Thursday Thirteen - Current Pet Peeves

Those of you who know me well know that I'm not easily ruffled. I've always been fairly easy-going. Not much gets to me.

But there are a few things that REALLY bother me. Some are old, some are just current annoyances.

1. People who interrupt others This has ALWAYS bothered me. It will probably always be my number one pet peeve. I cannot think of many things more disrespectful or that make me more upset. God gave us two ears and only one mouth. I think we should use them in those proportions. People would be pleasantly surprised at what a rewarding activity listening can be.

2. Reckless drivers This hasn't bothered me in the past nearly as much as it does now. I think that's mainly because nearly every time I drive I have 3 precious children and an unborn baby to protect. I understand mistakes. I make plenty. But, really dumb things like weaving in and out of traffic or changing lanes in an intersection and driving head on into the left turn lane just make me steam. Honestly, we're all in a hurry. Let's work together to make sure we all get where we're going safely.

3. Toilets that don't flush properly How often do you think it's reasonable to have to plunge a toilet? One or twice a month? Try DAILY. In fact, I'm happy when I only have to plunge our downstairs toilet once a day. Grrrrr... We've had the plumber here, but he couldn't fix it. I think it's just time to replace it.

4. Sean Hannity I used to listen to him sometimes. Now even the sound of his voice makes my ears burn. Gah!! Of course, most reactionary, extreme political talking-heads drive me nuts. I've really enjoyed Doug Wright lately. And NPR. I like balance.

5. Listening to music with my kids I tell you, in Scud's language "I can't hear it!" means "I can hear things other than the music!" This makes me wonder. Am I getting old?

6. DOG HAIR If it weren't winter, I'd be tempted to just shave rusty bare. I'm so sick of dog hair on EVERYTHING. Those hairless pets are looking better and better to me.

7. And, OY, the SAW DUST! I'm so very glad that JDub has his shop back. He's loving it and thriving. Mashuga is also thoroughly enjoying Daddy's shop. But, you try bringing a pound of sawdust each day into a nesting pregnant mama's house and see how long it takes before she starts to feel a bit crazy. I think we're going to talk tonight about some ways to keep it out of the house. Mainly that would consist of vacuuming Mashuga and his shoes thoroughly before he's allowed out of the shop and into the house. JDub stays fairly clean.

8. Spam in my inbox I've gotten a lot lately written in chinese and syrillic text. What the?!? And then there's the nonsense email from random names. I currently have over 1000 messages in my inbox and 129 unread messages. I don't need more!

9. Whining One of my children is particularly guilty of this lately. Boy, I love real conversations with him when he uses his nice voice.

10. Contention Ask my siblings. Or my parents. I don't do do well with fighting. I'm a peacemaker at heart, even when it ends up being detrimental to me. So, I'm not doing well lately with the constant bickering between my children. Today hasn't been bad, though.

11. People treating pregnancy as an illness Okay, this is REALLY current for me. But I get frustrated when I feel others treat me as an invalid. Now this attitude is very different from genuine concern for my comfort and well-being. That I appreciate terribly right now and that's what I feel I'm mostly getting from close family and friends. And I suppose I have a view of pregnancy and birth that's rather different from mainstream. I feel capable and healthy and strong and I am reveling in the perfection of this beautiful process. Am I comfortable? Not at all. Does that mean I need to complain or languish? No. I'd much rather enjoy this incredibly brief and beautiful time in my life. So, well-meaning strangers, please stop messing up my groove!

12. Closed-mindedness I realize this is a hard thing to define. It's pretty easy to accuse someone who has an opinion different than mine of being closed-minded. But there's a vast difference between expressing an opinion and being unwilling to consider that of another or learn something new. I have learned so much from those who believe differently than I do and feel like I grow most when I'm willing to admit that I could be utterly wrong and take the time to listen to someone else. There I go with the listening thing again.

13. Insincerity I'll end with this one. It could easily be on the top of the list, also. I am always so grateful for genuine, real people. People who aren't afraid to be who they are without deceit or pretense. People who say "yes" when then mean "yes" and "no" when they mean "no". I think the reason this bothers me so much in others is that it is one thing that I CAN'T STAND seeing in myself. Everytime I catch myself being less than authentic, even if I'm mostly being untrue to myself, I just want to take an ice cream scoop and dig that part of myself out. I want to always be honest with myself and others. I want to be my real self even if that means embracing some things that aren't always pretty or pleasing to others.

So, I suppose this was a good list for me. It feels good to just speak out loud (write to the world) about the things that make me just not happy.

Merry Christmas, all! It's getting close isn't it?