On becoming my mother

My mom is a pretty neat lady. She's got her shit together, handles stress with more grace and generosity than I do, and is just generally a good person. 

I still cringe at some of the things I teased her about growing up. Especially how cheap she could be. Friends who make fun of DJ and I for our "cold" (64 degrees) house should remember that I'm descended from the same woman who "heated" her house to 57 degrees in the winter because she didn't want to pay the heating bill. The same woman who had her house on the market for $500k+.

But I digress. I teased my mom mercilessly for her janitor-style key ring.

And now I have one too. Let's count the shit on my key ring, shall we?

1. Car fob
2. Car key
3. Gym fob
4. Key fob for AOII
5. Key to office at MSU
6. Key to classroom at MSU
7. Key to office for the City
8. Key to room where my Board meets
9. Key to our house
10. Key to the lake house
11. Mailbox key for our house
12. Mailbox key for my parents house
13. Key for my parent's house in Bozeman (which they sold last month) (I think that's it)
14. Key to  my bike lock
15. Some other mailbox-like key... I have no idea what its for.

Obviously the keys to my parents now-sold house can go. But how about the keys to the places I only go occasionally? Keep them on a separate key ring? Which I'm more likely to lose? Or leave at home on a day I really need my damn keys?

Is my key ring another indicator of being an adult, with adult responsibilities?

And how long before DJ starts making fun of me mercilessly?

Neuroses

I think I have a slight sensory overload disorder. Or maybe I'm normal and all of you like too much stuff, sounds and lights cluttering up your life?

Our Living Room/ Dining Room/ Kitchen is all one big room. It's awesome for entertaining and generally a great layout, but man, if one area of those spaces is messy it ALL looks messy.

I come downstairs and get itchy and anxiety ridden when the mail on the end table, the dining room table and the kitchen bar. Shoes out. Dishes undone or not put away (I HATE a messy/ dirty kitchen. Grosses me out). Three days worth of newspapers strung throughout the space.The TV blaring and every light in the space on, all while we're trying to eat dinner. Not relaxing. Too much... everything!

So you can imagine my discomfort during Christmas when we added holiday clutter decorations. I'm the only one to blame; I put them out! But the dangly balls in the window, the Christmas tree that I always jostled walking by, the groups of Santa figurines in the windows, etc. really just did me in. And seriously; we're MINIMALISTS when it comes to holiday (or any kind of) decorating. We had like four items out and it was too much for me.

I've been itching to put the Christmas decorations away since the 26th.

AND I USED TO LOVE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!! The more the better was my motto when I was 12!

The clutter has pushed me into serious cleaning, organizing and getting-rid-o-shit mode though. On Monday night I reorganized the guest bedroom closet and moved the linens into the dresser. On Wednesday night we put away the Christmas decorations. I also re-arranged the living room, vacuumed and organized the hall closet. On Thursday I organized and cleaned my office so I can start 2011 clean and tidy. And with less shit.