Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I seriously think I have this. To a degree, anyway. This past week, I've stayed up until the wee hours of the morning because I couldn't leave a project unfinished. In the past two months, I have done so many projects around the house that I really think I'd forget some if I tried to count them. I've covered two chairs, stained and covered two footstools for said chairs, refinished my dining table, refinished and covered the piano bench, sewed a curtain for the back door, painted hardware for cabinets and door knobs for interior and exterior doors, made a couple of skirts for myself and my girls, cleaned the kitchen cabinets with wood cleaner, expanded my cooking and baking skills, found new ways to include squash and zucchini in everyday meals without anyone noticing (I've done this quite a few times, and my family has been none the wiser!), and many other things that I didn't know I even had energy for. When I start something, I work all the way through until it's finished, if possible. Last night, I went to bed at 1:30am because I couldn't just cut the fabric for the footstool and leave it. I had to sew it and tack it to the stool with upholstery tacks. Then I had to iron the pleats of the skirt on it so it looked pretty before putting it in the room with the chairs and going to bed. I also did the same thing on Friday night finishing the first one. I went to bed at 3:30am the day I did the first chair cover. I know! I'm crazy! But I seriously can't leave it unfinished! When I start something, I just get too excited to see what the finished product is going to look like.

It's not all bad, though. My OCD doesn't always lead to sleepless nights and tired mornings. It transfers over to other aspects of my life as well. Some good for me, even. For instance, I couldn't go to sleep last night until I had read my scriptures. Yes, at 1:30 in the morning. I've been doing so well reading them every day lately, that I couldn't skip yesterday. You see, I didn't do it yesterday morning like I normally do, so I couldn't go to sleep without reading last night. So it happened at 1:30am. Also, when I start cleaning the kitchen, I don't stop until everything is put away and off the counters. Then they get a good wipe-down. Most of the time, I do stop short of sweeping and mopping the floors, though. But the counters and sink are always empty and clean. When I pick up the laundry from upstairs, I don't just pick up laundry, I pick up blankets and put them back on beds. Shoes go back in closets. Stuffed animals go back on beds or in cribs. Pacifiers go on the beds. Towels get hung back on hooks in the bathroom. Toys go back in the tub. And everything is done in a few minutes. It just makes me happy, I guess. I like everything organized. Even if I am a little OCD. It's not so bad, right?

Something's Missing!

I may be offering up too much information here, but I'm going to say it anyway. When I lose a piece from a set, it really drives me crazy. It doesn't matter what the set is of, or how many pieces are in it. I can't stand to lose one. For example, I had a set of dishes that my aunt bought me at a garage sale. She gave them to me when I was 17 so I could have something to contribute to my household goods when I got married. The dishes were not anything particularly nice or special, nor did they have a huge personal or sentimental value to me. A few years later, I made a sample of a wedding cake for another aunt's friend. She was supposed to come taste-test it at my house, but at the last minute, decided to take it home for her fiancee's opinion. Since I wasn't planning on sending it home with her, I had decorated it on a plate from my own aforementioned set. Reluctantly, I sent it home with her. As one could probably deduce, the plate was never returned. Now, my place setting for 10 is now a place setting for 10 only if I'm not using the dinner plates.

I have lost pieces of sets numerous times in my life so far. Broken drinking glasses, lost socks, one crayon or marker from the package, one of a set of two hair clips, a bookend, a burnt out lightbulb in a chandelier, an earring dropped down the drain, a screw, a paintbrush, and the list could continue forever. Just today, Audrey dropped a glass dish from a set of four with lids. Now I have a set of 3 dishes with four lids. A few months ago, I bought a new set of casual dishes, and promptly dropped one of the dinner plates. now I have a service for 7 instead of 8. I want to replace the plate, which is possible through a replacement dinnerware website, but don't want to spend $12 for one plate, when I could get a place setting (dinner plate, salad plate, bowl and mug) for $18. But I don't want to have an extra salad plate, bowl, or mug either. Maybe I'm a little obsessive-compulsive. I don't really know. But something about having 8 dinner plates, and 9 of everything else bothers me. Something about having an extra lid for a dish that no longer exists bothers me. Something about the one empty slot in my marker case bothers me. When Alex has four sippy cups in the cupboard and Lucas only has three because he dropped one at the store somewhere and I couldn't find it, I feel like I need to replace only his without getting an extra one for Alex along with it. (They usually come in packs of two at the store. One blue, one green.). Too much information? Maybe. But I'm a little quirky, and it can't hurt to be honest about it. Maybe it will even help me get over my obsession for things to match. Only time will tell...