V is for...Very Annoying

Day 22. Your Pet Peeves

There are a lot of things that annoy me. But, within that long list, there are things that mildly annoy me and things that make my eye twitch. Things that are mildly annoying, I usually get over the annoyance in a hot sec.

For example...

1. Duke making old man wet mouth noises....in the middle of the night. Dude, really...STOP LICKING YOUR LIPS.

2. People talking on their cell phones in public restrooms.

3. My dogs nails going clickty-clackety on the hard wood floors....in the middle of the damn night.

4. Harley meowing forlornly from under the guest bedroom when what she really wants is attention. If you want to be petted you are going to have to come out and be around the rest of the family, Wednesday Addams Jr.

5. The cats tossing their food outside of their dishes. Seriously, my cats are the messiest eaters ever.

6. Stepping barefoot in water slobber spots around the water bowl.

7. My mom and sister calling my cell phone and then my house phone and then sending a text...and then sending out a 911 search party.

8. The dogs having to get up and follow us around..even if we are coming right back to the same room.

9. People who post thinks on social media just for attention {ggguuuiilllttyyyy}

10. People who call me and when I try to call them right back they don't answer.

11. Screaming children in public places (I love kids and I'm very sympathetic to parents..but its still annoying)

But there are only a few things that I would consider true pet peeves. Things that annoy me so bad that I may or may not fantasize about murder.

1. People who do not pay attention to me when I am talking to them. Now, if we are together and there is a lull in the conversation then by all means...check your phone. I'm ok with that. But if I am actively in the middle of speaking to your face you better be making some serious eye contact with me. And if, while I am speaking, you interrupt our conversation I expect you to give me a signal that you are ready for me to get back to my unfinished thought.

Honestly, nothing annoys me more than to be stopped in the middle of a sentence and then that person doesn't bother to even come back around to what I was saying. It makes me feel very under-valued and ignored...like I was wasting my time (and as an introvert, that shit sucks).

2. People who make mouth noises when they eat. I didn't even realize this was a pet peeve until I sat next to someone at work who always ate lunch at their desk. The noises they would make had me clinching my teeth. I tried to covertly record it once, because I wanted the husband to hear what was making me so crazy, but you couldn't hear anything over the normal office noises. It was actually very similar to Duke's wet mouth noises. I guess I can forgive him quicker because A: He's a freakin' DOG and B: I love him.

Things that annoy me

When I can't remember if the dishes in the dish washer are clean or dirty.

Things that annoy me

Websites that force you to 'sign up' to even browse the site.

 

I don't need one more email clogging up my inbox, thank you very much.

Wisdom Teeth are Dumb

*warning..if photos of teeth wig you out don't look at this post*

My mouth is swollen and stiff.

One of the upsides to dental work..lots of ice cream.

My company for the rest of the day.

Stupid teeth with no point but to cause pain.

Oh HAAAAIIIIII!!!!

 

Gosh. I know I am letting time just slip on by without really posting and I'm sorry about that. For the last several weeks we've been dealing with deadbeat neighbors. They keep letting their dogs run all over the street. The big dogs aren't friendly and the small dogs chase cars. Considering I'm use to walking home after work every day and taking our dogs for walks just about every day, having loose dogs on our street every day..put a big kink in our usual routine. I had to start hitching a ride with a co-worker to get home. We had to start loading the dogs up and taking them to the park to get their walks in (not that our dogs minded, they love the park).

One of the big dogs actually jumped over our four feet chain link fence. It was in our yard when Jeremy opened the back door to let Lola out. When he want out to try and herd the dog to the back gate, the dog became very aggressive..barking and lunging at Jeremy. The neighbor had to come over and into our yard to get the dog.

We called animal control...several, several times.

One of the little dogs that likes to chase cars, when the neighbors where outside in the carport and let the dog chase the cars, was hit and killed two houses down from his home. We knew it was bound to happen if they didn't start containing the dogs, but it was still a very hard thing to witness.

ANYWAY, that's just the craziness we've been dealing with around here. It sort of consumed everything for a little bit.

