Thursday, February 07, 2008

Observation.

I know I am not one too judge, I myself am a bit OCD (mainly when it comes to numbers, patterns, and routines) but I have to say this, my neighbor is a bit anal-retentive!

Ever since we moved in she has done these weird things, but when I was unemployed for 4 months I began to observe more closely some of her habits. Sorry, but try being alone until 8 at night everyday and you will pay attention to anything!

So she lives alone and is obsessed with cleaning! She vacuums twice a week - Saturday morning and Wednesdays (I am lucky to vacuum twice a month), while I was unemployed she had a cleaner come over every other week to power clean her deck (which we still have never seen her use), and her strangest “Obsession” would be sweeping with her broom her garage and driveway.

Now folks, it isn’t like we have seen this once or twice…it is every week (weather permitting). Every week (once, twice, three or more times) she takes her broom and sweeps up the garage and driveway of her house. I mean, I have seen the inside of her garage when I get the mail and it looks cleaner than my house! You could probably sit on that cold cement garage floor and get nothing on you!!!

I know we all have strange habits, but I would think you would put your time and energy into something with a bit more reward. You know, cleaning something that won’t get dirty 5 seconds later b/c it is outside where there is a ton more DIRT! Come on, dirt free cement on your driveway….well that just doesn’t make sense to me?!?!

Like I said, who am I too judge…but I am allowed to think this is weird!

Do your neighbors do weird things?

8 comments:

  1. The neighbor across the street is a crackhead. Does that count?

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  2. I can't really say much about my neighbors, but I agree with you; I never understood why people would sweep their garage, driveway, and/or sidewalks regularly. I understand that people do this before Halloween to make sure their trick-or-treaters are safe and whatnot. But doing it often just weirds me out.

    The most a person could sweep outside and me not think oddly of is the porch or deck. Everything else is just... why?

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  3. Anonymous11:25 AM

    Maybe she just doesn't have anything else to do and it keeps her busy. Maybe she's not that much into vegging in front of the TV. Maybe she's just a nutcase.

    (I vacuum every other day.)

    I don't understand the sweeping of the garage or driveway, but to each their own.

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  4. I mean don't get me wrong....Cleaning regularly is an area I fault in so I admire people who clean regularly! I just think somethings aren't meant to be cleaned all the time....the driveway being one of them!

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  5. Anonymous7:51 PM

    My neighbor goes out of her way to drive up to her mailbox to get her mail. I don't know why but it drives us crazy to watch her. She literally has to turn around in the cul-de-sac to get the drivers side up to the mailbox and then back up and turn some to get in the driveway. She really could walk much faster than the maneuver she uses.

    My mom has always been pretty obsessive with keeping the garage clean. A few times a year she would move everything out of the garage and sweep and hose it out. She said keeping it clean meant tracking less in the house. I've been a home owner for 5 years now and I have yet to do this.

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  6. Well, my previous neighbor (who at the time was 86 years old) would shovel his BACK YARD (the grass!) when there was snow. He would pile it all in a wheelbarrow, wheel it up to the front yard and dump it all up against a tree. The pile would sometimes get to 6 feet tall and it would be all dirty because it was soil too! Drove me nuts.

    He would be out there all day long shoveling every spec he could. I've even seen him with an ice pick on his hands and knees, getting ice out from between the cracks in the driveway. I always found that incredibly OCD.

    Also, I was told by my realtor that the person I bought my house from used to MOP her driveway. It's concrete! Strange.

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  7. I think it is hilarious how you know her schedule. That, in itself, made me crack up.

    When I lived in Old Orchard, none of my neighbors talked to me. I found that weird.

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  8. Oh M., I remember that! hahahaha That is so weird!

    Lindsay - agree....just walk to your mailbox!

    Ok, to explain so I don't sound like a complete crazy person myself....we live in a two-story condo that is attached to our neighbor. So we can hear the vaccum and every time she is outside I can hear and see her. Not that I didn't pay a bit of extra attention b/c it was funny, but I also was not just sitting at my window waiting for her to make her next move! hahaha!

    P.S. She doesn't talk to us either, nor do a bunch of our neighbors. It is a slightly older community and we are the "young partying rebels" who moved in!!!

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