it seems i always run to the psalms for comfort and reassurance.

Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. 

 ¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.
 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.
 ¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

this is what makes me thankful:
knowing that i can pray any time, anywhere.
and knowing that my God is always listening, even before i speak. 

"There seems to be a mistake. I believe I ordered the *large* cappuccino stromboli. *Hello!* Look at the size of this thing."

it's been kind of a weird day today.

i've had a lot of things running through my mind the past few days. tons of homework to catch up on, plus a kid who is not used to being imprisoned inside has also added some stress to the atmosphere. thank goodness it cooled off a little bit today..to celebrate we took a stroll through the yard to see what's changed in the last few weeks.

some photos from our walk:

we were greeted by a shiny green beetle.

"pssst! put me back! and don't tell anyone you saw me!"

okaaay...

queen anne's lace seems to be the only thing that will grow at the moment

"hey, sister...did you see a little green guy hanging around?"

even the trees look hot.

random lamb's ear growing in the middle of the yard.

oooooh pretty..on the shady side of the house.

mmm a tasty looking apple!

most of them look more like this one.

finally talked dad into chopping away the nasty forsythia & leaving the mulberry trees! yay!

not my friend.

lots of brown, crispy stuff around.

not sure what this is, but the seed pods looked kinda cool.

this is what makes me smile:

being able to go outside, while the sun was still out, and not melting within 3 minutes.

sometimes you just have to let it out.

AAAAAaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


i feel better now.

when i was about 5, my most prized possession was a perfect, black konch shell that my dad and i found on the beach after a storm. i loved that shell, took it everywhere with me as a sort of security "blanket." i probably spent hours tracing the spiral with my finger and listening to it's roar.
one day, i took it with me to a special evening church service. being 5, i fell asleep, and when we left my shell got left behind. i was very upset..i think i actually mourned for that shell (kinda sad). then a little while later (could have been weeks..could have been months, i don't remember-i was 5! 10 minutes can feel like a year when you are that age.) my mom and i were cleaning up some things at the church and upon entering the laundry room-there it was! my beautiful shell. :) i was sooo happy. my mom got it down from on top of the shelf where it was resting, i remember crying-i was that happy to have found my shell. i hugged it, held it to my ear to listen to it's roar, and slowly traced it's spiral. when it was time to go, i placed the shell under a table in the laundry room, and left it there...i didn't want to steal from church.

sometimes i wonder what other things/people/opportunities i've left behind, or not picked up because i was needlessly afraid of taking something that wasn't mine.

this is what makes me smile:
free squash. ..."that's right neighborly of ya...neighbor."

Monna Innominata [I dream of you, to wake]  by Christina Rossetti 
I dream of you, to wake: would that I might 
Dream of you and not wake but slumber on; 
Nor find with dreams the dear companion gone, 
As, Summer ended, Summer birds take flight. 
In happy dreams I hold you full in night. 
I blush again who waking look so wan; 
Brighter than sunniest day that ever shone, 
In happy dreams your smile makes day of night. 
Thus only in a dream we are at one, 
Thus only in a dream we give and take 
The faith that maketh rich who take or give; 
If thus to sleep is sweeter than to wake, 
To die were surely sweeter than to live, 
Though there be nothing new beneath the sun.


If you were coming in the fall,
I'd brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spum,
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed,
I'd count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen's land.

If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I'd toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.

But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time's uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

~Emily Dickinson

i am feeling a little victorian poet-y today.

this is what makes me smile:
building stuff.

goo brain make me wonder at the glory of creation. there, now you don't have to read this post at all! :)

my brain feels like goo...which, i guess, is not that far from reality.

i was not meant to be a web programmer, that is for sure and for certain. once this assignment is over (i have to build a website for class...even with a template, i am having a hard time), i will be rejoicing.

did you know that there are 26 bones in the human foot? and that the skin on the sole of our feet is more than 4x thicker than anywhere else on the body (the palms of our hands have thick skin, too...but not as thick as our feet). our bodies were designed soo intricately, and yet with so much common sense. i just don't understand how people can believe in "the big bang" and evolution not involving a creative designer. we are too complex! the world itself is too complex...it boggles my mind.

i watched a show about fractals awhile back, and one thing that stuck in my mind is how fractals are everywhere in nature...for example, in a forest. the ratio of small trees/medium trees/large trees in an area is mirrored by the ratio of the small branches/medium branches/large branches on the individual trees in the area.   it's amazing. such care and calculation went into all of creation.. ahhhh the ridiculous intricacy and beauty!

