to, but since then he’s scraped it out evenly just to appease my weirdness. That’s love for you ♥.
3. Untucked sheets at the bottom of the bed
I might as well start all these weird phobias with “I can’t stand…” – this time it’s untucked bed covers. I don’t care how hot it is, if the bed covers have come loose at the bottom of the bed I can’t sleep. We make our bed with a duvet cover, then a large blanket over the top. The blanket goes down over the foot of the bed and gets tucked neatly under the mattress. (That baby ain’t moving for NO ONE.)
I can’t stand the duvet becoming loose at the bottom of the bed and my foot feeling the end of the duvet where the buttons/poppers are. If it’s not strapped down, you know what will happen, don’t you?! Er, that’s right – the monsters will grab my feet in the night. I’m always telling Keith this, but good lord that man still sticks a foot outside the sheets in the night.
I told him that when the monsters DO bite off his feet (which they WILL), he shouldn’t come running to me.
4. Turning around 360°
I’ve mentioned this on the blog before: If I turn round 360° – for whatever reason – I simply HAVE to turn back again, otherwise I will be permanently wound up. In fact, anything over 180° means I have to “unravel” myself. If I don’t do this I feel completely weird, so I might save the unwinding for when no one can see me. But if I don’t wait and unravel immediately, you can imagine the little Turning Around Dance I’m doing with myself.
5. Using wet hand or bath towels
Another one where the mere thought of it makes me shudder: if I go to use a towel that’s wet from someone else using it (like using the guest hand towel in someone else’s house), it completely creeps me out. Even if I KNEW it was a totally fresh, clean towel, if it’s a bit wet from just ONE person using it before me, I’m creeped out like there’s no tomorrow. It automatically feels dirty to me and it feels like my hands need washing again.
And in case you’re wondering about my own bath towel in the winter when they can take longer to dry (though we have towel radiators): I have that covered. When I go to use my bath towel, I’m always very nearly dry. After showering I wipe myself down roughly with a clean flannel. Then by the time I reach for the bath towel, there’s hardly any water on me bod. So my bath towel never, ever gets wet… not even particularly damp. I’ve got it all worked out. No creepy damp towels for me.
6. Loose, wet strands of hair
This is one that I regretfully cannot avoid. I have to put up with this, but crikey I hate it, and always have. You know when you wash your hair and the inevitable loose strands of hair come out – even worse, when you comb through conditioner and you get quite a few strands come loose?!
I HATE THE WET STRANDS OF HAIR STUCK TO MY HANDS AND IN BETWEEN THE FINGERS AND OH GOD EVEN WORSE LOOSE HAIR STUCK TO MY BODY IN THE SHOWER NOOOOOOO
The only solution for this would be for me to shave my hair off and never have hair ever again. But then, my hair is more precious to me than my phobia of loose wet hair, and therefore I have to put up with this one. I still act like a child EVERY time I wash my hair, going Ughhhhhhh nooooo get off my hands wet hair get off get off get off
Side note: I told Keith when we first lived together that there were two things he had to agree to do for me forever: 1. Deal with spiders, and 2. Clean hair out the plughole. Where no.2 is concerned, I do do my best to stop as much hair going down the plughole as possible, which means collecting all that wet loose hair as I wash it and then putting it in the bin. And every time I do it I have to stop myself puking…
WEIRD THINGS I DO:
7. Lining up cupboard jars and tins
Another one I’ve mentioned before, and yes, I know just how ‘Sleeping With the Enemy’ this sounds. I simply HAVE to have all the jars and tins in the cupboard facing the front. All labels to the front so I can see what they are. I like things to be organised. I like things in cupboards and drawers all laid out and visible, and anyway who wants to spend time rooting round a cupboard for a tin of chopped tomatoes because they’re not facing the front, or not in the right place in the cupboard?
Oh, I forgot to mention that. They have to be put in the right place every time too, all for ease of use and an easy, stress-free life.
And yes, I’m probably a nightmare to live with and one day Keith will flush his wedding ring down the toilet and swim across the sea to be rid of me, I know.
