a further continuation of the chain of weirdness

I have never blogged before, but seeing as both my brother and my husband do regularly, I thought I might give it a go. Stu, has said that we can share his blog together and has, as such, already given me my first 'strict guideline' - I am not to use any other font than this and it has to stay in this size too - apparently, its important from a design point of view that all is the same.
As I love him to bits,I'll oblige!!


Anyway, maybe I should write a bit about myself before I get started on the purpose of this post, which is to state my six weirdest things, as Stu and James have both done.


I am 28 years old, married obviously, with two wonderful little boys who are the light of my life. I grew up in Thorpe Bay which is in Southend and have never moved far away. I would like to one day I think, just for a little while, but who knows when that may be. Stu and I have always said that when our children grow up we will go travelling far and wide so that would do me - a chance to spread my wings is all I need. I grew up wanting to be an Art teacher but never followed through with completing my Uni course, for various reasons, and ended up at the other end of the spectrum, doing office work. I did become quite successful at this and became a manager of a finance team - I enjoyed it in a funny kind of way but since leaving that line of work and focussing on bringing up Tom and Ben I have decided that my career future lies in Midwifery - childbirth and all that comes with it is a subject that I find totally fascinating. I can only hope that I am able to find a way at some point that allows me to train and take on this role, along with being a successful mother. This latter role is what is most important to me though and it is that that I will pour my heart and soul in to.

i have much else to say as one paragraph does not exactly sum me up but I must progress on to the subject of just how weird am I?! Let's see.........

I nibble all food - all finger food mainly. I can't seem to eat anything like chocolate, sandwiches, biscuits and the like in a normal way. I'll give you an example - if I was to embark on the task of devouring a sandwich I would do so by taking the first half and eating all the crusts, this half would then be put back on the plate. The second half would be started in the same way and would also be put back on the plate. I would then eat the middle of the first half and then finish the middle of the second. I don't know why, habit I guess and I do try not to do this in public but I get all twitchy with the effort this entails! You should see me trying to eat a Twix - quite a sight to behold!

I can only sleep on the side of the bed that is nearest to the door. Right or left, it matters not, as long as its near a door. I thought about why this may be and the only answer I can come up with is that when I was younger I used to lay in my bed, a single bed at the time, and work out fire escape routes from every single room in our house. I had a slight obsession with death when I was a child, as I guess lots of little ones do when they realise they and the ones they love will not last forever. Our house was quite big and I had escape routes meticulously planned no matter where you might be if you were in danger - and obviously doors, as well as windows, featured highly in this. I'm not still obsessed in this by the way, but remnants of it still live on!

I only finish half of my drink, regardless of what it is. This seems to be understandable with tea as it makes sense that it would get cold quickly and there's nothing more yucky than cold tea; but I do it with juice, water, wine - anything. My brother Matthew and his wife refuse to make me a full cup of tea anymore, thinking that I will finish a half a cup. What they don't realise though is that I will still leave half of that too!

The metal hooks on my hangers in my wardrobe all have to face the same way. All trousers hang together, all jumpers, all tops - also all facing the same way. A bit 'Sleeping with the Enemy'? Hmmm.....( I'm a lot nicer I promise - hopefully Stu can vouch for that!)

I am obsessed with the tidiness of Tom and Ben's toys. It bothers me greatly when any of them are out of order, if puzzles are messed up, or they are all scattered over the sitting room. Stu says that I tidy them away before Tom has a chance to even play with them but I just like to keep them nice thats all. Mind you, when our house is full of his little friends I am guilty of hiding all his nice stuff and tend to find myself on my hands and knees half way through their visit manically clearing up after them all...only to be followed round by the tribe of two year olds tipping stickle bricks out of their boxes, plastic food out of the basket, cars out of the garage....I sit back and survey the damage with a cold sweat prickly on my forehead. Don't even get me started at the boxes of chalk and crayons getting mixed in together under his easel in the kitchen....and paint on the white board of all places....don't these children understand..???

Last but not least - I can do a cracking impression of a mouse asleep. Don't ask me why?!