6 quirky things

A couple of my friends blogged about some quirks that they had, so I thought I would follow suit. It was really fun to think about and I encourage you to do it too.

So here goes...

1. I am a water snob. I don't drink tap water and I can tell when restaurants serve it.

2. I hate food or drinks to go to waste. I am not of the type, however, that believes you have to clean your plate. I just save everything. I have been known to nurse a Starbucks' drink for 3 days.

3. It bothers me when people use certain grammatical statements incorrectly. The two main ones for me are when people say they need to "itch" themselves (instead of scratch) and when people refer to geographical locations as "up" or "down" incorrectly. For example, if someone said they were going "up" to San Diego from Orange County instead of "down". This quirk is so bad that I have been known to correct people I hardly know.

4. I hate the aftermath of showering. While I enjoy the shower itself, I hate having to get ready. It just takes too much time to do hair and makeup. And I refuse to put on my clothes for the day right after I get out of the shower. I usually put my pajamas on again while I get ready.

5. Going to bed after 10 makes me cranky. To me, 9 or 9:30 is the perfect bedtime. I start feeling angry and nauseous after 10 and I cannot focus.

6. I have a passion for peanut butter. In high school, I went for a month eating peanut butter and jelly for breakfast and lunch. My passion has translated to my husband and now he eats it more than me. It has to be natural peanut butter and my favorite is Trader Joe's crunchy. However, I do not like peanut butter in cookies or shakes, etc.

the dreaded alarm clock

Why is it when you don't set your alarm clock knowing you can sleep in, that your body decides it wants to wake up? Yesterday I chose not to walk so that I could get some extra z's, so I didn't set my alarm. I even went so far as to ask Bob not to set his either. But like clockwork, my body decides to wake up at 6, even earlier than it would if I had set my alarm.

But today, when I did set my alarm, I could have slept forever. It was enough work just to have to reach over and turn it off. It's like my body is playing a cruel joke on me.

being followed

I hate being at the mall on a busy day when all the parking is full and when you are leaving, someone decides to slowly follow you in their car to wait until you pull out. This is violating on so many levels. I always wonder whether I should just have them roll down their window and tell them exactly where I am located so that they can meet me at the spot rather than follow me there. That sure would surprise others waiting... someone having their turn signal on for a spot that is not even open yet and then seeing the driver walk up and get in the car.

And while I try not to be the driver that slowly follows a pedestrian to their spot, I absolutely hate to see someone get in thier car and while I am patiently waiting for their spot, they decide to do their makeup, feed their children, order a pizza, etc. Are people really that oblivious or do they not care about the parking of others? Maybe both.

Anyway, all this to say that my mom and I may have encountered one of the worst instances we have ever seen with this. We were in a Costco parking lot during the middle of a Wednesday, so really there were a lot of open spots. We were in one of the closer ones, and the next nearest spot to us was MAYBE four parking spots down. Regardless, someone decided to slowly follow us and wait for our spot while we put our bags in the car.

This is one difference between Bob and I that we always laugh about. He will drive around for 5 minutes until he finds the closest possible parking spot, where I will park all the way in the back and walk in. I figure it takes the same amount of time and then I don't have to deal with the frustration of looking for a spot.

sad day

Today was a sad day in the life of Bob. For me, it was chalked up as a victory. I think. Bob loves our spoon rest which he endearingly called the Fat Chef. It broke today. This is the spoon rest that Bob and I argued over when we were registering for our dishes. The conversation between us about 3 1/2 years ago went something like this:

Bob (with the registering gun in his hand): We have to get this spoon rest. Look how awesome it is!

me: It is not awesome, it is weird, and it doesn't go with the genre of our kitchen.

Bob: There is a genre to a kitchen?

me: Yes, and this spoon rest does not fit.

Bob: So, let's get it anyway, it won't hurt to have one thing different.

me: Yes it does, and besides it is ugly.

Bob (scanning the chef with the gun): Let's just register for it and see if someone gets it for us.

me: Okay, but we will probably just return it if someone dares to buy it for us.

When walking out of the store and looking over our new exciting registry list, I noticed that not only had Bob registered for one of the chef spoon rests, but seven!