8. Sleeping with a teddy bear in my 40s
Not strictly a teddy bear, but the stuffed toy you see in the main image. And it’s not just a stuffed toy… that’s Tigger. Tigger is known by everyone in my family, as I’ve had him since I was about 8 or 9. He’s pretty much part of the family.
(And to explain, I know he’s not a tiger, or even a Winnie the Pooh-style Tigger – I think he’s a cheetah. It’s just the name my eight-year-old self gave him.)
I know this is definitely a weird one, and it’s maybe a bit sad too, but I’ve slept with that little guy at my side for about 40 years. It’s one of those things that just became a habit, and it’s the feeling of him touching the right side of my torso, or my belly if I’m curled up on my side. (I swear he keeps me warm in the winter, despite his diminutive size.) He’s the one thing I would HAVE to run back into the house for (excluding Keith and Suki of course) if the house was on fire because he’s basically part of me. Well, he is for one third of my day, anyway.
I don’t actually take him away with me when I’m working and staying in a hotel – heaven forbid I ever lost him or left him somewhere. In those instances I use a Tigger substitute: a rolled-up towel or sweater that’s about the right size does the trick. Weird? Of course not…
9. Setting the TV or car stereo volume evenly
I know I’m not alone here. Changing the volume on the TV or car stereo? It HAS to be an even number. I’m not a fan of odd numbers anyway (I turn 48 in July but have been saying I’m 48 since the start of the year because 47 sounds horrible).
But actually seeing the odd number lingering there for a second or so before it disappears torments me. If you’re a passenger in my car don’t even THINK about leaving the volume at 19 or 23. It’s really not that much effort to go up just one more, is it?
10. Not having “naked” ears in bed at night
This I have a valid reason for (kind of) – it stems from something that happened to me as a kid. Basically I can’t go to sleep on my side unless my exposed ear is covered with my hair/the blanket/the duvet: if it’s just left there naked then moths will fly into my ears in the night and probably kill me. Because that’s how moths intending to take over the world kill humans, didn’t you know that?
When I was young a moth really DID fly into my ear when I was half asleep, and of course I went berserk. Spoiler alert: It didn’t actually kill me (I frantically batted at my ear till it flew away), but since then I’ve always made sure I have – at the very least – some of my hair draped over the ear. If not, my ear is just sitting there like a big bowl of human nakedness tempting moths to come down and have a look round its intricate complexity before making its final deathly aim down into my eardrum.
(Thank goodness we’re nearly at the end because I’m close to the point of phoning a psychiatrist after this Weird Sh*t Confessional and reading back over what I’ve written…)
11. Putting away household items in strict rotation
Something I never thought about until I saw someone on TV describe doing the same thing is my strictness in putting away household items. Anything I clean and reuse, like plates, bowls, cutlery, tea towels, towels, bedlinens, pants, bras, socks, etc. have to be put away in proper rotation (not just on top every time). The newly-cleaned ones are put at the bottom (or at the back, depending on the item), making way for the other ones that have been in there longer to come to the top of the pile and get used next time.
My reasoning is that everything gets used evenly, and wear and tear isn’t heavier on the ones on the top/at the front the whole time. Plus, tea towels: I never have to iron them as instead they get “pressed” by being put to the bottom of the pile (I can’t BELIEVE people iron tea towels but many have told me they do. THEY’RE the crazy ones IMO).
The fact that I do this was brought to my attention when Dermot O’Leary was on an episode of Would I Lie to You? His ‘True or False’ statement was “I sometimes move bowls and plates from the bottom to the top of the pile so they don’t feel left out”.
Was he telling the truth? I’ll let you watch and find out, but let’s just say I watched the episode and kept shouting at the TV, That’s totally normal, people, why WOULDN’T you do that…?!!
P.S. Reading over this post now that it’s finished makes me a little bit worried about myself and how I’m coming across 😉 . In my defence, I’m really not a psychotic, high-maintenance freak who goes crazy at the sight of uneven margarine or the volume on the TV being set to a number not divisible by two. Please believe me, I’m really quite sane…
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OMG!!! I do some of the same things!!! I live in Arizona so, hot almost all year long. But I NEED to sleep with the bed sheet perfectly tucked in!!! I wake up if my toes feel that it has been untucked!!!
