I am becoming my Mother

And this is not a bad thing in my family. Although I still find it humorous when the realization hits me in any given situation where I stop and think, "Wow. I am so my mother."

I've noticed little things over the last 10 or so years. And it has really come out while I've been house-sitting these past few weeks for them. Of course, I'm trying to do things as they do them, when they do them and as often (or nearly so) as they do.

Mom doesn't care much for clutter around the house. She hates when the kitchen counter is cluttered. She has given me a basket to stuff in and it sits on a corner of the counter. If it gets too messy, I'm usually asked to clean it out. Between my stuff and Boyfriend's stuff, the counter has gotten a bit cluttered and it was starting to drive me crazy. I finally had to clean it up because it was driving me up a wall.

About a week or so ago, Boyfriend used my parents garage to house his saws, jigs, and other things he needed to take to the Boyscout camp he volunteers for. He was getting stuff together, cleaning, and over all getting prepped. I never said a word about the garage being taken over by his tools because I knew it was temporary. However, it was driving me crazy. Two days in he came up to me and asked me if the garage was bugging me. I told him honestly that it was, but I wasn't going to say anything because it was just temporary. He said, "Good. Because it's bugging the hell outta me, too."

I've kept up on the laundry, the ironing, the cleaning, the changing of kitty litter boxes, running the dishwasher. I can't stand to see a wet towel left on the floor or draped over a chair, the bed unmade (unless the cat beats me to it, then it's all hers), I've even been remembering to water the plants.

Now, I've lived on my own for 13 years, so I know how to keep house. But I've lived completely alone since I was 23, so for ten years I could be as lazy as I wanted to be. I didn't often have company but I always made sure my apartment was clean and picked up before anyone showed up.

And Boyfriend has noticed, and he likes it. I guess his ex was pretty much a terrible at cleaning anything, and his mom and grandma tell me he was the one who did all the cleaning. He's mentioned a few times over the last few weeks that he loves that I can keep house and that loves that I actually do it. Not to worry, he's helped out a bit, too. Actually offered to help.

Now all I need is my Mom's eye when it comes to decorating the house. Oh and her cooking skills.