i am thankful for the gift to see the marvelous in the mundane.

this is what makes me smile:
fresh from the farm 2 miles away & complete with a warning sticker...
WATERMELON.

envy.
something i don't like to admit that i struggle with.
it's not that i begrudge others their happiness..i am actually truly happy for them, i just wish i could join them in their happiness.
maybe envy is not the right word...it's not really covetousness either...or jealousy. i am not upset because the people are happy, and i don't wish their happiness would evaporate.
i guess a better way to put it is that i am just filled with longing for things, not necessarily physical objects, though i would love a home of my own some day..not that that is my deepest longing. and it's not causing me to be bitter, or angry, just dissatisfied..desirous..yearning...
bah.

i have a free place to live. i am thankful, and i like it here, so that is a major plus. i am not lacking any need. so is longing for more..greedy of me? most of what i long for has nothing to do with possessions.

*later...
discontent. that's it. i am discontented. and the more i think about it, the more i am unconvinced that it is an entirely bad thing. if no one was ever discontent, or dissatisfied, etc. nothing would ever improve or change. maybe this discontentment is a kind of swift kick in the hind end.  ..maybe.

this is what makes me smile:
intense yahtzee concentration.

a long drive. OR: pardon me, miss, your negativity is showing.

a long drive certainly gives you a LOT of time to think. sometimes this is good...sometimes not so good.

i have come to the conclusion that i am supremely dissatisfied with the direction my life is going. BUT i am sort of looking forward to things beginning to change for the better...eventually. that sentence is wrong. i am a definitely looking forward to things changing for the better. i am just not sure when that will actually happen. or what those changes will be, other than the hoped for change of "career."
i came up with many, many negatives on my list of things about my life in general, and managed to find some positives, as well. even though it may seem so, i am not Eeyore...i feel like i come across as an incredibly negative, doom and gloom-ish person sometimes. that is not really who i am...at least it's not who i want to be, or who try to be. one of the things i thought about on my long drive is that "negativity" does come out sometimes, more often than i would like. :/ so i also decided to make a point to try and focus more on positives than on negatives. duh. the fact that i have been "trying" to do that for a while now (i.e., the thankfulness boosting "this is what makes me smile" photos/sentiments) does not escape me. more focus-more focus!!
positive, positive, positive. yep. one positive point i "listed" is that i did "find my way into" school last fall, and will soon be able to have a more fulfilling j-o-b. hopefully. prayerfully. i don't actually know what i will be doing within the scope of my "abilities" once i graduate..i'm leaving that up to the Big Guy, Who has been steering this little adventure thus far, and doing a rip-roaring job of it, too.
wow i am sure using a lot of "quotations" in this post. i wonder if that "signifies" anything?

another note about long drives...
they make you very tired, and also leave "parts" of your body aching.

enough of me. i am past the point of tiredness where you just fall asleep...i've moved on to the "i could jabber all night long if someone would listen to me....or even just pretend to listen" stage. i usually end up regretting that later on, loose lips sink ships, you know.

this is what makes me smile:
beautiful, invasive weeds. (gaillardia at the beach)

sitting here on the porch at the cottage, seeing people walk by...i keep wondering if these middle aged people with kids and bald spots are the same rowdy 20-somethings who used to tear down the beach road, piled into the backs of pick up trucks which, of course, had horns that played 'dixie.' is that lady in the tropical print mumu one of those girls who used to line up at the go-cart track to watch the guys race? did i see that elderly couple, who is now strolling down the path hand-in-hand, walking on the beach 20 years ago?
i guess people watching is not one of my favorite activities, but one that kinda just comes with the territory when you spend a lot of time on the front porch in the summer.

this is what makes me smile:
beach heritage.

