Paula Light is the lovely hostess for The Monday Peeve, where I get to do the thing I cannot do in real life – complain.

It pisses me off when someone moves my stuff without telling me and then forget where they put it.

Two years ago, I bought two sets of expensive tomato cages – the ones in the photo. I didn’t use them last year because I wanted to experiment with growing tomatoes without cages. It became too much of a mess after several wind storms swept across my backyard.

So I’ve decided to use these cages again this year, except where are the arms of the cages – the plastic thing that holds the cages together?

My mom moved them when she had to repaint a pipe last summer. I asked where she moved them to, she screamed, “How should I know? It’s your stuff. You know I can remember anything these days.” Yeah, that’s because you make me remember for you, I wanted to say.

Then she proceeded to give me this big lecture about me pursuing a useless hobby like gardening – a hobby that only involve spending money and reaping no reward.

“I do it for the therapy and for the earth,” I told her but she didn’t listen. Instead, she continued her lecture, repeating her thoughts, seemingly wanted me to give up on my hobby as she’s done in the past whenever I develop a love for something.

I’m sure those things are in the backyard somewhere and when spring comes and I can be out there for more than a few minutes without freezing my ass off, I’ll turn over everything until I find them.

We had a power outage yesterday. I actually didn’t even know until my uncle called me and asked if I had power. That’s when I glanced up and saw the light on the answering machine was off.

I was cuddling on the couch with a book and music in my ears.

Mom began to panic, pacing about the house like a restless lion pacing about its cage. It was the “no internet” that caused the frantic. She used to say the same thing about my cousin when we went to Las Vegas in 2012 as a family and wi-fi at the hotel costed $40 per night.

Meanwhile, I was content, the book in my hand was keeping me entertained. It was a paperback I bought from a book haul I did probably 5 years ago. As I tried to read, mom kept asking me to do things – check the status of the outage, call her sister to have her bring supplies for the camping stove, check breaker box, etc.

The power went out at 11:50 AM and came back on at 12:26 PM. I know because I was looking at my phone when I heard the beeps coming from the kitchen – signaling power restoration. Immediately, mom called her sister to let her know the power came back on and she no longer had to come over. Unfortunately, her sister didn’t pick up the phone.

Mom tried again and again and again. No answer.

That was when she threw her pathetic annoying tantrums again. “What if I have a medical emergency?” She screamed. “I’d be dead by the time she called me back.” Then she proceeded calling her brother next door selfish for not asking her if she wanted lunch before going out to pick up lunch and her sister names for not answering her call.

Meanwhile, I was seething inside.

First of all, she would’ve said no to her brother. It’s futile to even ask as she doesn’t really like anything outside of her cooking. The whole family knew that so why does she get to feel good while the other person get to taste the bitter taste of rejection?

Second, I hate these tantrums because I don’t know what to do. I feel like the person holding the punching bag and feeling the punches as they come.

When her sister finally called back, she proceeded to scream at her that if this was a medical emergency, she would’ve been dead. Her sister didn’t know how to respond and neither did I when mom threw that question at me. When I didn’t respond, she had assumed I would just let her die. How she think of people?