So I haven't made it on the thread for awhile now. I went to that outdoor wedding this weekend, walked over lots of uneven ground carrying twenty some odd pounds of baby, had a few cocktails, and danced my booty off. Throw a really bad hotel mattress into the recipe, and I couldn't move Sunday morning...and we had a 5-hour drive home ahead of us.

So I won't whine about my back any more, especially since it's feeling so good that now I'm able to sit in front of the computer!

The quirk thread yesterday was too funny...I decided it just had to extend to today, so you guys can list all the ones you thought of when you were done posting and said dang, why didn't I put that one on there.

So here's my little oddities:
1. I am totally phobic about breathing what I consider to be used air. If I am in a crowded elevator or a big crowd in a low room, I will hold my breath until I get in a more sparsley populated area. I am just so afraid that someone in the group won't be a very good tooth-brusher, and I will somehow inhale their plaque particles.

2. On the used air note, I cannot sleep facing someone else. Even if it's in a hotel room, a double, I will have to take a wall side for fear that I will be trapped between two people and will be forced to face someone while I sleep.

3. I have to chew things equally on both sides of my mouth. For example, I put a bite of something in my mouth and if I chew it three sides on the left, no matter how mushy it is, it must be chewed three times on the right as well.

And you girls thought you were strange...please don't hate me because I'm a complete freak!!! My husband can always "get" me in a crowd just by reminding me that I'm most likely breathing used air...

OOOh, I just thought of another one...a towel or washcloth touching my teeth. It gives me shivers down my back just the thought of terrycloth rubbing across my teeth. I have no idea how I would have figured this one out, but there it is. I don't remember who else said this, but the sound of dry hands rubbing together is another icky thing...that's what lotion is for, and I feel compelled to offer lotion to anyone when I hear dry hand rubbing up against dry hand. I carry it in my purse for this purpose alone.

Ok...I have a couple more...

The used air thing, I call it exhaust, and I hate it! Please dont breathe on me!

I had two rather strange addictions, I will add. 1) Blistex, must have it, always have one in pocket or purse, use it a million times a day 2) lotion...I am a lotion junkie! I hate dry skin!

I thought of another one too. When people rub their eyes and they squeak. Oh I hate that!!! I also hate it when people have those anxiety or nervous energy foot tapping really fast things. That bugs me big time too.

Jayne I am kind of with you on the air. But what I really hate is when you are on an airplane, not only are you breathing recycled air, but then every time someone coughs, I just know I will breath in the germs and get sick. I usually pick up something when I go I a trip and I blame the plane air on this!!!

You guys are a bunch of freaks!!!! (I am just kidding!!)

Here is mine:

1. I cannot have anything touching my face when I am sleeping (my DH sleeps with a pillow on his face, could never handle it). I must be afraid of sufficating.

2. I am obsessive compulsive about house cleaning. Everything has to be in order, beds made, dishes done before the kids and I leave the house in the morning. If I know there is a picture on the wall that is crooked in the night, I will get up and straighten it!!!

Add me to the Freak List....

Oh, almost forgot...someone mentioned the whole breakfast food mixing issue. I cannot eat with someone who dips their bread in their OE eggs or puts ketchup on their eggs and hashbrowns..that is discusting!!!

Here are mine:

1) nails on chalkboards - the very thought makes me sick.
2)grundies - in other words, sleep in the eyes. I don't mind the dry ones as much, but the wet ones are horrid. I had a boss that ALWAYS had wet grundies and this is where I developed the quirk.
3) the silk ends of blankets - I MUST rub the silky stuff between my 2 fingers, and it must be cold.

I am with Marcie on both lip chap and lotion - I am obsessed wtih both.

WEll, the conference was good - but I got hit on. Which was partly a compliment, partly like - get a grip, we are at a conference. Plus, when I told him I was taken he kept it up, which was unnerving. Its like, hey, its nice you like me but when I say back off I am taken, please do. IN the end, a friend of mine came to one of the last seminars and told him I was engaged and he finally left me alone, promptly going on to the only other young female in the room...loser.

Work is insanely busy though - I worked 12 hours yesterday and was exhausted when I got home. I haven't been sleeping well and b/f thinks I am unhappy which isn't true, I am just exhausted and overtired, which makes me a bit weepy. Doesn't help I am PMSing, either.

I must go back and read all I missed...which reminds me that I missed WI this week due to unreal busy-ness. I will not bother tryng this week as work and the possibe new baby will come first. I'll go next Tuesday.

Have a good OP day - BBL!

Belle

tonya - I put vinegar on my hashbrowns....would that freak you out?

No Belle, that is clear, I could get over that. BTW, you and my son have the same quirk. He rubs stuff. My hair, his blanket, his sister's silky shirts, the silky underware at Marshall Fields.....so, don't feel alone...

OK Tonya, the thought of your little boy rubbing silk underwear at Marshall Fields just made me laugh out loud!!
(And I dip my toast in the runny yolk of my eggs, so I guess you'd never have breakfast with me, huh?!)

