I'm turning into my...Father?? (And my mother before parties)

Yes, it's true. Most girls fear turning into their mother. Me, I'm Dad all the way. Now, to be fair, I've been like my father most of my life. Super type-A, organized, tidy, stubborn, anxiety prone overachievers. (Too the point of OCD with me when I was younger, but again, story for another day). I also inherited his metabolism (thank God), lack of tolerance for fools, and the Italian temper. (Quick fuse, but mostly just bark. Heaven help you if you REALLY piss us off...) This caused us to butt heads quite frequently when I was in high school, but we've since become pretty good friends. :) (I turned 18, and he got cool. Go figure!) All this truly hit me this afternoon...

Allow me to set the scene: We've got a fairly tiny kitchen area as it's combined with our living room. It's about the size of a postage stamp, but not usually a problem (especially since my usual idea of cooking is removing the packaging and sticking it in the oven). However, if the dishes pile up, it becomes claustrophoic FAST! My flatmates are fairly tidy, but with the quick approach of exams, household chores fall by the wayside. This drives me NUTS. We had leftover desserts and salad from Thanksgiving last week that have been sitting on the counter since. We had a nice little penicillin farm going by today, let me tell you - YUCK! (Refrigerate people, seriously!) This combined with quite a few dishes of several days duration makes for a mess. Also, I tend to be the only one who takes out the trash, a job the germophobe in me HATES. Today was no exception.

I'm also one of those people who can't sit down and concentrate on things (like studying) if there's chores or errands to be done (my Zeigarnik, I suppose. It's a tension for unfinished business. Overachievers are prone, and I've got a big one. Could be part of the reason I don't sleep well...). Anyway, when I need to procrastinate, I clean. This causes me to become extremely productive around exams. Today I've been to the post office, picked up my contacts, done my grocery shopping, did the dishes, emptied the trash, swept the kitchen floor, started my laundry (drives me up the wall not having a dryer...), changed my sheets, put away the Thanksgiving decorations, and settled my accounts for the month. Hahahaha I would have decorated for Christmas but have been warned my flatmates this is not allowed 'til tomorrow. :P (I've got Christmas music on now as I needed a bit of cheering up today.)

So, it seems I am my father. He's the one at our house who freaks if the dishes sit for more than a day. Mostly he's got to do them right after dinner, while my mom is content to let it sit 'til she has enough to run the dishwasher (which in a family of 6 doesn't take long). She also doesn't really clean unless we have a party at the house (and then she turns into a psycho...). She used us kids as labour when we were younger. We'd get paid by the hour for doing the den, kitchen floor, etc. We HAD to either clean our rooms or our bathroom once a week. I don't understand why my younger brother rushes through his chores - the longer you work, the more you get paid! Hell, I still get paid for cleaning and ironing hahahaha. My dad is the one who cleans their room and bathroom once a week. My mom refuses to share the laundry, though. It's the only time she can escape to the basement and be left alone. She calls it her therapy. We all do our own now, but she still has enough to keep her busy. And in true homage to my dad, I'm sure I'll have the flat spotless before I leave for Christmas break in two weeks.

Ah, well, I suppose I could do worse than be my father. He's smart and active and hasn't truly grown up (and I hope he never does!). He's got a great sense of humor and never lets us take ourselves too seriously. He can be a bit intense, but sometimes you need that. To be fair, I see him turning into my grandfather - no matter what you're going to do, he'll tell you his opinion and what he thinks you should do. (Grandpop is still telling me I should have gone to vet school in Florida where his sister lives or joined the Navy and had them pay for it. [shakes head and grins]) Now if I could just find a guy like my mother to balance me out, I'd be set. ;-)

I'm going to be a crazy old lady, aren't I? :)

P.S. Flyers update - back on top (for now), but Hartnell's suspended for one more game. Broad Street Bullies are back...now if Gagne would just get well... Now off to eat lunch and study for real!