I also do the household items rotation, with EVERYTHING, clothes, shoes, undies, bras, socks… mine and my hub’s and son’s!!!
The stereo/tv volume too. It has to be in an even number, or else it drives me crazy and I have to change it to an even number. In the car the sweet number is 12, 10 if my son is talking to me from the back seat.
I know I have more but I was so excited to know that I am not the only one doing “weird” stuff!!!
My hairdresser has the wet hair thing. And she’s a HAIRDRESSER!
I rotate stuff, too. Dishes go on the bottom when they’re clean. Clothes have rotations based on whether they’re fresh from the laundry or have been worn but aren’t dirty.
Author
Oh lord if she’s a hairdresser and hates wet hair… HOW on earth does she cope?!!!! LOL
And yes, rotation makes total sense, doesn’t it Christine? It’s everyone else that’s mad, not us 😉
This made me smile. I love that Keith now takes care to use the butter/spread evenly – how lovely. No. 8 hit a cord too. I have a very battered and threadbare teddy that was given to me when I was born by a Great Great Aunt who owned a toy shop. For the first 24 years of my life he went everywhere with me, travelling all over the world. When I got married he retired to the bedside but 29 years later is still there. Battered and furless and my family have strict instructions that when I go he goes into the casket with me as no one else would love him, they would look on him as a health hazard! Swimming with fish completely freaks me out, watching them is bad enough. It is something to do with the scales, but I don’t know what. My worst nightmare would be being buried at sea. Silly or what – not as if I would know, but….. Great and very original post. Thanks.
Author
Hehe Keith has been slipping on the spread-in-the-tub front, Sue!!! 😉
LOVE that you still have your threadbare teddy. I still have my “Big Ted and Little Ted” that are even older than Tigger, though they have special places in my bedroom and office respectively. And I can’t say that I like sea swimming either: swimming pool yes, seawater no… but my fear is of tasting/swallowing saltwater. Just – noooooooooo 🙁
Hello from the US-
Thank you for helping us realize that our quirks are “normal”-whatever that means these days….I agree completely about the wet towels and using items in rotation. I think that my quirks are the way I feel in control when so much around me is in chaos-right now, that list is long and ugly where I live.
I am phobic about the kind of reptile without legs….I CANNOT even write out that word. I cannot wear this kind of print and cringe to see it on anyone else. I know it’s a classic in women’s fashion and I am a minimalist classic type of gal but NO WAY!! I refuse to travel to any place that might be a home to these creatures, cannot see them in print, on television, and DEFINITELY NOT IN ZOOS or IN THE WILD-eeeeek, I live in the desert Southwest state with the most kinds of these things!!! Love Ireland, Scotland, and all of Scandinavia because there aren’t any….at least I don’t think so!
Enough on that topic-I have read your blog many times, Catherine, but have not commented. I so appreciate how truthful and real your writing is and love the reminder that, quirks aside, I am loved and valued. As is everyone who commented-thank you!
Author
Oh gosh I won’t write the reptile-without-legs word, Julie – but I feel the same way about spiders!! (Though my mum is far worse than me.) I can at least get a small one under a glass and take it outside, as long as it doesn’t dart about. My fear is of them touching my skin, same reason I hate moths and flies.
And THANK YOU for the lovely compliments, please don’t worry about not commenting before… but please do comment again! You’re always welcome! xx
Catherine, this is brilliant! I love that you shared this. I have a million weird things I do as well like brushing my teeth in the shower. Every day. I have a toothbrush and toothpaste that is specifically for in the shower. I absolutely cannot stand wet hair at all. When it falls down my back after a shower, I seriously want to chop it all off. It totally grosses me out. That scene in Rapunzel when she swings her hair all around the tower…I physically gag at that. Oh it is so super gross! But I am really loving my long hair so I tolerate it…and I only wash it every 4 days to minimize the terror of wet hair touching my body. As for volume and heat controls, I always have to set them on odd numbers! Even numbers annoy me so very much. And I can never stop reading a book on a page that ends in 6. Just can’t do it.