Well years later, this thing has become dear to both of our hearts, so today when I found it crushed in the bottom of the sink, my immediate response was one of sadness. But there is also a small part of me that feels like I somehow won the battle. Finally. Now we just have to decide whether to glue the original back together or to find another similar to the Fat Chef. Because truly, our oventop would somehow seem vacant now with a spoonrest that actually fits our kitchen's genre.

a trip to the dog park

I was feeling somewhat moody yesterday and Bob and I decided that a trip to the dog park might be just the thing to cheer me up. For years we have been visiting the pet store when we needed a pick me up and thought we would step it up a notch. Upon arrival we second guessed ourselves, becoming self-conscious that we were the ONLY ones there without a dog (which makes sense, because really, why would you come to the dog park if you don't have a dog?). But once we got in the gate and over the strong smell of urine, we sat down on a bench and fit in with all of the dog owners (except for the fact that we still didn't have a dog). Okay, so I thought that airports were amusing watching all of the people, but this was pretty comparable. Dogs definitely have their own personalities too. We saw so many funny things happen that night, including a dog taking out a man when he wasn't looking by running into his knees. When they yelped in unison, Bob and I couldn't help ourselves but to laugh aloud. Dog parks really are a world of their own. I didn't think I would ever be a dog park person, but apparently I must be since we found ourselves going there unaccompanied by a canine. The highlight of my night was when a cute little puppy entered. My eyes locked on him and at that point I didn't doubt for a second whether or not it was a good idea to come. Bob and I went over to him and he came running to me. We played for a bit until a man asked if the puppy was ours to which we replied, "We wish." I quickly got out of the conversation, fearful that the man would ask which dog was ours and we would have to tell him that we didn't own one. At the end of our time, we had one final bridge to cross, getting over our embarassment again and walking out of the gate without a dog. As we were leaving, we discussed how much fun we came and Bob said we should come back again. I told him I don't know if that would be a good idea. We might be looked at as those creepy people that come to the bark park to play with other people's dogs. Walking away with our hands all drooled upon was enough for me at that moment. Until next time!

the sacrifice

Have you really thought about what makes up your down comforters or pillows? It is easy to just enjoy the squishy comfort as you slowly sink into the encompassing bliss created by down items. This is precisely what I was doing the other night. Enjoying my favorite couch pillow. Not only do I love how it feels when my head touches it, but I love the look of the outside as well. It just makes me happy. It is so tempting to nap on and I have to admit, that although I told Bob when we got married that naps were forbidden on this pillow because of the drool factor (this pillow was too expensive to be salivated upon), I have snuck in a few naps on this rectangular wonder. Anyway, while enjoying my favorite couch pillow and a good book, I noticed a prick in the head. I ignored it at first but when it got to be too much, I sat up grudgingly looking for the culprit. There it was, the end of a feather sticking out of the pillow. It was too late to shove it back in, so I pulled it out, wondering how much one feather would affect the comfort of this feather-stuffed pillow. And I couldn't help but wonder the sacrifice that geese make, giving up their feathers for our enjoyment. So I just wanted to personally thank those animals for their contribution to my favorite pillow. Maybe next time when I see them at the park, I will feed them an extra piece of bread (even though they scare me).

parenthood--the biggest act of selflessness

Our nephew's birthday was on Saturday so we spent the night with them on Friday, hanging out and helping them get ready for the party Saturday afternoon. When my sister and I got back from the market, the boys were playing Life. Not so ironically, Bob happened to have $100,000 to pay back in college loans on a $20,000 a year salary. We laughed and groaned about how that stupid game mockingly mirrored our own life. Although, really, it's not that bad.

Saturday morning when the boys all woke up they huddled around the computer and played Pimp my Chimp where you dress up a chimpanzee in sweet clothes and if you get the right combination, he gets a ride in a pimped out car (don't ask me, maybe it's a guy thing (?)). Anyway, it is so precious for me to see Bob with children and I am looking forward to having our own someday. Someday in the future. The far far future. Even a day with them reminded me how selfless a job that is, and I can't say I am ready for that. I am so selfish with my time with Bob that I am not yet ready to share in that with children. So kudos to all of you out there with kids, giving up of yourselves day in and day out. Hanging around you has taught me what a beautiful and frightful thing parenthood is.

secret of life

When I was a kid, my biggest argument for not making my bed in the morning was that I was just going to unmake it again that night to sleep in it. I always wondered what the point was. My dad would cleverly argue back, questioning me then what was the point in taking a shower because you would just need to take one again. I was left with nothing to comment back except for, "It's not the same."

As I have gotten older, I realize that in almost every piece of life you could argue, "What's the point, I just have to do it again." Why wash the dishes if they are going to get dirty again, why clean the house, or tell a child something? I guess that is just life and the process of learning. So unless I figure out a clever way to never have to clean dishes again, I am going to have to find the joy in each of these little things, which might be the secret of life. So for now, I sing and dance next to my husband as we are washing and drying dishes, I feel peaceful when I walk into a clean house, I nap on top of the covers, and I use fun shower gel scents (strawberry at present) when sudsing.