(me & my sisters...circa 1987, in front of "the old cottage" Nags Head, NC)

Stephens: The Face of Pakistan's Courage - WSJ.com

Stephens: The Face of Pakistan's Courage - WSJ.com

this is what makes me thankful to live in the u.s. even with all the worst cases of religious intolerance and hatred there is here, we are still free to believe as we choose, and to speak out about our faith without fear of imprisonment or death. i know there are still hate crimes and even mass catastrophes that happen here because of differences in religious beliefs, but not at the hands of the government.
prayers are going up for all the followers of Christ who are being persecuted all over the world.

of course

i kept thinking of things to write about today. i'd be going about my daily activities and an idea would pop into my head..."yeah," i'd think, "i can talk about that in my blog post tonight!" i probably had at least 3 or 4 good prompts, and then i sat down to write....and don't you know i can't remember a single, stinking one of them? hahaa oh well.


i'm reading this book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. i'm not sure how i feel about it. the book takes place in jackson, missippi in the 1960s. it's about an upper class white girl nick-named skeeter, and her distaste for the way african american workers (domestic workers in particular) were treated, and in a broader sense, racial inequality in general. the other two narrators of the book are maids who skeeter interviews for a book she's trying to write. 
i'm about half-way through. normally, i would have consumed a book of this length in a couple of days, but so far it's been a week. it's not a bad story, kind of depressing just because of the subject matter, but there are some light-hearted moments too, so it's not a continuous sob fest.
the narrators take turns, and when either of the maids is "speaking", the story is written in a heavy southern, poor, "black" dialect. not that it's something i particularly mind, except that, when the "speaker" is white, there is no dialect..even when the character has been said to "sound like she from so deep in the country she got corn growin in her shoes."
that kind of stereo type is rampant and hints of racism that goes deeper than that in the book. not that i'm necessarily calling the author racist...maybe just uneducated on not sounding like she is. or something.


soo, it's got me thinking that i'm thankful to have not been alive during the periods of slavery and racial segregation in this country. i'm not naive enough to think that there aren't still problems with this, we have definitely come a long way, though probably not far enough. i am sure that the majority of decent folk out there feel bad about our country's racially lopsided tendencies, and believe that if they had been alive during those times they would have done "the right thing." i like to believe that i would not have tolerated slavery...i got blasted in 11th grade AP US History, by my teacher, who said, "OF COURSE you would say that!" the rest of the embarrassing verbal spanking went something like this..who wants to admit that they would have just gone with the flow of what everyone was doing at the time? it's not acceptable now, but you would have believed differently 100 years ago. otherwise there wouldn't have been such widespread acceptance and practice slavery. my meek-ish reply was to tell him that i doubted Jesus would have approved of slavery in any time period, and since it is my goal to be like Him, i am sure i would not have either. AND ....if everyone just went with the flow, we would still have widespread slavery.  (then i think i went to the bathroom and cried, heheh.)


why is it that people are so unaccepting  of others who are different than "the majority"? i think about the settlers who came to this continent and took it over, disrespecting and mistreating the native peoples who were here long before "we" were...(and even THOSE peoples likely over took others who were here before THEY were), then how the irish immigrants were treated, and the swedes, and jewish people, and italians, and chinese, japanese, etc., etc., etc. and now with people flocking here from mexico being treated much the same way (only with less physical violence), low wages, lack of respect, hatred. :/  it just seems like a terrible cycle that repeats, and repeats, and only gets slightly less abhorrent each time it recurs.

Zechariah 7:9-10⁹ “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. ¹⁰ Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

 Leviticus (19:33-4):"And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself." 

well...this got a little deeper than i intended.

too much to say blah blah blahblahblaaaaaah

i think the reason i haven't been blogging the past few days is because i may have too much to say. 
i just don't know how to sort it all out so that it would make sense to someone reading it. i'm not always very good at explaining things, especially when it comes to myself and things i am thinking about or feeling.
or it could be that i just don't think anyone really wants to read it. 


i have been staying with my youngest sister for 2 weeks. the trip was originally supposed to be a 5 nighter. (which sounded long at the beginning!) last week, i decided to stay a few more days so that i could help her out a little and so that i could meet my bestest friend's brand spanking new little cutie wootie baby boy. we took a few days and visited the beach. i always love going there...always. then we drove back over here & when it was time to go home on sunday, i decided to stay another week. might as well. :) ...though i am missing out on the start of sweet corn season at home. and that was almost enough to convince me to go ahead and leave. PA corn is no joke. deeeeelicious. 


i stayed for selfish reasons,though at first they might not seem like selfish reasons. i wanted to help out, sure, but i don't often get to feel like i am being helpful, and i really like that feeling.  i wanted to be able to hug my sweet little niece some more, and hadn't quite gotten her to be able to say "amy"...so we still needed to work on that. also, how in the world is meeting an adorable newborn not selfish? like the baby cares if some lady he will probably only see a couple of times a year (if that!) comes to see him and say how stinking precious he is? he doesn't care that i held him for over an hour.. marveling at his full head of hair, his crazy cute elvish ears, how much he looks like his daddy. and trying to remember when my baby girl was that teeeeeny tiny. (she never was, on the outside!) she was such a cute little booger...her birth & that general time period in my life were in some ways the best experience of my life, and in others-the worst.

