No Shave November

So it is halfway through "No Shave November" , there are a lot of hairy people running around! It made me think that hair(body or head) is a persnickety thing. Everyone has his or her way of dealing with it. I am not really talking about just the hair on our heads, I mean it is pretty obvious that no two people wear their hair the exact same way. I am really talking about shaving hair... For example I hate having hairy arm pits! I shave them every night, winter, fall, summer, spring! It just makes me uncomfortable, granted I don't like having razor burn either..but at least it's not hairy razor burn, right? Any way...I know other people(yes men and women) that would never think to skip shaving their legs; I say PSH! If I am wearing pants- I can skip a few shavings- who is going to know?  I will say the downside to that is when I decide to shave- I may miss a few spots...leaving hairs long enough that poke through the tights I wore to Christmas church last year...which is totally embarrassing to look down at your knee to see little hair soldiers standing at attention...I... uh... Ahem. So...shaving.. that is where I was... There are other people(stereotypically french, but I highly doubt they are the only ones) who don't shave at all! I know "they" (the omnipresent "they") argue all your leg hair would fall out- if you didn't start shaving at a young age. I have noticed my Grandfather has no leg hair where his socks usually are, but he is in his 70's. If you look like the offspring of Bigfoot and Chewbacca, you probably are not going to wait until your 70's for the hair to fall out! I mean, Really?
 Ok, so we also know that there are other places shaving occurs...(or waxing, EEK) I get the bikini line for ladies- you really don't want little curly Q's hugging onto your bikini bottom or flowing in the ocean air. I think that falls under the category of leaving something to the imagination....Speedos and Thongs should fall under that category too... I mean if you have to wax/shave your cave then it is not worth wearing; however if you have walrus hairs hanging out of your...cave- then by all means get rid of those. While your at, you could get rid of the forest surrounding the cave. Also if the forest is climbing out of the back of your shorts- cut it down! Nobody wants to see the secret garden growing up your back. (especially if there is not hair on your head)  I'm sorry, went on a little side rant..(If you are married to anyone hairy...you can understand.)
So, yeah, Everyone has his or her own shaving ritual, which is very personal to them. Whether it is how they shave, where they shave or how often. Me,  I shave under arms nightly and anywhere else, well when needed. My hubby, shaving over the sink, allowing the hair to coat the sink, right before bed or company. See we all have different rituals.

Me

Me, that's what we will talk about today. We have talked about Mrs.Wonderful and believe me I will either pale in comparison, or amaze and astound you. First off I naturally suffer from Depression/Anxiety- start throwing more stress at me I tend to hold it in until-BOOM! Yes Boom! Either in tears(sometimes I really hate being hormonal), snippy remarks(I can be "not so nice"), or flat out anger-usually "cleverly" disguised as sarcasm. 
I recently read a book quoting Carl Jung's research on extroversion and introversion. Despite being, well Loud, I am a very much an introvert. I like to internalize information I receive, giving me time to digest it, understand it, and have the correct way to respond to it. I like to be streamlined and quick about things. Having someone throw out a random list of things-can sometimes throw me for a loop- if I don't have time to internally process it. I think being an introvert plays into my feelings of being wrong...I hate being wrong, I mean, who does- right? I, however, will stand hold onto being right, unless you can prove me wrong-with facts. I tend to know a little about a lot and will tell you about it! I don't think I know everything, if I did I would run for ruler of the world, but I don't, so no worries. I will say something if I am 80% sure, I am correct, or I won't say it-so it perturbs me when I'm wrong. I can handle it, if you can explain(with facts)why I'm wrong-your opinion is not a viable reason.
I tend  to overreact when I can't process what is going on around me, either it hits me emotionally or I simply can't streamline the information enough for it to be clear to me. For example...(I want to point out my stress level before this story happened was near volcanic levels) my husband decided to buzz his head, yes buzz his head! Ok the rational part of me is saying "So what?" right along with you; however, when the conversation you have with your husband prior to this incident is "Bathe the dog", you begin to see my processing dilemma. My husband leaves the dog outside, (yes leave, not let) while he is showering(which is 15+ minutes), without telling me or apparently remembering he had done it. In the middle of folding laundry and organizing my closet(the seasons are changing and the mess was driving me nuts) I hear the doorbell ring, then a knocking...There at my (open, which we never leave open at night.) front door is a neighbor with her daughter and my fur baby! She was three houses down! I felt like an idiot since I didn't even know she was outside! I thanked the lady and marched myself into the bathroom, "Did you let the dog out?!", my husband looks at me with a Huh? look on his face, then says "oh yeah". (This has happened twice!) So I am livid, especially at the dumb look he gives me saying "why are you mad?" I say to him, 'well I will finish up dinner( I had already roasted a chicken) and you can give her bath'. (The neighbor mentioned my fur baby stunk.) The next thing I know I am walking past the bathroom to see my husband taking his electric razor to his head! I asked the normal explicative question, with the response " I am cutting my hair". I walk back to the kitchen in a daze, stir my macaroni, take the courageous steps back to the bathroom. I peek in, cover my mouth in horror...then the tears being to flow... I don't know why, but it is scarey to me! He looks nothing like himself! I keep saying to myself "I asked him to bathe the dog and he shaves his head?" "I asked him to bathe the dog and he shaves his head?" Can you see the internal process error here? DOES NOT COMPUTE! So I, like a child, refuse to look at him for more than 10 seconds at a time. My being simply can not process this much shock...Couldn't he have said- "Hey I'm going to cut all my hair off?"  Was that too much to ask? I mean yes I color my hair( I am the guinea pig for my newly licensed sister), but I tell him prior! 
So I overreact.. I get it...I struggle with how to deal with my rolling emotions and accepting that I am just a bit nuts. That's Ok, Right?

