Tag: pet peeves

Soul Sunday

Good morning. Welcome to Soul Sunday. Sunday is the day for poetry on the blog. I started reading a lot of Pearl Jam’s song lyrics before deciding to write my own poem today. It is fair to say that musicians are really poets, who just happen to know how to sing. Eddie Vedder has written some deep stuff in his life. So, I surprised myself when I started doodling my own poem and it turned out to be silly and quirky and fun. That’s what is great about playing around with poetry. You surprise yourself a lot. Write a poem today. Just do it. Surprise and delight yourself. Here is my goofy little ditty for today:

“The Pet Peeve”

There once was woman named Old Mrs. Leave

Who had a huge dog, she appropriately named “Peeve”

She fed him a lot, so he grew and he grew

His favorite thing to do,

was to sit and to stew,

Just like his owner.

Mrs. Leave spent all of her time and focus on Peeve,

To think of anything else, she just couldn’t conceive.

Peeve became a nasty, monstrous beast.

He was snarly and angry, to say the very least.

What is the moral of this poem I released?

“Don’t be a moaner.”

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Pet Peeve Station

I slept terribly last night.  It was one of those nights that I woke up on the hour and would stare at the clock, praying to quickly fall back into a deep sleep, but instead I would just toss and turn.  Then I would finally fall asleep for what felt like a minute only to wake up after a bizarre dream and then start the cycle all over again.  Right around 4 a.m., I did get into a nice, soothing, deep sleep.  When the alarm went off at 6:15 a.m., I literally wanted to sob.  Nights like last night are one of my biggest pet peeves in life.  Almost all of my other pet peeves happen at the grocery store.  I hate to be negative and harp on pet peeves, but since I barely slept last night, I’m a little cranky.  So, pet peeves it is . . . .

Being the female head of a large household, I have spent a great portion of my adult life in grocery stores. Many of my blog posts have grocery store anecdotes probably due to the fact that my “Weekly Time Spent” pie chart has an enormous slice dedicated to grocery shopping.  Therefore it makes sense, as I stated previously, that almost all of my pet peeves in life originate at the grocery store.

My local grocery store is actually really nice.  It stocks great meats and unusual seafood and fresh produce.  It always has the products that I need in stock and the BOGO specials are amazing.  The store is always clean and the people who work there are so nice it’s almost like being at Disney.  The people who shop there, well, that’s a different story.

I think that grocery stores should have something like traffic laws.  I think that the store personnel should have the ability to write citations and we customers, should have the ability to make citizens’ arrests.  I think that there should be lane markers in the middle of the aisles and if someone is parked right in the middle of the aisle they should be treated like they would be treated if they parked and stopped right in the middle of a two lane highway.  Time to get to get hauled off to jail.

I live in Florida, not LA.  My grocery store is not the setting for the game show, Supermarket Sweep.  So, the people racing around in their carts, cutting around corners so fast, and in the process, taking out the grannies in their “golf cart-style moto-shopcarts” and innocent toddlers having tantrums, need to realize that they won’t win any free groceries in our neck of the woods.  Sheesh.

Check writers.  Really??  Please, get into this century.  Or get into the longest line and fill out every line possible on your check and get out your calculator and start adding up what the total is going to be for your bill.  Sheesh, Luis. (as my nephew would say)

Shopping bag shamers.  I agree that we need to save the Earth.  Usually, I remember my canvas shopping bags, but sometimes I don’t.  Sometimes I forget and I hear that “cluck cluck” of tongue-clicking disgust from the person behind me in line when the bagger screams, “Is plastic okay?”   I recycle our plastic bags, okay?  They are actually pretty useful for picking up doggy-do, too.  I have two LARGE dogs.  Those prepackaged doggy bag rolls that you hang on the dog’s leash seem like a good idea, but I find that they are mostly manufactured for people with chihuahuas and for people who have the ability to get them open before rubbing them together so much, that they get too hot and catch on fire.  Those rolls are not for people like me.

And finally, my biggest pet peeve EVER . . . . return your damn cart to one of the 800 different cart return stations in the parking lot!!!  You walked all over the damn grocery store looking for Tabasco sauce, you can take three extra steps to return your cart.  My car that I drive doesn’t need another dent on it and that parking space is for cars, not carts.  My grocery store offers everyone the opportunity for their bagger to be a personalized caddy to help you out to your car, with your cart, free of charge, no tips allowed. (my 70-year-old father used to take offense to them offering him help, until I explained that they offer this service to his 18-year-old grandson, as well)  If you don’t want to take the three extra steps to return your empty cart to the cart station, then take the bagger up on his or her kind offer, to help you.  I think that the baggers like to get the fresh air anyway.

Phew!  Okay, I feel better now. I probably shouldn’t go to the grocery store today. I promise to go to bed early tonight.  My post will be more positive and uplifting tomorrow.  After all, it will be a day closer to Friday.

Opposite Sides of the Coin

For some reason, I got to thinking about extremes.  There are certain things in life that really create a visceral reaction in most people, more than other things. These are things that you either “love ’em or you hate ’em”, and there is very little in-between.  Brussel sprouts, roller coasters, scary movies, cilantro, social media, sushi, spicy peppers, pungent cheese, air travel, lamb chops, the color orange, going to the dentist, pit bulls, The Yankees, The Patriots, and okay, even my Steelers, are all things that come to my mind when doing a quick inventory in my head of things that create an emotional charge, in people and in life.  There are many more things that would fit into the extreme category.  With the way of the world and the news these days, it would seem that we all fit into extreme categories.  But in reality, in the way of most things, most of us are not extremely one way or another way.  Most of us fit into the middle ground.  We might have a few pet projects, pet interests, and pet peeves that bring out our most extreme emotions and reactions, but for the most part, people are pretty even-keel.

I started thinking to myself, “Would it be better to be an extreme person that everyone notices and reacts to in a very visceral way, or would it be better to be a Nice Nancy that never offends anybody?”  I think that it’s just best to be myself and to let others be the same.  The extreme people and things in life, make it all very interesting.  These extremes spice things up, evoking strong, stirring emotions that make us feel very alive and charged.  Thankfully, the moderate calming things and people in life, keep us balanced, when we need to let the adrenaline levels drop down to a cool simmer.  One way is not necessarily better than another, but both are very important parts of our “being alive” experience.  If we can make peace with that, then we can appreciate the extreme parts and the non-offensive parts of ourselves and of others, in a very non-judgmental way.

This is a quote from one of my notebooks.  Unfortunately I cannot find the author which is a shame because it is so spot-on:

“Know that some people contribute to your well-being by making you comfortable and safe.  Others threaten or drain you in some way, causing you to rise up and be better.  All of them belong in the story.”

I couldn’t say it better.  Prayers are with our dear friends who have experienced the very extreme side of weather with Hurricane Michael.  May you now be experiencing peace and comfort and soothing, from calming helping hands swooping in to help you and to guide you back to center.