déjà vu... and to switch subjects before i get lost on my trip down memory lane, and forget i am even blogging..i get it a lot. most recently-when i highlighted & deleted "of being useful" after the word feeling in a sentence up there in the preceding paragraph. it's really weird. sometimes it is a fleeting feeling of familiarity, and sometimes it lasts a really long time...like hours. or more like briefer minutes long "sessions" continuously "happening" over a period of hours. some think it is a form of epilepsy. others link it to schizophrenia and other neurological disorders. i read somewhere that some researchers think it happens when one eye sends signals to the brain a fraction of a second slower than the other.  the "source" to beat all sources, wikipedia says,

The most likely explanation of déjà vu is that it is an anomaly of memory, giving the false impression that an experience is "being recalled," this may result from an overlap between the neurological systems responsible for short-term memory and those responsible for long-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the past). The events would be stored into memory before the conscious part of the brain even receives the information and processes it.

 i don't know why or how it happens, just that it is weird. but also sort of cool, in a freaky mcfreakerson kind of way.


ahh..i feel so productive now. i have managed to blog (have i ever mentioned that i really kind of hate using blog as a verb? i henceforth render it to only being used as a noun, at least as far as this blog is concerned.)...i have managed to write a blog entry about pretty much nothing. and i used a lot of words to do it. 


this is what makes me smile:
rememberies. ♥ 

even with the glare, it's still one of my favorites ever. :)

i don't really feel like blogging, and that irritates me. so, i am blogging. sort of. following you will find a number of my favorite quotes. mostly from c.s. lewis, with a sprinkling of others thrown in for a bit of variety.

• You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. ~C. S. Lewis
• You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C. S. Lewis
• Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~Dalai Lama
• Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. ~C. S. Lewis
• Humor is mankind's greatest blessing. ~Mark Twain
• To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. ~ C. S. Lewis
• The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal.  ~ C. S. Lewis
• God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.~ C. S. Lewis
• Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. ~Abraham Lincoln
• Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?  ~A. A. Milne
• I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then. ~Lewis Carroll
• Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. ~ C. S. Lewis
• He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart. ~C. S. Lewis

 
this is what makes me smile:
everything about this photo.

“I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to Him, and He answered my prayer.”

Psalm 120:1


He always listens, always answers..and He even helps you get over it when His answer is "no."


this is what makes me smile:
how the dynamic between cats & dogs doesn't really change, even when the cat is huge and the dog is tiny.

this is what makes me giggle:

finding an old photo of my dad & his sister....and "updating" it. 

before...                                                                             

after.

for reference:

this is what makes me smile:
aminal tracks.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came. ~John F. Kennedy

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.  ~Jacques Cousteau

The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness. ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

so...i love the beach. love the ocean, the sand, the plant-life, the wildlife, the peace, the roar.


"my people" on my grandma's side have lived on the outerbanks and coastal north carolina for many generations (some go back at least to the mid-1700s)...i wonder if that's why coming here always feels like coming home? 


i could spend hours just ... chilling i guess. that doesn't really explain it, because it's much deeper than pure chillaxation. i will sound new-agey or like a tree hugger extraordinaire if i say that it feels more like communing with ... not really the ocean & shore. it's more like a gateway to some deep appreciation of the spiritual realm. i always have such an awesome  awareness of the pure much-ness of our Creator. i can feel His power, and His gentleness...his crazy magnificent creativity in a relatively simple atmosphere. so refreshing and rejuvenating. ahhhhhh. i love it. 


this is what makes me smile:
peaceful evenings.

and:

wobbly old piers.

this is what makes me smile:
waves.

today i got to spend the whole day with my sweetie peachy niece. :) it was a day full of giggles, gleeful screeches, and chubby little running feet. ♥


later, i met a pony named ted. ted has an afro and a beard....i never saw a pony with a beard before.

this is what makes me smile:

lawn gnomes.

there is a lot to be said for slowing down...you can soak things up more completely, every day occurrences  become special, you notice details that you've passed over hundreds of times, there is suddenly an abundance of beauty in even the very mundane...you smile more, you can breathe...

this is what makes me smile:
fishin'.

