am i the only one like this ?? or can you relate ??

[frenchy]

i was loadin my dishwasher before and it occured to me ..i'm pretty organized when it comes to that .. i don't have all that many dishes that match .. a half a set of this and 2 of that and 3 of this and another half a set of that .. when me and my ex split up about 15 years ago i took whatever she didn't want .. hence the hodge podge of dishes and silverware .. eeeeeee.. don't even get me goin on the silverware .. i think i went down to goodwill and bought a bunch of stuff they had layin around .. and i'm not complainin or anything but here's the thing .. when it comes to loadin my dishwasher i'm like leonardo davinchi .. everything goes in and its all balanced and it all gets clean and it all fits and there's no wasted space .. i won't turn it on unless its totally full .. i'd have to say if you hired a bunch of rocket scientists from mit they couldn't do it any more efficiently than me .. but now the rest of my house ?? well lets just say i could be better .. i have guitar parts everywhere .. and i mean everywhere .. i used to clean the house up real good every year when my mom came down but since she died i just don't shive a git at all .. so what is it that makes me so anal about the dishwasher and not so about the rest of the house ??  do any of you have a thing about how you load your dishwasher or maybe just how you make your bed everyday ?? you know them little idiocyncrisies that when you step back you say gee , is this normal ?? it makes me wonder .. i'm not sure why .. but some things i can be so organized about . and others .. not so much .. i once took a job as a warehouse manager and this place was .. it was like somebody threw a few grenades in there and shut the door real fast .. and i straightened that place out neat as a pin .. as a fater of mact when i left that job i used pictures of the before and after as my resume and was hired the first place i went to cold .. just walked in off the street and they said they weren't hirein .. i said could you at least give my resume to the guy in charge and i think the receptionist liked me cause she said well ..ok .. it probably won't do you any good but i will .. wait here .. she came back in 10 minutes and said the president wants to see you right away ..( it don't hurt to be nice ) .. and then i had to meet with the owner and they hired me on the spot .. and it was the first place i went .. so i got lucky .. but i'm sure my organizational skills played a big part too .. anyway , my point is .. and i do have one .. is this ying and yang .. my video store .. neat as a pin .. but the rest of my house ?? what happened ?? 

[crestofwaves]

As to washing dishes, I have a front kitchen, so I look out onto the street. Maybe that's the reason I WASH dishes by hand, mostly.  It's relaxing to me to play in the hot water and listen to music and see the pile disappear.  However, when I use my dishwasher when I have a lot of dishes and pots and pans, I fit as much stuff as I can into it.

As to being organized, I was never good with that on paper.  Even something like writing my lesson plans never came easily because I usually never followed them and had a hard time breaking down for the boss what I was doing everyday, so many times, I just didn't hand them in for approval.  My house is relatively neat and clean, but my drawers and pantry and closets are not--at all.  And I HATE doing the wash.  It's easy putting the clothes in the washer and dryer, but putting them neatly away is a chore I procrastinate about.

[uno,dos,3]

It's very abnormal.....the wife part that is....Why would you let your wife take everything?

My 2 wives mysteriously disappeared and I collected a lot of insurance money....helped me get over my grief. I could care less if my dishwasher is loaded to the max...as long as I'm loaded to the max........ everything is right with the world.

[crestofwaves]

You need to do stand-up.

[Lifesighs]

You are not alone frenchy, when I was at work it was super organized, I could find anything in a second, I was a fiend about people putting things back where they belonged, I even started putting labels on shelves for the report books. within a few months I had a whole office of fiends, they liked being able to find what they needed and knew which file cabinet it would be in. It wasn't like that when I got there.

At home I put off filing for months, most days I don't make my bed and vacuuming is not a priority item for me. I do have a clean kitchen and an organized fridge, the bathrooms get lots of attention and I like my surfaces dusted. I do like my dishwasher loaded the way I think it should be. I'm picky about how I do my laundry.

Guess I'm all over the place at home....it suits me.

