Tag Archives: OCD

Lost in Translation

2 Apr

I am fairly well-known for being OCD – or, in my case, CDO as the letters must be in order.  I’m a nut about making sure the hymnals and prayer books are neatly place in the racks (I’ve been known to “tidy up” the pews when I visit another church.)  Light switches must all be facing one direction – all up, or all down.  My spices are in alphabetical order, and all of the girls names begin with the same letter and the oldest has four letters in her name, the middle girl was five letters, and the youngest has six. However, that was entirely accidental.

Our friend Mac speaks English as if it was a second language (it isn’t) and his wife is not much better.

This evening as we were leaving the parish hall after our knitting group, I walked out of the hall in the dark, so I could get all of the light switches in order. Mrs. Mac laughed at me, and remarked that I was “just too, too AC/DC.”

I should hope not!

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M & Ms and OCD

15 Aug

When I get a bag of multi-coloured candy, whether it be Gummy Bears, Robin Eggs, Skittles, or  M & Ms, I have to sort through and find out how many different colours are in there.

Six? Then I will have one of each colour, and always eaten in the same order, usually in the same order as the colour wheel – red, orange, yellow, green and blue. And the brown one by itself.  When I run out of one colour, then I will have five candies. Not five of one shade and an extra to make six.  Five. Then four. Three. Two.

And then the last odd ones sit in the jar for ever.

I keep my coloured pencils in colour wheel order: black, red, orange, yada, yada, and brown on the far end. A box of 64 Crayolas can send me into a nervous swivet!

And I’m not really OCD. I’m CDO, so the letters are in the correct order!

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Twitchy

18 Jul

If you have ever visited our home, it’s hard to believe I am OCD about anything. (Except for me, it would CDO, in proper alphabetical order. The girls claim it’s a wonder I didn’t name them alphabetically.)

However, it drives me nuts when the hymnals and prayer books are not lined up properly in the pew racks. The taller hymnals in the center, and the shorter Book of Common Prayer on either side, nicely snugged together. Viewed from the door of the church, it gives the impression that we take pride in the way things look, and most people in the congregation are really good about making sure their books are in place when they leave. If not, the ushers will tidy up after services, pushing books together and collecting stray bulletins.  One of our former rectors once said that his idea of Hell for me would be to have a rack of books, just beyond my reach – and he’s probably right.

Friday, we went to a memorial service for our youngest daughter’s mother-in-law.

That parish uses two different hymnals, so there were three books in the rack, all just shoved in higgledy-piggelty.  The moment we walked into the sanctuary, The Squire grabbed my elbow, and whispered fiercely, “Don’t touch the books!”

I did straighten out the ones in front of us, but for the most part, I sat there and twitched during the entire service.

It’s a dire fate to have a fetish, let me tell you!

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