Idiosyncrasy

I'm not sure how I feel about spilling my various quirks and weaknesses. Some of you may already know these things about me, but I'm pretty sure most of you don't.

id-i-oÃ,·syn-cra-sy

1. A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.
2. A physiological or temperamental peculiarity.
3. An unusual individual reaction to food or a drug.

List five of your own idiosyncrasies:

1. My conscience can consume me. I once bumped this car as I was backing out and don't even think I caused any damage (the other car was already not in the best condition). I didn't have a pen on me, so I waited for a while for someone to come out. When I got home I called Joe in a panic, who didn't seem too concerned. I felt so guilty about not leaving a note that I called the police and filed a report on the incident. It still bugs me when I think about it.

2. I am by nature a very trusting, oftentimes labeled "gullible" person, but for some reason I don't trust service people. When I hire a contractor or repair person I need to do thorough research myself on the proper installation or repair before I let them walk through my door. In the end, I could probably do the job myself with all the research I've done.

3. I am a closet-messy person. If you've ever been to my house, it usually looks very tidy, but if you drop in unannounced you may be shocked. I think this comes from the fact that I use a lot of things - lots of gadgets, lots of ingredients for cooking, lots of clothes, just lots of stuff. Plus, I'm not very good at putting things away after I use them and I get so focused on the task at hand that I can't stop to tidy up along the way.

4. I am pretty poor... alright, I'm downright bad at doing multiple things at once. Joe often makes fun of me because when I'm thinking about something or doing something, I can't even hear my own children yelling at me. Well, maybe I just have selective hearing, I say. But really, when I do something I have to use my full brain to do it. But, I like to think that I'm more precise and efficient because of it.

5. I am beyond anal about how my laundry is done. Joe has often offered to drop our laundry off at a cleaners or even help me with it occasionally, but he and I both know that I wouldn't be comfortable with that. I'm a mad scientist when it comes to doing laundry. It begins with inspecting and pretreating each and every stain, then dividing each load down to the hue, setting the exact load size and temperature (my washer has a dial with about 20-30 notches between SMALL and LARGE LOAD, and 7 different temperature options), setting second rinse for the kids' clothes or just 1 for the adults', adding the soap (and bleach if it's a white load), and letting the water fill up at least halfway before adding the clothes. AND for the drying I follow the suggested dryer setting on the tag. To this day I haven't met a single person who does this. If it's something delicate, it's something I'm afraid of shrinking or it has even 1% of lycra, I won't risk it and will always hang it on a rack to dry. But before adding all the wet clothes to the dryer, I'll inspect all the pretreated stains to check if they need another run in the washer. You don't want to risk setting the stain permanently. Also, my dryer has a moisture sensor which allows me to pull the laundry out before it gets overly dry. Okay, now that I think about it this does seem a bit excessive. But if you ever need recommendations on good washer/dryers, I'm your woman.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed your laugh, now what are your idiosyncrasies?