Compulsions
I have 2 major compulsions. They're things I must do. I am pretty sure everyone has something weird that they must do, so you understand where I am coming from. Here are mine:
1. Ironing. I must iron all of Alexa's clothes. The only thing I do not religiously iron is her pajamas. Everything else, I iron. T-shirts, knit dresses, jean shorts, all ironed. I don't know why I do this, because within minutes of them being put on her- she's gotten milk, food, or dirt on them, but at least they're not wrinkly. I iron carefully around the decals on her shirts, I make sure her pleats are not creased in the wrong spots. Doug laughs at me, especially during the school year, when I am complaining that there is such a HUGE pile of ironing (because I have to iron 5 pairs of khaki pants and 5 plaid, buttoned shirts every week!). I have no idea when I'll finally look at her clothes and go, "Eh, this is not worth it anymore." I imagine it'll be sometime around the time she and I differ on what she should wear, but until then I'll iron away.
2. Wastefulness. I am bordering on obsession with wastefulness. I should clarify- electricity and diapers do not fall into the category of wastefulness for me. I counteract my overuseage of electricity and contributions to the size of our landfills by being almost obsessively non- wasteful in many other areas of my life.
Here's a little side story. We're currently in a war with those little "piss ants" (as we "affectionately" call them). Tomorrow I am laying the nuclear bomb down to those little aggravations and Terminix is coming. I find them in the weirdest places. Not the high chair- where there is always a crumb of food, but on the cabinets, under the cabinets- not in them. Not on the drop of juice that has leaked from the sippy cup- but around the sink. So in the past 3 days I have mopped the floor 4 times! 4 times. After I spray a ton of Raid and let it dry- I mop the floor with super hot water and bleach, so there aren't chemicals all over where Alexa might be. Tonight, Andrew spilled and entire cup of apple juice on the floor (sound familiar Mom?). I could have just gotten one of those Swiffer wet ones out, but . . . oh yeah. I don't use those because in my mind they're wasteful. I could just re-use my mop head that I throw in the wash. See- no space taken up in the landfill. During the school year I send my actual silverware- not plastic spoons in Andrew's lunch box because plastic spoons are wasteful. I finally gave in and sent juice boxes after the 4th time he left the top off of his thermos and his bookbag was covered in milk or juice. (he was that kid with the wrinkled notebook that had been set out to dry- several times. I should have ironed it. ;-) I must recycle batteries, pieces of paper, and plastic because then I am somehow taking up less space in the landfill. It's not necessarily about recycling- it's about not contributing to the size of the landfills.
I have been annoyed with the City of Monroe for years because they do not recycle cereal box type of card board. That makes me so mad!!!! Do they have any idea how much recycling I could if they would just start recycling it? Well- I'll show them, I discovered the place where I take my batteries to be recycled also recycles cereal box type cardboard, so hah City of Monroe! I will show you!!!!!
1. Ironing. I must iron all of Alexa's clothes. The only thing I do not religiously iron is her pajamas. Everything else, I iron. T-shirts, knit dresses, jean shorts, all ironed. I don't know why I do this, because within minutes of them being put on her- she's gotten milk, food, or dirt on them, but at least they're not wrinkly. I iron carefully around the decals on her shirts, I make sure her pleats are not creased in the wrong spots. Doug laughs at me, especially during the school year, when I am complaining that there is such a HUGE pile of ironing (because I have to iron 5 pairs of khaki pants and 5 plaid, buttoned shirts every week!). I have no idea when I'll finally look at her clothes and go, "Eh, this is not worth it anymore." I imagine it'll be sometime around the time she and I differ on what she should wear, but until then I'll iron away.
2. Wastefulness. I am bordering on obsession with wastefulness. I should clarify- electricity and diapers do not fall into the category of wastefulness for me. I counteract my overuseage of electricity and contributions to the size of our landfills by being almost obsessively non- wasteful in many other areas of my life.
Here's a little side story. We're currently in a war with those little "piss ants" (as we "affectionately" call them). Tomorrow I am laying the nuclear bomb down to those little aggravations and Terminix is coming. I find them in the weirdest places. Not the high chair- where there is always a crumb of food, but on the cabinets, under the cabinets- not in them. Not on the drop of juice that has leaked from the sippy cup- but around the sink. So in the past 3 days I have mopped the floor 4 times! 4 times. After I spray a ton of Raid and let it dry- I mop the floor with super hot water and bleach, so there aren't chemicals all over where Alexa might be. Tonight, Andrew spilled and entire cup of apple juice on the floor (sound familiar Mom?). I could have just gotten one of those Swiffer wet ones out, but . . . oh yeah. I don't use those because in my mind they're wasteful. I could just re-use my mop head that I throw in the wash. See- no space taken up in the landfill. During the school year I send my actual silverware- not plastic spoons in Andrew's lunch box because plastic spoons are wasteful. I finally gave in and sent juice boxes after the 4th time he left the top off of his thermos and his bookbag was covered in milk or juice. (he was that kid with the wrinkled notebook that had been set out to dry- several times. I should have ironed it. ;-) I must recycle batteries, pieces of paper, and plastic because then I am somehow taking up less space in the landfill. It's not necessarily about recycling- it's about not contributing to the size of the landfills.
I have been annoyed with the City of Monroe for years because they do not recycle cereal box type of card board. That makes me so mad!!!! Do they have any idea how much recycling I could if they would just start recycling it? Well- I'll show them, I discovered the place where I take my batteries to be recycled also recycles cereal box type cardboard, so hah City of Monroe! I will show you!!!!!
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