Innocuous Habits?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Taking a break from trying to find the end of the internet (it's out there, somewhere!)... I found myself doing what I often do to let my subconscious churn on something.

Sudoku.

It's a habit I picked up in the early days of Covid.  Days before our local lockdown, I picked up a book of puzzles intending to play them with my kids.  Wasn't in anticipation of the lockdown... just something I thought would be fun.  Then it happened.  They had school via zoom... and in between everything else, I had Sudoku.

It's literally the only thing that has remained with me from that time.

(FWIW - I'm still not great at them.  Can crack an 'expert level' in about 10 minutes... which makes it perfect for listening to podcasts or other news things where I don't have to fully pay attention to what's going on.)

 

So - to the extent that anyone is interested in sharing... what kinds of 'innocuous habits' have you picked up, and what's the provenance?

[steve9728]

Always wash my hands with hand sanitizer when I get home - that's something I never did or even "unimaginable" before the pandemic.

[TheSaint]

Here is one that I have no explanation for. 

So, when I'm working in the kitchen, the first thing I do is clean off the counters, especially the island, because that's where I work. So everything that is there goes where it belongs: dirty dishes go into the dishwasher, clean stuff gets put away, random stuff that got abandoned in the kitchen gets carried back to whatever place it is supposed to reside in, etc. Then, while I'm prepping/cooking, whatever has been dirtied and I'm done with just gets dropped in the sink. Then when I'm all done the sink gets cleaned out, the stuff that was discarded there either gets put in the dishwasher or hand-washed.

Mrs. TheSaint is the exact opposite. She could not care less if the counter is cleared before she starts working. She will come in and drop everything on the kitchen counter: groceries, her purse, coffee cups, books, whatever. The counter can be as cluttered as possible, she doesn't care. If she has a square foot of clear counter, she will go ahead and make an entire dinner in that. If she needs more room, she just pushes stuff out of the way as she goes. But, I am not kidding you, if there is one dirty spoon in the sink then she is paralyzed. Everything that gets dirtied has to go straight into the dishwasher, unless it is something that is not going into the dishwasher at all, like big pots and pans.

It's the weirdest thing, and we do not understand each other on it at all. We'll literally walk into the kitchen while the other is working and be all, "How can you work like this?!" We mostly laugh about it now, but I will still occasionally turn around and find her clearing out my sink while I'm working because she just can't stand it, and vice-versa with me clearing off the counters.

Edited June 15, 2023 by TheSaint

[kerbiloid]

7 hours ago, TheSaint said:

the first thing I do is clean off the counters, especially the island, because that's where I work.

7 hours ago, TheSaint said:

She could not care less if the counter is cleared before she starts working.

It was sounding strange that you use the kitchen for calculations....

Spoiler

... until I reallized that you mean other counters.

Spoiler

Then yes, it's good. Just not clear why to wash them every time.

 

***

7 hours ago, TheSaint said:

If she has a square foot of clear counter, she will go ahead and make an entire dinner in that. If she needs more room, she just pushes stuff out of the way as she goes.

while

7 hours ago, TheSaint said:

the first thing I do is clean off the counters, especially the island, because that's where I work.

That's because you were in the Navy, while she wasn't.
Look, even in the kitchen you have an "island".
So, when you see a deck to wash, you get flashbacks and start washing it reflexively, until it starts shining...

Army breaks people...

Edited June 16, 2023 by kerbiloid

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 6/15/2023 at 5:03 PM, TheSaint said:

Mrs. TheSaint

LOL 

In that theme, Mrs. JoeSchmuckatelli says this:

 

On 6/16/2023 at 12:20 AM, kerbiloid said:

because you were in the Navy, while she wasn't

It's a transmissible disease - I catch my kids yelling "Deploy, Deploy, Deploy!" whenever we need to rush out the door.