Truly, I'm not weird.

I was tagged by both Sara and Janice to list the 6 weird things about myself.

A couple of days have passed and the thing that keeps coming to my mind is that I'm not weird. But I am trying hard to play nicely, so I'll list some "perhaps a tidge out of the ordinary" things myself.

1. I brush my teeth -- frequently. Probably at least 10 times a day. Some people might even think I am compulsive about it. A few people might even mention it out loud. Really brave people call me obsessed...to my face. I just can't stand for my teeth to feel anything but slicky. I don't care where I am at - if I eat, I brush. But truly, that's not weird - that's good hygiene.

2. I refuse to make my bed. And I don't make my children make theirs either. We throw the comforters over them and call it good. When I was growing up, if I went to school without making my bed, I knew I would be grounded when I got home. Every since the day I left home, I have probably not made my bed more than twice a year. By "making it", I mean actually straightening the sheets, blankets and pillows to the point where someone could look at the bed and see I put some effort into it. Forget about shams. I throw those away as soon as that handy Bed in a Bag is unzipped. You will find no frilly decorative pillows for my bedroom.

When Bill and I first married, this habit of mine drove him absolutely stark raving bonkers. He was an ex-Marine and HIS side of the bed would be quarter bouncing ready with a hospital corner sheet and exactly in the middle, where my side started, it would be a mass of jumbled covers. I like to just burrow down in the covers while he lays carefully, pulling the sheet up to his chin like you would see in a 1950's movie.

He would try to make my side of the bed, but I would just rip it out and growl at him. After several years, he gave up and now his side is messy too. I think he realized I would never change. Actually, that's not weird, that's perseverance.

3. I eat my food in ABC order. For example, Easter dinner consisted in part of steak, corn, squash, potatoes and pineapple upside down cake. Which to the ordinary thinker would be eaten corn, pineapple cake, potato, squash, steak. But what if I got full before I got to the steak - which I really wanted to eat - so I had to go to the subcatagories in my head.

#1 Pineapple upside down cake - simplified to Cake. Easy enough. No sense taking a chance I would get full before dessert is there? I think not.

#2 Corn - that was good, because I wanted it to be #2 - It was fried corn - my favorite -- oh it was yummy!

But then - I wanted the steak....so in my mind it became Grilled steak. Notice that adding the G and giving it the subcatagory of Grilled, I was able to leap right over the potato and squash? Pretty tricky, huh?

I really wasn't in the mood for potato but it was next in line and I wanted to eat the squash. How to get to the squash? Yellow - starts with Y - no good. Sauted? Summer? nope, still after the P in potato. My mind was whirling around the fact that I might have to eat my potato when suddenly I stumbled upon the answer -- forget changing the squash and change the potato to "WRAPPED in foil potato" thereby freeing up the squash for consumption by bumping the potato down to the W's.

Oh, I am a genius. You could learn from my wisdom. But certainly, this isn't weird - it's creative.

4. I wear flip flops summer and winter - with socks. Yes, I know it looks stupid and dorky, but somewhere along the way the comfort factor won out and I just really don't care. The flip flops aren't comfortable without socks. They stick to my feet and make a sucking sound when I walk. Don't care to have my feet make sucking sounds. That's gross.

A few years ago I found a pair of flip flops that I liked so I went to the store and bought every pair they had in my size. I'm not "into" shoes. Besides my flip flops and my 3 identical pair of white tennis shoes (also bought for comfort), I have 2 other pair of shoes - both brown leather. But there is no way that's weird, that's being minimalistic.

5. I love purses, billfolds and diaper bags. It's worth noting that one of the first things people said to me when they found out I was going to be a grandma was that I would be able to buy diaper bags again. I just love them. More than a person should. I don't know why. I think it has to do with all the compartments for putting things. I love organized things. It just makes life better. That and slicky teeth. Realizing that perhaps I am overzealous in my love for all things compartmentalized, I have battled with this addiction a lot in recent years.

Last year at a yard sale I sold 17 purses. 14 of them were brown leather. That alone told me I needed serious help. But I didn't use the money I made for serious help - I used the money I made to buy more purses. Still I didn't use "new" money - I used "found" money. So see - that's not weird, that's being practical.

6. I like to car dance. Scratch that. I love to car dance. The kids and I sing at the top of our lungs and car dance and none of us really care who drives up beside us. Occasionally, we can get the person in the car next to us to dance along. Then it's a good day. Lest you think that's weird, it's not -- that's just good fun.

So all in all, I'm not weird at all. I guess you could say that I'm just a slicky toothed, creative, practical, fun gal with a good grasp on what's important and loads of determination who also happens to occasionally tell a lie. WHAT? Oh yeah -- #3........totally a lie. I don't put that much thought into anything I eat.