I hope that helps you to feel less weird! Thanks for sharing this fun post.
Shelbee
Author
Oh wow you’ve made me remember another one Shelbee by mentioning brushing teeth – I can’t stand anyone watching me brush my teeth!! Not Keith, not anyone… I find the frothiness of the toothbrush kinda gross so I don’t like others seeing me with all that in my mouth!
Glad to hear you have weird stuff too – as many as I do it seems!!!!!!!!
These were fun to read! I can’t get my mind around the uneven better though – why would anyone use one side of butter all the way to the end and not touch the other? That would drive me nuts.
I have to drape my hair over my ear when sleeping too, only it’s spiders, not moths I’m worried about.
I rotate the washcloths, but nothing else. When I wash tablecloths I always fold them and put them away in the order that I like to use them.
I also hate to see uneven eggs in the carton. They should be eaten in pairs!
All of these things are recent – past 5 years or so. I am definitely getting weirder as I get older.
Author
I forgot about eggs, Michelle – in a big box of 12 I can’t stand eggs being taken all from one end… when you pick up the box you can’t see that it’s unevenly weighted and it sort of “tips out” of your hand! I actually had to tell Keith to stop taking them all from one end, lol 😉
I agree with the getting weirder as you get older – what are we going to be like when we’re 80?!!!!
Catherine, I’ve just found one of my weird foibles! It’s my hubby’s too. Any tap that has a lever to left/right just has to be put back in the centre. After using it. Can’t leave it any other way
Author
Hmmm I hope that hasn’t set me off with another one, Carole!!!!!! 😉
Though thinking about it, I always set those types of taps back to the perfect temperature position, so maybe I do have a thing about taps too…!
Nail files – can’t stand them, especially the emery board ones. Having my feet touched. Anything but the very thinnest pillow. And I can’t do an even two-footed jump onto anything more than six inches high, because it scares me.
Author
Oh my brother can’t stand nail files either, Ruth – he’ll tell me to stop if I’m filing my nails near him!!
LOVE the two-footed jump thing, that sounds perfectly valid, lol 😉
This comment is no way intended for you Catherine but I take offence from some of the comments left about your blog post. When some people say oh you must be a bit OCD, that is a very offensive thing to say. OCD can be a very debilitating illness and it is definitely not something to be made fun of. Speaking from first hand experience as someone who has suffered with this illness for over 30 years I just wanted to say to people please think before passing comment on someone’s life. Day to day life is a real struggle for me and there is enough stigma around mental health problems as it is without comments like this making it worse.
I’m sorry Catherine for commenting like this on your blog and I hope I haven’t offended you with my words but I just wanted people to please understand this illness and the effects it can have on people’s lives.
Author
Hi Kelly, no you haven’t offended me at all (NOT at all!) and I totally get where you’re coming from… you’re 100% correct in what you’re saying. I probably treated the comments a little too frivolously, so for what I said I apologise – I’m sure none of us meant them in a disparaging way, but that doesn’t excuse it and I’ll most certainly think twice about how I phrase something in the future. It’s one of those conditions that was bandied about as a description a little while ago without people realising just how serious the actual condition can be (and unfortunately it kind of “stuck” as an incorrect and too-easy way to describe something more trivial and light-hearted, which is what my habits are), and you’re right – that needs to change.
Thank you for being so gracious and for raising our awareness of this, and again my apologies xx
Ha! Well I can relate to numbers 2, 5, 7 and 11. Oh yes, most definitely! so you are not alone, Catherine.
Author
Not just me then with those jars and cans, eh Carole…?!!! hehe
Catherine, now I am concerned for myself because I 100% agree on 10 of the 11 and NOW won’t ever be able to touch a damp towel again, so thanks for that.
I’ve never thought of my isms as weird or phobic – just that I am discerning about my self and environs, but now……..?
It’s nice to know I am in excellent company and if we ever meet, I promise to evenly spread the spread! I mean, what kind of madness is that to dig at it unevenly?
