This morning I was accused of being grumpy. I won’t deny that I was, far from it. I was close to boiling point. What was not true, however, is that I was grumpy solely because Papa didn’t do the dishes the night before. That is what he seems to believe, despite my arguments to the contrary. The dishes were merely the thing that tipped the scales.

Better grumpy than angry

Previously I wrote how I am prone to being emotional. When I cannot cope with my life’s stresses for various reasons, I become a mess. Usually without much warning to those who cannot look inside my head. When I switch from grumpy to angry, things are bad. For Papa, that is. Bubsi is safe, always.

This morning I was just grumpy though, so it wasn’t that bad. I am still unhappy though because I seem to have given the impression that dirty dishes were the reason for my mood. Which partly they were, but it was more a series of events. And I wish to rectify the misconception.

Why I was grumpy today

Waking up, I hadn’t slept much. Bubsi is teething and asks to nurse every odd hour or so. Needless to say sleep deprivation is not a good basis to start off on. Next thing I notice is the time. It is past 9.30 and while that would be great any other morning, today it threatens my plan A. I was hoping for some time off with Papa taking Bubsi out. Papa leaves at 3 pm to the airport though and hasn’t packed, so time is short.

In fact, Papa flying out today is another reason I’m grumpy. I don’t want him to leave. He will be gone for four days and I will miss him. Not to mention lone parenting is a joy (kudos to all the single parents out there!).

Then there are all the minor outside stresses. Like that I have choir tonight and need to take Bubsi along without knowing how she acts. Or how my friend wants me to send her a package urgently but I do not want to spend the money on the postage as furniture has been costly this month.

What pushed me into open grumpiness 

All these things together were bad omen. Thankfully Papa got up with Bubsi.Bubsi informed me that Papa was preparing breakfast. Which, as I found out, was not ready over 30 minutes later. And I was hungry. Very. After nursing all night not much of a surprise. That’s when I saw the dishes. Well… Let’s just say my mood went openly hostile. Just, I still tried to keep myself together.

Until… I was clumsy and dropped the ham all over the floor. After collecting the pieces I discovered that instead of eating with Bubsi, Papa had broken my sacred no phones at the table or in front of Bubsi rule. (Both of them, actually!). Instead of engaging with his daughter he played on the phone. Enough to say, that did it.

My subsequent open grumpiness did buy me my time off though. So now I am calm. And happy. And we will spend a lovely afternoon. So let me end on a happy note: a picture of our smiley lunch!

How is your day going?

Smiling meatballs with turnip puree