Annoyed, Cranky and Crabby

I am annoyed. I am crabby. I am plain cranky! I really have a stock pile of reasons that I feel this way. It could be my longing for a family list of things we need to accomplish. It could be my youngest daughter’s irritable mood each time I have to take her shopping for anything, including a Homecoming dress this last weekend. I know… a girl that does not like to shop? Right? It might also be the fact that the same daughter is snarky and is becoming somewhat demanding and it is pushing me past the edge of decent parenting. I seriously want to chase her down the street with a broom yelling SCAT!

The family list thing is because we have so many things we all want to accomplish around the house and they are all in my head spinning around like a cotton candy machine. Just like cotton candy the more it spins, the bigger it all gets until I am overwhelmed, annoyed, crabby and cranky! Fun stuff huh? Makes ya want to move right in doesn't it? I have mentioned a list, asked to sit down and talk about a list and even yelled I NEED A LIST TO GET THIS ALL OUT OF MY HEAD! Guess what, no list. Looks like I am on my own for the list.

The girl that does not like to shop thing, well it was bound to happen. My children cannot all end up with my shopping gene. I am assuming that after a while some gene’s just thin out. There most certainly were not enough to go around. To make matters worse, I would enable my youngest for many years by bringing things home that I thought she would like. I did this for me, not for her. Taking her shopping was like taking someone to the guillotine. There was a lot of stress, hostility and sometimes some holding onto door frames and to be honest it made shopping unpleasant. Reality hit me recently. I am sending this nonshopping chick out on her own fairly soon and she has no shopping skills at all. I have to step up, bite the bullet and take her out to shop…AGH!

And so we went, yesterday, with a plan to find a Homecoming dress. For most young ladies this is fun and exciting, for my daughter it was painful. She started out with a long list of what she would not try on. I then explained to her by doing that she would end up at Homecoming wrapped in paper towel. Most of what she did not want to wear was all they had on the racks. At one point she was so unpleasant I sent her off on her own to look while I hid in another department with my husband wishing I could run off and leave her. Later I slowly made my way to the dressing room and asked if she wanted me to see what she was trying on. With much difficulty she accepted my offer. There she stood looking forlorn and unpleasant one dress after the other until the door opened and there she stood in the dress I knew she liked. It was easy to tell, because she did not open the door and state “NO”.

The fun part was it was a dress that had previously been listed as unacceptable, and she was pleased with it. I had to tell her in the car that when you state an adamant no to things, you cut yourself off from opportunity when it knocks. Sometimes it’s a good idea to give things a try. My advice sunk in for once, can you believe it? We have a dress, PHEW!

I just need to get myself together. This snarky girl is a sweetheart; it is not like her to be a royal annoying pain. I also know that I am a list maker and that is what I need to do. Tonight at dinner when I have my husband and daughter hostage, I will whip out a pencil and paper and HA, force them to help me with my list! I am just feeling overwhelmed and with a little support and understanding from these two people (who are way too much alike sometimes), I should be less cranky tomorrow…OR, they could be running down the street as I chase them with a broom.