MM
Author
Oh no was it the damp towel that tipped you from 10 to 11, MM…?!!!!!!!!!!!!! So sorry, lol 😉
I’ll tell Keith about the madness of the uneven spread, he’s been slipping on that front the last few days…
Nothing in your post is the slightest bit weird! Either that or I know a _lot_ of weird people, TeeHee.
Oh, it’s all about “Rotation. Rotation. Rotation.” in the dishes & food cupboards, the linen closet, the clothes closet… Yes, stacked tins with labels aligned, too.
But =}. I have claustrophobic toes whom suffer panic attacks. Piggies _have_ to be free at night to roam. Poor little dears also loathe & detest closed-toe shoes & stockings. Monsters are terrified of Perfectly Polished Piggies. Monsters lack of social graces is exposed for everyone to see *wink*.
I have two small stuffed dog squeakie toys. Hedgie & Lammie whom accompany me on travel. HaHa, at 60+ one’d think I’d outgrown the need for special companions. Awh, heck to the nope! Also have a white donkey known as Lily, my White Ass. Can’t cuddle her too often; very loud squeak aka bray.
Author
I’m sure you’d agree that my habits all make perfect sense, wouldn’t you Beverly?!! 😉 Rotating household items so they get even wear and tear is so logical in my eyes!
And I’m glad you get the soft toy thing and most importantly: the Monsters thing! Boys just don’t seem to get it, do they?? (crikey they play with death where their feet-out-the-bed thing is concerned #ShockedFace) x
I agree with the teddy thing. When we got married my husband banned him from the bed – now he sits and looks over me all night and I have a pillow instead. Squashy pillow also now comes on holiday with me …
Also agree about the tins, everything in it’s place in the larder and stacking tea towels in rotation (although I do iron mine …)
Also very particular about the way washing is hung up on the line – I have been known to rearrange other peoples washing.
Coloured pens and pencils in rainbow order …
Oh dear!!!
Author
Hehe I told Keith right from the outset that Tigger wasn’t negotiable… he nearly always sleeps on the side away from Keith anyway!
Love that you rearrange other people’s washing, I can imagine it drives them up the wall though, haha!!
(Oh and I do have lots of things in rainbow order like cookbooks, nail polishes and ALL my clothes…!)
Hahaha Catherine, that was a fun read. Don’t worry, we all have these quirks. I certainly do. Like I cannot stand water that is boiling and nobody turning the gas off underneath it. Even if I were to be at somebody elses house, I would turn it off.
Greetje
Author
Hehe I know the feeling of being at someone else’s house and wanting to stop the thing that irks you, Greetje!! 😉
My BFF – yes, we’ve known each other for 50 years, so pretty close to forever – is a bit OCDish. I love her dearly.
As for me, I’m fairly adaptable, except about bad human behavior.
Michelle
Author
I’m with you on the bad human behaviour, Michelle!! I guess “OCDish” is what I’d call it too – these things definitely don’t rule my life, they’re just mostly things I can’t stand…!
OMG, I am so sorry my prior comment was so long! It didn’t look that long when writing…
Author
hehe no worries Rita – they’re always the most interesting ones!! 😀
Oh, and about the wet hair thing, what you do is take the wet hair off the comb and then stick it to the shower wall. It sticks, and when it’s dry you throw it in the trash. A college roommate taught me that.
Author
Ahhhhh guess what Liz… I already do that!! At our last house we didn’t have a separate shower cubicle, so as the shower was over the bath I could put the bin by the bath and throw the hair in as I combed it out. When we moved and got an ensuite and a separate shower I had to rethink: sticking it to the wall was exactly what I did!! Great minds 😉 lol
I think you might have gone far in the military. I understand the slovenly bedclothes thing. I love sleeping in hotel beds with super tight sheets. I just can’t master it though and it would take me all day to get my bedsheets tight. Although I rarely have guests, I do have a stack of beautiful Caspari hand towels in my guest bathroom for exactly the reason you are grossed out. As far as dishes, I can’t abide a teaspoon left in a cup! Oh. My. God. And I’m an American. I have special long teaspoons for stirring beverages in tall glasses, but then they must be quickly removed. A relative once confessed that her stepchildren drank out of mason jars. When the stores starting selling cutesy mugs shaped like mason jars, it became apparent we were all on the skids, God help us. I can’t take music in the car and I won’t shop at certain grocery stores in my neighborhood because their music is too loud. I do love the sound of chirping birds though.
