I'm becoming my father

Both my father and father in law are OCD neat freaks. Growing up, I was a total slob. Always had glasses laying around growing mold; in college a pile of clothes just moved between my bed and the floor. Food everywhere, things getting wet and growing organisms, just generally a mess, both clutterwise and unsanitariness (is that a word?).
Now, I'm kind of obsessed with cleaning. It bothers me when I can see clumps of dog fur on the floor (and there's always clumps...even right after I vacuum). I hate when M leaves his clothes in the bathroom or doesn't put trash in the trash or dirty dishes in the sink. Smudges on the patio door or glass tabletops. Chaos in the house bothers me. My father in law was here the day before thanksgiving and just got back today. We cleaned up some of M's clutter in the garage where the tools and fishing gear are. We put up most of the hanging things that needed to be screwed into the wall - curtain rods, a shower curtain rod. I felt soooo much better with all that stuff in its place, nice and neat.

Im not nearly as anal about it as the fathers, but I'm definetely so much different than I was even a couple years ago. My dad is so bad about it that I know Ill never meet his expectations, but at least he doesnt feel like crawling out of his skin in my place. I was running around like a madwoman this morning before father in law arrived, trying to bake cookies, do some laundry, vacuum, put M's messed away. I don't like that feeling, like there's 50 things I need to do RIGHT NOW. But I'll deal.

As far as turning into my dad, I've also found myself making jokes my dad would make. Really cheesy jokes. Ive also inherited his guilt comples, of feeling guilty for things that aren't my fault. We're both overly concerned with other people's feelings, to the point of regularly hurting ourselves to protect other people.

I've probably been the least multimedia blogger around. People like big shiny pictures; nobody really wants to read just plain text on te computer. So, Ill throw in a pic of me and my dad. Enjoy!