And then Jeremy caught this awful stomach bug that seems to be going around. He was bed ridden for a solid day feeling like death, unable to keep any food down. He's all better now, but he was down and out for two days.

But, there has been some great things going on too!

Like some of this:

My cute pumpkin

And some of this:

Cupcakes from our sweet neighbors across the street.


And a little of this:

A little window shopping. I am in LOVE with this jacket.

And a lot of this:

Bingo stole my heart.

Two adorable cockers for adoption.

Oh, aaannnddd we've watched a few movies:
1. Prometheus - Not overly scary but weird.
2. Man on a Ledge - Very good movie, two thumbs up.
3. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Highly entertaining.

 

The hardest "easiest" home project ever

*big sigh*

You know how you think you can do something, and it will be so easy, and take no time at all? And then you do it and it never, ever is that easy and ends up taking days and lots more money than you ever thought?

Yeah...me too. It happens all the time which makes me think on home improvement projects (even the seemingly simplest) with fear and trepidation.

But, given enough time, the pain and frustration of the last disaster seems to fade and all the sudden I'm trolling Pinterest looking for ideas for my next project. I give myself pep talks. 'You can do that' and 'It looks simple enough' or 'How hard can it be'.

Let me tell you, pretty freakin' hard. It always is.

Anyways, my Mom gave me her cedar storage chest some time ago. It makes the perfect spot for our animals to sun bath and for Lola to patrol the hood.

But all the animal activity was taking its toll on the navy blue seat cushion. It was starting to show its age. So I got the BRIGHT idea to recover it. Easy, right? Quick, right?

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

After buying new fabric and new padding. The first thing was to remove the seat cushion. No problem.

And then it was time to get rid of the old fabric. Demo is ALWAYS the easiest part.

Then I ripped off the old padding and set down the new stuff so I could trim it down to size.

I bought spray adhesive, because that's what I have always seen the pro's do on HGTV but of course it didn't work. But whatever, I pressed on. Laying the fabric out on the floor, I put the bench on top and got ready to staple it in place.

And this, my friends, is where the project went down hill fast. We were out of staples for our staple gun. So Jeremy runs to the hardware store around the corner and buys a new box. But the staples don't fit. We both head back up there and decide to just buy a new staple gun, and surely the box of staples we just bought will fit. But they don't. Jeremy goes back AGAIN and buys another box of staples....and they still don't fit.

By this time, Jeremy is a little....frustrated and has sworn off stepping foot outside of the house for the rest of the night. My "easy" makeover had to be put on hold for the evening.

The next morning Jeremy goes to the big box handy man store and buys yet another box of staples...that do not fit. This totally pushed him over the edge and he washed his hands of my silly little redecorating job. So I take the directions to the new staple gun up to the hardware store and speak with someone that works there. He is adamant that the staples we bought should work even though I tell him they don't. He asks me to bring in the staple gun and we would find the right fit. So after another trip back home and back to the hardware store, with staple gun in hand, I find the staples I need...with no help from anyone since my oh-so helpful store employee was no where to be found. I head to the register just to find out that my debit card was left at home *groan* so I had to use a credit card...for staples. When I got out to the car, I opened the box of staples and made sure those *bleepity bleepers* fit before I left the parking lot.

To recap, that was six trips to the hardware store.

By this time, I'm just about over this stupid project so you get no pictures of me stapling the fabric into place. It was a frenzy of cursing and maniac laughter.

After that I recruited Jeremy to help me put the bench back on the top of the chest. He came willingly...which surprised me after the last two days frustration.

After a little unscrewing and re-screwing, the stupid thing is recovered and back in place. Which is good, because I was about ready to chuck the thing out the window. And I'm never doing another "easy", "simple" home project ever again.

Things That Annoy Me

Overly edited photos.

Everyone knows you aren't really that smooth and glowy in person.

Things that annoy me

You know what I love...on demand pay-per-view.

You know why...because my movie doesn't get interrupted by fingerprints or scratches.

Stupid DVD rentals...waste of money.

Things I Hate

~ Allowing myself to be intimidated.

~ Allowing myself to be jealous.

