cranky pants
The past couple of weeks have been rather stressful for me. The reasons are varied and mostly unrelated to each other, and not even all of them are bad. Most of what's going on isn't really bloggable (or even interesting to anyone but me, frankly), though, so now that I've finally had a shower and opened one of the season's last Bell's Oberon ale, I'm going to get some really petty things off my chest.
Things that make me cranky (especially when I am under stress for other reasons):
1. Dirty socks all over the house. Seriously, this drives me crazy. It's like I'm the only one in my family who knows what a hamper is for.
2. Losing every damn game of Scrabble I play with Stuart. I have a confession to make: I have an iPhone now, and I love it. Love. It. It's Stuart's old one because he got one of the fancy-pants new ones, which means we can text each other for free, I can check my email when I'm not home, and we can play cyber-Scrabble. Triple-check on time-wasters there. Anyway, he always beats me at regular Scrabble and evidently playing on tiny screens with sound effects didn't boost my skills any. Le sigh.
3. My hair. I know. Could I be more vain? But still, it drives me nuts. When it's long, it's scraggly, when it's short, it looks stupid, when it's in a ponytail (which it is most of the time) it looks messy, and the gray is unmistakable. I shouldn't care about that, but I do. I just want the perfect haircut that looks good all the time with no product added and no dyeing and no more than about two minutes brushing it in the morning. I guess that's too much to ask.
4. Feeling left out or overlooked. This has been happening a lot lately, but it really sucks when it's something like, oh, say someone you volunteered with all summer taking care of the school gardens doesn't so much as say hello to you but recognizes your husband because he showed up for a couple hours on volunteer day a whole year ago. (Maybe if I had red hair and a beard, people would remember me, too.)
5. Crowds. Tonight was open house at the elementary school. Loads of people, loads of kids, plus loads of nagging at the book fair.
6. The book fair. I remember the book fair from when I was a kid. I loved reading (and I still do!), so you'd think I'd love the book fair, but I don't. It's hot and crowded in there, plus there are a lot of crap books there. A whole table devoted to Justin Bieber, er, literature, and posters? Puh. Leeze.
7. Making dinner at 9:00 in the morning. I've had to do this rather frequently since school started. I know, I really live a life of luxury that I can be home to make dinner at nine in the morning instead of sitting in an office somewhere working for The Man. But you know what? Sometimes I wish I could be in an office somewhere earning a real wage instead of running kids to and fro all day and spending what little creative energy I have left figuring out what we're going to eat every night. It's a bit like running on a hamster wheel. Oh well. That aside, I don't like when afternoons and evenings are so hectic that I have to make dinner nine hours in advance. When it's a slow day and the kids are playing nicely after school (or, if I must be completely honest, watching TV), one of my favorite times is at about 4:30 or 5:00 when I turn on NPR, pour myself a half glass of wine or make a cup of tea, and start cooking.
Things that make me cranky (especially when I am under stress for other reasons):
1. Dirty socks all over the house. Seriously, this drives me crazy. It's like I'm the only one in my family who knows what a hamper is for.
2. Losing every damn game of Scrabble I play with Stuart. I have a confession to make: I have an iPhone now, and I love it. Love. It. It's Stuart's old one because he got one of the fancy-pants new ones, which means we can text each other for free, I can check my email when I'm not home, and we can play cyber-Scrabble. Triple-check on time-wasters there. Anyway, he always beats me at regular Scrabble and evidently playing on tiny screens with sound effects didn't boost my skills any. Le sigh.
3. My hair. I know. Could I be more vain? But still, it drives me nuts. When it's long, it's scraggly, when it's short, it looks stupid, when it's in a ponytail (which it is most of the time) it looks messy, and the gray is unmistakable. I shouldn't care about that, but I do. I just want the perfect haircut that looks good all the time with no product added and no dyeing and no more than about two minutes brushing it in the morning. I guess that's too much to ask.
4. Feeling left out or overlooked. This has been happening a lot lately, but it really sucks when it's something like, oh, say someone you volunteered with all summer taking care of the school gardens doesn't so much as say hello to you but recognizes your husband because he showed up for a couple hours on volunteer day a whole year ago. (Maybe if I had red hair and a beard, people would remember me, too.)
5. Crowds. Tonight was open house at the elementary school. Loads of people, loads of kids, plus loads of nagging at the book fair.
6. The book fair. I remember the book fair from when I was a kid. I loved reading (and I still do!), so you'd think I'd love the book fair, but I don't. It's hot and crowded in there, plus there are a lot of crap books there. A whole table devoted to Justin Bieber, er, literature, and posters? Puh. Leeze.
7. Making dinner at 9:00 in the morning. I've had to do this rather frequently since school started. I know, I really live a life of luxury that I can be home to make dinner at nine in the morning instead of sitting in an office somewhere working for The Man. But you know what? Sometimes I wish I could be in an office somewhere earning a real wage instead of running kids to and fro all day and spending what little creative energy I have left figuring out what we're going to eat every night. It's a bit like running on a hamster wheel. Oh well. That aside, I don't like when afternoons and evenings are so hectic that I have to make dinner nine hours in advance. When it's a slow day and the kids are playing nicely after school (or, if I must be completely honest, watching TV), one of my favorite times is at about 4:30 or 5:00 when I turn on NPR, pour myself a half glass of wine or make a cup of tea, and start cooking.
Comments
Thanks for letting me get this out. Clearly, I'm with ya sister.