...BOTHER...

Bothersome, irksome.
Like losing things, regularly.  I can't find my wedding ring, after taking it off to knit more comfortably last Wednesday and putting it in my pocket.  Taia lost her nice new fuzzy hoodie.  Kira lost the hat I just knit for her two weeks ago, and one of her soccer shinguards is missing too.  Remy... the meeting of his boundless energy, intense curiosity and his limited attention span makes for daily Thing Disappearances.  I still hope to come across my long-lost PedEgg, someday.
The fish tank is a bother, after I was so excited to finally have one.  I've realized that I like tiny fish with bright colors, in large groups... after adopting three enormous plecos, one 7" shark-catfish and a huge, obnoxious tinfoil barb.  And of course the whole tank needs a 5-hour scrubbing.
Most bothersome is some stranger named Natalia, a girl at Taia's school who called my awesome, beautiful, smart, athletic, talented daughter "weird" behind her back.  Taia came to me at bedtime and asked to be homeschooled for all of middle school, so we talked about it and I guessed something was up... then she told me about overhearing Natalia's mean words, and tears welled up in her eyes.  While I was trying to use reassurance, logic and humor to comfort and reassure her, the fierce mama instinct in me was ready to seek and destroy.  Taia had some experiences being bullied in Laramie, but she was so much younger and stronger in the face of it.  She wasn't about to take any crap in kindergarten, but now that she's reached these almost-teen years, words hurt more and cut really, really deep.