Add me to the list of those of you obsessed with lip balm and lotion. I have lip balm everywhere - in every room of my house, in the pocket of every coat, in my desk, in my purse, in my computer bag - EVERYWHERE!! The good thing is I love the 99 cent ones from Avon, so I can afford to have a hundred of them!!

Also, the sound of someone popping their gum or chewing their gum with their mouth open makes me nearly homicidal. I swear, it drives me more crazt than just about anything I can think of.

Auntie Belle - No baby for you yet either?!

Ok, here's a similar one, very much like Jen's hand-crossing. When I hear the Friends theme ( and I don't even particularly like that song, it's kind of irritating), I must clap my hands those four times. This is mighty inconvenient when trying to merge into heavy traffic on the freeway during rush hour, let me tell you what! Drew just knows now that when that song comes on, he grabs the wheel without me even saying a word. I think he's too terrified to do otherwise. Here's some other pet peeves of mine -- I have a friend who calls Saran Wrap just plain Saran....drives me NUTS!!! I have to quietly finish her phrase with "wrap" very softly each time she says it or I just can't bear it. My husband and family, of course, have a field day with this.

Jayne, I do that with the Friends song too. But I love the Bodeens.

My aunt always mis-prounces things and that drives me crazy!!!

Thanks for the giggles girls. I needed it this morning. I walked into work and instantly developed a headache. Didn't even do anything....just walked in the doors. This company fired another 25 or so people on Tuesday and regorganized the reporting structure in several other departments. I keep saying I'm grateful to have a job (and thus a paycheck) but the truth is that I find it highly stressful to work in such an unstable environment. I'm pretty flexible when it comes to changing directions on projects or responsibilities but I don't like constantly wondering if I'm going to be employed by the end of a day. I need to make some time in my life to seriously think about the whole job/career thing and what role I want it to play in my life.

Anyway...enough whining....I was totally OP yesterday. Thanks for the salmon help JenL. I made salmon fillets with tropical fruit salsa, steamed rice, and steamed broccoli for Christian and I last night and it was absolutely scrumptious. Now that I know how easy cooking fish is, I'm going to eat it much more often. I love fish but always assumed it was complicated to cook.

I love all your quirky quirks girls....glad to know that even my freaky things are somewhat normal! I thought of a couple other things that bug me......
1) The noise "wind" pants make when people walk in them.
2) When the people behind you in the movie theatre talk at full volume through the whole movie.
3) Driving over bridges. I can ride over them and I'm O.K. driving over small ones but I have a lot of trouble driving over large ones like the Skyway in Chicago or the Mackinac or the tollbridge between Jamestown and Newport, RI.

I'll check in and respond to you guys later in the day.

Laura

Hello, everyone!

Thanks again for all of your support yesterday, luckily, I'm feeling much better today. Big Aaron and I are doing OK, Mom is still not feeling well, but it'll be few days before she feels good enough to go home. I've been helping as much as I can to get her stuff ready for her craft show this weekend, but there's only so much I know how to do. Either way, I'm sure it'll be a success for her.

I have WI tonight, gulp. I've done OK this week, the only regrets I have are the monster nacho plate and garlic cheese bread that I tore through on Sunday and last night's Subway. It wasn't all THAT bad, but I did have cheese on it, with a little mayo, and a little oil. It put me a few points over for the day, but I took a nice, long 1-hour walk with a friend last night before hot-tubbing and I don't feel all that guilty.

I thought of another quirk of mine. I absolutely cannot stand it when people crack their knuckles or other joints. My knees are kind of rickety and when I do the stepper at the gym, I get totally grossed out because I can hear them cracking.

I also hate wearing socks in the winter. My feet get so dry that they scratch against my socks and it feels awful.

Jayne--Glad to hear that your back is feeling better. "Used air", huh? That's one I've never heard of before.

Jen--I agree 110% about the nervous foot-tapping thing. Aaron does it and it drives me nuts. Even more annoying is when people are sitting in a meeting or something clicking their pens. That drives me NUTS!

Tonya--I wish I were obsessive compulsive about house-cleaning! My apartment would look so much better and if I had it all in order before leaving, I honestly think that everything in my life would fall together. Probably there would even be world peace.

Belle--I laughed when you mentioned your boss having grundies, especially because I've always called dirty underpants grundies! But, yeah, that eye gunk is totally disgusting and I hate when people have it. It's nice that you got hit on, even if it was at a conference. He picked you over the other girl your age there and it shows that you are obviously the superior beauty. Try to get some sleep and take a little time for you, sweetie! You'll feel better and so will BF.

JenK--I LOVE the Avon lip balms. What's your favorite flavor? My favorite of all time is Bubblegum. I hope they never stop making that. I love buying lip balm and it's true that you can't have enough. You really do need to have one with you at all times, besides, I think it's kind of a turn-on when guys see you doing that--they think of your lips and kissing you and probably other naughty things...

OK, I'm going to do some work now. Yippee , it's almost lunchtime (the highlight of my day). I think I'll head home and toast some bread for a turkey sandwich and maybe have some Wow tostitos with salsa, yummy!

Talk to you ladies later, I'm sure!