~ Allowing myself to regress.

~ Allowing myself to become overwhelmed.

~ Allowing myself to wallow.

~ Allowing myself to be ambivalent.

Things That Annoy Me

Rude teenage girls that waste their parents money to sit in a movie just to talk through the whole thing. I can understand a few whispered comments here and there, I'm guilty of that. But, these girls might as well have been in their bedroom reading those stupid teen rag mags, popping their bubblegum, painting their toe nails. And they weren't even talking about the movie, which would have been annoying enough by itself. Oh no, it was more like

'OMG, Todd tttooottallly sent me a message on facebook last night'

'RRReeeaaallllyy? I thought he was dating Addison'

'Nooo, they..like...broke up a while ago'

It was a fairly calm and quiet part of the movie. I couldn't keep myself from laughing as I listened to them carry on this stupid conversation like no one else was in the theatre with them.

And, is it just me, or do all teenage girls sound just like Ke$ha?

Stupid Magic Eight Ball

On Tuesday we went to the grocery store to fill up our vacation fridge..meaning there was nothing in it. I have a system while grocery shopping, the list is organized by how we move through the store. I know it sounds a little crazy, but it helps us stay on track and not forget anything.

ANYWAYS, this is NOT about our shopping habits. We were more than half way done with the list, on the pet supplies aisle. And Jeremy finds an unwrapped magic eight ball sitting on a shelf next to the cat litter. OOOkkkaaayy, kind of strange. I don't think they even sell those at this grocery store but whatever. So Jeremy picks it up and tells me to ask it a question.

I ask, 'Will I have a baby this year?'

We haven't really been trying. It's been put on the back burner, as discussed by us. So, its not like the topic has been on my mind or something that we have been really striving for over the last several months. It was just one of those questions that I ALWAYS ask with something silly like this. When I make a wish on an eyelash or blow one of those puff ball weeds. You know..stupid things like that. I always wish for a baby. lol. Well, the magic eight ball "says" that it is certainly so. lol. Okay, magic eight ball..whatever you say.

And here we are four days later and I started. *sigh* Again, it's not been something we have been working on. Honestly, I haven't thought about it much lately (which is really good for my sanity). AND, it's a stupid toy anyway..not exactly hardcore proof, right?

But still...not cool, Universe. No cool at all.

Things That Annoy Me

People that feel like they must use foul language loudly and often, while in an office setting.

It doesn't make you look like bad ass. It makes you look like a jack ass.

Ranting Ruth

Gloomy Gus
Negative Nancy
Sour Susie
Frowning Fred

Whatever name YOU have for people like that, they are energy drainers. It's hard to be around someone that can't see the positive in anything. It's hard to talk to people that come back from a week long vacation and have NOTHING positive to say about it. Instead they talk about how long the drive took, and how the maid at the hotel seemed rude, or how long they had to wait to be seated for dinner.

*big eye roll*

Do you work with people like that? It's like you don't even want to ask them how their weekend went because it's always...'It was ok, I guess...BUT..' Oh that BUT makes me mad, it's like nails on a black board for me. I cringe.

But what? I want to ask them. But your cat died? But your house burnt down? But you caught your husband cheating on you? Found out you had cancer?

No? None of that? The what could have been SO awful about your weekend that you couldn't just tell me that it had been fine? HHmmm?

See what their energy does to me?! Gah. And, unfortunately, Jeremy and I both have to work with people like this. They whine. They grumble. They throw tantrums. And it gets real old, real quick.

The Biggest Loser...

..of his moral compass.

I usually don't blog about the shows I'm watching. I'm not as witty as some of the other bloggers out there that do weekly run-downs of recent shows. But, I have been watching the Biggest Loser this season. This is actually the first season I've watched from the very beginning, so I'm pretty invested.

