I’m not a picky person. In fact, you could even consider me a very laid back, low maintenance person (I know my mom is shaking her head right now. But mom, I’ve changed since high school, k?!). Despite the Type- B personality, there are some things that really get my blood boiling. So much so that I will actually speak up about it (if you know me well, you’d also know that I’m not very good at standing up for myself and I’d rather not rock the boat. Mom! STOP SHAKING YOUR HEAD!)

So here’s a list of my pet-peeves:

• Dish soap that is not the original Palmolive. I love the smell SO much; it makes me think of my Grammy. Dave has yet to buy the correct kind.
• My own messiness. I try to stay organized and clean, but I just can’t seem to do it!! And I can’t find anything I need. GRR! I hate myself for it!
• The “lock” feature on spray bottles. I want to SCREAM when I go to spray the Windex and BAM! it’s locked. What a waste of technology. Every time I pickup my spray bottle, I want to use it. I promise you that I am not ever unnecessarily wielding that bottle and there is no reason for it to be locked (this is directed at you, Dave).
• A dirty car. I can’t keep an inch of my personal space clean for a minute…but my car? That’s another story. When Dave uses it I find Arby’s bags in it and other signs of what I refer to as “man-dirt”.
• Noise before 8 a.m. If someone spied on Dave and I in the mornings before we left for work, the peeping Tom would be convinced that I hate my husband. In reality, I am just not a morning person. However, if Dave tries to talk to me when I get out of bed, then yes, I do hate him. Thankfully that hatred it short lived.
• And speaking of mornings, I HATE MY ALARM. And not just because it’s telling me to get out of bed, but because I CAN’T TURN IT OFF. There is a snooze button and a dismiss button, but even when I hit dismiss, it snoozes. This is extremely annoying on the mornings that I set my alarm for 5 a.m. to run, but I don’t. You would think that the alarm blaring at me every 5 minutes would be enough to get me out of bed to run…but it’s not. Everyday I eventually get the darn thing to shut up, but I have no idea how it happens. Actually I do. It’s magic.
• Slow walkers! This afternoon, Dave and I went to the Strip District and it was PACKED. But it wouldn’t have been so bad if people just put one step in front of the other. One second I’d be making great progress on the sidewalk and then suddenly Mr. Mullett in front of me would fake-stop in front of a vendor of Steelers paraphernalia, and just as I’m forging my way around him, he decides to save his pocket change for the shish kabob vendor a half a block down the street. I propose that people need to start walking around with brake lights and four-way flashers like cars. Anyone else agree?
• Pittsburghese. I love my city, I really, truly do. But sometimes the local jargon is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I have to scratch my head and wonder where some of these phrases came from!
• yinz (you all)
• jagoff (a jerk)
• chipped ham (thinly sliced ham)
• dahntahn (downtown)
• n’at (and that)
• j’eet jet? (Did you eat yet?)
• cruds (cottage cheese)
• jagger (thorn)
• nebby (intrusive; i.e. “Mom, stop being so nebby!”)

Phew. Glad I got all of that off of my chest! Now I’m going to go show my support for my city and cheer for the Penguins.

Has anyone outside of Pittsburgh heard anyone of those words? What are so words and phrases from your town? And do we share any of the same pet peeves?!

PS…American “cheese” (I think we all agreed that it’s not real cheese) was commonly made with a combination of cheddar and colby cheeses. But that was back when it was still a real cheese! Now it’s a mixture of thinks like milk, whey and food coloring.