Odd things your spouse does.

[jojolicious 38]

Omg yes! It's so hard to find regular baked beans in tomato sauce. All of them seem to have brown sugar and bacon or be barbecued or something. My husband doesn't eat pork so that can't work. I find myself buying the veggie baked beans and not enjoying them as much. Sigh.

[luckytxn 2,265]

My wife is very weird and strange. She also think I am strange for things I do. I would trade her in but feel the next one may be even more odd so just figure on keeping this one and hope to survive.

[Damian&Kelly 16]

Omg yes! It's so hard to find regular baked beans in tomato sauce. All of them seem to have brown sugar and bacon or be barbecued or something. My husband doesn't eat pork so that can't work. I find myself buying the veggie baked beans and not enjoying them as much. Sigh.

Heinz does their American version of veggie baked beans that my hubby has settled for, probably the same ones you buy. But he still comments about them every time he eats them. Luckily we can get the English version at a store around here for not too much money but it's not the local store so on occasion we go to that store just to stock up. They also sell the English canned spaghetti which he also prefers.

[Alex & Rachel 78]

4. Refuses to use our brand new dishwasher. Most of our dishes are cleaned in cold water with extreme amounts of dish soap.

I loathe dishwashers, and also avoid them. But cold water? I'll make the water as scaldingly hot as I can bear it! Vanessa is right; it's so much more effective that way.

2. Of course, shoes off upon entering the house

This one is just sensible!

I recently moved into an apartment with new carpets for the first time in many years. First thing I bought was a huge plastic mat, and I positioned our shoe rack right next to the door. When I first came to the US the carpets were already ruined by Alex's shoes and lack of vacuuming (no amount of subsequent vacuuming/shampooing could ever shift that dirt). I am so looking forward to keeping the carpets clean.

[wee carrington 33]

GH does plenty of strange things, but I don't think it's cultural...

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Oh yes, I could also list many strange habits of Alex's, but they're personal, not cultural (like taking off his dirty socks and placing them on shelves even when the laundry basket is closer... ?!?)

[~happyndinlove~ 540]

I measure pants by neck because your neck width around is the SAME as your HIPS! IF you do not want to try on the pants wrap the waist around your neck and it will fit you. It ALWAYS works. I have never had a pair of pants that do not fit me when measuring them this way.

I'm from Canada too not a far off country or anything.

Interesting. Because I thought measuring pants by neck was only a Filipino thing. And, you're right, it always works.

Edited January 3, 2012 by ~happyndinlove~

[Marilyn. 340]

Omg yes! It's so hard to find regular baked beans in tomato sauce. All of them seem to have brown sugar and bacon or be barbecued or something. My husband doesn't eat pork so that can't work. I find myself buying the veggie baked beans and not enjoying them as much. Sigh.

hmmmm, I find the opposite to be true.. it is hard for me to find beans in brown sugar or molasses down here in the US, I can only find ones in tomato sauce and I am not crazy about those.. In Canada we had the molasses baked beans..

Oh yes, I could also list many strange habits of Alex's, but they're personal, not cultural (like taking off his dirty socks and placing them on shelves even when the laundry basket is closer... ?!?)

my husband leaves his dirty clothes on the floor.. I even put a basket closer to where he takes his clothes off and they still end up on the floor

what is wrong with dishwashers?.. I would love to have one... I hate doing the dishes

[Alex & Rachel 78]

my husband leaves his dirty clothes on the floor.. I even put a basket closer to where he takes his clothes off and they still end up on the floor

what is wrong with dishwashers?.. I would love to have one... I hate doing the dishes

The floor I can sort of understand - what baffles me about leaving them on shelves is it takes effort to do so!

When I first called him out on it he a) said he didn't do such a thing, and b) that if he did, it was because he was going to re-wear the socks later (ew).

Anyway, one week I decided not to clear up after him... he complained at the end of the week that he had no socks left and would have to buy new ones. We went through the apartment together and found 17 pairs of socks in various places. Not only had he not re-worn them, he'd been taking them off and wearing new pairs multiple times a day!

He believed me then! And it's only happened once or twice since.

As for dishwashers - I find they always end up scratching plates/glasses, no matter how much they claim not to. And if an item's really dirty it doesn't clean it properly anyway. I've seen this with both new and old models in multiple homes - often enough for me not to trust them. They're no doubt useful for large families, but we're not a large family - it's no hassle to wash up. If dishes are left to soak, it really only takes a few minutes to clean a day's worth. My glasses are scratch-free!

[missicy 87]

As for dishwashers - I find they always end up scratching plates/glasses, no matter how much they claim not to. And if an item's really dirty it doesn't clean it properly anyway. I've seen this with both new and old models in multiple homes - often enough for me not to trust them. They're no doubt useful for large families, but we're not a large family - it's no hassle to wash up. If dishes are left to soak, it really only takes a few minutes to clean a day's worth. My glasses are scratch-free!

Yup, plus if you're not a large family it takes less water to hand wash them than run a half empty dishwasher. And if the dishes are really dirty you have to rinse them anyway before putting them in the washer or they won't get properly washed.