it's a really strange feeling when you visit a place that you lived in for a long time. it's kind of like you're not really visiting, but you don't really belong there either..you're in some weird in-between place. and it's super strange to drive by your old house and see someone else's toys in the yard.

this is what makes me smile:
naptime.

on the road again...

i enjoy traveling, and since i am, ahem, "economically underprivileged" i drive. i don't mind driving, especially when i have someone to talk to, but after more than a few hours of interstate driving, my brain begins to feel like an oozy blob.

observations i made during today's quadruple state journey:

• butterflies explode when they hit your windshield at 65 mph :/
• frederick, maryland may in fact boast the worst(most aggressive, rude, pushy, etc. ) drivers of anywhere i've ever driven. (including washington d.c., baltimore, charlotte, pittsburgh, harrisburg, raleigh, richmond,  and NEW YORK CITY.
• we pass by 7 sheetz stores, 3 starbucks, and 9 mcdonalds on the way.
• turtles CAN make it the whole way across a four lane highway.
• there is a VA vanity plate that reads "IMSMRAT"
• it is exactly 347.8 miles from my house to my sister's. 
• i much prefer taking the roads less traveled than the expressway. literally & figuratively.

this is what makes me smile:

road trippin.

happy birfday, usa.

this is what makes me smile:
small explosives on a stick.

hugs are good

so i've been thinking about hugs today..i used to be a very big hugger, i'd hug anyone. then i had some rough times and stopped hugging. over the years, i've learned to hug again, but i've been more selective about who i will hug. recently, i've begun to hug more...but i have been hugging like i mean it, which is the way i used to do it. i've been instructed, by the wise Mrs. Grace, that hugs should be performed heart to heart. that is, with your head over your hugee's left shoulder, thus aligning your hearts. i'm not sure it makes a difference, but just the thought of giving a more meaningful, heartfelt hug should make it a weightier gesture, don't you think?

some random hug related quotes i found on the world wide webz:

hug

1.	( also intr ) (of a person) to take or clasp (another person) inthe arms, or (of two people) to clasp each other, as in affection, greeting, comfort, etc; embrace.

You can't give a hug without getting a hug.  ~Author Unknown

-hmmm, i don't really agree. remember the limp fish hug? yeah...

" A hug is a smile with arms, a laugh with a stronger grip."~Terri Guillemets

I love hugging.  I wish I was an octopus, so I could hug ten people at a time.  ~Drew Barrymore 

-it's a really nice thought, but her math is a little off. 

I will not play tug o' war. 

I'd rather play hug o' war. 

Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, 

Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug.. 

Where everyone kisses, 

and everyone grins, 

and everyone cuddles, 

and everyone wins. 

~Shel Silverstein 

this is what makes me smile:

hugs.

things, situations, and behaviors that rankle me

i was going to title this post "things i don't like" or "things that irritate me", or a few other similar titles, however all of those words sounded so negative that i didn't feel good about using them. not that "rankle" doesn't sound negative, but at least it also kind of makes me chuckle.

i also almost titled it "things i do not prefer" because one time, when i was about 8 or 9, i was somewhere like an open market or bingo or someplace i can't quite remember with an obscure, faceless family member. while there, a prim-ish plain-clothed older lady was offered some coffee, which she turned down by saying, "no thank you, i do not prefer coffee."  it stuck in my mind because she sounded so cultivated, and yet her reply didn't totally make sense. it left me wondering what she did prefer.

so here's my list of mild annoyances, or things that just make me go 'hrrmph' (in no particular order & all in good fun):

