Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Another Shopping Confession

I have another confession about shopping for you. I have shopping cart OCD and conveyor belt OCD. I have to place all the items in straight rows in the cart as I shop. I also prefer to have everything in a single layer; I don't like to stack things in the cart, but I will if I have to. I also have to put everything in straight rows at the checkout stand, and if the counter has and angled arm that narrows the stream of groceries reaching the clerk, I have to make my rows as narrow as the narrowest part so that my rows are maintained up until the moment the clerk scans and bags the items. I hate seeing the person in front of me spread out along the entire width of the belt only to wind up with their bread smashed against canned peas. Shopping with MSH, who does not have shopping cart OCD, requires that I re-position all the items he puts in the cart. I'm sure it drives him up the wall, but he and most of the store clerks react by simple shaking their heads and chuckling softly. I just wish my OCD would manifest itself in other ways, like in my purse or closet or refrigerator or car and so on, and so forth.

This morning while I was scrolling through all the recipes in the comments on the latest Pioneer Woman contest, I caught a twinge of a new type of OCD--recipe OCD. I want to copy all the recipes, format and organize them, and publish and bind them into a book. It was all I could do to actually spend my day working and not making a cookbook.

MSH is obsessive about flossing; he even carries around a floss card in his wallet. It's the size of a credit card, but a little thicker and filled with dental floss. Unfortunately, his OCD only makes him more wonderful and the favorite patient of most dentists and mine makes the clerks at Wal-Mart laugh at me. What are you obsessive about?

2 comments:

SuzyQSparkles said...

Opening disposable packages neatly along the seams / glue. Even a granola/candy bar should be opened without tearing the wrapper, just opening on the glued parts/seams.

Alphabetizing spices.

Date order stacking things in the pantry.

Washing my hands... constantly.

Hangers (I have a color, He has a color).

Sorting clothes in whatever my current method is (by use/color/length/etc).

Your right about how it affects some things and then other areas are totally trashed! :P

Moderation in all things would be preferable!

Laura said...

I open things along the seams as well. Everything I possibly can, but it usually goes un-noticed until a gift-giving occasion. On presents, I'm really bad. I think I just don't want to ruin some one else's hard work.