[GnBnL 50]

I reuse my towels! I hang it on the radiator to dry, and use it quite a bit before I wash it! always smells clean, and saves water, so I don't see why not! One thing my husband has noticed is that I say "oh yeah?" as a response. Apparently very Canadian to him....def say "Eh?" too, and an Aussie friend once told me that Canadians like to say "holy smokes!" hahaha! never realized these things were strange!

[kytwell 179]

1) Shoes off, slippers on ( we have 4 sets of extra slippers for guests)

2) House clothes must be put on immediately upon entering house

3) No wall to wall carpeting allowed, only area rugs in winter

4) Washes all items, cartons, takes out of packaging before putting them away after supermarket

5) If we get a UPS or Fed Ex delivery the box isn't allowed into the house

6) Mail is opened outside and only the internal documents come in, the envelope gets discarded outside

7) Toilet paper has to go a certain direction

8) Pulls my hair 3 times when we pass a cemetery

9) Couches covered with sheet things

10) No flat sheet on bed, only fitted sheet and a comforter

11) Refuses to keep shower in overhead position, lays it across the knobs, turns it off while washing and lathering then back on to rinse

[VanessaTony 3,567]

hmmmm, I find the opposite to be true.. it is hard for me to find beans in brown sugar or molasses down here in the US, I can only find ones in tomato sauce and I am not crazy about those.. In Canada we had the molasses baked beans..

Have you found Bush's baked beans? Here's their site: http://www.bushbeans.com/en_US/products/baked_beans/ They don't taste bad, I just miss regular baked beans They sell them at all grocery stores. We shop at Wal-mart.

[Liz&Nate 23]

I asked my husband last night what kind of odd cultural things I did. There weren't many he could think of, since having grown up right on the US/MX border and having been able to cross on daytrips since I was 1 there was little culture shock, though we came up with a few things:

1) Personal safety habits: I grew up in what a lot of people would consider a dangerous city, so even when I know live in a pretty safe place I tend to watch my back. I tend to not walk alone at night, I lock my doors, I am alert and aware of my surroundings and I am suspicious of strangers. Not to a crazy degree, and these are probably habits that would seem normal to people in big metro areas, but my husband is from small-town Wisconsin (his hometown's population hovers around 2000 people) so it all seems weird to him.

2) Being overly polite to servers in restaurants: I don't think it's overly polite, but I have noticed that people in restaurants are always a bit less nice to their servers than what I am used to. Once I got up to help a poor pregnant waitress who was walking to our table of five with a huge tray and everyone stared at me. Guess that's not common here.

3) Saying thanks with food: When our building super is scheduled to come and fix something I try to bake cookies or muffins to thank him. My husband thinks this is more adorable than anything else. I do this with the lady who helps us out sometimes, too. I don't want to tip them, just tell them I appreciate their effort.

4)Rinsing underwear: This is the one that I didn't know weirded out Nate! Every night I rinse my underwear and let it dry and the morning after I place it in the dirty clothes hamper. I confess I have no idea why I do it, other than my mom told me that's what I should do from an early age. He says that if it's going into the dirty clothes anyway there's no sense it cleaning it first unless there's been an "accident". Actually when he said this I burst out laughing. Before he actually asked, he probably thought "accidents" were too frequent!

[paojack 41]

I asked my husband last night what kind of odd cultural things I did. There weren't many he could think of, since having grown up right on the US/MX border and having been able to cross on daytrips since I was 1 there was little culture shock, though we came up with a few things:

1) Personal safety habits: I grew up in what a lot of people would consider a dangerous city, so even when I know live in a pretty safe place I tend to watch my back. I tend to not walk alone at night, I lock my doors, I am alert and aware of my surroundings and I am suspicious of strangers. Not to a crazy degree, and these are probably habits that would seem normal to people in big metro areas, but my husband is from small-town Wisconsin (his hometown's population hovers around 2000 people) so it all seems weird to him.

2) Being overly polite to servers in restaurants: I don't think it's overly polite, but I have noticed that people in restaurants are always a bit less nice to their servers than what I am used to. Once I got up to help a poor pregnant waitress who was walking to our table of five with a huge tray and everyone stared at me. Guess that's not common here.

3) Saying thanks with food: When our building super is scheduled to come and fix something I try to bake cookies or muffins to thank him. My husband thinks this is more adorable than anything else. I do this with the lady who helps us out sometimes, too. I don't want to tip them, just tell them I appreciate their effort.

4)Rinsing underwear: This is the one that I didn't know weirded out Nate! Every night I rinse my underwear and let it dry and the morning after I place it in the dirty clothes hamper. I confess I have no idea why I do it, other than my mom told me that's what I should do from an early age. He says that if it's going into the dirty clothes anyway there's no sense it cleaning it first unless there's been an "accident". Actually when he said this I burst out laughing. Before he actually asked, he probably thought "accidents" were too frequent!

OMG! I do exactly the same thing!! (number 4)... that's gotta be a mexican thing then! lol... my hubby also finds that pretty weird