• limp handshakes. who wants to grab hold of a dead fish on purpose? not a great first impression. especially if you find out later that the dude is a piano player as an occupation and you forever worry that you are the girl who ruined his career (aka LIFE) because you squeezed the life out of his poor, mousy fingers.
• limp hugs. very similar to dead fish handshakes. nothing is worse than deeming someone worthy of a hug and then receiving floppy fish arms in return. ugh. if you're going to allow a hug-hug like you mean it!
• talking with a mouth full of food. gross. this is one of the undesirable habits i am (and have been for years...thanks a lot public school) trying to break my lovely daughter of. ick.
• drivers who fail to use their turn signals. they are there for a reason...to signal that you are about to make a turn. 
• peach skin. i loooooove fresh peaches, but i can't stand that fuzzy outer layer. this is what drew me to nectarines. so, while i am sad with peaches for being so fuzzy, i must thank them because nectarines are amazing.
• empty toilet paper rolls. really? you know used the last of the roll. it verges on some sort of evil to NOT replace it...do you enjoy the thought of the next patron not looking before they 'deposit' and then being at the mercy of whomever may be around to deliver another roll?? you are sick, sick people. 
• silverware scrapers. this can be either repeated, loud scraping of silverware on a plate (aiiieeeeee!!!), or those people who bite down on their fork or spoon while eating, and then scraaaaaaape it out from between their teeth. (aaaaaaaaaiiiiiieeeeeee!!!!)
• spiders. this one is a given, and needs no explanation.
• people who are rude to service industry workers. whether it's the sanitation engineer who missed a piece of rubbish which then landed on your windshield, the cashier who maybe looked less than dazzled to ring up your groceries, or the restaurant server who got your order wrong. there is no good reason to let loose your cries of disdain and your pompous command, 'if you don't like your job-find a new one!' on these people. they are probably already having a crappy day. try being really nice to them instead.
• aggressive drivers. (myself included) if i choose to drive the posted speed limit, or just slightly over, i can understand your frustration at getting stuck behind me. sorry, fella. but, if i am going well over the speed limit and you are riding my bumper-grrrr... this only serves to do one of two things, depending on my mood. if i am in a bad mood, i will very likely slow down to the speed limit, or just below, in an effort to tick you off and encourage you to become as cranky as i am. if i am in a good mood, i will usually give a courtesy, "hey..back off there, buddy" brake tap. if you continue to tail me, i will slow down to just below the speed limit in an effort to tick you off and further elevate my delightful mood. yeah..i'm that person. whoopsie.
• word suggest-ers. sometimes, in the middle of conversation, i will lose my word..i know what it is- i can visualize it- it's RIGHT THERE!! i just cannot capture it and make it come out of my mouth. this is very frustrating. very, EXTREMELY frustrating. even more frustrating- when (probably well-meaning) people begin to suggest words for me when i am stuck. it usually starts off slowly, but then it always builds in frequency and urgency until we both end up shouting. them, more word "choices" and me, "NO! JUST PLEASE BE QUIET!!"  this only makes it that much harder for me to try and finish that word transaction, and they end up looking foolish yelling, "bird? owl? wall? bike?? feather? HOTDOG? HOTDOG?? WHAT??!!??"  (by the way, in case you are concerned...my dr. assures me i do not have early onset alzheimer's, a tumor, or any other life-threatening malady. she says it happens because of stress and/or migraines. plus she is convinced that i have adult ADHD.)
• chronic one-uppers. you know the type. regular dude: "hey, i got a new puppy yesterday..he's soo cute!" one-upper: "oh, well...i got a ZEBRA, and he is of a royal bloodline..he can sing and do arithmetic, too."
• people who have bad reactions to specific foods, and then knowingly eat those foods and complain about said negative reactions. if you know it's going to make you ill- DON'T EAT IT.
• those dummies that they put in police cars that they park in known speed trap areas. not nice, guys.
• bottled water. i am guilty of supporting this ridiculous industry myself on occasion....but that doesn't mean i like it. i don't prefer bottled water for 2 main reasons. one is the plastic bottle issue..but mostly because WATER SHOULD BE FREE.
• people who deride others for leaving a few bites of food on their plate. "it's only three bites! you can finish that!!" three bites of food at each meal ends up being somewhere in the neighborhood of 3200 bites of food in a year. that can mean the difference between losing a pound or two, or gaining a pound or two when you have weight control issues. so if i don't eat the crust on my sandwich, old guy at the diner counter, it's not because i am "such a princess..won't even eat her CRUST." it is because i have issues and have just saved myself 1/3 the bread calories/carbs/whatever that i would have eaten if i had the whole thing. so mind your own nasty business. 
• people who are mean. much like spiders...these beings seem to have some value in this world, though i still think we'd be okay without so many of them around.
• socks with holes in the toe. no fun. no fun at all.
• the ridiculous amount of money that celebrities and professional athletes make...especially when compared to teacher's salaries. what better example is there of where our society places value? sad.
• humidity. yep..not a fan.
• when, on a sunny morning, i hang out my freshly washed sheets (towels/clothing/you get the idea), and then go inside and hear thunder. i call this situation a "double rinse". heheh.

this is what makes me smile:

the irony of a post about annoyances, and then posting something decidedly un-annoying. 

:)

and:

skipping rocks with han & her nana..yep, it really is what we do for fun around here.