I'm irritated today. Some days you just can't make a dent in my sunny disposition, but today, I'm a little prickly. It might be due to being told to shut up on a repeated basis. Actually, at the time, that irritated me a lot.

Shut up was something I taught my kids not to say.  And at our house, for the most part, anytime someone has admonished another and said, shut up, it's met with a gasp. I'm proud of that. Society has taken 'shut up' and made it a joke, an applicable come back to being teased, chastised, shocked and amazed. But last night, as a group of laughing friends surrounded the table, one of us found our merriment too loud. And so she shushed us, waved her hands, and most of the time just told us to shut up. In her defense, we were trying to play Trivia and were having a hard time hearing the announcer.

Maybe I'm irritated by the insane little idiosyncrasies of the office? By the perception of some to do as little as possible and complain, loudly, if asked to just do their share? Or carrying on personal conversations in an office environment that all can hear, I try to not listen, but I can still hear you advising your family regarding extremely personal issues. I've made the decision that my conversations take place outside of the office environs.

My son continues on his journey to underachieve. And it irritates me that I cannot make him care, cannot make him want to excel. Oh, he gets tastes of achievement and loves the feeling, he just loses focus and desire and determination.

I'm irritated by people that think that how, successful or not, a college sports team performs, shapes and defines them-makes them better or embarrasses them . I'm proud of my alma mater and announce with pride where I received my degree. And while I was there, our football team was awful and basketball was king, quite the reverse of today. But it doesn't mean that I personally am better, worse or even just so-so.

I'm irritated by menopause and the lengths I have to go through, just to maintain my weight and healthy objectives. It must be time for me to go exercise and get my endorphines going to achieve that sunny disposition I'm famous for.