Anyway, it's getting close to the end *tear* and there is a lot of scheming going on. I don't guess I have any problem with general strategies. I mean it IS a game. But, when people right out LIE. I hate that. Ha ha..I guess it could have been creatively edited to look like he lied. Who knows. But, I still hate the sneakiness of it. So, this is what I think of Mr. Ron Liarpants:

Please stop the music

We went out last night to a little local bar that was hosting several local bands. The place was packed, like 'this can't be legal' packed. Going from your table to the bathroom was like navigating an obstacle course. I was rubbed against at least 50 times by people squeezing past our table. Jeremy knocked over a bottle of beer. My eyes were stinging from the thick smoke. But I WAS wearing some kick ass high heeled shoes, which made it all ok. Until the music started.

I've never been a stickler about my music. If it has a good beat and I can sing along with it, I pretty much like it. If it has a good beat, I can sing along with it, and I can RELATE to it then I might even love it. Stuff that I might not like at first can certainly grow on me. Basically what I'm trying to say is my music palette is pretty varied and un-bias. I'm willing to give almost anything a listen or two.

But, being with a man who is wonderful on the guitar and has very strong leanings to music that could be now be classified as 'classic rock' but that we like to call 'heavy metal' has slightly colored my opinion of other bands. *shew..I know that is one serious run on sentence* I am more moved by listening to my husband play the guitar in our living room than I was by any of those bands last night. I had one of two problems with nearly every single band, sometimes both problems at the same time.

One..the music is sloppy. It's very loud and very distorted, which can camoflauge many sins. It makes me wonder what they are hiding..maybe the fact that they can play, just not very well. If they were to take all of that away, unplug, what would their music sound like? And would it be any good?

Two..the lead singers can't sing. Or, if they can, I couldn't hear them because everything else was turned up so loud. And because I either couldn't hear them..or I couldn't understand them (some were loud enough to hear..but then they screamed and my eyes rolled back in my head) I couldn't stay interested in the music.

We didn't even get through the first song of the very last band because the singer was screaming his little emo head off. It was 1:00 in the morning, and I was just done. So, it was fun to be out..it was fun to dress up a little and look cute..it was fun to do a little people watching. But, I'll stick to the private concerts in my own living room.

All you need is good head

I get up early. Very early. Probably earlier than I need to, but we won't go looking to deeply at my reasoning. It seems to work for me, so I'm sticking to it. Even though I choose to get up as early as I do, sometimes the only thing that drags me out of that bed is the thought of a nice hot shower.

Until recently.

My shower very nearly turned me into a naked sobbing mess in the corner of my tub. Not a pretty sight..not at all. We've had on and off issues with the water temp and the water pressure since we've lived here, but nothing as bad as recently. The water coming from my shower head turned into a trickle. Much like this.



Imagine me..very tired..up at the crack of dawn...trying to shower in that. I was nearly plastered to the wall just trying to rinse all the soap off my body. It made for many a miserable morning showers. I nagged at Jeremy. Fix it! Please?! PLEASE! He thought it might just be the cold weather. I wasn't convinced considering it wasn't affecting any of the other faucets. Neither one of us wanted to consider the idea that it might be the piping. Please Lord, do not make us go under the house or in the wall to replace pipes..because in this house, once you start repairs there is no stop until it's ALL been replaced...usually to the tune of lots of money.

So, I did a quick google search under 'how to improve water pressure'. Sure enough one of the first links offered talked about cleaning the filter on your shower head and possibly removing the water flow regulator thingy. I mentioned it to Jeremy and he was game. We, meaning he, took the shower head off and cleaned the filter. Put it back on...no change. Dang it! After that we started to think that maybe the whole shower head needed to be replaced. Yeah! That's the ticket. A short trip to Wal-mart and TA-DA! It was like giving my shower Viagra!!!

For the last few mornings, I have been showering in heaven.

I'm back to being mad at my hair

I can't say that my irriation is solely my hairs fault. It finally stopped being pissy and is happy with a combo of head and shoulders shampoo and garnia conditioner. Heaven forbid I stray from this combination ever again.

No, the bone that I have to pick is actually with static electricity. I HATE it! Short of keeping a dryer sheet stuffed in my back pocket I'm pretty much screwed. So, I have to walk around looking like I just stuck my finger in a light socket. Very sexy look, let me tell ya.

