Little pet peeves. Little, I said.

Not a lot of things bother me. Okay, maybe that's not entirely true, but I'd like to think I am not a big pessimist and that I am someone who views the glass as being half-full rather than half-empty.

Does this ever happen to you? When I go grocery shopping, I tend to fill a carte. We're a family of 6 so that is expected. So I get to the check out counter and I start unloading the carte. I usually put like items together, heavier items first and produce and crushables last. I utilize the bottom rack of the carte with the bottled sodas, water, juice pack cartons, etc. Anyway, the items are scanned, bagged and put back into the carte. Inevitably, the person who is doing the bagging asks me, "Do you need another carte?"

Um, I don't think so. If I got all the items here in one carte, then why do you think I need another one to get them to my car? It's not like those flimsy plastic bags take up bulk space. Utilize the bottom rack like I did. Hang the light items on the little hangers in the front. Isn't that why they're there?

Or, how about this one. There is this one grocery store in town that will take the carte that the person in front of you just got finished using to hasten the bagging and loading. I don't go there often because it's not the cleanest store in town and the selection is really limited and don't even ask me about their produce section. But if you want to stretch your dollar and don't care about any of the aforementioned, this is the place to go.

Anyway, we all know how easy it is to spread germs, especially just from the carte handle itself. The grocery store I usually frequent emphasizes its cleanliness by having sanitary wipes accessible to anybody who prefers them as you enter the store. 50% of the time when the container is actually not empty, I always take one and wipe down my carte. But I usually bank on the container being empty and bring my own. So it kind of defeats the purpose when, if you are like me, you take great pains to minimize the spreading of germs, the bagger at the check-out aisle starts loading your items into an empty carte nearby which isn't the one you spent the time wiping down and filling with groceries.

Somebody at the grocery store where I usually shop did this once and I was not happy. But rather than berate her in front of everybody, I pursued a more subtle approach. "Christopher," I asked my son who was with me at the time, "Remember those wipes that were at the store entrance? Would you go out and get me one and bring it back here?" I didn't shout, but I didn't whisper, either. He went out and came back with one. I used it. I think my message was clear, don't you?

Okay, enough about germs. Here is another thing that really bugs me. We are all aware of the laws regarding school buses and what is expected when they stop to pick up or drop off kids. Yeah. Stop. It doesn't matter if nobody is crossing the road. Just stop and wait.

Our town requires an adult to be at bus stops for Kindergartners. They also will actually try to arrange their routes so that the kids don't have to cross a road. They also will pick up and drop off the tykes right at their doorsteps. Whenever I see the bus coming, I am extra wary of the cars coming in the opposite direction and when I see them speed up when they see the yellow blinking lights because they know the bus is about to stop, I stare them down because they are obviously trying to beat the bus so they don't have to stop. But those drivers who actually slow down and are about to stop. And then seeing that nobody is crossing the road, they hit the gas and keep going. That really burns me. Honestly, I am going to start standing there with a notepad and pen and will start writing down license plates. I'm sure I won't have to write anything down if somebody sees me with those two items. Just like if they saw a police cruiser nearby. I'll even stash a pen with no ink or a pencil with a broken tip somewhere nearby. Hey, you know, now I want to do it just out of curiosity to see how people will react. I'd never follow up and call the police anyway, but I'd love to see if drivers think twice about stopping just because they see me with a pen and pad.

One more pet peeve. I cook dinner and afterwards there is sometimes leftovers. G is great about storing the leftovers in the refrigerator. But I'll go into the kitchen to load up the dishwasher, because my family only knows how to put their dishes on the counter and there are the pots and pans atop the stove. I just don't know why he can't take that one little extra step and put those pots and pans in the sink, fill them with water and some soap, and be done with it. Honestly, it goes such a long way and makes my job so much easier. Soaking pans is really a great and wonderful thing. Curse the mornings when the pans don't get soaked. If I didn't have to reuse them, I'd leave them for G to clean.

So there. See? I always view the glass as half full, even with these trivial pet peeves of mine.