Author
Oh gosh except that I’m TERRIBLE at getting up in the morning, Liz, so I’d have struggled right from the off with the military lol 😉
Glad to hear you have several weird things that you can’t stand either: isn’t it funny how they all differ?! And funnily enough, exactly at the moment I read your comment about chirping birds Keith said to me, “Isn’t the birdsong lovely here”!! Spooky…
Hahahahaha… that is spooky… well, I guess that’s a good sign, the little birdies are all with us …
You are fine, it’s when we try to figure why we are doing it that makes us a little crazy. Go with it.
Just a quick question, Oct. 29th blog your picture you are wearing a very, very cute pair of clear or pinkish cat eye frames? Who makes them….I love them and need to have them.
Thanks!!!
Author
I definitely just go with it, Kelly… I kinda like my quirks!!!
The glasses are from Specsavers, they’re still available (though of course only online as the stores are currently closed). They’re actual Specsavers frames, the model is Beatrice and the colour is Pink. Here’s the link: https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/beatrice?sku=30768918 – good choice! I really love them.
You don’t need to go to a psychiatrist. I will inform you. You have OCD. 😉 And Keith is a saint.
Author
hehe thank goodness I don’t really have OCD, Randi, as I think I’d be a total nightmare! Thankfully my weird things are just things I can’t stand/that creep me out – I don’t have obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviours and they don’t take over my life… I’m just a bit of a Monica [Geller] as I have often been described!! 😉
Did you add the wink face to my comment?! If you did, then add that to your quirky list!
Oh wow, loved reading about this. I’m writing something at the moment and will use this as an exercise to help me get know my characters more deeply alongside their character studies. I always have to sleep on the right side of the bed and hate dogtooth print as it makes my eyes funny (terrible on camera too). I also have specific mugs I like to drink from. Anything too small or with too small a lip, I just can’t enjoy a cuppa from x
Author
Oooooh that’s interesting, Vicki – yes I think that definitely would give you an insight into people’s deeper characters. I couldn’t think of anything that Keith does so I asked him, and he couldn’t think of anything either. He’s far too laid back – he’s laid back enough for the both of us!!
Funny about your “things” – I’m a bit specific about mugs too, with different mugs for different drinks. I never quite enjoy drinks at other people’s houses as much as I do at home just for that reason, I bet you’re the same…!?
Oh, I share so many of these with you!!! Especially the “Naked Ears!” I used to go you one further and not only needed covered ears, but neck as well. Terrifyingly, I had let the “neck covering need” go when hot flashes rendered me unable to tolerate anything at all on my neck. I can’t bear to have even so much as my hair touch my neck now, so you can well imagine how elaborate the bed-hair origami is in order to have hair still covering my ears, yet not my neck. I’m certain that I resemble some type of unfortunate Space Spaniel.
I don’t like any type of bath, not just bubble; they cause me to feel immensely claustrophobic (and I was on the swim team in high school, so it’s not that).
I don’t mind asymmetry in tub spreads- but my husband needs to make anything we cook perfectly even or flat in the pan as it cooks.
I need the sheets untucked now, lest the murderous hot flashes melt me to the mattress.
I absolutely agree about the unwinding 360 degrees. How can people NOT do this?????
Wet towels make me extremely uncomfortable. At other people’s homes, I have dried my hands with toilet tissue in order to avoid touching a moist communal towel. I know it isn’t earth friendly, but me being stuck in an endless loop of hand washing isn’t either…
I hate hair (dry or wet) wrapped around my hands or anywhere on my body and cleaning out the bathtub drain is absolutely gagging. However, I put on a brave face and do it as it is largely my hair, so I feel the need to make that right. I’ve even grown to enjoy the task, strangely enough. Another thing regarding hair: I have one brush for when my hair is fresh and clean, and one brush for brushing my dirty hair before I get into the shower. Both of them need to be clean and free of hair, but I can’t contaminate my clean brush with dirty hair, ever. (?!?!?!)
