Tagged!

Okay, it was bound to happen sooner or later... I've been tagged. Thanks, Stephanie!

Rules:

1 - Link to the person who tagged you: http://www.thesmiths441.blogspot.com/

2 - Post the rules (see below)

3 - Share 6 unimportant habits/quirks about yourself:

4 - Tag three other people

5 - Make sure the people you tagged know you've tagged them

As many of these tags that I've read from my fellow bloggers, you'd think I would be prepared with lots of quirks about myself. Not so. In fact for someone whose posts usually turn into novels, I seem to have writer's block. I'll go for it anyway, but be warned, these are not very interesting. sigh

Unimportant Habit or Quirk #1:

I never delete emails. On my home computer I have emails archived all the way back to January 2003. The only emails I don't still have are from when my computer's email program crashed in the summer of 2006. I currently have 7,498 emails on my home computer (all but about 300 have been archived.) At my office, I have 21,840 e-mails dating back to 1999 (again, mostly archived.) You just never know when you might REALLY NEED the information contained one of those emails!

Unimportant Habit or Quirk #2:

Speaking of emails, the only ones I actually DO delete (without even bothering to read most of the time) are the ones that tell me that if I don't pass them on to ten friends, then I don't love Jesus or something terrible will happen or I don't love my country... you know the drill. I truly dislike those emails. I am also a huge skeptic when I receive any sort of warning via e-mail and immediately go to Snopes.com and find out if it is a hoax. And 99.9% of the time they are false and I'll forward the Snopes.com link to the sender. I don't do that to make them feel bad or silly, but to try to spare them the embarrassment of being so gullible and perhaps prevent them from perpetuating the hoax. Funny e-mails are fine, but I usually delete those too and rarely forward them to others.

Unimportant Habit or Quirk #3:

I cannot stand open doors or drawers. (This is a bad quirk to have when married to a man who always leaves doors and drawers open.) It is almost an obsession with me. Cabinet doors absolutely must be closed. If you open it to take out a glass, please close it. If you open the microwave door to take out the popcorn, please close it. If you open your drawer to get out your socks, please close it. If you open the garage door before you leave, PLEASE CLOSE IT! Open doors are very distracting to me. I can't watch TV if there is a cabinet door open on the entertainment center. I cannot sleep if there is a closet door open in the bedroom. I can't work in my office if the storage closet door is open. There's no telling how many times a day I tell the boys to close a door. (I sure hope that leaving doors open is just a bad habit and not genetic.)

Unimportant Habit or Quirk #4:

Being on time - or the lack thereof. I really like getting to places on time. Not early, not late, but right on the nose. The problem is I consistently only leave myself enough time to get somewhere if everything goes PERFECT. I never plan for contingencies. If the light stays red too long because an ambulance is going through the intersection, if the car needs gas, if we can't find someone's shoe, if I miss a turn, if one of my boys trips and falls while walking to the car and needs a band aid, that's it! I'm late! Martin and I have a fifteen minute rule for each other: You're not officially late if you arrive within 15 minutes of the allotted time -- except when meeting for lunch ;0). The bad thing is that I have no patience for waiting for others. You'd think I would be more understanding based on own lack of timeliness, but nope, 15 minutes is my limit. After that, I'm gone. (If my mom is reading this, she's probably LOL, because I am never on time when picking her up for something. Oh well, I try!)

Unimportant Habit or Quirk #5:

I have a fear/phobia of driving over bridges. It doesn't matter whether they are small and narrow or big and wide. It's a good thing that I don't live in an area with lots of water, because whenever I have to drive over a bridge (even the really safe interstate ones) I have to look straight forward with both hands squarely on the steering wheel and my knuckles are usually white from holding on so tight. I even used to, but have since gotten over, hold my breath when going over bridges. Now how silly is that? Like if the car careened over the edge and splashed in to the water below, I would still be holding the same breath. Of course not, and after the blood-curdling scream, I would most certainly have to catch my breath again. Good thing I came to my senses on that one. When our family travels to the San Francisco Bay area, where my company is headquartered, Martin always does the driving!

Unimportant Habit or Quirk #6:

I am not a superstitious person, but there is this one thing I do that would make you wonder about that. If a train happens to be going over a bridge while my car is traveling under the bridge, I must put both hands on the ceiling of my car and make a wish. Oh, the wishes I’ve made over the years! The funny thing is most of them come true. I have many theories on why that may be which I'll spare you, but I will tell you that whenever I see a train going over a bridge up ahead, I can’t help but speed up a little so I can get there in time to make my wish. And heaven forbid I get stopped by a traffic light and miss the train. I had to teach the boys my little trick, so they would stop yelling “Mom, get your hands back on the wheel!” every time we went under a train bridge. (I only do it for a split second, I promise!) I can’t really explain why you have to put your hands on the roof to make this work, but I’m afraid it may stem from the same irrational thinking as holding your breath; that is, if the train falls on your car, your head won’t get smashed. Silly, I know. Of course, you can’t tell your wish or it won’t work. But, I’ll give you three guesses as to what my wishes have been about lately – and the first two don’t count!!!

Gee, I just discovered that I am much quirkier than I thought!!!

As for the last two rules: Everyone I know has already been tagged one way or another, so I think I’ll copy Becky’s idea and say if you haven’t … then Tag! You’re IT!