Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Diagnosis: Dishwasher Anxiety Disorder

I have obsessive-compulsive disorder about many things. Too bad it isn’t a spotless house. I do try, but some people (ahem....no names mentioned) make that an impossible task.

One thing I just can’t seem to do without my OCD rearing its ugly head is loading the dishwasher. It absolutely drives me insane if I can’t fit everything into the dishwasher before starting it. I also hate to run it if it’s not at least to full capacity, which probably contributes to the other problem. I will literally spend fifteen minutes rearranging the whole thing if it means I can squeeze one more bowl or pan in. I think I could be considered a dishwasher loading professional. In spite of that useless quality, there are still times, like tonight, when I just have to accept the fact that I am going to be forced to start it with a few extra things staring back at me from the kitchen sink.

Lauren ate with us tonight, which is rare these days, and on top of her joining us for dinner, she also helped me clean up a little without any prompting on my part. It was during my futile attempts to cram every last thing in that I shared my disorder with her and she laughed that I actually spend time on this.

I also tried to talk her into not making any cookies because then I would have more dirty dishes waiting on me in the morning. She won that battle and I’m off to enjoy a warm cookie. I hope I can walk quietly away from the kitchen without trying one last time to make everything fit.

No comments: