Irritants

As I get older, I guess I'm becoming more of a curmudgeon.  Every year more and more things irritate me and get on my nerves.  One thing that I have noticed lately that is bothering me are 'rattles.'

Quite a few years ago I decided that I was done with keeping a lot of tchotchkes and doo-dads around the house.  I used to have tons of stuff around when we were first married, but I realized early on that all of that stuff needed to be kept clean and I didn't want to be bothered.  So, I don't keep a lot of things on my living room tables or elsewhere.  However, I still have things on my built-in bookshelves and necessary items on the dresser shelves in the bedroom.  Also, my curio cabinet and china cabinet have tons of stuff in them, but for the most part, I don't need to clean those out but once a year.  And that's fine with me.

Not having to clean a lot of stuff is one benefit of not having knickknacks on display, but living in an old house, I have found another positive thing:  I don't usually have to worry about things 'rattling' on the shelves as we walk past them.  The floors in an old house like ours have the tendency to 'bounce' when they're walked on, so if things aren't placed 'just so' on shelves, they will vibrate and rattle--and that causes me an endless amount of grief.  I have spent countless amounts of days trying to get all of the drinking glasses in my china cabinet to NOT rattle against each other every time I walk through the dining room.  Not only am I concerned that they could break if they vibrate enough, but the sound of them rattling "sets my tith on etch!"  (That is an actual quote from Ricky Ricardo on 'I Love Lucy.'  :D)

I am winning little battles against a 'rattle' in our bedroom.  SOMETHING on the dresser shelf rattles--and I can't figure out what it is.  First, I thought it was my wind-up alarm clock, so I moved it.  That worked for a few days and then the rattle was back.  I was convinced it was the remote controls for the air conditioner or the clock radio, but that wasn't the case, either.  The last thing I moved was the flashlight and that has stopped the rattle for a few days.  But the rattle is back.  I keep winning the battles, but the war rages on--and my nerves are beginning to rattle along with whatever is doing so on the damn shelf.  I hope this isn't what my 'golden years' are going to be like.  Even *I* won't be able to stand me.  ;)