Who? Me? Quirky?

I was tagged by Joy to do a list of 6 quirky things about myself, and I have been mulling it over for about a week. I have always thought of myself as quirky, but when it comes to naming them specifically, well, that's been kind of a challenge. Yet I can name my husband's and children's quirks in two seconds flat. So much for self-awareness.

1. I can't stand for cheese to touch mayonnaise. It's just too slimy. Cheese must stay in its assigned place, preferably between the lettuce and the meat, or if lettuce is unavailable, it must be placed next to a dry piece of bread. Obviously the dry bread scenario is not ideal. This rule can be rescinded if another person makes the sandwich for me, but that happens about never times a year.

2. I can't stand for cheese to touch fried meat (i.e. chicken or fish). I don't know what this actually tastes like since I wouldn't dare try to eat it, but just those commercials for fish sandwiches with the orange melted cheese on top give me the willies. (shudder.) The only exception to this rule is if the cheese is grated and the fried chicken is chopped in a salad and drizzled with Ranch, and then it is a surprisingly scrumptious combination. I would also like to make it known that I am on the fence about cheese touching grilled chicken. I suppose it is all right if there is bacon present.

3. It is physically impossible for me to get out of bed until I have been awake for 20-30 minutes. I can't do it. I have to lie there, awake, and collect my thoughts before I can even touch the floor. If I fall back asleep, the time has to start over. I even set my alarm 30 minutes before I really need to get up just so I can have my 'staring into space' time. This can be exasperating for the hungry children who are awaiting my arrival in the kitchen since dark thirty, and when they come into my room to make their requests (waffle, juice, Girl Scout cookies, PBS kids, computer time), the only response I can manage is, "I'll be up in a minute. Go away." It would really be helpful if I could pray during that time, and I often try, but honestly my brain is not able to hold on to a coherent thought long enough. Thankfully, I developed this particular quirk after I was done having newborn babies, or maybe I developed it because of them, who knows.

4. It is physically impossible for me to take a quick shower. It's like I enter the some sort of alternate universe in there where time stands still. Then I come back to the current universe and can't remember whether or not I used shampoo before I used conditioner. Then I get out of the shower and discover that I only shaved one leg, yet I have no memory of shaving at all.

The previous two quirks may explain why I get so little done in the mornings. For a brief period last month, I tried to combine the two 'staring off into space' times by rolling out of bed and straight into the shower, and while it was effective for managing my time in the mornings, I found that I was in too much of a sleepy stupor to fix my hair or put on makeup, so I basically walked around all day looking frazzled and frizzy. Plus there wasn't any hot water left by the time I woke up from my trance.
Onward...

5. Every single time I walk out of a building when the weather is cold, I feel compelled to exclaim, "Oh, IT'S SO COLD OUT HERE!". Every single time. All winter. Every time. I can't control it. It is a compulsion. I cannot feel cold air near my body and not complain. I don't care if I just walked in the house and I have to walk back out to the car six times to get groceries, I will complain about the cold each time I step out of the house.

6. For my sixth one I will simply give you a list of The Quirky Sayings of Me, and you can imagine them, repeated incessantly, every single day in my home:
upon entering the car: "Buckle up, Buttercup."
upon encountering a tantrum about dinner: "You get what you get, and don't throw a fit"
upon leaving the house: "Let's go, Joe." or, "Time to G. O." or, as a last resort, "Vamonos Amigos!"
upon driving to Boston Market: "Bos-ton Mar-ket, (clap clap clapclapclap) (repeat 50x or until arrival at Boston Market)
upon catching my 5 year old sucking his thumb: "Let me try it. I want to try that. It looks delicious. Give it here."

On a side note, this does not do anything to curb the thumb sucking, but it does get a good laugh. Also, I need to clarify that I don't go to Boston Market every day, but if I could, oh, what a wonderful world it would be. They don't put cheese on the chicken there.

So there you have it, a peek into the inner workings of the mind of Chrissy. I'm supposed to tag more people to name their quirks, so I would like to extend the challenge to my sister Wendy, just to see if the quirks on her list are the ones I suspect, and to Kathryn, who is mired under an endless Wisconsin winter right now and could probably use a laugh, even if it is at herself.