How Far Will I Take It?

I am obsessive-compulsive, there is no doubt about that. BUT my house doesn't match the definition of OCD. My remote controls are not perfectly lined up. There is animal hair wafting through the living room that is likely a few weeks old. Dust has accumulated on my book shelves. I am not a neat freak, but I do like a clean, clutter-free home. It's just that I clean when I get around to it. I don't wash floors every day. I don't scrub my toilet down after each use. Things can pile up only to a certain point before I make the house-wide sweep through and get it back to its starting point.

That being said, I have become a bit of a Kitchen Nazi. Back at the beginning of December, I set a goal for myself that, for one week, I would make sure the kitchen was spotless before I went to bed. Prior to this, I was fine with letting the pots and pans gather together for over 24 hours before I would wash them. The dishwasher was allowed to sit full, clean and dry while dirty dishes gathered on the counter above. When Mike and I would have a week to ourselves, our kitchen would be a disaster zone. But it would always be cleaned up before the boys came home.

So - one week. I sailed through that week and "pushed" myself to do it for another. Wouldn't you know it, all of December went by and I had cleaned the kitchen every. single. day. Yay me. I should be nominated for Housewife of the Year. Enter January. I kept it up through all of January. Even after we got home with Katelyn, I made sure the kitchen was clean before my head hit the pillow.

Now that we're into March, I appear to be taking things a little bit too far. Two weeks ago, I was content with the dishes sitting on the counter until the end of the evening, just before I went to bed. Now? Supper is barely finished being eaten and my hands are in the sink. Last night, I did dishes THREE TIMES because I couldn't stand the fact that there were dirty dishes on the counter. While supper was in the oven, I washed the dishes that were used to prep it. When supper was finished, I washed the dishes that held the supper. And then later in the evening, I washed up my baking dishes.

When Mike noticed my frenzy of dish-washing, he commented that I will get a fork through the back of my hand if I ever attempt to grab his supper plate before he's finished eating.