Some call them neuroses...I like to call them quirks.

It's a 6 Random things/quirks tag, and Juli tagged me, so here are the rules:

1- Post the rules on your blog
2- List 6 random things about yourself.
3- Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4- Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
5- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I think I have done one of these within the last few months, but I'm so weird (quirky) that I can do it again without batting an eyelash.

1. I use military time/24 hour clock to the point that I don't realize I'm doing it, and if someone tells me something starts at, say, 7:00 pm, I honestly have to think about it. I also slip ten code and police-radio talk into my everyday speech without notice. If you ask me how Mason is, and I answer he's "alpha condition" or something to that effect, just tell me to quit speaking dispatch. It's an occupational hazard and I'm sorry I do it; but I would be more sorry if I got caught being unprofessional at work!

2. Like Juli, I am always late. My husband is almost obsessively 15 minutes early for everything; if (all right, WHEN) I'm running late, I get to listen to him for that whole 15 minutes, complaining about being late. We were pulling up somewhere on the hour one time and I said "Wow, we're actually on time," and he seriously pointed out to me that the clock had turned to whatever-oh-one, so we were late. *sigh* He tells me we need to be somewhere 15-30 minutes earlier than we actually do so that I can get myself out of the house on time. I know part of it is short-changing myself by trying to do "just this one quick thing" or forgetting to factor in the time it takes to actually get settled in the car. I've also recently discovered that no two clocks in my house say the same time; this might not be a problem if they were all set ahead, but they are not. They are set by the "God clock", which is the automated one at dispatch.

3. I am notorious for my inability to complete a task. I can multi-task with the best of them (another occupational hazard), but when it comes to actually completing something it doesn't happen. This does apply to all sorts of things. I have molding sitting in the garage that I was going to use to make mock picture frames for Mason's room. When he was a baby. I have taken some embroidery from my mother-in-law to help her out. I'm betting I find it sometime after #2 is born unless she's there to prod me along. I don't think it's actual disorganization, it's just distraction.

Here is a typical morning at home to give you an idea of how challenging something like housework can be for me: make my bed, go downstairs; start the dryer to unwrinkle the clothes we moved over last night; start a pot of coffee for Alan. Hear Mason upstairs. Go upstairs (without taking any clothes), get Mason up and change him/beg him to try using the toilet, come back down. Realize that I forgot to bring down the next load of clothes for the laundry. Run upstairs to get it, forget what I was after, notice that something is out of place. Put it back in our bedroom. Notice I forgot to put the sham pillows on the bed while I made it. Put the pillows on the bed. Find the mismatched socks in a basket under said pillows and dump them out on the bed. Hear Alan calling from downstairs that I was going to come down so we could make breakfast. Forget about the socks, go downstairs and cook breakfast. Re-load the dishwasher with breakfast dishes, realize I need to sweep, go into the laundry room to get the broom. The clothes in the dryer are now re-wrinkled, so start the dryer again and walk out without the broom... and you get the idea. By the end of the day, the laundry may or may not be folded, the floor probably hasn't been swept, and Alan is still trying to figure out what I did all day. I'm right there with him-- I couldn't tell you. Other than the fact that Mason is fed, as clean as a three year old can be, and dressed.


4. Also like Juli, I am not a morning person. Part of it, I think, is that working nights for a couple of years really messed up my sleep cycle. Even now, at six months pregnant, I usually can't fall asleep before around midnight. Mason goes to bed at about 2100 and we wake up between 0900-0930. It is almost impossible for us to get out of the house before 1100.

5. I tend to fixate on things. I get a specific picture in my head and it's really difficult to change. Usually it's something like clothing (a certain shirt I want or something like that), but I've done it with stuff as large as Mason's room. This new little girl's room is proving to be no exception, so it's a good thing I've found stuff I like already. But it's not uncommon for me to go store to store looking for the right white eyelet shirt or grey skirt--and totally not find it.

6. I can sing like a boy. When I was in madrigals in high school, I could comfortably sing along with the baritones at least 90% of the time.

Well, with that, I tag: Heather, Ali, Jill, Joey, and anyone else who wants to participate since I think I tagged the other four or five people I follow last time...