Does That Make Me Crazy?

I have a lot of things that give me the willies - leading me to believe I might be crazy.

I only eat with plastic utensils when available, because I can't handle the sound of metal squeeking and scraping on plates. It doesn't often apply to other people using metal utensils around me unless it makes a really loud squeak.

I am bothered by things that are "out of place". For instance, sunken ships give me the heebie jeebies like no other. Half-sunken ships or ships I can see from the surface are the worst. Because of this, much to Jon's dismay, I will never visit Pearl Harbor. Even the thought of it right now totally freaks me out. Another example is a common sight going in and out of DFW, where the planes "cross the street" via a bridge over the highway. Seems like one is always crossing over when I'm driving under. I also don't like driving closely past big planes or jets. I guess in my mind, it's just not normal for those big aircrafts to be parked like cars or driving over bridges. I also discovered this applied to people when I once saw a coworker up on a reeeaaally tall ladder in the sanctuary, replacing a light. Looking up at him sent chills down my spine and I had to walk away.

Sounds, like the utensils I mentioned, seem to be haunting me a lot lately. There are yummy granola bars that we love, and there is a coupon on the inside of the box. But the sound of scissors cutting this cardboard coupon out is enough to send me over the edge - so I leave it for Jon to do. It makes my shoulders shrug and my neck twitch, causing a sort of tick just thinking of it now or any time. I've been needing to buff my nails, but the sound and feeling of the buffer on my nails has been causing me to put it off indefinitely. The sound of styrofoam on just about anything practically sends me running, plugging my ears and humming.

Going to sleep is a big event and requires several different things to be "just right" before I can relax. Most of it involves my "stinky", which is my blanket I have to sleep with every night. I won't dare admit what's on the blanket, but that's not why I love it. It's worn in, feels so soft, is the perfect size and thickness. I love it. I can't even begin to describe the process or the requirements for sleeping, for fear that I'd be commited to an insane asylum. Jon has learned to deal with it and in fact most nights finds it quite humorous, waiting for me to get settled.

As I think of more things, I will post them. I don't know why I felt compelled to blog about this, but I think, like therapy, it helps to talk about things in order to begin to overcome them. I'm not yet bound by my phobias, but I don't ever want to be. I guess you could call this me taking preventative measures.

What makes you crazy?

Saturday Project #6

My dream has come true: We got new floors!!! And they're gorgeous. We are so happy with the work and how they turned out. Anyone who is considering working with Empire, we can highly recommend them!

We've been not only wanting new floors for a while, but lately it has seemed more of a necessity too. The carpet was only 2 years old, but looked worse for the wear. First of all, it was near-white (not chosen by us) which is just bad who ever you are. Second, we have 1 dog who has taken his jealousy of Harper out on the carpet, freckling it with his little spots. And another dog who could easily be Pigpen's twin, as he seems to be a walking dirt cloud. Both of these things do not bode well for a clean carpet. With Harper getting more and more active daily, and with it becoming harder to keep up with vacuuming, let alone shampooing, something needed to be done. We had planned on doing the job ourselves, but I thought it would be a good idea to find out how much it would be for Empire to do it, thinking that maybe the cost of having someone else tear out the old, level the floors and install the new would be well worth the inconvenience of us trying to figure it all out. And it was! Having them finish 3 rooms in about 6 hours was beyond better than we could have imagined.

Technically it was a Friday project, but we've spent a good portion of our Saturday cleaning up all the dust and putting furniture back. Jon was here while they installed it and he said it was really gross to see all the "sand-like" dirt that came out of the carpet when they tore it up. Gross. For once, I'm glad I was at work and didn't have to witness that or the mess of it all happening.

Here's how it all went:

Finished Bedroom

Finished Living Room (before it was cleaned)

Finished Office