I line up my cupboard jars and tins, but within minutes they seen to get wonky again. I accuse my husband.
I don’t sleep with a teddy, but my adorable cat used to sleep curled up next to me as the “little spoon”, no matter how hot it (or I) was, for over 13 years. We lost her last year, and I couldn’t sleep unless I had a warmed neck pillow next to me until just a few weeks ago. She was unbelievably wonderful and I will miss her forever.
I sincerely feel as though a part of me has been amputated (as I’m sure you understand).
I have the same vexation about changing the various volumes, but I have different “comfort” numbers.
I understand and completely agree with the rotation of household items. Sheets, towels, dishes, clothes; everything.
I ‘ll add: I get completely skeeved if people do not clean off the top of a jar, tube or bottle before they put the cap back on. It must all be clean. We aren’t animals.
Also, regarding faucet (tap) handles: one touches them with dirty hands to turn them on, one washes one’s hands, then one uses those clean hands to turn the now dirty (from one’s previously dirty hands) faucet/taps off, thus re-soiling one’s hands. Because of this, I end up washing the faucet/tap handles with every hand wash. Especially now.
In short,…you are absolutely not alone! I’ll be interested to see how many others like us that there are! (and I am sure I have more, lol)
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Good lord Rita – are we related?!!!!!!!! lol 😉
You’re right about the hand washing thing and how Covid has exacerbated that now.
I honestly don’t know how you get the hair out the plughole (=retch=)
Sorry about your kitty… I bet that was very hard when you lost her 🙁
And YES to the rotation of household items!! Why would you NOT do that?!!!!!
Thanks so much for the fantastic comment, that’s made my day knowing you’re just like me 😀 xx hehe
Catherine, I think you would have been a great librarian! I’m recognizing many of these in me and my colleagues. This was really fun!
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Oh wow I’ve never thought of that before Julie, but you can probably guess that all my CDs are in alphabetical order, can’t you? (we have 100s)…!!
Yep. Weird! But then again we all have little weird ways, don’t we? I can’t touch wet wood, that’s a no-no. xx
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Oh yes I’ve heard a few people say about wet wood, Laurie: it doesn’t bother me too much but I won’t dry one up with a tea towel. I can’t stand the fabric rubbing against the rough wood… that creeps me out!
Oh! And fabric touching teeth! Ahhhhhhh! No!
Okay, sleeping with a teddy bear is a bit weird love. Lol. But all the other things I can under stand! Ha ha, enjoy a lovely sunny weekend! Perhaps you can find the time to link up at my Fancy Friday link up party….
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Hehe in my defence it’s more the feeling of Tigger being there and touching my tummy, Nancy – as long as the substitute is the same shape and size I’m good with that, lol!!
Big giggles reading this. I lived with my Nanna for may year and we were not allowed to dish up Ugly Butter. It had to be put on a proper little butter dish with a proper butter knife. I would never serve ugly butter. When I am organised and being myself – yeah everything has to be organised according to my own strange logic. I keep notes in big folders for yoga and healing. My yoga and healing books are all organised. My clothes are put away according to another moi logic. Knickers have to be folded a particular way. If there is space under your bed, stand in the doorway and take a big running leap onto the bed so that the monsters hiding underneath don’t grab your feet. So yeah, I find your habits perfectly reasonable and making perfect sense. ps And I will only buy a good magazine to keep if it has Elizabeth Hurleys advice in it. .
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Hehe glad you liked this, Ratnamurti… LOVE the story about the Ugly Butter!!!!
My knickers (I call them pants) have to be folded in a very specific way too, socks and all other underwear as well (let’s just say Marie Kondo had a big effect on me 😉 ).
And I am SO going to do that running and jumping onto the bed thing next time I sleep in a bed that has space underneath – luckily our bed has storage underneath so there’s no space for the monsters to hide (not that that was a factor when we decided what style to buy =cough cough=)…!