Thursday, February 26, 2009

Spin Cycle: Counting the Change

This week, courtesy of Sprite's Keeper, we spinners are talking Change. Because...Yes We Can! ahahahahha. I've been waiting to type that all week, and yes I amuse myself quite a lot, thank you. I will be eagerly reading other spins over the weekend looking for others who also couldn't resist.

Although I could swear that I have addressed the fact that I'm not a fan of change more than once, I can't find the applicable posts. So since that's not what I'm going to talk about I will only mention in brief that I:

a) have a very routine filled life, mostly due to working 40 hours a week and having toddlers during them rest of it, toddlers who are fans of routines.
b) am happy with that life.
c) get really cranky when someone messes with my routine or changes plans on me.
d) despite the above, am really cluttered and not the most organized person when it comes to life, even though I would prefer it to be otherwise. Would much prefer it.

So, my spin on change this week is more about what I used to do with it.

Thing you should know in advance:

1) I was an only child, so there weren't any siblings lurking around in hopes of messing with me or distracting me.
2) We were poorer than dirt so spare change was really more like gold at my house
3) My parents fought a lot, usually over number 2
4) I seem to have had too much time on my hands.
5) I realize that this might make me seem like a candidate for the OCD wing of the crazy house, but in most areas of my life I am really quite sane. Really.

Periodically throughout my childhood, and even substantially into my teens, if life got a little too out of control for my tastes, and I didn't feel like journaling about it, I would head to my room and break open my piggy bank. Whereupon I would begin an elaborate and lengthy process of sorting the coins. By denomination, year, mint (alphabetically) and cleanliness. I would lay them all out in rows (obviously the oldest dirtiest Denver penny was first), and then count them. By the time I tidied everything away, at least an hour had passed and I was soothed and peaceful and able to deal with things.

So really, I kind of used change to cope with change. Which, while weird, is more healthy than some things I could have been doing.

6 comments:

Sprite's Keeper said...

Sweetie, you are more OCD than you think you are!
Sorting, counting, tidying to cope with stress? Maybe it's a good thing you do what you do for a living. :-)
And no one has mentioned Obama until you! Nice!
You're linked!

Ginny Marie said...

I would love to be more organized, too, but clutter just seems to happen around here. I loved reading about coping with change...with change! Great Spin!

HeatherPride said...

Wow, this post brought some memories back for me! I was an only child too, and I can remember holing up in my bedroom for hours and hours - except my escape was solitaire, not change counting. Weird, huh?

Rachel said...

Jen, I think my problem is that I am OCD, but my laziness is stronger. *sigh*

Ginny, I think my clutter has baby clutter and then grandbaby clutter, and it mutates in the process so I find things I didn't know we had. It's a jungle in my living room.

Heather, we only children have to stick together. Did you ever play board games by yourself? It's pretty sad. I even once determined the dollar value of all the monopoly money and all the Life money. Hmmm. More and more I think my life as an auditor was foreshadowed!

ladychelle said...

So...if I ever have bad news to tell you, I should come bearing a jar of change?
Lol..You have revealed the secret!!!! :)

Laufa said...

So do you work at a bank now, that sounds like it would be the most relaxing job for you.