I can too!

Ok, so I already talked about how I define Idiosyncrasies and Pet Peeves; how I feel one leads to another. Now it is also possible to accept one part of the the syncrasy while being peeved at another. 
Let's tell another story on Mrs.Wonderful's idioyncrasies. (for the record I love her dearly and feel she will get a good laugh out of these posts)  Mrs.Wonderful is a bit, as she calls it, COD. For the rest you that means OCD; she is a very clean person with almost a militant flair. She is the only woman I know (sorry mom) who can fold a fitted sheet (those damn things) into a perfect little rectangle, every time! She taught me how to do it, I can do it about 1 out of every 10 times. I helped her make a bed once, I do not know how she gets the corners tucked like that! She also sweeps all three entry ways at work; where are my manners you ask? Why would I a "young'n" (27)  allow my elder to sweep? Mrs. Wonderful can be very poignant; she told me I stink at sweeping! So I don't sweep. Mrs. Wonderful can manage to sweep all the dirt out of rug that I would vacuum 10 times before getting it that clean. So while I love that she sweeps, even giggling when she sweeps leaves into the wind(and cussing about them flying back in) , I hate that I can not stand up to her standards. Granted I generally dislike being told that I am bad at something. I pride myself at being good at most things (I refuse to do something in front of others, if I think I can not do it).  To be told that I can't sweep...sheesh, Talk about feeling dumb/useless/insufficient, take your pick of adjectives. I mean you push a broom, how is it possible to be bad at it? Yet, I can not sweep nearly as well.(I have tried on her days off) Well I may not be able to sweep, but at least I know how to navigate a computer and can touch my toes! Take that Mrs. Wonderful! ;)

Idiosyncrasy vs Pet Peeve

Ok so what is the difference between an Idiosyncrasy and a Pet Peeve?
Let's see the what the dictionary says:
Idiosyncrasy:  
                         * a mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual.

                  *a distinctive or peculiar feature or characteristic of a place or thing.

Pet Peeve: *something that annoys or bothers a person very much

                            * a frequent subject of complaint 

Ok, I found that horribly insufficient, I think for the average person these two "behaviours" overlap.  In my persnickety world an ididiosyncrasy is a pet peeve one accepts for who/how the person is. I work with a wonderful women who at 78 (although she looks to be in her early 60's) has developed her own unique ways or idiosyncrasies. Don't let age fool you though, we develop these as early as newborns carrying them well into adulthood. Anyway back to the wonderful lady I was telling you about, she has this thing about all the trash cans being empty before we close everyday. While off hand that may not sound that strange, you would need to know despite having 8 trash cans we only throw out 1 bag of trash. (Huh? You might be asking.) Mrs. Wonderful takes all the bags of trash and empties them into 1 bag, ok still somewhat normal sounding right? She will flip out if you throw something out in the bathroom, if she has already dumped it into the front trash. Once she even picked out trash of one of the bags to walk it to the dumpster because I had thrown the trash bag out! Now personally while I find it a little odd, I accept it as one of her idiosyncrasies. I do not classify it under pet peeve. I accept it for what it is.

Does that mean I do not have pet peeves? Am I human? Of course I still have pet peeves! If you eat with your mouth open I will cringe inside, while politely placing my finger on my ear to block out the disgusting sound of a cow chewing cud...ahem so sorry- this one has been engrained as a child. "Chew with your mouth closed!" Now granted while that makes utterly sick I can be polite and still like you despite your chewing habits. 

Now chewing is annoying to me, but not detrimental to my over all being. I have learned in the last few months I have a major issue...er pet peeve about being asked direct and/or frequent questions. For my sanity and everyone else's safety I need to learn to accept people will ask me questions, often at rapid fire with no chance to answer....ahem and I will have to answer them. I hate answering questions that I do not have a prepared answer for, so I often respond with a snarkey response, rudeness, or just flat out anger. It's my way of relfecting and avoiding. So how do I go about accepting there will be questions and I may not have the right answer? How do I accept being wrong? How does anyone?