IDIOSYNCRASIES OF NATURE. Perfectionist? Sloppy? To what degree?

Living with my perfectionist mother was hard on me as a child as I never seemed to measure up to her standards. She scrubbed her floor every day, sometimes twice, with ammonia on her hands and knees. Never would she use a mop. If me or my brother came inside with dirt on our clothes or, heaven forbid, our faces we were to immediately take a bath and change our clothes. Her cabinets were arranged to perfection with each can clearly marked and label out with organized precision that would put Martha Stewart to shame. Her carpets were all raked in the same directions (back when shag was the rage) and we had to "rake" our way out of the room backwards so has not to leave any footprints. When my first child was born I found myself repeating many of these patterns. My child's bottles had to be lined according to bottle color, ring and nipple. I was VERY upset if my husband put a red ring on a blue bottle. I also scrubbed my floors daily on hands and knees, though not with ammonia. One day I decided that I did NOT want to go through life spending so much time worrying about how clean my floor is, whether or not my socks are folded a certain way and did not want my children to have to go through the same things I did. I am much more relaxed now, though not sloppy by any means. My children are well adjusted and did not suffer from having a spot of dirt on their faces from playing outside. What I did pass on to my oldest child are my work habits. She is a work-a-holic like me, though I hope she will learn as I did to take time to relax, even if you have to schedule it in. : ) Changing these habits was hard for me. The first time I "messed up" my cupboards it took all of my being not to put it back in order with labels out and in perfect alignment. When my mother comes for a visit she does change things in my home and of course criticizes the way I do things. I just smile because I know this is her way. I also take a look around at the relaxed atmosphere in my home and realize that I am much happier now.