Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Seriously in Need of Some Therapy

I don't know if I mentioned it before or not, but we have been selling our home.  This has led to the awakening of some part of my DNA that up to this point in my life has laid completely dormant.  To the point that I never dreamed it existed.

I grew up surrounded by type A OCD-type people.  I have already talked (at length) about my sister and her whole OCD thing but what you don't know is she really comes by it quite honestly.

Let's talk about my mom for a second.  She's pretty neat and organized too, she could start her own organizing blog if she could just figure out how to turn the darn computer on.  Anyway, she's about the only one that doesn't find my sisters need to count her kid's toys at night a little weird but that's because she did it too.  Mmm hmmm.  The woman uses the same mug every morning for breakfast and woe to the person that takes and uses her mug.  It'll throw her entire week out of whack. 

I won't share too much about my baby brother (because he is quite a bit bigger than me) but suffice it to say, he make the two of them look a little slovenly.

So, up to this point in my life, compared to my family I've been a bit of a little piggy.  I can live with clutter, in fact, we're friends.  I had even named the dust-bunnies under my bed.  This has never been much of an issue for me.

HOWEVER, this past month  with all the showings I have turned into the cleaning Nazi.  My poor kids. Whenever they pulled out a toy I'd be hovering, waiting for them to finish so I could screech "put it back, put it back."  I turned off the tap with my elbows so I wouldn't muss up the shine on the taps and polished my kitchen table on daily basis.

This is all fine and good when selling a house, unfortunately, I can't turn it off now.  Seriously.  We got home the other night from the painting exile and I could not sit down to watch TV until I swept my floor.  It was paining me to look at it. I would have vacuumed but I did not want to wake the boys but oh I wanted to!  It gets worse.

My parent's house is really very clean.  At all times.  However, they live in a small town with hard water so there is a bit (emphasis on a bit) of hard water build-up on the drain and drain-stoppper in their bathroom sink.  I had never noticed it before this weekend but now every time I looked at it, I wanted to whip out the CLR and clean it.    Seriously?  Why?  Is it bothering anyone?  Nope just me.

The clicker came when I was in the Wal-Mart bathroom the other day and had to fight off the urge to clean the water-spots off the taps.  I had already mopped up the water that someone else had left on the counter.     

While we all would agree that Wal-Mart always needs a bit of cleaning, maybe wanting to do it is a good sign one needs an intervention?   Not even my mom or siblings do that.  And that's saying something.

9 comments:

Middle-Aged Moi said...

Oh dear....they have brought you over to the dark side......run for your life!!!!!

Boy did I ever hate selling our house. It's hard to actually LIVE in the home and still keep it in show home condition. But you would not BELIEVE some of the homes we looked at. You would think they NEVER cleaned them! Seriously.

Kelly @ Love Well said...

If you find a therapy class, let me know. Because I'm right there with you. And we're not even living in the house that we're selling.

KnittinChick said...

Hah, hah, hah! The family influence continues.... you're fallen deep into the Clean-aholic, Tidy-aholic, Just In Case Someone Drops By extended family abyss.

LeahRenfrew said...

just wait you might even find your self cleaning your friends house!! only do this to your relly good friends house!! some people might take offence to you whipping out the broom to sweep thier kitchen! stick to only straightning there pictures!

Tez said...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

*wipes tears* How well I know that feeling and those urges!
When I was grocery shopping last week, the cashier asked me if I had worked in a grocery store...why? Because of how my groceries were organized both in the cart and on the conveyor.
You are not alone, but you are hilarious, take a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate and call me in the morning!

Char said...

You crack me up, girlie!! I think it is a habit that is rewarding, to have a tidy house. Course I am not a clean a holic, (as witnessed by many un-invited, although welcome guests that have shown up here and there). I strive for the 10 minute tidy test. If I have ten minutes warning, and can have it looking lovely, that's good enough for me!! God knows that my kids won't keep it clean for more that ten minutes anyway!! Lol!!! AHHHHH

JCK said...

O.K., you white tornado, I must have been channeling YOU today..and all this time I thought it was The Fly Lady!

Nicole - Life in Progress said...

Hilarious post! I used to have some similar tendencies, but having kids take over my house pretty much beat them out of me. Congrats on selling the house!!

pb&j in a bowl said...

I don't suppose you live near me, do you? You can come over and fight dirt and grime. All. Day. Long.

Cute post.