And then I'm having serious 'growing my hair out' pains. It's at that critical point where I either want it to hurry up and grow some more or I'm gonna' have to go have it all cut off again. I'm trying to resist doing anything to it, even though I really hate having to fix it and still not be happy with what I see. I feel...frumpy. Not stylish, not chic, not cute..just yucky and old and ugly. Actually I think my hair could stand a trim at least. It seems to help in the style department when you are trying to grow it out. And even though I'm leaning towards letting it grow back out, I'm still toying with the idea of keeping my bangs super short. Of course, they are NOT super short right now. No, I think they grow faster than the rest of my hair.

GGGrrrr! I'm just going to start wearing a baseball cap like my husband. If he can do it so can I.

Baby It's Cold Outside

"Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. It's time to start making soup again." ~ Leslie Newman

BBBrrrrr...it's cold outside! We were out and about after work to get some Christmas shopping taken care of and between the wind and sun going down it was freakin' freezing. And neither one of us with a coat.

It was ONLY 7:30 when we got home but it felt much, much later. I don't think I am liking the early sunsets this year. It's tricking my body into being sleepy. I'm ready for bed by 7:00..or at least that is what my body is telling me.

I just reviewed my post so far and realized that the quote I picked totally does not match what I'm writing or feeling. I'm NOT happy about the darkness coming early, not at all.

Little Miss Scatterbrained

"Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all." ~ G.C. Lichtenberg

My mind is a mushy-mash of a gazillion different thoughts right now. It's hard to keep one thing in my head for long before its replaced by something else. I feel so rushed this time of year and not just because of the holidays. The days seem so much shorter with the dark coming sooner. Too many things to do and not enough day light to do them in.

~ I'm becoming increasingly apprehensive about Thanksgiving with my Dad. I don't know why. I have stage fright. I panic. I'm awkward! Should I hug him or shake his hand? What will we talk about? Will the whole event be tense? I'm sure my sister would be laughing at me right now. She doesn't seem to worry about this stuff. Of course she wouldn't, she's an actress..she can get herself through anything with a smile on her face.

~ I'm trying very hard not to let myself get stressed about Christmas. Worrying about what to get everyone. I'm feeling the pressure of getting the 'biggest and the best' gifts, especially for my nieces and nephew. And that makes me mad at myself because that's exactly what I HATE about the season. So, I'm trying to unplug myself from the Holiday Hype and re-evaluate my gift list. More expensive is not always better. MORE is not always better. That's what I keep telling myself.

~ I have no more time off to take at work (yeah, even my full week...its gone). It's my own stupid fault that I don't have any more vacation time to take. I fully understand that. But, I'm counting down the days until Thanksgiving just to get away from work. Note to self: MUST budget vacation time better next year...for real this time.

~ Back to the whole Christmas thing. I want a new Christmas tree AND new decorations. I've sort of, kind of mentioned it to Jeremy but I don't know if he's on board. Besides, we still have to get those gifts taken care of first. I don't know WHY I want to change my tree up. We have a red and gold themed tree and it's been that way for about five years now. It's pretty, I just get bored with things. *sigh* It will probably have to wait...and I guess that's ok.

~ Photo Christmas cards. I want to do something funny. Can't seem to nail down an idea. No time. And Jeremy..well..he tolerates my crazy ideas.
But, he is a little too reserved for the hijinks I have in mind. Or at least thats the feeling I'm getting. He keeps saying he doesnt care..whatever I want..but I sense the 'I really dont want tos' in there. The only solutions I see are scrapping the photo cards all together or getting Jeremy drunk enough to loosen up a little bit.

I'm a loser

"If you are losing your leisure, look out; you may be losing your soul."
~ Logan P. Smith

So...I'm a loser. I totally blew NaBloPoMo by not posting last night. Ugh! I couldn't think of anything to write. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I have been dead-ass tired this week and I keep feeling rushed, like I have a gazillion things to do and not enough time to do them. I blame the time change. This getting dark at 6:00 business is for the birds.

Anyway, even though I'm out of the running for any cool prizes I'll do my best to post every day for the rest of the month.