[frenchy]

you wash dishes by hand cresty ?? eeeeeeeeeeeeee.. when i moved in here the one thing it didn't have was a dishwasher .. so the first thing i did was take out one of the bottom counters and put in a dishwasher .. about 3 years ago my stove broke .. no problem .. i had a crockpot and an electric fryin pan and a big toaster oven and of course a barbque .. and the number to a good pizza joint .. what more could i need ?? i worked around the stove bein broke for about 6 months and never cried a tear .. then the dishwasher broke .. i almost had a meltdown .. i had to call a guy in right away .. i mean right away .. and while he was here i said well you might as well fix the stove too .. otherwise .. it might still be broke .. 

uno you kill me .. but no i didn't let my ex have everything .. i got the dogs and my guitars .. and my freedom .. what more could a guy ask for ?? and i used to get loaded too .. but not to the max .. not usually anyway ..

you sound more like me lifey .. maybe we're related somehow ..  

[ProblemAgain]

everyone decides what's important to them and where they put their energy. i always found keeping the job clean and neat was efficient and a timesaver rather than having to look for things all the time. in the house i try to be organized. sometimes it just doesn't happen tho...it must be the gremlins or the menehunes sneaking in and messing things up

[crestofwaves]

If it weren't for my students, I would have never found my books, my papers, my chalk, whatever.  How many times I would ask" Where did I put my book?" They would point it out for me.  Very very disorganized here!  But I was still a good teacher because I knew my stuff and knew how to keep the kids interested and accountable.

[frenchy]

and just to prove it to you here they are uno.. or were .. they're both burried on my side yard .. i think i have more dead dogs on my property than live ones .. time does go by don't it .. 

and cresty sometimes i have to have nancy watch me cause i lose stuff all the time .. and its stuff thats right in front of me .. 

[Lucinda Stone]

Yes, dishwasher is filled a certain way, the plates,glasses etc all go in the same place every time. Clothes are organized in " rainbow " order (panty drawer in particular ). CDs are in alphabetical order. However, when it comes to paper, oh my aching back, there is no order... File cabinet is of course in alphabetical order but sadly the papers hardly ever make it there:(.
The "Rolodex' on my work desk is a pile of post-it notes, but the funny thing is, once i have written the note, I know exactly what it looks like and where to find it in the pile!
Something's I don't bother to put away, afraid that some day I'll be blind and never find anything if it's out of sight/ touch....

[Karin M Fichtner]

I am a believer in having a place for everything......but I am not always great at following through. About once a week, though, I go through my apartment and put everything back where it belongs again. My bedroom stays in excellent shape. Clutter in my bedroom keeps me awake. I have bookcases for my cookboof collection and my history books. I have a curio cabinet for my keepsakes. The bugaboo is the table next to my recliner. I just don't seem to be able to keep it cleaned off. It always collects mail, magazines, my notebook, pens, a coffee cup or water bottle. It drives me nuts! I clean it all off, nice and empty......even polish it with cleaner.....and two days later....there it is again! I think it's those gremlins that are in French's house. As for the dishwasher....we have one, and don't use it. There are only three of us, and it takes two days to fill it to capacity. Well, meanwhile, I'm going to need a certain bowl...or knife....or a wire whisk.....and I have to dig in the dishwasher and find it and wash it by hand. Screw that! I would rather wash. Whatever dishes I use right away, and then I don't have to wonder where something is when I need it. We have our sink on our island, facing the tv in the family room.....so I run a sink full of dishwater when I start cooking....and wash what I use as I go along. Then, when I'm through eating, all I have to wash are the few dishes I ate off of. And maybe the kettle I emptied when I stored my leftovers. I have never trusted dishwashers to sufficiently clean my kettles anyway. I am anal about anything involved in the preparation of food.....or the condition of the bathroom. The rest of the house can go down the tubes....as long as my kitchen and bath are clean.

[frenchy]

so i'm not the only one who has a little bit of a bug up his ass .. good to know .. so that means i'm normal .. or the alternative is .. we're all nuts ..  

[Karin M Fichtner]

I think it's the latter more than the former, French! ;-)