Feeling Peevish

I suppose everyone has their pet peeves.  A friend of mine hates it when her neighbor lets his dog go on her grass and doesn’t pick it up.  But I’m not sure that really qualifies - I mean, who likes that?  To be a real pet peeve it should be something that is more annoying to the individual than it is to the general population.  One thing I’ve noticed is that some days I have more pet peeves than others.  Days when I’m feeling particularly  peevish.

My husband has a tendency to put ice in his glass and then clank it around as if the liquid needed help in coming to a uniform temperature.  He wouldn’t want any warm spots in his lemonade.  There are days when I don’t notice and other days when I have to leave the room to keep myself from tackling him and knocking the glass from his uniformly-chilled hand. 

Another peeve that gets to me sometimes is when people brag about the good deal they got on something.  Some days I am interested and congratulate them on their shopping prowess.  Other days it just irritates my soul and I’m tempted to make up a completely ridiculous story of my own just to top them.  How petty is that?

Some things irritate me when other people do them, but I must admit I’ve done them myself.  They don’t seem irritating when I do them.  Answering my cell phone in a public restroom falls in this category.  So does popping my gum.  This drives my husband mad.    It drives me mad too if it’s someone else.  But it can be so satisfying as long as I’m the one doing it.

One of my biggest peeves is when people honk at someone’s house to get them to come out rather than going up to the door and knocking.  I don’t know why this bothers me so much.  Sure, I don’t like hearing the noise repeatedly up and down the street as the carpools honk for the kids each morning.  But it’s more than that.  It bugs me when people honk for me, too.  It bugs me so much that it’s one thing I make sure I don’t do to other people.

Why am I annoyed by these ultimately inconsequential things?  Why are some things so emotionally irritating on some days and not on others?  I don’t know.  But I definitely have my pet peeves and my petty peeves; days when I just feel peevish.