i was attempting to write a post about harrison and the little things we notice about him that are signs of sensory processing disorder. i last left off my story here, saying that i would report to you what rachel told us with regard to the issues she perceives harrison to have. people have been asking me "what does it look like?", "what does he do that's different?". it's hard for me to answer those questions (for many reasons). but it is important for me to document them at some point as we have already starting to notice changes in him (as mentioned in this post) and i want to keep a record of where we started and how far we've come. i'm working on it.
in the meantime i thought i should explore some of my own quirkiness. i'm not saying my quirks are associated with spd, although i have noted some of my own sensory issues since we've ventured down this path. rather, these are just the odd things i do...and why not poke a little fun at myself?
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i do weird things.
or things that are perceived to be weird by others.
i'll never forget the time my friend raye noticed the top storage shelf inside my refrigerator door and asked, "what in the world are those?"
they were butter wrappers.
hello, my name is rachel and i save butter wrappers.
after i unwrap a stick of butter i neatly fold the wrapper and place it in the fridge. when i told her that i keep them so i can quickly and easily butter a casserole dish she looked at me as those i was the craziest person on earth.
i can't be the only one who does this. don't any other gen x-ers save butter wrappers?
i learned to save them from my parents. and i know for a fact they (at least my dad) learned to save them from my grandma gladys (his mom). she always had butter wrappers stored in her refrigerator. grandma gladys didn't call it "butter" though. she didn't call it "margarine" either. she called it "oleo" which was the term for margarine back in her day. i grew up hearing her say "oleo" and, thus, became familiar with the now extinct term.
this knowledge has come in handy exactly one time in my life. back in my early twenties i dated a boy. well, dated might be a strong word. we flirted, we liked each other, but we didn't go out on dates. we didn't really go anywhere together. i was intimidated by him and his worldliness so i pretty much tried to be whomever i thought he wanted me to be. this resulted in us just hanging out at home a lot and kissing even more.
he loved to do the sunday newspaper's crossword puzzle. i loved to sit next to him and watch ally mcbeal while he did the sunday newspaper's crossword puzzle. one sunday he was stumped on a word. he read me the clue and i knew the answer was "oleo". turns out i was right which won me bonus points with him and resulted in extra kisses that night. of course that "relationship" was very quick lived but my love for the term "oleo" has lasted forever.
i save cling wrap too. and sandwich bags. and aluminum foil. i use them until they simply can't be used anymore. i also save the wax paper lining from boxes of cereal so i don't have to buy wax paper at the store. i save 32 ounce yogurt tubs. they are handy for storing leftovers and also make fantastic receptacles for unfortunate car sickness incidents (we never leave home without a former-yogurt-container puke bucket in the car. get queasy, puke, pop lid on, toss in gas station trash can, get back on road). i save glass jelly jars and reuse them to make overnight oats. if you read this post you'll remember that i save cocoa, nut and taco seasoning containers to reuse as kid's activity bins.
it would appear that i am a food storage hoarder.
the ironic thing about that is this: i'm not against throwing out the occasional storage container. in fact, even though we try to recycle as much as possible (because we earn points for doing so. check out recyclebank.com), i've been known to simply toss an entire bowl, lid and all, instead of cleaning it out. especially if it's been hiding in the back of the refrigerator and the contents have started to mold. the problem is my nose and my gag reflex. i.cannot.open.the.lid. so into the garbage it goes! and i have the toughest time cleaning and recycling peanut butter jars. it has something to do with the feel of the thick, oily peanut butter. i hate how it sticks to my scrub brush and my hands and my washcloths....so i simply don't bother. into the garbage they go!
i know. i have endless guilt. please don't rub it in. it gets worse.
confession time...the most awful thing i've ever thrown out instead of cleaning: a crock pot insert. the whole ceramic liner. in the trash.
the depths of my depravity know no end.
so you see all my food storage hoarding is just to ease my guilty conscience of all the food storage crimes i've committed.
it's an attempt to redeem myself in the eyes of mother nature.
surely that makes sense? right?
i'll continue to tell you about more of the weird things i do. i can feel how thrilled you are!!
**updated to add that i also save plastic bread/tortilla/hamburger & hot dog bun bags and reuse them to store ground meat or chicken breasts in the freezer. and i remembered last night that the only other time i scored bonus points with the aforementioned boy was when we were driving in the car (i guess we did actually go somewhere together) and he randomly started singing "de do do do de da da da" and i joined in by singing "is all i want to say to you". yup. major bonus points. i guess none of his other girlfriends (again, too strong a word...kissing buddies is probably more fitting) knew about the police. ok. the end.
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