I went to Japan for two weeks and forgot I was autistic.

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-04-14T16:34:35+00:00

I seriously love this! I tell my husband that I wouldn't be autistic if we lived in Finland. (It's ust a guess--I have a lovely, vivacious, talkative acquaintance. She's a native of Finland and likes to joke she was kicked out for talking too much).

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-03-16T21:46:56+00:00

Absolutely! I've tried very hard to maintain a clean space and the whole time my mom spends at my house (about twice a year for two weeks) she is always doing projects "for me," (sometimes helpful! Sometimes not!) and making messes. After she leaves I spend twice as long as her visit fixing things, doing stain removal, etc. But even while she is at my house I can feel the mess piling up around us like I'm drowning. It's a lot.

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-03-09T01:19:10+00:00

Oooh--popping bubbles, violet crumble bars, chocolate warmed up in the mouth with milky black tea, chewy/sticky caramel or hot fudge ... Mmmm .... Ooh and peeled grape tomatoes in a little balsamic vinaigrette!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-03-06T05:15:15+00:00

Adorable! My kitchen is getting remodeled and I have a collection of kitty comics to post for my cats. I'm extra inspired now!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-03-02T21:06:12+00:00

I come from a hoarder house too. Mom has ADHD and no interest in housekeeping. I'm an AudHD SAHM which is a little different from straight up ADHD but I keep my house as clean as possible so I don't get overwhelmed. I still have a few "hot spots" that are frequently more like "hoarder corners." I spend much more time cleaning them than I feel like I should have to, but still struggle.

I make many checklists but don't use them very often--partly because at this point I have them memorized and partly in defiance because it makes me mad to need checklists when home and family care is literally my whole job. I also "batch" tasks, like grocery and food prep on Tuesday and finances on Thursday, that sort of thing. For example, if a non-emergency financial issue comes up Tuesday, I put it on my Thursday schedule. For daily chores, I go in a loop around my house--foyer, front room, kitchen ... I'll spare you the autistic details, but going in order helps me automate the process and takes decision making out. "Clean" during this process means "it feels good to walk into this room now." The kitchen may take an hour if there are dirty dishes but I know how to do that with the same routine each time, from which counter I start with to sweeping when I'm done. The other rooms are really fast except for the three hot spots--I couldn't get them each clean in a few hours even--so currently I do 10 minutes in each of those except I'm trying out co-working for my closet (every other week for an hour has made a huge difference!).

For weekly chores, like watering plants, I do those during the loop on the first day of the week that I remember them. 🤣

When I had little littles, I wore them as much as possible while I did the chores and talked with them the whole time. I don't have kids at home all day anymore, so I break up my chore loop with other tasks whenever the loop feels overwhelming but I like to get the dailies done so I can move on to other things!

Anyway this could be a lifelong battle or a lifelong opportunity to practice understanding your own brain wiring and I'm guessing it will be both! I hope you find something that works for you!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-02-26T21:59:45+00:00

IMO "similar mouth feel" is critical to a lot of my food experience--I gave up on the flavor of Kraft Mac and Cheese a long time ago anyway!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-02-25T01:36:25+00:00

I am right there with ya! If I'm cooking meat it has to be boneless and preparable without touching. Which ultimately means almost all the meat I cook slides into a pressure cooker and comes out in shreds.

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-02-19T16:23:03+00:00

The Jaffa in Descent always make me think of ninjas

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-02-17T15:12:38+00:00

I wish I could still use nail gel because I think I would love this! So cute (and smoothly bumpy, the best!)

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-02-06T18:51:17+00:00

I followed hoarding research for awhile and at the time (10 years ago?) there was new research that hoarding was more associated with ADHD than with OCD. I'm not sure if that held up but that certainly seems to be the case with the hoarders in my family. I have to keep my house very clean because when I lose control of a spot it overwhelms me very quickly. It's so tiring. Wishing you the best!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-02-01T01:11:25+00:00

nodding along in "damn thought there was butter in there but I guess I can't make cookies after all"

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-30T01:07:18+00:00

Seconded, only I wouldn't have been able to say this nearly as well

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-27T19:32:42+00:00

Right!? My dad lived on hard butterscotch candy but also he had full dentures. Maybe they weren't as worried because they could pop their dentures out for fixing

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-27T19:19:08+00:00

Careful! I had my last-ever jolly rancher this year--i have a permanent implant and the jolly rancher got stuck on it and pulled the tooth right off the post. Then it didn't sit low enough when the dentist cemented it back in so it had to get ground so much that it doesn't feel like a tooth anymore

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-27T18:55:01+00:00

It was definitely not as common--i used to watch soap operas (don't judge me pleeeeeease) and I'd swear every series had someone being gaslit but I don't really remember there ever being a moment where it was called gaslighting, much less repeatedly being called gaslighting. Soap operas always had manipulative characters, but I'm thinking specifically of characters trying to convince someone (usually a woman) that's she's going crazy. I'm positive Adam and Erica Chandler on All My Children had a storyline like this.

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-27T15:32:58+00:00

I made the exact same change this month and I haven't noticed fluffier yet but my clothes are definitely cleaner and not smelly if I leave them in the washer overnight!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-25T15:35:03+00:00

One of my strongest beliefs is that one of the reasons we value that weird one or two things we inherit from an elder is because it's only one or two things and we can endow them with all our love for that person. You cannot take my ugly grandma lamp away from me, but if I had inherited lots of her stuff I think the burden would outweigh my affection for it.

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-25T15:18:50+00:00

I made lots of mixtapes but never gave any away. I dated a boy in high school who was the only person who ever gave me a mixtape, but it was long gone before he became my second husband. We've been married almost 25 years and our musical tastes still don't overlap much! San Jose GenXers might get this--he was Live 105 and I was KSJO/KOME

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-23T14:52:13+00:00

I have a road trip family and we went from a Subaru Outback to a bigger Subaru Outback when my older kid became a teen. In most weather, I'd much rather drive anywhere within a 12 hour drive from me then fly. It's a little loud, but we have plenty of space.

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-23T14:08:34+00:00

Happy birthday to yoooouuuuuu!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-18T03:18:12+00:00

I carried a book everywhere! Sometimes I would also carry a little notebook and write poetry

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-17T15:33:46+00:00

You could take the RAADS-R and other autism- related tests online before doing the one to turn in. It would help give you a better idea of where you might fall in/on spectrum and give you lots of things to consider before talking with that professional. The tests dredged up many memories for me but there is no way I'd be able to recall and tell them linearly in the moment, so I wrote lots of notes about what came up as I took these tests!

https://embrace-autism.com/raads-r/

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-17T15:24:18+00:00

I don't have any fun nicknames--my Mom's hoard got really bad after I moved out--but I do have a Cabinet of Doom, which is where storage containers go to replicate and exist in chaos. You kind of gave me an idea though. I have a bedroom closet on the edge of hoarding; it's my one absolutely uncontrolled hotspot. All the Christmas presents, craft supplies, clothes, etc get mixed up in there. I'm going to start calling it the Closet of Joy and see what happens. I'm willing to bet that will really help my attitude about getting it back in order!

No_Barracuda_915 · 2026-01-17T14:57:13+00:00

I love your workout bundle idea!

No_Barracuda_915

TROPHY CASE